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Bulls Head resident Issac Rivera is in the finale stages of preparation for the NYC Marathon. (Staten Island Advance/Derek Alvez)
Nearly a decade ago, Bulls Head resident Issac Rivera quit smoking and started down the path to becoming a serious long-distance runner.
Now 43, the married father of three children is in the final stages of training for the New York City Marathon. He completed the recent 13.1-mile Staten Island Half-Marathon in a personal-best time of 1:26.55 — the ninth overall finisher among Staten Island runners.
Rivera, who works for United Parcel Service in Travis, is shooting for a time close to the three-hour, 20-minute mark in order to qualify for the Boston Marathon. This will be his fourth marathon --- he ran NYC for the first time in 2007 -- and he has a more recent Ironman competition under his belt.
Rivera has agreed to chronicle the final days of his training routine and share what he expects on Sunday, Nov. 2 when the 5-foot-7, 135-pounder embarks on the 26.2-mile journey through the streets of New York City.
Here's his second installment, as recorded Thursday night:
"I take Mondays and Thursdays off as the marathon gets closer, so what I did today was mainly stretch. I just kind of make sure everything's OK, then Friday I'll go out and do five easy miles just to taper off. It's more like loosening up the gears and keeping your engine warm.
"I really didn't pay attention to stretching earlier in my running career and now I see it really does help for my workouts. Maybe just 10 minutes of hard stretching and that's it.
"There are a lot of days you go out and you're just not feeling that strong, but those are the good workouts. Those are the workouts that aren't your best or you feel like you don't want to do it ... those are the best runs. They are part of the journey and make you stronger in the long haul."
Second in a series of first-person reports.