5 mile recovery run & MEB WINS NY

I left the Garmin at home today knowing it would be slow. It felt like at least 9 min pace. Recovery days should be taken extra easy. The goal is just to get blood flow to your legs to help with healing and recovery. I thought about 5-7 miles but realized early on that the shorter would be better. My legs are very tired tonight.

The big news today was that Meb Keflezighi of the USA won the New York City Marathon in 2:09:15. It was so inspiring to see him win wearing a U.S.A. singlet. He is the first US male runner to win this race since Alberto Salazar in 1982! He looked so smooth the whole way and incredibly stong after his "move" at mile 24. I breifly met Meb in 1996 at the Runner's Workshop running camp on Catalina Island. I was just a senior in high school. He was a senior at UCLA I believe. Here is the picture. I am on Meb's right side.The other amazing story was that the US had 6 athletes in the top 10! Jorge Torres made his marathon debut with a 7th place finish in 2:13:00! Ryan Hall was a disappointing 4th in 2:10:36. The US placed 1, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10. And Sergio's time in Chicago (a slightly faster course) would have placed him 13th overall and 8th American.

The most amazing performance was Joan Beniot Samuelson, who didn't want to make any predictions this time, and ended up running 2:49:09 and was the 17th woman to finish! I believe that time is faster than her time at the Olympic trials in April 2008. She is now 52 years old. FYI she said her half spilt was 1:22!

See some great post race interviews on flotrack.org.


Late addition: Sergio Reyes won the Healdsburg Wine Country Half Marathon this weekend in 1:06:47! Just a tempo run for Sergio.