Central Park - The Rematch

We had a perfect night for the media challenge in Central Park on Wednesday. Unfortunately, my News Corp. team finished second - again. We were beaten by our old nemisis, McGraw Hill.

I finished the 3.5 miles in 22:50, a 6:31 pace and 41 seconds faster than I ran the same course a few weeks earlier. But it was a fast crowd, and I finished in 23rd place, compared with the 20th place showing previously. (I'm told the summer intern factor played a role in the fast times. That makes sense, but I think the conditions were just considerably nicer than they were the last race.)

Once again I failed to place in the Masters category, though I was just 20 seconds behind my buddy Gregg, who collected some hardware for the third race in a row. Since I narrowed the gap on Gregg, I'm fairly certain he's hearing my footsteps in his dreams.

All in all, it was a wonderful race on a great course on an absolutely flawless night for running. I particularly enjoy spending time with good friends from Dow Jones.

I'm looking forward to a couple long runs this weekend. I'm thinking about doing 6 miles on Saturday and 12 miles on Sunday. The weather looks to be perfect.

Run long!

My New Running Home

We've been in New Jersey now for almost a month, and we're acclimating quite nicely. We're living in temporary housing in Union, until we take ownership of our home in Cranford next week. My running hasn't been as consistent as I would like, in part because of the locale but mostly because of long hours at work. I have managed to get in about 30 miles a week, which is a nice base.

I did my first race in Central Park a few weeks ago, completing a 3.5-mile course in 23:31, a 6:43 pace. I was reasonably pleased given my lack of speed training, but I am hoping to get in under 23 minutes at the next race this week. The races are part of the NYC Media Challenge, and my News Corp team has a good shot at winning both individual events and the overall title.

I haven't selected a fall marathon, though am thinking that the Detroit Marathon could be a good fit. I have two friends who are planning to run the race, and I could combine the trip with a visit to my in-laws on the lovely North Coast of Ohio.

The only other racing on my schedule currently is the River To Sea relay from the Delaware River Gap to the Jersey shore, on Aug. 1. I'll be proudly representing the Dow Jones Deadliners, with many of the same participants who raced the American Odyssey relay from Gettysburg to Washington DC a few months ago.