Category Archives: All

Wanna go for a run and get free stuff too?

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Anyone want to join us for a run on Tuesday in Central Park?

Join me, Erica, Abbe and Zeev from Zensah for a lovely few miles in Central Park on Tuesday, April 24th. We’ll be meeting at the Jack Rabbit Upper West Side store at 7pm and then heading out shortly after. Jack Rabbit has graciously offered us the use of lockers so if you are coming straight from work, just head downstairs and drop off your stuff before the run.

The first 10 folks to show up will get a free pair of Zensah compression sleeves! And every person to show will be entered into a raffle for a custom engraved Erica Sara Designs race necklace.

RACE REPORT: 072 The Boston Marathon – 3:23:41 ‘Total Carnage’

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The Boston Marathon or, ‘The Invitational’, as I have so dubbed it took me 3 years to get to. 3:15, 3:13, 3:15, 3:02 (the year Boston sold out in 8 hours) 2:58 and a 3:00 were my times and the last 2 secured my spot thanks to the new application procedures. Why am I telling you this? Mainly, so non-runners understand what it means to run Boston. It’s something you earn. Runners work long and hard for the privilege to run with the best-of-the-best. I feel like my time had come and I have been very excited ever since I was accepted!

—

Abbe, Erica Sara and I hopped a train mid day Saturday. I had a few beers with me, Abbe made us sandwiches and Erica brought supplies to make friendship bracelets. We had a really fun time traveling up. The girls even taught me how to make a friendship bracelet, but I think I need some practice.

We checked into our uber fancy hotel (the Langham) and headed down to the bar to have a pre dinner cocktail. Next, we headed out to Union Oyster House for dinner. For those that don’t know me personally, I have an affinity for history and the preservation of historic landmarks. Union Oyster House is all of the above, claiming to be the oldest restaurant in America.

Erica and I had Lobsters (it was her first) and I guided her in lobster eating lessons. Abbe opted for Salmon. Also, my New England Clam Chowder was the best I have ever had and you can quote me on that.

Back at the hotel bar we met up with Maura (Deeds), Bryan; Brandon and Yo; Susan, James and Amy for some drinks. We chatted about the race and all things running. The heat warning had not been issued to their fullest extent yet.

The following morning Abbe, Erica and I went on a running jaunt around Boston. It was awesome! Following our run we hit the expo. We had a bullet list of things to do which we executed perfectly.

Zeev from Zensah wanted us to pop by. We chatted a bit and he gave us the low down on some of their newest products. SIDENOTE: He is coming to town Tuesday the 24th and organizing a run. Stay tuned, there will be free Zensah gear to the first 10 runners.

After the expo we hit the Barking Crab, another fantastic institution. Situated on the water, it has a huge outdoor covered deck and inside it looks like you might be in the Caribbean. Deeds and Bryan met us again an we chilled out eating and drinking as I needed to stay off my feet.

That night we went over to Deeds and Bryan’s house in Jamaica Plains for some home cooked food! They have such a cute place. In the middle of hanging out on their porch I got the call… it was Coach!

Our conversation was a pretty typical Coach to Student pep talk but with a shift of plans. Sonja told me a week ago that I was to race this puppy with everything I had. Sure, I’m totally game! But now, with the 89 degree heat warnings things were a little different. I have run 2 other really hot races, the NJ Marathon of 2010 and more recently Ironman Arizona which is in a desert, so I wasn’t entirely nervous to be honest. She knows I’m good at reading my body and racing smart and she said to be safe using that knowledge. My goals, I told her, were to basically run 6:45s – 6:50s (6:50 is a 3 hour marathon) and see where that takes me. Her words, which resonated, were, “Remember Chris, a bad day at the Boston Marathon is still a great day.”

Abbe made pasta with kale pesto and shrimp while Erica made a kale salad with avocado and grapefruit. I couldn’t have asked for a better pre-race dinner! Thanks gals and thanks to the Weber’s for being such superb hosts! Just when we started having fun I had to go to sleep. Stupid run.

RACE DAY

I slept really poorly. I was asleep from 10-1, then 2-4, then awake until 5:30. Awesome.

I geared up, kissed Abbe goodbye and headed out. It was 65 degrees at 6AM and so I had no extra layers. As I stepped outside it was gorgeous, perfect running weather right NOW. In my head I thought, “Holy S*&t. This is gonna be rough.”

On the (school) bus out to Hopkinton I sat next to a really excited gal named Shawna. She was way cool and had qualified with her first marathon, San Fran. I tried to ease her worries about the heat and to be honest, I was still not concerned. Play it as it’s dealt was how I was thinking. Little did I know what was in store.

The ‘base camp’ is so much cooler than New York City’s. It’s 2 giant fields and its very easy to navigate. As I entered the MC was like, “If you are just arriving, to your left is Gatorade, up ahead powerbars, further down bagels and if you need coffee come to the very very front.” I thought, “DO I need coffee? YES! I love this man.”

That’s exactly what I did (no not love that man) but head to the coffee zone. There I also found a bagel and bananas. I roved around until I found a quaint sunny spot on the blacktop. I had 1:30 hours until it was time to get into corrals so slowly I ate my bagel, banana and coffee. It was quite lovely actually. Then, I covered my body in Zinc Oxide, predicting that I was going to get scorched.

Once I was done with my breakfast I decided to roam around. On one of the fields this photographer stopped me and took my photo. Then, this girl goes and jumps in the picture with me and I’m all confused and then I realize it’s my friend Eissa! No way! She was with one of her friends and I hung with them until it was time to leave for corrals.

I also ran into my friend Dorothy Beal (we went to rival High Schools!) who happened to be walking by. Her and I chatted, both of us peppy and not too worried about the heat.

As I walked to my corral, a very long walk, for the first time I felt like I had earned my spot. It really sunk in and I got choked up thinking, “Dad if you could only see me now. I’m about to run the Boston Marathon.”

I snapped out of it pretty quick though as some guys on the sidelines had a grill offering us (in Boston accents) “Braghts! Who wans some braghts n bear!” I could only imagine the horrible consequences of eating a sausage and beer before a marathon.

Getting to Wave 1 Corral 3 was kind of like looking for your car in an airport parking lot. I just kept walking and walking following the numbers. Before going into my corral I ran into Paddy and we chatted for a bit. Next up I saw Sebastien. He and I chatted about times. Because of the heat he was going to shoot for a 2:40. “Totally man, play it safe.”

As I entered my corral I saw Susan’s pal James (who was aiming to go 2:50) and my old pal Rowland! Rowland and I have always run the New York City Marathon together. Like, 3 times but here’s the catch… we don’t know each other (well now we do) and we don’t plan it. We have ‘spot on’ the exact same pace. In NYCM last year we ran neck and neck miles 1-9 pacing each other like a force to be reckoned with. I lost him and we finished within 1 minute of each other.

Just standing in the corral I felt the power of the Boston Marathon. These people all around were hard core and they looked it. There were tons of team singlets from all over the world. It was so cool. I was also sweating and they were only just starting on the Nation Anthem, this worried me.

The gun went off and we… we didn’t go anywhere. It took me 3-4 minutes to get tot the Start and I was in Corral 3! Yes, there were that many speedsters in front of me!

As the run began it was very crowded. It stayed like this for 3 miles or so and I was dismayed wanting to surge ahead I looked at my Garmin, 6:50. I was right on target! So wild that there were so many people hitting the same pace.

Miles 1-3 were great. In fact I was rockin a steady 6:49 pace. I had been carrying a Gatorade bottle that I had filled with water and was strategically using it to pour on my head when needed. Really though, the heavy water pouring wouldn’t start til mile 6.

Since we mentioned it, lets just jump head to Mile 6 since nothing terribly exciting happened from 3-5. Mile 6 is right around the time I said something like, “This is fucking bananas.” It was in the high 80’s, no shade and zero wind. The gods were betting against us. SIDENOTE: If you haven’t seen a picture of me racing take this time to do so. I am really white. Blistering sun with no shade is my arch enemy. I had a few guys run up along side of me and say they hoped I put on sunscreen. Guys. I didn’t become pasty white overnight, I have been managing severe sunburn my whole life and I have also run a few times outside in the sun.

By now there was a little more breathing room on the course. The crowds, however, were a lot thicker than expected and were extremely loud and muting out my internal monologue.

I think Mile 9 is when the downward spiral began. I saw time slowly slipping away on my Garmin. I did a systems check… hydrated, check; energy, check; full stomach, check. It was the hot sun and steaming asphalt beating me down. This pissed me off since everything else pointed to signs of a potentially good race.

I was now pouring 2 cups of water on my head for the rest of the race at every station and drinking one. That’s a lot of cups… like 75 or something?

As I hit the Half at 1:33 I thought, “Well this isn’t the worst first half I have ever run.” But actually, I think it was. I also thought about all my friends tracking me and seeing me slowly fall to pieces wondering what was happening. I honestly thought about pulling out of the race.

Miles 13-15 also sucked bad. I ate a Gu and my time was fading even more. Should I quit? As we hit Wellesley I saw my long lost Aunt Jen! (her and my Uncle divorced when I was 12 and I haven’t seen her since.) She yelled, “Go Chris Baker!” Thanks Aunt Jen.

Mile 16 is where ‘S%$t Hit the Fan’ so to speak. My vision was blurry and I was more stumbling than running. Was I okay? Was it in my head? My feet were on fire so I started pouring water into my sneakers, a trick I learned in the Jersey Marathon. The crazy part was, once I was drenched from head-to-toe I would be bone dry 3/4 of a mile out and repeat the whole process at the next aid station. The aid stations at this point were a disaster. They were like giant traffic jams filled with drunk drivers. No one had it together, people were slogging around and weaving in total chaos and there were hundreds of cups and oranges on the ground.

I suppose it was right around now that I made the decision to carry on, no matter what. I thought about how long I had wanted to run this race, what it meant and that all I needed to do was finish. We were all in this together, so I slogged forward.

Back to the feet on fire thing. I was convinced my socks were the culprit so I pulled over between Mile 17-19, took off my sneakers and socks, then put my sneaks back on barefoot. Did it help. Yes, a lot in fact! I was running in Newtons and they have great ventilation on the top so my feet instantly felt cooler. The question is… did anyone keep my socks?

At Mile 19 some college kids has cups of some strange liquid. I ran by and one said, “Ice cold beer!” He may as well have told me I had won the lottery. It was the most delicious coldest thing I had ever tasted. So foamy and amazing, it turned my frown upside down.

There were also spectators with oranges, icy pops and ice cubes. I took all of these things all the time, especially the ice. Seriously, it was like Ironman. I was consistently thinking about what could help me. For instance, someone was handing out what I thought were cold wet paper towels to wipe off salt and grime, but they were dry towels. I immediately threw it on the ground.

So, I have to tell you about this guy that pissed me off. At this point during the race everyone was in survival mode, meaning, no one gave a damn about anyone else. Up ahead I see this spectator with a hose and a spray gun attached drenching the runners. “Hell yeah man!” I bee-lined it to the right so excited to get cooled down again and as I approached, the guy in front of me TOOK the hose from the spectator. He aimed it at his face and just blasted himself like an Irish Spring commercial. He did this for 2 minutes! I kept looking at the spectator like, “C’mon man, reclaim the hose!” Finally he did and sprayed me. I started running again and as I passed the hose hog I yelled, “Not cool AT ALL man!”

I saw Elizabeth around this point which picked up spirits!

Heartbreak Hill wasn’t so bad. It was a big long hill but I would have taken ten of them in a row if it was 50 degrees out.

Miles 20-26 I got kind of a second wind. Not like I was running at break neck speed, but I was at least holding a consistent pace. My quads were on fire but I just wanted the end to come. I broke the course up into 6, mile long segments (yeah it was that bad) and told myself to just take it one mile at a time.

At Mile 23 I saw my Uncle Curt who screamed my name. Then, I saw Kelly across the other side who cheered me on and finally Abbe, Erica Sara and Maura who I high fived! I thought about stopping to talk to them but I was worried I wouldn’t be able to start running again.

As soon as I passed them I shut everything else out of my vision. I stopped looking and listening to the crowds and just focused on maintaining my pace which was now in the 8:28 range.

The last mile was a giant wide open space and for the first time during the race I tried to enjoy the moment. I soaked up those last minutes fighting fatigue. I saw my friend Robert here and when he yelled I nearly cut off this poor fella in my excitement! The Finish came into view on the historic straight away and it took forever to get to! It was here that Susan’s friend James popped up along side of me and said hi.

Crossing the Boston Finish was the first time I ever thought of the Finish in a race to be memorable. It’s a pretty impressive Finish line and as I crossed I put my hands together in a prayer-like motion, not triumphant, but thankful to have made it.

Time: 3:23:41, my slowest marathon by 8 minutes. Am I upset at my time? Not at all. Sometimes just surviving a battle is a win.

My chest hurt as well as my legs and well, my body felt like it was in an oven. I grabbed 2 waters and emptied them on my head, instantly feeling better. As I was chatting with a group of runners all of them said the same thing, “That was my worst marathon time.” Ditto.

Since I had nothing on me I walked back to my hotel after chilling out in the family reunion area for a second. My legs needed a break and I thought the girls might have made their way over to collect me. At the Langham the concierge told me that we had checked out, but alas, my very ‘stand out’ Kompetitive Edge Team bag was easy to identify. (Big thanks to Kompetitive Edge for my awesome race outfit too! The crowds were screaming, “go Kompetitive Edge!”) The concierge emailed Abbe telling her I was there and then let me shower in the Health Spa.

Afterwards, I was hanging with the Concierge and he asked if I wanted water. “I am so sick of water. Ive been drinking it all day and soaked in it. I really want a beer.” “Well Mr. Baker, I would suggest you go down the street to the outdoor pub. We will tell Ms. Abbe when she arrives.” These guys rock.

I sat down outside on a quiet street and took in an ice cold Harpoon IPA while basking in the sun.

Abbe ran up shortly after and gave me a big hug and kiss! I think she was more excited at my finish than I was. Erica was right behind her and after some food we caught our train.

While on the train Eissa tweeted at me asking if she was on our train? Indeed! We added one more to our train party and it was such a blast!

—

What a fantastically fun weekend this was. Had it not been for the marathon part it would have been perfect! I’m kidding. I learned a lot during this marathon. Mother nature is an unstoppable force, but mainly to never give up, no matter what. On the right part of my site I have the definition (in my words) of what Beyond Defeat is all about.

“Beyond Defeat represents the will and drive to never give up, no matter what challenges you face. It is the acceptance of the challenge. All of us are Beyond Defeat, we just need to rise to the occasion. “
Many of my friends were beyond defeat today and fought through some of the worst conditions I have ever seen in a Marathon. For that, I proudly tip my hat to all of you.

Meet ‘The Morrighan’

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I would like to thank my sponsors, Kompetitive Edge, for building me one of the sickest bikes I have had the honor to ride.
Meet the Quintana Roo ‘Illicito’ or as I have named her, ‘The Morrighan’.


Why name your bike? Why name your bike ‘The Morrighan’? What does that even mean?
I name my bikes because I am superstitious and also I have something great to yell while chasing people down in a race. Seriously, I yell.

The Morrígan is a Celtic goddess of battle, strife, and sovereignty also referred to as ‘Phantom Queen’. She is the goddess who determines whether or not you walk off the field of battle, or are carried off upon your shield. People both fear her and admire her.

I have taken her out for a few rides round Central Park and it is easily the most comfortable bike I have ever ridden. It is also the fastest. It literally cuts through the air. It doesn’t even have a left seat stay!

Cobrawing Aerobars, very cozy.

No left seat stay! It’s magic!

Big ups to Ryan at Kompetitive Edge who built this bad boy for me!

 

RACE REPORT: 071 Colon Cancer Challenge 4M – 23:28

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Race Season has begun! (for me at least.) It’s officially warm enough to where I can come out of hiding.

The Colon Cancer Challenge 4 Miler (not the 15K, do I look crazy? C’mon!) is a race cause that speaks to me as my Mom is a survivor. When I was 14 she was hospitalized for 3 months and barely made it due to complications. So yeah, I run the hell out of this one.

Guess who was visiting me and my youngest brother Jeff this weekend? That’s right, momma Baker! She came in Thursday and we had been having a whirlwind tour of restaurants and landmarks. My brother picked Saturday’s dinner location and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I couldn’t eat that the night before a race.  I’m talking about Sushi people! (the food not humans made of raw fish.) I decided to just go with it and see what happened on race day. Who knows, maybe Sushi was the secret super runners pre-race food?

RACE DAY

9AM races rule. You can wake up, have like 2 cups of coffee, watch the news and part of GMA and even have a healthy breakfast!

Abbe and I left with 45 minutes to spare and did a warm up run up 5th Avenue. I even saw one of my construction worker pals by my office. His response, “What no camera today?” He knows me as ‘Photographer/Graphic Designer Baker’ not ‘Runner Baker.’ Up in the Park, we split up and took to our corrals.

After a very poor rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, like so poor I thought it was an April fool’s day joke, Cha Cha gave the word and we were off!

I kept my iPod off. I was going to switch it on at Mile 1, but I wanted to listen to myself first. I also had no Garmin.

The first 800M I spent navigating through people until I was in the single file pack, lead vehicle in my sites. I wasn’t sure how fast I was going but it felt right. Mile 1 arrived at 5:55, not good enough.

Needing some pep, I switched on the iPod and blasted forward. I was in a small group of 3 guys and we had pulled away from the others behind us by a pretty good margin. Up ahead, was the lead pack starting to spread out.

I felt pretty good and made the decision to skip the water station at Mile 2. This proved helpful as I lost a few guys and pushed ahead, suffering with thirst. The clock said 11:40 which means I had made up some time, but the West Side Rollers were ahead.

I was now running single file chasing this guy 100 feet in front of me and in turn, I was being chased by a guy 100 feet back. It was quite spread out, more than I have ever experienced in a NYRR race. Mile 3 came up fast and it read 17:50. I was losing time now and wasn’t happy about it.

My left shin had been hurting like crazy since Mile 2, and now I told myself mentally ‘This is nothing, it hurts and there is no injury. Throw down some speed.’ I was in fact able to pick it up a bit. The worst of the hills was over and I knew I just had to hang on. I could feel a presence behind me (sorry, I watched Star Wars yesterday) and knew I couldn’t let up. The guy I was chasing was well out of my grasp and at this point I was hoping that I might have a PR in sight.

Rounding the corner of 72nd to finish I saw this guy out of the corner of my eye behind me. “No way was I gonna get out sprinted.” I threw it into another gear and rocketed to the finish. As I got close my Mom, brother, sis-in-law and friend Vicki cheered me on like crazy! After the finish I stopped and shook the guy’s hand behind me and gave him props for staying on my tail like that. I also saluted the guy I had been chasing. He had beat me by 8 seconds, but it seemed like 30.

My time? 23:28, the EXACT same time I got the last time I raced this. I did, however, move up in placement to 9th overall!

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall Place Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M34 55 9 2 23:28 5:52 73.00%

I always like to describe the end of a race like this like when the Millennium Falcon comes out of Warp Speed and everything stops at once. It’s very disorienting and I have learned to come with the sudden urge to vomit by downing water and breathing exercises. Whatever works right?

I met my family up at Bethesda Fountain and we waiting for Abbe to finish. She PR’d again which means I had to buy lunch! We have a deal, who ever PR’s gets taken out by the other to celebrate.

Big ups to my Kompetitive Edge Teammates (Terry Nugent, Ryan Borger, Stephanie Stevens, Brandon Jessop, Sonja Wieck, Mark Hillers, Michelle Ford, and Jason Stoddart) this weekend for killing it too!

Big ups to all my local Runner Army peeps too, there were a ton of PR’s!

 

Imaginatively Running

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My life is a movie, or rather, I pretend I am in a movie during my life. Sometimes it’s a spy movie, sometimes it’s a comedy and frequently when I run it’s an action adventure.

Why am I telling you these personal things that could and most likely will be used to tease me at the bar after a run? To help you of course. Let’s use my mile repeats from tonight as an example. Friend’s ask, “How come your last repeat is fastest?”

Lets get scientific for a hot second. Below are the repeats.
5:53 – 6:18 – 5:54 – 6:03 – 5:49 – 5:41

To you, these may look like mile repeats, but they are actually scenes in a movie. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Scene 1 = 5:53
Opening credits are over (my warm up) and things start to heat up. I’m headed to the office, I work for special ops and am needed there fast. What could be the trouble? Is it the Russians again?

Scene 2 = 6:18
Turns out my office is at the top of Harlem Hill, go figure. At the office I learn that it’s the Albanians. They have a bomb and are gong to blow up a landmark.

Scene 3 = 5:54
I take off, in search of the Albanians. Our sources say that they are fast, and we aren’t sure if our mark is a man or a woman. I keep moving, scanning everything in front of me, looking for something fast.

Scene 4 = 6:03
It’s getting busy down on the Southwest side of Central Park, but up ahead I see a woman moving at break neck speed. Could it be our mark? I slowly reel her in and then I notice a man trailing her. I don’t want to make my move now, too many people, but this is the guy. We pass the female and play leap frog.

Scene 5 = 5:49
Who is this guy?! Who does he work for?! He looks more Irish than Albanian and I’m puzzled. Was my intel misled? As I try and box him out he realizes what’s happening. “We’re on the same team man!,” he yells. I let him come up along side and he explains the dastardly plot. The Albanians are planning to blow up the Fred Lebow statue at Engineers Gate! “Fuck that!,” I yelled. “We can’t let that happen!” Our speed picks up and he doesn’t look good. “Go on without me, I’ll be fine, just stop the Albanians from destroying Fred’s statue!”

Scene 6 = 5:41
I have 1 Mile and no time to get to Fred to stop the bombers. As I start swinging my arms I ‘rev’ up (think… the sound that the Delorean makes when Marty breaks 88 MPH) and blast ahead.

Every movie I have ever seen from ‘Top Gun’ to ‘Bullitt’ is racing through my veins. I summoned every ounce of energy I have left to rocket forward, stopping those foolish Albanians.

I pass people looking like a crazy sweaty Irishman, panting and hanging on for dear life. I see the Fred Lebow statue in the distance and as I pass him I have beaten the Albanian to the punch and saved the day. Also, that was my best mile split, U.S.A. wins and I win. ‘Win win’ I believe they say?

So… I encourage everyone to live your run in a movie, and in the last scene kill it!

The Albanians used in this story were fictional. Christopher Baker holds no bias towards Albania, Albanians or Captain Lou Albano.

 

The Galway Bay Gallop

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What do runners do on St. Patrick’s Day? We integrate beer into our running.

Maura (who is from Galway) designed a very fun and difficult race for the Rogue Runners called the Galway Bay Gallop. The race was an out and back, 4 miles total. The catch? At each turn around point you had to either take a shot of whiskey or chug a beer, 3 drinks in total. The prize purse was as follows: a bottle of Irish Whiskey, a bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream, or a delightful package of Irish smoked salmon sponsored by Galway Bay Seafoods.

The next day was the NYC Half Marathon so a lot of our friends weren’t running in the Galway Bay Gallop. Also, since I was to be cheering all day during the Half I decided to get in my 18 Miler before the race. This was a poor decision.

Abbe and I showed up at the 102 Transverse to find a group of 15 people preparing!

In order to make Rogue Runner races fun, handicaps are put in place to equalize the playing field. Maura took everyone’s 4 mile race time and set up wave starts. I got to start last with a 14 minute deficit on the leaders. This is why maybe doing an 18 miler before hand was stupid. My poor legs did not feel like running at all.

At Maura’s command the first group, led my Tracy, started chugging their beers and were off. SIDENOTE: We were all really concerned with getting pinched by the cops. I later learned that it’s only a $25 ticket and not jail time. Game on.

I think there were 9 runners total. Matt6 and I were the last to go. As he set off chasing the pack I still had to wait a couple minutes to start, a difficult task considering Matt6 is no slow poke.

With 1 minute to start I prepared my Porkslap Ale. As Maura counted down to zero I attempted to chug my Ale. I’m not much of a ‘chugger’ really, never have been, so I just drank quickly. After my tasty beverage I set of with a running fury. I immediately felt like my chest was going to explode from all the carbonation! I was run-burping along the West Side Rollers, not really enjoying myself. It was quite painful in fact, not just the beer in ma belly, but trying to trick my trashed legs to run again. Clearly, my body was like “Hey Baker, we already ran today and were super excited when it was over. What’s the deal?”

As I was running I kept looking way ahead, wondering when I would see the first group on their return trip and the impossible task of trying to catch them.

It wasn’t long. Tracy appeared about 1.5 miles into my first leg of the race. She was cooking too. We laughed and high fived.

Soon after I saw a small group trailed by Matt6. Ironically, just as I was feeling good I was arriving at the second ‘Aid’ station to drink my next drink. Abbe, Claire and Erica were awaiting and cheering me on. They had a beer prepared, but in the interest of time I yelled to them that I would do a whiskey shot instead. Abbe prepared the concoction and I downed it, chasing after the group.

In case you have never run in Central Park, the West Side Rollers are no joke. Having to do them twice was brutal. Using my blurred eyesight I was constantly scanning runners ahead of me looking for my targets. Son enough I saw 2 of the gals from the original lead group. I passed them and shouted hello, continuing my search for the leaders.

By now the booze had numbed the pain in my legs enough so that I was actually trucking along at a decent pace. I rounded the bend into the transverse and saw the group chugging their final drinks! I had come in 7th Place. Tracy had held a great pace (she even had a 2 minute PR) and won the overall race!

After all the runners were in Maura had a fantastic awards ceremony. So many fun prizes! In the interest of St. Paddy’s Day we all went out for a couple more beers to celebrate. Thanks for organizing this one Maura, it was great!

—

Congrats to all my peeps who ran in the NYC Half Mary the following day! Especially to Abbe, who rocked a 30 minute PR!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spring-a-ling

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Being a February baby, I tend to really dig winter. Snow, ice skating, and not sweating on the way to work. However, I am also an endurance athlete so I have really enjoyed the non-winter aspects of this particular winter.

Saturday I had a 3 hour trainer ride queued up, because my coach thinks it’s winter here. But guess what? The gods have been smiling down on us as of late and it was 55 degrees! You better believe I rode outside!

I blasted around Central Park and on down into the Financial District. On my way back up, zig-zagging across town and back again, making sure all my favorite places were in tact, I decided to eat some pizza. Not just any pizza, I wanted some of the best pizza NYC has to offer. I have been here 12 years and have a very specific opinion on everything, especially food related topics.

SIDENOTE: Back in the day… we used to go to Doc Holiday’s Bar every Tuesday night for ‘all u can drink beer’ for $5! Cheapest night in ol Manhattan hands down. For dinner we would go to Nino’s Pizza beforehand on Avenue A and 8th Street. Its some of the best pizza in New York and you can argue all you want with me, this is truth.

The cool thing about Nino’s Pizza and bikes is that they have a take out window! I rode right up – Drive Thru Style – to order my pizza. This older guy greets me with a smile and a “My friend! Where have you been!” It was the same guy that used to serve me my pizza years ago. I explained that drinking my face off on Tuesday’s nights doesn’t fly these days for me.We chatted while I ate my slice then I went on my merry way.

I decided to digest before continuing my ride, so I walked up to 14th. Another cool thing happened as I was walking. I had my track bike with me instead of my Tri bike as the workout didnt call for shifting of gears or brakes. Crossing the street this messenger kid with his track bike looked at me, then down at my bike. He then said, “Hey, that is a beautiful bike!” I smiled and thanked him.

The end of my day was spent walking around my new neighborhood (I’m moving in a month or two, but it’s still the same general area) with a bowl of ice cream. I strategically stayed on the sun lit sides of the street, basking in my sunny ice cream glory.

Go Saturday!

Sunday was spent doing a progression (long) run. “Oh what’s that? It sounds fun!” It’s not. It’s pain in long increasing doses.

I warmed up then started my run maintaining 7:30s. It was a beautiful day in Central Park once again. Next, 45 minutes later, I picked it up to 6:45s. Oh, now we’re having fun. Then, another 45 minutes later I picked it up again to 6:15s for 15 minutes. Get it? Progression. Yes, pain progression.

All kidding aside, I loved this workout. Boston is coming up fast and I need to be ready.

Ah New York, such a great city. I also found out today that my screen printing teacher from art college (who was awesome) is a runner and is friends with some of the Runner Army! Small world right?!

 

 

 

 

 

Did somebody say Chobani Yogurt?

Posted on by Posted in All, Fitness, Recipes 3 Comments

So I’m on Twitter the other day and a few of my running friends (who am I kidding, all of my friends on Twitter are Runners or Triathletes) were talking about how good Chobani is. Being that most of these people are female athletes I tend to ignore strange references because otherwise I accidentally enter a give-away to win a Lululemon yoga outfit or something. Today, I decided to ask, “What is this Chobani all of you are talking so highly of?” Shortly after Chobani’s twitter handle mentioned me, explaining that they make exceptional greek yogurt. I love greek yogurt. It’s like man-yogurt. A few moments after that my friend Lindsay, who works for Chobani, saw my tweet that I had never tried Chobani before. She said she had to change that.

2 weeks later a huge box of Chobani Yogurt arrived at the office! I’m a photographer so I figured I’d do a lil product shoot before I ate them…

Chobani is amazing. It has the bite of greek yogurt mixed perfectly with whatever flavor you have chosen. The 2 I have tried so far are Honey and Vanilla, both exceptional.

Aside from taste, Chobani is very healthy. It uses no artificial ingredients, gluten free, and no synthetic growth hormones. If you like greek yogurt I would highly recommend trying Chobani. (Its sold in most major markets and is everywhere in NYC!)

The New York Hot Dog Challenge

Posted on by Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 9 Comments

2.5 miles, 1 hour and 10 hot dogs are quite deserving of the word ‘challenge.’ 10 competitors set out to take the challenge and come home with the grand prize of $225.

The last few weeks before the race there was a lot of buzz going around. “Who has the best odds?” “Who is the craziest?” “Does it even matter if you are a fast runner?” We had a generous outpouring of donations to create the grand prize of $225! (Thanks to all who donated to make the race exciting and bit more rewarding for the challengers!) We also had a total of 10, that’s right 10 racers signed up to compete! This was a New York Rogue Runners race so all you need to do to race is show up on game day.

I really enjoyed all the playful trash talking between everyone as well.

Wayne’s World flashback… (waving hands)

The concept for this race was born 7-10 years ago. As I was walking with friends Mirko and Benny (I wasn’t even a runner at the time) we laughed at a crazy idea. “What if you had to run through midtown and every time you passed  hot dog cart you had to eat one!” Such a sick and twisted idea. I loved it. Little did I know, years later I would be friends with a group of athletes crazy enough to pull it off!

The rules (seemed) simple enough. Follow the course map that I was to release the night before the race (to deter cheating) and eat a hot dog at every designated cart. Finish first without puking, win the prize.

RACE DAY

We met at the Mall in Central Park, a very scenic place (and iconic for any runners) to start a race. Everyone started arriving with huge smiles on their faces, excited to see what lay in store for all of us. I too, was giddy. The race itself had never been done, so the outcome was unknown. Would anyone finish? Would there be survivors?

Once all the competitors arrived I made a few race announcements and answered any questions. I was happy to not be racing, especially since eating competitions are really not my forte. The quick decision was made for all competitors to eat their first dog together at the cart stationed close by. As soon as they were done eating, they could start running the course.

(Thanks for the pics Elyssa!)

Tao, not a runner but a proclaimed eating machine, finished his dog in record time and immediately set off with 2 refs (Laura and Laura) following close behind.

We had 7 referees (including me) to follow the runners and make sure they stayed on course, ate each dog and didn’t puke.

One by one the rest of the gang finished their dogs and set off. I ran along with the middle group at first, chatting with Jim from ‘Dad Posse’ and TJ who were both setting a speedy pace.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carts 1 and 2 were right outside the Park on adjacent corners. The leaders lined up and ordered their dogs, chowing down as soon as the exchange took place. (Lines were one of the unforeseen variables in the race) In the lead after Cart 2 was Matt 6, Neal and Tao. I was running along with the trailing group, TJ, Jim and Bojana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was notified by Abbe that Cart 3 wasn’t there (another unforeseen factor). I told her to wave runners on to Cart 4, luck was on their side… for now.

As we arrived at Cart 4 or ‘Baker’s Pass’ as I deemed it on the map because I work across the street, Matt had already taken off, Tao and Neal following shortly after. I sprinted ahead to catch up with Matt and Maria (who was reffing him) to make sure we were on course.

Arriving at Carts 5 and 6, or ‘Dead Man’s Corner’, one of the carts was missing so to Matt’s dismay we picked the next closest cart. We had to keep with the theme of ‘Dead Man’s Corner’ after all. While here, Tao and Neal caught up to Matt. Things were really getting exciting!

Tao finished first and took the lead.

The last 4 Carts were picked strategically. They were in a row on every block, cutting through Times Square, Hot Dog Cart Capital of the Free World. I dubbed this stretch ‘The Gauntlet’ and it would live up to it’s name.

I caught up to Tao at Cart 7. He proclaimed to not be a runner, but he was putting down a great pace for having 6 hot dogs floating around his belly. Just as he was finishing Matt arrived. It was going to be close. Tao took off to Cart 8 while Matt plowed through his 7th hot dog of the day. (You can’t run with the dogs, you must finish them before moving forward)

With the 3rd and 4th place runners nowhere in sight I stuck with the leaders to see how it was to play out.

Barreling into Times Square, Matt was at Cart 8 and Tao was at Cart 9 directly across the street! The 2 competitors were literally eating and watching each other.

I bolted ahead to the last Cart. I was really hoping it would be there as it was a crucial element in the race. You couldn’t see it as you approached which is why I chose it. A lot of the racers were hopeful that maybe the last Cart didn’t show up for work and they could keep running to the Finish. Incorrect.

As Tao arrived he looked less than excited to eat his 10th hot dog. Tourists nearby were watching us (as they had all day) in wonder. He wolfed the last dog down and took off, 1/2 mile separating him and victory.

Matt arrived seconds later, knowing he had a decent shot of overtaking Tao if he could just eat the hot dog fast. I took off down an alternate route to see the finish.

The Finish line was right in front of Rudy’s Bar, one of the last true dive bars left in NYC. 12 years ago it was my hangout, but why end it here on a hot dog run? Because you get served free hot dogs in the bar as long as you are ordering drinks!!!

As I arrived Tao had just finished taking the number 1 slot! He had been cooking that last stretch. Matt came in about a minute after him to take number 2! Both men were in rough shape and needed ‘a minute’.

It was at least 5 minutes before our number 3 position came into view. It was Bojana, our first female finisher!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then came Neal and TJ, neck and neck followed by Jim, Dennis and finally Bethaney!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire and Gillian both took DNF’s for the day but gave it a worthy shot!

Everyone finished in under an hour and Tao came in at roughly 40 minutes! Impressive.

All of us moved inside to Rudy’s to celebrate. We had a small awards ceremony where I presented Tao with his Medal and $225! He saluted us by chugging a beer. True story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We all stayed for awhile laughing at the whole fiasco. It was really interesting hearing everyone’s different take on the race and where it went astray.

 

It was the first race of this kind and I think it went fantastic! I had a blast following the lead racers. Congrats to everyone who participated in this difficult race and thanks to everyone for volunteering and coming out to play!

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Beer to City Bakery to Breakage

Posted on by Posted in All, Fitness, Training: Running 2 Comments

I happen to win a few bottles of the Cardiac Crusher Brewery’s Citron Hefeweizen a few weeks ago and told Joe I would give it a proper critique.

After one of my longer runs last week I sat down to enjoy one of them. To me, one of the most enjoyable things after a hard sweaty run is an ice cold beer. Such a reward. The Citron poured with a sweet aroma, similar to that of a root beer, with a reddish brown hue. It looked delicious. It certainly tasted delicious too! I was expecting a lighter hefeweizen, similar to a Hoegaarden, but it was richer in flavor. It reminded me of my favorite beer, Schneider Weisse! I would definitely drink this again and even purchase it in large quantities! Hats off to the Cardiac Crusher Brewery.

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I’m happy to say the New York Rogue Runners ‘E’s Run to City Bakery’ was a success. We had 15-20 runners assemble in Central Park and make our way down to City Bakery by way of the West Side path. It was great company and a lot of fun! (Banana Hot Chocolate? Insane delicious!) This weekend is the New York Hot Dog Challenge which I am thrilled about. If you don’t want to take the challenge, come out and spectate.

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Training has been back in full swing the ;art month and Sonja has me amping up my workouts. Little did I know that the day after Superbowl Sunday she would throw a crazy speed workout at me! (She never gives me speed workouts, what gives?)

I had to do 5×1200’s on the track at a 5:50 – 6:10 pace with a short 1/4 mile break between. I knew I was in for a hurting.

As I started the first interval I felt fast, but internally my body was like “Whaaaaaaaaat?” I thought I might just do one interval and call it quits, blaming poor eating the night before.

Then, as I finished I did my lil 1/4 Mile jog and thought, “Okay, one more.” After the second I said the same thing and it kind of went like that until I just finished up the intervals. I felt like I was dramatically slowing down each time, but I actually held the pace I was scheduled for. Sweet.
Here are my splits. You can see me starting to fade.

Lap 1 = Time 4:16 Pace 5:45
Lap 2 = Time 4:22 Pace 5:44
Lap 3 = Time 4:24 Pace 5:57
Lap 4 = Time 4:26 Pace 6:00
Lap 5 = Time 4:30 Pace 6:06

When I was done I was really happy I didn’t give up on myself. I was also not attacked my werewolves. It was a full moon and quite desolate out there by NYC standards and I kept thinking I would be attacked by were wolves right as I was getting tired and couldn’t escape.