Month: March 2019

I’m planning on running the NYC Marathon

2019 will be my 9th New York CIty Marathon and the first time I’ll run it for charity. Over the next few months, I need to pick a charity, start to fund raise, and start to train. I can’t wait as its one of the things I look forward to the most every year that I have an entry.

Why I’ve ran the NYC Marathon nine times is one of those things that deserves its own post. In the absence of having written it, suffice to say its been a part of a few of the most important moments in my life.

Picking a charity will be a challenge. They’re are literally hundreds of charities to choose from. Which one makes sense seems to be a compromise between what cause one wants to raise money for, how much money to raise, and side benefits the charity gets you for the rack.

In terms of a cause, I am fortunate to not have too many tragedies in my life. So picking becomes harder for me. As I suspect that if one had a personal tragedy to dedicate the race to one would simply pick that charity and dedicate the race to that charity. If someone close to me had a tragedy that I could easily connect to a charity I would proceed to raise money for the charity.

For what I’ve gathered, the New York Road Runner’s Official Charity, Team for Kids has the lowest minimum fundraising guarantee. However, it’s relatively close to the minimums other charities offer. Team for Kids is at $2620 + $100 for joining team for kids + the race registration fees. Other charities start at $3,000 and include the fees.

Likewise, some charities offer a training group/team. I already have one so this is of low interest for me. My only other charity marathon was to raise money for the American Cancer Society and I did not do a single training run with them. I did wear they’re ringlet and appreciated their cheers on the race course.

So stay tuned. I think I’ll figure out which charity to use in a few months.

Running on Vacation (With Kids)

As I write this post, I’m on vacation with my wife and two sons (Ages 6 and 2). I have not done any training on this vacation and currently don’t have plans to. Training on vacation, just like deciding to train at all is a bit of a very personal decision. It depends on what you want to get out of your vacation.

A few typical things that come to mind when I think about what people want to get out of a vacation include:

  • Rest: Crealy training is not rest. Rest is rest. Some people believe cross training is rest but its not. Trust me. Rest is also one of the things I most want to get out of a vacation.
  • Relaxation: For many of us, running is a way we relax, blow off steam, and process event that happen in our lives. I have always found running to be one of the few activities that consistently be counted on to help relax me.
  • New Experiences: Running is a great way to explore a new area. Seeing an area on foot is always superior to seeing it by most of other methods including by cycling, driving, flying, or train.
  • Spending Time with Loved Ones: Unless your loved ones are going with you this is the big negative with exercising while on vacation. On my current vacation, my wife has managed to go exercise while the rest of us were sleeping. Either first thing in the morning or during my two year old son’s nap.
  • Meeting New People: I value meeting new people quite a lot in life as well as well as with vacations. Going running on vacation may help facilitate meeting a few new people if you seek out a local running club. I’ve met quite a few traveling runners through my local running club and met a few others through my friends.

At the end of the day, spending time with my loves ones is what I want to get out of my vacations the most. With kids that go to sleep at 8pm and wake up at 7am, most days I see my kids for 3 hours tops. Vacation lets us spend an entire week together which hopefully helps mold who they are a bit more than I can do on a typical workday.

If I find time to do any training this vacation it will be while the family is occupied. Most likely this is during some sort of rest period. My wife tends to get first dibs in these rest periods as she’s said it’s really important to her to find the time to work out. For me, its of secondary importance.

Whether or not you run on your vacation is your decision. I fully support you in it. I think this is one of those you can do no wrong decisions. As they’re are benefits both ways. The most important thing is probably to go on vacation. Which is something we call could use more of.

Thoughts on the NYC Marathon Lottery

In 2017 I was surprised beyond words that I won the the NYC Marathon Lottery.  It felt like I had done the impossible, after coming off three consecutive NYC Marathons to get a fourth when I hadn’t done my 9+1 felt like something that shouldn’t happen.  But it did.  This year, it did not, which leaves me in position to run my second charity marathon ever.  More on that later but I have some thoughts on the lottery first.

First, I love the lottery, the inclusiveness of it is something that has brought me to NYC in the first place.  I won the NYC Marathon lottery in 2003.  That brought me to my first marathon and in someway resulted in me moving to NYC , getting my MBA, meeting my wife, and becoming a multi-decade New Yorker.  I can’t imagine my life if I hadn’t won that Lottery.

Second, I think the lottery is rigged in favor of fast people and people coming from under represented areas of the country/world   The second point is basically stated on the about the drawing page:

Other factors such as an applicant’s state of origin also may affect their chances to be selected subject to NYRR’s need to maintain geographic diversity and within NYRR’s sole discretion. NYRR reserves the right to adjust drawing criteria at NYRR’s sole discretion and without notice.

I’m kinda convinced that speed is part of this.  The year I won, I had a 4 miler as my last race with the NYRR translated into a sub 3:10 Marathon.  Their has to be more room at the top of this race then the back.  Note to self… I need to get faster.

The specific state of Origin thing seems important too.  The smaller the place your from the more likely you are to make it.

Finally, I used to be a big believer in thinking about a lottery win as a two year win to run the marathon.  Back when the Marathon cost a reasonable amount of money insteady of several hundred dollars I ate an entry twice because I wasn’t ready to run the year I had an entry for.  But with the current $255 to $338 cost for the NYC Marathon I think if you’re in it you should run it.  Its not worth putting out that money twice.