What a week it’s been personally. On Monday our beloved Chocolate Lab Niki died kind of suddenly. I say kind of because the signs were all there that she was still very weak from her rat poisoning 2 months ago. I didn’t read them too well. I’m happy that I was there with her when she took her last breath. It saddens me at the same time because I couldn’t help her. To make the week even worse, two days later one of the hoses connecting water to our bathroom sink broke flooding our bathroom and bedroom which then flooded the garage below. That made twice that I had to run upstairs to inform my wife of something rather shocking. With the dog I had to wake her up, with the water I had to get her out of the calming bath she was taking.
Then on Thursday night I boarded a flight to the east coast for work. The 5th Ave Mile was this past weekend and it’s the second time I’ve worked this event. I love this event for a number of reasons and I’ll tell you stories.
Racing Hard
The event is broken into wave starts. In each start the runners are racing against equal competitors. The majority are broken up by age group and gender. So, men 40-49 are racing together and women 40-49 are racing together. Over 60 they combine the genders. There is also a media race, a first responders race, then a few invited elite races and then finally the professional race.
Track Jenny aka Jenny Simpson
She won the race for the 8th time and set a course record in doing so. She so loves running this race and it shows. The community just loves her.
Nick Willis
He won a record setting 5th time. In both professional races it’s important to know the course in detail. The road is not flat and not just because there is a hill. The road is crowned in the center. There are manhole covers, subway vents, pot hole repairs and some full on pot holes to navigate. Nick knows all of them.
Jeff Dengate
He’s the Editor and Chief at Runner’s World. He’s training for the Chicago Marathon so he had a long run to do. He ran 20 miles before his race then jumped in the the Media Mile. He did so donning the new racing flat from New Balance the Fuel Cell 5280. I was very impressed
I had a great run on Saturday doing a lap of Central Park. It’s roughly 8 miles round trip from my hotel. I can’t help but to do my job out there when I’m running. I’ll talk a bit later on this but I was blown away by the number of people doing a training run in the Nike Vapor Fly 4% and Vapor Fly Next %. That’s simply a large amount of money being spent on a shoe that simply won’t last too long if you run every day in it.
The 5th Ave Mile was not the only race this weekend.
Ironman 70.3 World Championships - Nice France
I had a few friends doing the race but I haven’t had the chance to talk to them about their race. Maybe I’ll hear from them this week.
On the professional side there were some outstanding performances
Women
Daniela Ryf - There’s not much else to say, she dominated the race again. Her 5th win in this race and this time by almost 4 minutes.
Chelsea Sodaro - She finished 4th in her first World Championships. More impressive is that she got off the bike in 10th place and ran herself into 4th. She spent a couple years chasing a professional running career but recently switched to Triathlon. Watch out for this girl. If she can stay healthy she will be a force in the future.
Men
Gustav Iden - Who? Nobody picked him. Nobody interviewed him or mentioned his name in any lead up to the race. Good thing he didn’t pay attention. He won!
Alistar Brownlee - He’s the most fun to watch race. He’s won two Olympic Gold Medals racing hard and that’s how he races all the time. 2nd place to him is losing. He’s racing in Kona and will be out of the water early. If he races Kona like he races everything else he will change the tactics that’s for sure.
Rudy Von Berg - An American who lives in Boulder but who grew up in Nice. The hometown guy does good. Put another way there are three World Champions who finished behind Rudy.
Vuelta Update
WOW!
Listening
The Morning Shakeout Podcast - I think Mario is the best interviewer in running right now. He has a great way of really getting his guest to dig deep. This week he talked to another like minded shoe geek Brian Metzler. It was fun to listen to both of them. One thing Brian said that I fully agree with. I’m paraphrasing here. He basically said that all the shoe reviews out there on the web are pointless. I agree and will add this: Every runner is different. Every runner will feel the same shoe differently. There isn’t a singe running shoe reviewer today that pulls that out. Most talk about how the shoe felt and worked for them. I will admit that some of the reviewers are entertaining butout side of that don’t pay attention to what they have to say. You have to find the shoes for yourself and if you need help, go to your local running shoe store.
I also want to give a shout out to my podcast friend Tawnee Gibson. She’s had the maximum ups and downs with life. I will admit I stopped listening to her podcast while she dealt with all of this. The Brock and Lucho show just didn’t have the same vibe. Listening to two guys talk about training and racing was simply too much. It’s great that Tawnee is back with Lucho. They make a great pair. More importantly it’s great to hear that spark in Tawnee again. I’ve missed you.
It’s a good life...
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