The Bronx 10 miler
It was Good Day Sunshine for our 60+ and 70+ men at the Bronx 10 miler. If you were well-conditioned, recovered and injury-free or on the mend, more than likely it was a great day in The Bronx. Results tended to bear this out. Cooler temperatures than prior team pointers, low humidity and mild wind in brilliant sunshine will bring the best out in those healthy and prepared. With no fluid replacement in either case, I lost 5 lbs in an easy 10 mile training run a few weeks ago while only 3 lbs in the Bronx pushing hard.
First year rookie Charles Parchment, was our 1st scorer: 1:09:25 / 77.61%, last year 1:10:20 / 75.8% at age 59. This year he was 6th in his age group out of 200. Charles has proven to be a reliable team point runner. For his efforts he earned the honor of leading our 60+ charge over the finish line. As only he can put it in his Jamaican lilt:
Thanks as a new comer to the club you always encourage me as a runner you had the FAITH in me that I would be a scorer for the 60 PLUS age group thanks HANK. APPRECIATION goes a far way.
Cool runnings
Kind words. Charles has done it by dint of effort. Short of injury, time has a way of rewarding effort. In good racing conditions for all, he stood out.
Yasuhiro Makoshi, once the super star in our lineup, continues to made strides back to his greatness. In those times, the first thing the reigning Brooklyn RR competitors would ask me before a team pointer was if Yasuhiro was there. He was the hare they rarely bested. On this day he was our 2nd scorer: 1:11:15 / 79.34%, last year 1:19:03 / 70.81%. He was 1st in his age group. This race was a giant step forward in recovery. Let’s see how far he can reel it back in.
In a surprise to me, I was our 3rd scorer: 1:14:20 / 79:17%, last year 1:16:09 / 78.5%, 3rd in age group.:
With a race every weekend since the Percy Sutton 5k, there hasn’t been many opportunities for training miles due to slowed recovery with aging.
As David Blumel put it, I’ve been racing my way back into shape. Hallelujah.
Our first backup beat me too the line. There was no catching Alan Ruben on fire. He did the sensible thing running a reasonable pace at the start, more than likely putting in negative splits: 1:14:22 / 73.13%, last year 1:11:12 / 75.67%. The punishment of these 10 miles on Alan’s knee injury have put a stop to his 1045 day running streak. Stay tuned.
Talk about injuries and setbacks, Art Palmer is just now on the mend: 1:16:07 / 71.45%, last year 1:23:34 / 64.47%. He had multiple issues, as you can see from last year’s time. Should the goddess of sports injuries take a vacation, all theses guys should shorten their racing times significantly.
Dennis O’Donnell raced the day before: 1:17:35 / 70.09%:
Probably had something to do with the NYC Runs 5K that I ran on Saturday on Governors Island at an age-group winning 7:12 pace. (Did not schedule back-to-back races; Governors Island race was originally set for mid-August, but was rescheduled for Saturday due to severe thunderstorms on original race day.) My legs were tired; I kept pace with Alan for the first two miles, but then fell behind and slowed after Mile 3 /4. I recovered for the last three miles, including the Yankee Stadium downhill, but the damage had already been done.
Just received an adjusted pace figure of 7:07 for my 5K on Saturday. (There was a chip problem that had to be resolved.)
In my very narrow range, that makes the Saturday race the fastest I have run this year. Further explanation for my tired legs on Sunday.
One of these days I will do it right and rest for a few days before every race!
Also not having raced it last year, but like Dennis having raced it 2 years ago, NYC Marathon bound, Gary Gosselin ran this as a training run: 1:19:39 / 70.4%.
Kevin McGuire: 1:19:39 / 71.67%, last year 1:20:40 / 70.07%. He was 8th in his age group.
Harry Lichtenstein, Bronx resident and our last runner in the 60+ age group ran 1:34:45 / 60.25%, last year 1:55:08 / 49.09%.
Our 1st 70+ scorer was another rookie, a virgin CPTC member, Alex Wilkison: 1:36:35 / 62.25%, last year as free agent 1:1:42:44 / 57.87%. Alex has been excited to me part of our team. With his improved results we can infer being a member of CPTC is good for body and soul. I’d be interested how far Alex might improve running coach Tony’s workouts.
Robert Haig’s persistence in team point races might be a major factor in Dave Delano’s drive to form our fledgling 70+ crew. He ran this one under the flag of caution. This from Bob a few days prior to the race:
I hope to be there on Sunday and to complete the race but am struggling with Achilles tendinitis problems (not a new problem for me).
His race: 1:42:00 / 56.96%. We needed 3 starters if we were going to have 3 finishers. Optimism can be its own reward.
Dave Delano, Captain Ahab in pursuit of the White Whale Tiffany team bling Club Night 2018 (never let it be said that Dave goes for just any trinket) ran 1:46:51 / 56.99%. He scored.
None of us knew we had both an heir and a spare till after the race results came online. [BTW, I love the live results on the NYRR app] However, I saw George Hirsch hop into a corral before the start. I didn’t know if Bob was running, but George’s presence satisfied our wish that Dave had three 70+ starters. I don’t know if he ran this race in response to Dave’s prayers, but he did well in his own right: 1:49:31 / 71.63%, 2nd in age group. That’s in the top 4.3% of men age graded. One gets lost getting relative bearings in such a rarefied age group where only the strong, smart and lucky carry on.
Thus our 60+ guys put in a solid 2nd place effort to solidly remain in 2nd in the team point standings. And our 70+ men ran their solid 3rd place to be solidly in 3rd in the standings.
The Staten Island Half
A fine day with good running and goals met.
The joy of the finish line. Good race, bad race, it is welcomed by all comers. Thus anyone with something left in the legs attacks the final hill in the Staten Island Half with fury or comedy, for you have to beg your way to the line. The downhill start is a debt waiting to be paid and then some, as the finish line is further up the hill.
Windy corrals gave way to near calm conditions after the start.
The very good racing conditions made for poor excuses. The glass was half full for our 60+ guys: our 60+ took 1st. Well done.
Charles had a PR/PB. Second in his age group. He has roared into being our first scorer.
Yasuhiro continues to rise. Once again, first in his age group. He is resplendent.
Myself, I was only too happy to get this much bang out of my buck:
This was Xmas for me, however not the present I wanted, but it will do. How long can one keep spinning dross into gold? Undertrained, it has been a race every weekend save one for 2 months, with little time left after recoveries. This has been a low mileage adventure, keeping the chips on the table and letting it ride. The 10 miles raced in the Bronx was its own victory, run at a steady pace. Data shows a slowing today from the 8th mile, but a bit of a kick left in the last 400 meters. The capper was Sid selecting my post race cup of water.
Art achieved his goal. His has been a journey of stepping back with a setback, then stepping forward. Walzing with the unseen hand of the goddess of injury, he is poised to change his dancing partner.
Dennis used this as a training run for the coming marathon:
My fallback was to use it as a training run. Had hoped I would do better, but simply did not.
Too many 5Ks this year, and no real or hard training for anything longer.
Better luck (and training) next time.
Gary met his goal.
Rick’s effort is to continue his marathon streak. Having been a very fast racer early in his career, his white whale now is ka-chinging NYC Marathons.
Alex kicked back. Our 70+ men had to scratch with one of the 3 registered starters injured. But Alex was there to represent us.
(Red X here!)
60+ Team Point Race
Taconic 135 -2 = 120
CPTC 124 -2 = 102
Brooklyn 80 -2 = 80
70+ Team Point Race
Van Cortlandt 137 -2 = 115
Taconic 108 -2 = 98
CPTC 61 -2 = 61
Front Runners 46 -2 = 46
These are our registered marathoners:
Gary Circosta
Don Favre
Gary Gosselin
Yasuhiro Makoshi
Dennis O’Connell
Art Palmer
Charles Parchment
Alan Ruben
Rick Shaver
XC
The USATF National Masters 5k XC was in Buffalo one week prior to the Bronx 10. Conditions were similar, a bit warmer with a tad more wind. Our 50+ men were off the charts outstanding, literally running away with 1st place.
Our 60+ and 70+ men ran with no expectations, both came in 6th in their groups. Nonetheless it was a first rate experience both running and traveling in this national event that in reality was more regional. Many of us took a side trip to see Niagara Falls.
Charles Parchment, 22:09
Hank Schiffman, 22:15, 3rd of 13 in age group
Victor Osayi, 23:59
Hal Lieberman, 27:40, bronze in age group
Dave Delano, 29:15
Frank Handelman, 29:21
At the start, Charles and Victor breezed by me like a couple of hammering fools. The race was 2 complete laps of Delaware Park, essentially a golf course among with scattered trees, one corner up and the opposite down. There was no real vertical to it. I soon found myself amid a pack running the same speed with no change in topography to break things up. It was slow work moving forward in my pack.
The first 70 year old finisher is the 2nd person to have run a sub 3:00 marathon ( Ed Whitlock was the 1st) but the 1st American to have the honor. Someone thought he also ran a sub 40:00 10k at 70 as well, Gene Dykes is his name, Greater Philadelphia Track Club.
There is a thought I’m pretty sure every older runner has; what is the fastest speed for my age group? It is a lot more difficult to approximate an answer with XC. The sample size in these events for these age groups probably do not pick up the world class outliers whose records underlie the algorithms these age graded numbers are based on. In general, arriving at these numbers is problematic, comparing apples to oranges. Add in the variables in XC, using road algorithms for XC is like comparing apples to baseballs. These regional events probably give us a good idea on the effects of aging on older runners because they have a greater concentration of talent in smaller age groups. You get a greater perspective on the downward force of aging than in local competition. My take is not to get wrapped up in a pecking order, rather to work to keep our AG% numbers up, even though the formulas on which they are based are imperfect.
Other XC:
Kurt Steinner 5k
David Blumel 21:36, 1st AG, 20th out of 280 men overall.
Hank Schiffman 23:58, 1st AG.
Kevin McGuire 26:44, 2nd AG.
Harry Murphy 5k
As personal observation, I would hazard the results would be slightly handicapped due to the start running on grass through the first turn as opposed to cutting onto the track and going through the finish line as 5k XC races here have been run as late.
Hank Schiffman 23:16, 1st AG, 5th AG place men overall.
Kevin McGuire 26:11, 3rd AG.
Dave Delano 31:41, 1st AG.
Hal Lieberman 30:12, 2nd AG.
Road:
Grete’s, (now) 10k
Don Favre, 42:07 / 77.91%, 1st AG
Yasuhiro Makoshi, 43:45 / 79.36%. 1st AG
Chris Neuhoff, 47:03 / 74.53%, 3rd AG