Run Schiff, Run!

Gonna whoop him on November 4 to make it a perfect two for two. 

Who’s with me?

If you want to know what I wrote about it for NYRR (because I’m official like that), then read on here and here. 

If you want a more Schiff-centric take, read on.

The 9:00 start for last week’s Colon Cancer Challenge was definitely a too good to be true scenario. We were through the tunnel and into the city with plenty of time to get in a few warm-up miles and turn this 10K into a legitimate long run, but we had to wait until just about 7:30 when the Saturday street cleaning/parking rules take affect, so we ended up with just a few minutes to get our bibs and swag, check our bags, and get to the crowded start. 

Speaking of swag, sweet swag, NYRR and Scotland.org! Everyone talks about wanting tech shirts, but I think I may be getting sick of shirts in general. I’ll take a bag or a hat (or both, as was the case on Saturday) in place of a shirt (or in addition to, as was the case on Saturday), any time. Plus, it was chilly on Saturday morning so the Scotland flag winter hat was perfect. 

The race atmosphere was festive, although I definitely used people in kilts as motivation. Who wants to get beat by a guy in a dress? Running clockwise around Central Park is much better than doing it the other way around, because even though the hills never stop coming (and I have tried telling myself, “That was the last one, the rest is downhill” countless times - it doesn’t ever work), there is always a nice flat or downhill slope following each climb, giving you some space to recover before the next one. 

I ripped off my hat and sprinted across the finish line in full William Wallace warrior charge mode, so that should be a fun Brightroom picture when it comes out. Whatever, it’ll still be more attractive than Ziggy or Zadie or whatever his name is. 

Before I forget, do bagpipes sound good to Scottish people? It was cool that there were pipers all along the course and I’m sure it takes a bit of skill to play, but it sounds like your instrument is in pain.

Also, what is a tartan?

I ran uneven splits again so that’s obviously something I really need to work on. I also was a little discouraged by my time. It has become apparent that at this point I can roll out of bed and clock 7:40-7:50 mile splits. The problem is, that’s basically what I’ve been doing. If I want to get faster - and if you read this blog at all you know that all I want to do is get faster - then I’m going to have to start mixing in some strength training and getting after some speed workouts. I’ve done that a little, but I really hope Nike brings back their free Wednesday nights at the track. Otherwise, I may have to join a running club for the speed sessions alone.

At the end of it, we enjoyed a great course in the company of enthusiastic, happy runners on a beautiful day. We watched a 70-something-year-old Asian man with a beard down to his waist dressed in blue and white from head to toe wave a giant Scottish flag while a Scottish rock band played to the post-race festival crowd. People with painted faces danced shirtless. I accidentally met the winning female when I overheard her asking if they had already handed out awards and responded, “Yeah, they just did. Why, did you win?” I recited speeches from Braveheart and yelled, “Steven is my name!” too many times. And even though it was the first day of Passover, I ate my first French toast bagel and followed that up with a Saturday Special from Fiore’s once we got back to Hoboken. 

(Oh yeah, I went there)

Can’t really complain too much about any of that, can you?

And I have plenty of race photos to prove it. 

There, I said it.

Am I the only one who doesn’t understand why this is a thing?