My second race of the year and it's only February. I went into today not knowing what the last 150+ miles in the last 40 days would do for me. Cautiously, I was hoping for about a 19:30 today, believing the training would help, but knowing I need more speed work to really get faster. Also, racing or running in mid 30's temps feels like a win these days as well.

This is the 3rd or 4th time I have done the Cupid's Chase in Glen Rock. It is a little smaller, with finishers in the 200's probably. The last time I did it, a couple years ago, it was like 12 degrees. I hated it. Also, I have finished over 20 minutes all previous times as it's so early in the year.

The course is pretty flat and it is marked fine. I wish there were mile split clocks, but it is a small raise, and a fundraiser for special needs individuals in the community and nation.

Red Shirt 1st, me 2nd, Spartan sweats 3rd
I ran out fast and right away, within 200 meters, it was only three of us. It was myself in 3rd , a guy I beat in Fair Lawn last month was second, and a guy that beat me last month in the lead. It stayed that way for the whole first mile. My early thought was, the guy in the lead would win as he looked strong and beat me by a decent margin on January 1st. I did think however, that I would be able to get the other guy that I had beaten last month. He is a bigger guy, with less than optimal form.

Mile two stayed pretty much the same, except all of us got closer together, which was great for me. I wanted to stay in touch with them as I knew it was a 3 runner race. I didn't really see or have any contact with anyone behind me when I looked on turns. Also, mile two provided the only real inclines, which I definitely used to close the gaps. They weren't big, but I felt strong on them and gained probably 50 feet on first place and about 10 feet on the guy right in front of me.

During mile three, at some point we were within 15 feet of each other. Then, the big guy slid into first and the other guy stayed even with me. The big guy was still within 20 feet of both of us, so it was still a battle for top three.

About .6 miles left in the race, I moved into second place on a decent downhill stretch into a turn to the finish. I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to hold him off, but I did and finished in second. I ran 19:04, behind the leader by a handful of seconds, and in front of third by around the same.

That was a solid 55 seconds faster than last month in Fair Lawn. I did forget to mention that I had a shoelace come undone in mile 1, about 4 minutes into the race. I was really pleased. Overall though, I couldn't be happier. I am only 9 seconds off my PR already, and I have several races in front of me. Training is paying off and I can't wait to put in a big week starting on Monday!

My first race report in a long time. It feels good. The Fair Lawn 1st Day 5K is a nice, small event to kick off the new year. It was my 3rd year running it in a row, and my best result. A relatively flat course, I am now fairly familiar with it and know what to expect.

The race is well organized from the time you arrive at packet pick up and the warm of the middle school gym was needed. It was a balmy 9 degrees out. The facilities and food/drink were also easily accessible.

Fair Lawn 1st Day also represents a team participation event as well. I loosely belong to a running club called North Jersey Masters. It's a great club featuring runners of all demographics. They attend events, hold group runs and training sessions, as well as social meet ups. 2018 is my first year in the club picture too. I'm the dork on the far right in the red shoes.

As far as the race went, I had no idea what to expect. I haven't raced in awhile and it was F-ing cold as anything. I really just wanted to get out and run fast again. I hit the first mile marker in 6:27. I wasn't upset, but I didn't know if I could maintain that speed.

The course is well marked, but with the weather being so frigid, there were virtually no spectators. I was in my head the whole time though. My goal for mile 2 was to be strong and maintain my pace. I know that generally, the third mile of a race I can gut it out. Mile two can sometimes be a let down. For some reason, there wasn't a person giving splits at mile 2 and my arm sleeves cover my watch, so I just kept running. The wind was whipping pretty hard so I simply wanted to run and get done.

Mile 3 and the .1 represented a challenge for virtually the whole time. I caught a couple people during mile 1 and 2, but one tall dude caught me during mile 2. I stayed with him and we traded position literally the whole time during the last 1.1 miles. About 200 meters out, he passed me for good and finished 3 seconds ahead of me. I tried to stay, but he had a little more left than me. I have to say though, luckily he was there because he definitely helped me finish strong and there is no way I break 20 minutes without his competition.

My only major letdown was that my watch was set on the "other" setting and because of this I didn't get any run data, mile splits, cadence, etc. F. Based on the mile 1 split, I figure that mile 2 and 3 were probably around 6:40-6:45/mile pace.

I finished 9th overall and second in my age group. Finishing in 19:59 official time in single digits is a major win for me. Especially since I only had a small warm up because of the cold.

The race ends and there is immediately support for runners with water and the warmth of the middle school. There was coffee and plenty of bagels and fruit.

I waited roughly a half hour for the awards ceremony to get my age group award and was pleasantly surprised by a $10 gift certificate along with my medal. It was a nice race for a smaller event and it was appreciated.

The only complaint I have, if there is one, is that the T Short is short sleeve and cheap cotton. I am a bit of a race shirt snob. I like a tech T and in the winter, I think it should be long sleeve. However, as a fundraiser for a lot of avenues, the Fair Lawn Rotary gets a pass. They do a lot of good.

It's really a great little race for those that are in the area. The race registration was only $25 and everything runs well. Keep up the good work and I will see you on 01.01.2019

In what was my first run in 2 1/2 weeks, I race the inaugural St. Patrick's Day race in Fair Lawn this morning. The race was put on by the great folks at RaceFaster. RaceFaster is a set of training professionals for runners, triathletes, youth runners, as well as having a store front and putting on a handful of races. For a 1st year race, I was pleased. It was affordable, featured a few sponsors the morning of, and marked the course well. The course was the same as another race run, the Fair Lawn 1st Day 5K I have done.

I have been on the shelf for the last 2 1/2 weeks with a nasty, lingering sinus infection. I was 3 days into a great week, 20 miles in feeling good, when I woke up broken and feeling like garbage back on March 1st.

I was supposed to run a race last weekend in Hillsdale, NJ, but I felt horrible still and it was on 15 degrees when I woke up that day. All this week, I was slowly getting better with the medicine I was on. Finally, I felt really back to normal on Friday.

Toeing the line this morning in a breezy, cold 30ish degree weather, I was really not sure where I would be at the end of the race. I alway try to give whatever I have, and I did that, but before the race, I wasn't sure what that entailed. Listening to a couple runner dudes at the start, I overheard one guy say he was going to run around 6:20ish pace. His buddy said he just wanted to be under 21 minutes. I was happy to hear those two because I figured if they held their end of the bargain, I would like to use them to finish up somewhere in the middle, around 20 minutes.

As my race began, I was about 20 feet behind the dude that wanted to run 6:20's and for the first mile, I was even with the other due that wanted to go sub 21 minutes. I didn't mid that, however, as I knew he was running a little faster than he had talked about; we hit mile one in 6:25.

After that, dude 2 wised up and dropped off a bit as I held pace. I hit mile 2 in a solid split of 6:29, happy to keep similar pace. I had built a little lead on slower dude, and the faster dude had built a little bit more on me moving through mile 3.

The final 1.1 miles was a little slower, but I could not be happier. After having no idea what I could do after being sick and off for 2 1/2 weeks, I rolled in at 20:10. I finished the race in 7th place overall, and 1st in my age group.

In the 41st year of the event, I learned a valuable lesson. You may think you are ready, but
sometimes, a PR isn't in the books.

I had hoped and thought that I was ready to run sub-18:00 and really do something strong in this race. I have been training hard, and had some expectations. However, blame it on a long soccer weekend in the African like heat, or eating bad for a couple days, lack of sleep, whatever....all excuses. At the end of the day, I didn't get it done for whatever reason.

It's not that I am ok with it, but I simply cannot change it. I have to move on and I have 18 days until the featured race. Anyway, on with the race report specifics.

The 10K and 5K average a couple thousand runners combined. I always do the 5K, but am tempted to do the 10K every year.

I ran the 5K in 19:28 and finished 38th overall out of around 1500 people. I missed placing in my age group, finishing 4th of the 40-44 year old males.

The race in general was great as always. The organization, the setup of tables for registration, food, SWAG, all were well done. I only have 2 issues with the race. First, the start is packed and I worry about falling. However, I worry about stepping on and trampling a kid even more. I think it's time that they at least entertained the idea of 2 waves at the start. I would think a wave of runners with times under a certain amount, maybe 24 minutes, in one wave. In the second wave, all those above the 24 minute mark.

My second issue with the run is the shirts. Almost every year, the shirt is disappointing. This year, it was a sleeveless V neck in light blue. Jesus....One year it was black and people were dropping like flies in the heat wearing it in the run. Another year, it was this horrible gray tank top, and it was cotton!! Why is it so hard to do a nice white or blue tech T with some patriotic red/white/blue fonts and maybe a small flag or something?!

Weather-wise, I didn't mind it, but it may have affected me. It felt heavy at the start. As you can see in the picture, there was a bit of a sprinkle as we got ready to start. Besides that, it was about 196% humidity.

After the 5K, we walked around and got some food and drink and watched the mile races of the Masters and the Elites. The final event, the one my kids were excited for, was the 1 mile fun run that took off at 12 noon. We had a great run through the neighborhood as we hit a bunch of sprinklers and water stations, ran with a 6 year old having stomach pains from sprinting, and actually watched a 9-10 year old girl standing and waiting for her 30-40 year old dad that was having some serious hamstring cramping going on. It was comically awesome!