Healthy Kidney 10K and Japan Day 4M

Ok, here's the thing.
I found out that I hadn't gotten into the NIKE Half-Marathon (lottery system) which totally bummed me out. It was the only race I ran last year except for the marathon and I loved it!! It was so much fun! But no such luck this year. So I've come up with an alternative plan. More on that later...

In my quest for guaranteed entry into the NY Marathon 2009, the omission of the NIKE Half-Marathon means I have to come up with a replacement race. I live two blocks from Central Park, so I figured I'd just knock out one of the races run there. Easy schmeezy.

The Healthy Kidney 10k was on May 17. Starting and ending right near Tavern on the Green on the west side, site of the NY Marathon finish. I took it easy since I wasn't really in running shape (slackin' off) and feeling a little groggy. 1:05:32. Just ran this like a lap around the park with a group.

Japan Day seemed almost imperative. I work for a Japanese company (Yamaha) and it's a four-mile race in my backyard. No brainer. There were taiko drummers at the start (which was at the entrance to the park near my apartment), women running in geisha outfits, lots of after-race food, which I didn't expect. This was a fun little race I'll do again. 36:12.

Yesterday, I went to cheer on the NIKE Half Marathon participants. I entered the park at 102nd st, so the runners coming towards me had just finished the gnarliest part of the race, the Harlem Hill. I was right at the 5 mile marker. There were only a couple of other people there. I got some good pics and felt like an injured athlete, cheering on his teammates in the big game, even though I'm fine, just couldn't get into the race.

Running miles to date: 58.3
Next race: Queens Half-Marathon 9/14/08