A Full Weekend

My weekend started out by taking my son to the Knicks game. We had a great time as exemplified by his slight tummy ache from too much cotton candy, ice cream, and pop corn. We had very good seats, close to the floor, but for some reason he preferred to go up to the nosebleed seats and marvel at the entire scene laid out before him. The Knicks even won for a change.

Saturday called for driving up to Harriman State Park to meet my friend Walter. We planned to get together for a couple of hours of riding. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get up in time, considering my late night. The point was moot though. When I saw the rain and wind outside, I decided it was God telling me to stay home. I knew my wife would have liked the car around 11am and the rain outside convinced me I should just stay local. Walter was still thinking of going and I wished him luck if he did. I received an email message from him later on. Apparently he went. This is what he had to say “as the rain changed to hail and then to snow I knew it was time to bail. Waterlogged and frostbit, I had to quit. Harriman is not the place to ride in bad weather.”

I also rode outside on Saturday. It was cold, windy and rainy. My brain was screaming at me to stop and go home. I really struggled and began to doubt my commitment to training. As time wore on though, I kept saying just one more lap, just one more lap. I eventually did 9 laps of Prospect Park, when I decided to go home. My hands were frozen up to my elbows and my fingertips were very painful. Continuing to train outside was rapidly delivery diminished returns. My heart rate was dropping and it was time to go in and warm up.

Once inside, I rode for another 90 minutes. I wanted to go two hours, but my but my young son and coach decided it was time to stop and cook him some pancakes. I decided to heed his advice. It was just us for the remainder of the day, since my daughter was out on a sleep over birthday party. We spent the time painting his skateboard and playing soccer in the basement. The day went by much too quickly.

At night, I camped out on the living room floor with my boy. Originally he started to go to sleep on the couch, with me on the floor next to him. After a few minutes though, he jumped on my back when I made believe I was sleeping. He stayed next to me for the remainder of the night. He fell asleep with his arm around my shoulders.

I wondered if I would sleep well enough on my hard floor in order to get enough rest for a 20 mile run along River Road, just over the George Washington Bridge. I thought I would wake up with a bunch of aches and pains, but I slept reasonably well. I forgot to set my alarm however and I woke up at 6:30am, which only gave me 30 minutes to make it from my door to the bridge about 20 miles away.


Fortunately, Derek Rose of the Carnival of Runners/Weekly Rundown fame, my running partner for the day, was running late as well. We met each other around 7:30 and began our 20 mile journey. It started at the Manhattan side of the GWB. If it weren’t for the cars zipping across the bridge, the crossing would be quite pleasant. However, the crossing is very loud and windy. I you hardly hear yourself think, much less your footsteps. We had to wait until we reached the other side to have any sort of conversation.

We kept a comfortable pace as we ran against low 40 degree temps and a steady headwind. The only problem I had with the run was very cold hands. By the time I reached the ten mile mark, my fingertips were quite painful. I am debating on seeing a doctor. My HR was easily in the 80 percent range and I couldn’t get enough blood pumping into them to keep them warm.

We stopped at the Ranger station at the 10 mile mark. We took a quick pit stop and I ran my hands under warm water. It helped warm them to the point were the pain went from fierce to mild. Before we headed back, we took a second to snap photos of ourselves.

We ran back at a faster pace and posted a negative split for the day. I suppose we were helped by a tailwind and a more downhill course. This suited me fine as I was anxious to get home. I was debuting as coach for my son’s soccer team and I wanted enough time to eat, shower and get to the field. My legs still had enough juice in them to run all over the field conducting drills and getting the players into their positions. It was much more fun than I could have imagined. I now have no doubts that when it comes to doing a long run or coaching my son’s team, I will definitely be coaching.