Running – Page 7 – BEYOND DEFEAT

Our Boston Marathon

Posted on April 17, 2013 by admin

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The Boston Marathon is my Christmas.

I can’t seem to muster up my usual morning smile and have no pep in my step. The importance of everything around me seems dwarfed by Boston.

After last year’s scorching Boston Marathon, I decided to take a year off and run a race in Ireland. Thank you to all of my family and friends who reached out to see if I was okay, thinking I may have been running.

I was greatly relieved to learn (one by one) that all of my friends in Boston were okay. I wish everyone was okay. I wish that all of those people who worked so hard to get to Boston could have been celebrating today. I am sad for all of the innocent people hurt, people cheering on their runners.

Never before have I ever felt so directly affected by something so terrible. So much so, that I think I’m going to Boston next year.

Connemarathon: Pre-race

Posted on April 15, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 2 Comments

Sitting in a pub 1 year ago with a few members of the Runner Army, it was suggested (because Maura is from Galway, Ireland) that we run the Connemarathon. It’s amazing what you can do, a simple dream or conversation, becoming your very real reality.

I met Claire on the Deuce, or 42nd Street if you prefer, and we hopped a cab to JFK. It was a beautiful day for a cab ride. Claire and I shared our insights on whether we were going to run the race in 3 days time. She has a stress fracture on her middle toe and well, my knee has bursitis. Both of us hadn’t done any training in probably 6 weeks, but more on that later.

We found Abbe Lew at yes, you guessed it, a bar. We saddled up beside her and had a few pints while we waited for our host, the Queen of Galway Bay herself, Maura to arrive.

So… we were pretty banged up when we got on the plane. I had never been on a transatlantic flight before so my plan was to use booze as a sleep aid. It worked. It was a 6PM flight so we arrived in Dublin on the following day at 5AM, time traveling into the future. Pretty cool aside from that fact that we would be a mess until we got to sleep that night.

We were hangin tough in the airport until the whole army arrived. Role Call: Abbe, Claire, Maura, Bojana (aka BoJo), Elyssa, Lisa, and Kristina. After renting a van, we took off heading westward! The only time it rained (the entire trip) was right as we were leaving the airport.

First stop, one of Maura’s 7 siblings, Sheelagh’s place, for a hard core Irish Breakfast! It was strictly amazing. 2 kinds of blood pudding, irish bacon, irish sausages, homemade soda bread, porridge, beans, tomatoes… you get the idea.

Once we were back on the highway everyone pretty much passed out aside from our driver, Maura. I tried really hard to be tough, fighting the urge to sleep and keeping her company, but soon I too was knocked out.

Arriving in Galway where Maura grew up, we headed to her family’s seafood business and met one of her brothers. Then, we went to her place, saying hi to her mother who is quite cool and very funny in an irish witty way. We had some time to kill so we went for a ‘Walk on the Prom.’ The promenade is a walkway winding around all of Galway Bay and is truly a sight. Across the bay is County Clare, very majestic with its hills. We also stopped in to have lunch at a local spot in which a few of us had our first of many Guinness tastings. Such a treat.

One of Maura’s very generous friends, Trays, let all of us stay in her house for the duration of the trip! So very sweet of her! After we cleaned up from our long day(s) of travel we hit the town! We had reservations at Ard Bia, a local spot in a cute country home style setting. My meal was absolutely amazing. Even here in New York I would be hard pressed to find something as delicious this. I had monkfish (the special) and seasoned vegetables. I also ate the leftover steaks of both Claire and Maura. My knee was craving food I guess, like some sick monster or vampire trying to regenerate.

Later that night Claire helped me with my math in noting that all of us had indeed been awake for 36 hours.

“Sleeping is easy, waking up is the hard part.” Isn’t that true after a crazy 36 hours of travel? I felt so great on day 2 after a full nights sleep and after eating enough dinner for 3.

We started our day with a morning shake out run along the Prom. It was a beautiful sunny day! My knee was only slightly wonky and I even did a speed drill to test her out. Systems were looking good.

Just to put you in my head… this race had been planned for a year. It takes place in one of the most beautiful and remote places in Ireland and has 3,000 entrants. I really wanted to run, but only if my knee was in good shape. With every passing day it got better and better. I also hadn’t run since February, so with no training my mind was a big ball of stress.

After the run we headed out (with Maura’s youngest brother Chris as our tour guide) to Connemara. We wanted to scout out parts of the course and just get a taste of what we were up against.

Packed into the van and very excited, we as me made our way past the last small village we entered some of the most mesmerizing scenery I have ever seen. Vast stretches of rock strewn fields met with tall majestic rock mountains cutting across the sky. Every now and again there would be 3 to 5 small farm houses at the base. Oscar Wilde dubbed it as ‘a savage beauty.’ Oh, and there were sheep EVERYWHERE, even in the road hanging out being sheepish.

Did I mention it was sunny?

On the way to lunch we ended up driving a bit of the Ultra course which upset Claire. I mean, the course did look very lovely from our perspective inside a moving van.

We stopped at Kylemore Abbey for lunch and to see the castle grounds. Briefly, its story goes something like this… in the 1850’s a couple honeymooned there. Years later the man inherited a great deal of money, returned and purchased 15,000 acres to build his wife a house modeled after a castle. It even has a church and lavish gardens. Its quite amazing. A few years after it was built his wife and daughter were struck ill and died. Since then it has passed hands a number of times. Now, the Benedictine Monks preside over the estate.

After basking in it’s beauty, we departed to bib pick-up, an hour or more away back in Galway.

Pick-up was at Elvery Sports, a local shop, and pretty painless. The single most important decision I made there was to purchase a running jacket. It was a very lightweight windbreaker, ‘wind breaking’ being the key component.

For our pre race dinner we decided to cook at the house and not risk possible food errors. Abs and BoJo made pasta with basil and tomato and a side salad, perfectly delicious.

After dinner Maura, Chris, and Elyssa went out to a local pub but the rest of us were pretty exhausted AND nerve wrecked knowing what battle lie ahead on the fields of Connemara. We had a few beers then went to bed at 11PM.

To be continued…

That time I got injured.

Posted on March 30, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Running 4 Comments

Most of you know by now that I have bursitis of the knee. I’m living in a sort of ‘Runners Hell.’ I haven’t run in 5-6 weeks and am heading to Ireland to run the Connemarathon next Sunday. It should be interesting.

Ive been reading a lot.

I can hear a few of you, “Baker, that sounds like a bad idea. What if you hurt your knee even more?” Excellent point!

Before we talk about safety lets address the cause of my knee problem. At first, I thought I had injured it from doing a speed workout 1 week prior to the Gasparilla Half. Then, after researching ‘Chondromalacia patellae’ which is one of my ailments I came across an interesting sentence. ‘Skateboarders most commonly experience this injury in their non-dominant foot due to the constant kicking and twisting required of it.’ Oh snap! I looked back at my trusty Daily Mile log and sure enough, the same week I did the speed workout I had skateboarded to work for the first time in months!

My dear Watson, we’ve done it, The Case of the Curious Knee, solved!
Drink Coke, not Pepsi.

I love skateboarding to work. I love running and triathlons a lot more. Thank god the weather has been crap otherwise I would have been really going nuts.

For the last 10 days I have been icing my knee every hour, on the hour, for 10 minutes and eating Advil as a snack food. I have not done any strenuous exercise aside from swimming and core work. I have been a really good patient, I even skipped a race.

Now for the good news! I just went out for a run as the knee pain is non-existent the last few days. I ran 1/2 of a mile with zero pain! Then, a slight ‘twinge’ so I stopped just for safety sake.

The end is near my friends, I can feel it!

I will, however, not run the Connemarathon if there is pain present. I am coming home with hardware though, so I might just loosen my ego and power walk the hell out of the course! Look out!

NYC Half: DNS aka Cheer Squadron

Posted on March 22, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 4 Comments

My Spring race schedule is a pretty simple formula… 2 Half Marys, a Full Mary followed another 2 Half Marys, with 2 weeks between each. A marathon sandwich if you will.

I ran the first of these in Tampa at the Gasparilla Distance Classic. I had a nagging knee pain in my left knee but I decided to just run through the pain. Upon our return I decided I better figure out this knee thing.

After some self diagnosis and help from my Sports Med friend Mary, we decided it was probably Runner’s Knee or tendonitis. I iced it and stretched a lot. Just to be clear, it only hurts when I go down stairs, squad, push off for a run or lunge left. Normal day-to-day activities feel normal. The problem with this is that my normal day-to-day activities are about to switch into triathlon training hyper drive as the Spring is near.

A painful decision was made not to run the NYC Half (my favorite Half Mary EVER) and try and heal up for the Connemarathon in Ireland.

RACE DAY

Abs and I met up with Susan, Dan, Ali, Brian, Jess and Lora at Engineers Gate to form Cheer Squadron A. Very elite, we even had cowbells and a foam finger from a Yankees game. Although I was somewhat sad that I was not racing, part of me was happy because it was like 25 degrees which is out of my comfort zone.

I saw many a friend running and destroying the course, which to a New Yorker is his or her back freakin yard what! Erica, Maura, Bojana, Ben, Josh K (demon of speed), Kevin (also a demon of speed), Kelly, Eliz, Eissa and probably a few others that I can’t remember. Way to go team, many a PR was had!

This last week I have been trying new techniques like heating my knee and oh, seeing a sports med doctor! Josh K recommended this guy and since Josh is a pretty serious runner I went.

Guess what? Heating the knee was bad idea. I have bursitis, which to me is better than having Runner’s Knee because its a bit more controllable. “Hey Baker, what the hell is bursitis? Are you going to need a robotic knee with an ipod adapter and built in water reservoir?” I wish kid, I wish. I hate carrying my iPod. Between our bone and our tendons are bursa, which reduce friction between the two. My bursa is irritated and pissed off and needs to be iced. Basic treatment (which all athletes know) is RICE… Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation.

I am very relieved to have some sort of pinpoint on my wonky knee. I also think I know what caused it. A week or so before the Gasparilla Half I was running the bridal path (Kel, remember I met up with you for a few miles) and rolled my ankle. Rather than stop I just ran through the pain. Now, because I was being tough and stubborn I have to suffer, lesson learned.

I have 2 weeks to the Connemarathon and my knee is already almost pain free. This doesn’t mean I’m going to run it, I’m just being hopeful.

As you can imagine I have been very depressed the last 4 weeks and in a funk. To know that running will only agitate your injury makes you crazy. I live to be active, to run, bike, swim, skateboard and really just bounce around all over. It really just goes back to one of my philosophys of why I run. I run to feel alive and because I can. I run for charities to run for those who cannot run. Not that I AM one of the people who cannot run I realize just how much we must cherish our health and the ability to move gracefully across this Earth, with speed, determination and heart.

Go run, because you can.

The 2013 New York Hot Dog Challenge

Posted on March 3, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 5 Comments

I was really looking forward to the 2nd Annual New York Hot Dog Challenge. To see an idea come to light 13 years after its inception is quite a treat.

This year, we had raised $350 in prize money but had fewer competitors. The other rule change was that the prize money was to be split by the 1st Male and 1st Female instead of a ‘Winner Take All’ program like last year. I was hoping this would inspire some of our female athletes, but as of Friday only my friend Elizabeth was in.

After running the back half of the course to make sure all the hot dog carts were there (they were and THEN some) I made my way to the start giddy with excitement.

We met at the bottom of the Central Park Mall, the sight just one month earlier of Abbe and I’s engagement…

BD_HDC2013_1stDOG

After explaining the rules the competitors each bought the first dog, a tradition, eating together. Once someone finished they could take off, and they did!

My goal the whole race was to stick with the leaders to keep track of a potential winner. From the Start to dog 1 of ‘7th Circle of Hell’ a 4 dog spree around Columbus Circle, was almost a mile. Matt6 hit the cart first followed by Bo, Neal, Elizabeth, Tony and our last years champ Dave Tao. This cart (it was said later) had the worst dogs. They were dubbed ‘The Brown Dogs’ by the competitors.

Bo and Matt6 took of first so I stuck with them as we made our way around the ‘7th Circle of Hell’. These hot dog vendors got really into the race and started cheering us on. It was here that Bo started to pull away from Matt6. By cart 5 he was almost a whole dog ahead of him meaning, in Hot Dog Challenge speak, by the time Matt6 was arriving at the cart, Bo was just finishing his dog. After a few quick exchanges, Bo was off.

I was really excited as we arrived at ‘Dollar Dogs’ because this is pretty cheap for a hot dog. I did my scouting during the weekday so there was a chance that this cart might be a no show on weekends. Matt and Tony were right on Bo’s ass. We found out that Elizabeth was out of the race, making things interesting as now the full $350 prize purse went to the overall winner. That’s a lot of cash.

Bo and I made our way back up to the Park across from the Plaza for dog 7. Some of Dave and Bo’s friends were here cheering them on. This would also be the cart where Matt6 finished the last true hot dog, therefore Tony had to eat a ‘spicy’ sausage! Props and dedication! Luckily they had restocked the cart before Neal and Dave made it to him.

By now everyone was in pretty rough shape. If the wall in a Marathon is the 18 mile mark, then dog 7 represents the wall in the Hot Dog Challenge. Bo was on the home stretch up 5th Avenue with 3 carts to go.

The ‘Zoopocalypse’ cart was at 67th street right by, you guessed it, the Zoo. Luckily, or not so lucky, the cart at 72nd Street was missing so they competitors had to run 67th Street all the way to 79th for the 9th dog. Bo set off at a pretty good pace with Matt6 off in the distance.

The tourist crowds were thick by now and it was getting difficult navigating through the streets. At the 79th Street cart Bo seemed to be in good shape for one last dog. By now we could just barely make out Matt6 about 5 blocks to the South and gaining. I really wanted a photo finish, but Bo had his mind set on a win.

I waited for Matt6 as Bo took off to the last cart to see how he was doing then sprinted on to the Met.

Bo finished his 10th dog in 3.1 miles for the win! Matt6 was just a few minutes behind him, followed by Tony (and his ref Steph) who chose to get a chili cheese dog for his final!

Soon Dave arrived followed by Neal. They had Rachel and Elizabeth reffing and guiding them. Reffing is a very respected job in the Hot Dog Challenge as competitors get pretty out of sorts towards the end and need guidance and support.

We all made our way over to Jack Russell’s for the after party and awards ceremony. Bo, the 2013 champ, went home with $350 in cold hard earned cash!

Congrats to everyone who came out! It’s not an easy race by any means, so just getting to the Start is bold. Thanks to all our volunteers who helped along the way too!

RACE REPORT: 087 Gasparilla Half Marathon – 1:26:25

Posted on February 26, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 2 Comments

As we arrived in Tampa on Friday, I was immediately struck with joy once we learned the temperature outside. After dealing with 20 degree weather for the last month I will take 80 degrees any day, even if it means running a Half Marathon in it.

My mom picked Abbe and I up from the airport (she and my step-father Richard live here). After acquiring him, we hit the race expo for bib pick-up. I have to say Tampa, pretty impressive expo! All the big names were there and it wasn’t overly crowded or squished together as some (like the Disney Expo) can be.

That night my Mom and Richard took us out to celebrate our engagement. We went to this place called Oystercatchers and filled on some delicious seafood. It may have even been healthy, which is good because we spent the rest of the night up late playing pool and drinking.

Saturday was ‘Beach Day’! We hit St. Pete’s and ended up in this quaint little beach hood called Pass-a-Grille. It was so chill. We had grouper sandwiches from this beach side shack out in the sun. When I retire I plan on opening one just like it in the Caribbean or Mexico, I’ll keep you posted. Nature was out in full effect. We saw egrets, ibises, spoonbills, pelicans and even a friendly dolphin named.

That night we met up with TJ and Bethaney at a bar by my mom’s called Datz. Its within walking distance to both my Mom’s place and Bethaney and TJ’s. Why is that an important piece of the puzzle? Bethaney and TJ are friends of ours who race Ironmans and oh, you know, the Hot Dog Challenge! They just happened to move like a mile from my Mom and were also running the Half. We conspired on the next morning’s race while having a drink before parting ways to buckle down for the night.

RACE DAY

Up at 4:30AM… ready to rock. (Start time was 6AM as it gets hot quick in Florida.) This is the first ‘race’ of the season and quite frankly I am ready to get the season going. Winter is such a buzz kill for athletes in cold climates. Yes, I know all my Colorado teammates bike in snowstorms and are hard core, I just love hot weather.

Coffee and 1 banana for fuel. That’s all for this one.

My Mom and Richard drove us up to the start and then parked to cheer. It was super easy to jog into the corrals. I was worried because they only had 2 corrals for people, Sub 2 hours and over 2 hours, but it worked out just great. People in Tampa seem to place themselves accordingly to their speed!

After a strange rendition of the Nation Anthem a minster gave a prayer for us. This was new to me, but hey it it helps improve my time I’ll bow my head. The gun went off and within 5 seconds I crossed the start mats. There were maybe 300 people in front of me and it was tightly packed.

I DID wear my Garmin. It wouldn’t prove too useful until the last half of the race as it was pitch black.

100 yards out we took a hairpin turn up over a bridge to Davis Island. We had to loop the island (5 miles) then come back over and do an out=-and-back on Bayshore along the water. A very straightforward course with very little room for user error. As soon as we entered Davis Island I began the task of flanking everyone and increasing my pace. I function very well when I have people to chase down.

The first couple of miles hurt really bad and the humidity was making me crazy. I often thought about walking or giving up. My feet were on FIRE and mind you I had on my Newts (MV2s) with no socks. Danny, do you think you can alter the MV2’s design to include some kind of air conditioning in the 014 models? Seriously though, the MV2’s are unstoppable, I wore them every race last year.

Running in the pitch black really reminded me of Reach the Beach, accept I was on overdrive. At each aid station I was taking water for my mouth and my head.

By now I was in single line race formation with my peers and we were holding steady. I didn’t want to push it any harder for fear of not finishing, walking or death by heatwave. I started to just take it mile-by-mile.

Up and over the bridge onto Bayshore, I started feeling good and there was really no one else around me so I was having fun. The guy in front of me was 50 yards out and the guy behind the same. I saw my Mom and Richard (even high fived her) on the way onto the main drag.

Unfortunately, I know Bayshore well. When I signed up for my first running race in 2008 THIS was the place I took my first EVER training runs of like 3-5 miles (in pants)! The unfortunate part is you can see where the turnaround is off in the distance. It is at that point you think, “Wow, it would take a long time even in a car to drive down there.”

I just plugged away as the miles passed, not looking at my Garmin, but easily calculating on the markers my time. I could tell just by the way I was feeling (HOT) that there was no PR today. Even still, I was proud of myself for not quitting and by now I knew I had a finish in me.

At the mile 9 turn around I had some fire in me and increased my pace. We were on the home stretch and I was ready for some breakfast. I was also excited because I could try and pick out my crew!

First I saw Abbe who yelled hi and gave me a thumbs down. I knew she was going to give me a sad face because I felt the heat and humidity too. Then I saw TJ and then Bethaney.

As the last hundred yards rolled around I saw my Mom and Richard (both with cameras) on a median screaming and cheering. It was pretty cool and they had great seats.

I finished with a smile and proceeded to shake hands with a guy who had been 10 paces in front of me the last 4 miles. 6 minutes from a PR, but it was a helluva fun time anyway. I live to race.

I walked along getting my water, bananas and then… whats this? There was a coffee truck giving out cups of joe! I grabbed some coffee from the super nice gal and walked barefoot back down to my Mom to cheer.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M35	122005	35	7	1:26:25	6:35	69.04%

Once we all came in we made our way to Brunchery to eat a hearty breakfast!

Great race and great hardware! Pirates=awesome.

That night my Aunt Janice, Uncle Rob and Nana came over to dinner to not only celebrate the race but also the engagement. It was so great seeing all of them and sharing stories.

Thanks for hosting us Mom and Richard!

To Garmin, or NOT to Garmin… that is the question

Posted on February 21, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Running 7 Comments

This Sunday marks the start of the Spring racing season for me and I cannot tell you how excited I am. The doldrums of Winter are finally dissipating to make way for warmer weather and better outdoor conditions.

I will be racing the Gasparilla Half Marathon in Tampa under a sunny sky with temps in the low 80s. The question I have been toying with is… should I go raw and not wear my Garmin?

Last October I went without my Garmin at Grete’s Gallop and came within seconds of my Half Mary PR. Perhaps having a Garmin would have made me push harder?

I leave it to you , the readers, to help me make the decision.

Garmin or no Garmin?

History with Baker: Vol. 2

Posted on February 10, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Running 2 Comments

Every runner should know Cleopatra’s Needle. It sits off to the left of the East Drive as you head North around the Park. I kind of thought it was just some random obelisk for years until I did my homework.

I chose to write about her today as she sits covered in snow, something that is relatively new to her.

Cleopatra’s Needle (misnamed… and having nothing to do with Cleopatra in fact) is made of red granite and was built around 1450BC. That means it’s like 3500 years old!!! So awesome right? We run by this ancient artifact daily!

It was 1 of 2 erected, the other is in London. It took 4 months to move the obelisk from the Hudson River to Central Park where it sits today. The opening ceremony held on February 22, 1881, was conducted by Grand Master of Masons in the State of New York and over 9,000 Masons were in attendance.

Another fun fact per the Central Park Conservancy’s website:

“A time capsule was buried beneath the Obelisk and included an 1870 U.S. census, the Bible, Webster’s Dictionary, the complete works of Shakespeare, a guide to Egypt and a facsimile of the Declaration of Independence. A small box was placed in the capsule by the man who orchestrated the purchase and transportation of the Obelisk. He will probably be the only person in history to ever know its contents.”

Run for Love

Posted on February 9, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 10 Comments

Tuesday morning’s snow was exactly what I had been waiting for. It was peaceful snow, quiet snow that you could actually hear hitting the ground.

Abbe and I were enjoying our morning run around Central Park as I suggested we explore the Mall, her favorite part of the Park.

There, at the perfect place at the perfect time in perfect conditions, I asked her to marry me and she said yes.

Thanks to Erica for being my stealthy photographer!

Thanks to Newton Running for helping our engagement to go global!

Run for Love!

4th Annual City Bakery Run

Posted on February 5, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Fitness, Running Leave a comment

Do you like running? Do you also happen to like the most amazing hot chocolate ever created? Do you like arctic Winter weather? If you picked 2 out of 3 then the City Bakery Run is a must.

In true crazy runner spirit I planned on using the 5 mile City Bakery Run as the tail end of a longer run. My Marathon Sandwich starts in a few weeks and I would like to be a little bit ahead of the competition.
THE MARATHON SANDWICH:

February 24- Gasparilla Half Mary = BREAD
March 17 – NYC Half Mary = LETTUCE AND TOMATO
April 07 – ConneMarathon = FRESH TURKEY
April 20 – Blue Ridge Half Mary = PROVELONE CHEESE
May 05 – Long Branch Half Mary = BREAD

Guess what? It snowed the night before so it was awesome out.

My 7 miles pre-CBR went pretty smooth aside from rolling my ankle at mile 5 (I decided to try running on the pretty rocky trails) and almost took myself out for the season. I quickly jumped back onto solid pavement, the cold numbing my ankle. Did I mention it was cold? If a magic Genie had told me in 2008 that not only would I be running and doing triathlons, but that I would be running in 15 degree weather I’d have thought him ONE CRAZY GENIE! Genie you crazy, back in that bottle.

Where was I? Right, so I meet up with our gang promptly at 11AM. We had quite a group!

Setting off for our 5 mile run I was not bone cold from hanging around sweaty waiting for people. Using my Bear Grylls instincts (as my fingers were on the edge of frostbite) I ran with my hands buried in my chest. It totally worked too.

I mostly ran with my friend Elizabeth chatting about running and life. It was a blast catching up. By the time we got close to City Bakery I was so hungry. Like, almost didn’t make it hungry which is ironic as I had been telling Eliz that I don’t need much nutrition during my races these days. Not today! All I could think about was bacon and eggs.

Our group of 4 (Me, Eliz, Joshie, and Robin) were first to arrive and we jumped in line, grabbing food and yes, the infamous hot chocolate. The rest of the group trickled in and we took over the upstairs of the establishment. It was really fantastic to see everyone AND get a serious workout in at the same time!

Until next year…

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