Race Recap – Stars & Stripes Aquathlon

I <3 2 SWIM NYC

Let me start out by saying this race was extremely well organized, and if not for the fact that NYC SWIM has decided not to offer their short course races next year, I would probably do this one again. Unlike, the Coney Island Aquathlon, which I wrote about previously, it was extremely well staffed and planned. I counted 7 boats on the water and a few kayaks. In fact, there was a boat at each of the 6 buoys. They  also held 2 pre-race webinars which covered all the race details including the antcipated tidal changes.

Setting up buoys

The race started out just off the grassy area near the path on Randall’s Island facing 109th Street in Manhattan. Each swimmer was sent into the water individually by their seeded time (based on qualifying submissions). The run transition was set up neatly in the grassy area, with a flag and space for each participant and the run was held on the paved running path and comprised a loop with two turnarounds. It was a nice course, with not too much difficulty, generally speaking. I expected to have an awesome day and to use my time to qualify for the Statue of Liberty Swim, which will also be their last one.

Entry to Swim

Unfortunately, that is not going to happen. This turned out to be my worst race to date and a really bad day. I do not have my times yet, but I’m pretty sure I came in last or darn near close to it. As a result, I will not be able to do the Statue of Liberty Swim.

During the swim, I was doing okay until about a quarter of a mile in, when my goggles started fogging up. I had not spit on them as I usually do, due to the delayed entry and the fact that there was no way to really access the water immediately beforehand. Usually, I spit, rinse them and put them on. This time I just put them on dry. I didn’t think this would make much difference, but it was a huge mistake. They kept fogging up every few strokes and each time I stopped to clean them I fell more and more behind. At about half way through, I just ended up breast-stroking with my head up so I could see and not have to stop. In addition, the water that got into my goggles really irritated my eyes. I think I must have had an allergic reaction, because my husband said when he saw me part of the way into the run, that my eyes looked so swollen I looked like I “had been petting cats”. I am highly allergic to cats. He later joked that there was a cat washing factory upstream. I don’t know about that, but there was definitely something upstream as I swam through two spots during the race that tasted exactly like tobacco juice. Maybe they were washing off smoking cats? I don’t know. But, during the run my eyes hurt so badly I thought they must have severe corneal abrasions. However, after washing my eyes out several times afterward with eye-wash they felt much better. Although, my eyelids still have an odd ache to them.

My Transition

I also must have swallowed some of the tobacco cat water, because when I got out to run, I nearly vomited about 5 times. I just couldn’t stop dry heaving. I ended up walking for at least half of the run. I was just miserable the whole time and kept trying to push past it and not give up.

Lately in my races, I have been developing a weird headache across my forehead whenever I run. It feels like I am going to have a stroke and my head feels all hot and I feel disconnected and confused. It scares me a little. But, thinking about it today, I think the cause may be something as stupid as caffeine withdrawal. I normally drink about 3 cups of coffee in the morning when I wake up. But when I have a super early race and wake at 5 a.m., as I have done for my past few races, my stomach gets too upset from waking up early that I can’t really handle coffee and I skip it. I need to test this theory. Or maybe I need to see a doctor before I pass out dead? Either way, it is not a fun feeling and I hope it is temporary. This also effected my run quite heavily.

Finally, I think I was slightly undertrained for this race. Although I have been doing these distances all summer, last week I went on vacation and did not work out at all and did not eat very healthfully. It definitely had an impact and I don’t plan to repeat that mistake again.

All in all, I was very disappointed in my performance and wish it had gone better. It am sad that I won't be able to swim around the Statue of Liberty, but perhaps it is for the best, since I'm not sure my bank account could afford the $145 entry fee anyhow.

Race Recap – Coney Island Aquathlon

Finisher Medal

This was my second year doing the Coney Island Aquathlon. Last year, I completed the Sprint Distance (half mile swim, 3 mile run) and this year I completed the Olympic Distance (1 mile swim, 3 mile run).

My finish time was 1:36:05.79 and I placed 2/4 in F40-44, 43/51 overall and 14/28 women. It was a very difficult race and I am proud of my placement. I am also proud of simply finishing. I had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before and was feeling really sick to my stomach before the race.

In the swim, I choose to start more toward the back this time, and it worked out well. I was never kicked or hit the entire time. I was also able to get into a rhythm a lot earlier. This, however, did not stop me from having a few moments of panic during the race.

Exiting the water

The first was when I saw jellyfish swimming by at about a quarter mile in. They were about muffin sized and I wasn’t sure if they were going to sting me or what. I had to calm myself down and remind myself that it was actually kind of cool to be out there swimming with sea life. They left me alone and I didn’t see any more after that point.

The next moment of panic came between the half mile buoy and the ¾ mile one. I was sighting off the shore and just didn’t seem to be moving at all. This reminded me of my race last year when I DNF'd and I started to panic that it was going to happen again and that I was stuck in a current I couldn’t overcome. I really wanted to give up at that point. I was overcome with sadness and fear and exhaustion. However, I took some deep breathes, put my head down and reminded myself  that “slow and steady wins the race”, “don’t quit” and "just keep swimming".  After a short amount of time, I looked back at the half mile buoy I was surprised to see I had moved quite a bit of distance from it. This gave me some confidence because it meant that I must be moving forward. From that point on, I just focused on the buoy ahead of me and getting closer to it. When I finally reached the buoy at ¾ mile, I knew I was almost done and was relieved.

From there, it was a quick swim into the beach and off on the run. My run did not go so well. Because of how sick I had been that morning, I just hadn’t eaten or drank anything. I had a few sips of Powerade at the transition, but couldn’t really stomach it. I even skipped the first water station, because I just didn’t feel like it. Well, I must have been really dehydrated at that point, because about halfway through the run, I felt like I was going to pass out. At the turnaround, I grabbed two cups of water and felt slightly better. But I made it to the end on sheer willpower and just focusing on getting to the timing mat. I was in a daze at the finish. Once I was through the gate, I sort of didn’t know where to go or what to do. Mark sat me down and gave me some Powerade and I started to feel mildly better. Exhaustion overcame me and I just wanted to go home and sleep. This was unusual for me, since after a race I am usually wide awake, full of adrenaline and ready to go some more. Not this time. When we got home, I slept for about 4 hours.

I will not be doing this race again next year and I cannot recommend it to others. As this was my second year, I feel I have given this race a fair shot. This was the most disorganized and unsafe race I have ever done. Last year, it was mildly disorganized, for instance, they had forgotten the finisher medals and the run was poorly marked. But, they had insisted that since it was “new” race they would be working out the bugs.

It was worse this year. It started with my registration not making it to the race directors, so that I never received any pre-race emails. Both of e-mails regarding this went answered. So, I wasn't even sure they would have my registration when I got there. When I arrived, my name was written on a separate paper from the rest of the entries, and when they looked for my bib, they had accidentally given it to another racer and had to give me a new number. The transition area was chaos and no one was telling people where to go or what to do. They had way too few volunteers and none of them seemed to have a clue. They forgot to body mark people at registration and were running around frantically trying to write numbers on people’s hands, because at that point most everyone had their wetsuits on. When it came time for the pre-race briefing (which usually takes place on the beach) they called everyone back to the boardwalk and half the people were still in the water warming up. During the briefing, they misspoke the distance of our race telling people it was a 1 mile swim, 6 mile run. The directions were incomplete and unclear and when people asked a question, they never stated the answer over the microphone so that ALL of the race participants could hear.

But bigger than all of these issues and why I will not be doing this race again, is that is was completely understaffed and unsafe for the swim. I only saw one kayak out on the water. When we started out, it was slightly foggy and you could not see the buoys. Already, that is an unsafe situation. They had one individual standing on the jetty blowing a whistle and waving his arms randomly. I could barely see him and I had no idea what the heck he was doing. USAT rules state that you can use any stroke and that you can even hang on boats and buoys (unlike traditional OWS rules.) He seemed to blow the whistle every couple of seconds when someone stopped or switched to breaststroke. I think he blew the whistle at me once when I stopped and treaded water to fix my goggles once after they had fogged up. But, I could be wrong. Who knows? I really have no idea what his purpose was. By the number of times he blew the whistle it could not have been to call for help. There is no way that if something went sideways, like it did at my prior race where the current was so strong and many people were pulled from the water, that one kayaker and a guy blowing a whistle would be enough. If there were others out there, I didn't see them. At the point when I had panicked, the kayaker was nowhere to be seen. If I had seriously wanted to exit the water, my only way to do so would have been to swim in to the beach. If there was a strong change of current, we would all have been screwed. The lack of safety measures in the water was just unacceptable to me. There are a million things that can go wrong in the ocean and it cannot be taken so lightly, IMHO. I will stick to races where they are prepared for contingencies, like the ones run by CIBBOWS. To compare, the Grimmaldo's Mile  at the same beach had 10 kayakers, jet skis, EMTs, swim buddies, rescue boats and police on hand.

On the run, the only staff people on the course were at the start line and at the turn around at the far end of the beach. Once again, we had to dodge the weekend beachgoers on the run. Since this was only pedestrian traffic and the course was a straight line, this was ok. But near the exit of the race, the second water station ran out of water before the race was over and the location of the post-race food was totally unclear. As I had mentioned, I was in a daze at the end and someone should have pointed me to the food or at least noticed that I looked unwell. It took me wandering around to locate some water and some bagels. Ridiculous.

The overall disorganization of the race coupled with the total lack of concern for safety was just awful. Cross this one off the list.

Race Recap – NYCRUNS Firecracker 5K

On the Ferry

This past 4^th of July, my family competed in the NYC Runs Firecracker 5K on Governor’s Island. We were very excited to sign up for this race, since it was a unique venue and would be my 4 year old son Teddy’s very first timed 5K.

We had to pick up the packets the day before in the city at the New York Running Company. Since we live in NJ and have to pay to go into the city, we made a day of it, and went to the AMNH to see the Pterosaur exhibit a second time. Then, Teddy and I walked across Central Park to the running store. It was really fun day and we even saw the Go Ruck people in the park.

A hurricane was predicted for the day of the race, so we were a bit nervous about the weather. But, as luck would have it, the rain missed us and it was a nice day for a race.

Pre-race

We woke up at 5am to drive in, since you had to be at the ferry terminal by 7am and the trains don’t run that early. Teddy was exhausted from so much walking the day before, and from getting up early, but was still in a good mood and made a lot of friends.

I considered this “Teddy’s race”, so I let him set the pace and kept him on track when he got tired or distracted.

The course was over paths and nice and flat. It was two loops and he kept a nice pace for the first mile, running a good portion of it. By the second loop, however, he was a little tired and for the first time ever, I experienced the “back of the pack” feeling.

Running around the castle

Teddy felt it too, sadly. He kept saying how “terrible” he was and I almost wanted to cry, because it was just not true. He was doing so well and trying so hard. On the second loop, they were breaking the course down behind us. There were runners walking in front of us, as if we weren’t there and at times we were unsure of which direction to go because the course was no longer clear. Because this was a race, however, I made sure that Teddy never deviated from the course and never stopped.

Near the end, we motivated him by reminding him of the bagels that awaited him at the finish line. Teddy loves bagels. At the finish line they had already disconnected the timer and had to manually write down our times. Prior to this, my husband said they were calling out the names of each individual as they crossed the finish line. They didn’t do that for us, but thankfully, Teddy had made a lot of friends on the course and a group of the volunteers cheered him across the finish line.

 

The Big Finish

I was, and am, so proud of him. It was a lot of work for him. His little legs are so much smaller than an adults and it must have seemed like twice as far to him, but he never quit and he finished with a time of 1:02:43. I hugged him tight and we went to get some post-race sustenance. When we got there, there was no cream cheese or spreads left, which really really disappointed him.

Nevertheless, we were looking forward to picking up his medal, since I knew there could not have been many under 10s at the race. What a nice souvenir it would be of his first race and his hard work! We watched the entire ceremony and my heart sunk when I realized that they had grouped the 1-19 into one age group. I just couldn’t believe it. After all was said and done, he was competing against adults! Three people in his “age group” were 19 years old. The second place winner overall of the race was 15 and in his “age group” as well.

I explained to Teddy what they had done and he seemed to take it ok. He was, however, still mad about the cream cheese and made a point to tell one of the volunteers that. I love that kid. So, we went and got some ice cream at the Mister Softee truck and headed to the ferry and home for the day.

When I got home, I reviewed the rules again. Maybe I had misunderstood or misread them? Nope. They stated:

Awards: Awards will be given to the top 3 male and female runners overall and the top 3 in each ten-year age group approximately one hour after the race begins.

My friends assured me that if I wrote the race director that surely they would give him his medal. So, I did.

Their response was as follows:

“While your son’s performance in the Firecracker 5K was more than worthy of recognition, it is our current policy to have a 1-19 age group. We do appreciate your feedback and will certainly take it into consideration the next time we revisit that policy. Thanks so much and a big congratulations to Teddy!”

I’m not sure where this “policy” is written. I, personally, think they just made it up. I looked at site and at their prior races, including the same race last year, and they did have a 1-9 year old age group. I have to say, I am very disappointed in the NYCRUNS organization. I would have no problem with this result, if it was clearly stated in the rules beforehand, but it just wasn’t and it seems really unfair to me. But, I guess that is life and Teddy is going to learn this lesson sooner rather than later.

As for this race overall, we won’t be doing it again next year. While it was a good course and well organized, it was huge PITA for us to pick up the packets and to get there in time and in total, between the parking, trains, registration, and disappointment healing ice cream, this race ended up costing us $156.00. Next year, I think we will just do the local 5k and visit Governor’s Island another day.