Showing posts with label 9/11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 9/11. Show all posts

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Thankful for the weekend

 
Today's run (street): 3.5 miles

This was a weird week and I'm glad it's finally Saturday. Although it was one less work day due to Labor day, the next four days were among the longest I've ever endured. Some of that related to business and some was due to ridiculous traffic on Thursday and Friday that resulted in 2 1/2 to 3 hour commutes. On top of that, I received tragic news yesterday about a close colleague and needed to pay a condolence call last night. That yesterday was 9/11 did not help my mood at all.

It was difficult to find time to run this week due to the above. I usually work from home on Fridays, but I had so much going on I needed to go into the office. That eliminated the opportunity to do my usual Friday morning run. The upside to that exhaustion was that I managed to get a full eight hours of sleep last night. I needed that badly and looked forward to getting back on the road this morning.

It took an extraordinary amount of time to get myself out the door today. My watch said 10:00 exactly when I hit the start button. With the low sun, 72° temperature, and still-green trees, it felt more like an early summer morning than almost fall. It didn't feel humid at first, but the skies soon began to darken and I started feeling more moisture in the air. I wasn't aiming for much distance and hoped I could get through my planned 3+ miles before the predicted downpour.

I lucked out with the rain and didn't notice the effect of the humidity until I'd finished. It took a lot of water and electrolytes to get me feeling back in balance. Tomorrow is supposed to be less humid and I may head over to the Bethpage trail to pick up some longer distance.

I continue to like the Kinvaras and I'd like to see how they do on a five-plus mile run. SIOR is running the inaugural Suffolk Marathon tomorrow. I think she's doing the half because she's got a destination marathon happening in less than a month. I'm curious about the route and I'm looking forward to reading her race report.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

9/11 weekday run

 
Today's run (street): 3.1 miles

I've been off the blogging grid for the past two days, and most of today, because I've been consumed with a work project. After taking my usual Monday rest day and Tuesday as another recovery day, I was back on the street this morning. I wasn't psyched to go out at 8:00 AM, as the news was reporting 78 degrees and a dew point of 71.

I tried to set a strong pace but, felt frustrated with my turnover. The good news was, despite the hot and humid conditions, I wasn't tempted to tone down the effort. At around the one mile mark, I recalled that today was September 11. Except for when it fell on the weekend, this was the first time I didn't need to commute into the city on that day. It always made me nervous to be in Penn Station on 9/11.

20 minutes into the run, I was looking forward to finishing up. Still, I kept up the effort and wondered if it would translate into a credible time. My heart rate indicated that I was holding about 80% of MAX, so even if I wasn't moving very fast, I was trying. I ended up averaging 9:14 a mile. Given the weather, that was more than satisfactory. It was good to be back on the road, but I'm really looking forward to the fall weather.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Techno-vandalism brings down Emerging Runner

Today's run (street): 2.5 miles

Today is the 11th anniversary of 9/11 and it's hard to believe that so much time has passed since that Tuesday in 2001. Last year I posted an essay about my experience and I thought this morning about how my children, so young at the time, are now in middle and high school. They'll never remember a time when 9/11 was just another day in September. I hardly do now.

Yesterday afternoon hackers brought down GoDaddy, the web hosting company that provides DNS services for the Emerging Runner. Consequently, my site was unreachable for a few hours. It's troubling when people selfishly disrupt technologies that provide services to so many who rely on their websites for income. Emerging Runner isn't a commercial site so, for me, it was just annoyance. But for those with the "Occupy Wall Street" mentality, I'll point out that this type of techno-vandalism mostly hurts the people they claim to represent.

I'm glad to have my site back and very happy to experience chilly, fall-like temperatures on my 4:00 AM run this morning. I ran my usual route and finished about 30 seconds faster than I normally do. It's hard to know how I'll feel on Saturday (race day) but my last two runs have gone well. One more run before I rest.

Finally, as I feared, BH Fitness sent us the wrong parts for our elliptical machine, so after waiting 6+ months, we still don't have a working unit. Here's some advice: If you are considering buying a piece of BH Fitness equipment, I recommend that you consider something else.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

My 9/11 experience

I'm probably going to go out for a few miles this morning although I'm not really in the mood. I guess the ubiquitous presence of of the 10th anniversary of 9/11 is getting to me. I'm also concerned that the slight but persistent soreness along the Achilles tendon on my right foot may be getting worse. I iced it today and it's feeling better, so I'm wondering if the best thing to do is to rest it. Given that this is probably my last chance to do a 3+ mile run before Cow Harbor, I'm tempted to get outside.

At the suggestion of a reader, Adam (also a runner), I've put together my memories of 9/11 when I experienced these events from my mid-town office in NYC. I've used a feature on Blogger called Pages that I will occasionally use to write posts that are not directly related to running. Writing down these memories has been emotional, but I'm glad to share experiences that I've been keeping to myself for ten years.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Thinking about 9/11

Today's workout (elliptical): 27 minutes

It's Friday, and although Labor Day made this a short week, it still seemed long. Goodbye Summer Fridays, it was fun while it lasted. I used today's workout to cross train on the elliptical and it was tougher than I'd expected. The rain has stopped so I could have done my first outdoor run since last weekend, but the weight of the week kept me inside. I usually consider the elliptical to be a less-challenging workout, but no such luck today.

The mood is somber in NYC as we approach the 10th anniversary of 9/11. It would have been nice to do a city run at lunch as a remembrance of everything I'd experienced on that day. I certainly covered a lot of ground in the city that afternoon and it all remains vivid and scary. I'll think about it again during my runs this weekend. I'm planning to do a last long run tomorrow or Sunday, in preparation for the Great Cow Harbor 10K on the 17th.
 

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