Just qualified for the New York City Marathon

• Healthy Kidney 10K Video
  

Today I ran a PR of 57:11 with a 9:13 pace; I can say I finished behind likely 2008 Olympic medalist Craig "Buster" Mottram of Australia in a race that shattered the all-time course record for a lap around Central Park; I qualified for the 2008 ING New York City Marathon (!!!!!!!!!!); I had a crumbcake at Starbucks; and then I went to see Shrek the Third just to hear Gingy's voice one more time.

Life is good! The Wait Is Ogre!

This morning was the Healthy Kidney 10K at Central Park, benefiting the National Kidney Foundation and sponsored by the United Arab Emirates. Cool and overcast, perfect weather. Over 7,000 runners. In honor of our Subway Series between the Mets and Yankees over at Shea Stadium on this first weekend of Interleague Play, I cut up a David Wright No. 5 Mets jersey and ran in that. Throughout the race, I was cheered by other runners and fans who yelled things like "Go, D-Wright!" and "Let's Go Mets!" Hey, even the Empire State Building is being lit up all weekend in both Yankees and Mets colors, the first time in history they have used a dual color scheme for that iconic skyscraper. It is Yankees navy and white on the north and south sides, and Mets blue and orange (which I wore today) on the east and west sides. Whichever team wins this series, the Empire State Building will be fully alit in its colors on Monday. Updated Monday: It will be blue/orange! So I figured it was special enough to dedicate this 10K to the Subway Series, too!

I finished midpack, feeling at times like I was just flying, and in the fourth mile like I was running on empty, then like Street Sense in the final mile, and I ran so fast and so hard that immediately after the finish line I made a beeline for the Medical tent and asked them to give me oxygen. "Do you have a medical condition?" she kept asking me. "No!" I kept saying between gasps. "I just can't get my breath!" She kept fiddling with her oxygen tank trying to get it ready and finally I caught my breath and said never mind, I'm good and I need water. I have never done anything in my athletic life like today, where I visualized it all beforehand that I was going to leave everything I had on the course and try my best to just fly around the course like I was Buster Mottram himself. It is so awesome to challenge yourself and see how your body reacts at this age. I love it.

This was my ninth New York Road Runners event of 2007, which means I am now officially in the NYC Marathon! I definitely will run my first marathon this fall, either NYC (pleaseplease) or Philly or somewhere more exotic after I work the World Series (which could end as late as Nov. 1). That will depend on the results of the lottery draw for the 2007 ING New York City Marathon, which I registered for back in February. There will be some 90,000+ applicants for about 37,000 spaces in that field, so we will find out in early June whether I will be among them! I did not join the New York Road Runners until last December, which is why I had to go through the lottery process for this November's. Still, though, it is a rewarding feeling to know that you just qualified for a marathon! And that 9:13 pace was exactly my pace in last Sunday's Mother's Day 4M race, so if my pace for 6.2 miles is identical to my pace for 4 miles, I think that is more progress.

Seeing Mottram in the awards ceremony was a highlight for me. He is my favorite runner. I watched him recently at the Millrose Games and I can't wait to see him soar in Beijing. Today, the two-time defending champ of this race was actually beaten by Dathan Ritzenhein, whose 28:08 time beat the course record of 28:10 set 10 years ago. It was awesome to hear NYRR CEO Mary Wittenberg describing the Ritz-Buster duel to all of us who had been running our own races at the time. It also was cool to see Ritz immediately turn over his $20,000 first prize check from the UAE directly to the National Kidney Foundation. Nice move. In the big picture, that's what it was all about. Gotta love being able to do that.

The funniest part of the ceremony was after the three female finishers were awarded. The sergeant-at-arms of the UAE national army informed each of them that they will be coming to the United Arab Emirates in December to run their event, with all transportation and accommodations covered. Hope your families didn't have any plans for you in December, girls!!!  Then he announced during the male awards presentation that the top seven male finishers will be going to UAE to run that same event. That set off a small buzz among the crowd, feeling kind of 1950s here. Why not the top seven female finishers as well? I mean, how else would this crowd react? I guess gender equity hasn't quite caught on over there yet the way it has here, where women-only races sometime seem overly prevalent to me. It doesn't get much more equal than NYC running, so they have to be more careful not to make another diplomatic faux pas like that one.

Apologies to all those Yankee fans out there on the course today. I know it's tough. The Bronx Bombers are 10 games out of first place for the first time since 1995 (growing as I write this), before the Derek Jeter/Joe Torre/Mariano Rivera era really started. They just lost to the Mets, they are getting destroyed in the standings by the rival Red Sox...and here's a guy flying around Central Park wearing a sweaty David Wright No. 5 Mets jersey. Hey, I'm a winner, baby! I just finished behind Buster, set a PR and qualified for the world's biggest marathon. Let's Go Mark!

OK. Watched this afternoon's Subway Series game and then went to see the big green ogre and his friends Donkey and Puss In Boots. I don't care what anyone thinks, I just went to see this by myself in the top theater auditorium in New York City. Amazing! that was a blast. My next race is going to be a BLAST! It's the American Heart Association Wall Street Run -- a 3-miler on Tuesday (May 22) through the Financial District after the big board closes.

Congratulations to Amanda, the very cool girlfriend of my awesome son Matt, on graduating this weekend from high school! We are all proud of her! Now they will both be in college together in the same area, and I know that makes them both very happy so that makes me very happy!

BIG LOVE.