course PSL 2020

my first parkrun [19:56,3/87,78.8%]

This morning, I had my first parkrun race in Gainesville, before heading back to Paris. (Thanks to Florence Forbes who pointed out this initiative to me.) Which reminded me of the race I ran in Helsinki a few years ago. Without the “self-transcendance” topping…! While the route was very urban, it was a fun opportunity to run a race with a few other runners. My time of 19.56 is not my best by far but, excuses, excuses, I was not feeling too well and the temperature was quite high (21⁰) and I finished in the first three runners, just seconds behind two young fellows who looked like they were still in high school.  (I am now holding the record of that race for my age group as well!) Anyway, this is a great way to join races when travelling and not worry about registration, certificates, &tc.

Parkrun also provides an age-grade adjusted ranking (78.8%), which is interesting but statistically puzzling as this is the ratio of one’s time over the fastest time (ever?) in the age x gender category. Given that fastest times are extreme, this depends on one individual and hence has a high variability. Especially in higher (meaning older!) veteran categories. A quantile in the empirical distribution would sound better. I came across this somewhat statistical analysis of the grade,

catching my train with no training

Argentan half-marathon [1:26:03, 22nd/329, 4th V2/63, 15⁰]

Despite failing to reach the podium this year in my V2 category, a predictable first as I get closer to move to the next category, V3, or “senior grandmaster”, and missing by a few seconds my 1:25 target, I was rather happy with this half-marathon, having run at my pace the whole race, with none of the low passages I had in previous races and instead feeling quite well in the last kilometers, where I left the first female runner. Weather was perfect, with no sun, no rain, and no wind in the second half. The three V2 runners in front of me were much faster (1:22, 1:24, and 1:25:21) than those of the previous years, an illustration of the law of small numbers found in these races…

Self-Transcendence 2 mile races in Helsinki

Upon our arrival in Helsinki for EMS 2017, Jean-Michel Marin pointed out to me the existence of a 2 miles race the next day [as every Tuesday], indicated on the webpage of the conference. And encouraged me to run it. As I had brought my running gear and did not need preparation for a 2 miles [a mere loop in the parc!], I decided to try the race and we took a tram all the way to a faraway suburb where a few other runners had gathered. It was very relaxed and friendly, with recyclable cloth bibs and free juice available. Against all odds, I managed to win the race, with a first mile under six minutes thanks to another runner rushing me. And got a tee shirt as a reward. (Checking on Wikipedia later, I found that Sri Chinmoy was an Indian guru advocating running as a form of meditation, which I find rather absurd as I am anything but meditating when running a race..!)