Cowboy Hazel

This morning was completely unlike any other morning I've ever had. The ESBRU was such a unique experience. Despite all the great advice I got going into it (much of it in the comments to my posts up here), I really didn't know what to expect. I made some big mistakes and didn't place well as I would have liked to, but I learned a lot that I can take with me into next year. (That is, of course, if I get accepted again next year...) My official time was 15:16, which put me at 64th out of 139 men and 78th overall out of 206. Although that's not as good as what I was hoping for, the event was still a lot of fun and I'm glad I participated.

I met up with Antonio by the 6 here in East Harlem early this morning and we rode down to the Empire State Building together. He wasn't running, but I got a guest pass and his office is nearby so he tagged along. It was good having him around to chat with.

After a very long wait (because I had been neurotic about getting there super early hoping that would somehow get me closer to the front of the starting line in order to avoid the bottleneck I kept hearing about) I finally found myself lined up with the other men in the first wave. To be honest, I was more than a little intimidated by how athletic these guys looked. Most were in racing flats and had legs that looked like they could run the mile at least a minute faster than mine.

The whole trip to the starting line from the staging area was filled with jostling for position. I wasn't being super aggressive because I didn't know how quick I'd be running and I was guessing most of these others would be faster than me. I ended up near the middle of the pack by the time we finally reached the line.

Adrenaline was racing through me like crazy when the start was signaled. I took two quick steps then stopped. The famous bottleneck... I got through pretty quick, maybe ten or fifteen seconds and then started up the steps. I had done single steps for all my training, but quickly realized that the stairs here were less steep than the ones I'd been training on. Plus, there were handrails that I was able to use to propel forward. So, I abandoned the singles after a flight or two and did doubles the rest of the way.

Everyone kept telling me before the race to save energy and not go out too fast, so I stayed really conservative. Floor 30 came and went and I was still feeling good, so I started to pass some guys. But passing took so much extra energy and they were making it difficult, speeding up as I'd try to go past. So, I hung back. Then, around floor 50, I started making moves again and this time got around several people. I burned up a bunch of energy though and slowed slightly. Then we started running into the stragglers of the women's race and it got even tougher to pass. I got boxed in a couple times and ended up with some frustratingly slow flights. I was getting tired, but not nearly as bad as it had been in my training. When we hit floor 80, I opened up and started running as hard as I could, but it was too little too late. I only was able to pick off a couple more guys.

I reached the top and the cool air, ran across the observation deck and then looked out at the amazing view of the city. My legs were a little wobbly, but again, nothing like it had been in training. On the elevator down, everyone was talking about the race and I said, "That wasn't nearly as tough as I thought it'd be," to which a guy in the corner responded, "That means you weren't going fast enough." Very true.

If I get invited to do the Run-Up again in 2011, here's what I'll do different:

• Go faster.


• Be more aggressive in getting a good starting position. And, lining up on the left to be closer to the doorway.


• Do doubles the entire way. And practice them in training. Maybe I'll have to find shallower stairs to train on next year since doubles on the 155th Street ones would be so tough.


• Pass early instead of waiting until it's easier.


• Not run 57 miles the weekend before the race. My legs were pretty fatigued even at the start. I think I would have been able to spring past a few more people early on if I wasn't already so tired.