New York Road Runners + Team in Training

I was up at 6:oo on morning of February 24th to get ready for an 8:00 race in Central Park. I ran in the Al Gordon Snowflake Race, a 4 mile run sponsored by the New York Road Runner Club (Which I am a MEMBER and would strongerly suggest to the natives to join).

I felt good in the morning even though I didn't sleep until 1 a.m.!!! I honestly think I'm suffering from INSOMNIA So I woke, changed, and prepared some coffee (can't leave the home w/o the cup of JOE) off I went to the L train, luckily for me the L was running at its normal schedule-- WOOhOOOOO! Those who live on the L line can relate with my enthusiasm

Ok, back to the race. It was cold out. At the start of the race it was 20 degrees and with a wind chill that made it feel like -5 degrees. Running in cold weather is all about layers, so I made sure I wore many layers, YES that even means my UnderArmor Tights--BELIEVE ME, these are the warmest things ever greated--TAKE THAT NIKE! (note to self, buy some UnderArmor stock)

My goal? good quesiton, I didn't set a goal because of the chilling weather. However, I usually run the 6 mile loop in central park in 60 minutes (10 minutes a mile), 55 minutes at best. But I then realized I have a bigger mission--San Diego Marathon. I decided to start slow, apply the techniques learned at team in training (loosen your wrist, 90 degree angle)--too much coordination; nonetheless I finished the first mile just under 10 minutes. After I felt good!

Running in this race was plain weird, again its my first "competitive" race so not sure what to expect. there were the grunts, more grunts, very short shorts and several men not wearing shirts--PLEASE DON'T ASK who needed music with all this entertainment?

So you are probably wondering how I did, well I finished with a time of 35.23, Good time considering I wasn't pushing myself, again just implementing the teachings of Team in Training

New York Road Runners results: Jose Diaz (Team Leukemia | Brooklyn)
Note: If my information does not pop up, please visit the http://www.NYRR.org
and on the left hand column click on results | enter first and last name: Jose Diaz | year 2007 | I know, there are tons of Jose but only one of them is member of team "Leuk"

After the event, it was off to the free food table: Apple and Bagels + Water = snack of a racer; oh, i then stop @ Starbucks for a Hot Cocoa (yes, with the Whip Cream =) )