Running – Page 6 – BEYOND DEFEAT

RACE REPORT: 095 Wineglass Marathon – 03:17:30

Posted on October 9, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Fitness, Race Reports, Running 5 Comments

The concept of ‘Mind over Body’ is nothing new to the Marathon and Ironman community. Runners commonly refer to a marathon as 10% physical, 90% mental.

For Week 2 of my NYC Marathon training plan I ran:

Wednesday: 5M Easy
Thursday: 4M MGP
Friday: 3M Easy

I had a discussion with Dr. Levine about the Wineglass Marathon and we decided it would be a great opportunity to get an aided training run in. I was to run around 16 miles, if it hurt at any point stop.

I stayed home from work on Friday because I caught what Abbe had the day before, this random sore throat thingy. After resting for most of the morning and drinking my magic ginger elixir I walked down to the drug store to get a flu shot. It later dawned on me that getting one 2 days prior to a race might not be smart as I could have gotten slightly sick.

That night I met Abs, Claire, and Bojana down at Naples 45 for happy hour and dinner. After stuffing our face with meatballs and pizza we shuffled onto a train heading to Claire’s folks (Kathy and Mike) house. I was feeling slightly better.

Mike picked us up and delivered us safely to the Walsh Lair where we had some tasty alcoholic beverages. I retired early to ensure that the germs would leave my body.

Then next morning, feeling great, the 3 of us went on a shake out run around Connecticut. We even passed Gene Wilder’s house. I am only mentioning that because I love him for all of his Charlie and the Chocolate Factoryness. My knee felt awesome.

Later on, as we prepared to leave crowds gathered, wishing us well on our journey into the wild. They brought us glad tidings and many gifts. I’m just kidding, but Kathy and Mike waved as we departed! Our 5 hour car adventure had begun with Claire ‘Booze Cruise Control’ Walsh behind the wheel.

After 2 hours on the road it was approaching feeding time. We all agreed that we were too snobby to stop at a fast food place and a mom-n-pop shop or a diner would be much more suitable. As we came over a rolling countryside hill a sign for ‘Last Licks Sub Shop’ caught our eye. We were very very excited and exited appropriately.

DISCLAIMER: If you have no interest in how great our food experience was, because I am going to elaborate, please skip to SECTION: 7759

Imagine if you will, a white one story house with an outdoor wooden patio nestled in a gravel parking lot surrounded by the tallest and most beautiful pine trees. Wood cut outs of kids and sandwiches in vibrant colors attached to the outside. If the Muppets (more specifically Dr. Teeth and the ELECTRIC MAYHEM) could have opened a sub shop, this was it!

We entered a small room, with an open ordering area to our right and were greeted by the owner. He was a man in his 50’s casually dressed who welcomed us with open arms. “Well hello there! Are you looking to use the bathroom, or are you hungry?” We smiled and informed him of our desire to gorge ourselves with sandwiches. “Well you have come to the right place. We can serve em up toasted, on rye, a sub roll or maybe you want a panini?” I am a sucker for a good turkey sandwich so that’s exactly what I ordered. Unlike NYC, he told us we could pay him AFTER we ate. “Go sit outside on the patio, I’ll bring these out to you when ready.” What? If only all humans could be as nice and hospitable as this man. SIDENOTE: If you could pay after you ate in NYC, you wouldn’t get paid.

Needless to say, the sandwiches were awesome. We sat out in the clean mountain air in peace, taking in mother nature and our much needed lunch.

SECTION: 7759

Back on the road we started to notice just how beautiful it was out in the mountains. The trees were in full autumn color.

Arriving in Corning and making our way to the Expo we immediately saw Kelly and Betsy on the street. Abbe hollered out at them and it kinda felt like some gang from New York was converging on this small town to take over. Actually, that IS what was happening!

We got our Bibs, shirts, etched wine glass, champagne and then made our way to the luxurious Ramada. Claire was hungry so we made the decision to go to the hotel bar. Oh, and c’mon, what else were we going to do, we had 4-5 hours to kill.

The hotel bar ‘It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere Lounge’ was certainly not a lounge and opened ironically at 5PM. It was more like your friend’s dad’s man cave, but with a bunch of 4 top tables. The whole place was carpeted like the hotel and in one corner was a pool table and a TV on a roll-y stand. The 10 seat bar had Quick Pick games playing on one TV and Nascar on another.

Numbers representing 26.2, Bib 63, Bib 1980 and Bib 1031.

The draft beers were $2.75 and I have to say I loved the place. I was really sad we had to run the next day and really couldn’t take advantage of our time here in the ‘It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere Lounge’. After a couple beers, potato skins and some french fries (yes, I know you are all shaking your heads) we headed off to the room. Abs had made us a homemade pasta dish which we nibbled on as we watched National Treasure. Claire had never seen it so Abs and I were trying to fill her in on why it was awesome. She will probably never watch it again. Abs fell asleep by 8, Claire and I watched Can’t Hardly Wait until 9 at which point we both decided it was time to go dark.

RACE DAY

I slept so damn well. The gals wanted to wake up at like 4:45AM and I was like “F that!” Even though I heard them giggling and prancing around I still managed to rest until a 5:30 or so. I grabbed some sub par hotel coffee and started waking up. I had zero race jitters, mainly because my future was unwritten. It felt so liberating. I didn’t give a damn. I even ate some shit bagel from the hotel restaurant that may have been made of sand. I have 2 rules… never eat pizza outside of New York and never eat Bagels outside of New York. I was living on the edge.

Claire was rocking out to that song “All I do is win, win, win no matter what.” It would be rattling around in my head all day.

We drove to the center of town and hopped on a bus.Wineglass is a point to point (much like Boston) so we had 30 minutes to chill. The weather was nice, 60 degrees with a slight on-off drizzle. I had mixed up some Gen UCANN to eat. Ever since one of my Kompetitive Edge teammates told the team about the stuff 2 years ago I have been hooked. It sent me to my marathon PR in May of 2012 so I know it works. I had to Gu’s stuffed into my tri shorts for back-up as well.

SHOE TALK! In case anyone is curious, I had my trusty Newts on. I have been running in them since 2009 and they seem to work for me. The Kinvaras I had been testing were messing up my knee based on toe-to-heel profile last week so they were out.

We linked up with Kelly and Betsy soon after we arrived at the staging grounds. The sun was rising and I knew it was going to push the rain away. I wanted happy sunshine, even if it meant heat.

While drinking my Vanilla UCANN I convinced Betsy and Kelly that I was drinking milk and that was my secret. I enjoy pranks and this was no exception. “It’s actually Half-n-Half. It gets me going.” This lasted maybe 3 minutes.

As we lined up for the start I placed myself with all the gals instead of down at the front. Remember, at this moment all I wanted to do was run 16 miles pain free. After a very strange rendition of the National Anthem the gun went of. It took us 2 minutes to hit the Start mat. SIDENOTE: New runners, always count in your head if you are in the back and don’t cross the start immediately.

I had neither a Garmin or headphones, I was running totally rogue.

We all started running together (obviously) and I just did my thing. It was a long downhill and we were all shifting and adjusting where we were. Everything felt pretty good, but I didn’t want to push it.

After a few miles I wanted to leave Abbe and Claire alone. Abbe had asked Claire to be her pacer and I know all too well what happens if there are other people around when that is happening so I pulled ahead by 5-10 feet.

At mile 4 I pulled over for a pee break. I even used a porta-pottie. Back on the road I immediately ran (ha) into Kelly. We chatted for a hot second then I took off. It was at this point I started to increase my speed ever so slightly. You see, I thought I saw the 3:15 pace group ahead so I was trying to pass them. In reality, I had just passed the 3:40 pace group so logic should have stepped in.

I was really excited to be running some crazy fast pace after being injured and then I realized that it was actually the 3:35 pace group! Baker you fool!

It was riiiiight around this point, mile 6, that things changed. My gears slowly started shifting. Everything felt great and the scenery was beautiful, so why not?! I had broken the course into four, 6 mile quadrants. Yes, I know that doesn’t add up to 26, but who cares. I had just passed quadrant 1 and was on a roll.

Just like my pre-injured days I started picking out human targets in the distance and hunting them down. My pace was increasing. The Old Baker was resurfacing.

I passed the 3:35 pacers, then the 3:30 pacers, then the 3:25 pacers… thinking, “Am I pushing it too much?”

I took half of a Gu at mile 10. Mile 10 was also fun because some guy looked at me and was like, “was that mile 10!?” “Yeah man! They are ticking off fast now!” we laughed and then I proceeded.

SIDENOTE: Aside from having no Garmin, there were no time clocks anywhere. I had no idea how fast I was going.

As I crossed the half I yelled to the gal, “What time is it?” She slowly responded that i was roughly 9:45. Was that good? Was it bad? I still didn’t care, I was having a blast just running to run. Try it sometime, I dare you.

The next couple miles were a blur of small towns and remote roads. Somewhere around mile 16 I was passing an aid station and some guy yelled “Go Lord Baker!” That is my twitter handle, and after a quick glance I had no idea who this was, but it made me happy! Thank you twitter friend for pushing me onward!

OVERDRIVE.

It was at this point I needed to analyze my knee situation. Situation? No pain. What to do? Well, I have come this far, why not just finish the marathon. We will, of course, need to pick up the pace a bit.

Smiling, I increased my pace and went off into the unknown.

By now I had 1 full Gu in me. I had no energy loss what so ever but planned on eating my last Gu at mile 20 and 24 splitting it in half as I always do and washing it down with aid station water.

Mile 17 to 19 was rough as we were running along side a highway with a headwind. The weather never really bothered me as much as it did my lady friends, but I think it’s because I was just enthralled at the idea that I was running.

At mile 20 I had a fun encounter. As I came upon, and intended to pass, this shirtless guy he says, “Well hello there!” I chuckled and said hello back, asking how he was. He was good. I replied, “I have to tell you, I am really enjoying myself and the weather is perfect!” Incorrectly thinking I was going to move forward he said, “Well friend, I have to disagree with you there. It has been favorable at times, but at other moments quite hot.” Not wanting to get into a debate about the government shutdown I agreed and explained that I had to push on.

There was no ‘wall’ for me. This has happened a few times and when it does the only thing that registers is knowing that miles 20-26 are going to be hell. Ha! Aren’t they always?!

Just keep moving is all I was telling myself. Waves of pain would overcome me followed by periods of bliss, where I was flying down the road. I had no idea what my pace was, all I knew was that if I held together I would finish a marathon that was removed from my race list months ago. The only reason I didn’t cancel entry then is that I wouldn’t get a refund, so I figured I could at least get a shirt or something.

Where as before, the miles ticked off fast, now 1 mile seemed like an eternity. I kept saying to myself, “Surely I must have overlooked that mile 22 marker?” Not the case. I always like to yell in Ironman races at mile 20 that “Things are about to get REAL!” and that’s exactly what was happening.

The true test of human willpower and might can happen anywhere in a marathon. It is the individuals race, and therefore the individual has different emotional experiences. These last 3 miles miles were very hard as I thought about actually finishing this marathon. Was it possible? With only 2 weeks of training under my belt, the longest distance I had run in 6 months being 12 miles just the weekend before, was it enough? Mind over body baby.

One of my silly mantra when racing is, “There is no pain, only glory.” The meaning behind this is that the human mind creates pain in order to get you to stop dong something, like running. If you can subdue that urge and override the pain setting, then anything is possible. I just kept running. In fact, I have walked aid stations in 7 of my 10 marathons (not counting Ironman) and I did not walk at all during this race. I wanted it bad. Just keep running, no matter what the pace.

Rounding the final turn, the finish line was off on the horizon, similar to Boston. I would never get there. And yet, I did, finishing in 3:17 and change. My very first marathon was a 3:15 and so I felt like I was back where I started.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M35	63	100	16	3:17:30	7:31	67%

It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes…

We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.

– TS Eliot

I did know the place for the first time and I knew, as I have always known, that this is what I live for. The sense of accomplishment, camaraderie and the painful yet acceptable feeling that I AM ALIVE, will always keep me coming back for more.

I grabbed an apple, water, and a gatorade followed by a slice of pizza and chicken noodle soup. I sat down on the curb and kind of took it all in. Sitting on the curb eating my soup, watching all my people come through. If I had to form an army, I would choose marathoners.

I made friends with this guy named Mike, then Kelly came through. We watched as Betsy broke 4 hours! Nice job soldier. I hung around for awhile before time started slipping away and wondering where Abbe and Claire may have been. I decided to check our meeting spot even though I hadn’t seen them come through the chute. There were there chillin out.

We hightailed it back to the hotel for a shower then took off toward NYC.

Ironically, Abbe’s Dad was in Binghampton so we stopped there (at Sharky’s) to have lunch. Aunt Peggy and Cousin John as well as a few other local family members came by as well. It was a blast AND we were ravenous.

—

I have to thank Dr. Levine big time. He has only been working with me for 6-8 weeks and my progress has obviously been dramatic! Big ups to Kompetitive Edge for all my amazing gear!

I think the reason I had such a great experience was that I did not give a damn about anything aside from running injury free. With no Garmin I had no timing. Not knowing if I would finish kept me from wanting to achieve a certain time. I recommend everyone try this at least once in their running. Its quite liberating.

The human body is much more than muscle and mass, it is heart and mind. Last Sunday, I truly felt Beyond Defeat.

NYCM Training: Week 1

Posted on September 29, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Fitness, Running 2 Comments

My ‘A Race’ this fall is now the NYC Marathon after bowing out of Wineglass Marathon and Beach2Battleship Full Iron. I had a great full week of training for my 6 week plan.

SUNDAY: 1 Mile @ 5:25 pace at the 5th Avenue Mile.

Then I saw Dr. Levine and he did his magic.

TUESDAY: 4 Miles @ 8:30 pace

THURSDAY: 6.5 Miles @ 6:55 pace.

Saw Dr. Levine again.
That night we went to The Met and in my favorite room (The Temple of Dendar), there was a party!

SATURDAY: 12.5 miles @ 7:45 pace! My furthest distance in months!

I ran with Abbe and Bojana and then pulled away from them after 3 miles as I needed to get inside my head. After I finished I waited for them at Engineers Gate and had a moment of zen. Any local runner knows that Engineers is the center of the running universe as far as NYC is concerned, so it should be of no surprise to see friends. While I waited, Meggie and Gia rolled up, followed by Elizabeth! Hi runner pals!

We celebrated our runs by eating doughnuts from the new Dough Loco, it was amazing!

You will notice no cross training on my plan. Dr. L and I discovered that biking irritates my IT Band, pulling on my patella the wrong way. Until NYCM is over running, and swimming is the name of the game.

RACE REPORT: 094 5th Avenue Mile – 5:25

Posted on September 24, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

I love the 5th Avenue Mile. For a few minutes you hit hyper drive, maxing out your breathing and heart rate and as soon as you think you are going to die, it’s over.

The day before I did an easy 5 miles and then headed over to Elizabeth and Juan’s wedding in The Central Park. It was beautiful, fun, and chock full of runners in civilian attire. That night I headed down to the Kitchen Hell’s) for some carbo loading with Maura, Aiden, Dennis, Bojana and Elyssa. Pasta and beer… everything the body needs to survive.

RACE DAY

I took my time getting up since my heat wasn’t until 9:55AM! I even cleaned the apartment.

Dr. Levine has been doing an awesome job getting me back into the game. I have had 3-4 weeks now of zero knee pain during my 2-6 mile, easy tempo runs. I was excited to race and also very nervous as I had not done any speed work in months.

We live close to the start so it was an easy warm up over to where all the runners were converging. I immediately saw Erica. We caught up and did some warm ups before bumping into Elizabeth and Juan, dressed in wedding gear for the run! I ran into Joshie and a few of his Gotham City Runners who looked ready to rock. Finally, I ended up down 5th by 77th Street to watch the 2 heats before mine when a friendly voice next to me says, “Hey Baker!” It was Robert, who was taking pictures and running in the media heat (he works for Runner’s World.)

After watching a few heats I made my way back up to the start. My knee felt great and I was starting to get pumped.

This was my 4th time racing this puppy and I now have my strategy down pat. I lined up hard left and about 10 deep. The gun went off and it took 3-4 seconds to hit the start mat which I thought was strange.

There were a few guys in front of me running a lot slower than I wanted to. As soon as the gates opened up I busted out to the left and hit overdrive, flying last them my heart rate redlining. I saw Jess yelling at me at this moment and waved.

My strategy for the mile is simple, run as hard as you can. No watches, no pacing, no fear of pain. 5 minutes of hell.

The first 1/4 mile was going great, then I hit the uphill at 70th street making my way to the 1/2. It was hear that all those months of zero training took their toll. I was exhausted and thirsty and wanted to drop out bad, my pace slowing. I tried to ignore the pain.

Then, something miraculous happened. As I crested the hill and began making my way down the final 1/2 mile stretch to my left I heard Robert and Erica yelling my name! I perked up and gained some power, then to my right my step-brother Matt and step-cousin Meghan (in town visiting for the weekend) yelled at me, sparking yet another boost power surge!

Finishing the race I saw that I was already over the 5 minute mark. I knew I would never break my PR of 4:57, but I was hoping to be kind of close. I crossed at 5:25, satisfied to have raced and that the race was over!

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M35	318	412	65	5:25	5:25	70.11%

I’m back baby! My wheels are good, I just need to get my engine back in high octane mode!

The rest of the day was spent with my Step-Mom, one of my Step-Brothers, Colleen, Meghan, Grandma Kitty, Jeff and Ali at a bar watching Sunday football. There was even a random surprise of Doug and Danika being in the same bar, so they hung out as well!

My 6 week marathon training plan starts now.

The Return

Posted on September 18, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Running 5 Comments

In case you weren’t already aware by my lack of wordy race reports, I have been sidelined all season. Lets go through a brief history of my injury, as it’s quite entertaining. I also want to document all of this for future reference, like some strange runner’s science project. Maybe someone can learn from it.

– Late February: While at my Mom’s in Tampa for the Gasparilla Half Marathon (the season opener if you will) I noticed that when I bounce up and down I have a slight pain in my left knee. I run the race anyway, the injury definitely playing a role in my performance.

– I see Dr. D who gets me doing PT. Basic exercises using cables and balancing devices. I stop running.

– I get an X-Ray and MRI, all good aside from my Bipartite Patella. A bipartite patella occurs in 1% of the population. As a child as the pieces of your knee are fusing together, sometimes a small piece doesn’t completely solidify. It is held in place by cartilage and most people would never know they had it unless they had an issue and got an X-ray, case in point.

SIDENOTE: I was signed up for numerous races, the highest caliber being a Marathon, Olympic Tri, Marathon, Ironman and Marathon (in the order) with some smaller races sprinkled in between.

– The pain comes and goes and in late April I run the Connemarathon. We were in a remote part of Ireland so beautiful words cant describe it, I had to. I finish in 3:33:00 (my 9th marathon… weird number stuff) and my knee is really messed up.

– Back to PT with Dr. D and no exercise.

– 6 weeks later he has me bike and slow run. I feel pain after biking and during the runs.

– I race Rev3 Quassy OLY Triathlon. It’s a 10 minute course PR for me ironically. My knee hurt during the run.

– I see Dr. D 2 times a week and thing s are up and down. I change shoes and doing anything I can to help. I race a few local races but still I have pain.

– At the end of August I decide to change it up. I stop seeing Dr. D. and head over to Dr. Levine, who I had seen once before and like every single one of my friend go there. He is an Ironman doctor and uses ART and Graston. The techniques are pain like you have never felt, him digging into your quads and IT band. He tells me not to run unless I have zero pain.

– I start tracking all the Red Tailed Hawks in Central Park instead of running and instantly age myself.

– As my knee starts to get better I bike a few times. Each time after my knee hurts bad. Dr. Levine and I deduce that biking might be the cause of my patella pain so I stop all biking, eliminating my Fall Ironman from happening. At this point I just want to race NYC Marathon, specifically because my little brother Jeff got in.

– 2 weeks ago I run 2 miles with zero pain.

– The next day I run 4 miles with zero pain.

– Last week I run 4 miles with no pain and on Monday of this week it’s zero pain baby!

So my question to all my runner/triathlete friends is… are there any 3 week Marathon training plans for Wineglass? I didnt think so, I will probably be on cheer patrol so those of you running Wineglass look for me.

Ironman is out, by I have renewed hopes of racing my 4th NYC Marathon.

All season many people have gotten an earful, mostly in person, about what I think caused my injury. (Big hug to Abbe as she has heard it most and is so over anything having to do with knees!) Unfortunately for me, I think it’s my bipartite patella. I think I slammed it or something and weakened the cartilage (this is a common thing for people with weird knees who bike in traffic). Therefore, the cartilage needs to heal. Whatever movement biking does to my IT Band, it seems to pull on my patella in a way that running does not. Who knew? Everyone is always like, “Running is bad for your knees, you should bike.” Then I’m like, “No shit, I’m a triathlete I have to bike.”

I’m really happy. I was in a bit of a depression all season as my favorite thing to do (running AND triathlons) was taken away from me. Now, after learning a whole lot about the human body, I am back and ready to BATTLE.

RACE REPORT: 093 – Fire Island 5K – 18:33

Posted on August 1, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 2 Comments

I met Abs, Stephan, Amanda, Bojana, Maura, and Jodi in Penn Station Friday afternoon to begin our journey. The ‘journey’ would be called a vacation and include beach time, drinking, seafood, drinking and running, in no particular order. In fact sometimes it was drinking, then drinking.

I was excited to show everyone Fire Island. Most New Yorkers have never been and therefore don’t realize what an amazing place it is or how easy it is to get to. You don’t even need a car.

After our very easy 1 hour train ride we caught the ferry to cross the bay over to the island. The ferry over is one of my favorite parts. Sitting on the open air roof of the ferry there is this symbolic ‘leaving’ of reality and heading off into the beachy sunset. The ride home has quite the opposite effect.

We arrived at Ocean Bay Park around 5PM. As we headed up towards the hotel I heard my named called. “Hey Baker!” It was DiGangi (as I call him) but since there are many DiGangi’s on the island for the race he was introduced as Anthony. Anthony and his brother John put on the race, ‘The Run for Rose’ after their mom who passed away from brain cancer. Seeing as how my father recently passed away from cancer this race now has a bit more meaning for me.

Keep in mind there are no cars on the island! Arriving a short walk later at the Fire Island Hotel (Ed from ‘Dad Posse’s’ place) we checked in and then hit Hurricanes for happy hour. Drink of choice on the island are Rocket Fuels. Basically, pina coladas topped with 151. I know some of the staff there so it was fun catching up and seeing how everyone was doing. After a few drinks we walked down and said hi to the ocean. BoJo, Maura, and Jodi were actually brave enough to jump in. It was pretty chilly.

After my amazing dinner of fish tacos Abs and I retired to bed while the rest of the group walked down to Flynn’s and Schooner’s to have a few more drinks and check out the scene.

Abs and I woke up right on schedule at 6AM. Just once I wish I could sleep in. It’s like the Sun runs my life or something.

Ed has really stepped up his game at the hotel and now you can get coffee, bagels (really good bagels) muffins and other breakfast items right in the lobby. While sitting on the front steps enjoying the peace we caught sight of 2 fawns! As far as New Yorkers are concerned, Aliens may as well have landed. Abbe was immediately taking pictures and telling the not-so-awake Amanda “Heeeeey, there are baby deers!”

Once everyone was awake we split up. Abs, Jodi and Amanda did beach yoga while Maura, Bojo and I went for a run. I don’t know what Stephan did, but rest assured it was not beach yoga.

Maura and Bojo had some crazy 15-17 miles they needed to do so I guided them. We had a blast running through the narrow streets while I pointed out landmarks and different Fire Island related factoids. Maura was not so happy once I led us onto the non-paved eastern part of the island. I explained the most of the island in that direction was just sandy paths. A very cool idea, but murder on your calves. We turned around as they made the decision to get their miles in by doing the 3-4 mile loop from Ocean Beach to Ocean Bay Park. I bailed after 5 miles because I didn’t want to over do it and be burned out for the next day’s race.

I found Ed as I was making my way to the beach and he said he was into hanging with us later. We were going to go to Matthews (a great seafood spot) for dinner.

I found the rest of the team out on the beach soaking up the rays. It was an awesome day. Not too hot, slight breeze, no clouds. Behind us it looked like a bus had dropped off the entire Sigma Kai fraternity. They were pounding beers and playing odd beach/drinking games and yet, it was entertaining. They weren’t really bothering anybody. They were just trapped in their own Jersey Shore bubble.

One of them had the John Deere logo tattooed on his chest and we all felt sorry for him. Someday he will meet a cute gal who has an obsession with tractors and farming and they will fall madly in love.

As Bojana and Maura arrived it was time for the rest of us to have lunch. We did so at Flynns. Stephan and I had pretty amazing lobster rolls.

We spent the rest of the day back at the beach.

The 15 minute walk at dusk to Matthews was quite enjoyable. You really don’t know how much cars suck until they are gone. It was so peaceful! I didn’t have to stop talking because a loud bus was passing by.

For my pre race dinner I may as well have been playing Russian Roulette with food. I ate so many clams and oysters and although I love these delicious lil guys, they aren’t really good to race on. After dinner we stopped at 2 more bars. At the last one, Schooners (which happens to be where the after party is the next day), we had more rocket fuels. Bad decision, and yet… so tasty.

Yes, we fed a deer Rocket Fuels!

RACE DAY (I know, it took awhile to get here.)

We woke up at 8AM so we kind of slept in! My stomach was a mess. I felt bloated and was definitely not hungry. The race starts at 10:30AM which is a kind of double edged sword. On one hand, you can wake up whenever. But at 10:30AM on Fire Island, IT’S HOT BABY!

I had some of the worst race day jitters I have had in a long time. I have won or come in 2nd place the 3 times I’ve run this thing so I was feeling this weird pressure.

It was more the fear of the unknown I think. What I have learned in my experiences is that sometimes, no matter how hard you train (and I have not been training hard so there’s that) you never know who will show up on race day. Sometimes the cards are in your favor, and sometimes a guy (or a gal as you will see) that can run 5 minute miles for an entire 5K show up.

The 8 of us were huddled around by the start. The race announcer Terry (a great guy and local NYC runner as well) saw me and we caught up a bit.

They had sub 7 minute people up in the front so I made my way there. I said hi to Sal and John and they introduced me to a CPTC guy, Nigel, who was racing along side me. It’s really such a fun race and there is really no animosity amongst the runners. The DiGangi’s (with the help of the race and donations) have pulled in like $300,000 for the Rose DiGangi Foundation which directly funds Brain Cancer Research. Congrats guys!

Waiting in the corral reminded me of the 2012 Boston Marathon. I was already sweating bad.

The gun went off and we hit the ground hard. We were running pretty fast but not full sprint. I thought to myself, “I can do this. Just hold it together.” For the 1st quarter mile we were jocking for position. It was pretty tight. If someone tripped up we were all going down. This young gal from NYAC (Reilly was her name) slowly pulled ahead and I was like “Whoa, no way can I roll that pace in this heat.”

Did I mention it was hot? Fire Island is pretty shaded unless its oh say, getting close to noon.

NYAC was now 100M ahead of me. I really thought she was going to take the whole thing at that point. Then, to my left this guy also slowly pulls by. He was going for it. After we passed the 1 Mile mark it looked like he was neck and neck with her.

You batter believe I hit up the 1 and only water station at mile 1.5ish. It was right around here that I noticed this dude on my ass. I could hear his breathing and with a few quick head turns I saw that he was drafting me. Dammit!

I was really hurting at this point and wanted to jump in the Bay to cool off. I thought, “No way can I smoke this guy with a mile to go.” I just hung on is what I did. I knew he was gonna make his move closer to the finish and take 3rd place but there was nothing I could do.

I got to see Amanda on the out-and-back which was a fun boost!

As we turned left passing the ‘200M to go’ sign, homeslice made the pass. I really wanted to hold my position and I have done so before, I just had no speed left in me. I came through the finish in 18:33 and in 4th place.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M35	1	4	3	18:33	5:58	71.16%

I cruised through and congratulated all the speedies then slammed 2 waters and poured a 3rd all over my head.

At the Finish I got to watch all my friends come through one by one… everyone kicked ass.

We were hanging out at the bar in Schooner’s enjoying post race refreshment and free Heinekens when the awards started.

Abbe got a 3rd place age group award!

Maura got a 3rd place age group award!

I got a 3rd place age group award! That’s John and Anthony DiGangi, race directors.

The Rogue Runners were bringing home some hardware! Wooo!

After some more fun at Schooner’s we packed it up and caught a 4PM ferry. It’s always so sad to leave the island head back to reality.

The Dizzy Bat Race

Posted on July 24, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of running whilst being blasted out of your mind dizzy.

Thursday night after work we headed off to Central Park, the East Meadow to be specific, for the 2nd Annual New York Rogue Runners ‘Dizzy Bat Race’ hosted by Claire. Although the race was covered in Timeout NY and Blood, Sweat and Cheers we knew that the hellish weather might deter people.

We set up the bases and Claire had me do a test run. I spun face down head on the bat 10 times (which in and of itself was a challenge) then took off running. Instead of heading toward 1st base, like any normal American would know to to, I veered off to 3rd base before collapsing into the field. Quite a daunting task rewarded with loud bursts of laughter. This was going to be fun.

Once we had a decent crowd Claire announced the rules. Plain and simple, the clock starts, spin around the bat 10 times, run the bases making sure to tag up at each one. The winner would get a $50 gift certificate to Stub Hub and a check for $9.50, the price of a beer at Yankee Stadium.

Claire started off the madness and did pretty well. Juan was next and he spun the opposite way the rest of us were spinning so instead of him veering to 3rd base head went toward 1st! A great strategy!

Without getting into too much detail about the race I urge you to watch the awesome video Juan made with everyone’s runs in it. Thanks Juan!

Official Times:

Claire: 39:5
Juan: 44:4
Baker (me): 45:00
Neal: 1:02
Elizabeth: 2:10
Abbe: 1:00
Rachel: 1:04
Andrew: 37:2
Maura: 38 flat (her real time was far to great so our time keeper cut her a break)
Elyssa: 1:01

This was a really fun time. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

After Claire presented newcomer Andrew with is prizes we all headed to the bar for the after party!

RACE REPORT: 092 Pride Run 5M – 31:04

Posted on July 1, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Fitness, Race Reports, Running 4 Comments

Pride Week in NYC is always a bit crazy and fun. There is one factor that seems to remain the same every year… the heat!

My stupid knee was acting up all week since I thought it a good idea to skateboard to work Monday. After all my super sleuthing in trying to figure out where my knee tracking originated I think skateboarding is my final conclusion. Its a pretty jarring activity for the knee and leg in general. I guess I’m retired. Who wants a skateboard?!

My youngest brother Jeff decided to run the race as well. He made it into the NYCM lottery and so I advised him to get familiar with race protocol and run a few small races for the experience. We had an easy run over to 102nd street as I gave him a few pointers about positioning and some ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts.’

We linked up with Erica, Robert and Antonio before entering the corrals. It was overcast and didn’t seem too hot, for the moment. The energy in the crowds was great. People really enjoy this race and you can totally tell.

Baker Bros aint no joke!

We bid farewell and good luck to Jeff as we (Robert, Antonio and I) entered our corral. I think I have spent 75% of all race starts next to them. A little fist bump and then the gun went off.

We set it off at a pretty quick pace to start. We were easily pushing a 6 minute mile or quicker. Since my knee felt great right off the bat I just went with it. Making our way up the west side of Harlem Hill I had Robert flanking me to the left and Antonio pulling away up ahead. It was still pretty thick as thieves but beginning to thin out as Harlem Hill took its toll on some runners.

Water was all I really cared about. The sun had come out and it was blazing. I grabbed two cups at the first station, drinking one and pouring the other all over myself. I immediately felt better. Onward!

I had no idea of my pace as I was running ‘naked.’ I figured we were rocking along somewhere in the low 6’s. By now Robert was ahead of me by 1-2 seconds while Antonio was ahead of him by 1-2 seconds. I was hurting pretty bad. Not my legs, but my internal engine as I really haven’t been running that much, especially speed. Just hang on…

I have never been a fan of this particular course due to the left turns on 72nd Street. They are both like 45 degree turns and I feel as though I slow down tremendously taking them.

I finally caught up to Robert and joked with him, “What the hell did Antonio eat for breakfast, he’s cookin!” Along the Engineer’s Gate straightaway I saw Grace and Megan cheering. After saying hi to them they reprimanded me, “Stop talking Baker, you should be running!” Indeed. Next, I saw Abs who took this pic.

I saw Erica 500 meters from the finish who was snapping some pictures. I hammed it up as usual.

I finished in 31:04. It’s off my PR by 40 seconds or so. This makes me really happy. All season I have been healing my knee and doing 1/4th of the training I was doing last year due to it. To pull off some decent speedwork is a great sign AND I beat my 5M time from 2 weeks ago by like 16 seconds!

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M35	662	96	14	31:04	6:13	70.16%

Jeff cruised in shortly after we did. He rocked a 7:14 pace which is impressive for his first race.

I was hanging with Robert and Antonio when this older runner came up and said, “Hey, I see you out here running all the time. You must do triathlons too? Figured I’d come say hi.” His name was Pat and we chatted about our races before he headed out. THIS is what makes our sport so great people. Don’t be shy out there. You know as well as I do that you run by the same people over and over again. We are all one giant Runner Army. Say hi.

RACE REPORT: 091 Portugal Day 5M – 31:20

Posted on June 17, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 2 Comments

This race, The Portugal Day 5 Miler, would mark my return to running. My knee has been doing great but this would be a test to see if it was ready to take on speed again.

So how does one train for the Portugal Day 5 Miler?

For Susan’s birthday we headed out to Citifield to watch the Mets take on the Cubs. Susan (and Bojana) are from Chicago and both have birthdays within a day of each other so the timing was perfect. Upon arrival all of us stormed the hotdog vendors as we were famished. Others in attendance from the infamous Runner Army squadron were Abbe, Bojana, Meghan, Erica, Kelly, and Neal. It turns out my friend Ahern happened to be at the game too so he came up to the nosebleeds and sat with us!

It was a really fun time even though the Mets got clobbered. Susan and Bojo were happy.

Back in the city we decided to ht up Pony Bar to keep the festivities rolling. I had a plate of fried pickles. So far my nutritional choices for the day were sub par.

Next, a group of us went to grab sushi for dinner. Even though I love me some sushi, it is not on my pre race meal plan, but I ate it anyway.

It was a really long day. I was in bed by 11PM and slept hard.

RACE DAY

When I woke up I felt like I had been hit by a bag-o-bricks. The good thing was, I had no appetite or urge to eat since I had gorged on crap the previous day. I was fueled up and ready to go!

On my easy run through the Park to the start I ran (ha) into Elizabeth and Juan! They guided me to my destination.

My start corral was a mob scene! It was a Male Team points race so all the speedsters were out in force. The girl who sang Portugal’s national anthem and ours had such a beautiful voice. As she sang in a foreign language my mind totally drifted out of thought and I had this weird nirvana kind of moment. Space Case!

Every time Peter Ciaccia is giving final instructions I laugh out loud imagining Matt6 impersonating him to a tee.

The gun went off and we blasted through the start like a stampede of cattle. Running a 6 minute pace as a packed group of runners is tedious business. One wrong step and we go down like dominoes. I also try and watch guys up ahead in case they go down.

I saw Josh cheering to my left immediately. (Thanks for the awesome pictures!)

The first mile clicked off really fast thanks to it being so crowded. We were pushing 6-6:05 pace which thrilled me because my knee was fine! For the first time in 4-5 months I was running fast. I had a huge grin. Even though this run was going to kick my ass (because I haven’t done any speedwork) I was going to enjoy the moment.

That first water station couldn’t have come sooner. I was so thirsty.

As we hit the north part of the Park it started to thin out. Miles 2 and 3 came by and I could see my speed slowing. Hold it together for 2 more, that’s all its going to take.

Abbe was at Engineer’s Gate giving some cheers. I also saw Elizabeth and Juan again as they were in the cheer squad for the Whippets. Then, I saw Lora cheering, as well as Josh again. SO great seeing a barrage of friends out there helping you!

I cruised through the finish with a 31:20. I was so damn psyched to be racing again. I felt amazing.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M35	805	206	40	31:20	6:16	69.6%

#BostonStrongNYC

Posted on April 25, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Fitness, Running 1 Comment

On Monday, there was a memorial movement for those who suffered in Boston.

#BostonStrong

In respective cities across America, people organized large group runs with everyone wearing Boston colors, Boston themed signs… you name it, to show support for Boston. Pavement Runner began the movement and my friend Abbey organized the NYC group.

There were well over 300 runners and 2 or 3 news stations covering the event.

Abbey, Abbe, Claire, Caroline, Elizabeth, Sharon, Jeremy, BoJo, Maura, Erin, Elyssa, Paddy, Allen, Josh, Erica, Lora, Jess, Jocelyn, and my new friend Michelle were just a handful of my runner peeps I got to see.

Sharon, Claire, Caroline and I were part of the ‘Walker Committee of Injured or Pregnant Representatives.’ We went once around the lower loop watching in awe as all of the many runners decked out in blue and yellow streamed around the Park. We ended at Tavern (which is where we started) to ‘Power Arches’ and loads of cheering.

In the grand scheme of things the attack in Boston was an attack on the citizens of the United States of America, not runners. In the grand scheme of Baker, not only was my country attacked, but my community of amazing athletes that I have the honor of being friends with. People who raise money for charity by running. People who raise kids while training for a marathon. Speed demons who defy the laws of nature and best of all, senior citizens who own the right to call themselves ‘bad ass at 80.’

As marathon runners, no one cares what you do for a living. We don’t care how much money you make or how big your house is. We want to know how hard you pushed those last few miles, in agony and pain, to break 4 hours. You either get it or you don’t. I feel like my family was attacked and it really hurt, so getting out to run and show that we are strong as a community was just what we needed.

Thanks for organizing Abbey!

RACE REPORT: 089 The Connemarathon – 3:33:00

Posted on April 19, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 5 Comments

Due to the horrible tragedy that took place on Marathon Monday, I have been holding off on posting this as I felt it wasn’t appropriate. I wrote it before Boston. This has deeply affected me and I have been walking around in a daze for the last few days. The Marathon is test of human spirit and will power, it is what I live for and what now defines me. Hopefully, the meaning and beauty of the marathon is conveyed below.

—

So far, Ireland had been kind to us. Now we were about to face The Connemarathon, in one of the most beautiful, remote, and unforgiving races we had ever tackled.

RACE DAY

The whole time I had been in Ireland I was having really weird dreams. Race night of course, was no different. I tossed and turned from 4AM to 7 before deciding to wake.

The whole gang was downstairs having coffee and eating various things. I chose to not eat any breakfast as my race started at 10:30, a decision that would later haunt me. Instead I took down some delicious coffee and prayed to the weather gods. We all hugged Claire (who was racing the Ultra) as she set off.

SIDENOTE: 200 Ultra racers (Crazy ol Claire) caught a 7AM bus for a 9AM start. 500 Marathoners (Abs, Lisa, BoJo and myself) caught a 8AM bus for a 10:30AM start. 2,300 Half Marathoners (Maura, Chris, Aidan and Elyssa) caught a 9AM bus for an 11AM start.

All of us (minus Claire) piled into the Runner Army Elite Assault Vehicle at 7:45 and headed to church. We were late so we missed mass but made the buses.

Personally, I was excited, but I was also in my head thinking hard. What would happen out there? Am I healed? What if my knee gave out at mile 10 in the middle of nowhere? Why did I not eat breakfast?

Arriving out in ‘Da Schicks’ as Chris dubbed it, we saw the Ultra racers on their first 2 miles and actually saw Claire! She didn’t know it, but we were screaming to her.

We exited the bus on a curved section of road. One side led up a steep hill towards the beginning of a mountain, the other side into an icy dark lake. The wind was whipping around from the south and it was quite biting. All of the marathoners were huddled along a ditch where the mountain started trying to hide from the wind. The gals and I tried our best as well, but it was pretty hopeless. As beautiful the landscape might be, it was not very habitable.

I was able to put down 2 bananas while we waited which may have saved my life. I had 2 Gu’s with me for the rest of the race. On a normal day I need maybe 1 Gu but figured today might be different.

Lisa and I went and used the porto-lets one last time and as we returned there was a migration to the ‘Start’ line. All of a sudden the race was just on. The 4 of us started chugging along and guess what… my knee was healed. I kind of smiled at the gals and said I was going to flank everyone on the left and took off.

I started picking up the pace and never looked back. I can’t even tell you in words how excited I was to actually be running, and pain free at that! I had such a SEG on my face and was passing everyone. I wanted to be by myself on the open isolated course. Another thought that popped into my mind was that I hadn’t run further than 13.1 miles and that was 6 weeks ago. I never got a chance to train for the marathon as the doctors told me to stop running altogether. Do or die baby. The mind is more powerful than the body and it was time to prove it.

Miles 1 to 4 clicked of quickly. The aid stations were every 3 miles and only water. This would play a part in everyone’s race as well.

At this point during the race I felt awesome and had pulled away from the bulk of the group. We were now single file race formation 50 feet between runners.

I took a look up into the mountains and the sprawling landscape and thought about how tiny and insignificant we are. Here we are running along an ancient mountain range, a place where time has stood still. A place that will live on long after we die and our children’s children die. So rugged it could chew us up and spit us out, we, the toughest of tough marathoners. Then, I laughed out loud and thought, “If only my Dad could see me now… running a marathon through the mountains of old Ireland.” In my short list of life’s accomplishments (forget things like ‘job’, ‘kids’, or ‘nice house’), running marathons is at the top.

It was right around this moment when I was passing a fellow. He looked at me and in his Gaelic (or Irish language) language and said something. Obviously I had no idea what he told me, I just smiled and nodded my head. What a cool place to be running.

At mile 7 we took a sharp right and headed directly uphill and into the head winds which were clocked at some 40MPH. Things were about to get real. I also ate a delicious Gu, it’s whats for breakfast.

Miles 8 to 10 were this crazy steep downhill. I was now blasting forward all by myself. I looked up at the mountains and the harbor we seemed to be approaching and really took it all in. “This is exactly what I wanted.” I thought out loud. It was as if I was just running these roads by myself in peace and quiet. It was most likely not the best thing for my knee to be barreling down a steep decline, but I was lost in the moment of the marathon.

As the course leveled out around the harbor that we were now circumventing, the 40MPH headwinds made themselves known. From this point on, Mile 11, the race would be one of the most challenging I have ever faced, Ironman included.

Winding around the bend, I could see maybe 2 to 3 guys off in the distance. I wondered had I really got that close to the front of the leaders? I pushed on, not knowing that my energy and enthusiasm to chase would soon fade away.

One really cool aspect of this race was the large expanse of space. I knew the Half Marathoners were poised to start at any moment, so I trained my eyes across the harbor. It must have been 2 miles across, but I could see tiny masses of people moving onto the course. Up ahead right in front of me I saw this gal on a bike riding next to a runner. As I cruised up I realized this was lead female! She was absolutely killing it. I hadn’t seen another female since like mile 2! I gave her some props as I past.

Spectators acting sheepish. Thanks to Elyssa for all the great images!

At the 12 to 13 stage there were advertisements for breakfast for 9 Euro up ahead at an Inn. Guess who had 40 Euro on him? That’s right, me! It was really tempting to take a pit stop but I didn’t. That 40 Euro was also my beer money for the finish line so better spent there anyway.

The Half had started 5 minutes before I arrived so now, as I pushed up a very steep hill, I was at the back of the pack.

This hill was kicking my ass. I was bobbing and weaving through Half Marathoners and trying to hold onto some kind of decent pace. My knee still felt totally fine, but now, having zero training under my belt, it was starting to affect me. Towards the crest of the long hill I heard a motorcycle coming from behind. They had been going back and forth on the course and I had made buddies with one of them by nodding a lot. As it passed it was herding the runners to the left. There was a guy on back and he pointed to me and said, “Follow us!” Oh snap! Do I have enough energy? Sure did.

They cut a real nice path through all the chaos for me and a few other Full racers. Being that they were on a motorized vehicle, I couldn’t keep up for long but by this point things had opened up.

Around mile 16 I came across 4 runners I recognized. As I crept up I yelled in my best irish accent, “Hey you tree runners you, move out da way will ye!” Maura, Elyssa, Chris, and Aidan greeted me with a smile. I hung out with them for a few minutes before taking off.

Mile 18 is where the wheels came off. I ate my last Gu and had some of the water they were serving (only water mind you, no sports drink) and tried to press on. My pace was at it’s slowest here and my quads were on fire!

Mile 19 I was walking. I felt so weak and hungry, I wanted to curl up on the side of the road and sleep. People were passing me left and right and I was ready to throw in the towel. I thought about how far I had come to race in this foreign land. I thought about how lucky I was that my knee felt the best it’s felt in a month and I ‘could’ run. Then, outta nowhere thees young village kids showed up. “Haribo! Who needs em some Haribo?!” You bet your life I want some gummy bears! (bouncing here and there and everywhere.) I must have looked at them with bewilderment as well as looking like I might die because one kid said, “Go ahead now, take them all.”

Never have I shoveled candy into my mouth as fast I did at that moment. 1 huge handful of the most delightful, life saving energy food ever. I looked at the kids and said, “Thanks fellas, you just saved my life!” I mustered up a little willpower and started running. 10 minutes later I was back in action.

I felt pretty good, but not up to full speed of course, as I came into what must have been an aid station at Mile 20 or 21. They finally had some Gatorade-like substance here along with some crackers that I housed. I later found out from the rest of the group that there were no crackers, so either I imagined it or a civilian helped me.

I was just clicking off mile by mile, sending it home. I knew it wouldn’t be my best time, but dammit, I was going to finish.

Rounding a bend and turning back into the open merciless wind, the ‘Hell of the West’ (a notorious 2 mile incline miles 221-24) reared its head. It was actually quite a sight to take in, like the great migration or something. As far as you could see there were runners winding up and around the mountain range. Spectacular and yet wickedly sick all at once.

I began my assent into the clouds accepting of the challenge. I didn’t want to walk, and so I didn’t. Instead I picked up the pace and dug in. I started passing people slowly. There were a lot of walkers. About a mile up as we rounded the bend the hill just kept going. I noticed now that my knee was acting up. I knew it would at some point during the race, but with 2 miles to go I wasn’t about to stop.

At the top of the mountain you could literally see the finish line 2 miles away down in the valley. 2 miles never looked so far. I even thought out loud, “No way that’s only 2 miles, it looks like 5!”

I just held a slow, steady, even pace for the remainder. Coming into the finish with 3:33:00 (my 9th marathon, weird) on the clock. I’ll take it, thank you very much mystical land of Connemara.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M35	5236	63	n/a	3:33:00	8:07	58.21%

After collecting my hardware I made my way to the only physical structure for 5 miles, the hotel and bar.

I figured it would be packed, but it was far from it… for now. Entering the dark ‘hunting lodge-like’ room I at first thought it was closed. Then, to my left I noticed a blazing fire in the old stone fireplace. A young women then appeared from behind the bar, my savior.

“Oh hello. You just ran the race, congratulations. Would you like a glass of water?” I smiled and simply said, “I’ll have a Guinness.”

10 minutes later the room started to fill up and the first of my friends arrived, Maura, Chris, Aidan and Elyssa. We took over a big table and began chowing down and drinking, all very happy to have finished. Moments later Abbe, BoJo and Lisa arrived.

All of us, although happy to be done, were openly concerned about Claire as we had just run one of the hardest and most unforgiving courses. We all started telling our tales of turmoil followed by triumph, some teary eyed. This was no ordinary race, this was truly a battle on many levels.

3 drinks in I caught Claire at the entrance to the bar looking around. I stood up and pointed at her yelling, “WALSH!” She came over and was overwhelmed by all the hugs, bursting into tears. Being one of very few Ultra runners, it was as if a General had entered the bar. People stood and Claire received a big round of applause and cheer. I bought her a Guinness.

That night all of us went out in Galway, celebrating our achievements. I am honored, proud and happy to have such noble and inspirational friends.

I often hear “I could never do that.” in regards to my Marathons or Ironman races. It is my least favorite thing to hear, because I was once just an nonathletic artist, dared to run a marathon. With zero training and a bum knee I ran this race. I’m not trying to gloat, what I am telling non-believer is this, I ran the Connemarathon with my mind, not my body. So what are you waiting for, go pick a marathon.

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