10 Resolutions

• Take A Fresh Look At Your Footwear If you've never given much thought to your kicks, there are more reasons than ever to think about them.  The right choice of sneaks can make a huge difference in your running. The popularity of footwear like the Vibram 5 Fingers is changing this landscape remarkably too.

• Donate Some Time To A Local Running Cause There are plenty of running related charities out there. A bunch of NYCRUNNERS are involved with Achilles Track Club. Girls On The Run caught our attention this year too.

• Stretch More

• Leave Nothing On The Track  I'm pretty competitive with myself, probably a bit too much. That said, I enjoy this sport so much more when I'm performing at my peak.  If you've never really pushed yourself in running, give it a chance. Even when you fail to meet your expectations, it's better than just finishing imho.
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In a nutshell, a hash is a 4-5 mile social run that follows a trail set in chalk ahead of time. The trail ends at a bar where beer is consumed and certain rituals are performed. If you have never hashed before, see 20 Things You May Want To Know About Hashing, below. The hash will cost $25 including Better Beer and food.
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20 Things You May Want To Know About Hashing

1. It’s a good idea to show up at the start, preferably on time.
2. You run a 4-5 trail composed of chalk or flour marks on the sidewalk. This is known as hashing.
3. Hashing is not a race. In fact, racing is frowned upon. Don’t be a race-ist!
4. Yeah, that is pretty funny. Thanks.
5. It’s actually a pretty social event and you will need to communicate with your fellow hashers on trail, so leave your headphones at home.
6. Hashers tend to be pretty irreverent. Check your political correctness at the door. You may be offended.
7. The trail ends at a bar (known as the on-in). We will bring your small bag of clothing there. We wouldn't want you to catch cold.
8. Beer is the beverage of choice. Food is the food of choice.
9. Songs are sung at the bar that commemorates things that happen on trail.
10. After the song ends, you have to drink a beer if the song is about you. Don’t worry; you’ll know if it’s about you. You’ll be standing in the middle of “The Circle”
11. The circle is so scary that we put it in quotes!
12. Sometimes, dirty words are used in these songs. By sometimes, we mean usually.
13. Hashers also call each other by names that they might not want their mothers to know they are called.
14. My mother is a hasher though, so she’s cool with it.
15. At some point or other, the hares (the persons who set the trail and are organizing the on-in) will collect hash cash. This is the money that pays for the beer and food.
16. Hash cash will run out too soon. After that, you can pay for your own beer.
17. Hashing started over 70 years ago in a faraway land called Queens. No, it started in Kuala Lumpur.. Actually, 70 years later, there’s still not a Queens Hash.
18. There are hashes all over the world though. The Brooklyn Hash usually meets on Mondays at 7, though this one starts at 5. Even if you can’t make #500, you can show up at a future BH3.
19. That stands for Brooklyn Hash House Harriers by the way.
20. Take a look at www.hashnyc.com for more information about hashing. This article is actually pretty useful

http://www.hashnyc.com//index.php?option=content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=42

On-On
The Brooklyn Hash

My first date. Could I be any more nervous? Oh My God, my big day is tomorrow! I get moral support from friends who all say the same thing to me. Just trust yourself, you have prepared and just enjoy yourself, it will be natural and won’t hurt. Sounds so simple, so why am I so tied up in knots and finding it so difficult to accept this advice? Well it really wasn’t my first date with a girl that happened about 40 years ago. This date was with 2 million people - it is the NYC Marathon. It isn’t even my first marathon, but this one felt different. Not exactly sure why, except I know there will be people watching throughout the entire race. I hope I get to enjoy them.

Time to enter the meeting area at the start. Ft. Wadsworth is at the bottom of the 2 mile long Verrazano Bridge in Staten Island that I stared at last night from my hotel room. I’m a bit overwhelmed at this crowd I’m a part of, and the crazy thing is that every one of these people are encountering the exact journey I am experiencing. People of all shapes and sizes who all seemed to be so confident. Relax Michael, you’ve trained. Uh oh, did I train enough? I feel good, I got to pee, I feel nervous, I feel good, I feel nauseous, I feel good, I got to pee, I feel nervous, I feel good, I got to pee. Did I eat enough? Are my shoes tied just right? Did I get enough Vaseline where needed? Will the body glide work? I got to pee. Are my socks straight? I may get a medal at the end. I got to pee. Should I stretch yet? Should I drink more now? I got to pee. Maybe not.

It’s my turn, finally time to start. Ok, Michael you can do this, just take it easy. I am walking toward the start, feeling excited, almost emotional. A chill goes down my spine as I hear the cannon go off. The energy is encompassing. I find myself clapping as the walking builds into a slow jog. Nice, easy start, there’s the mat and we’re off. It’s happening and it feels so right all of a sudden.

Look at this bridge filled with runners, how cool is this? I am really feeling a part of something very huge. As I look at my watch, it’s funny to see that about 5 minutes have passed since the start.

I ran "my first" marathon last fall through Team in Training (TNT). While fundraising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society through TNT, I was inspired to write a song to train to and give to my donors as a thank you gift.

The idea of music written for running worked so well I decided to take some time and write more. Recently, I released an E.P. of 6 new "Songs For Running." I hope this is only the beginning.

I created the project name of Lady Southpaw from a nickname I got in a boxing class. At one time I was a certified personal trainer so I have a fundamental understanding of running biomechanics and training programs but I am mainly coming from the perspective of a nerdy musician. I like experimenting with sounds and bringing together big ideas like the ultimate music listening experience with the ultimate running experience and finding the zone where they meet.

I put the songs together using vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, computer beats, keyboard synthesizers, harmonica, accordion and a even a baglama.  They are based on research about music and the brain, getting in flow or "the zone," and developing a consistent optimal running stride rate. Most elite athletes have a running cadence around 180 strides per minute regardless of whether they are running fast or slow. Developing this cadence helps maintain stride efficiency. Listening to music that holds a steady and consistent beat can help the runner at any pace stay on task and get a consistently quick leg turnover.

You can find more information on my blog, Running Rocks or my website ladysouthpaw.com.

_{Lady Southpaw is currently on her way to qualifying for the 2010 New York City Marathon}

Don’t get me wrong, I love and support my wife and I try to encourage her to be the best at everything, but I used to be the only runner in the family. I am excited that she is the best boggle player I have ever met, that she almost always beats me at air hockey, has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do and can probably kick my ass, despite being all of 5’1” and 107 lbs. I was supportive when at 31 she decided to throw her programming career away (where she made more money than I did) to go to med school.

I helped her slog through organic chemistry labs, and read, reread, and reread again all of her admission essays, despite the fact that as a couple it would mean going back into student-poverty land. But I used to be the only runner in the family, and therefore, was the best runner. I competed with no one except myself, and at the end of races it was nice to see Erica waiting for me at the finish line. She even made me a shirt after my first marathon that said? F*ck you, I just ran the marathon. That’s when it all changed.

In our move toward permanent coupledom, and probably sparked a little by Annie Oakley, Erica started running, despite pretty severe back and knee injuries. I would finish races and then run back to where she was, and run her in, shouting “Stay strong! Run for French Toast!” When she wanted to run her first marathon, I was excited. How cool would it be to be able to cross the finish line together, holding hands and kissing at the finish line (my fantasy did not involve the buckets of sweat, chafed nipples, or cramped legs, incidentally). We trained together and it was great, except when our blood sugar got a little low, or the time when we ran 20 miles out to a Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn that was closed for remodeling. Nonetheless, I always finished first.

Then, I tore my Achilles tendon. As my orthopedist once said, “Eric, some people have bodies made for running. You have to suck it up?” I was always injuring myself one way or the other, and taking month long breaks waiting for my body to heal. At the end of one of these breaks my wife and I entered a local 5K. My Achilles had been hurting on and off for a few months (I think I injured it dancing at my wedding) and I believe there may have been a hangover in the background there as well. My wife was running well, and I was running poorly, and she had been taunting me all morning that she was going to kick my ass, because of my slack training. So of course, on the last hill, I pushed just a little harder and won by a few seconds. Up until then, we had been neck and neck, neither of us really pushing very hard, but I had to win., and in the process, my Achilles partially detached from my tibia. I hurt walking for the next three days, but figured it was just because I had forgotten to ice and Advil. No big deal, a small step back, well worth it to maintain my perfect record for being just a hair faster than my lovely wife. Then I went for a short three mile run and had to call my wife to come and get me, because I couldn’t walk home, nor did I walk anywhere else for the next three days.

Six months and countless physical therapy appointments later I was still not running. My wife on the other hand, was placing in races, PRing week after week and doing long marathon training runs all by herself. She ran the Austin Marathon, and came within 30 seconds of my PR. I was still faster, although age and gender rated she was doing much better and Austin is a much harder course. When we looked up her results online, just after the race, and saw that I still had a faster time, I tried to put on the a sympathetic husband face, but my wife wasn’t having any of it ? She just looked me in the eye and said, “You are happy you still have a better time?” I tried to deny it, but then sheepishly agreed? I want to be faster than my wife.

Without a doubt my wife is a better athlete and she is much more determined, and driven by some internal need to be the best that I simply don’t have. And she is now training to qualify for the Boston marathon, which will make her undoubtedly, faster than me and I hate that. Even now, slowly recovering from injury, I race up hills, always ten steps ahead of my wife. I try to stay even with her, but no matter how focused I am, slowly, bit by bit, I pull ahead, until she yells at me and says “You are running ahead again?” Luckily, my wife has started to lose interest in running and is now focusing her energy on triathlons. In a year or so, I figure we will be a happy, non-competitive family again, at least until she comes home from an Iron man with a t-shirt that says, “Oh, You Ran A Marathon? How Cute.”