Acton Trussle

OK so I am in the UK, Penkridge in Staffordshire to be exact. Sunday after recovering from my flight over, I went out for a run. This is England, so of course it was raining, though not too heavily. I ran from the Village out on the A 449 to Acton Trussle, which is about 3 miles from my sisters house and then back. It seemed to clear out some of the stiffness from sitting on a plane and then a bus the day before.. I went out again yesterday for an easier run in colder but drier conditions. I actually feel more relaxed than I do when running in New York, but that may be partly due to the fact that I am on holiday.

First Snow

It started to snow shortly after I woke up this morning. By the time I went out for my run with Abichal there was already snow on the ground and the temperature was around 23 F (-5 C ). As we started our the wind in our faces made it feel much colder, even though I was wearing wool gloves my hands were very cold. Maybe this is the result of losing some fat in the summer.We did of course warm up. My plan was to run 10 miles like last week, Abichal had a slightly different plan so we only ran together for about 7 miles. I was happy again with the stronger pace and felt better than last week. The fact that I hadn't run 2 races earlier may have something to do with this, but I like to think that I am getting stronger.

Old Friend

My running is going quite well this week after all that speed work.
I received an E mail from US Ultra Running Hall of Famer Marcy Schwam yesterday, it was actually in response to one I had sent her. A mutual friend had given me her address last week. She lived near to me in the late 70's and early 80's and was partly the inspiration for me to get involved in ultra's. She now works for Reebok and it seems is in NYC quite often, so I hope that we will get a chance to meet and maybe talk about old times and future running adventures. it should be fun.

10 The Hard Way

For a change this morning I went out with 2 of my faster running friends. One of them has a slight leg problem at the moment but still moves pretty fast. We went out at 6:30am and the temperature was just above freezing, but beautiful sunshine and fall colour made everything feel really nice. After about 4 miles I started to feel my legs on some of the hills, but decided to hang in there as well as I could. I struggled over the last few miles, but was happy to finish a hard 10 mile run, I know this will help me in the future. With the 2 races I did earlier it made for a good hard training week for me.

2 Races 48 hours

This morning I went out and ran our local 2 mile race, the temperature was 25 F with the wind chill it felt like 17 F. It was such a big difference from Thursday when it was 55 F. Due to the cold weather only about 12 people showed up. I finished 4th, though I was in 3rd place until the last 1/2 mile when my legs just started to get really tired, probably because it was my 2nd race in less than 48 hours.My time was not so fast either. 16:12, but the average was a little faster than my 5 mile race. Once again I was happy just to run.
Hey how do those guys in the Olympics run heats and finals in just a few days.

It's Thanksgiving in the US and there are lots of races called Turkey trot going on everywhere. I chose to run a 5 mile Turkey trot in Prospect Park Brooklyn. The park is quite hilly and although it's late November the temperature was around 55F. There were over 1000 runners and I think part of the race fee goes to funding a local high school track team. I was supposed to meet my friend Luis who lives near the park, but he didn't show. I of course ran anyway and my time was 41:20 which is not bad for me at the moment. I got this medal and bought the hat for $5. My 8:16 pace was sufficient I used to be able to run 6:16 25 years ago, but hey I'm older and wiser now, he he.

yesterday I went into Central park, where the Knickerbocker 60k was being run. There were over 100 runners. The photo is of the eventual winner, this is with 2 laps to go. His name is Oz Pearlman and he is the guy who won the 50 mile race at the Lakefront 50/50 that I ran in Chicago 3 weeks ago.Though I hadn't planned it I myself ran 15 plus miles in the park too.Oz ran the 60k in 4:01:34
This morning I went out for my usual Sunday morning run and covered 10 miles, so I had a 25 mile weekend, which I am quite happy with.