July 28, 2018.

AKA:  The 6 with 60 in 60 for 6 Challenge.  To be explained later.

When expectations are low, things could only go up, right?  I had no intention of entering this race, as it was penciled in my race calendar as FYI.  We had just returned from vacation the week before where I mustered a handful of maintenance miles along the beach for that week.  But as luck would have it, I was able to enter the race versus mow the lawn.  And just 4 days prior, I squeezed in under the registration deadline.

The Broadway Ultra Society (BUS) a local running club organized very low-key races in some unique venues in and around Queens, NY.  I liked their races mostly because they do not attract large fields unlike the other running clubs in NYC.  This year the Pajama Romp was held at Fort Totten in Queens, NY – not to be confused with Fort Tilden, also in Queens… so don’t Google Fort Tilden, and definitely don’t Google Fort Tilden boobs…. I mean bombs…. I mean… just DON’T….  I digress.

Fort Totten was built in the late 19^th Century and currently used by the Army Reserve, as well as the NYPD and NYFD as a training center, but mostly a public park.  The course was a 1.33 mile loop around the fort and all on paved road.  About half was flat with a short yet steep downhill, some rollers and a steep uphill to the start / finish.  The course certainly did not meet the high standards of Trailer Trash-worthiness, but there was about 20 feet of grass to cross to reach my drop bags with risk of being attacked by vicious squirrels.  I brought bear spray.

Timing was done by hand, so you had to wear your bib number on both the front and back, and when you crossed the start/finish one race timer would call out your number and another would record it on paper.  Doing this for 100 runners every 1.33 miles for 6 hours was an unenviable task…. pretty old school, pretty cool.

The nice ladies at the start/finish who would record race laps

Except for the attacking squirrels, the greatest challenge of the race was the weather.  Forecast was mid-80’s at the 5 PM start and it would only get down to around 80 for the 11 PM finish.  After the half mile walk from the parking lot to the start area, my tank top was already drenched in sweat.  This was walking.  There was some periodic cloud cover, but the course was fully exposed to the sun.  A constant breeze helped a little.  Given the heat, I didn’t have any real goal, so I decided to have a little fun with the race.  We were running on a Saturday night after all.  I wanted to see if I could run 6 miles and drink a 60 Minute IPA (Dogfish Head) within 60 minutes for 6 hours…. hence, the 6 with 60 in 60 for 6 challenge.  Oops, I guess I created a goal for myself anyway.  And while romping in boxers.

Beer du jour – Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA

Gathering at the starting area, I noticed that I was the only runner who took the “pajama” part of the Pajama Romp seriously, as I stood there wearing only boxers and running shoes.  Everyone else wore normal running garb.  Seriously?  Can’t anyone take the name of the race seriously?  After some kind words from the RD, we were off at 5 PM and the challenge was on.  My plan was to run 3 laps (4 miles) with a handheld bottle filled with ice water, and on the 4^th lap I would ditch the bottle and pick up of a can of IPA and drink it on that lap.  Rinse and repeat for as long as I could or 6 hours.  I had plenty of pickles, olives, and beef jerky to wash down the beer and replenish lost salts… a race nutrition plan at its finest.

After the 3^rd lap, my pace was around 9:30 min/mi but it was hot and I was sweating quite profusely.  My boxers were drenched, so at the first planned beer stop I decided to clean up and switch to some proper running shorts.  I was feeling quite lonely at the pajama party anyway.  Also, the boys down under were still a bit emotionally scarred from the chaffing of the balls incident at Forbidden Forest.  I lost a good bit of time at the stop, as average pace rose above 10 min/mi upon running again.  I carried the beer with me and finished it in about a quarter mile.  With the first beer in my hand, as I passed a tall guy, he yelled out quite loudly “Hey, is that a beer!”  Great, right in front of the NYPD training center, and alcohol was prohibited in NYC parks.  I turned around and said, “No…. not really” and carried on.

Even with beer, I drank as much water as I could.  When my water bottle was getting empty, I stopped by my drop bag where I had a small cooler and re-filled the bottle with ice while keeping an eye out for squirrels.  The ice melted in the bottle pretty quickly, but it was nice to have ice cold water while it lasted.  In case I might overheat, I had two compression socks pre-packed with ice in the cooler.  I would put one around my neck to help cool down if needed.  Fortunately, I didn’t have to deploy the emergency measure throughout the race.

I had to average 10 min/mi to meet the goal challenge of 36 miles in 6 hours.  At the second beer stop, my average pace was hovering just above 10 min/mi, so I already knew that 36 miles was not in the cards this day.  With the heat dictating the pace, I re-set my goal to cover at least 50K, but still 6 IPA’s.  For 50K, I needed about 4 laps (5.3 miles) per hour average.  By the 3^rd beer stop, I was at 2 hours 41 minutes in, so doing well for a 50K goal.

Between the 3^rd and 4^th beer stops, I knew it would still be a bit of a slog to the finish, even as the sun started to set over the Throgs Neck Bridge.  The Throgs Neck Bridge was named after John Throckmorton who came to the Bronx in 1642 with a party to settle down, and apparently, he must have had a really really big neck to name a major bridge after it.  But the bigger question was who would want to settle down in the Bronx?  Regardless, at this point, I took some sage advice from Sue our beloved Queen of Nothing and tried to go into a Zen-like focus to the next rest stop – or in my case, next beer stop.   During one of the non-beer laps, I grabbed my iPhone to take a few pics.  Thanks to Sue the next beer stop arrived seemingly quickly.  The one after not so much.

Sun setting over the Throgs Neck Bridge with Manhattan in the distant skyline

I lumbered through the 5^th beer stop around 9:30 PM and about 25 miles under the belt.  50K was solidly in sight barring a blow-up or passing out or staggering into the Long Island Sound.  During this time, it was dark and there were fewer runners and many slowed to a walk.  I tried to give words of encouragement to each one I passed, as I was still consistently chugging along.  The many long training runs and earlier big races this year paid off, as I was confidently pacing reasonable well for the 6 hours, while I could see others falling off.  Or perhaps I had a runner’s form of beer goggles.

Long Island Sound Sunset

As I approached the 6^th and final beer lap, which in my case was the bell lap, the race timer called out “number 78” which was me, followed by “lap 23” which was how many I completed.  My math skills got a little fuzzy for some reason, and I thought I should have completed 24 laps and that the scorers must have missed a lap.  I decided that I would not protest yet figured that I still needed another lap plus extra to get to 50K per official results.  Turned out the scorers were right and my math was wrong…. try calculating 23 x 1.33 in your head after 5 beers and 30 miles.  The 6^th IPA didn’t want to go down without a fight and it took me almost a mile to finish it, but mission accomplished.  I also learned how to run with a steady hand so the beer wouldn’t fizz over…. a skill not to be trivialized in case of emergency.

Crossing the start/finish after the 24^th lap, the race clock showed a little over 5 minutes left.  I put it into a higher gear to run as fast as I could for the remaining minutes.  For the last lap, the race organizers placed number markers every 0.05 miles.  When the 6 hour horn blew, you had to know the last number marker you passed and upon returning to the scoring table, let them know and they will calculate the extra distance on the final lap.  The horn blew and I was at marker 11 (0.55 miles).

As the race officials were tallying up the totals, I cleaned and changed and ate some pizza.  I stood around as the RD started calling out the results with the Top 5 females first.  The race was too small for AG awards, so just top 5 females and top 6 (or 8?) males got placement awards.  Everyone else got a finisher award and a more special goodie if you passed the marathon distance.  As the RD called out the top male finishers, I recognized those who passed me on the course, then he said there was a tie for 5^th place and called out my name as one of the two.  Holy Shit!  Tied for 5^th of 55 males with 32.5 miles (unofficial).  I quickly ran up to grab my trophy like a kid uncontrollably hurling himself to the base of the Christmas tree on Christmas morning.  I was on cloud 9, and admittingly the IPA’s played a small part.

Hugging my trophy!

After 2 under-achieved goal races this year, it so happened that the non-goal, or rather non-sensical goal race would be my best performance.  I had never placed this high in any race, big or small, before.  I’m always a consistent upper-third packer, but nowhere near AG placement, and with the occasional crash and burn.  This was a sheer delight!  In hindsight, I would still like to complete the 6 with 60 in 60 for 6 challenge, but for now I will leave well enough alone.  And time to return to the comfort of trails.  Thanks for reading!

Runner beer goggles? Hilarious stuff! The pun of chugging along, intended or not, also had me laughing. It's funny that you placed your best in a race that you really just had a darn good time running...definitely makes one think about how mentality and mindset play into performance. I'd imagine that with a race that size, having a little external motivation (like the challenge you made for yourself), would really help to keep your mind off the repetitive miles.

Anyway, well done and good running!

a trophy!!!  Nice!  and a six pack of IPA- Nice again!

you should probably be looking at airline tickets to Denver for September, I think you would fit in just right  (well except that ball issue thing)

Great job on that loopy course.  I think that would drive me crazy.  5th place, very nice, but I'm most impressed with the 6 beers, I could never do that... well while running anyway.

Hope your next race isn't the Naked Bavarian.

Loved your report and your totally lack of seriousness!!    Hmm drunk, running and in boxers at the park.  Pretty sure that's all illegal, cept the running.  I wonder if your boxers would have pissed SLaR off. 

Did you actually get a buzz or did you run it off?  Nice job on 5th place!  Was your Zen mantra... IPA...IPA...IPA...IPA...

AT is right...

They wouldn't be love handles if they didn't protrude. 

 

Well, depends on the situation.  If I were running from the authorities as they tried to catch me, then yeah, running would be illegal too. 

 

Can't say I really got buzzed.  1 beer per hour isn't a whole lot.  2 beers per hour would have been a very different story, however.

 

Also, pay no attention to the protruding love handles.... I had a fried eggplant sandwich and a giant plate of fries for my pre-race lunch.

 

lol. small races are the best! be careful though, it will make your ultrasignup targets ridiculous!

Great race report ! I love the picture in your pj's .