Big Apple Borough Weekend

Two years ago I ran and then reported on the Brooklyn half-marathon. Recently I returned to the scene to run another of the five-borough half-marathon series races. This is a short account of my running experience the weekend so many of our kin were fighting the wind in Boston.

The Queens half-marathon comprises two loops, many turns (a couple dozen plus), and several small but definitely noticeable hills around the quiet community of College Point, by the Whitestone Bridge. The morning featured almost perfect running weather: low 50's, misty, absolutely NO wind, and no direct sunshine either. I believe the New York Runners Club had reserved these fine conditions. Nothing is beyond belief when it comes to this, the largest such club in the country. Excellent event organization, week after week (check out their website! Indeed, I pre-registered online, as I did two years ago). Even the closing of the streets is done without a trace of its having been a big deal... it just happens, gratis to the NYC police department. And a blue line down the middle marks the entire course.

Two thousand, two-thirds male, ran this race while a few also ran a 5K race that started ten minutes before, so there was quite the crowd of friendly people, many of whom were volunteers, family, and witnesses; many (most?) local to the area. I would have had to run pretty badly in order not to have had a fun time. But I was happy with my performance. I ran really relaxed the first couple miles and then put in increasing effort, running even splits, a slightly negative total split on account of my slow start, finishing 55th male, 58th overall. I gradually but increasingly became fatigued, beginning rather early in the second loop, an earlyness which I attribute to being in not so good aerobic shape, having run the Cabbage two weeks before, and perhaps to all those turns, and some uphill running too. Maybe it has something to do with age?

Surprisingly, despite so many notable performances, or perhaps as a result of there being so much running talent coming together so frequently, it didn't seem that anyone really paid attention at the awards ceremony. It was ignored, by seemingly everyone - so few of the trophies were disappearing from the stage. No applause. No recognition, no nothing. Talk about blase New Yorkers! Maybe even rudeness.

The next morning I drove twenty minutes in the other direction (early morning weekend travel time), to the south end of the Bethpage bikeway in Massapequa Park, to join fellow runners for a Sunday morning run. Though I stay at my mom's adjacent to a county park when I'm in the area, it was still great to have discovered this other running resource. I ran up to Bethpage Park, turning around before I had even run out of pathway, covering twelve miles with my return - contending with almost no cars on this pleasant path, marked every quarter mile. The only wild-life I saw were rabbits and egrets - and other runners, bikers and walkers - not exactly the wild west or even the Finger Lakes region, but it seems to be fine for daily running and an excellent place for me to go for tempo runs when I am down there visiting but not racing, should that ever happen. (Fat chance.)

The five boroughs of NYC half-marathon series is definitely worth checking out if you enjoy running this distance and you are planning to visit the great metropolis, and perhaps even if you are not. The races are in March, April, July, August, and October. In November they have a race that covers all boroughs in one run.

-- Jeffrey Juran