July 2009 – BEYOND DEFEAT

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG Time	AG %
M31	33	167	151	22	24:15	6:03	24:08	69.8 %

The day before the Run for Central Park 4 miler was our annual Rolex Fishing Trip in Pt. Pleasant, NJ. I took Ahern as my guest. It was a great day, although we could have maybe caught more fish. Ahern and I, dedicated to seafood, decided we would ‘buy’ our catch at a local market on 1st Avenue and still have a feast.

Robin was taking a nap when we got back and by the time she woke up we had steamed clam, peel-and-eat shrimp, blue fish, salmon and some wine. Ahern took a nap while Robin and I watched the DVD I bought at a 7-Eleven on the way home, ‘Horton Hears a Who’ which I think is hilarious.

The only reason this relates to my run by the way is that I like to keep track of my meals the night before a race. This, in my mind, was a great way to charge up before a run.

I awoke in a great mood, it was a sunny beautiful morning. As I went to my laundromat to get my stuff I came across a huge metal gate. The laundromat was closed and wouldnt open until 9, the exact time of the race! ahhh! My running shorts were in there! My back-up plan was to wear track pants.

Arriving at my corral 10 minutes prior to the race who did i run into? Kevin Masse of course! After saying hi he simply said “Um, what’s with the pants? Its like 80 degrees?” I was now worried that this would affect my time.

Gun goes off and its on. My goal was to run as hard as I could the entire 4 miles to break 24:00.

It was all going presumably well. I was picking off people and at mile 1 and had broken free of the main bulk of the crowd. At Mile 2 it felt like the bottom part of my body was chillin in a hot tub! I was on fire. At water stations I was dumping cups on my head.

At Mile 3 I was really burning up and considered stopping and rolling up my pants all 8th Grade style but knew that would be a losing battle. I just kept going. Then, I see Kevin cruise by me! I yelled “Go Kev Go!” to which he gave the thumbs up wave. I couldnt keep up and pace him so instead I found a gal who was cooking right around my speed and trailed her. It helps to do this as you dont reduce your speed.

I actually finished and broke my own personal record clocking 24:15 which I was happy about even though I was 15 seconds behind my set goal of the day. This brings my mile average time down to 6:03. I found Kev and congratulated him, then made my way to the water area and chugged 3-4 cups. Now I remember why they do less races in July and August.

Sex/ Age	Bib	State	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M31	816	NY	355/10584	329	33	59:23	6:23	69.4 %

Where do I begin?

This weekend was to mark my second running of the fabled Boilermaker 15K in Utica, New York.

Danny, Anna, her Aunt Essie and I rode up Saturday morning making few stops and getting to Utica in nearly 4 hours. Anna’s Mom’s side of the family is from here and that night there was a decoy party for her Grandma Ruth. Sunday after the race the siblings had arranged a large surprise party at a local restaurant so we had to convince her that this night was her actual birthday party.

We were staying at the Hotel Utica which is quite a cool place. It reminds me of prohibition era NYC. (i say that like I lived that era… i did not, but I am a history buff). After checking in we had a few drinks with Uncle Josh, his wife Katherine, Sasha and Max. SIDENOTE: Anna’s family is awesome and I know a lot of them quite well. They welcome all people into their homes and it is always a pleasure spending time with them. Next, we went to Grandma Ruth’s house for a delicious meal orchestrated by Uncle Josh. As a gift I had brought Grandma Ruth Champagne Truffles from Teuscher Chocolates which I believe are the best things in the world. I think she liked them. If you ever need to bribe me for anything these would do the trick.

The following morning Anna, Danny and I awoke at roughly 6:30AM to gear up for the race. I brought my own Cafe Bustelo to brew in the room which I did. Its really the best coffee ever and a race ritual.

We all parted ways at the start and made our ways to our respective corrals. I happened to be in the orange corral. With 15 minutes to spare I was fidgeting with my ipod when all of a sudden my friend Kevin Masse appeared! We were both totally shocked that we A, were running the same race outside of NYC and B, standing next to each other in a crowd of 11,000 people. Earth gets smaller and smaller it seems. We gave each other a little fist pound as the gun sounded and we were off.

Boilermaker is a really fun time even though there are some grueling hills. The entire town comes out and they have bands and all kinds of craziness. Aside from all the chaos, there is just a totally positive vibe coursing through the air. Its awesome. I like positivity they say.

Miles 1, 2 and 3 happened rather easily. As we made our way up ‘Heartbreak Hill’ (which is a winding path up a golf coarse) I had a little acid indigestion. I attributed this to me not eating my standard banana or two pre race. Stupid Baker, very stupid. So! I started hitting the water stations like crazy. This alleviated the issue and by mile 7 I was cooking. Along the way I saw… Role Call! Uncle David, Gibby, Dave, Anna, Grandma Ruth, Bev, Uncle Stevie and a few others. My friend Raina was there at mile 8 cheering her other friends but I didnt see her.

I got in the habit, starting at mile 7 or so, of clapping at the crowd and yelling and then they would all cheer back. It really fuels you and totally rules out the possibility of me stopping to take a walk break. As we came close to the 9 mile mark I saw that I was still in contention for breaking a 60 minute 15K so I started really pushing myself. As we came down the final stretch I was flying but was in total overload. I crossed at 59:40 but would later learn my chip time was 59:23. I had done it! I broke the 60 minute mark. I had also shaved 11 minutes off my time of 1:10 from last year.

When you finish the race they corral you in to the backyard of the Saranac Brewery. What does that even mean?! It means free beer all day. Questions? Yes, we had beer starting at 9AM. Yes, it goes down easy. Yes, its hydrating. I was actually drinking a gatorade when I found Kevin. We did some high five action and then he said ‘um where is your beer?!’ Peer pressure, I tell you. After having a beer with Kevin we split to find our respective friends.

Danny and Anna came in and met me and we all did some more high fives, then got more beer. and more beer. and more beer. There are bands playing so we watched them and then found a spot on the lawn to sit. They did and F15 fly over which totally kicked ass Top Gun style. ‘Maverick!… You can be my wingman anytime.’

At around 11 we made our way to the Hotel Utica to change for Grandma Ruth’s party.

It was a fantastic surprise. There were 80-100 of her friends and family at a classy Italian restaurant. A few of the siblings made speeches and we ate some amazing italian food. It was basically a flawless good time. We all left at 4 and caught a nap back the hotel. It was so needed. We then headed over to Aunt Tracy and Quinn’s house… aka… the afterparty.

They have a litter of 5 week old boxer puppies! (if anyone wants one they have 4-5 left for sale) and they are so cute!

We stayed there til 11 or so and then went to bed as we had to drive back the following morning.

We had a quaint breakfast with Dave and Gibby at our board meeting oak table basked in morning light and then made our way back to my Rome. We will be back next year and for many years to come Im sure. Thanks to all the great hospitality we received while visiting!

Monthly Archives: July 2009

RACE REPORT: 013 Run for Central Park 4 Miles: 24:15

RACE REPORT: 012 The Boilermaker 15K: 59:23