The Inaugural Brooklyn Marathon

The Inaugural Brooklyn Marathon.  The day finally came and went, although at time time seemed to move too fast as I battle the nasty hills of Prospect Park.


I got up at 5:15 A.M. to get myself ready for the dreaded subway ride to the event.  Before going to bed the night before, I already packed the energy gels, some cash, a subway card, a few pieces of IDs in case I keel over.  For some reason I did not set the timing chip on my sneaker or attach the bib to the shirt with safety pins so those tasks I did in the morning of the event.  Being a recycler, I even set aside six previously-used rubber bands to bring to the event instead of using the new ones that BM organizers would no doubt provide.  Alas, I totally forgot about them when I got out of the house.  I will go into details about the rubber bands later.


I could have taken the Q or F train to the event if I was willing to make some transfer from the D train.  As it is with weekend track work, I decided to take the D straight to 9th Street Station and walk my long avenues to Prospect Park's Center Drive.  As it turned out, I overslept and got off a stop later.  No problem, I had plenty of time and it was a nice, cool day for walking.


There was some delay with the portable toilets.  The one I came across on West Drive was out there all along for the general public to use and there was no toilet paper - no surprise there.  The only usable toilet was a public one at a playground some long distance on the East Drive.  Even with the shining example of the Great Grete Waitz, there are still more men than women in most races, the exceptions being those women-only races, so the men's room actually had a line while the women's did not.  I still made it back to the start area with plenty of time to kill.  The race did not start at 8 sharp but instead at perhaps 8:15, no biggie.  By then I already had six rubber bands on my right wrist.


The course of the BM consists of 2 lower loops, 6 big loops, then one lower loop.  Or at least that's how I interpreted it.  NY1's report also said so, "6 big loop and 3 lower loops."  For my training runs, I almost never run in loops and usually head out x kilometers then back home, just tracing my way back.  The only time I run loops is on tracks and those runs are limited to at most 4 times, to make a mile, or 5 times, to make 2 kilometers.  On the track I would use different lanes as I finish a loop.  The two beginning lower loops are easy enough as it is hard to lose track of 2.  The six loops worried me.  I still do not own a GPS watch for running so I thought I might lose track of the six loops somehow.  Luckily, the rubber bands provide a somewhat reliable solution.  Each time I finish a loop I would shoot a rubber band to the side of the road.  I did it with a lot of fanfare and the cheerleaders on the East Drive was very enthusiastic with their volunteer job.  Mind you all the volunteers were great, just that those on the East Drive was more excited, perhaps because that's where people finish the big loops.


The rubber bands helped but I still had to actually run the loops so I can honestly take them off and shoot them away.  The hill approaching Grand Army Plaza was the worst, but the West Drive's hills were not friendly either.  After loop #3, I saw only 2 more rubber bands on my wrist but afterward saw band #3.  It was very discouraging but I pressed on anyway.  At some point my calves started to ache and then the thighs too.  I thought marathon pains only come in the form of "de agony of de feet"!  Fifteen years ago when I ran the NYC Marathon, with inadequate training, I probably felt aches in every leg muscles, but fifteen years is a long time enough to forget these tiny details.  I know with the races in the past two years I only felt aches above the feet when I sprinted for the finish line.  Luckily, my left foot was fine all along.  Eventually I shot the last rubber band away and entered Center Drive ready to do one more lower loop.  Remember the course?  Two lower loops, six big loops, and one lower loop, right?  It turned out after the six big loops you would just enter Center Drive to run to the finish line, which was just a tad beyond where the start line was.  I almost skipped the finish line by going to the right of it but an official corrected my course.  I didn't get to do my usual sprint for the finish line, to give the false impression that I was finishing strong.  My time was somewhere beyond 5 hours, maybe 5:15.  No Boston Qualifier :) but it was still a good finish for me.  I really need a GPS watch to avoid future scenarios.

The start line.

The start line before the 400 or so runners got behind it.

The inspirational Louis and Heather with me.  We regularly exchange messages and such on social networks - Facebook and DailyMile.  These folks are fast!  They may write about misadventures with stomach problems during races but then they still finish way before me, sigh.

A finisher.  Other than the St. Louis race in April where my great oldest sister took photos for me, I have to rely on pro photographers along the course to provide the photos.  They may be great or not but definitely cost a lot.  I planned to stay at the finish line a while to take photos of finisher but then I realized I had to get home to give my son a practice subway ride in case there will be school bus strike this coming week.

Countdown To Brooklyn Marathon

In about 24 hours, I will be running the Inaugural Brooklyn Marathon, 9 times around Prospect Park in Brooklyn (duh).  That is 6 times the full inner loop plus 3 times the lower loop.  The course sounds monotonous, especially compared to the NYC Marathon course, which touches all five boroughs.  Perhaps next year, the BM will cover other areas of Brooklyn instead of just Prospect Park.

It will not be the first time I run a marathon.  I actually did that about 15 years ago, in the NYC Marathon.  I even did it twice.  The first year I got in through the lottery.  The second year I was on standby and pretty much gave up but then I actually got selected!  Even though I was unemployed at the time and single, my "training" consisted of just a morning run to Astoria Park plus perhaps 3 miles around the track.  I did not sign up for any races - no LSD like a 15K or Half Mary, no 20-mile run on my own before the big day.  No social networks to learn from the pros or get encouragements from cyberspace friends.  My finish time was 6 hours 15 minutes the first year and worse the next year.  Back then the New York Times printed every finisher's name and I still have those regular newspaper somewhere in the attic.  Today, I understand the NYT only list people who finish with 4 hours and change, and only some special edition has every finisher's name.

With all the training the past two years, it seems like an easy goal for me to beat my younger self.  About two weeks ago I completed a 20-mile run in about 4 hours.  It was a lonely pre-dawn run from home to Chinatown, over the Manhattan Bridge, then back home over the Brooklyn Bridge.  Perhaps on race day, the cheering and excitement will nudge me move faster and complete the race in five hours.  Even if that stretch to 5:30 I still beat my younger self.

To quote Steve Lastoe, organizer of the Brooklyn Marrathon, GOTTA RUN!!!

Twenty Miles

As the Dolly Parton song goes, "Running five to nine, a great way to put in some mileage".  Early this morning, in the wee hour of a short time after 5 A.M., I set out for yet another shot at putting in a 20-mile or 32-km run before running in a marathon.  I don't follow a strict training program and usually put in 5 miles (8 km) a day then possibly 8 or 9 miles on the weekend.  If possible.  The longest distance I would run come from the half-marathons that I registered for, usually with NYRR.  I vaguely recall the training schedule for intermediate runner that I looked at calls for a 20-mile run a few weeks before the big day.  So off I ran around 5 A.M., partly along the D train's elevated tracks on New Utrecht Avenue, then eventually crossing the Manhattan Bridge to get into Manhattan, southward to the Brooklyn Bridge to get back to Brooklyn, then found my way back to Fifth Avenue and traced my way back to starting point.  It was indeed a little after 9 A.M. that I got home.

The last time I tried to run 20 miles, I was so tired at some point after 10 miles and ended up walking a lot.  Today I knew better about during-run nutrition and wolfed down 6 gu's and two bottles of Gatorade.  The feet still felt the effect of the long run but the rest of the body was able to push along fine.  I only walked briefly when eating the gu's or waiting for Walk signal.

In case you are thinking about tsk-tsking me, or wagging your index finger while lecturing me on tapering before the marathon, recall that I won't be running the New York City Marathon, which was about 24 hours after i set out for my 20-mile run today.  The marathon that I will be in is the Brooklyn Marathon, or the Inaugural Brooklyn Marathon to be exact, about two weeks away on November 20.

NYC Marathon - I'm In, Sort Of

I wanna be in the Marathon / So freaking bad

Run the whole twenty-six point two miles

The New York City Marathon is coming up fast, less than a week to go.  Not too long ago, ads for the Marathon started to plaster buses and subways, walls, and many other places.  The phrase repeatedly in the ads is, "I'm In".  Compared to the Boston Marathon, for which one must meet some minimum finish time, the NYC Mary is relatively easier to get in.  The elite runners still get automatic acceptance but the average person needs to rely on a lottery process.  There is also the 9+1 program whereby you run 9 races organized by the New York Road Runners (NYRR) and volunteer at one NYRR event.  There are a few other ways too.

To be in the 2011 race, one would have to make the necessary arrangements in 2010.  The only viable options for me were 9+1 and lottery, but it was only in July 2010 that I ran the Queens Half Mary and had the crazy idea that I should give the full mary a shot.  It was somewhat late for 9+1 so I went with the lottery.  $11 got me a chance but it didn't work out.  I ended up registering for the inaugural Brooklyn Marathon, a few weeks after the NYRM.  I will not be In the NYC Marathon for 2011.  Or so I thought.

Some days ago, I found out that the NYRR still needs volunteers for the Start Village in Staten Island.  I thought of watching the runners in Bay Ridge anyway since it was not far from me.  I would run along the Belt Parkway and get to Fourth Avenue to cheer them on.  But being with the runners in Staten Island is an even better deal.  Sure it will be challenging to be there at 5 AM but I think it will be worthwhile.  With the lousy subway service and the many people needing to get onto the S.I. ferry, I will probably need to leave the house at 2 AM!!!  If all goes well, I'll travel to Battery Park by subway, take the ferry across the sea to Staten Island, then run the 6 miles or so to the Start Village.  Or maybe I'll take the bus to the Start Village, if time is tight.

So, yes, I won't run in the NYCM in 2011 but I will be a volunteer at the Start Village, to be among all the excitement.  With 9+1 done in 2011, I will definitely be in the 2012 NYCM.  Just for kicks, I even signed up for the Yonkers Marathon, scheduled for September 2012, for a mere $40.

SAVE THE HOLIDAY MARATHONS - PART DEUX

So much for my speedy blogging.  When I was writing the last entry, http://www.qaptainqwerty.com/2011/10/save-holiday-marathon-series.html, I thought the article was too long and most readers would not finish it.  So I broke it up into two parts, with the first part briefly about my exploration of Staten Island then segue into my wish to further explore the Bronx, via participation in the Holiday Marathons series.  The free, fee-less Holiday Marathons series is a great alternatives for the many paid events out there.  Sure there is no T-shirts to have but do you really need another shirt?  All you need is other runners to compete against, perhaps some cheering sections, and water and refreshment along the way.  But there was some issues between the NYC Parks and Recreation Department and as I wrote the last entry, the permit was not yet granted to the organizers of the upcoming Halloween Marathon.

I waited too long and today through the org's Facebook Page that permit was already granted.  I was going to ask everyone to go http://www.thehalloweenmarathon.com/ and fill out a message of support for the event.  Well, I am glad that, at least for the Halloween Marathon, all is well and good.  I think I will even make the trip, this time running a Half Mary in preparation for the Brooklyn Marathon in late November.

If you still want to know what was all the fuss, the Riverdale Press has it tidily summed up in this article, Parks and Retribution.  For info on the opposition to the planned renovation of the Old Putnam Trail, see http://www.savetheputnamtrail.com/

SAVE THE HOLIDAY MARATHON SERIES!!!

Last Sunday, I ran in the NYRR Staten Island Half Marathon.  Getting to the island by ferry took more energy than actually running the distance of 13.1 miles, but overall it was a worthwhile trip.  One reason I like the S.I. Half is the chance to explore the island.  Staten Island is large and the race route only covered a small area in the north of the island.  Still, that is one area I may not otherwise visit.

The Bronx is another borough of New York City that I do not visit that often.  My first home in the U.S. was actually in the Bronx, in the Kingsbridge area, to be exact.  From time to time I would visit the area if I happen to be up there, but I rarely purposely go visit the Bronx.  Sure there is the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Garden, and of course the NYRR Bronx Half Marathon.  Except for this year the Half was cancelled because of Hurricane Irene.

For a short time, I thought I would have a great reason to regularly visit the Bronx - the Holiday Marathon series in Van Cordlandt Park, on most major holidays, even on some "fun" holidays like Halloween.  The idea is that people normally party and eat more than they should during holidays, so why not burn some calories through running?  As a plus, the event is free to participate in, although if you can afford it, a minimum $10 donation is suggested.  There are no T-shirts to have, no unique bibs, no electronic timing, and no monetary prizes.  But there is camaraderie, water and fruits, trinkets to remember the events by, and a nice trail to run on.  The route is about six miles long, so run twice to make a Half Mary, four times to earn a Full, or whatever distance you can get enough people to run with you.  I ran in the series once and was looking forward to the Halloween event but trouble is brewing in the cauldron...

NYRR Staten Island Half Marathon

Some time today I shortly wished that the New York Road Runners is a powerful, maybe even evil, corporation that at a moment's notice makes the City of New York jump through hoops for treats.  That the City would ensure the runners of NYRR events get the best treatment they wish.

The day started early, up at 5 AM to try to catch whatever Staten Island ferry before the 7:30 AM one.  Or so I thought.  It did not help that the D train, a short distance from my house, did not run to Manhattan.  I had to jog over to the N line to catch the D!   Confusing enough?  On other weekends, the N would run on the D line into Brooklyn, for some distance, then resume running with D stations!!!

I got to the ferry terminal in Manhattan around 6:40 AM.  I just missed the 6:30 AM boat by about 10 minutes.  Who knows, maybe it actually left at 6:35 AM so I really missed it by just 5 minutes.  The next boat was scheduled for 7:30 AM!  Argh, so I would take the 7:30 boat after all.  Now that I work in New Jersey I no longer have the luxury of picking up my bib and T-shirt at NYRR office during lunch, so I was hoping to be in S.I. early to take care of registration etc.  I still managed to get everything done in time once in S.I. but the wait in the ferry terminal was unbearable.  Breaking my routine of totally fast prior to a race, I had a banana while waiting for the subway and then croissant and coffee while waiting for the ferry.  I lucked out and happened to sit near the gate for the ferry.  I heard some people could not get on the small boat that the City provided.  It would be so nice if the City brought a bigger boat, not for a bigger shark but just to quickly move people to S.I.  And more frequent schedules for such a big day!  Suspending subway re-route would be nice too, but I suppose that's impossible since NYRR races happen almost, if not, all weekends.

The nice thing about being a non-competitive runner is that I don't have to worry about being at a particular place in the corral.  I only have to race against my own records and always run from the end of the corral.  There are slower people than me and I would go around them when convenient.  I never really worry about when the race really starts.  As long as NYRR does not dismantle the starting line, I have some time to reach the mat - only then will my time kicks off.

Mile #1 appeared pretty quick and so were the subsequent miles.  The route was no Central Park, with its nice shade, and the hills are formidable.  Most of the route was along the waterfront but some parts went through industrial areas and there was no shade whatsoever.  I had a GU energy gel a short time before and do not follow the recommended 45-minute interval for subsequent gus.  Instead, I took another gu around Mile 4.  Between Miles 5 and 6 I noticed the fishing pier on the waterfront.  Or was it the Roosevelt Boardwalk?  I love to explore Staten Island some more so some day I will have to be back with the bike.  I hate driving so going over the Verrazano won't do.  Anyway, I was going to use the last gu at Mile 8, but the climb up the hill after Mile 7 was so strenuous I stopped for Gatorade.  The walk and the water kept me going until Mile 10, at which point I wolfed down the last gu.

I sweat so much the leather watchband stinks.  For today's race, and going forward, I plan not to wear a watch at all.  I already hold the cell phone in my hand anyway, its clock will do.  Actually, for the S.I. Half, I totally forgot to bring the cell phone.  I prepared for the race the night before, laid out all the clothes, packed the fanny bag, charged the phone... Except I didn't remove the phone and charger from the wall socket.  No loss, as the time is shown at each mile marker anyway.  I knew I started about 6 minutes after the race clock started ticking so I knew what my time was.  Mile #13 seemed to take forever to reach but I finally made it into the finishers chute.  It was really nice to hear a fellow DailyMiler called out my name.  I saw her and called her back.  She already finished some 20 minutes earlier and was just hanging out cheering the runners.

In the end, I finished the run at 2:25:14, my third best time for a Half Marathon.  It was a hot day but I think it really helped that I wore a tech shirt, to wick away most of the great volume of sweat I normally generate, plus the gus, otherwise it could easily be another 2:40+ finish time.  Overall, it was a great day to be outdoor.

A Tale of Two Half Marys, Part Deux

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.  I already went into the details of the disappointing Newport-Liberty Half Marathon from a week ago.  I think my reasons are satisfactory: extra sweat-soaked tank-top; hot and humid weather; cut-back training distance; and no rest the day before.  For the NYRR Grete's Great Gallop, also 13.1 miles in length, less than a week later, I made sure I wouldn't repeat the mistakes.

Lucky for me, the week after the Newport Half my son was finally assigned a bus route closer to home.  I still don't have the luxury of running in the early morning but at least I once again had time to do an 8k run.  The Newport Half was on Sunday so Monday I rested.  The rest of the week I went back to training and even had a day running up Dyker Height's hills.  Learning from my mistake, I took Friday off in preparation for the Great Gallop on Saturday.  On the day of the race, I made use of NYRR's bag check so I wouldn't have to carry anything extra.  It was cold when I left the house so I had a long compression pants, a T-shirt, and a sweater.  At the race, I removed the T-shirt and sweater to put on the race T-shirt and left them with bag check.  It was my first time using NYRR bag check and I was glad the fellow runners I asked for help were helpful.  The race bib came with a small piece of paper that was to be attached, via safety pin, to the bag.  When we take the bag back, some NYRR personnel checked the small piece of paper against our bib.  It is more secure than the airport!

The weather was in my favor, too.  A few days sure made all the difference and the day before the race it rained heavily, so on race day it was just right.  What's more, I am familiar with the race route, which was pretty much twice the inner loop of Central Park.  It was my first race in Central Park running clockwise, I think, I am not sure if that mattered.

What else could I have done to ensure a better finish time with the Great Gallop?  All these years, I always run with an empty stomach.  I get stomach cramp and other stomach troubles if I have breakfast before a run.  I stop for water or Gatorade, or whatever else given out along the race route, but nothing before, other than a sip of water.  After the Newport Half, I read more into pre-race food and energy gels.  After checking runner friends on DailyMile.com and elsewhere, I decided to give energy gels a go.  The last time I had one of them was from some NYRR race, given out along with the T-shirt and bib.  It was pretty yucky and I didn't want to ever eat them again.  The salesperson at Runner's High store near my office in Newport said it was not true and sure enough the 3 packs I got there did not taste bad at all. I cannot remember what I got now but I do recall one was mint chocolate.  I had one about fifteen before the race, then another one hour in, and finally I used the third one after another hour.  (Next time I may follow the package's schedule of 45-minute intervals during race.)  It really helped!  I felt energetic during most of the race and had a finish time of 2:28, compared to Newport's 2:42.  I am sure other factors affected the outcome of the race, too, but it is good to know that I can have food before and during the race to better take care of the body.  I already drink Gatorade, when available, during races, so having energy packages is just a convenient way to feed myself.  I need to tell myself that because deep down I have this nagging feeling that I am traveling toward chemical dependency.  Today energy gels, perhaps tomorrow it'll be human-growth hormone or steroids?  Nah, it's just food in convenient packages!

A Tale of Two Half Marys, Part One

It was the worst of times, it was the best of times.  OK, enough with the attempt to parody Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.  Two weekends in a row I had a half-marathon each weekend.  In one I did bad and in the other I did better than I thought I could.  Conditions are not the same, but there are factors that affected the outcomes.

This past Sunday (September 25) I ran in the Newport-Liberty Half Marathon (N-LHM).  I work in the area for maybe 6 years, not consecutively, but that's still a big chunk of time.  Only in recent months that I decided to explore the area near the office, during lunch breaks.  There is only so much time to explore, on foot, as I don't drive to work.  Exploring is best done on foot.  I always want to find out how to get to Liberty State Park from where I work, near the exit of the Holland Tunnel.  I also want to run along the Newport waterfront.  I often walk there during lunch breaks but never have the opportunity to run.

Unlike the typical NYRR races for which people can pick up bibs and T-shirts two days ahead of the event, for the N-LHM you need to do that on the day of the race.  I pre-registered so I got my bib and T-shirt fairly quickly.  I had no plan to check a bag so I wore a tank-top to the race then just added the race T-shirt on top.  It was Mistake #1.  It turned out to be a hot and humid day.  I sweat easily and the two layers of shirt simply kept all the sweat on me and weighed me down.  Only by Mile #5 or so that I had the brain to remove the inside and wrapped the tank-top around a hand, much like tapes on a boxer's fist.  If I checked bag I would have wasted a great deal of time.  The line was so long!  The same goes for the bathroom line.  Instead of having multiple lines going to the multiple portable johns, there were just two lines that snaked around the small street.

It was a good thing that I already explored the Hoboken area adjacent to Newport, via the somewhat recently opened waterfront connecting the two cities.  The route according to the official web site for the N-LHM showed a short excursion into Hoboken but in reality we didn't even go past the rail yard.  We went as far as just past Target and back we went on Washington Boulevard.  The part of the short excursion that we would go has not much to show anyway.  If the route was to include the waterfront then that's something else, but I suppose there were too many runners to squeeze through the construction area for some new condo and park, as well as the Hoboken transit hub.

It seemed like forever to see any mile marker.  I think the tall buildings along Washington helped block out the sun somewhat but once we turned into Grand Street there was no shade.  At some point we turned left and eventually ended up in Liberty State Park (LSP).  It was indeed nice there but again we were pretty much out in the sun, roasting away.  From looking at maps, I know that there is a bridge from the mainland to Ellis Island and at the end of Freedom Way I thought we somehow got onto Ellis Island.  Silly me, it was a long way to go before we would pass by the bridge.  I like it how the bridge/pier allows people easy access to sea-breeze while keeping some wild areas undisturbed.  I can imagine myself running in LSP frequently if I live in the area.  There were few photographers for the event but one or two were stationed near the bridge to Ellis Island, to capture the runners with the Statue of Liberty in the background.  It really is the back of Lady Liberty but it still makes a nice background.  Runners pass the photographers on the way to a U-turn so on the way back they knew ahead that they were there.  I put on a determined face for the camera then slouched right afterward.

The hot and humid weather, plus the soaked tank-top, all worked against me.  The day before, having to choose between (a) dying of ennui while some females relatives shopped, or (b) running at Marine Park, I chose the latter.  Looking back, I think it was an unwise decision.  I should have just walked instead.  Since the beginning of September, when my son went back to school, he had to take a yellow bus to school.  His new school schedule interfered with my running schedule, which is early morning.  I used to run then rushed home to drag him out of bed then we walked to school, mere minutes away.  Now I have a smaller window and can only run after he see him off on the bus.  Instead of the usual 8 km each morning I was doing only 4 km or less.  Running more on the day before the Newport Half did not help.  Shortly after the start, my left shoulder ached and I couldn't maintain my normal running form.  I had to walk more often or let the left arm droop.  While the legs do most of the work during a foot race, the other parts of the body matters too.



Two hours and forty-two minutes was my finish time for the Newport-Liberty Half Marathon.  The last time I spend 2:40ish for a Half Mary was for the Queens Half, when it was much hotter, in the middle of July.  Before that it was the ill-fated St. Louis Marathon 2011 that for me turned into a Half Marathon.  In the midst of confusion, I traveled a part of the route twice, once because I was diverted then the second time to confirm that the Full Mary was already cancelled.  I would like to think that the more I run the better I would get, but the N-LHM indicated otherwise.  The shorter, daily runs probably played a big role, then the extra piece of clothes, the unfriendly weather, and the lack of rest on the day before the race together really ruined it.

I am happy to report that for the NYRR Grete's Great Gallop (13.1 miles, October 1, 2011), my finish time was 2:28.  Conditions are definitely different than last Sunday, but I will into those details later.

Spoonie

The recent big news at Apple, Inc. is the resignation of Steve Jobs as CEO.  Taking over Jobs' spot is the Chief Operating Officer, Tim Cook.  As a Mac-head, I follow Apple news daily so I am familiar with the name "Tim Cook".  The average person may not know who Cook was but now he will.

What is so special about Tim Cook's name?  It is what I call a spoonie - by switching the non-consonant parts of the names you can make a somewhat meaningful phrase, i.e. "Took Him" from "Tim Cook".  Even better, you can make the 4-word phrase "Tim Cook Took Him", perhaps as an answer to the question "Where is the tomcat?"  Like palindromes, spoonies can be very contrived.   Note that I took the liberty to introduce the "kim" sound, just because "Cim" looks ambiguous and probably gets pronounced as "sim" or "chim", whatever that means.

Some of you may already know the word "spoonerism" is the proper term for the word play I described.  I decided to make up the shorter word just because it is just that - shorter.  "Spoonie" may have a dirty meaning in slang but slang is so rich I suspect most normal words have a dirty counterpart in the slang world.  Be sophisticated and rely less on slang words!

As a multi-syllabic language, English is not that great for making meaningful spoonies.  The few that I know are

• crushing blow <=> blushing crow
• popcorn <=> porn cop (a member of the vice squad?)
• take a look <=> took a lake (something a large creature like Godzilla can do?)

Spoonies are very popular in Vietnamese since the language is mono-syllabic.  Every original Vietnamese word has only one syllable.  "Saigon", the older but more popular name for the capital city of the former South Vietnam, was made so to look foreign and exotic.  (Ho Chi Minh City, or Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh, is the official name.)  There is beauty in being mono-syllabic.  Words can be safely uttered without worrying about where one syllable ends and where the next begins.  Think "nowhere" - which syllable take the "W"?  Is it pronounced "no where" or "now here"?  Sure, having words spanning many syllables can be fun for poets and such, but for daily conversation, mono-syllables are great to have.


There are many Vietnamese jokes and phrases made from spoonies but after years of not using it enough, or reading Vietnamese, I do not remember that many but still enough for a blog entry.  Soccer, or "đá banh", is a popular sport in Vietnam.  The spoonie of "đá banh" is "đánh ba", or "to beat up one's father", a big no-no in Vietnam, where children are supposed to have high respect for their parents.  Similarly, "đá chanh", or lemonade, can become "đánh cha", where "cha" is another word for "father".  Along the fatherhood line, "tắm ỉa", or take a dump right before taking a shower, is a spoonie of "tía ẩm", where "tía" is a more endearing term for "father" and "ẩm" means to carry or cradle.  Enough with fathers and their issues...  If you speak Viet and know a Viet person, ask them if they know "con Hương bên đèo", which sounds like a woman named "Hương" who lives by a hill (đèo).  In reality, it is a spoonie for "con heo bên đường", or "the pig by the road".  Likewise, "con Chín bến đò" may sound like a lady, ranked eighth in the family so she's usually known as Number 9 (since the first-born is called #2), switch things around and you have "con chó bến đình", or "the dog by the temple"!  Lastly, many Chinese in Vietnam have roots in the Chaozhou region of China.  Ask a Viet you know if "ngầu lôi tăng kể" sounds like teochew (or Chaozhou language) and the person may agree.  In reality, the phrase is just a spoonie of "ngồi lâu tê cẳng", or "having sleepy legs from sitting too long".


Of course to really appreciate all these word-plays you need to speak the Vietnamese language.  No promise, but I may, might, remotely possible, make a vlog or video log, where I record myself uttering these nonsensical phrases for entertainment purpose.  A very iffy idea.  Writing is hard enough already, videotaping (even without tape) with all the editing and text overlay is even harder, so don't hold your breath.

Lonely At The Front

Disaster Preparation - Dressed To Run

"What?  There is a fire? Quick, I want to wear my pilot jumpsuit!"  That was me during my younger years.  I had a yellow pilot jumpsuit that I love and would want to wear it should something happen and we had to leave the house in a hurry.  Or so I was told.  I admit I vaguely recall having the jumpsuit and the photo below helps reinforce the feeble memory.

Thanks to the recent visit by Hurricane Irene, I finally have a Go Bag made.  9/11, blackout, some other minor storm...  after each of those past events I would declare I would make a Go Bag, something to grab and run out of the house.  I never did, until this weekend.  I only have two 500-mL bottles of water and the bag is already pretty heavy.  At most it will last me two days, I think.  The recommended amount is 1 gallon per person per day.  One gallon is about 3.7 L, so I only have about a quarter of the recommended amount.  I do have a flashlight which does not require batteries but is rather human-powered.  As long as I have the strength to crank it, it will work.  I love the Etón series of emergency devices.  Flashlight, AM/FM radio, weather radio, USB port for charging small electronics like cell phone and Nintendo DS, powered by human power or solar energy.  In my case, the Go Bag's device also has an alarm clock.  I had some snacks and a few change of clothes and that's about it.  No important documents in waterproof bag, so I guess my Go Bag is not that ready to go.

Maybe it's an obvious thing so it's not mentioned, but in all the stories on disaster preparation I read, no one ever said that we should wear street clothes as part of the preparation.  For me, that would be a shirt or maybe even a sweater, then some kind of pants or shorts to hold the house keys, wallet with IDs and credit cards etc, some cash and coins, and the cell phone.  What's the point of having a Go Bag but you cannot go right away because you are not dressed to run out into the street.  I should have slept in street clothes last night but then did put it on when I woke up.  It's not that I don't want to be seen on TV at a shelter in my PJ, I just want to be prepared.  It is not so much as the clothes themselves, it's what I can bring with me and home clothes usually don't have pockets to carry stuff.  Maybe it is easy for a guy to say what I just did, but I imagine women can wear something comfy that allow them to run quickly.

Did you wonder if I had some other pilot jumpsuit on this morning?  No, for me these days life is all about long-distance running, so the shirt of choice I had was my NYRR Queens Half Marathon 2011.

Vacation Packing

T-shirts, check.  Sneakers, check.  Toothbrush, check.  For my recent trip to China, considering I pack only the night before, I did OK.  Somehow I managed to bring along everything I thought I would need for the trip.  Still, I have always wanted to write things down and check them off as I pack, so I finally put it all down in the Google sheet below, incomplete of course:

Qaptain Qwerty Vacation Packing

What I forgot to pack was dedication.  The determination to run during the vacation.  Granted it was a bus tour such that once the tour began there's nothing you can do but go along with the tour.  Most nights we got to the hotel late, when the pool or gym was already closed.  There was much walking or standing during most tours, but intentional exercise is always better than the walks during the tours.

I should have treated the vacation the same way I do with a typical day.  Get up early enough to squeeze in a run or whatever, shower, then go to work, or in this case,  join the tour.  Instead, I came up with excuses and did not run a single day during the whole 10-day trip.  Twice I did get up early but only managed a walk, which I think is good enough.  In the five Chinese cities that I visited, running is not that popular, or at least street running is not.  During the two walks as well as other times on the bus, I saw at most two different runners actually running as an exercise.  There were other people running, but only briefly to arrive at a bus stop or some similar destination.  Maybe people run at night when I already checked into the hotel, or in some public park that I did not know of.

Too bad I didn't manage to run, as the typical block in the visited cities are extra long compared to New York City.  I would call them super-blocks.  There were no individual homes, only large and tall buildings surrounded by walls.  There were some areas that have family homes, maybe at most three stories tall, but those buildings too were enclosed by some walls, again, long block.  I love the long blocks as that means less interactions with vehicular traffic.  Some of the cities even have footbridges, something I think New York City can make use of.  Keep the pedestrians out of the cars' way and there is zero chance anyone will get run over.  Some of the footbridges I saw in China even have escalators, and I wouldn't be surprised if others have elevators, too.

My biggest running regret was when we were in Shanghai, on our own after the bus tour ended.  I had two chances, two mornings, to run the 1.5-kilometer distance from the hotel to The Bund, a touristy waterfront area.  Although I did not know the exact way to get to The Bund, from the hotel I could easily see the Oriental Pearl Tower, so I could not be wrong to run in that direction.  The first morning I actually got up early enough but then I was upset that the trip, as it turned out, included a side business trip about the local real estate market.  I was scheduled to babysit some kids.  Why I didn't just run and shake off the unpleasantness I don't know, but it became an excuse to return to bed.  To be fair, even if I ran, I would not made it far because that morning a really heavy rain descended upon Shanghai.  The street was flooded badly at most corners.  For the second morning, it was the day I was to fly back to the U.S. and my mind came up with more excuses.  What if I got hit by a bus so that I would miss the flight?  If I survive the impact, that is.  What if that, what if this, in the end, no run.  I should have stuck to Nike's motto and just do it.  Now I only have a big regret.

A typical super-block in a Chinese city.  Yay, long stretch of not having to watch out for cars!

China Vacation 2011

Geek Cruise, that is what I need.  Mac-based Geek Cruise, even better.  One of these, that's what I will have as a vacation.  No waiting around while others do their shopping.  Just me and a bunch of geeks.  Maybe there will be lectures about some up-and-coming technologies, or maybe classes on some existing apps.  That may sound boring to the typical person, but then again, hanging around with nothing to do while others shop is boring, too.

I just came back to the U.S. from a 5-city, 5-day bus tour of Shanghai, China and nearby cities.  Each city has its unique culture or history and the tour guides were good, even though my Cantonese is not that good, but I know enough to figure out what they were talking about.  It was actually more interesting to hear the stories related to the places we were heading to.  For example, the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge's story was about Chinese citizens scraping together to finance the bridge and Chinese engineers overcoming technical difficulties to create the bridge.  It was not a beautiful bridge, the tour guide said, but it was the first to be built entirely by Chinese, without foreigner's assistance.  Earlier, the Russian helped built two other bridges that also traversed the Yangtze, but disagreement started between China and Russia and Russia recalled its engineers from the Nanjing project.  We arrived at the a building under the bridge, took the elevator to some viewing platform and took photos of the area, then got "treated" to an art gallery.  The near-extinct art involves painting on the inside of snuff bottles.  Not just bottles, but many kinds of glass objects, like globes and vases.  The work requires serious skill as the painter would have to pain on the inside of the objects, doing things backward or mirror-reversed.  Great stuff, but then we spent an hour or so there as many people in the tour went gaga over the artworks.  The visit to the bridge turned into a shopping spree of artworks.  Likewise, other visits to factories that specialize in products of the region also turned into shopping experience.  Some even appeared to be infomercials!  "Buy this set of silk bed spread and blanket NOW and we will throw in another set for free!  But wait, there's more!!!  We will also include, free of charge, a small handkerchief for you to clean your camera lens or eyeglasses!"  Haggling over the prices of some jade jewelry, persistent salespeople offering pearly necklaces or bracelets, medicine men telling us overweight people we need his herbs to live a healthier life... things I do not need to be involved with while on vacation!  In Cantonese, some tours are called "duckling tour" because the tourists get rushed about like a group of ducklings.  I don't know what these apparently vendor-sponsored tours are called but I think I'd rather be rushed about instead of sitting around waiting for others to shop.

I did have some fun looking for signs with incorrect or bad English to snap.  Here is one:

Don't Know Squat About Squash

Taking care of a melon garden is a lot more work that it seems.  You do not just setup some sort of a frame and the melon vines just move in and produce the melons for you.  You need to give the garden much water, not by spraying on the big leaves, which make them look refreshing but actually does not do any good.  The water needs to reach the soil where originally planted the buds.  A handyman would have an x by y frame for the vines to spread.  I am definitely not handy and like to use found objects to build the frame.  So far I have 2 CD towers which I rescued off the curb from a neighbor up the block.  Various poles found in my backyard serve as the vertical parts of the frame.  Several short pieces of string from the packinq of a Nerf, when tied together served as the horizontal parts.  The strings were not but luckily I have an old garden hose laying around.  As the vines spread around, I added pots and poles and even resorted to using two bicycles that I have no other uses for, as part of the "frame."

The melon vines had minds of their own!  I knew they would climb over the fence into my neighbors' yards, but I didn't expect them to squeeze through the plastic strips in the fence and grow up from there.  The melons or squashes in my garden have somewhat spiky vines so I worried the neighbor's grandchildren may get scratched, or at least scared by the vines.  So one day I went over to try to guide them back to my yard.  Lo and behold, one of the vines had a nice, round squash already!  It was so heavy that it pulled the vine down and was sitting on the cement wall.  As I tried to lift the whole thing back over my fence, I snapped it off!  Oh no, a premature death!  The squash whose life got squashed!!!  It was not ripe enough to eat so there was nothing else to do but display it on the kitchen for a few days, then off it went into the compost bin.  I think it was a girl melon, so I shall call it Melon Chloe.  So long, Chloe!

I hope you enjoy the exaggerated melon-drama...

Queens Half 2011

Someone famous once said, "You cannot cross the same river twice."  I think it was either Chuck Norris or "Weird" Al Yankovic (heh heh).  The saying kinda makes sense, since the river flows and technically the water you touch the first time cannot possibly be the same water the second time around.  This past weekend, for me that "river" was the course for the NYRR Queens Half Marathon 2011.

The NYRR Queens Half Marathon 2010 was the first race I ran in after resuming running, after a break of a few years.  In the beginning, I ran just to try to lose some weight.  At some point, I entertained the idea of running the NYC Marathon, even though I was, most likely, only logging 3K a day (not even 2 miles!).  A half-marathon seemed to be a good yardstick to see how good my endurance was.  I did not know much about running in the heat but made sure to stop at every water station just to be safe.  I had a baseball cap on and just some khaki short and the NYRR official cotton tee.  I walked from Mile #10 to Mile #11 then let some  guy soaked me with a hose.  Not a good idea, since the wet clothes weighed me down and the water killed my cell phone.  The cover for the old phone's charging port was all tattered and anything, especially water, could get inside the phone easily, and the water sure did.  I eked by the 3-hour time limit, with 6 minutes to spare.  The good thing is the race gave me confidence that I can do a Half Marathon.

This year I got compression shorts and many more races earlier in the year.  I set my best time for a Half Mary with the Manhattan Half in January, on a very cold day, like 9 degrees (!), with 2:23:40.  I almost matched that time with the Brooklyn Half in May, 2:24:40.  It was a decent day, not too hot, and it would be nice if I had the same finish time or better.  The weeks leading up the Queens Half NYC was also known as The Baked Apple.  It was hot!  Like 90 to 100 hot!  Still, unreasonably I hoped that would somehow beat my 2:23:40 record.  Even though I just took the whole month of June off from running to give the left foot time to recover.  The rest helped, but I felt sluggish in the two races in the early half of July.

The day of the Queens Half came and it was not so hot.  Still hot when you run but not as hot as last year's.  I slowed down for Gatorade and water after Mile #3, #6, and #9, then also #11 and #12.  From Mile #12 on I had my cell phone play "Mezamero! Yasei! (Awaken the Beast Within)", from Naruto Shippuuden Season 2, over and over, and that helped keep me going, perhaps even picking up some speed.  As usual, when the finish line finally appeared, I sprinted for it.  If I recall correctly, I did not feel as bad as when I finished the Queens Half in 2010.  Compared the time for Queens Half 2010 and 2011, this year I ran 14 minutes faster, or 2:40:47.  People with better capabilities can excel themselves, or set Personal Record (PR) regardless of weather conditions or other factors.  For me, I better stick with comparing similar races.  Even though this year's Queens Half stayed inside Flushing Meadow Park the whole time, i.e. no College Point Boulevard, it was not too much different.  No point comparing apples and oranges, i.e. summer races vs. winter races.  Maybe, just maybe, in a few years, with the current running schedule maintained, who knows, I will be able to outdo myself, hot or cold, but for now, I'll be realistic.

Qaptain Qwerty Book Club

Not too long ago, some famous talk show host, whose first name starts with the letter "O", had her final show.  I never watch that show but understand she used to have a book club on the show.  I was wondering if I can start a Qaptain Qwerty Book Club to fill the void, now that the show with the influential lady is no longer around.

My reading habit has gone through a major change lately.  I used to read 99% science fiction, either Star Wars or Star Trek.  Occasionally I would pick something else other than those two "Stars".  At some point I got sick of reading about how great the Mandalorians are, that they are not mere bounty hunters with tons of deadly gadgets on them.  I just cannot get over the fact that they are just mercenaries and would fight for whoever paying them.  So out went Star Wars.  I don't have too much of a problem with Star Trek until I came across some book with the Q character.  Even though Q is not in that many stories, the whole idea turned me off Star Trek.

For a while I got into the mystery genre and followed Agatha Christie and others, usually via audiobooks.  I hungrily tore through the Millennium trilogy, even though it was quaint reading about Netscape and Eudora computer programs in this day and age.  One day I decided to go easy on my eyes and would read only books of the large-print format.  The selection is not as large but I went with whatever authors I recognize or are prolific.  To that end, I briefly got into Janet Evanovich but she lost me on the second book of the Bounty Huntress series, when she spent some time writing about shopping as a therapy.  Maybe that's what got me into sci-fi.  I need to read about fantastic stuff, not ordinary life angst.  In the same vein, story about overworked workers, be it police detectives or filing clerks, seriously turned me off.  Luckily, one day just by chance I picked up a book by Bernard Cornwell, one from the Saxon series.  Life was hard, no creature comforts, might make right, men with weapons go around killing and looting, but no one ever have to write effing reports for managers to read.  Sure, the monks often transcribe parchments by hand, but the monks are the bad guys and sometimes get killed.

Cornwell's works are considered historical fiction.  He creates characters out of thin air, or loosely based on real people, and insert them into real historical events.  Or at least as real as it was recorded.  You know how the victors usually get to write history.  It is nice how he plainly point out at the end of the book who are fictitious and who are real.  Or how he unfairly makes some historical figures wimpy or bad.  It is amusing to learn that in the Saxon world, if you are over 40 years old, you are considered old.  Also, women of 15 or so, what we would consider teenage by 2011 standard, are ripe for marriage.  I am from Viet Nam and know that women got married early, or at least 50 years ago, and maybe still do, but after 30+ years in the U.S. I sorta forgot the tidbit.

Cornwell's Saxon series has only a few books and I flew through them in a short amount of time, whether they are large-print or not.  He also has a series about a soldier named Richard Sharpe.  The first Sharpe novel that I managed to find was "Sharpe's Trafalgar" and took place mostly on the open sea.  The first few chapters of the book described much about life of the travelers who pay the cheapest tickets.  I could not help thinking back to my journey out of Viet Nam.  Sharpe knew someone high on the social echelon and got invited to dinner with the captain, but at times he had to eat things that are barely edible.  At least he ate.  I don't remember if I ate at all.  I clearly recall the water smell terribly, whether because it was just scooped right off the river where the boat was docked, or because the plastic container was new.  The water did have that weird smell when plastic is new.  I vaguely recall eating some kind of sliced bread, or maybe it was just some form of bread.  I do not remember eating much, but I doubt I could have survived without food for the multi-day journey.  I think it was 8 days.  There was not much room where I sat but some rich teenagers with long legs just spread themselves all over.  I recall one time going up to the top level and took in some fresh breath of air.  At least once I went to use the restroom, at the back of boat.  The rest is just a blur.  Scary when life imitates arts.

Farewell to Donnell

It seems my back yard is not the only place I did not visit often enough.  Today, after picking up the bib and T-shirt for tomorrow's 4-mile Central Park Conservancy Run at the NYRR office on 89th Street, I went looking for a book for my son's summer reading.  He will go to Bay Academy in September and they already sent him a reading assignment for the summer.  I figured I know my NYPL pretty well and would just visit some library in the area.  I could have gone to the Yorkville Branch, at 79th St. and Third Avenue, since it was the closest library to the NYRR office.  However, for exercising purpose, I walked along Fifth Avenue from the Apple Store to the NYRR office and would rather walk back the same way and do my library search from there.  Donnell Library Center on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues would then be the best choice.  Much to my surprise, the library was closed for good!  I just met some visiting distant relatives at MOMA a few weeks ago but I did not notice the library at all.  Further research later in the evening revealed that the Donnell Library Center was actually closed in August 2008.  That means for almost three years I never went by that place.  Either that or I forgot being there in the past three years!

Years ago when I still read Vietnamese literature, Donnell was the place to be.  As far as I know, Donnell had the best collection of Vietnamese books in the NYPL system.  It was from the Donnell collection that I read "Ngọn Cỏ Gió Đùa", which my late father often mentioned as the only novel he ever read.  He was the oldest child in a big family and had much to help the family.  He was very interested in futbol and did not care much about literature, but he did read that one book, by Hồ Biểu Chánh.  Much to my surprise, the book was really just a re-packaged version of Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables".  Different setting of old-time Viet Nam during some war, but same story.

Also thanks to Donnell that I got to read the classic Chinese lit "Water Margin", translated into Vietnamese as "Thủy Hử", of course.  My Chinese is too poor to be pitched against the Chinese version and English version somehow just would not cut it for me.  I might have read a few other Viet books but "NCGĐ" and "TH" are the two I recall in recent memories.  While we are on the topic of Viet lit, one disappointment I have about it is that there seems to be no impartial books out there.  Maybe I have not read enough, but the few I came across are either for or against the topic at hand, especially when it comes to modern Viet history.  They are more like propaganda materials, for or against the Communist regime, or other topics.  It was like reading The New York Post, where every Jew is a hero and everyone else in the Middle East are referred to by some negative adjectives.

My memory is failing me now but I think I used to go to Donnell's media center to watch videotapes or listened to music at the many cubicles set aside for such consumption.  Those were the days before the advent of YouTube and the Internet.  Certain pieces of music or movies would be available only at some media center, some physical place you have to be at to enjoy the work.  It is entirely possible that I am confusing Donnell's Media Center with NYU Bobst Library's.  I used to take advantage of the shared resources between The Cooper Union and NYU.

My #1 blog fan used to work near Donnell, I wonder if she has any special memories about it...

No Lemon, Yes Melon

If someone tells you he is environmentally conscious, would you assume he grows his own fruits and vegetable in a backyard garden?  If that is the requirement, then I am not much of a green person, but I really am.  I walk or use public transportation, instead of drive, most of the time.  I recycle and re-use everyday.  I turn off TVs, lights, computers, etc. when they are not in use.  But gardening so far has always eludes me.  My first attempt at gardening was many years ago when I lived in Long Island City.  The group Astoria Residents Recycling Our Waste (ARROW) just turned a vacant lot into a Green Thumb park, with a section set aside for gardening.  I helped setup the plots and got one assigned to me.  I lived just two blocks away from the new park but weeks then months pass and I never planted anything in the plot.  If there was any plot thickening, it was just weeds taking advantage of my absence.

Years later I have my own house with a backyard.  Long periods of time would go by and I would not spend any time in the backyard.  Last year I decided to maintain a compost bin, even though I did not know what I would do with the stuff once they are made.  From a friend in ARROW I got two more containers for composting and spent more time in the backyard turning and messing around with the bins.  By chance someone my wife knows has some extra melon buds (?) to give away.  The things would normally go to my in-laws but this year they already dedicated their front yard to growing string beans.  I do not recall what got into me but I decided to take a shot at growing them melons.

I do not have much soil area in the back yard so I grew one in a large pot while others went into the soil elsewhere.  Maybe in the future I will share my un-handyman's trellis but this time I just want to show off the potted melon.  As shown in the first two photos, the melon plant has grown large and spreading all over.  The tall photo is a Photoshop composite of three photos.  I may not have properly merged the photos together, but you get the idea.  I just water it everyday and guide its vines so it won't end up in the neighbor's yard.   By the way, I actually used some of the compost, made mostly from last year's autumn leaves, in a pot to support the melon vines as they spread onto cement floor.

I have not read up much about growing melons and just play by ears, so to speak.  I know these things like to climb but never having grown them before I was amazed to see first-hand how the process is done.  The vines themselves have sticky hair to cling on whatever they come across.  Then there are these other things that crawl ahead and coil around poles and such for support.  I definitely need to read up on melons to know the proper terms.

In case you wonder what's with the title of the blog post, it is a variation of the phrase NO MELON NO LEMON, which spells the same from left to right and from right to left.  I love palindromes and cannot pass the chance of using them, but in this case since I grow melons, it is NO LEMON YES MELON.  Of course the phrase is not a palindrome any more.

Run Charlie Brown Run

After about a month off from running, this weekend I am back.  The left foot had a spot, around mid-foot on the arch, that was very painful to the touch, so I took the doctor's advice to give it some time to rest.  I switched to cycling and it was not very satisfying, but better than nothing.  I was supposed to take the whole month of June off, but June 1 was National Running Day, so I ran a short route on that day then began the hiatus on June 2.  I resumed running on July 3 so that was about right for a 30-day break.

It was the weekend so it was tempting to put in a long run, longer than my usual five miles anyway.  Luckily, the reasonable side of me resisted the temptation and I ran just my old, daily five miles.  I picked the Dyker Height route because it involves a hill at the midway point, where I would turn around and head back.  The route goes through residential areas only and has no long stretch with no traffic.  At every corner is a either a stop sign or a traffic light, something to stop for and look before crossing, so for the whole month cycling I didn't use this route.  As I headed home, the sky darkened and by the time I got breakfast it was raining lightly.  No problem, the bagel shop where I got breakfast had a picnic table on the side of the building, with a window awning just enough to cover me.  It was a nice way to celebrate my return to running - my favorite breakfast of toasted bagel with cream cheese, in the quiet rain.

The next day, Independence Day (July 4th), I finally joined the Holiday Marathons people in Van Cortlandt Park, in the Bronx.  In this day and age of pre-registration and sold-out races, the Holiday Marathons (HM) series is a welcomed breath of fresh air.  While the typical organized races, whether through Active.com or NYRR, charge $20 and up, the HM series only ask for a $10 donation.  You do not get a souvenir T-shirt or official time but there is refreshment at the beginning and at the end of the race.  It is really just one loop of 6.56 miles.  Run one loop and you have about 10K, 2 loops then you have a Half-Marathon, and 4 times get you a Full Marathon.  Again, no medal or any prize whatsoever, but if your goal is to run one of those distance, it can be done without any requirements.  The course is a trail most of the time, so it was muddy or bumpy in places, somewhat of an obstacle course and not your typical road races.  The volunteers were helpful, the crowd was small enough for me to actually see the person singing the National Anthem, and there was a small cheering section.  For a donation of $10, it was a bargain.

The run was great except I unknowingly cheated myself out of a few miles.  I am totally unfamiliar with Van Cortlandt Park and the race course.  Knowing my slower pace, I put myself in the back of the pack at the beginning of the race.  I simply followed the big crowd of people in front of me but eventually there were just a few people, like two, one in the front and one in the back, around me on the race course.  As usual, I ran without my near-sighted glasses but could see the road fine.  Every now and then I would see the orange streamer hanging on trees as route markers.  At forks in the road there were white arrows on the ground to point me in the right direction.  Unfortunately, when I got out of the trail and back on the edge of parade ground, I automatically thought that was it, that I would just go around the perimeter of the parade ground.  I totally missed the arrow pointing back to the woods.  I was supposed to follow some path that intersect the Henry Hudson Parkway then make a U-turn back to the parade ground.  Even on my wrong course, I made an early left turn but realized quickly and resumed the course, still the wrong, shorter course, but I was not aware of it.  I did notice someone running downhill from the woods onto the perimeter of the parade ground, but I thought it was just someone running a longer route.  I imagined there were veterans of the area who knew other longer route.  As I approached the finish line, some fast runners were passing me and I simply thought they were on their second loop.  Some people are just that fast!  As I logged my time, I was amazed how much faster I was.  My pace was less than 10 minutes per mile.  I found it hard to believe, what with me just came off a month-long break.  While cooling down after the race I saw people who I knew on DailyMile.com coming in.  I know they are fast runners, much faster than me.  A long subway ride home later, I decided to review the race route to find out where I made the shortcut.  The Garmin map at http://thejuly4thmarathon.com/the-course/ is hard to see but opening it in Google Earth helped a lot.  I found my early left turn and then the right turn that I missed.  I still enjoyed the run and felt good afterward.