A most interesting day!
Endurance athlete, Charlie Engle is running across America, hoping to break the world record for this event. Not only is he running but he has teamed up with United Way to inspire individuals to be part of a movement – to LIVE UNITED. This is scheduled to take place starting 8-8-08 through approximately 9-21-08. Coordinating such an undertaking requires a lot of planning and as a result Charlie was in our offices today. I had the pleasure of meeting Charlie and chatting with him for about 20 minutes. This was great. Just the thing to pump me up for my continued training.

"Starting today, live the life you have imagined for yourself"
— ENGLE

Yesterday was the 7th annual Deputy Chief Ray Downey Forever Running Memorial 5K Run/Walk, commemorating the life of fallen NYC fire fighter, runner and 9/11 hero. This is the fourth time I've done this race, which falls on Father's Day. This race is in Deer Park, NY, where Ray Downey lived and attracts many local folks. This year there were 1,600+ finishers, many from the fire fighter community.

The previous times I have run this race, the weather was brutal, Hot & Humid. This year it was just humid and not too hot. I felt pretty good throughout the race, no ankle soreness, and my finishing time was 28:26 (a 9:10 pace). I was pleased given the humidity and that this was the best time for this race out of the four times I have run it. In my age group I came in 13th out 39.

I have no races scheduled until July 4th, so I am going to concentrate on just doing runs, building my base and getting some longer distances in.

Yesterday was the Keith Nintzel Memorial 5K Run in Sayville, NY. Beautiful day an hour before the start, but warmed up pretty quickly. I have done this race three times, now. Partly, because, it is a memorial run for a college freshman, Keith Nintzel, who died in a car accident. Being a parent of a college sophomore, this tragic accident is one of those worries that always pervades one's deepest fears.

The race attracts many runners, 500+, for a small local race and many are under 30; only 24 men between 56 & 65. Since it was warm and I am still not 100%, my goal was to take it easy and really get warmed up before I attempted to push it. I did a little pre-running and stretching and as the race started felt ok in the ankle. I saw my friend Bill Halperin ahead of me and tried to keep pace with him. I finished the race in 28:03 (9:03 pace) - 5 seconds faster than the 5K I ran 2 weeks earlier and 1:13 faster than last year. I was ok with my results though I wanted to break a 9:00 pace.

Received an email this morning from the NY Road Runners informing me that I had not been selected in this year's NYC Marathon lottery. So it goes. The third year in a row, which means that next year, if I enter the lottery, I will be automatically selected. So the task at hand is to find an alternative fall marathon to train for. Hartford, again? Philly? Bay State? More to come. For now, I'm just gonna run.

Yesterday was the New Hyde Park 8K Championship Race. The weather was beautiful, - sunny and in the low 70s. However, it did feel pretty hot and whenever a breeze came along, it was delightful. I managed to come in at 47:58 (results) or a 9:39 pace.

This is a hilly course but for some reason I am fond of it. I went out ok, not too fast. I felt a little tenderness in my ankle but as I warmed up, it disappeared. I walked through the two water stops because the heat was beginning to get to me. At about mile 2, there began a long gradual decline which made getting into a nice rhythm easy. The last mile was tough and I had to walk a couple 15 second intervals but kicked the last half mile.

As I was looking over the finishing results, I saw, to my surprise, that I had come in 3rd in my class (Clydesdale-High; Men over 200 pounds) and was to receive a small trophy.

The irony of the "award" is that throughout the race I was feeling very challenged; maybe it was the heat or maybe the 2 glasses of wine the night before. Whatever the case, I was having a debate with myself throughout the race about whether or not to enter the NYC Marathon lottery. I just felt too overwhelmed to consider 4-5 months of training for a marathon. When I got home, I was feeling pretty good about myself and my running and did enter the lottery. I also got Brian to enter as well. So in mid-June we will see if we made it and till then - let's start training!