Since some people are running the half marathon in Philidelphia next weekend, everyone else is strongly encouraged to enter and run the NYRR Fred Lebow Cross Country 5k next Sunday, September 16, in Van Cortlandt Park. This is a club points race and the club needs as many people running as possible. Remember, this may be your chance to score for the club. This is the first time in five years that a cross country race has been part of the club points race series, and promises to be a lot of fun. You can even check out the photos from five years ago which shows what a great time we all had that day, (including photos of yours truly, which prove that I did run once upon a time.)

Here are the top five reasons to run this race:

1. It s only $7.00 to enter!
2. You can sleep in on Sunday. The late race time is great for people who hate to race early in the morning.
3. It s the shortest club points race of the year.
4. It s great to run a race out of Central Park.
5. It s the only cross country race of the year that uses a chip.

You can enter this race on line through Tuesday and in person at the NYRR through Saturday. Everyone is encouraged to enter and pick up your chip and number in advance to avoid the lines on Sunday, although you can still enter on race day. Either way the cost is only $7.00.

Don t make the same mistake that I did five years ago of running the NYRR long training run the day before the race. It s not worth the risk to your performance on Sunday. If you need to keep up your mileage you can do a long cool down after the race or go for another run late Sunday afternoon.