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Category: 10K

A great guide to running and racing

Alberto Salazar's Guide to Road racing

The majority of the reading that I’ve done usually involves technical books for my day job.  I’ve recently started to extend my library to include some running books.  One of the things that I regretted about high school is never going out for the track team.  I wish I would have gotten to experience coaching from someone who’s either run competitively in the past or had an extensive running background.  Since that’s no longer an option I did the second best thing, get a book from someone who does coach runners.  I picked up Alberto Salazar’s Guide to Road Racing, and all I can say is I wish someone would have handed me this book years ago.  Even as someone who’s been running for over 14 years I’ve pick up a lot of helpful tips.  I know this will be my go to reference for future questions and pacing strategies.  I’ve actual read the book with a notepad because there’s just so many important tips the author makes.  The author knows what it’s like to deal with injury and the training necessary to be at the highest level of competition.  I’m just glad that I did come across this book so I can try to change some of my bad habits and fine tune my training.  Either way the book is worth every penny.

Cooper Norcross Run the Bridge 10k

Boasting the largest 10K in the tri-state area, the Cooper Norcross Bridge Run is a fast paced fun race.  This was my first time running the race and I was unaware of just how many participates there were.  It was a sellout crowd of over 3500 runners and 1500 walkers.  Starting on the Ben Franklin bridge, Jersey side, you start the race up hill.  The wind over the bridge can be brutal, it helps to pace behind the pack of runners rather than out in the open.  If you’re able to handle the first hill you quickly hit the other side of the bridge and are forced to head back over.  Back on the Jersey side of the bridge, the course was mostly flat with a few twists and turns.  The course, at one point, heads down by the waterfront and finally ends with a sprint onto Campbell’s  field.

The prize money brings in some pretty talented runners.  There were 5 sub 5 minute milers in attendance with the winner Alene Reta having a winning time of 29:11 at 4:43 a mile.  Beside being a little cold that day the weather was perfect and made for a very fun enjoyable race.