Sunday - 22/09/13

It was the 5th Avenue Mile today. There was over 5000 runners in total, the race was split into 15 separate heats. The last three races were the professional men and women's races and a children's race. There had been a big storm in the night which had cooled things down to a nice temperature perfect conditions, well, maybe just a bit breezy, especially at the start but I can't remember being affected by the breeze at all. I slept well and well past my alarm too - it was  set for 6:30, very generous with the race start time of 11:00am and the start being just 4 miles from my hotel. I sort of got up at about 8 ish and headed out at about 9am. I got the subway express train on the 4, 5, 6 line to 86th Street and Lexington Ave. Getting orientated above ground was a bit strange, I should have remembered how many turns I'd made before arriving on the surface.  I figured that if I started walking down 87th with 86th on my left that I was going in the right direction (West to Central Park). At the park I strolled around for a while sorting out where things were. The start, the number collection point, the bag drop, the loos etc. There was a water station at the start which I thought was an excellent idea. Security was such that you had to put your belongings in a see through plastic bag. That I did, and sat for a while in the morning sunshine on the museum steps. I then had to warm up carrying my bag - you just couldn't leave things lying around! There was a pick up truck for bag storage for our heat. We dropped the bags off before we entered the starting pen. All bags were checked by sniffer dogs!

Our heat comprised all the men and women aged 60 - 69 runners, about 170 in total. I started on the second rank and the start was fairly smooth and unhampered. The first quarter mile was downhill and I went through the quarter in about 1:22  - 1:23. They had clocks at each quarter mile. The second half was an uphill slope, I got to the half in around 2:57. The third quarter was downhill, it felt like I flew down there. Progress along the final 440 yards was helped by the cheering crowds. I was also thinking of my newly born grandson - who was born today in the early hours of the morning - that provided motivation though maybe a slight loss of focus. I cant remember my time through three quarters. The runner in front of me was few seconds away and there was no-one close behind. Anyway, I finished in 5:52 and in 13th position. 13th in my age group was a bit disappointing - I had hoped to be in the top ten but it would seem that many of the top ten were 10 seconds faster than last years top ten, perhaps an indication of how masters athletics standards are improving. The time of 5:52 was pleasing for me though. My best time for a mile, I've only done one before and it was on the track, was 6:03. The race was won in 5:02 by Nolan Shaheed. Like David O, I've met Nolan at the world masters T&F champs - he is not going to Brazil this time though. Interestingly - for me - I was also beaten by a 60 year old woman (she ran it in 5:35), that doesn't happen too often.

Also .. Today I'm a Granddad for the second time.Oliver Howard David Proffitt was born in the early hours of the morning. A bit premature - I was supposed to be in Brazil when he was due to arrive. 6 lb and a few oz. so a decent weight.

After today's race I went to the Blind Pig to watch some NFL football. I met a bunch of really nice American youngsters, about Zoë's age and i shared their table and their Angst ("it's not easy acting in this city whatever they might tell you"). As a Psychology student I would share it wouldn't I?  It goes to show though that if you drink in a $7 a pint bar you meet $7 a pint people - you go to $3 a pint bar you meet $3 a pint people who are either resigned to life or just smashed - the Guinness in the Bulls Head at $3  a pint was rather nice even if the people were not feeling up to conversation or chit chat.

I popped round to the local supermarket in the evening and got a quart of low calorie Tropicana lemonade and a packet of crisps to take back to my room.