10 Day Race- Day 1

For some reason they mis-spelled my last name on the scoreboard, they corrected it later.
The first day was interesting in that there were 49 runners on the course so it was pretty crowded. The afternoon was quite hot with a strong Sun. I spent the first few hours with some of my running friends, since we seemed to run at the same pace. I ran 35 miles I think in the first 10 hours and then took a sleep break.
I then seemed to struggle a bit which is not usual for me. I think maybe the Sun affected me a little bit more than I thought it would. Anyway I completed 63 miles for the first day, which is on the low end of what I usually do, but I was happy. Though I was placed near the back of the pack.

Recovery and such

The 10 day race is run on a 1 mile loop in Flushing Meadow Park in Queens NY. During the course of 240 hours you see a lot of things going on. The photo on the left shows you just one activity.
Needless to say my feet are sore from the race, but that has not stopped me from going out for a run. I am recovering so that means a 2 or 3 mile easy run, which feels pretty good at the moment.

The little toe on my left foot seems to be the most bothersome and that is something I didn't feel during the race.

The Past

When I lived in London in the mid seventies I was involved in a relay run to celebrate the American Bicentennial. Three friends and I ran from the George Washington Statue near the National Museum,to the JFK Memorial at Runnymede. We got some newspaper coverage and this was a clipping from the time. I am the one on the right, I believe I was 22 at the time.

Luis Birthday

Over the 10 days of the race there were 3 birthdays. This was the first one, my friend and sometimes walking partner during the race. Is here celebrating his 60 th .

I pretty much kept to my the same sleep pattern that I did during the race, last night. My quadriceps were a little sore when I got up. I did however meet with Utpal and run a couple of miles, just to shake things up a little. I think it helps in the recovery.

Back from the 10 day race

Just to say that I am back from the 10 day race. I ran a total of 427 miles, which is smack in the middle of the two goals I had set myself. 450 being what I hoped for and 400 being my fall back. You can see from the photo that we did have some rain. I will talk more about the whole race in the next few days.

Race Day

In about 1 hour I will go and have breakfast and then get a ride out to the race site. It is quite hard sometimes to stop myself from getting excited and just relax. In the few hours before the race you get a chance to meet up with old friends from other races and tell a few stories about what has gone on since last we met. I will be back in a week and a half to let you know how things went

This time tomorrow

OK so this time tomorrow I will be about 4 hours into the race, which considering it's 10 days long doesn't seem that much. There is a big field of 40 + runners, so I won't get lonely. It is usually quite busy out there and I have a lot of friends in the race to talk to. The weather is supposed to be nice for at least the first 4 days. After this time about 30 more runners will start the 6 day race, then it will really be jumping.