Got up at 7AM, ate breakfast with Stacy at the hotel restaurant, and then checked in my uniform (can't have any advertising) and got my bib and chip. My bib number is indeed #36, as I had thought. Afterward, Logan came by, and the two of us walked over to Central Park (about 3/4 mile), and toured the course. We ran the first three miles, and then walked the last two, then jogged back to the hotel for 3.5 total. The course is indeed rolling, but I don't think it will be too bad, especially coming from Utah. I think the hard part will be the repetition, just the same hills over and over and over. It will definitely wear down people over time. The road surface should be quite fast though, and weather at least won't be hot. We had a technical meeting/lunch at noon. We all loaded on buses at 11:15, and it took us 40 minutes to go about 2.5 miles. This is why I will never live in NYC. It is amusing for a weekend, but that's about it for me. Not that I should complain too much, but the host hotel is not close to anything race-related. The start line, finish line, and various banquet sites are all several miles away and take over half an hour to shuttle to, depending on traffic (which is always bad). Oh well. Mind you, I am very happy just to be here, but just wish I could maximize my time better. All the time driving around has basically cheated me out of my nap, which makes me cranky.
The lunch itself was good. Logan and I found Sean, so had our FastRunningBlog seating section, along with about 6 other guys I didn't know (besides Kyle Baker, who I sort of "know" from racing in MI). After an hour of eating (wish it had been only 30 minutes), they did the technical meeting, which also lasted an hour (wish it had been only 30 minutes). So we were back on the bus a little after 2PM, and back to the hotel around 2:50PM. After that I went up and got my per diem money, and then back downstairs to get a final tune-up massage/stretching session. The therapist turned out to be Tom Nohilly, who was an elite steeplechaser and contemporary with my college coach Brian Diemer. He knew Diemer well. Small world. The only other task for today is dropping off my fluid bottles. I am only doing 2 or 3 bottles (we can do 10 max), as I did not feel they really helped me at all during St. George. In fact, it was a bit of a distraction, but I'll do a couple anyway. Interesting notes and observations from the technical meeting: - Brian Sell is now my favorite to win, based on the fact he has a really sweet mustache.
- Peter Gilmore has the same Keen street shoes as me. They are the "Bronx" model, which is appropriate for this weekend.
- There will be a timing mat for every 5K, plus half marathon and other key points. Since it is a multi-lap course, we will go over a mat 52 times. The mats will be spaced anywhere between 400m and 1300m, due just to how the course lays out. The end result will be a stat junkie's dream. Sasha, this is your chance to get the data you've always wanted.
I was 95% sure I am not going to wear a watch, and the mat thing brings this up to 100%. That's right, I'm running "naked". I can see no good reason to wear a watch at this point, seeing as to how time does not matter. And since all my splits are recorded for me, all a watch will do at this point is distract me. I imagine I will miss most of the mile markers anyway. I want to get into a "XC mentality" for this race.
Weather is uncertain at this point, but latest reports showed a 35% chance of rain, and also a possibility of strong gusty winds. Of course I would prefer prefect weather, but since time doesn't matter, I really don't care what the weather brings. In any case, I plan to tuck into the back of the slowest pack for the first bit of the race, move up as needed to stay with "the right pack", and draft off of a big block of bodies. I am not concerned about my placing for the first half of the race, as the last 10 miles should be plenty of time to move up, throw surges, and pick off those who went out too hard or are having bad races. The key is patience and staying within my window, rather than getting pulled into someone else's race. I have to ability to finish marathons strong and hard, and hope to use this to place in the Top 35. I look forward to just being out there and running with so many talented runners.
| 