This is how it is supposed to go, but sometimes the front shoe of the back runner clips the back of the rear shoe of the front runner, and off comes the shoe. 

That's what happened among the first corral at the start of Sunday's Coogan's 5k. What happened next was even worse. The one-shoed runner turned around and tried to get his shoe, muscling back into the thick wave of runners surging forward. One of my friends, a super athlete, was knocked to the ground. Instead of getting a medal, she spent the race in the medical tent. It could have been a lot worse for her. The victim of the shoe clip did the wrong thing. With over 5000 runners rolling forward, the only thing he gained was sharing the misery. Under the best circumstances he had no shot at a personal best. Next time, use the heel lock, should you have the extra lace hole. If you lose a shoe, go forward and diagonally, safely off to the side, and chalk it up to fate. It's not as if there is a shortage of races in the New York region.

The start before the race

Not your average fun run, Coogan's 5k. Sure the bands are out there playing great stuff. Fort Washington and Inwood have a fine urban look. And the weather this year was primo: sunny, warm and not windy. But the physical nature of the course is tough. It rolls up, and it rolls down. The downs are wonderful but they never make up for the time loss on the ups. Yet it's only a 5k. Even if you were minimally prepared for the event, it is over quickly. Forget about getting a 5k PR. With Coogan's you hope for a Coogan's 5k PR. I'm not complaining. I broke the 20:00 barrier, running a mere 11 seconds faster than last year, as well as the 80% age graded mark. But hey, I'm another year older and each year the slope gets steeper for the likes of me. I couldn't think of too many other things I would rather have been doing in the Big Apple at 9 on this Sunday morning than running the Coogan's.

Bang, and They're Off! A wave of mens open 1500 meters.

Not as popular, certainly considered more esoteric, track competition is a member of the running family. If you stay with running long enough, more than likely you will come to the door that leads to running track. Whether you enter it is your choice. However, you will never know if you don't give it a try. It might turn out to be just what you have always been looking for. Immediate gratification in competition, a controlled running environment, a real promise of improving your road speed as well as the possibility of adding to your longevity, are aspects you might never have considered in running track.

The Hudson River Bike Path at 79th Street Boat Basin amid snow

You know the old trick question: what weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of nails? The real question is which would you rather get hit by? The feathers of course. The same goes with water or ice. Running on a wet surface might be a bit messy, but running on ice is dangerous, unless you have a traction device on the bottom of your shoes.

Today, 3 days after our record snowfall, the temperatures were in the mid 40s and sunny. There was no ice on the Hudson River Bike Path from Christopher to 100th Street. Puddles, runoffs, and the occasional slush, yes, but no ice. Unless you went out of the way to slide through slush, the running was safe.

Most of the time, a second one way or another doesn't mean all that much. Yet, we have all just breezed through a subway door, making that appointment by a hair. Setting a personal best in the middle of a minute is a personal best none-the-less, but it doesn't have the gravitas as one on the turn of the stopwatch.

Last evening, at Thursday Night at the Races, I broke the 2:40 barrier for 800 meters: 2:39+. If my numbers are correct, it is a PB by 2 seconds. We are talking about a half second per 200 meter lap. Yet each time I gave it my all, I could never get through that door.

The way I see it, an uphill bike race is an uphill foot race with a bike, and an uphill foot race is an uphill bike race without a bike. They are just about the same thing. You use the same muscles and, depending upon the grade, they take similar amounts of time. A nice thing about training for these events with a bike is the ability to coast down for repeats: running downhill is not a body friendly. Cycling and running up hill are. They don't tax the frame, just the cardiovascular system.

The Mt Ascutney Bicycle Hill Clmb, Saturday, July 17, 2010, is a small event on a big mountain. http://club.penguincycles.com/AscutneyBike.html The entry fee is only $35 but it isn't mass transportation access friendly. If you have a car, the drive is almost entirely on interstate highways and, by getting up very early, can be done as a day trip from the New York metro area. But there isn't anything to stop you from making a weekend of it.

Mugging at Minnewaska

All focus/no play, is a bit more work/less fun, for this non-professional athlete. Saturdays are long endurance aerobic days coated in sugar for me. Having a spouse working while I am out playing is not as selfish as it might appear. I return recharged and healthy. Staying injury-free has to be part of the process as much as having fun with friends.

Anyone running 4:15 to 4:30 for the mile, step forward!

Yes, how do they put this event together? Easily.

Before the race: the cold drove away the butterflies

Actually, not bad running weather. The starting corals were in the sun and, tightly packed, most people were sheltered from the wind. However, not knowing this, the logistics of timing your bag drop/paring down, and getting to the corals before the start was a mystery. By the time I got to my section, it was packed. Even though I was in the first coral, it took 23 seconds to cross the starting line. Not a problem because the race was scored on chip time, you say. I say the pack was moving so slowly beyond the starting line due to my starting positon, that I lost a significant amount of time due to runner density. On a 4 mile race, 4 seconds means one second off your pace. 40 seconds is a 10 second pace difference. OTOH, if you are prone to go out too fast, this scenario might be just what the doctor ordered.