All – Page 7 – BEYOND DEFEAT

RACE REPORT: 102 Boston Run to Remember Half Marathon – 1:22:45

Posted on May 31, 2014 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

Abs n I caught a late afternoon train on Friday, barreling due north towards Boston. I love train rides. You can bring your own food and beer, plus the odds of a crash are pretty low. There is also something timelessly romantic about train travel.

Arriving in Beantown we noted that it was a bit cooler than our weather apps had let on. This would be helpful for Sunday.

Abbe works in the food industry so she is always looking for cool places to go. She heard of this place Uni, where head chef Tony Messina set up an intimate sashimi bar.

We sat at the sashimi bar where Tony himself was at work. He had a small, but expert team, of people preparing sashimi at lightening speed and accuracy. It was great to watch.

We had the chef’s tasting menu, on his recommendation. Being a traditionalist, I have to admit that I was skeptical at first. As the first amuse arrived, a non-alcoholic tomato water martini with caper berry, my skepticism was swept away. For the rest of the night, dish after dish, I was blown away by Tony’s combinations. One of my favorites was the Smoked Uni Spoon (Sea Urchin, Maine) Quail Egg Yolk, Osetra Caviar, Chives. Without going through each of the 15 dishes I will let the photos speak for themselves. It is rare that I am totally amazed by a restaurant, but it is as if Tony has invented a new way to view food. I highly recommend stopping in.

Back at the hotel we met up with Jessica, one of Abbe’s best friends who had flown in from North Carolina for the race for some cocktails.

On Saturday we first walked to the expo, which is in the same venue as the Boston Marathon, to pick up our bibs.

Since we had all day in Boston we played tourists. We all love history and so we decided to walk the Freedom Trail. It was awesome, not only historically, but also as a great way to see the city. Some highlights were seeing Paul Revere’s home and the Old North Church. We even had lunch at the Green Dragon, a place where Paul himself hung out plotting against the British.

We lounged around Boston Common for awhile before heading to Cheers for a drink. My Dad loved that show and watched it all the time when I was a little kid, and so it was a bit nostalgic.

We decided to go chill back at the hotel until dinner. I have a hard time ‘chilling’ so I went to the hotel pool and did laps. I got in about 3/4 of a mile before my time ran out and I needed to get ready for dinner.

Our next food adventure was at Scampo in the Liberty Hotel. Italian (of course) as we had to carbo load! We once again got to meet the chef and some menu advice. The highlight of the night was mozzerella with king crab, cocktail avocado & green mustard oil. It was nuts! I choose garlic and anchovy pizza as my main and was not disappointed at all. Once again, I highly recommend stopping by Scampo if you are in Boston.

RACE DAY

Woke up quick, at about noon…

I was really up at 6AM, after a night of weird race dreams where I was late to the start. Our hotel practically overlooked the start so we had loads of time to get there. Still full from the dinner before (a great sign on race day) I housed a banana and cup of coffee and was ready to go.

Weather could not have been more perfect. 55 degrees, overcast with a light breeze.

There were no corrals at this thing so I just stood around at the front. The Boston Police had their pipes band there and they did a rendition of Amazing Grace that brought chills up my spine. Run to Remember is a tribute to all fallen police officers. I had a few friends who work for the NYPD back home and so this tribute race felt right.

The gun went off and we blasted into a speedy frenzy. I was running naked again (no watch) and so just ran at what I felt a reasonable pace. I had no expectations going into this thing. The only thing I wanted to happen was to not have a ‘bad’ race.

At mile two the clock said 12:10 which means I was going way too fast.

We were running through the historic downtown area and it was very cool passing all the monuments. Miles 2.5-4 had this crazy straightaway stretch. I just put my head down and ran. By now we were in single line race formation and spaced out around 15 feet apart.

We hooked a right and cruised over a bridge toward MIT for the 5 mile out-n-back along the river. Once over the bridge runners took a right, ran for a mile then turned around headed back toward the bridge but kept going another 1.5-2 miles to another turnaround point. At the first turnaround I was exhausted (similar to Brooklyn the week before) but saw that there were not that many runners in front of me. Cool!

As we headed back toward the bridge I got to see Abs and we gave each other a wave!

Past the bridge we ran past around 2 squad cars, all flashing their lights with the officers in front, representing all the districts on Boston Proper. I gave salutes to all.

Finally, we reached the last turn around point. It was here that somehow, someway out of nowhere a new surge of energy came my way. I started passing people with renewed zest! That’s right, I had zest! I even saw Abbe again!

The miles were ticking off quick. Soon, I was crossing Harvard Bridge back to Boston.

My nutrition was spot on too. I didn’t even have any Gu. So meaning, my meal the night before of garlic and anchovy pizza was perfect.

I rocked through the last 2 to 3 miles and it was kind of a blur. I was using my old mantra, “There is no pain, only glory” and it seemed to do the trick. I was overriding all thoughts of fatigue.

The last straight away back over the bridge is a doozy. It seems like 1/4 of a mile but it is actually closer to a mile.

I finished in 1:22:45, which was 1 second faster than the Brooklyn Half last weekend! How weird is that!

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M36	793	24	8	1:22:45	6:19	73%

I grabbed my medal and then went to watch Abs finish. While doing so I heard, “Chris?” It was a former coworker from Rolex who happened to have family running too. Small world!

Abbe, Jess and I hit the hotel to shower and prepare for lunch at the Barking Crab.

What is the Barking Crab? Only my favorite place in Boston, that’s all. Seafood meets outdoor bar meets dive bar meets beer equals fun. I housed a set of crab legs and a few beers in celebration of being 1 second faster than the weekend before. I’m kidding, I celebrate any race just because it’s a celebration of being alive.

We hopped a late afternoon train outta there back to mighty Gotham.

RACE REPORT: 101 Brooklyn Half Marathon – 1:22:46

Posted on May 18, 2014 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

I like being sporadic. I think we all need to be more sporadic. I decided last minute to pop a train down to my alma mater (MICA) and hang with my friends Alex and Will for something called Artwalk. It’s a blast. Just envision the largest art opening you can, paired with food and booze campus-wide. If you are a creative, it will inspire you tenfold.

But where was Abbe during all of these adventures?! She is in Chicago for work so she is missing out on Brooklyn/Baltimore things. I hear it’s warm there right now.

I crashed at Alex and Lisa’s and got to spend some time with my godson Jackson and his new baby brother.

Friday I departed on an early afternoon train, excited and dreading the prospect of running a half marathon the next day. The distance and race in general didn’t scare me, the logistics of getting there did!

Back on Manhattan soil, I met my cousins for happy hour instead of going home and resting. We only stayed out til 9:30. I decided at 10PM that I needed carbs, so I made some Mac-n-Cheese and not even the Kraft brand, some random bodega brand! Was it still amazingly tasty? You bet.

RACE DAY

After a horrible night’s sleep and a dream in which I showed up like an hour late to a race I decided to get this party started. Waking up for a Half Marathon at 5AM ain’t pretty, but at least it wasn’t an Ironman.

I was in a cab headed down Park Ave by 5:30. I love my neighborhood early on weekends, it’s so peaceful. It’s like the calm before the storm, that storm which is New York City.

I had a thermos of coffee that I was sipping on in the cab which in retrospect I will never do again. I was quite gassy and so I gave my driver a nice tip. “Don’t ever pick up someone wearing a race bib!” No seriously, I tipped in cash, runners are nice.

Sam rolled up on me as we neared the security gates. We were not looking forward to the security screening but it was pretty smooth. Probably like 5 times faster than getting screened at the airport.

We were supposed to meet the team (Gotham City Runners) but we were a little late. I did run into Tara, Kate and Jonathan warming up. We found Maura soon after. I also ran into my friend Patricia, running her first big race since being a mom!

I jumped in my corral and waited. We had 20 minutes to go so I just kinda spaced out for a bit.

As it got closer they moved us around this bend (that messed up a lot of people who started timing it from here) and down to the start line. I was about 50 feet back from the start and kind of thought it was close enough. I wasn’t feeling particularly competitive for some reason.

I saw my friend Alex who happened to be next to me. He and I have been running similar paces for the last 4 years and always finish close together. We chatted for a bit as the race was delayed. I told him I would be happy with a 1:25. Oh, and big ups to the National Anthem performer. He was awesome and I got goosebumps at one point. Well done.

Finally we were off.

It was a bit of a speedy cluster for the first mile going down the narrow roadway. I imagined it must have felt like this if you were Luke’s crew doing the final Death Star run. If anyone tripped up it would have been a domino effect disaster.

Photo credit: Ben Ko (thanks Ben!)

I saw a lot of friends and teammates as we looped up around Grand Army Plaza and came back down along the Park.

I was running naked (no Garmin) and so had no idea what my pace was. I love doing races like this as you tend to not focus on pace, but feel. I was feeling sluggish, or at least I felt that way. Based on the timing clocks I thought I must be running 6:30’s or something close. Not a PR day.

We entered Prospect Park after mile 3. I was still feeling heavy. The route was starting to thin out now and it was much easier to run tangents.

The one thing I don’t like about running Prospect Park is simply that I am not familiar with it. I could probably draw Central Park’s elevation profile by heart if I had to or run it blindfolded. Something about not knowing the turns messed me up.

We exited after Mile 6 and headed out onto Ocean Parkway. From here it was a straight shot down to Coney Island. It is also unshaded, so can get treacherous as the sun gets higher.

As I was cruisin down Ocean I was feeling a bit winded and was like, “Where the hell is the Mile 7 marker!” As soon as I thought about it I saw it, but no, it was Mile 8! This happens every now and again where I miss a marker and it is such a great feeling! I actually got kinda fired up and increased my speed.

I started slowing passing people and my mind and my body kind of separated from each other. My legs just went.

This race picture was a mystery to me, then I remembered seeing Dougie and running over to high five him! All caught on camera!

The miles ticked off really quickly now. At Mile 11 the clock said like 1:09 or something. Doing some quick math (something I am not good at) I thought, “Hey, I’m not doing quite as bad as I thought!”

As we neared the finish on teh boardwalk I saw my friend Alex up ahead! As I cruised up along side, with 100M to go I waved and said, “C’mon! Let’s go!” and we sprinted.

I ran a 1:22:46! I was very happy as I hadn’t run a good Half in awhile. We (Alex and I) high fived and then moved on to get water.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M36	406	246	43	1:22:46	6:20	72.43%

Then, I hear from the sidelines, “Hey Baker!” It was my friends Mandy and Gabe! They were headed out to cheer on some friends who were running. Great to see you both!

I chilled out in the parking lot outside of the finish basking in the sun barefoot for a little while.

Abbe called me and said I was a metronome. This confused me because I thought I started off bad and finished faster. She sent me my splits and sure enough I was running super consistent withing 2-3 seconds! Strange indeed.

Next up… Peggy O’Neils for the after party. Holy smokes! When I got there it was just me, Sam her boyfriend, Daniel and Leslie but within 30 minutes the place was packed!

Not only did our whole team takeover an are outside, but almost all the other local teams did as well. It was a giant runner party complete with a live cover band! Score!

Doug and Danika popped over to say hi early on. Danika ran a great race!

So many people came by it’s hard to keep straight. I hung out with Beganics and Katie, Eissa and Nick, the whole Gotham Team (and Susan) and so many more. I even found Patricio!

We all hung out for quite some time. At 11 my cousins showed up and revealed an interesting fact. They said that when they got off the train they could smell us, like all 20,000 of us, sweaty and taking over Coney Island. We just didn’t realize it because we were part of it.

At noon we went in search of Nathan’s Hot Dogs. It wasn’t hard as we were right next to Nathan’s BUT the line was insane.

Maura and I decided to leave everyone as we couldn’t handle the line. Walking to the subway she said, “Baker, you look hungry, shouldn’t we get something to eat?” Good call. We went in search of a place with no line and came up very successful. Unfortunately our friends thought we had left and so they dipped as well. Sorry Bojana, Brian and Jodi!

My cousins found us again and we hopped around Coney. I told them that it was a New Yorker’s duty to ride the Cyclone at least once if you live here. We did just that and it was just as awesome as it has been since 1927!

Back to Peggy’s for one last drink and then we headed out. We were not only celebrating the race, but Maura had PR’d so we were being extra festive.

What a day! Congrats to all my friends and teammates who ran!

RACE REPORT: 100 Run as One 4M – 24:19

Posted on May 15, 2014 by admin

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This is my 100th race! It was also my 10 year anniversary at work… spooky.

Come along, let’s take a walk back in time and see where it all started.

Back in 2007 I didn’t run. In fact, aside from running around in general like little kids do, I never really ran. I dreaded the Mile in gym class. That year a coworker of mine ran the NYC Marathon. I went and cheered her on with some other coworkers. This was my first time investigating a running race. Arriving at First Avenue a female runner pulled over, hot, sweaty and looking like she was on mile 18 of the marathon (as she was) and puked right at my feet. She shook it off and continued running. “Whoa.” I thought. The full magnitude of what was going on started to sink in for the first time and I was in awe.

The rest of my afternoon was pretty uneventful. That would be the last time that Marathon Sunday in NYC would be uneventful for me.

The next week at work the Pres had a little breakfast party for my coworker and our department. It was great. Towards the end the breakfast the President asked aloud “Who from Rolex would run it next year?” A few chuckles erupted and as his glance came my way he simply said, “Baker will do it.” I smiled and said, “Sure. I’m in.”

Just like that my destiny would be forever changed.

I put together a basic training plan and started running a few months after that.

As the following November rolled around I became very nervous. I am intrigued by this now as I rarely get nervous for races anymore now that they are so ingrained into my day-to-day. Now, I get amped.

The race was fantastic (you can read about it here if you like).

I love this photo because 1, I am wearing pants and 2, I would later become friends with the guy next to me, Jeff, an editor at Runner’s World.

I too, got my celebration breakfast hosted by the President. He would turn out to be one of my biggest fans. Before each big race he would call me and wish me luck and after the race he would invite me to the executive floor so I could fill him in on race details. He was a great guy and I ran my first Sub3 marathon for him (race report here) in 2011. He passed away suddenly in late 2010.

After many failed attempts victory was mine. I actually screamed out “Yeah!” when I finished this one.

The marathon wouldn’t be enough to quench my thirst. Small triathlons were next followed by a few Ironmans, which are my main passion these days due to their risk/reward.

Last but not least let’s talk about all of you. Almost all of you are accomplished runners, marathoners, and triathletes and I am so proud to call you friends and peers. You kick ass every weekend.

So there you have it. 100 races in and still loving it. What’s that you ask? My favorite race? Good question. Probably Ironman Arizona as it was my first full IM and it took all of me to finish.

Oh, wait, this is a race report!

I met up with the Team, the mighty Gotham City Runners (lookout for us, we will get ya) and did a quick warm up before hitting corrals. I had dreams of hitting the 6 minute mile marker like old times. This year I am back 100% injury free so everything is kind of new.

Miles 1 and 2 were pretty jammed as I was in the back of the Blue Corral at the start. As I finally pushed ahead and got some space this young tall guy (who had basketball shorts on) got mad that I passed him. All of a sudden he came from behind huffing and puffing right last me. I actually laughed out loud and in my head was like, “See you at mile 3.” Sure enough at mile 3 guess who was walking?

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M36	124	76	69	24:19	6:05	71.27%

I finished just over my 6 minute marker and was happy. I found Abs who was also running and we shot home before heading out to meet a lot of the Runner Army for some celebratory drinks. Good times.

RACE REPORT: 099 The Reston Marathon – 3:09:51 – 2nd Overall

Posted on April 1, 2014 by admin

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I always thought it would be cool, never participating in any athletics growing up, to one day return to my hometown and race. Kind of a strange twist… I left town an artist to return as an athlete.

We hopped the train to DC Friday afternoon bags filled with beer, wine and Clif Bars. Survival is key. Arriving at my Bonus-Mom’s house everyone was ready to start scarfing pizza (they had already started on beer). I didn’t grow up here, my step-brothers did, but have spent the last 10-12 years calling it home. Role call: Christine, Ryan, Maggie, Jeff, Phil, Naomi, Cayden, Owen, me and Abs. There was much race talk as it was Ryan’s first Half Marathon. I also got to see my nephew Cayden and Owens’ awesome cheer squad sign that they had made!

Taper madness – pulling Cayden up and down the halls.

The next day Ryan, Abbe and I did a shakeout run down to the High School to pick up our bibs. One of the beautiful things about this race was that it was less than a mile from the house. It was raining and 55 degrees. It actually felt really good out and we tried to be positive for our race the next day insisting Bruce would be up there looking out for us. Dad also had a sense of humor so maybe we should have foreseen what was in store…

We met some really cool people at bib pickup. We were informed that we could drive right up to the high school and park in the lots the next morning. Score! We also found out that 15 minutes before the race they would march us out to the Start. Basically, that meant we could hop in the car 20-25 minutes before gun time which in turn meant more sleeping and coffee time.

After a quick shower we hit the Old Brogue in Great Falls for some hearty grub.

That night everyone came back over (including cousins Kelly and Ben) while Abbe prepared a pasta feast for us. Sauteed red and green peppers, tomatoes and shrimp mixed into pasta in a most harmonious way. It was perfect. SIDENOTE: After a bit of trial and error I make sure that pasta and shrimp are in all of my pre-race meals for optimum performance.

We were all in bed by 10. Not bad.

RACE DAY

Having to wake up at 6AM for a race rocks as that’s when I naturally wake up daily. Abbe had her alarm set to the tune of ‘Happy’ which in turn made me happy. We rocked some coffee, prepared some oatmeal and discussed the looming storm we were about to race in. Basically, it was going to rain (it hadn’t stopped from the day before) and turn colder by say Noon. It was also closer to 35 degrees, much different from Saturday’s 55 degrees.

SIDENOTE: In 2010 I came down to race a local triathlon. My Father, then sick with Lymphoma, had never seen me race and I thought it would be a fun opportunity. On race day the weather was almost identical. He and I stood out in the garage looking out at the rain and I bailed. My Father would never get to see me race unfortunately.

Today, on this shitty day, I was going to race in my hometown and I was going to go hard.

We headed out, trying to stay positive. It was coming down pretty hard and I kept telling us that the worst is about to be over. Liar!

We arrived at the High School and within 2 minutes of being inside they lined Marathoners up to head to the Start. Perfect timing! We bid Ryan farewell and made our way.

I was wearing shorts, 2 thin layers plus my trusty windbreaker that got me through the Connemarathon last year. I was cold but knew once I got going my body would regulate itself. They had a guy sing the National Anthem and he had us sing along to stay warm. The wind was ripping through us and we all huddled together and tried our best. I was just wishing for that start gun so I could get going. I kissed Abbe goodbye as the gun went off. We were in the very back so I had some navigational work to do. (It was a 2 loop course, 1 loop for the Half Marathoners who were starting 30 minutes after us.)

As we got out onto the main road it widened a bit and I found a good pace. I was running naked (no Garmin) AND there were no clocks on the course so I was really going Jedi-style. The next left we took put us straight into the wind and it really sucked. I had a visor on which makes all the difference in a rain storm. I don’t know how far back I was to the leaders, I just pressed forward. If I had to guess I would say we were running 7’s. My legs definitely didn’t feel as great as they dd the day before but that could also be nerves getting to me.

Passing mile 3, we were in single file race formation. I seriously had no idea what my time was and I kind of liked it.

Right before mile 4 I saw the family cheering us on! I gave a wave and then made my way down onto one of the legs on paved trails. These would prove to make the course a lot more difficult than I had expected. They were in hilly ravines with small rivers (from the 36 hours of rain) flowing over them.

We popped out onto streets for the next few miles and I was relieved. Some guy also yelled to me that he thought I was in 6th Place. Overall? What? I was now running with 2 other guys (the only guys in sight) and would continue with them the next 20 miles, leapfrogging.

The aid stations were awesome. Every 2 miles you had water, Gatorade, Gu, oranges, bananas, cookies, pop-tarts and so forth. Essentially, you didn’t have to carry anything on you. Big ups to all the volunteers who were hanging out in the downpours all day too!

Mile 8 was a small out-and-back. As I hit the turn-around I realized one of the guys in our little 3 man run squad was Lam! He and I gave a wave to each other and continued on. We also got a glimpse of the leader and he was crushing it. No way any of us were catching this guy. He had a 3-4 minute lead (and gaining) at mile 8…

By now the temperature had dropped a bit and the wind was picking up. I was soaked (and had been since mile 1). My upper body was pretty warm but my hands and feet were pretty frozen. This was the first race I had zero knee pain though, so I was so happy to be out in the soup running! Thanks Dr. Levine!

We jumped back into some trails for the next few miles and all I could think of (since there were also markers for the second loop) was ‘Holy cow, are you kidding me! The final miles are up and down these brutal little hills?!’ My legs were already deteriorating and I could hardly imagine what they were going to be like the next time around. I did see a rather large deer staring at me at one point though which was kind of cool. He wasn’t manning an aid station or anything, just doing deer stuff.

I was now in 4th Place with Tall Guy, as we shall call him, and Lam trailing close. I knew that with 13 more miles to go any outcome was still possible. As we hit the halfway marker Tall Guy turned on the juice hard, very negative-split pre-meditated. I just chuckled to myself, not because he was doing it wrong, but because I could not follow.

Nearing mile 15 Lam started to pull up towards me. We chatted for a minute as I told him how I grew up here and my house was right up the street. This also made me wonder why I shouldn’t just run home and right onto the shower. Lam also alerted me that we were running 7 flats. Cool, I’ll take it. I was back in 5th Place now. I started to wonder how long I could keep this thing going.

Back on the first set of trails I pushed positive thoughts into my head. ‘One step at a time. One mile at a time. Just keep those legs running.’ Although the rain wasn’t quite a downpour anymore it was quickly getting colder.

As mile 18 approached my calf muscles felt like they were going to pop out of my legs and run away. Ew. Seriously, they hurt a lot. I just plugged along. I was on the heels of Tall Guy but Lam was slowly putting some distance between us. I was still waving and saying ‘hi’ to all the volunteers. They were pretty awesome.

At mile 20 as we dipped back down into the hard set of trails I started mentally psyching myself up. “Just one loop of Central Park is left, that’s all.” I was also thinking about ‘The Wall’ people hit and I decided it’s a bad way to describe it. I think it should be called, ‘When Everything Sucks and Will Continue to Suck Until you Stop Running.’

Somewhere around here I stepped in mud crossing onto a street and almost lost my shoe! Hot tamales!

At this point me and Tall Guy were leapfrogging quite a bit. I had no intention of trying to outrun him, our paces started to become erratic. I started to feel better at say mile 22. It was here that I had my first (and only) Gu. It was also at this point I passed Tall Guy and just kept going.

Up and down all these damn hills, left then right, through the woods. I wanted to walk so very bad. We were now lapping slower Half Marathoners. My mind wandered, thinking of my Dad and how were he alive how very excited he would be at this hometown race. He would be so jazzed to see not only me, but his step-son Ryan and daughter-to-be Abbe running this thing as a family. It helped put some power into my steps.

As I cleared the final hill and made my way up onto the road with 2 miles to go I set it the fuck off. “The pain you feel is only in your mind.”

I was so excited to be so close. I was also now in 4th Place and as long as I held off Tall Guy it was mine. I have never placed in a full marathon before so 4th sounded great. I passed mile 25 still flying as I noticed up ahead this fit guy in a green top and black pants. “Is that the 2nd Place guy?” (Now 3rd as Lam had passed him.) He was making attempts to run but stopped. I passed him, nodded and gave him a peace sign.

Entering the finish chute everyone kept yelling to me that I was 3rd Place! I was ecstatic, but needed to finish before I died. Just before I was to take a left onto the High School track I saw Lam running ‘at’ me. Totally confused I just waved at him and made my way onto the track ahead of him. The rain was really coming down now and there were very few cheerers towards the Finish. My family, however, was there in full effect. I could hear them before I could see them. My brother Phil was holding his son Cayden and ran down the fence line with me towards the end. I looked at the clock and with the seconds counting down to 3:10 (my Boston Qualifier) I sped up as to secure it.

Final Time: 3:09:51

After collecting my hardware I got some high fives from everyone and was then instructed that we need to go inside to the High School cafeteria because that’s where everyone was hanging out. My Bonus Mom also told me Abs DNF’d because of her IT Band and I got concerned.

It turns out the overall winner beat me by 25 minutes or so! He came in at 2:44:xx and was none other than ultrarunner Michael Wardian.

The cafeteria was great. They had pizza, sodas, coffee you name it! I found our table and gave Ryan a high five for finishing his first Half Marathon! Then, I hugged and chatted with Abbe making sure she was okay. We all hung out Family Style, taking pics and getting warm waiting for the awards ceremony. I chatted with Lam briefly and it he took a wrong turn towards the end, which is why I passed him. Once they did the overall marathoners we took off. We had an after party to go to at the house complete with burgers and dogs by Phil and potato and cucumber salad by Maggie.

My main man (nephew) Cayden, who assures me he will be faster than me one day. Dig it!

Ryan, Abs and I made it back first and Abs made us Manhattans. We had a bit of a sentimental toast, talking of Dad and what it meant for us to run this (without getting too teary eyed) and then hit the much needed showers.

Once everyone arrived the food and drinks came out. Our friends Amber and Jason also came by with their 1 year old son Erik. Erik and my nephew Owen were born 2 days apart so they kinda got along, in a no talking kinda way.

The afterparty sadly ended way too soon. Abs and I had a train to catch back to NYC and so we needed to head out.

As Jason and Amber drove us into DC at 2PM (thanks for the ride guys, seriously) it was snowing! Like, heavy stick to the ground snowing. We made our train and ended the weekend with a peaceful ride up to Gotham.

—

I would recommend this race to anyone looking for an amazing ‘home grown’ race with a challenging course. The organizers and volunteers rock and there is loads of pizza at the finish! C’mon!

Big ups to my step-brother Ryan who has proven he is ‘beyond defeat’ in running his first Half Marathon.

Abs, I will see you in Paris for your redemption race.

Spotty Training

Posted on March 28, 2014 by admin

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It’s race week baby!

With a marathon looming 2 days in my future, one usually reflects on the training they have put in.

Winter training sucks, especially this winter, but I did manage a few 18 milers. I have also been cross training a lot, using my bike trainer. All of this has been spotty though due to a lot of vacations, most of which took us to snowy places where running long wasn’t possible.

Like any race, the question of being physically prepared is generally overshadowed by mental preparedness. I am mentally ready to run my first race being 100% injury free in over a year. I know I raced last year and was on the mend, but I always had some minor pain after or during. I am currently back to normal and I have been loving it.

Maybe it’s because I was in Montana shredding some serious mountain a few weeks ago?

Look at all that fresh stinky POWDER!

I will not be running with a Garmin. I will not be running with any expectations. I will just run fast.

Anyone want to guess my finish time?

Save the Heidelberg

Posted on February 27, 2014 by admin

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The 2nd Avenue Subway line has been under construction (in modern times) for the last 4 years now. Any of you who have wandered 2nd Avenue or live up there as I do, know it has crippled or closed many businesses from 96th Street to 63rd Street. Unfortunately, there is not much we can do about the construction and we have to endure it another 2-4 years. What we can do however, is support some of the businesses, (and I don’t mean 16 Handles.)

Photo Credit: Kevin Walsh

Save the Heidelberg!

Most of you know I am a huge follower of history, especially New York City history. Mix that with my love of the ‘Mom and Pop’ shop or small businesses that New York is known for and I can get fired up.

The Upper East Side area of Yorkville was a huge German enclave, and therefore many German businesses and restaurants flourished. The Heidelberg is one of the last remaining remnants of this German past. It has been around since 1936 and serves traditional German fare along with a great selection of German beers.

Jeremiah Moss (who has a historic blog I follow) has some excerpts on his site:

“Business has been down 40% since the construction started,” said a waiter. “If we didn’t own the building, we’d be gone by now. People drive by and they can’t see us. They call all the time and ask if we’re closed. We just have to hold out a few more years. I hope we can make it.”

Heidelberg is really special. I will be heading there every Sunday for some of there amazing Camembert (along with a few Warsteiners or Dinkelacker). The atmosphere is really fun and the staff could not be more welcoming.

So please Upper East Siders, New Yorkers and out-of-towners, go to the Heidelberg. Save the Heidelberg, all it takes is a few of us with some hungry appetites.

The 2014 New York City Hot Dog Challenge

Posted on February 21, 2014 by admin

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How do you celebrate your birthday? I like to have a bunch of my crazy friends run 3 miles while eating hot dogs.

I started my day with an 18 mile run withe the team (Gotham City Runners). It was cold, but manageable. We had a pretty good turn out, most of whom were just in for a 10-12 mile jaunt. I needed to get some more miles in due to my upcoming early spring marathon.

Coming up the west side and entering the Park, snow started to fall. It was actually quite beautiful and I happen to love running while it’s snowing out as long as I’m not trudging through 2 feet of the stuff. Guess who we passed a few times? Ryan Hall.

I finished my 18 miles then booked it over to the apartment to get cleaned up for the New York Hot Dog Challenge.

Abbe went to do recon on the hot dog carts as we were worried the snow was going to deter a few from coming out. She called me later on as I was enroute, and just like snails after a rain storm, all the hot dog carts had come out to play! Game on.

We had a small turnout this year based on weather, but there was still $360 bucks to be won.

I explained the rules to a few newcomers and then the ‘start dog’ was saluted and they began eating.

First done and off running was Neal! Kevin, Juan and Matt6 followed shortly after. Cat, the only female competitor to show, had all the time in the world so she relished the moment. Ha, get it.

As I chased after the leaders ( I was to be lead ref) I realized that running 18 miles then chasing seasoned runners and Ironmen at breakneck pace was maybe a bad idea.

AT cart 2, on 59th and 5th Avenue it was anyone’s game. Juan finished slightly ahead and took off to cart 3, a block away. I was with him. As soon as he got his dog KB and Matt6 sprinted up, ordering their dogs. Juan seemed to know that this was his moment to make a move and he did.

He finished as they were maybe half way through and took off at a sub 6 pace down 5th. It looked like something out of a crime movie with the 2 of us running after each other, especially since I was wearing jeans and a black jacket.

At cart 4 Elizabeth caught up to us. She then sped ahead to the next area, ‘Dead Man’s Corner’ notorious for stopping competitors. As Juan and I followed I saw no sign of the others.

While at cart 5 and 6, it was amazing to watch Juan in action. He wasn’t talking and very focused. He also had a very interesting technique, which I will not share as that would be giving away trade secrets.

Once again, as we took off I saw no sign of any competitors.

Down at 6th Avenue and 46th Street he was about to enter ‘The Gauntlet.’ It was a straight shot to the finish from 6th Ave to 8th Ave that included 4 hot dogs, no easy feat.

When we hit 7th Ave (cart 8) Abbe caught up and so did Matt6! I got really excited at the thought of a photo finish, a first in New York Hot Dog Challenge races.

Juan wasn’t having it though and he set off to cart 9 with a fury. All the competitors were slowing down now.

Just as Juan was finishing dog 9 Matt6 came running up. It was going to depend on that 10th dog for sure. We took off to the final cart.

Once again, as Juan was finishing Matt6 arrived and began to eat.

Juan finished and we blasted down 46th Street towards Rudy’s.

As we arrived Juan high-fived the pig and felt the sting of Hot Dog Challenger glory. Matt6 came up around 2 minutes behind taking second place. Both had course PR’s with Juan’s breaking the course record by 3 minutes! KB came up shortly after noting that he had DNFd at dog 5.

We hung out for awhile outside, then poured into Rudy’s to celebrate and await Neal and Cat.

Neal, with his blue wig and Hawaiian shirt popped in about ten minutes or so after we had been in the bar. We were now following Cat’s progress and she had just finished the 10th dog and was on the homestretch. We went out to power arch her, but she came in and said in dismay, “I puked!” She still gets an A in my book, but rules are rules and she did not qualify for the female finisher prize, meaning Juan took home all $360!

Juan, being the good sportsman he is, did give Cat an undisclosed amount of the prize money.

We all stayed at Rudy’s until 5PM celebrating as the snow came down.

Thanks for everyone who came out to compete AND our volunteer refs AND all of our sponsors, especially Gotham City Runners! This is no easy race.

Why Aren’t You Training

Posted on January 30, 2014 by admin

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Sometimes it’s really hard to wake up and get a training session in. Sometimes it’s really hard to get a training session in at night. Just to clarify, if you run, bike or swim to race (singularly or in triathlon) you are not working out, you are training. You are part of a militia, a ‘Runner Army’ or a breed of killer athletes setting the streets on fire. This is your life.

Any of you who know me or follow me know that I had the worst season (since my start in 2008) I have ever had last year due to a mysterious knee problem. Granted, I ran a few marathons and had a triathlon now and again but I did not complete my 3rd Ironman as I could not start it. Mentally, it took me down.

After seeing the amazing Dr. Levine and months of trial and error on what caused my knee issue I have finally been cured. It is as if I have been reborn. I now bound up stairs two at a time as I used to. I love when crosswalks are going to change and I can run across the street pain free. To quote the not-so-with-it band of the late 80’s ‘Cinderella’… ‘You don’t Know What You Got til it’s Gone.’

So tomorrow, when you wake up, or get out of work and are like “Man, I don’t really want to train. I’ll be fine. There is always tomorrow.” imagine if you couldn’t run. Imagine if something you took so matter-of-factly was gone.

Go. Be. Do what you love to do, even though it might be arctic outside. Embrace the pain, love the sweat and feed the hunger. No matter what speed you run, or what caliber athlete you think you are, you are one of us. Go out there and kill it, because you can.

* This post is dedicated to all my peeps (you know who you are) who can’t train due to more serious issues. I know you’ll be back, and so do you. Battle Stations.

Thursday Night at the Races

Posted on January 30, 2014 by admin

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NYRR hosts track meets during the winter months here in NYC. I went up to run with the Team (Gotham City Runners) this past Thursday, fearing for my life as I haven’t done track work since… oh maybe September?

We had a great turnout, especially since it was so cold it was actually chilly in the Armory, something I have never experienced. It’s normally steamy hot in there, and kinda stinky.

The night’s line-up was as follows…

– 1 Mile Mens- 1 Mile Womens
– 800 M Mens
– 800 M Womens
– 1 Mile 2 Person Relay

I signed up for the 800 M and the 1 Mile Relay with my friend Doug as partner.

It was a long night, but very fun. Generally speaking there were 8-9 heats per men’s race and 4 heats per women’s race so there was a lot to watch! Gotham City Runners were doing great! Lesley, Lauren, Alina, Kate, Alexandra, and Maura were holdin it down! In the men’s races we had Josh, Daniel, Stark, Doug and myself puttin down some speed as well.

While watching everyone race I spent time taking pics and hanging with Lily and Dexter.

Everyone kept telling me that the air was dry and wonky in the Armory. I didn’t know what they were talking about until I hit my 800 M. Doug and I set it off taking the lead. I felt great on lap 1 and 2, then I started fading. The fade wasn’t leg pain, it was my lungs in blistering pain. Doug took lead and I just hung on. As we rounded lap 4 some guy came outta nowhere running Mach 2 and blasted past me! There was nothing I could do, but Doug held onto 1st Place. Nice.

As partners on the 1 Mile Mens’ Relay we decided to break it up into 400s. Doug set it off pretty hard. After the hand off I blasted into the circuit following a Front Runner pretty tight. Doug’s second lap was fast but he looked like he was in pain and therefore I was about to experience said pain. I grabbed the baton and my legs were like ‘Whaaaaaaaa…t?’ I tried to maintain some semblance of pace but I may have looked like a baby giraffe just learning to walk. We finished in 04:46.88.

After the show we hit Coogan’s (of course, that’s what you do when at the Armory) and had a few celebratory brews.

Great night Team!

The 2014 Whiskeython

Posted on January 22, 2014 by admin

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The 2014 Whiskeython took place last Sunday. “Whiskeython? Whoa, what’s that?!” Put simply… 2 laps of the lower loop in which the winner takes home a bottle of booze. For all you non-runners, 2 laps of the lower loop is just over 3 miles.

The race is put on by the infamous New York Rogue Runners. These folks put on crazy races throughout the NYC area (normally on the ‘off season’ so more runners attend). The races are free and they welcome anyone and everyone to attend, regardless of athletic ability.

Abbe and I showed up at the 72nd Street Transverse with about 30 minutes to spare. It was quite cold out and I was jealous that I had decided not to run as it would clearly be a warmer option then cheering.

Soon, people started approaching and putting on the specially made bibs, sans timing chip. The group of (now 30 plus) were very excited. A lot of my good friends popped out to run the race too (Doug, Danika and Eissa to name a few). Some race announcements were made regarding the course and a few future races like the New York Hot Dog Challenge and Galway Bay Gallop. The New York Rogue Runners also thanked TimeoutNY and Blood, Sweat and Cheers for featuring the race in their publications. Our friend Claire had volunteered to help guide runners at the bottom of the loop so she set off for that location. Everyone lined up and then set it off, it was anyone’s game as far as I was concerned.

As lap one came to a close it was a guy named Eric followed 30 seconds by Doug and Ryan. The women’s race was very exciting as Mia was followed by Eissa by a were 5 paces! All other contestants were gunning it, running their own races and doing very well.

As lap two ended Eric had pulled ahead of teh guys by a minute or two, securing his win. Doug, followed by Ryan trailed behind him. They were running between 6 to 7 minute miles and hauling.

As the women came around Mia was in front of Eissa in almost the exact same position as the first lap! Both women are experienced runners and both women had punched it in the end, cancelling out a reversal.

Once all our runners had come in there was an awards ceremony in which the male (Eric) was awarded a bottle of Dewar’s and the female (Mia) was awarded a bottle of Copper Fox.

After the awards we all headed to Dive 75 on the Upper West where we celebrated the race. It was great seeing a bunch of strangers all come together, mingling and chatting about the race. Mia even opened her prized whiskey and was pouring people samples! I made quite a few new friends who I’m sure I will see at future New York Rogue Runner events.

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