Yes, I am still racing.

I have been working more races than I have actually been running.  But I ran two in March.

On March 11th I took a ride up to FDR State Park  in Yorktown Heights NY.  The St. Patrick's Day 10K was a production of the Taconic Road Runners Club.  After the Race I hung out with the Race Director and and other mucky mucks from TRRC.  It was a cool race with an authentic community vibe.  It reminded me a lot of the races my club puts on, except we are not allowed to serve beer in Prospect Park.  Nobody really drank much, but it was nice to have around.

After the race I got to hang out with both old and new friends.  To the right is Mr. NYCRUNS.COM (and his dog's ass) and Mr rundangerously .  (These are rundangerously's photos)

In this race I did my best and finished 1 minute below my goal (58:50) and was 150 out of 240 finishers.  As in the small races the Prospect Park Track Club put on many of the runners knew the volunteers along the course and at the finish line.  I even got some extra love because I "came all the way from Brooklyn".

Then on March 24th I ran the 2012 Allstate Life Insurance℠ New York 13.1 Marathon®.  It was the latest race delivered to The New Your City Area by the US Road Sports & Entertainment Group.  This race was very different from the race I ran Upstate.  It was not the fact that I finished 1,773 out of  3,366  (2:07:40) that made this a big event.  It was a big event.  There were professional DJs at the start and finish.  Race sponsors had their products on display at the after finish party.  There was beer, but you could not drink it in a NYC park.  This race had a huge charity component. World Vision raised thousands and got  people into running.  Two years ago I raised almost a $1,000 to help people in Haiti.  Without this race and World Vision that would not have happened.

There was also at least a hundred people who got paid to be there.  Jobs from cleaning and security to marketing and race management. Tables, chairs, barriers and stages were all rented.  Sponsors, race officials and vendors flew in from all over the country.  Lots of people get to make a living from events like this.  These races are a real stimulus to the local economy.  (I just realized that my club puts on a race for 2,500 people and nobody gets paid, hummm)

Anyway, the neighborhoods around Flushing Meadow Park are mainly made up of people from Central America or Asia..  So, in an effort to "keep it local"  US Road Sports had the finish line treats catered locally.  Besides the usual (day old) bagels, bananas, and bottled water, I was offered a hot spring roll and a sizable chunk of some sort of Mexican flat bread (someone tell this gringo what it is called).  

It was a nice gesture, but I gotta say that being handed a steaming fried thing 10 seconds after finishing a half marathon was not what I expected or what my digestive system was ready for.

If everything works out I will be returning to both these races in future years, as staff.