6 Day race

I am a little more than 3 1/2 hours away from starting my 6 day race. It is already quite warm out there and will be around 88 F ( 31 C ) this afternoon. I try to stay at home relaxed for as long as I can and will arrive at the race site an hour or so before the start.
I feel pretty good so we will see what the week brings.
I will write up some kind of report when I get back. Wish me luck !

Race starts tomorrow

At this time tomorrow I will probably be out at the race trying to relax before the start. This is my 26th multiday race I think ( you kind lose count after a while ). After all these years I still get a little nervous, but I know that will all go away once the race starts. The trick is to not use up too much nervous energy. As a veteran of these things people tend to ask me for advice and the best thing I can say is; just relax and enjoy the experience, whatever it brings.

2 days to go

The weather has turned quite warm and it almost feels like summer here in New York. Today is not so warm 65 F ( 19 C), but for the next few days it will be in the 80's and the evening temps will be like the daytime temps from a week ago.
I will take some more of my things out to the race site this afternoon, only 2 more days to go.

Stormy Monday, Boston Marathon

When I went out for my run this morning it was overcast and looking like it would rain. I ran an easy couple of miles and on the way back saw Utpal and ran another 3 with him.
I had to run a few errands and then I watched the Boston Marathon on the internet. The women had a very close finish with only one second separating first and second places.
In the afternoon the rain came and it got quite stormy as it went on. I was supposed to help a friend set up their tent out at the race site, but that was changed because of the rain.

Easy running

I guess it's time to taper for my race. This morning I just ran an easy 3 miles, though my legs did feel a little heavy from the 2 mile race yesterday. Also for some reason my stiff neck has not gone completely away. I hope to take a few things out to the race site in a couple of days and I have started packing some of my things. This time next week I will be well and truly into the race.

Racing again

With only about 70 runners at the 2mile race this morning, I was able to run the race. The temperature was 60 F and it was sunny with a light wind. I felt quite comfortable while I was running, though my breathing did feel a little laboured in the second mile. A friend of mine passed me just before the end and was just in front of me, so I raced him to the finish line. My time was 15:32, which I am happy with.

10 days to go

Such a beautiful day today. All the rain that was around has now gone and there is sunny blue sky above

I stopped by a local sports store on the way home and bought myself a new pair of running shoes. it is just 10 days to the 6 day race and I feel I need one more pair to take with me. It would be nice if the weather was like this during the race, but at this time of the year it can change quickly. One of my running friends from India who is running in the 10 day race, contacted me this morning to say that he is in Jersey city. So he has arrived a week early to acclimatize before the race begins.

The shoes I got were Asics Strike, I almost got a pair of Addidas Kanadia trails shoes, they looked really nice.

Happy Easter !!!

Happy Easter to everyone that celebrates this week. It is a bit of a cold one here in New York with strong winds, but there is bright sunshine and blue skies.
There is an annual 12 hour walk going on around a school in my neighbourhood. It started at 7 am this morning. So Utpal and I went to the start and watched them get going, probably 200 walkers. Then we went for a nice run, about 6 miles, which was nice to do after barely being able to run last weekend.
This time in 2 weeks I will be running in the 6 day race. So anything I do now is only helping me to recover from last week and prepare for that.

Rainy Day

It is one of those weekends when there are a lot of people in town and over 250 of them come out to the 2 mile race. So I run early and then help out with the organization of this weeks race.One of my friends from the Pacific North West wins the race with a time of 9:42
Later in the day it started to rain and has been doing so for a while. I spent some time with friends, partly talking about my move back to Europe and the new adventures that will bring. A couple of my running friends are already talking about a race in June in Austria, so we will see.
By the way, it is early in my friends training, so it was a comfortable 9:42.Though there was a guy on his shoulder until the final kick.

Foolish or Wise

After 2 days of not being able to sleep for more than 2 hours at a time and sometimes even less, I finally managed to sleep for about 4 hours in one stretch last night. I finally woke up and was feeling a little weak, my digestion has improved and my eating is still not great. When I weighed myself I discovered that I had lost 7.5 lbs over the weekend. This is probably the reason I am feeling weak.I am gradually getting stronger, I know this will take a few days, but I am glad I have finally reached that point.
Part of me wanted to go out for a run this afternoon, but I just took several short walks and found these were quite tiring. Whatever it was has taken it's toll, but as the old saying goes, " If it doesn't kill, it makes you stronger" and so it will be.
Sometimes when I am sick I have to look at whether I would be foolish or wise to go out and run. Sometimes I take the foolish tack and run anyway and it kinda works out, but today I decided to be wise and not run. I have a race coming up in less than 3 weeks and need to be strong enough to be foolish later. When I look back I will probably say that the loss of weight was a benefit, but I do not recommend that kind of weight loss to anyone. Losing weight through illness is not the way I want to do it.

A bump in the road

After whatever it was that hit me on Friday nigh I am slowly recovering. Food poisoning or stomach flu, whatever it was can take a lot out of you. I have had very little appetite for the last 36 hours and have lost about 3 lbs in weight. I did go out and run 2+ miles this morning, but quickly realized that I was quite weak. I have to build up my strength over the next few days and be happy with any training I can get in.

Rough day

Went to bed last night with a bit of a sour stomach. Kept waking up and finally around 1am, I had to make a dash fro the bathroom. In the beginning I thought it was just a bad case of diarrhea, but then the vomiting started, This went on and off for about 6 hours, with the occasional nap. I thought that maybe I had food poisoning, but I was also getting hot and cold flashes. So maybe it is a stomach flu.
Needless to say there was no 2 mile race for me this morning. I did manage to get out there with Utpal in the afternoon and run an easy 3 miles. Luckily I have 3 weeks to recover before the 6 day race.

Strange week

The week started with me experiencing blood in my urine. This has happened to me before in a 24 hour race. It cleared up after one day and though I slightly increased my daily mileage did not return. Not sure if it was a kidney or bladder problem. As I said I have increased slightly my daily mileage, I am quite happy with that.
3 weeks from today the 10 day race will be into it's 3rd day and I will have gone out there at least once to check out the race and to take out some stuff. I also like to go out and reserve a space in one of the dorm tents before the main crowd arrive.