Training in the Gunks, Running in the New York City Marathon
Harbert Okuti, lives in New Paltz, trains in the Gunks and will be running the New York City Marathon this Sunday. Okuti placed 19 over all at the 2014 race with a time of 2:22:34.
We met at the Bakery, on what turned out to be his birthday- Happy Birthday!, and talked about running, the Gunks, and motivation.
Okuti runs twice a day, every day, averaging 120-125 miles per week. His favorite place to train is the on carriage trails at the Mohonk Preserve and Minnewaska State Park.
“It’s gorgeous and quiet. There is varied terrain,” Okuti said. “The roads around here are narrow and fully trafficked. The trails are soft and don’t beat your legs up so much, it helps with recovery”.
Okuti, born in Arua, Uganda, moved to New Paltz, from NYC in 2010.
“I don’t like city life. It’s overwhelming. I don’t like that energy,” Okuti said.
Coach Mike Barnow, who also coaches the Friday night track workouts for the Shawangunk Runners Club and the Westchester Track Club, guides Okuti when necessary.
Barnow suggests specific workouts and over all training. Barnow’s coaching to Okuti for marathon running is not to overdo it, but rather to under do it, according to Okuti.
“Conditions at New York are normally not favorable,” Okuti said. “It’s windy and cold”. So Barnow tells him to be conservative and not to go out at a suicide pace. Start out at a 5:12 pace and then kick it up.
Okuti feels that he is better prepared this year than the past two years. Sunday will be his third NYC Marathon.
He doesn’t have a specific, concrete goal, he explained.
“I’m just going to go and do my best and have fun,” Okuti said. “I see people going to the bathroom 5 times in 15 minute before the race because they are so nervous. They’ve already beaten themselves in their minds”.
At this point Okuti tried to convince me I should run New York.
“It’s exciting. It’s the best running someone from around NYC can do, all the runners and all the people who come out to see. It’s a feeling I can’t describe”.
The conversation then veered off to winter training as we commiserated about the difficulty find places to run in the dead of winter.
Okuti runs up Lenape Lane in the winter as so many Gunks runners do.
While Lenape is plowed most of the winter Okuti finds it challenging with the hill and sometimes icy footing. Springtown Road and Huguenot Street are other go-to spots in the months that trails are too snow covered for running.
Finding the motivation to run in the winter is always a trial, and it turns out it doesn’t matter if you’re a professional runner.
“It’s that 3 second time of getting up and dressed and shoes on, then it’s OK,” Okuti said.
And that brought up the question of barefoot running.
“Barefoot running makes feet so much stronger. We grew up running barefoot and have developed that strength. It prevents injuries,” Okuti said.
But he’s not a sure about the implications for runners who didn’t grow up that way.
“People who didn’t grow up barefoot and then start- there is the science and what it says and there is what happens when people try to put it into practice,” Okuti said.
Okuti suggested that people don’t go into it gradually enough and that’s when injuries occur, such as the Vibram FiveFingers shoe problem.
Well, shod or not, the 26.2 miles and five boroughs of the New York City Marathon are quickly approaching for Okuti and the other local runners.
Here’s wishing you all an enjoyable day of exciting running.
We met at the Bakery, on what turned out to be his birthday- Happy Birthday!, and talked about running, the Gunks, and motivation.
Okuti runs twice a day, every day, averaging 120-125 miles per week. His favorite place to train is the on carriage trails at the Mohonk Preserve and Minnewaska State Park.
“It’s gorgeous and quiet. There is varied terrain,” Okuti said. “The roads around here are narrow and fully trafficked. The trails are soft and don’t beat your legs up so much, it helps with recovery”.
Okuti, born in Arua, Uganda, moved to New Paltz, from NYC in 2010.
“I don’t like city life. It’s overwhelming. I don’t like that energy,” Okuti said.
Coach Mike Barnow, who also coaches the Friday night track workouts for the Shawangunk Runners Club and the Westchester Track Club, guides Okuti when necessary.
Barnow suggests specific workouts and over all training. Barnow’s coaching to Okuti for marathon running is not to overdo it, but rather to under do it, according to Okuti.
“Conditions at New York are normally not favorable,” Okuti said. “It’s windy and cold”. So Barnow tells him to be conservative and not to go out at a suicide pace. Start out at a 5:12 pace and then kick it up.
Okuti feels that he is better prepared this year than the past two years. Sunday will be his third NYC Marathon.
He doesn’t have a specific, concrete goal, he explained.
“I’m just going to go and do my best and have fun,” Okuti said. “I see people going to the bathroom 5 times in 15 minute before the race because they are so nervous. They’ve already beaten themselves in their minds”.
At this point Okuti tried to convince me I should run New York.
“It’s exciting. It’s the best running someone from around NYC can do, all the runners and all the people who come out to see. It’s a feeling I can’t describe”.
The conversation then veered off to winter training as we commiserated about the difficulty find places to run in the dead of winter.
Okuti runs up Lenape Lane in the winter as so many Gunks runners do.
While Lenape is plowed most of the winter Okuti finds it challenging with the hill and sometimes icy footing. Springtown Road and Huguenot Street are other go-to spots in the months that trails are too snow covered for running.
Finding the motivation to run in the winter is always a trial, and it turns out it doesn’t matter if you’re a professional runner.
“It’s that 3 second time of getting up and dressed and shoes on, then it’s OK,” Okuti said.
And that brought up the question of barefoot running.
“Barefoot running makes feet so much stronger. We grew up running barefoot and have developed that strength. It prevents injuries,” Okuti said.
But he’s not a sure about the implications for runners who didn’t grow up that way.
“People who didn’t grow up barefoot and then start- there is the science and what it says and there is what happens when people try to put it into practice,” Okuti said.
Okuti suggested that people don’t go into it gradually enough and that’s when injuries occur, such as the Vibram FiveFingers shoe problem.
Well, shod or not, the 26.2 miles and five boroughs of the New York City Marathon are quickly approaching for Okuti and the other local runners.
Here’s wishing you all an enjoyable day of exciting running.
