Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Today, New York finally got nailed with a heavy snowstorm. Not a blizzard, but as I look out of my girlfriend's 9-story apartment window, it's coming down harder now than it did when I woke up. She's at work, the benefit of mass transit. Me? I'm here with two computers fired up by my side, my office laptop, which I've been using to send/receive emails and other job related activities, and this one. Blogrunner's machine.

I've run 8 days in a row. Should I try for 9? I want to run in the snow. What should I be careful for? Ice? Slippery cars? Protection of my extremeties?

I found yet another useful website about running that offers up advice about running in the snow:

Some Tips For Running On Snow
By Woody Green of RUNNERS NICHE

1. Freshly fallen snow is a great shock absorber. If you have the chance to run on a trail or grassy field with three or four inches of the new stuff your joints will thank you.

2. Better traction can usually be found where the snow is less packed. Be careful, though, since newly fallen snow can cover a slick sheet of ice underneath it.

3. Snow can nicely hide roots, sidewalk cracks and fallen objects, too. A pair of sunglasses with yellow lenses will help you to see the relief patterns on snow.

4. It's okay to cut your mileage when running through snow. You are working harder to travel through snow than you ever do running on a dry surface. Don't overtrain just to jot down the same distances you ran this summer in your logbook.

5. Remember that running through snow will force stabilizing muscles on the inner and out part of your legs to work harder than usual. Try to ease into snow running to avoid injuries to these muscles.

6. Walking may seem like wimping out, but it beats slipping and falling when you try to dash across a slick stretch of glazed ice.

7. Snow can be used as a tool to give you a good resistance workout. Try vigorous bounding through deep snow for a great strength workout. Naturally, be careful of your footing.

8. Snow gives you a couple of great cross-training possibilities. Why not give Nordic skiing or snowshoeing a try?

The following is as it appears at runningonline.com. Here's the link if you're interested:
http://www.runningonline.com/zine/Seasonal/Winter/119.sht

I liked all the suggestions but #3: Snow can nicely hide roots, sidewalk cracks and fallen objects, too. A pair of sunglasses with yellow lenses will help you to see the relief patterns on snow.

Really now. If anything, Yellow lenses would hide it. Last I checked, when someone relieves themselves in the snow, it's yellow!!!

I just took a look ahead for my Al Gordon Snowflake Race this Sunday. Brrrrr 25 degrees with a wc of 16. It's going to be as cold as balls that day. I'm going to start praying now to the God of Hot Cholocate.

I just got back from taking a 10 minute break to get pizza which followed with getting on a conference call for work. Heck, the roads are not snowy. They are icy! When it comes to running, wet's a sure bet, but ice is not very nice. I am home and feel caged. I really want to run, but I am a little concerned about the terrain. Should I go? Should I stay?

In the end, I ran! 7 Miles in the snow and sleet. Morale of the story....If you are unsure as to whether to run or not, I say DO IT. Unless you are ailing from something, then just get it over with. Push yourself, and get it done. You'll be glad for it later. And, if the question mark is attributed to bad weather, then think this....If you run in bad weather, it will be that much more
memorable after you finish your run. For me, the ground was not even snowy. It was ice. I had to watch my every step, but I feel great for having done it. It invigorated me, and reaffirmed my commitment too.

Going up Quentin Street........Crossing over the LIRR (80th)........Cars along Park Lane

Forest Park as you can see had many winding paths...Notice the ice everywhere...........

Victory Oval was all white. The track was completely covered, hardly anyone ran b4 me.

Weight Limit 8 what ??????? Before bulldozer...................After bulldozer......................

Looking at the many trees along the course. It's amazing how deep it looks when the
ground is all white. Very beautiful and serene. There was no one around, and I felt
like I wasn't even in Queens neither.....

Coming back out I went down Metrpolitan Avenue and traffic and wet roads everywhere
was pretty harrowing!

Yeah, They Come To Snuff The Rooster.

I read somewhere that if you can run 16 miles that there is an outside chance that a person from the opposite sex may kiss your cheek up to three times during your run. Well, I came close. Two dogs jumped at me. I think one of them was a pit bull.

I had a great tempo run tonight. I ran through Forest Park, at precisely the same time, exactly 1 week later after the "1-sided boxing" event of last week. It was raining ovah heah! (please say it loud like someone selling beer at a stadium). So nobody was around. The lights in the park didn't come on right away, and it was pretty dark. I was doing my tempo run, and feeling so good, I barely noticed (except for maybe that pit bull..).

This was my first run in the rain in a long time. It's good to run in different weather because you never know what your race conditions will be like. When I told this to my girlfriend earlier today, she said, "Good Alex. Perhaps if you get lucky, you'll be able to run during an Earthquake sometime."

Actually that would be exciting! I can picture it now. I am running up a hill, right? And suddenly, an earthquake in New York City (which happens EVERY day ovah heah) destroys the hill ahead of me, flattening it completely. Voila! No more hill! Yes, this is a great idea. Perhaps, I can learn to jump ovah da cracks too.

Victory Oval was wet, but I was motorin'! The first mile I did it in 10 minutes, yet I averaged 8:30 overall. The batteries in my foot pod went dead (Reader to Self: What the fuck is a foot pod?), but no matter, I'm so used to this trail, I know exactly where the markers are. The last four miles were all done in less than 8 minutes per mile, including the mile that was mostly on the track in which I actually did less than 7:30!

Mississippi, a gal over at the Running Ahead website who claims she has 4 evil children, had asked me what I was planning to wear. Somebody mentioned that the lack of clothing on a wet day, can actually improve performance. I basically streaked the whole time, with a fig leaf around my waist..... Wait a second! That was no fig leaf.......Poison........Ivy?

Okay fantasy time ovah. I actually wore a NYC Marathon tank (slightly obsessed over this race, aren't I) and red nike shorts.

I think I grunted the last quarter-mile home. That might have scared some of the passersby on Austin Street. But none as sweet, as when I was running through a rural part of Forest Park near the golf course. I was so happy with the quality of my sweaty soaking workout, that I let my vocal chords carry me punk ass through....First the karaoke...and then I was yelling for those other punks from last weeks. "Where are you now, cowards?! Afraid of a little rain?!" I shouted into the dark Forest Park night. Out of the corner of my eye I think I saw the woman with the pit bull running away after that . By the time I was existing the park, it was pitch black, I was sprinting hard and singing 'Rooster' by Alice In Chains all the way home.

"Ain't found a way to kill me yet
Eyes burn with stinging sweat...
Yeah they come to snuff the rooster, ah yeah
Yeah here come the rooster, yeah
You know he ain't gonna die
No, no, you know he ain't gonna die "

Punched. But Never Down.

Today is a tale of New York, New York. The bad side, and the good side.

So after only running 3 miles or so this morning, but having a nice pasta lunch over a corporate luncheon. I decided to run this evening. It had been awhile since I had done one, particularly because I am grooming myself to be a morning runner, and also because evenings were also for going to the gym.

Ileana was not going to go to the gym tonight, so, with the temperatures going down into the low 60's tonight, I figured I would do at least 5 miles tonight and get a good head start on my mileage this week.

I wasn't sure whether to go the busy street city route, like the Kew Hills Park Run, or the quiet and peaceful route, the Forest Park route. Either way, I needed to head south to Metropolitan Avenue. Once I got to the corner of there and Lefferts, the light had turned red, so I started to jog in place. An elderly chinese couple was standing along side of me, and the lady looked at me. She giggled and then started imitating me. I thought it was pretty funny actually, because she looked like she could not have been less than 75 years of age.

As I turned right onto Metropolitan, I decided that perhaps I would just go the quiet, peaceful route, and turn into Forest Park. Although the sun was setting, there were many runners, bikers, pet owners, and walkers in the park. I figured I would do my 2 mile trek to Victory Oval, perhaps do 2 1/4 mile lap intervals there, and head back.

My run into the park was extremely uneventful for nearly the first 2 miles. The nice thing about the park is that it's a full, two-lane road, but its not open to vehicles. It's like Central Park in many ways actually. Well, like I said, there were plenty of runners along the path, and street lights all along the park. There was even an NYPD patrol car at the beginning when I entered the park too. Too bad, they weren't there towards the end of the trail. But I will save that for later.

Okay. It's later. Let me tell you what happens next.
So, it's almost 2 miles, and I'm going over the Myrtle Avenue overpass in Forest Park, within a 1/4 mile of Victory Oval. Dusk was here but the lights at the oval could be seen radiating from the distance. Always being cognizant of my surroundings, I noticed up ahead what seemed like a lot of bicycles coming towards me. As I got closer, I noticed, eight teenage kids, all black, and all on bikes so small, that they should have owned them about 10 years earlier. They looked like punks, but worse yet, I heard them starting trouble.

Since I was running at about 7+ mph and they were coming at me at a pretty fast pace, I did notice that half of them were on the right side of the road, while the other bunch on the left.
I was running up the middle the whole time, so I never was in their way, nor did I feel the need to move.

Just then one of the bikers came close to me (he must have deliberately swerved into me) and without any warning, cold-cocked me in the ear (that's New York for basically being punched). He basically raised his right hand off from his bike's handlebar, made a fist and punched me, a direct hit right onto the boney part of my ear, all within a matter of a few seconds at most.

My visor came off. My right ear bud which was connected to my iPod and was, of all things ironically playing "Smashing Young Man" by Collective Soul, fell out of my ear. I was so much into my own element however, that I must have run about another 50 yards, before I stopped, and realized that my glasses (which were on me prior to this attack) were no longer on my face. Then the excrutiating pain in my right ear started to come into focus. I immediately put my hand on it and look at my hand to see if that mother fucker drew blood (sorry for cursing). Fortunately, he did not.

As I turned around, and looked, I could still hear them laugh as they continued riding their bikes. By now they were just about out of site.

Cowards. And Fucking Assholes.

The Fucking Assholes' comment is simple. I was (and still am) real pissed off. Even with 8 of them, if I would have been given the opportunity, I would have kicked as many of their punk asses as I possibly could. True, it could have flown in the face of my training regimen, but I firmly believe in an eye for two eyes.

And Cowards. Cowards because they would not have dared to do this shit, if it were just 1 of them. Of course, it takes 8 low-life, young (and in this case, african-american) punks to show off what REAL men they were. It's a shame they probably do not even have the education to find this website, let alone even be able to READ, as I would love to have my shot at seeing them again.

I started to walk back to look for my glasses. Now, my vision is not that terrible. I am nearsighted and about 20-40/20-50, but it is getting dark, and of all things, one of the street lamps was not working. Of course, it would have to be the one near the scene of the incident.

However, last year I purchased a cap that had a little light in the front. I took it with me tonight, in case I needed to run in very dark places. In the past it's been a handy instrument, goofy as it might look, and tonight it would be very much needed.

Still, the search for the glasses went on for several minutes, and I could not locate them. I tried to use physics between the direction of the oncoming punch and my direction of running to see where they could have landed. No such luck. I took my cap off, and noticed that the light was already on (perhaps that might have been what originally grabbed that fuckin' idiots attention), and started flashing it on the ground.

Like I said, I was searching for several minutes, compelled to not lose 150 dollars for glasses that I could not afford financially to replace. When now, the "good" part of New York comes into play.

A woman, a couple, and another person, all took notice at my aimless roaming on the course, and all asked if I was okay. The first woman who had asked is named Noelia, and after I explained to her what had happened, she and the rest all started to look around. A few moments later, an asian woman, almost stepped on them. It was actually a delight to hear the sound. I immediately twisted around and saw where they were. She apologized, and said are these it? And they were.

The right hind leg of the glasses were completely bent in the opposite direction and very widely stretched too. After a few minutes of molding it back into shape, I have to say it is much like the way it was before the attack, except it will never be the same.

Nor was I for that matter. I was so enraged, that I basically continued into Victory Oval, did 12 laps around (for another 3 miles), came out of there, and ran back the way I came down Forest Park. About a mile from the end of the park, I saw the woman who had initially asked how I was and we actually spoke and made friends. Noelia, as it turned out, is not only a New York Road Runners member as well, but she too is running in her first ever Marathon and it will be the New York City Marathon this year. I thanked her again for being so kind to a stranger (me), and gave her my cell number to offer her any advice I could to help her with her training.

I know that my father, and other people too, have told me what a lousy city New York can be. I would have to admit, that with what happened tonight, that it would be hard to argue their validity. But (and you knew there was going to be a 'but') as discouraged as I felt over what had happened, I was equally inspired by how much people are willing to help one another here.

I walked with Noelia for about a mile, partially for her safety, and when we exited the park, I had so much energy left from this event, that I acutally decided to add on a few more mile (6 more, to be exact), and did the Kew Hill Park Run as well. I only drank one cup of water (at the McDonald's on Woodhaven & Queens Blvd- near Queens Center) and motored the last half mile home.

My ear is still a little sore, but I don't believe anything is broken, least of all my will.
After tonight, I now have yet ANOTHER reason to do well in this year's marathon.....