New beginning (again) and a 5k race report

If there is one theme to my blog, it is that I sometimes disappear and stop running. For months. That happened on this go round,. I stopped mid-February, and ran sporadically, but didn't post. I have now decided to pursue it seriously for several months and see what happens. Namely, I am in the 1013 NY marathon, but haven't been training. And I am overweight, need to lose 20 pounds to be in marathon weight. So I am going to give it 2 months or so to September-ish, and see where I am weight wise and shape wise. I have run a fair amount of the last several weeks, including at the beach in Florida and here in NYC.

With that, I ran in the 5k in Prospect Park in Brooklyn last weekend. I have never been to Prospect Park, and one thing I immediately realized: it is pretty far away. Like 30 miles away. So an 8 am start meant a 6 am wake up call and 45 minutes in the car. I greatly prefer the Central Park races -- they are about 20 minutes away. And I really don't like the 5k distance. If I am going to get up, drive, park, deal with race crowds, etc., I want a good run. A 5k is a great workout, but just isn't much of a run for me, and is over so quickly. Anyways, it counts toward marathon 2014 (more on that in a sec). 

The race itself was kind of nondescript. The Park is pretty, the route seemed normal, and as always with NYRR, well organized.  it was hot (78 degrees) and incredibly humid -- basically 100% humidity (a misty rain, and my weather app had it at 95% humidity). I did OK, coming in at 24:56, without really racing or trying to "run" a 5k. I just kept with the pace and tried not to crash. Not much of a strategy but it worked. I finished in 950 place or so. My 5 year old asked me if I won. I told her I finished in 900th place. She frowned and said...did you beat ANYBODY?

 A couple technology notes. I got a new GPS watch: the Tom Tom runner. Works great so far -- the charge is awesome, satellite pickup great, the stats seem to be spot on, not too bulky. The software is a work in progress. I have called Tom Tom twice and they assure a new fix is due tomorrow. Ok, and for now, exporting to my good friend SportTracks. I need to upgrade from ST 3.0 to something...maybe Training Peaks? Anyone have a good program that does what SportTracks does?

 And headphones...well the Bluetooth ones work great, but the "stay in the ears part" is a bit challenging and they get uncomfortable after 45 minutes or so. I found myself fiddling with them to stay in during my runs. Not good. Once they were in -- spectacular; but a lot of worry and angst before that point reached. So I bought a pair of Monster iSport twist ins. I bought the Livestrong version (marked down from $149 to $59), and they work great. Most comfortable and best sounding "twist in the ear with a flange to hold it in" type headphones I have ever used. And they stayed in great in a 7 mile run in the heat yesterday. My new favorite and really a great running headphone.

More runs, more heat, more treadmill.