The Adventures of Cowboy Hazel

A few followups, random thoughts, links, etc.:

~ I posted (a bunch of) photos from Christmas with the Family and the Road Trip to Ohio.  Check ‘em out if you’re bored.

~ I forgot to add “Run a Half-Marathon in under an hour and a half” to my goals for the year.

~ I’m pretty sure I mildly burned my legs today — My legs (both the joints and the muscles) have been aching real bad lately, so I drew a super hot bath with Epsom salts tonight. I may have made it just a little too hot. I forced myself to sit in there for twenty minutes and when I got out, my legs were bright pink. I had to shower off to cool back down. But my legs stayed pink.

~ I’m working on a list of lifelong goals too. It’s not laminated yet, though, so I won’t share it just now…

~ My favorite site/blog/I’m-not-sure-what-to-call-it had an exceptionally good post this week.

~ The people living directly upstairs are the loudest, most annoying people in the entire world. My apartment was so much better back in September before they moved in. Honestly, who the hell walks around their apartment in stilettos all night and listens to bad eighties music that loud? (I mean, besides my neighbor, of course.)

~ Tomorrow’s my first early morning run on the west side of the year. Yay! But, I’m a little worried about getting up at 4:30 because my schedule has been so much later lately… I’m nowhere near sleepy now and I’m already shy of the full eight hours even if I could somehow fall asleep right now.

~ Thanks for all the great comments lately. It’s been fun reading them.

I’ve been asking people this question lately and have been getting a lot of different answers: “Anything longer than an hour,” “Over 10 Miles,” “The longest run of the week that you do on the weekend,” “Any run where you have to stop for food along the way,” etc.  Of course, there’s no right answer, but I just like seeing what people say.  Personally, I consider a long run simply to be anything over 12 miles.  And, by that definition, I ran my first long run since November today.

I’d love to tell you that it was a beautiful return to distance running and that everything was wonderful and nice. But I can’t. Well, I guess I could, but I’d be lying. Fact is, today’s run hurt. A lot. I ran from here on 116th Street down the entire East River then headed back up the Hudson to 14th. As soon as I started, my knee, feet, lungs, head, pretty much everything started to hurt at once. And they never really stopped hurting. The temp was 36 and there were some brisk winds. I don’t recall ever being so hot and cold at the same time as I was today. I’d get all warm and sweaty in my winter gear and then run into a patch of cold air that would freeze it to my body. I got super-duper hungry (like I could hear my stomach growling) about an hour into the run too.

So, why all this whining? Why am I bothering to type all this out? Because I fought through it and I finished the 12.9 miles that I mapped out for myself even though it wasn’t a lot of fun. My pace suffered a bit (7:17 miles), but I didn’t quit. And that’s worth something.

Last night, as the clock struck twelve, I looked just like everyone else snapping photos and smiling and shouting “Happy New Year!,” but I wasn’t really all that happy. In fact, standing there watching the fireworks over Central Park, I suddenly got very sad that it was already 2009. It just seems like there’s so much that I should have accomplished by now that I haven’t and there were so many things that I thought I would do last year that I never got around to. True, there were many positives to take out of 2008, but they just don’t seem like enough.

Fortunately, other than that little moment, the last two weeks have been terrific. I played tourist here in NYC with my family for a week, then had a big, beautiful Christmas dinner here in at my place with them and my buddy who flew up from Miami. After my family left, we headed out west to Ohio. Our road trip was a blast even though the Jets game that started it off was, to say the least, disappointing. I won’t go into details of the two weeks because, if I did, I’d write enough to fill a novella and I don’t have the time or energy for that right now.

Instead, I’d like to finalize and share my goals for 2009. Maybe by having them down on paper (and seeing them checked off by December 31st), I’ll be able to consider this next year more of a success. Here goes:

• Run 1,500 total miles.
• Run at least 100 miles every month.
• Run a mile in under five minutes.
• Run a sub 3:10 marathon and qualify for Boston.
• Net $100,000 (before taxes).
• Completely pay off my credit cards.
• Get my Network of sites up to 1,000,000 visits a month.

A lot of those are carryovers of goals that were set and missed in ‘08. Let’s hope things go better this year. Aren’t odds supposed to be lucky?

This race report is a little late and it’s going to be a little short. It’s tough to find time for writing when you have an apartment full of family in town for the holidays. Still, I feel the race deserves at least a few words written about it…

My kid sister and I woke up early, bundled up and headed over to Central Park. As we were headed up to the baggage check, we heard the bad news: Due to the snowy and icy conditions, today’s run has been designated a fun run. They took our timing chips and told us that the race wouldn’t really count. That completely changed everything. Thinking about it now, it shouldn’t have had such an impact on me or how I was going to run, but learning that it wasn’t going to be officially timed and scored simply took the wind out of my sails.

I relaxed so much that my first mile was over seven minutes. In the second mile, I picked up the pace just a bit and settled in around 6:50’s. Crossing the seven mile marker, I realized there was still plenty of juice in the tank and was actually able to make a move in the last couple miles. I passed a bunch of people and sailed into the finish at 1:02:38, an overall 6:43 pace. Maybe that’s the approach I should take into all these longer runs — a fun run mentality. It actually led me to a pretty decent time.

But, of course, that time doesn’t really count. Why does it matter so much whether it’s official or not? I know how fast I ran. And, for that matter, you know how fast I ran too because I just told you. Yet, somehow, I feel like I was cheated out of something… Rather than dwelling on that, though, I’ll get back to the story:

After the race, I grabbed my bagel and waited around for my sister. It was her first road race ever and she did a phenomenal job, finishing the 15K in 1:25:57. Still, that was 23 minutes after I finished — 23 very, very cold minutes. Standing around in wet race gear is not a lot of fun in twenty degree weather. I’ve never been so happy to see anyone cross the finish line as I was then. We jogged back to the 6 and got back to a warm breakfast as quick as we could.

All in all, it was a great race, a perfect way to end the year. No more racing for me until the end of January. Enjoy your holidays everyone!

Wow.  Long, long day.  So long, in fact, that you may be wondering why I’m sitting here writing instead of sleeping.  I’m wondering the same thing.  Best answer I can come up with is because I’ve been running around like a crazy person for almost 20 hours now and I can’t simply flip the switch off.  I need a little moment to relax first…

It started at 4:30 when the cell phone alarm pulled me out of a very interesting dream — I was on board one of those giant barges that take garbage out to sea in the middle of a giant storm. There were angry looking people with guns running around too. I can’t quite remember how I got there or what I was doing, but I remember being surprisingly unworried by all the commotion.

Anyway, I woke up, got out the door and headed over to the west side for a grueling run with Sarah. We did a mile warm up, then 4 miles at a 6:25 pace, then a mile cool down. Gotta love that near-P.R. pace run an hour before dawn… It was painful, but so worth it. Headed back, cleaned out my inbox, made some breakfast and then started working for real. Other than an hour-and-a-half journey down to the U.E.S. to run a couple errands, I was working solid for my client from before 9 am until a little after 11 pm. I have this huge project that I really wanted to get wrapped up before my long vacation. And, it’s looking like I just might make it…

So, my parents fly in tomorrow afternoon and then the longest vacation of my adult life commences. They’ll be here for a week and then my buddy Josh is up from Miami for another week. After tomorrow, no work for me until 2009! How cool is that?

My kid sister and I are running the 15K on Saturday and then, after that, I’m going to take the running pretty easy for the next couple weeks. I’ve already trimmed them a bunch — I have less than 30 in for the week! I think the rest will be a good thing, though. I’m excited about the 15K for a couple reasons: First, I’ve never run one before so I’m anxious to see if it ends up being closer to my 10K pace or half marathon pace. Second, it’ll be my sister’s first time running in Central Park and I’m so excited for her to have that experience. Finally, as a little extra bonus, because I’ll be sporting the number 343 again (I picked up my bib today). Last time I wore 343 was in Staten Island and I shattered my P.R. I’m hoping the number stayed lucky for me. As a side note, it cracks me up how consistent the NYRR bib numbers have been lately. In my last 5 races, I’ve been 337, 303, 343, 335, 339, and now 343 again. It’s a good thing I don’t have any qualms about the number 3!

Other than that, we’ll just be doing touristy stuff, I’m sure. Josh flies up Christmas day in time for the big dinner at my house (the first time I’ve ever hosted Christmas). My family leaves the 26th, then Josh and I are going on a road trip for a few days: We’re headed out to the Jets game in Jersey on the 28th, then west to Pittsburgh to meet a friend at a bar, then to Canton, Ohio to see the Pro Football Hall of Fame, then to West Virginia because it’s one of the 6 states that I’ve never been too and don’t have a shot glass from yet. Yippee!

Strange day.  It started at 7:45 with my obnoxious cell phone alarm going off very loudly and me not being able to track down the phone and having to listen to that godawful sound for what seemed like an eternity.  Finally I found it in my jacket which I had apparently tossed up into the loft when I got home last night.  (I tend to throw everything up there when I’m too lazy to put it away.  You can’t even see the floor anymore.)  After climbing back downstairs (my head throbbing with a hangover — I’m turning into quite the lightweight) and firing up the computer, I try to make a pot of coffee… but forget to add water.  A few minutes later and I wander back to the kitchen to find this horrible burning smell and was pretty sure I’d just ruined my coffee machine.  Eh…  I turned it off and went back to the computer which had finally started up.  I logged onto the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run site at 7:55 and found that registration had already opened 5 minutes early. I filled out the entire form, submitted, got a confirmation page and then nothing. It froze. Typical. So, instead of heading right back to bed as I’d planned, I ended up sitting at the damn computer for over an hour trying to resubmit the form over and over again. The site was slammed with traffic and kept freezing. Finally, a little after 9:00, I got my application to go through. But, by then, I had to start my work day which was tough to do because I never got a chance to go through my morning routine. And, I still didn’t have coffee.

Out of curiosity, I headed back to the site around noon and found that the race had already filled up! I looked at a couple of the race photos from last year and instantly saw why this is such a popular race — it is unbelievably beautiful.

Fast forward to lunchtime… I check the weather and see that it’s 38 degrees and it looks sunny outside so I decide to wear shorts on my run. It was chilly when I first walked outside, but I figured I’d warm up. I decided to try the Nike+ again, but it still wouldn’t work. (I’m officially considering it dead now and am going to just buy a stopwatch.) I headed out to my chunk of the East River and started running. About a mile into the run, I see a big, giant snowflake come crashing down from the sky. “No way, it’s snowing!” I was so excited. The snow continued to pick up, but I was running with the wind and it was beautiful. I was trying to run slow to help stretch everything out from this weekend, but I couldn’t help but speeding up just because I was so happy to be out in the beautiful weather. By the time I got to the park over the FDR, I was nearly sprinting. It felt great. But then, I had to turn around and all of the sudden, I was greeted with a barrage of snow crashing straight into my face. The wind was significant too and the snow continued to intensify. For most of the run home, I couldn’t even look straight ahead because it was so intense. Needless to say, I got a little cold here too, running in shorts. In the end, I made it home all right and, all in all, was very happy to have had the snow finally arrive. I hope that it lasts!

I won! That pretty much sums up the whole race right there. Everything else is just details. Details are fun, though, so here goes:

Last night, I ended up going out with my friend in the Lower East Side. My foot was really hurting and so I had pretty much abandoned the idea of running the race today. We went to a bar and grabbed a few beers, then went to an Argentinian restaurant and ate a ridiculous amount of food — steak, empanadas, chorizo, sweetbreads, potatoes (all of these are totally non-pre-race-day-approved) — and drank a bottle of Malbec. After that, we went to another bar to get coffee and whiskey drinks. Sorry for all the detail there — but it helps to understand how strange the story of this morning really was.

You’d think after all that, I’d sleep like a log. Nope. I slept for like three hours and then I was wide awake. I read for a bit, finally dozed off a couple times, but never really got back to sleep. At seven this morning, I decided to just get up and see how my foot felt. I put on my new shoes (I was going to try them out today) but as soon as I laced them up and stood up, I was in excruciating pain. I thought of just giving up and going back to bed, but I knew that I’d be upset at myself all week if I did. With that in mind, I decided to instead try on a previously retired pair of shoes with 400+ miles on them. I found that they actually felt a lot better — There was still some soreness, but nothing like with the new ones. So, I took a couple Excedrin (I had a nasty hangover headache) got dressed and headed out to Brooklyn.

I got there way early and ended up sitting outside for over an hour before the race started. The weather was warmer than yesterday, but it was still chilly to be out there without a coat. I ran a bit, did a bunch of stretches, made a few bathroom visits and finally, as race time approached, I was actually feeling almost human again.

The race was small, maybe a couple hundred runners, and the send off was pretty casual. They gave a speech about arthritis, a bunch of little kids ran through a banner, and then, out of nowhere, the guy with the speakerphone yells, “Go!” I wasn’t exactly sure if he was talking to the kids or all of us, but everyone started running so I did too. I was near the front when we started, passed a couple people within the first twenty yards, and from then on was in the lead. It was so weird. There were other people out on their normal weekend runs in the park that I passed, but other than that I was on my own. It was so quiet, so strange. I actually looked down a couple times at my bib to see if I was really running a race and this wasn’t some weird dream. Oh, I forgot to mention, my Nike+ crapped out again so I had no idea how fast I was going. Plus, there were no mile markers. So, I was out there running with no one pace off of, no idea how fast I’m going, and on a relatively unknown course I’d only run twice before. About half-way through, there was a huge hill that really slowed me down. I was worried that someone would pass me there, but no one did. I was also worried that I was going to throw up — My stomach was not at all happy with me. It’s funny, I wanted to turn around and look behind me so bad but I remembered from movies and watching races on t.v. that you’re never supposed to do that so I didn’t. Instead, I kept listening for footsteps behind me, but never heard them. Finally, I fought my way to the top of the hill, and then the last stretch was all downhill (I remembered this part from Thanksgiving) and I really opened up my stride again and sailed in to the finish.

There was a tape across the finish line that I ran up to and then stopped. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to actually run through it or what — I’ve never won a race before. Almost instantly, they dropped one side of it and I just stepped over it. I headed straight through the chute to the tent to get water amid a flurry of high-fives and congratulations then turned and came back to see the second place finisher come in maybe half a minute behind me.

You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned my time yet… This is the annoying part — I don’t really know what it was. The clock said 20:16 when I crossed the finish line and I was at first thinking that must be right (I mean, you always assume the race clock is right) but later standing around and talking to the other runners, there seemed to be a consensus that it was at least a minute slow. I may not have ran as fast as yesterday (6:07’s) but there’s no way that I slowed all the way down to 6:31’s. So, technically, I still don’t have my sub-20 minute 5K!

I hung out and chatted with the other runners for about almost an hour before the award ceremony. Everyone was so friendly and a bunch of people kept coming up to me and asking how I finished after seeing me sprint off at the start. It was so fun being able to say, “I won.” And it was almost surreal when the awards ceremony finally started and I heard the speakers announce, “1st place overall, Robert Reese.” I walked up and they handed me this really cool trophy (the first trophy I’ve ever gotten in my entire life for any sport) and then took a picture of me holding it. I hope I get to see that picture someday, I’m sure I look like a big dork in it. Again, I know you’re supposed to be nonchalant about these things and not care, but I’m so freakin’ happy with the trophy. First thing I did when I got home was to put it on the mantle over the fireplace.

So, I’m definitely glad I got out and ran. That was just so much fun. My foot’s definitely sore now, but who cares? I mean, when am ever going to get another chance to win a race? This has been something I’ve always dreamed of and to have it happen (even if it was a small race) was very fulfilling.

And, as if that wasn’t good enough, after showering and changing into warm clothes, I got to relax and watch the Jets topple the Bills and move one game closer to the playoffs! What a good day!