Andy Gapin

Last year, the Sean Hanna Foundation 5k was where I set what was my personal best 5k time which took until last Saturday’s race at Rutgers for me to beat. This year, I didn’t set out to PR again. I mean, it would have been awesome, but after last Saturday’s race, I was still so happy that I wasn’t about to hurt myself pushing harder.

I love this race for a few reasons. First, it’s in the name of a friend of mine who unfortunately passed three years ago from cancer. So unlike any other race, this one has a little more personal meaning to me. Second, the first year they did this race was my first ever 5k (let’s just say my time was more than seven minutes slower then than this year). Third, the race is run in Duke Island Park in Bridgewater. I really love this park. It’s where my fiancée and I run after work and it has a nice mix of forest, open park, and riverside paths. Forth, it’s a small race with a great vibe. Now, it’s not always the best organized race, but it was better than last week’s Rutgers race. This year, the race started really late, about 20 minutes, which was awkward and kind of rough after spending a little bit of time moving around and loosening up.

Like last week, I started off right in the front so I wouldn’t have to run around anyone. At this point, I know what kind of a runner I am and where I should be starting. I didn’t take off quite like I did last week when the race started, but I still started off quickly to separate myself from most of the pack a little. From there, there was very little position change, I think I passed one or two people through the rest of the race and that was it. My first mile was about the same speed as last week’s, but somehow I lost a lot in my second mile. I thought I was picking it up, but I guess not. I did pick it up for real in my third mile, but my legs started to feel like rubber a bit. I was pushing, but not quite 100%. As much as I would have loved to beat last week’s time, for the first time ever, I didn’t feel like I had to beat my best time so I didn’t push as much as I could have. And to be honest, I really didn’t have much more to give.

I finished just a little slower than last week, only 12 seconds off, but I didn’t feel like I was going to puke which was nice. I’m really happy with my time. Even though the weather was a little nicer for this race than it was last week, I was just glad to know that it wasn’t a fluke and that this is really where I’m at right now. 20:41 was good enough to get me in at 7th overall and 2nd for my age group. Even though it was a small race with just 179 runners, you can’t be unhappy with numbers like that.

This morning, I ran the Rutgers Alumni Run for Rutgers Against Hunger as part of the homecoming festivities. This was a small race, only 253 runners total. The course was pretty nice, very flat, but it wasn’t well marked at all. There were some small, easy to miss signs and a person or two standing at corners where you needed to turn, but they weren’t wearing anything to make them stand out from students on campus. The roads also weren’t entirely blocked off so you couldn’t go by that either. Because of the small size of the race, it was easy to end up all by yourself for a little while so if you weren’t paying attention and looking down the road at where other runners were turning, it was easy to miss a turn. Luckily, I did not.

Since the race was so small, I made sure to start right in the very front so I wouldn’t have to run around anyone. This was also helpful since there was no sensor at the start of the race leaving you with just the gun time at the end which doesn’t take into count how long it takes you to actually cross the starting line. The first mile of the race was straight into a long gust of wind, but I powered though it as best I could at a solid pace. The wind must have been around 20mph at the time and it was taking my breath away a little. Breathing was definitely a little difficult through this and starting out that way didn’t give me much of a chance to ever catch my breath again. I just powered through as much as I could though.

The second mile was my slowest of the three. I’m not sure why, actually. I was trying to pick it up a little, but I just couldn’t breathe deeply. I think I may need to do more intense cardio training to get my breathing up to par. Once I hit a pace faster than about 7:20/mile, I start losing the ability to breathe deeply with my diaphragm and I end up with nothing but short little breaths that just don’t get the job done.

Once I hit the third mile, I started to push a little more, but as I got down to the last half mile, I started feeling the throw up feeling coming out to play. I kept steady and fought it back, but couldn’t break out into that end-of-race sprint that I generally try to do. I wasn’t able to start sprinting until the last 50-100ft. Then I crossed the finish line…and threw up. This seems to be my new thing lately. Maybe it’s the peanut butter sandwiches I’ve been eating an hour before the race?

At any rate, this was by far my best race ever. My time was 20:29 which completely smashes my previous 5k personal record of 23:07. I’m utterly ecstatic about it, actually. My goal was 21 minutes and I beat that by a good chunk of time. Very happy about this. That time put me at 11th overall (also, 11th for men, the first female finisher was a little after me). The winner was 16:51 which is a time I don’t kid myself into ever thinking I’ll be able hit, but being able to finish in the top 5% is absolutely amazing.

In addition to that, this was a fun race because of the amount of people I knew running it. I knew six or seven other runners so it was great to be able to stand on the side near the finish and cheer for everyone as they finished.

I’ve got another 5k coming up on Saturday for the Sean Hanna Foundation. It’s their third annual race and I’ve been a part since the first so I don’t plan to ever miss one. I’m excited to see what this race has in store for me. I don’t know that I’ll be able to beat today’s time, but even if I can come close, I’ll be happy.

I’ve been wanting to pick up a pair of these for a long time now. I’ve been intrigued by barefoot running for about as long as I’ve been running, I’ve read a lot about it and I know how much better it can be for you. Better performance, better injury resistance, better form and posture, stronger feet, and better overall health for your running parts. I always had tough feet as a kid because I loved being barefoot, but I was still afraid to try running around town without shoes on. When I found out about Vibram Five Fingers, I knew I needed to try them. I’ve read a ton of great reviews about them, but unfortunately, they’re not easy to find. Only a few stores seem to carry them and none of them are convenient to get to for me. Normally, I’d just order online, but I felt like this was the kind of thing that needed to be tried on.

Well, I got around to making out to one of these stores yesterday and I tried a pair on. Definitely an interesting feel. They weren’t too hard to get on, but it did take a couple minutes to coax each of my toes to go into the right pocket. After walking around the store for a few minutes, I figured it was time to hand over some money. My fiancée and I both walked out with a pair of the KSO model. For $85 each, it wasn’t too bad compared to most running shoes, though it’s a bit more than the shoes I’m retiring because I never believed in expensive running shoes–just like stretching, there are many studies that support this feeling.

This morning was the first run with them. We mentally prepared ourselves for something that was probably going to be a bit different than we were used to. Most things we’ve read said to just do a mile the first time, we did two.

The first mile was definitely a bit awkward. The shoes feel different on than you’re used to and even though they provide a lot protection from getting your feet sliced up, you do feel most of what you’re stepping on. I landed on an acorn about a minute in and, trust me, I felt it. After that acorn, the I started watching where my foot was landing with each step to make sure it was a clear landing. My feet felt like they were landing hard at first and it felt like I was landing with my entire foot flat instead of on the ball of my foot like I do normally and like you’re supposed to. We were trying to pace ourselves very slowly to ease our bodies into it, it felt like we were only going at about a ten minute mile pace, but at the one mile mark, RunKeeper chimed in my ear to let me know that we were at about 9:10/mile. I was a little shocked. I felt like we were running much more slowly than that.

The second mile was completely different story than the first. My body felt like it eased into the Vibrams and my legs felt like giant springs, they wanted to go. I forgot all about the fact that I was trying out something different I just wanted to fly down the street. I held myself back to prevent myself from doing anything stupid and regretting it tomorrow, but my legs felt peppy and great. By this point, it didn’t even feel like I was wearing anything. The Vibrams just felt like a second skin and I even stopped paying attention to what I was stepping on. They responded amazingly to every move my body made, much better than a sneaker. I felt great.

I’m really impressed with the way these shoes felt today. I can’t wait to get out and run in them again. I don’t want to hold back with my next run, I want to do a nice 5 mile run at 8 minutes per mile.

Most of what I’ve read from people about their experiences with Vibrams included that the first couple of runs left them feeling sore in muscles they didn’t even know they had. I don’t feel sore at all right now. I actually feel great. Before the run, I had some ankle pain left over from Thursday’s 8 mile run, nothing major though. That feels slightly better now, surprisingly. We’ll see how my legs feel tomorrow, but I feel like between all the mountain biking I used to do and the snowboarding, there aren’t really any muscles in my legs that haven’t been put through the paces already. We’ll see though, I haven’t been on a bike in quite a long time and my snowboard has been collecting dust since February.

All in all, after one run, I love these things, I would definitely recommend them. But it was just one run so far, we’ll see how I feel about them after a few weeks. I’m excited though. I plan to run in the full time, including all races. If everything I’ve heard is true, my knees should thank me.

What I’ve read about them suggests that should last between 1,000 and 2,000 miles, easily. I’m stoked about that, much better than sneakers. And the KSO is recommended for everything; running, trail-running, climbing, trekking, kayaking, general water-shoe replacements. I feel like these are going to get a ton of use. Oh! And they’re machine washable!

My suggestion for anyone looking to get them though is to run two miles the first time. Quit there and don’t over do it, but don’t let the first mile be an indicator of anything.

This past Friday, I ran through Central Park in NYC in just my undies and it was kind of awesome. It was part of the annual Jamaica underwear run to kick off NYC Triathlon weekend. The event was a lot of fun and attracted over 500 people, many of which were still very well covered. The average person wore something in the realm of boxers, a speedo, sports bra, boy short underwear, or even actual running shorts (only allowed for the women). The more adventurous wore panties, regular bras, or briefs. Some had full on costumes. I chose to wear a pair of black briefs and didn’t feel too underdressed.

The run itself was just a fun 1.7 mile almost loop through the middle of Central Park. There was a clock, but no time keeping or bibs, this was just for fun. My fiancée and I made the mistake of keeping our bags with us though which made running a bit of a pain in the ass. Since we had come in from Jersey, we had our phones, wallets, and such on us and didn’t want to check that stuff. I also had my camera on me and wanted to keep it on me to take pictures. It’s funny, I only did a light jog and was just in my undies, but I was still dripping sweat. It was quite hot out.

The run was a lot of fun though and I’ll definitely do it again next year…hopefully, next summer will be nothing like this one though.

I got a few good pictures, but I also felt a little weird walking up to strangers and taking their pictures. I know it’s perfectly legal, but I don’t want to weird people out too much. I’m sure this is something that I’ll get over the more I do it though.