17 days to the Chicago Marathon! Decided to rest this morning.
First, my right pinkie toe is still a big fat mess. I snipped out almost the entire old nail, drained the blister again, and am hoping for the best. Yesterday, it was very painful to walk in shoes, and today it is thankfully much better, but the toe is tender. Second, I have my session with my personal trainer today, so want to be fully rested for that. Third, my back is very tight for some reason, which makes me nervous. I’m concerned that I will do something to hurt it in the next 2 weeks.
I recently finished up the last book I was reading (classic sci-fi, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress) and perused my Goodreads ‘to read’ list for another book. A Race Like No Other, by Liz Robbins, was on the list, and I had completely forgotten I have the book and never read it. This is the perfect time to read it. For one, I’m not running NYC this year, and will miss it. I’ve run NYC 7 times, but do not expect to run it in the next 5 years. Will be a little trip down memory lane. Second, that book will be the perfect motivation in the 2 weeks leading up to the Chicago Marathon. If I can cover 2 chapters a day, I’ll finish before my race.
Last thing I want to tackle today is the new race NYRR has announced, the NYRR 5, a 5 mile race in Central Park, to be held on the Friday morning before the NYC Marathon. On Twitter, I’ve seen nothing but people bad mouthing it, and complaining about how expensive it is, at $40 for members. Yes, it is expensive. But no, it is not geared towards those of us that live in NYC and run/race in Central Park all the time. It is meant for runners that are coming from out-of-town, and have friends or family that want a chance to feel some of the New York City Marathon excitement of running in Central Park. Or, for those of us not running the marathon, but want a way to participate as well.
Please allow me to get up on my soapbox again (as if you have a choice!), and repeat what I tried to tell people when they complained about the NYC Half Marathon. THEY DO NOT NEED YOU (or me, or any one of us). THEY ARE NOT MARKETING THIS TO YOU. THERE ARE PLENTY OF PEOPLE OUT THERE WILLING TO PAY THE PRICE NECESSARY TO PARTICIPATE IN A WORLD CLASS EVENT IN A WORLD CLASS CITY ON A WORLD CLASS WEEKEND. There are plenty of other races going on around town for us to choose from, and this is precisely the reason why I rarely run NYRR races anymore.
OK, I’ll step down now. I feel better.
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It seems a lot like the MORE half-marathon…this year the price tag was $60 for 2 loops of Central Park (which can normally be done for $20) because like this race, that one seemed slanted to out-of-towners…
And quite a few large marathons (e.g., Boston, Philly) have short 5K/5 mile races in conjunction with their marathon…don’t see anyone complaining about the cost of those. (or maybe there is complaining and its just not on my radar as much as NYC races are!)
If I really need to run a 5-mile race, I’ll just save my $20 and run the Poland Spring 5-miler 🙂