Running – Page 4 – BEYOND DEFEAT

RACE REPORT: 121 NYC Marathon – 3:12:40

Posted on November 7, 2015 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

I don’t really know what kind of logic was pulsing through my brain when I signed up to run the New York City Marathon 3 weeks after Ironman Louisville.

I was trained for an Ironman, but not for a marathon. “Baker, I am confused. Don’t you run a marathon in an Ironman?” Correct. I was trained for an Ironman marathon, slow and steady. My legs had not hit my preferred running speeds for months, so I had no idea what to expect. I was just going to run this race for fun and enjoy my town, my friends, and the epic block party it throws.

Our friends Katie and Jordan were in town along with Abbe’s parents Dave and Linda. The days leading up to the race were filled with fun food related events! The night before the race we chose to eat at Felice 83, a spot Abbe and I love.

RACE DAY

We got an extra hour of sleep and it felt so good! Abbe, Katie, Dougie and I caught a cab and headed to 79th and 1st. There, we picked up Jeff (my brother) and Jim (from Dad Posse) and broke into two cabs, barreling down the FDR enroute to the ferry. I ran (ha) into Meghan and Stephanie in the massive crowds waiting to board the ship.

The ferry to the bus to the staging grounds was executed flawlessly. Jeff and I said goodbye to our friends as they were in the Blue Corrals and we were in Green.

The waiting around that occurs before the NYCM was not terrible at all this year as the weather was great. It was 60 degrees… so maybe not so great for running as that is pushing the hot threshold.

I jumped into the front corral and said goodbye to Jeff who was only 3 corrals back from me. Surprisingly, in a massive international field, I was able to find a friend. My pal Evan was chilling out in the same corral! As we waited to enter we saw a bunch of the GCR crew rollin as well. I also ran into Patricia and then finally my buddy Rowland. Such a small world this running community is!

The cannon went off and then, with much applause, we started our run.

With no watch and no goal other than to ‘have fun’ my race was relaxed. Evan decided to hang with me and we pretty much hammed it up for the first half of the race. We were singing songs to each other and yelling things like “Don’t you ever leave me!” when we lost each other at aid stations.

I am going to try and name off everyone who yelled my name cheering. If I missed you feel free to chime in, it was a blur out there!

Betsy was up first, screaming at us like a pro! Then we saw Sam who caught some great pics of Evan and I. Noah was somewhere around Mile 6 I think.

The bands were amazing this year! I was really digging the tunes an jamming out when I could.

My legs felt good but not fresh by any means. As Evan and I ran we chatted about what he wanted to run on his second marathon. He had run a 3:27 in NJ earlier in the year and just wanted to PR. I asked him what his BQ time would be and he said a 3:05. I nodded my head, “What pace are we hitting?” He laughed as we had just hit a 6:55. We needed to dial it down a bit so I slowed up. I knew I didn’t have a sub3 in me and I didn’t want Even to blow up and ruin his race.

As we entered the Fort Greene section of the race we had reigned our pace in to a 7:15 average which was perfect. The next couple miles were a blur as we were barraged with cheering spectators. Amy was there with her friend Tara cheering away! I also caught Jess in there somewhere too as she yelled out a “Go Baker!”

I think at Mile 11 or 12 the 3:05 pace group was right around us and Even looked at me with this huge smile on his face, “Baker, I think I can hang with the 3:05 group! Should I do it?!” He was totally capable at this point and I yelled “Yea man! Do it, go go go!” And with that Evan and the 3:05 group slowly moved out of sight.

We hit the nasty Pulaski Bridge, the halfway mark, and the clocks said 1:32. My quads were really hurting bad, the kind of bad that should happen at mile 20. As we made the left into Queens I saw Stephan, Amanda and Vivian cheering followed by Danika, Eric and his brother and finally Brianna! The mighty Queensboro Bridge was fast approaching, a breaking point for many including me.

As we turned into the darkness I became overwhelmed with emotion. I was headed home.

I had no Garmin to keep track of my pace (which is a total game changer) so I just plodded along with my head down taking in the skyline every so often. There were people walking and stretching at the apex. As we approached the bottom of the bridge, just like years past, you could hear the roar of the crowds below like deafening white noise. I once again got choked up, excited for my fellow runners next to me, most of them from other countries. I looked around at all of us while smiling, probably appearing a bit insane, thinking aloud ‘Welcome to mighty Manhattan.’

The guy in front of me from Sweden really got the crowds going as he ran by, pumping his hands in the air. I just smiled and ran. First Avenue was a madhouse as usual with crowds 5 deep on either side cheering their faces off. I took a Gel here and a big gulp of water and from streets 70-80 I wasn’t feeling too hot and my race finish got questionable. I just kept going, thinking about Ironman Louisville’s course which was an out-n-back and comparing it to this course. ‘We just have an out-n-back. Make it to the Bronx, turn around and come right down Manhattan’s backbone to the finish. Do it.’

I saw Dave, Linda, Jordan, Ali, Rachel, Josh, Morgan and many others. It is always hard to keep count on First Avenue. As I approached 96th Street still not feeling great I saw Maura! She was fighting with crowds to get visible. She was holding a banana and screaming “Baker! Do you want a banana?! Take the banana Baker!!!” And so I did, and it saved my race perhaps. I had a few bites and it immediately soothed my stomach and gave me a nice boost. I carried it and ate it all the way through Mile 24. Thanks Maura. I would later find out she was carrying around like 25 bananas, so I am sure she was thrilled when I took one off of her!

For the first time in the 5 times I have run this race the Bronx rocked. The DJs were killing it with old school Rap and R&B (a personal favorite). There was also a group banging on these giant drums. It was way cool. We hit the last bridge back into Manhattan and I was feeling pretty good. My legs were on fire, but my head was in the game.

At aid stations 22 and 23 I stopped to stretch out my legs for a few seconds, which added some pep to my step. I saw Farrah, Brian and a whole crew of GCR crew cheering along the final miles! Just get to the Park, get to your backyard and bring it on home.

Making that turn at Engineer’s Gate was such a happy moment. I was now on home turf with 2 miles to go. The Park has never been so beautiful during the NYCM in my opinion. It radiated gold and red from all the trees changing colors. I gave the Cat on top of Cat Hill a little kiss and wave as I passed by, paying my respects.

When you make the right turn on to Central Park South, you have like 3/4s of a mile to go, but that stretch always seems to take forever! It is also a slight uphill which certainly doesn’t help. As we approached Columbus Circle, ready to turn back into the Park for the home stretch I saw Rowland. He was in real bad shape and told me he was cramping bad. I asked if he was okay or needed help and he said no, telling me to go ahead and finish. “I will see you at the Finish.” I yelled, barreling forward.

Rowland and I having a chat.

I tried to get the crowds in the grandstands going as I approached, waving my hands, but it was very calm. I finished in 3:12:40, not my fastest and not my slowest… right in the middle. After getting my medal and bag-o-food I caught up with Rowland and some of the guys I know. Rowland was smiling now, not happy with his race but physically okay. We all talked about how hot it was out there.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M37	3025	1700	299	3:12:40	7:21	68%

It had turned into a beautiful day. After grabbing my NYCM Poncho I headed north to the 86th Street crosstown bus so it could whisk me through the Park and over to our after party on the east side. I was the only runner on the bus as we sat and waited for the light to turn, then another marathoner entered. It was my brother Jeff! What are the odds? He had a run a 3 minute PR of 3:23! Nice work bro.

At The District these two gals were finishing lunch in our reserved section. “No biggie at all,” Jeff and I told our bartender. Then, one of the gals pops up and gives me a big hug! It was my friend Danielle who used to bar tend at Hurricanes on Fire Island (now she tends at Schooners)! Her boyfriend happened to be running the race as well.

Slowly our runners and friends started to trickle in. Ali, Rachel, Josh, Morgan and a few others were already there. Then, my neighbor Karen, Dougie, Danika, Dave, Linda, Abbe… Susan and Eric, Kelly, Claire, Thomas, Maura… Farrah, Brian, Justine, Mike… Jim (who had Citibiked from the Finish to The District!)… Cat, Gillian, John, Alamar… Katie, Jordan… and finally Bojana and Brian who had just gotten engaged! I feel like I am forgetting about a dozen people.

The night ended with some epic tacos at El Paso.

—

Running isn’t always about making a great time or a huge PR. Running is a unique opportunity to bring people from all over the world, from different occupations and varying ages and abilities together.

This race closes out the 2015 race season for me. It was one hell of a year, thanks to all of my running and triathlon friends who helped me along the way, making it epic.

Big ups to Evan who did in fact run a 3:05 with the pace group! Another high five goes to my youngest brother Jeff who rocked a surprising PR of 3:23 out there in his second marathon. Jeff, ‘one and done?’

See you in Boston. Battle Stations!

RACE REPORT: 115 Brooklyn Half Marathon – 1:22:04

Posted on May 20, 2015 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

The title of my story shall be “It’s a Family Affair” for a number of reasons, mainly that 7 of my family members were running the race. There were also countless others running, not related to my blood line, that I would consider family.

The night before the race was quiet and calculated. Abbe made a delicious pasta that incorporated shrimp, a key requisite for my pre race fueling.

RACE DAY

Abbe woke up at 4:30, but I opted for another 30 minutes of slumber. I only needed 30 minutes flat to drink some coffee, dress and depart. We left at 5:30, caught a cab and picked up my brother Jeff a few minutes away before heading to the borough known as Brooklyn, or as I often think ‘Breuckelen’ the original town in the Netherlands it is named for. We were right on time.

We arrived at Grand Army Plaza around 6:10 and had 30 minutes to get to our corrals, piece of cake.

Security was a breeze and we soon met up with Dougie and Danika followed by Josh, Allison, Randi and Amy of Gotham City Runner fame. We all soon departed for corrals as the start time neared.

Josh, Leslie, Sam, Evan, Riley and I were all kind of intermingling and waiting for the gun to go off. We would all finish the race within a few minutes of each other, something I hadn’t experienced in a race before.

As the gun went off the six of us (plus many more runners) took off with Evan in the lead. We had a little bit of fun banter the first mile or two, but it soon tapered off as we all individually began to focus.

I had broken the course up into three parts…

Sector I: 5K straightaways at the start

Sector II: 5K Prospect Park (hilly)

Sector III: 10K Ocean Parkway straightaway to Coney

I hit the first part in 6:12, 6:09 and 5:57.

As we entered Sector II, Prospect Park as some would call it, we were more or less in single file race formation hitting the tangents. I still felt great but felt as if I could have pushed it more. I think being specifically trained for a marathon and not a half marathon slowed me down ever so slightly. Evan was out of sight by now and Josh was 20 seconds in the distance plugging along at a similar pace. As a team we looked pretty legit, especially with our new singlets.

Leslie and I in step, synchronized running is a thing.

The miles in Prospect Park were run in 6:17, 6:26, 6:23, 5:58. Now it was time for the ever boring Ocean Parkway straightaway.

As we exited the park I saw Aunt Margie cruising into the park and we gave a shout to each other. What are the odds of that happening!?

Thanks Ben Ko for the photos!

Still feeling good I knew that I had to hold it together for the last 10K and keep the pace steady. I grabbed a Gu at mile 8 and unfortunately got some kind of bullshit Orange flavor. I like Gu’s flavored like candy… Espresso Love, Vanilla Bean, Salted Caramel, Chocolate anything, not fruit flavors. I guess it helped.

Leslie was passing me now and I yelled over, “Go get Josh!” to which she responded, “Yea it’s been pissing me off, I’m going to catch him dammit.” Josh and Leslie are husband and wife for those of you curious about the household rivalry.

8, 9 and 10 were hit at 6:12, 6:20 and 6:21. I wasn’t on pace to PR, but it was looking like a good race in general.

At Mile 11 I saw Josh stretching and yelled if he was okay. He was having some glute issues but jumped back in behind me, determined. I thought I could help, “I will pull Josh along to the finish.” Whether that’s what he was thinking I have no idea, but we were making steady ground together and were passing many people. I felt like we were two fighter planes.

Josh and I headed to victory.

I saw my coworker Melissa at mile 12 cheering (her brother was running) and she snapped a few good pics of us.

GCR bitches. Move over.

We powered into the finish where I saw my sister-in-law Ali cheering, and finished in a 1:22:04.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M37	202	237	27	1:22:04	6:16	73.49%

Evan, Josh and I all met up right at the end and had finished in a two minute span, Evan taking the team win. The skies looked ominous so I headed right to Peggy O’Neils, the after party location, to take shelter. Once there I grabbed one of the few picnic tables available and waited for the gang to roll in.

The Brooklyn Half may be a boring course, but it makes up for it with the best after party in NYC. At Peggy O’Neils all of the local teams gather and start drinking immediately. There are open barbeque pits and a live band, not to mention the local NYC running family holding it down. I saw all of my friends there and we all melded into one giant running community no matter what team affiliation.

You know how we do.

One-by-one my family members and my team members streamed in, needing beer and in some rare cases water. My Aunt Margie, Charla, cousins Tommy, Phyllis, Gillian, and Cat, brother Jeff and my wife Abbe (friends Dougie and Danika) all finished in pretty amazing times! The Gotham City Runner crew also all finished with some pretty sick times. What else can you do after that but celebrate your accomplishments.

As the day wore on we got very hungry. There is this place Dougie and I go to down on Brighton Beach after open water swims (my athletes take note) where we get awesome Russian food. We decided to head there. After some solid nourishment our camp deiced it best to head back to mighty Manhattan.

—

It really makes me proud to say that a large number of my family ran this race. I have been bragging about all of them to anyone that asks me about the Brooklyn Half. I respect each and every one of you for your accomplishment. I wouldn’t choose any other family but ours if I had a choice.

Speaking of family, I am also so proud to be a part of the Gotham City Runners AND the larger NYC running community. I have so many friends on so many teams and you are all ridiculously great. The Runner Army is real.

To my athletes who ran this race (you know who you are), you killed it. You are all limitless.

RACE REPORT: 114 NJ Half Marathon – 1:43:25

Posted on May 17, 2015 by admin

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Why run a Half Marathon 2 weeks after Paris? Because the ‘Dad Posse’ and I do it as a tradition, that’s why. Spoiler alert: Ed couldn’t make it.

Jim and I set off from mighty Manhattan on Saturday afternoon. The weather was perfect.

We met Mike (and his son Kevin, who is also quite an athlete) at the Expo before heading to Val’s in Rumson for some post race nutrients. This place was awesome. Old school family restaurant… you know, the kind of place where you get a starter salad automatically with your main entreé.

The rest of the night was spent in Mike’s backyard drinking a few beers in front of the fire pit. Perfection.

RACE DAY

Mike’s wife Kara dropped us off a few blocks from the start. It was a bit chilly, but would warm up during the race no doubt.

I met Abbe and my cousin Gillian at the start (they were spectating) to say hello. Then, I ran into Aunt Margie, Charla, and Lindsey who were all running. Aunt Margie was doing the full, so she had her game face on.

In my corral I of course ran into my teammates. We were all chatting about goal times when someone asked me mine. “I have no goal, just here to run.” Hearing that, my friend Hannah asked if I would pace her. She was running the full and needed to hold 8’s. I told her no problem.

The gun went off and the team surged.

We saw Abbe and Gillian at Mile 2 and they looked very puzzled as they had no idea I was pacing Hannah.

We were nailing our splits. 7:55’s to 8 flat the whole time. I was having a good time pushing Hannah and helping her where I could. I was trying to hit the tangents as precisely as possible so I was instructing her as to when to move left or right.

At mile 11 we picked up Kate who would pace Hannah the rest of the way through her full marathon. I hung with them until the half marathon turn off, wishing them well.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M37	4451	327	38	1:43:25	8:01	61.00%

After the finish we headed over to a tiki bar that was 200M before the finish line. It was a perfect place to watch all our friends come through. There were a number of Gotham City Runners hanging with us as well.

Mike and Kara had us over for a quick bbq before we all headed back towards the city. It was a great weekend! Thanks to the Farley’s for hosting!

Big ups to my Aunt Margie who rocked a 4:19 marathon!

Training for Paris

Posted on April 29, 2015 by admin

Posted in All, Running 3 Comments

No, this post is not about how to eat enough cheese and foie gras to prepare you for a trip to France.

People have been asking me about my training going into Paris, so this is a brief overview of what I focused on. Before we do that though, I think it is important to discuss what I did for training in the past because I made some dramatic changes.

For the past 11 marathons (not triathlons) my training was as follows:

Tuesday: Speedwork
Thursday: Tempo run
Sunday: Long run

Did it work? Yes. I love the science aspect of sports though and thought it would be interesting to freak it and do something radically different.

I decided to run 6 days a week and focus on volume. I would stop swimming and biking altogether and become a focused ‘runner.’ The schedule I built was a modified Higdon plan.

Monday: 4 Miles
Tuesday: 5-6 Miles
Wednesday: 4 Miles
Thursday: 4 Miles

The Monday through Thursday miles increase every 4 weeks peaking at 6 and 10 miles.

Friday: Off

Saturday: 6 miles at race pace (6:25 per mile)
Sunday: 14 miles

The weekend runs increase to 13 race pace miles and 20 miles on Sunday. These runs were crucial and very challenging. At times my long runs felt grueling right from mile one, but that is the purpose. ‘Running on tired legs’ simulates the feeling one has at miles 18-26 of the marathon.

My weekly mileage peaked at say 50-55 miles per week, which was 5 lower than my goal. I had to hit 3 twenty mile runs but was only able to make it to 18 on all of them. Previously, my weekly training mileage peaked at say 25 miles, so it was a big difference.

I was also very consistent. There were days in which it was -10 degrees or raining, but I still got out there and followed the plan.

Another thing I stopped doing was weight training. I wanted to strip down and embrace the body type of a runner. What does that mean? By focusing on one sport entirely, I wanted my body to adapt and evolve into a runners body naturally. I lost maybe 4-5 pounds, but became more streamlined.

My nutrition stayed more or less the same. I eat pretty healthy year round, so I didn’t have to make too many changes. I drink a veggie shake every morning and eat a high carb meal before heavy training days or races.

Staying injury free is very important as well. Something I try and instill in my athletes is to foam roll and stretch after workouts and every morning if possible. I paid a few visits to the good Dr. Levine as well for ART and Graston sessions.

That pretty much sums up my strategy for the Paris Marathon. I wanted a new PR and so I pushed myself further than I ever had in training. Will I use the same training techniques for New York this year? Certainly.

If anyone has any further questions feel free to email me.

RACE REPORT: 113 Paris Marathon – 2:51:37

Posted on April 19, 2015 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 8 Comments

Our adventure begins on a jet plane headed to France. Abbe had always wanted to run the Paris Marathon and I had never been to France (of course I like to run as well) so we entered the lottery and both got in. I’d like to tell you ‘I know a guy’ and that’s how we both got in, but it was just fate.

I really enjoy overnight flights as I imagine myself living back when air travel was glamorous. I savor my meal, drink my red wine and wonder what adventures lay in store. Once the meal is over I take a sleeping pill and voila, minutes later I awake at my destination. People often misread the warning label on modern sleeping pills. It says don’t drink wine while taking them, but what it really means is don’t drink ‘too much’ wine.

We arrived at our hotel on Avenue Marceau the next morning at 10. We dropped our bags off and then hit the streets.

Spring in Paris is pretty magical. Avenue Marceau is lined with beautiful trees blossoming with white flowers. We picked a place just down the block on the corner to sit outside and have some lunch. Abbe’s folks Linda and Dave joined us, they were staying just down the block and were part of our cheer squad.

After eating Abbe and I ventured into the Paris Metro in search of the marathon expo. I was immediately impressed by the Metro. Keep in mind, as a 15 year resident of New York City, I question everything that is not New York City. Trains were coming every 2 minutes, were not crowded and it was clean and calm. What was this strange land? We even transferred 3 times flawlessly. I felt at home, immersed in the Paris infrastructure.

The race expo rivaled that of the New York City Marathon. It was massive and it seemed every running company was representing. As I got my bib the older man handing it to me said in an accent, “You came all the way from America to run!? Bon Chance!” I nodded with a smile and realized I was mirroring the experience I normally have in New York as I marvel at all the out of town runners.

Abbe and I secretly hoped we would run into one of our Runner Army friends at the expo but alas, we were far from home and saw no one familiar. We headed out and back into the metro, embracing the 70 degree weather we were experiencing.

Once we showered and unpacked we made our way to the hotel lobby we had a drink and waited for Maura. That’s right, Maura from NYC (and Ireland), Gotham City Runner and a dear friend was popping over from her stay in Ireland to cheer us on. She arrived just past 5 and was ready to go have some fun in Paris.

We set out towards Georges V (or as I like to say Jorge Sank) and landed at this fantastic pizza place. It wasn’t NYC pizza (of course, who would even hope to find that outside of the city) but a brick oven version that rocked. After dinner we kind of bar hopped around the neighborhood (we were by the Arc de Triomphe).

SIDENOTE: One of the things I picked up on and love about Paris over NYC is that all of the outdoor seating faces outward. Imagine an entire corner bar with seats and tables looking out, as if the streets themselves were putting on a show.

The next morning Abbe, Maura and I set off down the Seine for our 2 mile shakeout run.

It was a blast and we saw many runners doing the same. My legs felt pretty good but they didn’t feel fast by any means. My mind wandered and wondered if I could pull off this PR attempt. We popped into a cafe for a quick breakfast… double espresso and a croissant, something I would repeat every day from here on out. Something I would come to love dearly. So simple, so delicious and so perfect.

Our goal for the day was to stay off our feet if possible. We met the Lewis’s and hit the Metro, making our way toward Ile de la Cité (City Island). We ate at another fantastic place that was definitely not suited for the vegetarian crowd. There were giant spits of chicken and pig in the front, and yet there was a clean and modern ascetic to the place. Bravo.

Walking along the Seine and into City Island was breathtaking. It really is a beautiful city. Not sure if any of you know this, but I went to Art School? I was an Art History minor and seeing Notre Dame in person was horrifying (as I relived all the papers and tests) and superb, looking up at the many facets and sculptures adorning it.

Big ups to Professor Joe Basile. Throughout this trip I thought of your wisdom and how it still resonated. From all of the architecture to basically everything in the Louvre information and historic facts poured through my head and I thought… “JOE!” Thanks for being a great professor and friend.

We hopped on one of the Seine boat tours soon after so we could get off our feet. We toured the many bridges that crossed the Seine, each one quite different in design and time period. Pont Alexandre (a crowd favorite) is probably mine as well. We also cruised past the shining star of Paris, the Eiffel Tower. Did you know that until it was built in 1889 the Great Pyramids were the tallest human made structure in the world?

After our tour we needed a refreshment. We saw in the distance one of at the few irish pubs that Paris houses ironically named ‘Galway Irish Pub.’

You see, Maura is from Galway specifically and knows everyone who lives or lived there. Seriously, we went there with her in 2013 to run the Connemarathon and she’s like the Mayor. Unfortunately, the person who founded this pub passed away many years ago so we didn’t get a name. It was indeed a great pub though!

As dinner approached we headed back in the direction of our hotel. We needed some carbs and the restaurant across from Dave and Linda’s place, Cafe Ceasar had been around forever. It was jam packed with runners fueling up for the night! We had to come back in an hour so… we had a drink across the street. I am a sucker for a European Heineken on draft, it’s so much better. When we returned we all had a fantastic meal. I chose the penne with bolognese sauce and was thoroughly full and quite happy.

We three went back to our hotel to rest up. My mind was at ease. Everything I had done up to this point was a perfect execution of my plan. 3-4 months of solid 6 days a week running. No triathlon cross training. Don’t do anything stupid; i.e.: rollerblading, random soccer game, break dancing on a whim. Eat tons of carbs the two weeks leading into the race. Get good sleep. All I had to do was race the race and unleash my legs, which were dying for some speed. Sweet dreams my dear runner friends…

RACE DAY

We awoke to a beautiful sunny 45 degree Spring morning. I felt great and had some oatmeal and an espresso. My start was at 8:47, two minutes after the Pros. At 8 sharp I gave Abs a kiss, said goodbye to Maura and did a quick warm up over to the start, which was strategically a few blocks away.

Exiting the hotel into the streets of Paris, I was emotionally overwhelmed for the first time in a long time before the start of a race. The gorgeously perfect weather, amazing architecture and more importantly everything I had been so focused and deliberate on the last 4 months was coming to a climax. The marathon (or an Ironman for that matter) is like going into battle. You never know what lay in store for you on the battlefield, all you can do is prepare, and I was prepared.

It was so well organized and very easy to find and enter my corral. I saw from the bibs that I was a long way from home, no USA tags to be found and yet, these were my people… runners. Looking around at everyone we all had the same look in our eyes, nodding quietly saying in whatever language was spoken, “Good luck out there, kill it.”

The sun was poking it’s head up over the buildings and I thought, ‘This thing is gonna get hot.’

My wave went off without a hitch and we set of barreling down the Champs Elysees. The sun was reflecting off the pavement and the obelisk of the Place de la Concorde cut through the morning sky off in the distance, guiding us like a compass. My legs felt free, hitting a 6:15 pace effortlessly.

My goal pace was a 6:25 – putting me across the finish line in 2:50. “Baker, but you seem to be going too fast?” True, but everyone is different. I normally fall to pieces during miles 21-24 no matter what kind of pacing I attempt. Therefore, I ‘bank time’ in the beginning. Most runners are opposed to the banking time strategy, but it works for me.

Back to the show! And a show it was as I knew my friend and fellow athlete Dougie was tracking me in NYC at 4AM while he was on his trainer ride. I thought to myself, ‘Dougie is tracking me so let’s give him a good race to watch.’ This also helped keep me motivated, knowing that Dougie would most likely start yelling at his laptop were my pace to falter.

Running along side of the Louvre was way cool. It was a long dark passageway. We were on the Rue de Rivoli, a street with a lot of shopping, which also had lots of cheer squads. As the miles ticked off easily I was hitting 6:17, 6:21 and 6:17. I saw Dave in the crowds as it’s very easy to hear your English speaking cheerers amongst a sea of Frenchmen. One of the words I would hear one thousand times during the race was ‘Allez’ which means ‘Go’ in French.

On Cheering: It was surreal and refreshing to not understand most of what people were screaming at you during the race. All you knew was that people were in the act of cheering and not saying things that might upset you like, “You look great.” “Last uphill.” “Come on you can do it.” “Almost there.” which are most likely false statements. Here in France I just zoned out and pretended they were saying anything I wanted them too. To me ‘Allez’ became ‘Tacos.’

I broke the race up into 4 parts… we were now going from Part 1 (city to Park A) to Part 2 (Park A) and were at mile 6. I was excited to see what these big parks flanking Paris were all about. My pace was still right around 6:17 or so. Perfect. I was also trying to have some fun and enjoy my surroundings, something that many of my friends told me to do. The Park, Boise du Vienesse, was very pretty but I really didn’t get to spend too much time seeing all of it. All I knew is that we went from city streets to wooded streets.

At mile 7.5 I saw this beacon of neon orange. It was Maura, exactly where she said she would be in her 2014 Boston Marathon jacket. I ran over and gave her a high five. It rocked to see her.

The next few miles were uneventful as I just held on to my pace, running through sunlit park streets. It was hot now, approaching 10 o’clock and I knew as we exited back into the city it would get rough. Section 2 of 4 was now complete. Section 3 was all city, then entering the final Section 4 which was the Park on the opposite end of town. Allez!

Something happened at mile 11-12 that almost ended my day. I was running hard in flying V formation with 3 guys, I was in draft position in back. We were running down hill and I couldn’t see the street too well. Just then a speed bump came along and I jammed my front leg into it stumbling forward and causing a lot of panic amongst my fellow runners. I corrected my form and everyone nodded, knowing we had just missed a ‘domino effect’ disaster. I admittedly dialed it down a touch right there as my heart was racing.

I hit the half at 1:22 and smiled knowing that I was having the race of my life (thus far) but that dark moments certainly lay ahead.

We cruised around a crazy crowded Bastille before making our way onto and along the Seine. At this point someone yelled in a french accent “Yea, go Gotham City, go Batman!” I threw my hand up in typical fashion laughing at the same time. Batman… Gotham City has so many other notable landmarks and cultural institutions but I guess ‘Go Metropolitan Museum of Art sounds dumb.’

On music: The bands in the Paris Marathon trumped the NYC Marathon ten-fold. No contest in fact. Every mile there were these pseudo marching bands playing rock songs with heavy, heavy tribal drums. No band lacked a good horn section either. It was very inspiring and the volume was at the perfect level as well. Sometimes in NYC it’s so freaking loud it knocks you around.

Miles 12-18 are run along the southern edge of the Seine and there is no shade aside from some car tunnels you run through. We were passing all the notable landmarks and it was quite breathtaking. I tried to enjoy it, although the now piecing pain in my quads made it tough. Paris, I now realized, was not a flat course and had some major downhills that I was now feeling. I was still holding a 6:20 pace but didn’t think so at the time.

At mile 19 we started making our way into Boise de Boulogne, the final Section of the course, which would also be most challenging. My legs were on complete fire now and my mind started wandering into dark places, wanting me to quit or stop running. I knew this moment would come, the real battle of the race, and did my best to fight on. My Dad’s birthday was the next day and I knew he was watching me from where ever he might be. I used him as inspiration and kept my feet going. ‘There is no pain, only glory.’ I welcomed uphills at every turn!

Mile by mile was how I was going to get this thing done. Miles 19-21 were 6:34, 6:41, 6:35… I was slowing up and fighting to stay with it, especially with the heat. I lost 2 minutes at Miles 22 and 23 as I stopped to stretch my quads. It helped a lot doing so, and got me from mile to mile. I also knew at this point that my 2:50 goal was out the window and started getting pretty down on myself. I even thought about walking the rest of the race.

I was having problems with reading my watch, trying to figure out what my time was when a race clock came by. It said 2:40:xx and I had just over 2 miles to go. “What?” I thought. I could do this. I could pull it together and get this shit done and maybe, just maybe get close.

I picked it up even though my legs were in crazy pain (good pain, not someone injured tweaked pain) calves feeling like they were going to pop out of my body. I hit a sub 7 for mile 25. One to go.

The blinding hot sun was beating down on me. I was pouring water all over my body and directly onto my calves to numb them, which had been working!

7 flat for mile 26.

I turned a corner to finish, the Arc dead ahead, and was ecstatic to see a 2:53 on the clock (I started 2 minutes after keep in mind so that meant 2:51 for me.) I had PR’d by 3 minutes and was just shy of my 2:50 goal! I started laughing out loud and let out a “Fuck.” Paris almost killed me.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M37	3263	432	254	2:51:37	6:32	72.00%

I wandered toward the Arc and our hotel. I few of the locals congratulated me. The sun was out and I was walking barefoot in a park just next to the finish, it felt fantastic.

I found Linda and Dave back at the hotel. We had become friendly with all the staff and my friend Camille came over to congratulate me. “Fantastic Chris! Sit down, do you want something?” “Thanks Camille, yes a beer and a sandwich please.”

We sat outside as I relayed the race info to my in-laws. We became concerned though as Dave saw Abbe at the Half and she wasn’t having a good time. Evidently it can be a very crowed race (54,000 runners) the further back you start.

Thankfully though, we found her. She had PR’d as well and broken 4 hours! It was time to celebrate.

Dave, Linda, Abbe Maura and I went out on the town. First to a cute spot right down the block (Le Grand Corona) where we sat outside having booze. Then, we had a fantastic french meal at Chez Andre. We finished the night at the hotel bar, happy as clams.

—

Big ups to all the runners who ran Paris, it was a tough day out there. Congrats to my wife who nailed a sub 4 with a huge PR! Congrats to my fellow teammate Hannah who also PR’d.

Thanks to Maura, Linda and Dave who were our super star Cheer Squad!

This race is evidence to me that if you are dedicated, focus on the training without making excuses (like, this winter was crazy rough) you can pull off an epic race. Someone who inspired me to train hard and stick with it no matter what is my friend Claire. She trained her ass of this Fall and wrecked the Chicago Marathon with a huge PR and a BQ. Thanks for the push my friend.

Running the streets of Paris was something I won’t soon forget. Thanks Paris.

RACE REPORT: 112 Rock n Roll DC Half – 1:26:35

Posted on March 20, 2015 by admin

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As the 3 o’clock hour approached at work, I changed out of my suit and into civilian attire. I bounded down into the subway heading toward Penn and blending in with the masses already commuting home.

Abbe and I met at our normal spot, the ‘Secret Place to Wait for the Train’ that we had discovered a few years ago. We were both very exited to get out of Manhattan for the weekend… our mini-vacation. Our train was called, we boarded and then departed right on schedule. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and a movie while we quietly cut through the afternoon landscape.

The D.C. Metro has quite a few flaws, one of them is that in order to exit a metro station you need to re-enter the metro card you originally used in the turnstile. If for some reason you do not have enough money on the card, you cannot leave. You are trapped in the subterranean abyss forever, roaming aimlessly station to station. Or, in my case, fueled with anger you hop the turnstile like a (smooth) criminal.

Once we surfaced, our hosts for the weekend Amanda and Alex met us and lead us to dinner at Lavagna. The race was the following morning so we fueled with pasta and of course, red wine. This race fit in snugly to our Paris Marathon training plans. We were to run the race at marathon goal pace and not ‘race’ it per se. This meant that we were mentally a bit more relaxed. Once I found out that Alex was also a ‘watch guy’ we proceeded to highjack the conversation splitting the table in two. All of us were in bed around 11, dreaming of a rainy, windy race morning.

RACE DAY

I decided to wake up with 15 minutes to spare (before we had to leave for the race). Abs and Amanda had been up for an hour already having breakfast, which I opted out of. I sipped some much needed coffee before Abbe and I headed out for our 2 mile warm up to the Start. It was 40 degrees and rainy but we were unfazed.

Nearing the Capitol and feeling slightly goofy I got into my commentator voice and started with, “We find ourselves in the Nation’s capital, home to freedom and the American way. Where bills become…” “Chris, not now!” from an Abbe who was not feeling my improv. Our timing was actually perfect. We jumped into our corrals and immediately started the race! I would later find out that although it looked like I was in corral 1, they had already released two corrals so this was technically corral 3. A minor setback.

The first few miles were spent navigating through runners and trying to get my pace up to 6:25. At the only out-and-back on the course, which happened to be mile 3 I finally hit my pace mark. I also saw Abs on the other side and gave a shout.

Miles 4 to 6 are spent in Rock Creek Park. It was wooded and quite a nice place to run. We wouldn’t notice it until the Finish, but by now we were soaked through from the rain. There happens to be only one really nasty hill on this course. It is at mile 6 as you are leaving Rock Creek Park, it’s a doozy. The reason it poses such a challenge is due to the fact that for the first 5.5 miles you are running on flat terrain then, out of nowhere from around a bend, you hit this hill like it’s a wall. The beauty of it all was that there were posters of fallen military along with people lining the entire hill holding giant American flags. They were on the course at times, so if you were hugging the turns tight (as I was) you ran through the flags. It was touching and very epic.

Back on the streets of our Nation’s capital, I kept plodding along at a 6:30ish pace. My legs were starting to feel the miles. One of my mantras is, “Just give it all you’ve got on this day.” I tried to hold true to the statement and just started clicking miles off one-by-one.

Passing by Mile 11 I got to see Amanda and Alex cheering. It was raining pretty hard by now and those last 2 miles couldn’t come soon enough.

I finished in 1:26:35 with a 6:37 pace. Or did I?

I was slightly off from my projected 6:25, but I was satisfied.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M37	1279	154	21	1:26:35	6:37	70.02%

Standing in the middle of a large uncovered parking lot my body temperature dropped rapidly. I went from a sweaty “Wow I just ran a great race, boy am I thirsty.” to “Get me the hell out of here and into a hot bath.” Looking out across the barren wasteland of a parking lot, I could make out off in the distance a glimmer of hope. Was it a mirage? Am I seeing things? I walked toward the light and as I got closer my instincts had proven correct, it was indeed a covered beer tent.

I took shelter and honestly really didn’t want a beer, mainly because my hands were numb. Not long after after my arrival Abbe showed up, also cold and wet. As soon as Amanda, Alex, Jason, Amber and Erik showed up we bolted out of there making our way to the Metro.

After showering we all headed to lunch for some much needed refueling. Later that day we went to Gregor and Jenny’s place (neighbors) as they were having a St. Patrick’s Day party! Gregor made one of the best Bloody Mary’s I had ever had, and I am picky. That night we all met back up and went out to eat. We were celebrating the race, but also the fact that Jason was now officially a Doctor! Our friends Jordan (another Doctor) and Katie (who PR’d in the race) along with Bradley and Christin also joined in. Drink of choice for the evening… Old Fashioned(s).

It was a helluva day for sure. Big thanks to our hosts Amanda and Alex!

In conclusion I submit this Runner’s Anecdote.

Sunday morning while having coffee Abbe decided to check the race results to see if perhaps I had won my age group. Personally, I thought there was no way based on my time and the volume of runners (15,000). A round of excitement and laughter erupted from Abbe’s side of the room. “Honey, it says here that you ran a 1:10 and came in 7th overall!” I started to question my Garmin. We all started trying to figure out how this could have happened. There were no other Christopher Bakers (obviously), no other Bib Number mix ups and there wasn’t even someone who ran my supposed 1:26:35 time in place of me. Did I run a 1:10? I mean, you get to a point in a run where your mind is on another plane…

In the meantime why not post the results to social media, right? What is wrong with the image below showing my final splits?

Not only did I run a fantastic Olympic level Half Marathon, I also shattered the world record for the mile three miles in a row in my last split. Go me!

After writing a letter to the race organizers, they adjusted my time to reflect that on my Garmin so that the true 7th Place winner can bask in their glory. No trophy this time Baker…

RACE REPORT: Manhattan Half Marathon – 1:28:21

Posted on January 27, 2015 by admin

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I normally don’t like to pay money to run around my backyard, but since my Aunt Marge (in charge), cousin Cat and Charla were coming in for the race, I was game.

They all converged on my apartment around 6:30AM. We had some coffee, formulated a game plan and were out the door by 7. They got to meet the Gotham City Runner crew, those that were racing anyway, at the start. The weather was great. During my warm up this gal screams “BAKER!” and nearly gave me a heart attack. It was my friend Rachel, also running the race. Right after that I ran into Abbe who was just running around the Park to get in her miles.

As I was stretching before heading to my corral, my old running friend Rowland popped up! We became friends because we run the exact same pace. Seriously people. During 3 of the 4 NYC Marathons I have run, around mile 3 I always look over and there he is, hitting the same numbers. This even happened randomly in Boston 2012.

He and one of his friends (I think he said his name was Doug) and I entered our extremely packed Blue Corral a few minutes from start time. I had run 8 miles the day before (and have been running 6 days a week) and wasn’t really sure how I wanted to handle this race. While chatting with Rowland he said, “I would be happy with anything under 1:30.” Hmmmm… I thought. “Yea me too.” And with that we were off. It took us 20-30 seconds just to hit the start mat, that’s how packed it was!

My legs felt pretty heavy, so I just kept a pace I liked. As we rounded the bottom of the Park things were still pretty congested. It wasn’t until we were up past Cat Hill that it opened a bit. I looked to my right and there was Rowland and Doug. For the rest of the race, the three of us acted as team, running in V Formation. We ramped our pace from 7:15 to around a 6:40 at times, passing people like F-15s.

At Engineer’s Gate I saw Uncle John cheering and gave him a shout.

Then, barreling down Harlem Hill we saw Abbe coming the other way and gave a shout. I looked over at the guys and said, “That’s the Mrs.” At the top of Harlem Hill we were kind of murmuring how we were disappointed we had to come back around and run it again.

We also saw Craig who was snapping photos for GCR!

I had no watch on, so I was just running to run. It was great. As we hit the 6 mile mark back at the start the clock read 40:xx.

By now my heavy legs no longer felt heavy. This whole running 6 days a week thing has been strange and exciting for me. I have only ever run 3 days a week with my highest mileage being in the 35 mile range. I would be at 45 miles this week after completing the Half and my legs have never felt better (overall, not in current race time). There hasn’t even been the slightest hint of pain or injury. Enough! Back to the race.

Miles 8, 9 and 10 happened to go by pretty quickly. The sun was out and it was a beautiful day! We were taking turns leading and following each other and by now aside from a cheer when we ascended a hill, there was zero talking. I was having a blast.

At the last mile we all fell apart a bit. I was feeling really good so I started pulling away. I had 7 or 8 minutes left to get in under 1:30 and my mind was spinning. By now we were catching up with the back of the race so there was a lot of ‘bobbin and weavin’ going on. I ended up finishing in 1:28 and change.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M36	122	130	17	1:28:21	6:45	67.86%

I found Craig, who was now at the finish taking pictures and hung with him before setting out to find my family. Uncle John, cousin Gillian, Dave and Lindsey were all cheering about 100 meters from the finish. Right as I found them Aunt Margie cruised by on her way to a sub 2 finish, followed by Cat! This was Cat’s first Half Marathon and I was very proud of her for not only completing the course, but also finishing in a very respectable time! Shortly after Dave’s wife Charla finished. That was our cue to head back to my place where Abbe was making a breakfast pizza. Whaaaat? Yes, pizza for breakfast, try it sometime.

After showering we all went down to Kinsale to celebrate. It was a great finish to the week. Congrats to all!

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

Posted on May 31, 2014 by admin

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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

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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

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running Leave a comment

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.

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