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Latest reviews by Kwame Osei-Sarfo
Kwame Osei-Sarfo recommends this race
(2019)
"Flat Course with Plenty of Twists and Turns"
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I have to say that I absolutely LOVED this race.
As my title implies the course is full of twists and turns. I find that changing directions a few times while running makes a race more interesting. As part of NYRR's outer borough series, the Queens 10K is quite popular . . . I believe there were over 11,000 runners this year. Since there was a large running field and the course had multiple turns, the field was pretty congested at times, especially during the first two miles. In addition to these turns, you cannot beat the scenery of Flushing Meadows Park.
NYRR did a great job with having the Race Central near the subway stop. In the past, it was quite a hike walking from the subway to the start and the baggage drop off areas. This time around, it was nice having everything pretty much in the same area.
My only complaint was there was not too much enforcement with the coral assignments. However, I do not blame NYRR too much for this issue. Having volunteered for NYRR races in the past, volunteers typically have to arrive at the race about 2 hrs before the race. Since the 10K was scheduled to begin at 7:45, volunteers would have to arrive deep in Queens (the second to last stop on the 7 train) by 5:45 am.
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Kwame Osei-Sarfo recommends this race
(2019)
"Race Report: TCS New York City Marathon Training Series 12M"
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Date: August 11; 7:00 am
Distance: 12mi/19.2km
Place: Central Park, NY, NY
Weather: 71 F
Finishers: 4,536 (2,396 Men/2,140 Women)
This is the second of three training runs that NYRR sponsors in preparation for the TCS NYC Marathon. Technically, we are 12 weeks away from NYC's marathon. Umm, yea! I guess?
This training run allows one to run two full loops around Central Park, starting off with the tough Harlem Hills.
I find the run challenging in a good way because you do not have much time/distance to recover in between hills.
Although this "race" was 12 miles, my training plan called for 14 miles for this week's long run so I ran two miles before the race. For the most part, I felt pretty strong until about mile 8 of the run (or 10 total miles). Once I hit Mile 8, I really started to lose steam. I do not think that I ate enough before or during the run. Come to think of it, the Gatorade at all of the fluid stations was really watered down for this race. Going forward, I really have to start noting how early I need to wake and how much I need to eat. I believe that my body's digestive abilities have changed a bit since last year.
Like all of NYRR-sponsored races, this race was very well organized and there were plenty of fluid stations. I highly recommend this race for anyone training for NYC Marathon.
Kwame Osei-Sarfo recommends this race
(2019)
"Race Report: Front Runners New York LGBT Pride Run (5M)"
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Date: June 29th; 8:30 am
Distance: 5mi
Place: Central Park, NY, NY
Weather: 78 F, 71% Humidity (it sure felt warmer than 78 F)
Finishers: 10,236 (4,715 Men/5,521 Women)
This race is a yearly race, which is organized by the NY Front Runners, which closes out LGBTQIA+ Pride Month. Just an FYI, the NY Front Runners is one of the running clubs that I rarely to never run with. Perhaps that will change soon.
It marked the 50-year anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising in NYC during the late 60s. With the 10,000+ finishers, this race set a new Guinness World Record title for the largest pride charity run. The previous title was set with 6,000 finishers. I was surprised that the previous record was so low.
At the beginning of the race, the announcer mentioned that "today is not a day to PR," and boy was he right. During the first mile, you could definitely feel that everyone was running pretty cautiously because of the heat. For the first 2.5 miles, I did feel kind of strong. Not great, but I was not a complete mess. After the first hill, I started to feel very lightheaded/dizzy and decided to walk . . . a lot. Most of the east side of Central Park was pretty sunny and bright, and it was quite obvious that my body was overheating. I pretty much could not recover after this - even once we transitioned into the shadier west side of the Park. I think my mile 3 split was about 13 min. Since I knew that I had a few inclines left after the big hill, I decided to change up my strategy a bit and walked the declines and (slowly) ran the inclines. At every fluid station, I threw 3 - 4 cups of water (at least) on my head to help cool off. Hell, I may have even screwed up my phone. Since I'm still rocking an iPhone SE, I guess it's time to get a new phone anyway.
Even though this was a pride run, I was not very proud of my performance. But hey, I finished . . . barely.
Kwame Osei-Sarfo recommends this race
(2019)
"Race Report: Run as One (4M)"
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It was a struggle getting to this race. One thing that most may not know about me is that I hate running in extreme heat and in the rain. "Extreme" can mean anything above 75 F. ;) I really debated running this race; but by 8:05 am, I finally decided that I would go through with the race. . . keep in mind that the race started at 8:30 am. I pretty much had to "speed ride" from Harlem to the start, about 3 miles. According to Strava, I started my bike journey at 8:21 am. Fortunately, NYRR races have stagged starts. By the time I arrived to Central Park (~8:45 am) many of the runners had not started the race.
Since I would like to get faster at some point in my life, I wanted to employ a strategy of sprints and recovery during the race. The plan was a general, easy jog (Mile 1 and 2); fartleks (Mile 3); recovery for 0.5 mi and full "sprint" for 0.5 mi (Mile 4). Yeah, none of that crap happened. Well, I did fartlek during Mile 3. By the time, I arrived at the start, I was kind of pooped because riding a Citibike to the start (there were a few inclines in my route). Also, between my leg work out on Thursday and Citibike's big ass seats, my ass was pretty sore. I do not have too much to complain about this race or my performance because this was my first race in a month and I recently started running again. I did notice that I was a bit winded on some of Central Park hills but I think the humidity had a bit to do with that (or maybe the cigarettes are finally catching up to me, no pun) Also, with my recent runs, I have not really been pushing myself that much. Hopefully, that will change starting this week.
Kwame Osei-Sarfo recommends this race
(2019)
"Race Report: NYC United Half Marathon"
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Miles 1 - 4:
The first third of the half-marathon gave us a bit of a tour of Prospect Park and took us through the streets of Brooklyn. During these miles, I started off pretty slow because I did not want to risk injuring anything or running out of steam during the first part of the race. Late January was the last time that I ran anything over 8 miles. Plus, I was concerned that the first three to five miles were going to be pretty hilly. I probably could/should have pushed myself harder, but I did not want to risk the end of the race. Looking back at my experience, I am glad that I did not push myself any harder during this part because I probably would not have finished the run.
There were not really too many crowds out during this part of the race, which was kind of weird, but we did spend some time in the less popular sections (to me) of Prospect Park.
Miles 4 - 8:
This part of the half-marathon took us through downtown Brooklyn and into Manhattan. Crossing the Manhattan Bridge was one of the things that I looked forward to . . . and feared. I was surprised that I did not struggle too much with the Manhattan Bridge. I do not know why, but I thought that we were going to be running on the pedestrian and bike paths, which have very steep inclines. However, we ran across the upper level of the bridge, which had a gradual increase in steepness. I thought that I would have to walk the incline of the bridge so I was quite happy that I managed to run the entire bridge.
Arriving in Manhattan was so lackluster. There were hardly any crowds. Then again, I am comparing the experience of crossing a bridge into Manhattan from my NYC Marathon experience. In the NYC Marathon, you can hear the crowd's cheers on Manhattan's 1st Avenue roaring from the Queensboro Bridge. In last weekend's half, you barely heard a peep. There was someone with a loudspeaker telling us that we had seven miles left. I guess something is better than nothing.
This portion of the race took us through Chinatown and along FDR Drive, which was also pretty quiet. Also, the beginning part of FDR Drive was very sticky; it reminded me of a nasty movie theater. It was like a glue truck had dumped glue along a 1 - 1.5 mile stretch of the route.
Miles 8 - 12:
This portion of the half marathon took us through some great and iconic NYC sites: the UN, the Chrysler Building, Grand Central, Bryant Park, Times Square, Carnegie Hall, and Central Park.
It was during this part of the half that I was becoming quite fatigued and a bit over the race. One cool aspect of the NYC Marathon is there were large crowds (maybe not in the Bronx) that power you through the race. For the NYC Half, you kind of had to power yourself through it. The large majority of this chunk of the race is pretty flat so that made life a little more simple, which took my mind off of my fatigue. I pretty much cranked up my tunes and kept saying "one foot in front of another."
I started to overheat a bit and, at mile 11, had to walk a little. I think taking a bunch of selfies, pictures, and videos in and near Times Square kind of drained my mojo. The sad part is many of the Times Square pictures did not come out right so pretty much a bunch of time wasted.
Miles 12 - 13.1:
Absolute disaster. I totally forgot about the little hills sprinkled in Central Park. These hills are not super steep or difficult to climb, but my legs were pretty much done at this point. Around mile 10, I started to feel soreness in both of my quads, which was general pain from not running for the past 45 or so days. My bad. To get back into the groove and to finish strong, I tried to fartlek between light posts in Central Park, but after three or four fartleks, I had to walk again. I think this is the first time that I ever had to walk during the last mile of any race. But hey, I should be happy that I made to mile 12 without too much of a struggle.