Wall Street Run

I ran another race this evening, It was NYRR's Wall Street Run.  It was a 3 miles race through downtown NYC.  Three miles is a short distance for me (well, if I was running regularly) so I decided I wanted to try and run fast.  I was shooting for a good time.  I run at a pace close to 8min/miles, but usually for 5-6 miles.  I knew I could most likely run under 7min/mile, so that was my goal. There was 5,565 people in the streets running.  The gun sounded and getting started was the hardest part.  It was so crowded, you had to be careful not to trip over everyone else.  It took at least a quarter mile to get spread out enough that you weren't bumping into others, it remained crowded the whole race, it was hard to pass people.  In other races I have been too conservative in the beginning.  I didn't want to do that again, especially since it was only three miles, I took off as hard as I could.  I'm not at the very top of my game.  I haven't been running much because of travel and a hurt toe.  I got to the 1 mile mark and was already feeling it.  I was definitely pushing myself hard.  I wasn't in trouble, but I started to psych myself out a bit.  So I started reciting a mantra in my mind, "long strides, slow breath"  I would take three steps on each word, long 1,2,3 strides 1,2,3, slow 1,2,3 breath 1,2,3.  I'm not sure if that was the right thing to do, but it calmed me and my breathing down, so it worked in this case and I "waltzed" through the rest of the run.  My knee and toe were bothering me a bit, but I ignored them.  I'm icing them both now as I write this. 

I ended up with a time of 20:04 minutes. (Stupid 4 sec, lol.)  Placing 265 out of 5,565. I was 63rd in my age category.  

If I'm gonna keep doing races I need to find some proper training, I push myself too hard to still be winging it.  

 

Run 61 ouch

Ouch!  Today's run was a total failure.  Maybe it's cause I haven't been running in a month.  Maybe it's cause I ran a half marathon 4 days ago that I wasn't physically prepared for.  The moment I started running my calves were in pain, still sore from the race.  My pace was horrible, over 9 minute miles. Three miles into the run my knee started to hurt.  I guess I have a lot more conditioning to do, if I plan on running a marathon this year.  


Time: 6:30 pm
Distance: 4.2 miles
Time: 38:20 Minutes
Music: Katharine McPhee

Brooklyn Half Marathon

As you know from the previous post in the past 48 hours I hiked all three peaks of Olo Mana, Stairway to Heaven, Hanauma Bay Ridge, and Kokohead stairs.  I then spent all night/day travel from Hawaii home to NYC.  I arrived at 10 pm.  While unpacking and getting settled at 2 am I decided to be a volunteer for The Brooklyn Half Marathon.  So I went to bed at 2:30 am, got up at 4 am to be in Brooklyn by 5:15 am.  I helped out as a starting line marshal, telling people which starting gate they could be in.  After the race started, we did a little clean up.  I was done at 7:45, it just so happened that I was in my running clothes, so I walked back down to the starting line, to see the situation.  The cones were still set up outlining the course, so I turned on Nike+ and took off.  

I began running and surprisingly caught up to the last place person just shy of mile 3. He was walking, so don't give me to much credit.  Soon after I started passing more and more people. After a while I was right with the pack.  About 9 miles into the race my knee started to hurt.  I had to slow down some, but was determined to finish what I started.  I ended up crossing the finishing line in 1 hour and 48 minutes.  At that point I had passed 969 people.  If I was to insert my time into the official results I would have been 762 out of 1,809 in my age category and 3,800 out of 14,160 overall.  Not bad for my long first race.  I've got the running bug, I then went home and registered for 9 more races in the next couple of months, I better hit the streets! :)

    

Hawaii

I haven't been completely inactive while in Hawaii.  Instead of running around NYC, I'm running up mountains and volcanic craters.
My first day on the island I hiked up Kokohead stairs: 1060 stairs up the side of a crater, when you get to the top it's an amazing view of the crater and Hanauma Bay.  

The next day I hiked to the first peak of Olo Mana, my favorite hike on the island.  
Then a scuba diving trip to the bottom of the ocean. 

I then went on a hike to Pu'u Manamana ridge with my friend Timber.  It was an epic hike.  I'm afraid words just don't do it justice, even this video does't really capture the experience.  It's hard to describe the feeling of standing on a small ledge on top of a ridge, over looking hawaii.  The sights, the smell, the nerves, everything combined into an experience that can only truly be understood first hand. 

After a few days of fun I had to get to work.  I was in Hawaii to help IONA Contemporary Dance Theatre produce their summer salon series La Madonna.   The show was a huge artist success.  So much hard work from the production team, volunteers and dancers.  
Honolulu Star Advertiser Review

I was able to find a little time off.  One evening I went to the World Fire Knife Competition at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

I also made a quick trip over to the big island and did a 7 mile round trip hike out to the lava field. 

After the show was over I had three days of freedom left, before I had to head back to NYC.  The first day I spent the day driving to the north shore, stopping at some of my favorite spots, like the macadamia nut farm, Pounders beach, Sharks Cove, and Waimea Bay.  The Second day I hiked all three peaks of Olo Mana.  This is the view from the 2nd peak of the 3rd peak.  It's all ropes and rock climbing from this point on.

My last day started at 3 am when I got up to go hike the  Haiku Stairs, AKA Stairway to heaven. This hike is a 3,900 step metal staircase, leading up the ridge to the top of the Ko'olau Mountain range. It was built for access to a satellite dish. It is now closed to the public, the only way to hike it, is to arrive before the security guard does, hence the 3 am start time. (This video was made when I hiked it last summer)

After a quick nap, I went and hiked Hanauma Bay Ridge and my favorite workout Kokohead stairs, that's now a total of 4,960 stairs for the day, if you are keeping track.  As my farewell to Hawaii I stopped by another favorite location, Spitting Cave to say good bye, soaked in the Kahala Hotel hot tub and then headed to the airport for a long night/day of traveling.