Race Report: Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Miler, 7 April 2024, Washington D.C.

by Paul Thompson (pictures by Shamala Thompson)

This was the closest I had come to quitting in 20 years of racing in the US. Aside that is from dropping out of the Brooklyn Half Marathon back in May 2018 due to a hamstring injury. What got me through it was the advice of Deena Kastor at the race Expo the day before.

I first, and last, did this race back in 2007 when I was a youthful 41. I won the masters category, placing 27th in 51:35. It was one of my all time best performances as a masters runner. Seventeen years later here I was again on the start line of the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile. Seventeen years older but, as it turns out, slower and no wiser. With no hope of eclipsing (sorry I could not resist that) my previous attempt at this race.

In the lead up to the race I was injury free and running some workouts thanks to training pal Luke McCoubrey. But recent work travel and wet weather had stymied consistency. I had seesawed between 40-50 and 60-70 miles per week. I ran almost 3.3 miles in a 20 minute Mona Fartlek 10 days out that gave me some encouragement.

So as I stood in the starting corral with some 20,000 other runners – near the front thanks to a seeded entry – I had limited benchmarks. There were no familiar faces to follow. I had virtually no race experience since 2019. And I had no idea how my aging body would hold up. When I last raced on a regular basis back in 2018 my body and mind just seemed to intuitively know what to do. This time I had no idea. So I set a target finish time of 60 minutes.

The race starts right next to the Washington Monument. Bathed in the first light of the day it was quite the backdrop. The skies were clear and in the shade it was cool. We had been waiting patiently for 20 minutes in the corral, in the cool shade. So much for the three mile warm-up!

Good morning Washington Monument

The elite women set off 12 minutes ahead of us. I assume a requirement they race with some separation from the rest of the field for the purpose of record ratification and USATF Championship placings. And then 15 seconds before 7:30am the elite men were off. My final thought before the gun went was how odd the faster elite runners get a head start on the slower runners!

And then we were off. I was perhaps five rows back from the front so had some 100 runners ahead of me. After a short slight rise we then dropped gently, passed the Tidal Basin on our left, and headed towards the Arlington Memorial Bridge. I immediately felt out of my comfort zone, shell shocked. It seemed like I had set off too fast and yet a steady flow of runners was passing me (the race data shows 202 passed me while I passed 27 during the whole the race).

I missed the one mile marker so had to wait until the two mile mark on the crest of the Arlington Memorial Bridge, the highest point of the course, before I could confirm I had set off too fast. It read 11:30, 5:45 minutes per mile (mpm) pace, 15 seconds a mile faster than my race plan. So there went my plan. And the damage was done. It was too late to make amends.

My next epiphany was the sudden salutary realization that I was older than everyone else! They were old enough to be my grown up sons and daughters. They looked so young. I felt so old. I had that ‘over the hill’ or ‘time to hang up the shoes’ feeling rather than some sort of accomplished feeling.

The course passes under the Kennedy Center where the race does a sudden U turn. A few hundred meters later I passed the 5K point in 18:05. Further confirmation I was ahead of schedule but would pay for it in spades later.

By the half way point, reached in around 29:15, I was wrestling with the idea of dropping out. I was clutching at reasons to keep at it. And had no real reason for dropping out. I was not injured or ill. Simply suffering from after an over exuberant start and not enjoying it! At this point I needed a sudden injury as good reason to bail out. But of course we never get injured when you most need it. My lower back was nagging me but I knew it was not enough to justify dropping out. If I could not persuade myself it was a good idea to drop out it would have been harder to persuade others.

Entering East Potomac Park, the pan flat peninsular opposite Reagan National Airport, I saw Fiona Bayly walking off the course. I yelled out and she looked back and yelled support. Fiona is one of the best US female masters distance runners having been rarely beaten since turning 40 some 15 years ago. She had started with the elite USATF Championship women and had stepped on a rock and twisted her ankle. She pulled out to avoid serious injury. Seeing her was strangely a source of motivation to keep going. She’s not the sort to bail out without a good reason. And I did not have one.

I passed the 10K in 36:51. By now I was deep into survival mode. Get it done. I had stopped competing. And started running outside 6 mpm. Runners were still passing me though the torrent was now a trickle. I knew that I could finish and maybe even close to my 60 minute target. But I was well past crunching the numbers using my watch of the mile clocks. Math is so hard to do in the final phase of a race. Even when the target is 60 minutes for 10 miles: 6 minutes per mile or 10 miles per hour, the easiest math in the sport of running.

In the pain cave at mile 9.5

As I exited East Potomac Park I had less than a mile to run albeit with a short rise in the final 400m. Over that last half mile I managed to hold my own against the runners around me. Crossing the line I once again got to enjoy my favorite part of any race. When you finally release yourself from the pain cave. And then spend time in the finishing funnel enjoying the fact that the pain is subsiding. Running is hard. Physically, mentally, emotionally. But that feeling at the finish makes it worth every minute. Who needs cannabis when you can get a runner’s fix anytime. All you have to do is pay with a little pain.

I finished with an official time of 60:04 and placed 284th male overall and 2nd M55-59. Like an old running friend said 59:64. It puts me 4th on the UK’s ten mile M55-59 (or V55-59 as they call it) ranking for 2024. My race results dataset is here and my Strava data is here. As they say there are lies, damn lies and statistics. And in these days of data analytics there are lots more statistics.

Data, damn data

While it was nice to finish 2nd in my age group it was sobering to know the 1st guy Shane Anthony was three minutes ahead of me in 57:04. The age group awards are listed here.

Even more data

The elite race proved to be historic. Hillary Bor broke his own American Mens Ten Mile record in 45:57 while Emily Durgin was three seconds outside of the American Womens Ten Mile record in 51:26. The full set of results are here.

Sham sauntered over to me as I waited in the shadow of the Washington Monument. She asked if I were happy, unsure how I would feel so far down in the field (284th male and around 50 women ahead of me). I said I was mainly relieved. It could have been much worse. And happy overall. Afterall I now have to expect increasing numbers to eclipse me (sorry again). That makes spotting me while spectating, for those all important pictures and words of encouragement, harder she said.

So what about the takeaways from this excursion to the nation’s capital. First, as we get older we get slower but not necessarily wiser. And second we make life harder for our support crew.

Outside the pain cave at mile 10.5.

Race Report: 2019 New Haven Road Race Half Marathon, September 2, New Haven CT.

by Paul Thompson (Photos by Shamala Kandiah Thompson)

Well this race was a long time coming. Almost a year since my last injury free race, the Bronx 10 in late September 2018 (in November 2018 I ran the British and Irish Masters Cross Country Champs unaware I was nursing a broken shoulder). And of all the days I chose to make my comeback it had to be Labor Day. It turned out to be hard labor. But let me stop laboring that point and get to explain that year out and the race.

My Year Out

The past year consisted of 3 phases. The first phase, what I called pain in the shoulder phase, was 2 months of intense PT rehab through December and January to get the shoulder back to normal, in terms of movement and strength, during which time I built up my mileage by end of January to 70 miles per week, all set for the 12 weeks through to the 2018 London Marathon.

The second phase, what I call pain in the arse phase started in early February. In the closing miles of my first long run as part of my London campaign while in Singapore I noticed a sharp pain in the butt and hamstring brought my 20 mile long easy – as easy as it can be in 32C and 90% humdity – to stand still. It took a while to figure out it was piriformis syndrome rather than high hamstring tendinitis. This phase lasted to the end of May. The piriformis proved stubborn but not as stubborn as me.

By early June I was back to normal training mileage but without the speedwork. This marked the start of the third phase which ended on Labor Day. I call it the hard labor phase since it was all about getting back to the normal routine including getting reacquainted with time in the hurt locker. On Labor Day I spent 1:14:33 in that locker.

Going into the race I was cautiously optimistic. A 20 minute Mona Fartlek, in which I covered 3.53 miles at an average pace of 5:40 mpm, the farthest and fastest I can remember in the 3 years I’ve been doing them, gave me confidence. But set against this was the fear the piriformis would reemerge: its still lurking albeit only rearing its head during intense workouts . And this was the longest time ever between races since I started running seriously in my early 20s. How would I take to racing again.

Race Day

Sham and I, with running mate Mo’ath Alkhawaldeh and his wife Maira, had driven up the day before from Peekskill. After picking up race numbers – having switched from the USATF 20K National Championships to the half marathon that starts with and shares the same finish line but includes a 1.1K ‘detour’ at around 11 miles (course map) – I grabbed an early dinner and settled into my bed early at a rather unkempt La Quinta Hotel (never again).

The alarm rang at 6am for the 8:30am start from New Haven Green, barely a mile away. I had my small bowl of oatmeal and coffee and then jogged to start area, picking up Mo at another hotel en route. Conditions were favorable, for the time of year. It was slightly overcast, a little breezy, quite humd and in low 20sC / 70sF.

The great thing about this race is that being a USATF National Championship it has quality and depth at the front, and feels like an occasion, but has none of the heavily regulated corral arrangement of a NYRR race.

New Yorkers make for such a stressful final countdown to a race. After a 3 mile warm-up I lined up about three rows back. I now run for 212 Track Club (#212TC) but as I’d yet to get a vest I decided to race in my Team GB masters vest.

My plan was to settle into a group with some of the leading women and run 1:13:30 to top the 2019 UK and US half marathon rankings for M50-54. And sutre enough soon after the race started I was running alonside a group of some dozen women (see picture below), including 2018 champ Sara Hall. Turns out most of this group would end up finishing in front of me, at least in front of me at the point when I had to add the 1.1K detour.

It felt great to be back at it. And it showed in my fast start, clocking 5:20 for the first mile. Realising this I then tried to make some adjustments, slowing down slightly but not much as I was keen to stay in contact and work with a small group. I reeled off miles in 5:30, 5:32 and 5:34, passing 5K in 17:00 and 4 miles in 22:00. The course was fast – flat, long straights, few turns and good road surface. And I was happy racing for the first time in the Hoka One One Carbon X having been using the Adidas Adizer Adios since 2016 (though the Carbon Rocket may have served me better).

Up ahead of me was NYAC runner Jerry Faulkner running with Katie Newton – and even further ahead Michael Cassidy, who I used to trade strides with in NYRR races when he was slower and I faster, duking it out with Mo’ath. I passed mile 5 in 27:40. My mile splits were now slowing slightly – I clocked 5:39 and 5:42 for 5th and 6th miles, passing 10K in 34:40. I caught Jerry and Katie. Jerry dropped off.

Along the long straight tree-lined Chapel Street heading east to wards the city centre I worked with Katie (see picture above) chasing the pack of women some 100 metres up ahead. We ran miles 7, 8 and 9 in 5:39. I was now outside my goal of 1:13:30 and hurting. During the 10th mile, that ends near the high point of the course at an elevation of 140ft (verses 50ft at the start / finish area and 5ft at mile 9), I started to crack. This is unknown territory for me at point in a race: typically I’m either holding pace or accelerating slightly.

As I ascended the hill, most appropriately on English Drive, Roberta Groner, the 41 year old masters standout who will run for the USA at the marathon at the upcoming World Champs, caught me. We worked together and crested the hill. The 10th mile had taken 5:48 and I passed mile 10 in 56:05. But as we descended Roberta stole a lead. While I had to conserve a little, as I had my 1.1K detour coming up, if I was doing the 20K she’d have beaten me.

As the 20K runners made a right just before 11 miles I turned left. Just before the turn I saw Mo, leading the half with me in 2nd, pass in front of me having just done the 1.1K detour, a straight out and back before rejoining the 20K course. That 1.1K included a steady descent followed by a steady ascent. I was now treading water, in survival rather than competing mode as I typically find myself in a marathon. I’d covered the 11th mile, largely descending, in 5:40 but the 12th in 5:55. I was glad to rejoin the 20K runners. The 3rd place guy was some distance behind me.

The last mile felt like a procession, a slow funereal one, despite being flat and straight. I was focused on limiting my losses and hoping to get as close to 1:14 finish as possible. I ran mile 13 in 5:52 and crossed the line in 1:14:33. This was 2nd place after Mo with 1:08:48. Race results are here (and 20K, won by Leonard Korir and Sara Hall, here) and my Gamin data with splits and heart rate here. It gets me =5th in the UK M50-54 rankings.

Post Race

Overall I enjoyed being back racing and relieved I got this one under my belt. I was back doing what I love, maybe a little slower than I’d like but unjury free and hungry for more. Perhaps I pushed too hard in those early miles.

I now look forward to the 2020 London Marathon and World Masters Athletics Champs Toronto 2020. The inaugural AbbottWMM Wanda Age Group World Championship race will be part of the London Marathon. While I did not qualify via the rankings system – based on finishing places in 2 major marathons over the past 2 years – I will able to compete for this as I’m in the race.

This race has left me as tired as if I’d run a full marathon. Tired enough to prompt me to take today off and instead write this! Needless to say the tiny bottle of champagne I got for being first masters, and the one Mo gave Sham as he’s teetotal (see picture below), have already been consumed.

Running Beyond Fifty

by Paul Thompson

At this time of year we spend a lot of time reflecting as well as planning, predicting and setting resolutions. So I thought I’d join the habit, look back on my last year running in my forties and look forward to my first year running as a fifty something.

In turning 50 in the final few days of 2015 something dawned on me like a proverbial rock hitting me on the back of the head. As a 49 year-old I’d gotten use to the ‘consolation’ of being able to tell folk I was in my forties. As a 50 year-old there’s no such opportunity: it’s better to be precise.So I’m 50. On the positive side I’m once again the youngest. In my age group that is. And as such have age on my side so to speak.

This time last year I made plans for 2015 and summarized them in this post. The title, Running Plans for the Year I Turn 50, had that air of resigned inevitability. Writing the post was easier than manually totting up my 2014 mileage, and in any case at 50 my ability to do math(s) is worse than at age 15 (or 5). But for what it’s worth I reckon I did around 3,300 miles. If you wanna tot it up and let me know in the comment box below please do: my log is here.

2015 Resolutions: Shaken, Stirred or Broken?

So let’s see which, if any, of my aims I achieved.  First I said I’d run the USATF Cross Country Championships in Boulder CO and get into the top three, like I did in 2014, “but avoid having a medal on loan”. Well I ran and placed 3rd, and rather than be loaned a medal was awarded a token medal. ( I was ineligible as a non-US citizen to win the real thing.) I also got to share the podium with the athlete that got the bronze medal! Nice. Check box.

Second, I said I’d aim to  win the NYRR Runner of the Year for the M45-49 category on the basis of my performance in NYRR races, and help the men’s team improve on its 2014 performance. Well as it happens I helped the team to a repeat of their 2014 standings – 2nd masters and 4th open. On the individual front I have to wait until NYRR Club Night in late Feb. to hear whether or not my seven, out of nine, M45-49 age wins in NYRR races are enough. Matt Chaston, my closest rival, beat me convincingly at the NYRR Fifth Avenue Mile, where I placed 3rd, and NYRR Retro 4-Miler, where I was 2nd, but I got him back on at least four occasions! Almost check box.

Third, I did not run London or indeed any other marathon. I resolved to wait until I turned 50 before taking a shot at my marathon PR. I have in mind Manchester (UK) in early April 2016. Some strong races in the fall including the Bronx 10 in 53:36, with highest ever age grade of 93.26%, and Grete’s Half in 1:11:35 were the icing on the cake of the 2015 season. The latter was enough to get me automatic UK Championship entry to the London Marathon which likely I’ll pass in favor of Manchester where I get to run with my brother and running pal Mo’ath Alkhawaldeh.

New Year’s Resolution: Appoint a Coach

So what’s in store for 2016? Well for starters I am now, as of December 31, under the guidance of a coach for the first time since leaving the UK in 1998: I was then running for Holmfirth Harriers under the guidance of Alwyn Dewhirst.

Lee Troop has great credentials as an Olympian and Australian national record holder. Now in his early forties he coaches a few dozen elite younger athletes from his base in Boulder where he is coach at Boulder Track Club. I’m perhaps his oldest charge. His most prolific athletes include Olympic hopefuls Laura Thweatt and Sean Quigley. Most significantly his training philosophy and overall approach suit me.

2016 Plans

What ‘Troopy’ offers is access to his experience, born of running at an elite level into his forties, focus and motivation. He’s a larger than life extrovert which means his opinions come at you in spades. That’s saying something coming from a strong extrovert himself.

His first objective is to help me get a marathon PR – my best time of 2:29:56 dates from London in 2005 when I was ‘only’ 41 – in the Greater Manchester marathon in early April. During the build up I’d like to get in a fast half and win the M50-54 age group at the USATF National Cross Country Championships in Bend OR. In 2015 I was a neck in front of the M50-54 winner. Unfortunately at the time of writing Bend is doubtful.

After Manchester we’ll take stock and then make plans for the World Masters Athletics Championships in Perth, Australia in late October. There are many options but likely I’ll plump for the 8k cross country and half marathon. These are perhaps my best events and fall conveniently at either end of the 20 days program. A 1:10-1:12 in the latter, which is in my wheelhouse on the basis of recent performances, could secure a medal in the M50-54 age group.

For the rest of 2016 I have in mind helping the Warren Street team as far as I can by supporting workouts and racing in NYRR team points races, competing for national honors at a USATF National Championship such as the half. and running a classic like Peachtree on July 4 or Bay to Breakers on May 15 (the latter I did in 2014 and had a ball).

At 50, poised to start working with Lee, I’m in the starter’s blocks. By 51 I hope to have a World Masters medal and a new marathon PR.

Race Report: 2015 Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Fred’s Team Presents Grete’s Great Gallop (13.1M), New York, October 3, 2015

by Paul Thompson

Today I ran in bib number 666 and came 13th. I’m not superstitious but was a bit wary of running in this bib number, so much so that I’d tried taking scissors to it and running as 66 until I realized I’d have to cut through the strip that records the chip time. After running my fastest half marathon for three years – in fact this very same race in 2012 – I figured the bib number and finish place were not so unlucky (and my Chinese friends advised 666 was indeed lucky). I did however destroy the bib as soon as I crossed the line.

Jack Weitz, Grete’s husband, held the finish tape for the first men and women

I was nervous ahead of today’s race. More than normal. Having scorched to 53:36 in the Bronx 10 Mile last week I was worried the legs and heart would not be game for my longest race since 2013 barely 7 days after running on the Grand Concourse. Sham and I drove in and parked at Marcus Garvey Park. I then ran the 4 miles to the start just south the Tavern on the Green. Conditions were mixed – ideal temperatures in the low 50s (F) but cloudy and windy.

I’ve run this race many times. It’s often a club points race but more importantly it’s way for me to pay tribute to Grete Waitz by running a race in her honor. Since I can remember this race has been run clockwise – for two and a bit laps of the park – but this year’s route (Download Course Map (PDF)) was counter- / anti-clockwise and the final few meters took in the gentle ascent up the 72nd Street Transverse.

Running with NYAC and WSX runners in the early stages

As last week soon after the start I settled in behind a group comprising a posse of New York Athletic Club (NYAC) (Gian-Paul Gaccia, Jmaes Kelly and Thomas Young) and West Side Runners (WSX) (Roberto Puente and Alejandro Ariza). We were clipping along at 5:20-22 mpm pace through to around 4 miles – reached in 21:26 – but then the NYAC members stepped it up and Roberto, Alejandro and I drifted off the back. I then found myself running alone. And until the last half mile it would stay that way. Fortunately I was able to maintain 5:26-30 mpm pace, sufficient to meet my target finish time of sub-1:12.

Running isolated at around the 6 mile mark. Sid Howard is bellowing support and telling everyone I’m 49!

This half marathon – like all big races of two laps or more in the park – suffers from congestion as faster runners on their second lap overtake slower competitors. From around mile 8, reached in 43:20, I started lapping runners in large numbers. Some inadvertently run wide so the lapping runners like myself end up running outside the cones. It’s hard to know how this can be averted. Perhaps the answer is two lanes demarcated using cone and tape.

Out on the course I got great support from friends – all runners and those that support us are my friend. A special mention must go to Sid and Asteria Howard. Few couples, if any, give so much to running and runners young and old.

With barely half a mile left to run I comforted myself that a sub-1:12 was in the bag. Then Matthew Lacey, Central Park Track Club (CPTC), breezed past. As we approached the finish we then had to navigate the lapped runners to get an inside line in order to make the left turn onto the 72nd Street Transverse for the final 150m finishing straight. The slight rise up to the line sucked out what little I had left. I crossed the line in 1:11:35, good for 13th overall, 1st masters and 1st age-graded (92.74%, my second highest ever). A sub-1:15 also qualified me for championship entry to the London Marathon. Here are some more race photos.

Crossing the finish line was a relief

In the men’s race, the West Side Runners, led by Ayele Megersa Feisa, solidified their club points lead by taking today’s top-five spots. The New York Athletic Club strengthened their women’s first-place ranking with a photo finish by Jeanna Composti and Megan Hogan with Composti taking the win. The Warren Street turnout was disappointing, not surprising perhaps given we pulled out all the stops at the Bronx 10 Mile.

West Side Runners made up the first three men

This race attracted almost 4,400 runners, many doing their last race before the New York City Marathon. But there were no Norwegian festival with its Nordic goodies to replenish spent energy. Overall it felt a shadow of the race that many of us came to love, the race that honors the world’s greatest ever female distance runner. The Bronx 10 Mile partly stole the show. I do hope NYRR find a way to return this race to its former glory. We owe it to Grete.

Grete at the start of the 2009 race – she would stand on the podium to wave the runners off and then be there at the end to see them come in.

It Can Only Get Better

by Paul Thompson

Around this time last year, just as I turned 47, I reflected on what I’d done in 2012 and set out my goals for 2013. One year on I can safely say I comfortably achieved none of my 2013 goals – except collecting an award for 2012! It was a year plagued by injury and accident in which I scraped together 2,175 miles, more than 1,000 less than I chalked up in 2012.

On the big screen at the Hard Rock Cafe, New York

The year started out promising enough. I ran my all time highest mileage 0f 91 miles in the first week of January. Closing out progressive tempos in 5:10-15 suggested a PR/PB in April’s London Marathon was on the cards. In late January I said to a team mate that I “felt invincible”. I would eat those words.

A week later I was struck by what proved to be a persistent sciatic nerve problem. And in mid-May, while on a recovery run, I was ‘run’ down by a bike. That pretty much buried the season.

Incredibly I had to wait until September to cross the finish line of a race – that of the Fifth Avenue Mile. A few weeks later, in early October, I ran 1:12:10 at Grete’s Great Gallop (13.1M). That secured me 4th in the UK rankings for M45-49. But it was more important for what it taught me. That I could claw my way back from a fitness level I had not plumbed in decades. And at 47!

Mid-race in Grete’s Great Gallop

I ran a total of three races in 2013, the third being the Philly Half in 1:13:20 in mid-November. I started that race pacemaking a friend entered for the full marathon and ended with my charging the second 10k in 35 minutes, only to find the first masters runner finished one second in front of me.

So what will 2014 have in store? Well after deferring my 2013 entry I have the option of running the semi-elite, UK Marathon Championships in April’s London Marathon. To stand any hope of running a PR at this would mean making a New Year’s pledge to pack in the miles starting tomorrow.

If I do decide to run London as part of the build-up I could do the USATF Masters Half Marathon Champs in Melbourne, Florida in early February and aim for something close to 1:12 and a top 3 AG placing. The Chicago Marathon on October 12 offers better odds of a PR and the Philadelphia Rock and Roll Half Marathon, the fastest in the US would be the ideal build-up race.

In between these ‘big’ races I aim to run as many New York Road Runner team scored races as possible. In 2013 my Warren Street masters team was 5th, the lowest placing since I turned 40. In the individual M45-49 I only managed 2 of the 6 NYRR races required to get a nomination. So for the first time in 8 years I will not be picking up an individual award at the Hard Rock Cafe in March. I hope to put this right in 2014, starting today at Rockefeller State Park Reserve.

Race Report: Philadelphia (Half) Marathon, November 17

by Paul Thompson

Last weekend I started the Philly Marathon with Mo’ath Alkawaldeh. Mo completed his in a little over 2:37, a great debut. I meanwhile DNF. Or more precisely I took ‘advantage’ of the option to bail out at half way. This option, open to all marathon entrants, gets you timed and scored as though you had started the half that’s run simultaneously.

Mo and I just before the start.

My game plan all along had been to pace Mo through half way. Approaching 13 miles the course does the splits – turn left for another 13 miles or turn right for a 100 metre dash across the finish line. As I turned right course officials, spotting my marathon bib, gestured me to turn left. I almost had to run over them. I had mixed feelings crossing the line. I felt relieved not to be in Mo’s shoes with 13 miles left. I felt great for having logged 1:13:20 after weeks of battling sciatica. But I felt a bit of a fraud with the marathon bib – a job half complete. Was it a DNF? And, soon after crossing the line just ahead of me, Eric Shafer turned to announce he was a masters runner. That left me in second place for the masters, a one second deficit costing me $500.

Mo followed his first half 1:17 with a solid 1:20 second half. Mo and I used to train together when he lived in New York. Keen to run a fast debut marathon in the 2:30s he flew to New York from Jordan to stay with us for the week leading up to the race. We drove to Philly where we stayed, with Mo’s friend Osama Al Qattan (who PR’ed with 3:26) at a hotel in the city’s suburbs.

I had offered to pace Mo to half way at around 2:30 pace. We set out at 5:45 pace but after 2 miles he was a few seconds adrift. I felt ‘up for it’, my sciatica lost without trace. Pre race he suggested I race it. So I did. My pace making days were over before they even started.

As 6 miles approached, in the spectator packed Downtown area, I decided to step on the gas and, hopefully, do enough to take first masters and the $500 prize. My 10k split of 35:23 (5:41 average) compared with 5:30 average for the latter 11k which took in the two hills in West Philly.

Racing to the finish

Philly is a great race. Some 23,000 ran the half and full combined. The course was pretty fast and varied – city center, riverside, park ‘an all. Spectators came out in their thousands to bellow their support. In the Drexel University area this extended to students completing a marathon night of revelry with beers on the sidewalk.

Mo and I enjoyed elite entry status. This meant we had the ‘luxury’ of hanging out in the elite tent pre- and post-race.  And a designated restroom with no line. The elite tent gave us the opportunity to study the pre- and post-race routine of real elite athletes.

Chatting to some Kenyans post race

One standout was the heightened security, a legacy of the Boston bombing. This extended to clear only baggage and restrictions on spectator access. But what was clear was that New York and Philly have overcome the restrictions and put on even better marathons than before.

UPS vans ready to take the clear bags to the finish area

Race Report: Grete’s Great Gallop (13.1M), New York, October 13

by Shamala Kandiah Thompson and Paul Thompson

On October 6 for the first time ever Paul and I ran in the same race. Grete’s Great Gallop is a half-marathon that Paul has done every year since 2008. It was his last race in 2012 before he got injured and now a year later he was hoping this would be his come-back race. I, on the other hand, had not done a half-marathon since my mid-twenties. I had signed up just five days before the race. Having trained with a friend who was doing a half-marathon that same week-end, I knew I was physically fit enough – whether I was mentally ready was another question.

Paul’s Race Experience

Clocking 1:12:10 at Grete’s Great Gallop marked the culmination of a 3 month long comeback from a year wrecked by sciatica and an accident. Sure I had raced the Fifth Avenue Mile a few weeks before – my first race since Grete’s in October 2012 – but that was just an appetizer. This was the main course.

The race left me jubilant, relieved and pissed – all in one. I felt jubilant in achieving my 1:12 ‘stretch’ target. I felt relieved in proving I could claw my way back from being so unfit in late July, maybe the least fit since I was in my early 20s. I felt frustrated in realizing, after the initial soreness wore off, that once again I was suffering from sciatica.

The 1:12 gave me a 90% plus age grade. Masters runners like me are unlikely to get PRs so we have to make do with KPIs like these. My aim in every NYRR race is to top the age grade. I often do when running well and the race has no pro athletes competing. And that’s what I did this time – as soon as NYRR had cleansed the results and gotten rid of the usual ‘errors’ in the first cut of the race results.

The race went pretty much to plan. I set off cautiously at around 5:40 pace and then started to edge my way through to the top 20 by mile two. I was further back than normal at this stage but then the race field was loaded with more fast guys than I can recall in the many years I have done this race. A slower start than normal kept me out of trouble – from getting carried away with an irrationally exuberant start. In any case I figured there was plenty of time to ‘make up’ for a slow start in a half. I also had to contend with not knowing what the body was capable of after a long layoff.

For several miles I was content to sit in with a group running around 5:30 pace. We gradually picked off some fast starters. I then found the group slowing to 5:40s so I struck out alone around 9 miles, just as we headed into the northern hills for the second time. For the last few miles I was trying to stay focused on chasing the runners in front who were becoming obscured by the many slower runners we were lapping. I reeled in a few on the bottom loop of the park and crossed the line sandwiched by two French runners.

While I was chuffed with the result – Warren Street also got first place in the men’s masters’ team – I was much less pleased with the legacy. My sciatica has returned, this time in my right butt. Warming down, and catching Shamala narrowly miss 2 hours, I sensed all was not well.

So here I am once more stretching, ball rolling, you name it, and hoping I do not have to leave it to fate to get rid of it – my last bout only went after 6 weeks of forced rest due to being knocked over by a bicycle.

Shamala’s Race Experience

This is one race I’ve always been interested in running.  Mainly because Grete Waitz, who passed away in 2011, has for many years been one of my running heroes. The first few years Paul did this race Grete was at the start and finish. I took photos of her but didn’t dare go up and speak to her. I wish I had. I didn’t want to regret never doing Grete’s Great Gallop.

On the morning of the race I was up at 4:30 am. Nerves, excitement or plain fear. I really didn’t want to be on that start line. But at 8:45 am  I was  in my corral (which was quite a bit further back than Paul’s!), stomach churning as the announcements went on and on. I worried about not finishing the race, about running out of energy and stumbling to the finish. What on earth made me think I could run a half-marathon after all these years?

It got a lot better once we started. Somehow getting my legs moving calmed me down and I settled into a comfortable pace with the group around me. I knew that I had to start slow so although I was feeling good I kept to a steady trot. Still I covered the first seven miles in under 9 minute mile pace which if  I had kept up  would have easily got me in within my two hour goal.

Central Park is a very hilly course. And in this race you get to do the entire loop twice. There are big hills in the north and generally it is an undulating course that has almost no flat bits. I got through the first five miles, including the dreaded northern hills comfortably. The 80 percent humidity meant that I couldn’t avoid the water stations. Note to self: before the next race practice running and drinking at the same time.

Heading past the start line brought home the fact that the race was not even half over. A mile or so ahead was the finish line but I had another 7 miles to go before I could cross it.  At this point the first three runners came past me heading for the finish. I picked up my feet. The one thing I was determined to do was not get lapped by Paul! Getting past the finish line was a psychological milestone.  I knew at that point that I wasn’t going to stop after one round as I feared. Or maybe it was the Gu I’d taken at mile 7 kicking in.

The second half of the race was a lot harder. I got past the northern hills without totally fading but the miles following were slower.  The last three miles were tough. While my legs were getting tired at this point, the battle was all in my head. I wanted so badly to stop and walk or just stop and leave the race. I managed to keep going but I slowed down quite a bit. Paul found me at mile 10 and tried to run with me but I told him to go away. Having him and some of his running mates cheer me on though was uplifting although it did not  necessarily make me move much faster!  And  in the last mile as runners began to pick up speed I could only plod on.  I just didn’t have it in me to pull out a final sprint. Which is a pity because I finished seven seconds short of my goal of coming in under 2 hours. Still it wasn’t as bad an experience as I’d feared. Maybe I don’t have to let twenty odd years pass before doing another one.

Paul and I after the race. One of us looks like a lot fresher than the other!

On another note, this used to be one of the best post-race events. For many years it was  part of the Norwegian festival. There were waffles with jam, bagels with salmon, Vikings and good music.  Now all you get is a dry bagel and an apple at the finish and few people stick around for the prize giving.  I hope they bring back those waffles and Vikings next year.

One of my running mates, Robbin, and I hanging out after the race. She had a quicker race than last year but was disappointed that there were salmon bagels.

Staying Motivated as Age Sets In

by Paul Thompson

As the days start to shorten I’m reminded that it will soon be fall. Earlier this year when I set my goals for the year I said I’d consider a marathon this fall like Chicago if the stars aligned and my training was going real well around this time. Well I’m in a hole – a black hole. My legs feel beat and I’m running slower than I’d like. So I’ve canned the idea of a fall marathon. Instead I will likely have crack at breaking my PR on a fast course like London in the spring of 2013.

It seems I’m down to the last few grains of sand in the egg timer as far as setting a marathon PR is concerned. At 46 going on 47 (I hear the violins) the chances of my beating 2:29:56 are getting slimmer by the day. So how can I stay motivated enough to keep chalking up 70 mile weeks. Aside from the club races I’m committed to doing I need a big race this fall if I am to stay motivated.

My shortlist is short – the Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon (Philly). Last year I ran 1:10:48 and came 84th (you read it right, eighty fourth!): what does a guy need to do! The winner came in at 58:46. I had a slight handicap – a full day of travel from southern Italy the day before. But that excuse only goes so far.

Matthew Kisorio and Sammy Kitwara, who came in 1st and 2nd, heading to the finish.

Philly is perhaps the best half in the US and possibly the world. In 2011 it witnessed U.S. All Comers records for both men and women. It’s great depth means there’s people to compete with the whole way. And it’s expertly organized under the stewardship of Tracy Sundlun, one of Warren Street’s founders.

Warren Street entered a mixed team at at last year’s Philly half marathon.

These past few weeks I’ve racked up my training to 70 miles per week including 20 mile plus runs and speed endurance workouts. But am I ready to put it on the line and see whether I can dip under 70 minutes. I have little time to decide. Should I stay or should I go?