Movement
I spent all day Sunday moving around. It started with the NYRR Joe Kleinerman 10K in Central Park. It was my ninth NYRR race for the year and officially qualifies me for guaranteed entry into the 2007 NYC Marathon.
To save time on getting to and from the city, I decided to drive to the race. I needed to make the commute to the city a fast one since I had to take my son to basketball practice at 11:30am. The race started at 9:30, so I calculated about 45 minutes to do the race, 10-15 minutes to get back to my car and 20 minutes home. This would give me about a half hour to spare. If I took the subway, I could count on the trip being about an hour which would make us very late for Basketball. I made it home a few minutes before 11am. I would have bet there were people still out on the course while I was already home in Brooklyn eating breakfast.
I hung out before the race with another runner named Mike. He started talking to me as we walked to the Road Runners club to pick up race souvenirs. We had both parked near the club, but it turned out he parked illegally so had to move it. We drove together closer to the start and we hung out inside it for a while to avoid the cold. That is the great thing about doing these races; it is so easy to befriend a fellow athlete and have a lot in common to talk about.
The race was over quickly. I did it in 44:50 with all negative splits. I ran the miles as follows: 07:53.0, 07:32.4, 07:12.2, 07:12.5, 06:57.9, 06:45.2 and 01:17.1 for the last .2. I ducked under the tape for the finishers shoot as soon as I crossed the line and ran a leisurely mile back to my car.
My son and I got to basketball practice on time and for the next hour and a half, I helped coach the kids. I would have liked to just veg out for a while, but fatherly duty called. After practice there was still no time to rest, since my son now had an ice skating birthday party to go to. So it was a quick trip home to get our skates, a snack and then off to the rink.
This is where the real fun began. In the past when I have skated with my son, it was a lot of me towing him around while he stood. Miraculously though, he seemed to learn to skate since our last trip to the rink and was off on his own for most of the time. This was a very good thing, because the mother of the birthday boy asked me if I could help her son around the rink. He is a very nice boy and very enthusiastic, but skating is definitely not his forte. The child couldn’t stand on the ice for more than two seconds without falling. I spent a torturous half hour trying to get the kid on his feet and suggesting that he just go to the side and slide along the boards. He didn’t really want to do that though, and let me tell you this kid was no lightweight. I could feel the strain in my hamstrings every time I tried to lift him up. I was afraid I would soon pull a muscle. Watching him on ice was like watching a comedy scene where you have a bunch of people constantly falling down because they are slipping on marbles. Mercifully another parent in our group came by and I was able to beg off the responsibility. I needed to for my own physical health and sanity. I finally got to skate with my son for a while and we had a grand ‘ole time sliding around in the afternoon sun.
Once back home I still didn’t get to relax. My brother-in-law was over so my wife had us move a heavy item into the basement. Fortunately that didn’t take long and I got to sit on my couch for about 10 minutes before we went out again for my daughter’s dance recital. It was off to a small and overcrowded neighborhood theatre, where my daughter was waiting to perform with her Hip-Hop class. It is always great to see your child perform and the look of happiness on their faces when the do so.
After that, I finally got to relax a bit. We got take out Japanese food for dinner and soon got the kids to bed after that. I didn’t get much relaxing time on the couch, because I started falling asleep and I figured I may as well have gone to bed.
To save time on getting to and from the city, I decided to drive to the race. I needed to make the commute to the city a fast one since I had to take my son to basketball practice at 11:30am. The race started at 9:30, so I calculated about 45 minutes to do the race, 10-15 minutes to get back to my car and 20 minutes home. This would give me about a half hour to spare. If I took the subway, I could count on the trip being about an hour which would make us very late for Basketball. I made it home a few minutes before 11am. I would have bet there were people still out on the course while I was already home in Brooklyn eating breakfast.
I hung out before the race with another runner named Mike. He started talking to me as we walked to the Road Runners club to pick up race souvenirs. We had both parked near the club, but it turned out he parked illegally so had to move it. We drove together closer to the start and we hung out inside it for a while to avoid the cold. That is the great thing about doing these races; it is so easy to befriend a fellow athlete and have a lot in common to talk about.
The race was over quickly. I did it in 44:50 with all negative splits. I ran the miles as follows: 07:53.0, 07:32.4, 07:12.2, 07:12.5, 06:57.9, 06:45.2 and 01:17.1 for the last .2. I ducked under the tape for the finishers shoot as soon as I crossed the line and ran a leisurely mile back to my car.
My son and I got to basketball practice on time and for the next hour and a half, I helped coach the kids. I would have liked to just veg out for a while, but fatherly duty called. After practice there was still no time to rest, since my son now had an ice skating birthday party to go to. So it was a quick trip home to get our skates, a snack and then off to the rink.
This is where the real fun began. In the past when I have skated with my son, it was a lot of me towing him around while he stood. Miraculously though, he seemed to learn to skate since our last trip to the rink and was off on his own for most of the time. This was a very good thing, because the mother of the birthday boy asked me if I could help her son around the rink. He is a very nice boy and very enthusiastic, but skating is definitely not his forte. The child couldn’t stand on the ice for more than two seconds without falling. I spent a torturous half hour trying to get the kid on his feet and suggesting that he just go to the side and slide along the boards. He didn’t really want to do that though, and let me tell you this kid was no lightweight. I could feel the strain in my hamstrings every time I tried to lift him up. I was afraid I would soon pull a muscle. Watching him on ice was like watching a comedy scene where you have a bunch of people constantly falling down because they are slipping on marbles. Mercifully another parent in our group came by and I was able to beg off the responsibility. I needed to for my own physical health and sanity. I finally got to skate with my son for a while and we had a grand ‘ole time sliding around in the afternoon sun.
Once back home I still didn’t get to relax. My brother-in-law was over so my wife had us move a heavy item into the basement. Fortunately that didn’t take long and I got to sit on my couch for about 10 minutes before we went out again for my daughter’s dance recital. It was off to a small and overcrowded neighborhood theatre, where my daughter was waiting to perform with her Hip-Hop class. It is always great to see your child perform and the look of happiness on their faces when the do so.
After that, I finally got to relax a bit. We got take out Japanese food for dinner and soon got the kids to bed after that. I didn’t get much relaxing time on the couch, because I started falling asleep and I figured I may as well have gone to bed.
posted by Rebel at 3:06 PM
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