Category Archives: Running

RACE REPORT: 086 Ted Corbitt Classic 15K – 58:59

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TC125

I love a good 15K mainly because its such a freakish distance! I think I have run 3 in the last 4 years or something. They teeter right on the edge of, “Should I train for this” and “It’s only 5 more K than a 10K, I’ll just wing it.”

In order to prepare for the run, I went to watch the Brooklyn Nets play the Pistons the night before in the new Barclay’s Center. Todd, Frank, Cottom and I met up at Smoke Shop (no, it is not a weed store) for some BBQ and beers. The place rocks if you are into ribs.

We easily entered Barclay’s at 7:30 and made our way to our seats. Let’s take a moment to discus Jay’s (Z) new stadium. Jay, hats off! What a fine piece of design it is, with a street level entrance right into the heart of the arena. No climbing stairs for an hour like The Garden. They also have local food vendors like Fatty Cue, Habana Outpost, and Brooklyn Burger! I love this concept.

Why do people in Brooklyn seem more friendly than in Manhattan?

Since this is a race report I wont dwell too much more on the game, but know this… BK Nets won by 2 in double overtime at the buzzer!

So of course we had to celebrate.

RACE DAY

I woke up after my 5 hours of beer fueled sleep feeling pretty beat up. Normally, I can rally but I think I may have caught this flu that’s popping around since I had a sore throat.

I geared up, didn’t eat anything, and jogged off to the Start. Blue Corral was already mobbed, so I just walked in and decided to hang in the back of it, especially since I wasn’t feeling too peppy.

Where the front of the Red Corral met the back of the Blue is where I bumped into Kelly! Hi Kelly. We hung out for a bit goofin’ off before we had to get serious. We also saw Dani off to our left who gave a wave!

The gun went off and I started running, but not too fast as I was behind a large group of speedsters. As we rounded the corner and headed into Cat Hill I flanked the pack on the right and started progressing forward through them. I thought I was going to take it easy but my competitive side always gets the best of me. I wasn’t wearing my Garmin (my new thing and I love doing it) so I was just running by feel. I kinda felt like quitting. In fact, the first 5 miles of the race I thought of ways to quit. My chest hurt and I was so very tired, but I had committed to a race…

I was slamming down water at every aid station. I normally never do this but I was quite parched. Maybe it was the salty barbeque I ate the night before or the 5 million beers or I was getting the flu? Who knows? I don’t, I’m no doctor!

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Run, run, run, all I do is run.

By mile 4 we were in race formation, single file and were maybe cooking at a 6:30 pace. I would go on to play leap frog with a few tall fellows. The irony of it, was that I would overtake them on the downhills. You would think that with a larger gait and more body mass they would pick up speed? Maybe they were afraid of tumbling? I also saw Abbe (on her run) who yelled out to me!

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As I passed Mile 6 I had entered the point of no ‘giving up’ as this is right by my apartment at Engineer’s Gate. My original plan was to just run off the course instead of doing 2 loops and go home and go to sleep. I must have missed my exit.

Coming down the west side of the Park I actually started to feel good. My pace was steady and my form was doing fine, I wasn’t smashing my legs down or anything like that. As a I turned in to finish I had this feeling of ‘maybe I should do a few more miles’! Then, I thought about sleeping and how wonderful that would be.

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I ended up finishing in 58:59, a 24 second PR!

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall Place Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M34 125 65 22 58:59 6:20 70.4%

For the rest of the weekend I slept a lot and ended up wiping that wicked bug out of me. Maybe that ol’ 15K even helped!

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 QUARANTINE!

 

Free Yourself from the Numbers

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With each passing day I gain the new friendship of a runner or triathlete. Since my first race, the NYC Mary in 2008, my life has taken quite a turn and I love it. I honestly don’t know what I did with my time before training for Ironmans and Marathons?

Look! I used to run in PANTS!

As my athletic endeavors became more challenging I found myself absorbed in the science behind it all. I hired a fantastic coach, learned about nutrition, heart rate, cadence, pace strategy and aerobic thresholds. This helped me tremendously! I saw improvements in my times and felt great about my training regimen. I had a sort of revelation the other day though, watching my twitter feed and everyone talking about their runs, bikes or swims and the mileage and pace associated with each one. (Funny how all my friends now are athletes says the kid who went to art school.) I got kind of turned off by the whole thing, the science of it all. Even I was guilty of over analyzing my training.

I had forgotten that at it’s core, the reason I run, or racing in triathlons, is that it’s fun. No matter what pace you hit, how even your heart rate was, or how many miles you put in, at the end you still feel great and probably really enjoyed yourself. You just forgot because you were too focused on numbers.

I set out to do a little test 2 weeks ago during the Grete’s Great Gallop Half Marathon. I was going to run naked (without my precious Garmin) and prove that it doesn’t matter. I raced my heart out and came within 5 seconds of a PR I set in 2010! I wasn’t looking at my wrist every 30 seconds, I was focused on how I felt and how fast my legs were turning over. It was very ‘freeing,’ similar to turning off your cell phone during a vacation.

The New York City Marathon is in 2 weeks and I am running that bad boy Garminless. I invite anyone interested to try it! Obviously first time marathon runners or people out to BQ might not apply, but everyone else, what have you got to lose? Who’s with me?!

Anyone want to make any Garminless predictions for my time? My course PR for New York is 3:00:48.

RACE REPORT: 085 Grete’s Gallop 1/2 Mary – 1:20:53

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The mighty Grete Waitz (for those of you that don’t know) was a rock star of a woman, winning the NYC Mary 9 times. Whaaaaa?! She is also from Norway and based on a recent DNA test I found out I am primarily Norwegian. Perhaps a distant relative? One could only wish for a relative like her. I digress… this Half Mary is in her honor and takes place in The Central Park.

Since completing Ironman in August a huge weight was lifted in my training both physically and mentally. My ‘A’ races (Boston as well) for the season are over. I’m racing NYC Marathon, but I always do that simply because it’s so much fun! Therefore, I’m not stressin’.

That brings us up to speed on our discussion on Grete’s Gallop. To race, or just run, THAT is the question. Abbe told me to race it and seeing how the Mary is 3 weeks out thats more than enough time to recover for it. Also, I secretly can never just ‘run’ a race no matter what I tell myself beforehand.

Now I was nervous. I started thinking about my latest Marathon PR and how I achieved it. Perhaps I could use that same strategy? This strategy (used in the Kentucky Derby Marathon) was simply to throw all pacing rules out the window and run as fast as I could the whole time.

The day before the race was actually quite relaxing. Abbe and I went to the Met (I now live a stones throw from it) and checked out the Warhol exhibit. We hit the Member’s Lounge for a few drinks and then headed back to the apartment for a nice home cooked race meal. In bed by 11! “Baker, good god man why so late?” The race started at 10:30, who ever heard of that?

RACE DAY

I had a strange dream about my father during the night that was really vivid. He ‘visited me’ and brought me a keepsake. It kind of affected m a lot and I decided to hone in on it while racing.

Had some coffee and really just counted down the hours until I had to leave! Abbe left earlier as she was volunteering. You can read all about her wild experience here.

A quick 10 minute jog got me over to the Start Corrals. I saw Erica Sara finishing up her 20 miler and ran with her for a hot second.

Up in my corral I didn’t see (for the first time in awhile) any of my Blue Corral buds. I later found out Antonio was hiding in it somewhere.

The usual suspects spoke… National Anthem… race route instructions… THE GUN.

I never know how a race is going to go until I start running (or swimming if we are referring to a Tri.) Immediately I felt as if I ran hard the day before. My legs, although moving at a good pace now, felt exhausted.

We hit Mile 1 at 5:45. What did I tell you my plan was? That’s right, run hellfire speed the whole time and I seemed to be holding up to it. In my mind thought I was like, “Man, this hurts bad. Maybe this isn’t such a great idea. Remember that easy long run we did last weekend at a 7 minute pace, let’s do that!”

Unfortunately, my legs didn’t listen. They can be stubborn. I was already tired by the time we hit Tavern on the Green (the Finish) and was like, “OH, now we have only 2 laps to do.” I kinda wanted to come up with a reason to DNF since my heart was on fire and I was super hot, and yet, I just kept running.

Oh, I forgot to tell you. I intentionally did not wear a Garmin. I wanted to try and get in tune with my heart and not just numbers.

I saw my friend Elizabeth at Mile 4ish who’s cheering gave me a boost.

By the time Harlem Hill was approaching we had formed a single line of runners, spaced out 10 meters each. A few of us started leapfrogging, but we were all holding the same pace so no one gained. It was at this point I started running ‘boy, girl, boy (me), girl’ with a few legit competitors. We would run the entire rest of the race together! That’s 9 miles of us all in formation, each of us taking turns leading.

Harlem Hill kicked my ass. Oh, and we had to run it one more time, awesome!

Climbing the east side of it I saw Jim from ‘Dad Posse’ who gave me a good cheer!

As our line barreled down the East Side we played the tangents. Well, we played them until I saw Course Marshall Abbe at which point I veered over to give her a high five. I tried to think of something more entertaining to do, like tackle her into the bushes, but I was exhausted.

Then, we saw Ed from ‘Dad Posse’ who gave me a cheer. I wondered if they both knew each other were in the Park running?

After we crossed the Start area I switched on some much needed music. Based on my calculations we were running right around a 6 minute pace. I was happy with this but knew we would slow down, this being the half way point in the race.

Right around Mile 8 or 9 I noticed that I felt pretty good! So weird. I was still tired, but I was running happy and knew I would finish.

I saw Sebastien cheering on the sidelines who gave me a boost.

Our pace team, led by a tall brunette with a grey sports bra, a CPTC guy, me, and a brunette in a pink hat and shades, were now attacking Harlem Hill for the second time. We hit it pretty hard and showed no mercy. I was happy to hit the apex. (ohhh good word.) Barreling down the descent I saw Josh on my left cheering us on. I yelled, “Josh baby, what’s popping?!” I seemed to be in a cheerful mood, maybe because I had 3 miles to go.

By now we had started lapping other runners and it was no longer possible to hit the tangents, having to run wide left. We would no longer be able to get to the aid stations unless willing to risk serious time loss.

Passing Abbe again I gave her yet another high five. Then I saw Sebastien again (who had crossed the Park). I love seeing all the Runner Army out there support each other. Times like this make me happy to be a part of the local running community.

I hit Mile 11 at roughly 1:06 and change. I tacked 14 conservative minutes onto that and calculated that, yes, I might PR. I ‘thought’ my PR was 1:20:21, so that was the time I aimed for.

It got real crowded the last 2 miles and I was just trying to make it around the other runners without slamming into them. I was really excited to PR and was trying to keep pace up.

As the last mile hit I came upon and Urban Athletics runner going my pace. “Hey Chris!” he said. I evidently knew this person but had a hard time putting a face to a name until someone yelled out, “Go KB!” Beganics, of course! We chatted briefly before reeling in the last 400 Meters. The clock said 1:20 flat and knowing I could never PR at that rate I didn’t punch it. In reality, my PR was 1:20:48 and I probably should have blasted ahead. Way to do your pre race homework Baker.

Truly exhausted.

I finished in 1:20:53 and you know what, I’m so happy with the time! I raced without a Garmin and was a few seconds from a Half Mary PR, one that I set in 2010 in fact!

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall Place Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M34 132 83 17 1:20:53 6:10 73.5%

 I have no idea what I was doing at the end… waving at the crowd? 

 

RACE REPORT: 084 5th Avenue Mile – 4:57

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1 Mile, from 80th Street to 60th Street, down 5th Avenue. No turns, just a straight shot of blistering speed right to the lungs. It hurts but is over just as fast as it began.

This was my 3rd time running it and I was a bit nervous. I was chatting to some of my runner friends about this last night. I wasn’t nervous about finishing the race, or running it close to what I might be capable of. What was on my mind, and many others, was would I be able to beat my previous mile time of 4:59?

After a quick jog over to the Start I left Abbe at her corral (Wave starts based on gender and age) and I ran down to the Finish. (It was only 1 mile away.) I ran into Erica and Lora and we had some quick runner talk before wishing each other well and setting off.

As the Women (aged 19-29) came blasting down I watched for Abbe but lost her in the masses. I did, however, see Robin blazing a path! Nice work.

I found Abbe at the Finish and she had accomplished her goal of breaking 7 minutes with 6:38!

She took my position cheering and I ran up to the Start. (It was only 1 mile away.)

It was quite humid out so I grabbed some water before running into Josh, Elyssa and Bojana. We high fived, of course. Josh and I left the gals to their corrals we did some sprints while chatting. We took our place behind the gals as soon as they set off.

Josh and I were probably 50 people back from the Start mats. As the gun went off I counted down how long I had to cross the mat (to subtract it from my clock finish) but I was so amped I kept counting while running and messed up the plan.

I cut hard left and took off, passing a large chunk of the masses. The corrals are not based on speed so it’s always a mixed bag. Moving ahead I passed this guy, then he hung on maintaining pace. Not to judge or tease, because I am happy for anyone who wants to exercise, but home slice had on basketball shorts and may have been wearing high tops. He inspired me to speed up because his foot falls sounded like he was trying to break the concrete. It was like a ‘foot belly flop’ every time he hit the ground. Quite annoying, so I sped up.

The uphill at the halfway point definitely took some spunk out of my game. I tried to just maintain whatever pace I had, which I was unsure of since I wasn’t wearing a watch.

At the crest of the hill I tried getting my heart rate to cool it. I think it worked as I blasted down the decline with ease. It was here that I heard my name being cheered on a few times! Turns out it was my friend Robert. Thanks for the pics man!

As I approached the final 3/4’s of the mile I felt great and got fired up. I also saw Abbe, Elyssa, Erica and Lora off to the side screaming my name which helped tremendously. Just like previous times, even though you can see the Finish and it seems like you’re cruising, it takes an eternity to reach it. All the while watching the clock tick off those precious seconds… 4:50, 4:51, 4:52.

I crossed the Finish at 5:02 but knew I had some sort of buffer based on my start. Later that day when the times were posted I learned that I had a 2 second PR with a time of 4:57!

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall Place Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M34 369 117 27 4:57 4:57 76.3%

So now next year will be extra stressful trying to top that. It’s funny how just one second can be such a big deal in a small race like this.

Congrats goes out to all my friends who ran today! It was pretty glorious for everyone. Oh and double ups to the winner, Matt, who beat out Bernard by .2 seconds with a 03:52.4. That, is fast.

 Post race lunch with a friend.

RACE REPORT: 082 Percy Sutton 5k – 18:03

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I love 5K’s. Straight up pedal to the metal maximum overdrive with a smile. A breakfast full of pain that ends as quickly as it started.

The Percy Sutton 5K is one of maybe two NYRR races of this distance and just as I predicted, all the speedsters came to play.

Kelly met Abbe and I in front of my apartment (we no longer live next door so she had to hoof it up the 10 blocks) and we set off to the start. It was a 3.5 mile warm up that I definitely wanted. Running a 5K without a warm up isn’t smart. Imagine starting up your car and immediately slamming down the gas pedal.

We had a lovely run through Harlem and up to the start of the race. I saw Antonio and Sebastien before getting corralled up. Speaking of corrals, Abbe got to be in Blue with me for the first time ever! Hey there speedster, nice to meet ya! After a few words from Mary and a very cool trumpet performance of the National Anthem we were off.

It took me 14 seconds to get to the Start mat and begin.

I would like to take this moment to go on a rant. I noticed that there were a lot of people sneaking into the Blue Corral. Not just people in Red from the next fastest corral right behind us, but people who were in Orange and Yellow too. This defeats the whole purpose of having a corral system. If you think you deserve to be in a faster corral, then earn it like the rest of us.

As soon as I was in the mix that little button in my mind ‘clicked on’ and I was on the hunt. Originally, I was just going to get it done and run a nice manageable pace. Maybe next time. I was bobbing and weaving through all of the runners trying to get up to maximum speed. By the first 1/2 of a mile I had broken free and was in a group where we were running roughly the she pace.

Just after this point we starting going up a huge hill! I had thought this was a mostly flat course but was totally wrong! We were running up into the Heights! It hurt bad but I held my pace and made it up to the top of the long ascent.

Right past the first mile I started picking it up a little more. As I was passing some people I saw this guy with his shirt draped over his back with an ORANGE BIB! How did he get so far up? Oh I know, he snuck into the very front of the Blue Corral. As I passed him he hung onto my pace and followed me. Then, as we were taking a sharp left he came around to my right and tried to box me out! My adrenaline spiked and I broke hard right knocking past him with my shoulder and firing my afterburners, leaving him behind. Peace out cheater.

Fun fact: The only sport I ever played growing up was Ice Hockey.

We were now in the Heights running along the top of the park. My legs were tired but actually felt pretty good. I pressed forward.

Past Mile 2 we started heading downhill. You can really wipe out going downhill at 5K speed so I tried to maintain some control and not over do it.

We broke hard left again and were in the finishing straight away. I made a few more passes but was fading out. At the last 100 meters this guy came barreling past me like a bat out of hell! Props to you speedy stranger!

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall Place Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M34 133 109 23 18:03 5:50 72.7%

I finished in 18:03. Not a PR, but it did knock my NYRR ‘on file’ pace from a 5:52 to a 5:50.

After I dumped some water on my head and slammed 2 cups I found Sebastien and we chatted for a bit. I also saw Antonio and got to meet David. They all had fantastic races.

This moment right here is what I love most about the local racing scene. Hanging out with friends, chatting about our times, having a few laughs. There really isn’t a feeling of competitiveness at all. Each of us complimenting us on one anothers different strengths, whether it be speed or distance.

I found Abbe, Kelly and Amanda after the race. We headed back to my place for eggs, bacon and coffee! Woooo. All before 9:30AM.

Evolution: how did you get here?

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I think it’s really important to reflect on how you got to certain places in your life.

“You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
You may find yourself in another part of the world
You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
You may find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife
You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?”

Seriously. This morning as I was riding my track bike (which has no brakes or gears and cannot coast) I thought, “Wow, this puppy is so different from my Tri bike!” Then I remembered, track bikes are my roots! If I had never started riding a track bike, I would have never attempted a triathlon!

In case you don’t know my athletic past, there is none! I went to art school people, and am still an artist.

In the year 2000 (say that in the movie preview guy voice) my mountain bike was destroyed by a truck in midtown. I had ridden it like 10 times, it was a graduation gift from my Dad and to help for when I moved to the city.

I was pretty bummed. I was telling my friend Jae (aka Hardy Boy) about the ordeal. He rode track bikes, the most dangerous of al bikes, and suggested I get one since I had such strong legs from playing ice hockey.

I did just that and was propelled into a world of bike riding. Thanks Jae!

I rode NYC streets every day for around 9 years. Then, in 2008 the president of our company told me I needed to run the NYC Marathon.

I did and was propelled into the world of running. Thanks Allen!

In January of 2009, shortly after getting hooked on running my friend Todd told me I needed to do triathlons. “Todd, I can’t swim to save my life!” He agreed to teach me how to swim in order for me to get my triathlon on.

I learned to swim and competed in my first of many triathlons. Thanks Todd!

Looking back, all three were catalysts to each other, the end result being that I became a triathlete. Had my 3 friends not believed in me, and I not believed in myself, I would not be where I am today.

How did you get here?

RACE REPORT: 079 Front Runner’s Pride Run 5M – 30:55

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The Front Runners New York Gay and Lesbian Pride Run (woo that’s one hell of a long title) is part of New York’s Pride Week. It’s a blast. People tend to not take the race so seriously and come out to support Gay Pride, dress up, and act crazy in general.

I started my morning with a 2 hour bike ride (150 HR Tempo) so I was pretty warmed up by the time I got to the start. I also had a 4 hour ride queued up for the following day so ‘Jello Legs’ would be the theme of my Monday morning.

I was just chill in out in my corral in a cute little shady spot when I saw Abbe. She has gotten way fast so now she is either in the Red or Blue Corrals. This time she was in the Red, so I went to the back of the Blue and we talked. It was something out of a movie, but replace the red tape with the Berlin Wall or something a bit more dramatic. “When will I see you again my dear?” “At the end of the race in about 30 minutes.” “Farewell!”

Back towards the front of the Blue Corral a lot of the Front Runners were assembling. I was watching for my pal Kevin, but saw him nowhere. Then, I saw Josh, who came over and chatted. I told him how I was tired and he said to just have fun.

SIDENOTE: Josh has started doing triathlons with plenty of time before he peaks out. Like 10 years. (Triathletes be afraid as he is a sick swimmer and even faster runner.) Josh, let me coach you on the bike, we may have a shot at getting you an Ironman win! I’m not even kidding here, I have on my serious face.

Back to the present. The gun went off and I just started running. My legs felt a bit heavy so I just ran as best I could. I didn’t have a watch on so I had no idea of my pace. Sometimes that’s a fun way to roll.

Mile 1 was AFTER Harlem Hill. Thankfully the hardest part of the race was over by then. I hit the mark running a 6:12 and was like, “Oh, okay I guess my legs aren’t that heavy.” I decided to try and maintain or go faster at this point.

Between Miles 2 and 4 I was running in a race pack of 3 with a Central Park Track Team member and a WSX runner. We were jockeying for position back and forth and it was quite fun. Sometimes I would lead, sometimes them.

Rounding the bend from the 72nd Street transverse to Park Drive East I heard my name from a mile away. “Baaaaaaaakeeeeer! Goooooooo!” It was Elizabeth cheering on with a few of her Dashing Whippets teammates. As I passed by, full of new found energy she sent me off with a, “Baker go win this thing! GO!”

I blasted forward making my way up Cat Hill thinking… “Win this thing… hmmm, well I know for sure Josh and his boys are up ahead killing it with sub 6 paces so that’s not gonna happen.” At the top of Cat Hill Maura was cheering too!

As I come past mile 5 we got where all the speakers and the ‘party’ was from the start. I was doing great until I heard them blasting “We fell in love in a hopeless place.” by Rhianna. I was thinking a few different things:

– Where is the DJ, I’m going to tackle him.
– If this gets stuck in my head after the race I’m going to find the DJ and tackle him.
– If I hear that song 1 more freaking time I am going to tackle who ever is responsible for playing it.
– Where is this ‘hopeless place’ you fell in love? Is it scary like a dungeon or more like a desert island?

I cranked through the finish with a 30:55. I was really sweaty and it was burning my eyes something fierce.
After saying good race to my fellow competitors and asking Josh if he won I went to cheer on the gals. (Abbe, Elyssa, Bojana, Erica, Sharon, and Jess)

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall Place Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M34 136 45 13 30:55 6:11 70.13%

We had color coordinated so that we had a rainbow spectrum. After the race we invaded my new neighborhood and ate at a diner as a stinky group of runners.

Congrats to everyone who raced this weekend! (You know who you are!) There were some big races and a lot of my peeps crushed it!

RACE REPORT: 076 Rev3 Quassy OLY – 2:59:37

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Somehow, I was talked into doing 2 triathlons in one weekend.

On Friday I left work early to meet Jim for our drive up to Quassy, Connecticut. Yes, we hit loads of stupid Friday rush hour traffic. How people do that everyday I do not know. What I do know is that if I participated I would be the most stressed out crazy person on the road and possibly wanted by the police for roadside murder.

The first thing Jim said to me as we began our trip was, “Did you bring your rain gear? I did.” No, I didn’t pack rain gear, nor did I pack anything warmer than a tee shirt. My race outfits were 2 tank tops. I was worried.

We arrived in Quassy at 7PM with 1 hour to spare before transition closed. We checked in, then listened to the race director discuss tomorrows plan as we were in for a bit of a storm. In fact, it was already pretty gloom out and I was cold. While there we bumped into Gallagher, one of our friends who we thought was racing the Half on the following day. It was great seeing him and we made plans to meet up the following day.

I had us booked at the Waterbury Marriott a few towns over so we headed there to check in before dinner. Entering our room, we were overwhelmed by it’s grandness, then I remembered I had booked the business suite! Ed was supposed to be doing this with us but had to bail, so Jim and I both had separate rooms with a kitchen, dishwasher, 2 bathrooms, the works.

After check-in we went in search of carbs! Driving towards an Italian spot I had looked up we hit a red light. Jim and I were looking at this really cool restaurant to our right before we both said, “That place looks cool!”

It was. The place was called City Hall Cafe and had a really old classic vibe going on.There was even a live band doing Neil Diamond covers! So cool.

I had lamb chops (I’m a sucker for lamb) and Jim had pork chops. It was enough food for 4 people. To get our carbs in we had a few beers.

Back at the hotel we noticed the Celtics game on in the lobby bar. I agreed we could have one more beer as long as we were in bed by 11:30AM since we had to get up at 4:45AM. Not to justify staying up because of crappy weather racing, but I was NOT looking forward to the next day’s rain.

Asleep at 12. Up at 3. Crazy thunderstorms. Asleep at 3:30. Up at 4. Asleep at 4:30. Up at 5.

Thanks Kompetitive Edge!

RACE DAY

I am addicted to the Doppler Radar. I love it so much! I spent the morning analyzing the rain patterns trying to predict when the rain would pass. It was drizzling now and looked (generally speaking) pretty crappy outside. Like, if you didn’t have to race, you would sleep in and drink coffee in your PJs until you absolutely needed to leave your apartment. We, on the other hand, were going swimming.

I ate a banana and threw on my Kompetitive Edge race kit. I was really excited because even though I had worn the red and grey KE tops in marathons this April, I hadn’t worn the full kit including the tri shorts.

In transition everyone was pretty chipper as the scene in any Rev3 race, but the rain was coming down and I was cold. As soon as I could I put on my wetsuit, a general faux pas in any normal circumstance because you get hot. Even with the wetsuit on I was cold.

Gallagher, Jim and I headed down to the beach to get some swimming in before gun time. Amazingly, the water was warmer than the air and it felt so good to get in! I felt like those arctic monkeys you see on the animal station in the hot springs with only their ice covered heads poking out! Monkeys don’t wear goggles.

We had to wait awhile back on the beach to start because one of the course buoys had blown off. We were once again freezing.

As my wave lined up at the waters edge (Wave 2) some of the guys were praying for more rain insisting that we should get it over while swimming. I hate all of these people. They prayed way too much. Stay tuned.

The gun went off and we bolted into the soup. I was hard right, second back, and pretty unfazed at the prospect of a bunch of people swimming over me. I guess Ironman mass starts with over 2500 people will numb you to a wave start.

That’s me second from the front.

This was my first open water swim of the season and I freaked a little. Not like I stopped swimming, I just got all up in my head. Was my breathing off? Where was I going? Like, really stupid things to think about. The col thing, was that this same thing happened last year during my first swim and I knew it was just a matter of time.

Indeed it was. After I passed the first red buoy, marking the 1/3 mark, everything was fine and I was swimming hard. It was lightly raining and visibility was sub par but I did pretty good on my sighting. Now, all I thought about was how to make the swim longer because the bike was going to suck. It was so lovely in that lake water. Warm, no wind, I had eye protection and if I needed nutrition there were fish.

Exiting the swim I kept my wetsuit on as long as I could. I didn’t even unzip it and in fact I ran hard to get my temperature up. I threw on the arm warmers I bought the night before. They were like the last pair and if I hadn’t had them I don’t know if I would have finished the race without a med tent stop.

I started the bike portion, semi-excited because I was racing my new Illicto aka ‘The Morrighan’, and sad as it was raining and cold.

I saw Jen right off the bat which cheered me up.

The Rev3 Quassy course is no joke. There are no straight aways, only uphills and downhills. Imagine this if you will… as you rode up the hills it was quiet and calm with the rain slightly annoying. Once you began the downhills and started hitting 20+ MPH the rain stung and made visibility null and void. Thanks god I had switched out my Oakley Fast Jacket’s dark lens with the red ones. This helped immensely.

The first 10 miles were brutal and I was getting passed a lot. This pissed me off because I am normally the one doing the passing on the bike (since I get passed by so many people on the swim). My bike was making a funny sound, like a hissing sound, but since it was raining I couldn’t pinpoint it and just kept riding. (Travel into the future with me. As we were getting ready for the next day’s triathlon Jim and I discovered that my back wheel was rubbing against the frame and brakes! After making the adjustment the ‘hissing’ sound stopped and the wheel zipped around. Live and learn right?)

I’m not sure what exactly happened at mile 12 or so but I got this fire inside me and everything stopped hurting. I blasted into the high gears and started passing people on the downhills and laughing out loud at the crazy rain. I was back.

My joke of the day was, as I rode next to someone going the same pace I would say, “I heard we’re in for some rain.” I had a few guys laughing pretty hard which was my goal. I mean come on, riding in a 50 degree downpour? No one is having a great race so we may as well make the best of the situation.

Even though I was on my second wind or warmed up or whatever, at Mile 20 I was ready to be done. My hands were numb and it got really hard to shift gears. Then I started thinking about how hard it would be if I needed my brakes.

Once again, I saw Jen! She held her hand up as to high-five me and I thought, “No way I can do this Jen, my hands are numb and I will crash.” But then she just said something like, “Virtual high Baker, looking good!” Phew!

Riding into T2 I was really pumped to get out and run. Biking in the rain, not cool. Running in the rain, very fun. Good thing I brought my trusty visor!

Leaving T2 I grabbed a Gu since I hadn’t eaten anything but my banana earlier. My feet were numb so it kind of hurt to run on them. More worrisome, was the fact that if I was actually running to hard and maiming my feet I would have no idea.

The run rocked! I was really feeling it and got my legs in check real quick, like by mile 1.

I passed a lot of runners and used that as my motivation to keep going. I thought of ‘Reach the Beach’ and our Kill Sheet and how many kills I was making.

Mile 4 came up really fast. I didn’t even see Mile 3 for some reason so Mile 4 was like, “Surprise!”

One interesting thing that happened was that as I was passing a guy in my Age Group he said, “Ah, damn it!” I wanted to be like, “Hey man, we are nowhere near getting any kind of awards today. It’s gonna be okay.”

Rev3 is mostly chill people but you occasionally get a hot head.

The last mile is all uphill, not cool. As I made my way to the finish I was surprised to see my friend Amanda cheering me on and then doubly surprised to see a field of mud separating me from the Finish!

My time was 2:59:37 which was the least of my concern. I just wanted to get it over with. I have heard a lot from people like, “Dude, rain and cold ain’t nothing. You should have killed it.” Sorry, but not in my world. Case in point… I ran a 3:23 Marathon in 90 degree (shit show) heat and then a 2:54 two weeks later in perfect conditions.

Sex/
Age
Age
Place
Overall
Place
 Swim
0.9M		 T1 Bike
25M		 T2 Run
6.2M		 Total
Time
M34 39 234 35:51 3:18 1:34:55 2:21 43:13 2:59:37

Anyway, it was still an awesome Rev3 as always and I was so happy to have finished!

I chatted with a bunch of strangers afterward and then went to the Finish to cheer. Once Jim came in we made the decision to bolt. Why? We had 1 hour left on our hotel check out which meant we could take a hot shower.

“Oh Hell Yeah.” (and we needed Dunkin Donuts)

After the most amazing shower and coffee Jim and I continued our journey. We were headed to Long Island to meet up with Ed for our Sunday triathlon…

077 The Great South Bay Triathlon

Big thanks to sponsor Kompetitve Edge for hooking me up in some sick gear!

 

RACE REPORT: 075 AHA Wall Street Run 3M – 18:21

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The Wall Street 3 Miler is not a ‘runner’s race.’ This is not the race to PR. You will be elbowed, crowded, tripped, and generally annoyed unless you take it as it is, a fun run.

I met Ed pre-race (after saying hi to Melissa and Erica) and we headed over to the start. There are no corrals, just approximate pace flags. We had done this race a few times and knew the protocol, just go as far forward as you can regardless of what the flags say. Like I said earlier, this is not a ‘runner’s race’ and therefore a few of the rules of competition were skewed.

The gun went off and it took me a good 30 seconds to cross the Start. I was wearing my Newton MV2 racing flats (Thanks Kompetitive Edge!) and was anxious to really test them out.

I was moving at a steady pace passing people, but other gung ho runners were blasting past me like crazy men. These people were not regular runners and I would see lots of these fellas at mile 2 1/2 fading.

As we twisted and turned through Wall Street and the canyons of the Financial District I really started enjoying the course. It was somewhere around Mile 2 and although still thick with runners, it was manageable. I just held to the outside and kept my pace up as high as I could. There were lots of good crowds out cheering people on, mostly people who had coworkers running out supporting them.

Turning onto the final long stretch we were running directly into the sun. It’s very surreal because you can only make out these dark silhouettes of runners ahead. My pace was at its peak on this last mile and I felt good and was very excited to meet up with my friends after. Making the last turn on a quiet neighborhood street I heard, “Goooooo Baker!” It was Claire and Abbe causing a cheering ruckus!

Blasting down the homestretch I could no longer catch anyone. I finished in 18:21 and am happy with that time. I had no goals for this race aside from just enjoying myself, which I did. I didn’t even wear a Garmin!

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall Place Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M34 3765 77 18 18:21 6:07 67:43%

After the race we (Ed, Jim, Abbe, Erica, Melissa, Chelsea, Maura, Elyssa, Joe, Allen) went to Eamonn’s of Brooklyn which is not in Brooklyn at all. We celebrated with a few pints and some food. Yes, it was awesome!

Saturday I am off to Rev3 Quassy followed by the Great South Bay triathlon on Sunday! Weekend doubler headers rule!

RACE REPORT: 074 Reach the Beach: 26:09 (hours)

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The Reach the Beach relay is a 200 Mile (36 leg) race across the state of Massachusetts. Each team is comprised of up to 12 people who run constantly until you ‘reach the beach’ 200 miles later. You don’t sleep, you just run, eat, and use the bathroom.

This race is particularly monumental to me because last year on the day I was supposed to leave for it, I received a call telling me my father was dying and that I needed to get to him immediately to say goodbye. Instead of racing, I was a part of the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life.

They say time heals all, and while that may be true I have learned (in this last year) that our time is limited, so you must embrace every moment of every day. I could think of nothing more fitting then to do what I love most right now, to run all night.

Our super start team, Team Honey Badger, left Thursday afternoon in a 2 van caraVAN (see what I did there? Clever right?) towards New Haven. Team Roll Call Go! Alamar, Maura, Elyssa, Neal, Allen, Abbe, Robin, Patricio, and me!

After spending a few hours in rush hour we finally parked in New Haven, aka Neal’s turf. He went to grad school here and has a pulse on the scene. What scene are we talking about exactly… Pizza! “I’m going to take you to the best pizza restaurant ever.” To which I replied in my snotty New York voice, “Um, I rarely eat pizza outside of NYC.”

If there were a pizza scale, lets say it was 1 to 10 (10 being supreme-o) Pizza Moderna was an 11. We had a fried clam pizza along with the Italian bomb and the veggie bomb. I think I had like 3 huge slices! We had a few pitchers of beer which Maura entertained us with stories of her doing hard time. I’ve known Maura for awhile so having a convict on my team didn’t really bother me.

Back on the road we arrived at the start (Fitchburg, MA… home of the corn dog) by 11PM.

RACE DAY(s)

Abbe, Elyssa, Robin and I got up early and went to the local grocer to get supplies. “Hmmmmm.” you ask. “What does on need on a 200 mile race across a U.S. State?” We picked up bananas, apples, water, Gatorade, Peanut M&Ms, granola bars, peanut butter, bread, grapes, sliced turkey, ice, almonds, and some Coca Cola. These are all things we split between the 2 vans to aid our team once the race began.

I misspelled the team name.

After we checked in and took a few team photos it was time for Allen to set it off. Our start time was at noon. SIDENOTE: They started the teams based on speed in order for everyone to end up at the beach at roughly the same time. If you started at 9AM you were a slower paced team then someone starting at 2PM.

It was a beautiful day, but it was getting hot.

Allen and 10 others started the 12 Noon wave by charging up a serious uphill.

Van 1 (Abbe, Robin, Patricio and myself) ran to the van and started toward the first transition point. Allen came blasting through and Abbe lay in wait. As he hit her with the slap bracelet baton she took off. It would go something like this for 36 legs.

My first leg started at 3PM and I was so excited to finally be running. We had made a ‘Kill Chart’ so keep track of people we passed during each leg and so I was secretly eyeing up my targets before Patricio arrived to tag me in. He hit me with the baton and off I went. We had no intention (as a team) of trying to place, we were just out for the love of the game, so Kills were everything.

By Mile 1 I had 3 kills under my belt but I was hurting bad. I was holding a 6:15 pace but needed to slow it up so I dropped my speed. I turned onto a dirt road and thought, “This, is awesome!” Basically, I imagined myself in the Duke’s of Hazzard blasting down the road, but with Newtons instead of a Dodge Charger.

Other vans with funny names were driving by constantly cheering us on. This would happen the whole entire race and I thought it was so cool!

Van 1 was waiting at Mile 3 to dish me some water which I needed bad. I had passed another 3 people (innocent older mom-like runners) and was ready to be done running.

7.2 Miles @ 6:30 pace = Kills 8

After Leg 1 our van decided to go in search of real food, like burritos. We ended up in Worchester (secretly pronounced Wooster and NOT home of Worcestershire sauce to our dismay) at Tortilla Sam’s. Tortilla Sam was selling burritos for like a buck fifty! A smart person running a 200 mile relay who was at the beginning of the race, might have questioned these outrageous prices and worried about food poisoning or even sudden death, but not Team Honey Badger. I had a veggie burrito and got a rice and black bean to go. All of us also had coffee.

We picked up Van 2 at their last transition and Allen began his second run. It was now after 6:30PM and so the rule was to have a reflective vest, 2 blinky lights and a head lamp on. We looked like crazed miner-crossing guards being chased by non-existent zombie school children.

By the time it was my turn to run again it was 3 hours later. This was the norm for everyone. It was also 9:15 PM and pitch black. I had my reflective gear on (Thanks Claire!) and was actually kind of scared to run in the dark with all this crap on me. Little did I know this run would be one of my most memorable and fun runs to date.

I started off on the shoulder of a highway cooking down a hill against traffic. Not so cool right? Then, I (and I say I because in a race like this there aren’t any other runners around) turn onto a back country road. It was very dark.

I was flanked by thick forest, my head lamp creating a sort of ‘bubble’ of light around me as I ran into nothingness. All I could hear was my footfall, my heavy breath and the crickets emanating from the left and right. It was cold now so every time I exhaled a sort of steamy fog passed into my light bubble for a second.

I felt an intense fear, as if I were going to be attacked from any side by an unseen foe. Then, I laughed a bit and thought, “Wow. If my Dad could see me now. He would think this was possibly the coolest thing ever.” And it was.

Me, and the street, nothing else. It was the purest form of running I had ever experienced. I couldn’t tell how fast I was going because I couldn’t see things passing me by. I could hear my breathing and footfall and ran to that as if it were music.

A few miles in I saw some blinky lights, meaning, targets were up ahead. I sped up and passed one or two runners. Then, a few more. As I came into transition like a bat out of hell I had been running a 6:14 pace and not even known it.

6 Miles @ 6:14 pace = Kills 12

Our van was now half way done our part in the relay. We went on a quest for coffee. I was in the way back having a semi-heart attack and cleaning my body with baby wipes. The cool thing about running in the dark? No sunscreen!

As Abbe pulled us up to the drive-thru Burger King, she order coffee then Patricio goes, “1 Large Fry.” I sat there for a second thinking, “Damn it Patricio.” “Make that 2 Large Fries!”

I housed them and loved every minute of it.

We parked at the transition area where we were to meet Van 2, 2 hours from then. We all tried to relax and maybe sleep but it seemed impossible. 2 hours is not a lot of time to try and get some z’s either. The temperature was now nearing 45 degrees.

Leg three approached and it was nearing 1AM. Allen geared up and waited for Neal at the transition. Even though it was late, it was still the same giant runner party at transition!

As Allen finished his 3rd leg he blasted past 3 people to make his kills for that leg 14, a team record! He was on a mission.

It was getting really hard to get aid to our runner due to the darkness. We had a hard time finding out which runner was ours and they, in turn, had a hard time figuring out what van we were!

Abbe, Robin and finally Patricio finished up as I waited in the cold to start my 3rd leg. It was now 3:15AM!

I tried setting it off as I did the run before, but I was starting to feel fatigued from running and lack of sleep. I did however manage to pass an Ultra Team runner girl (an Ultra Team was a team of 6 people who were most likely fast) that had passed Abbe. Abbe had been talking about it so I figured I would avenge her being a ‘kill.’

This run was almost as cool as the other night run accept I was exhausted. It also took place on major roads with cars, so the whole spooky aspect wasn’t really there.

4.2 Miles @ 6:20 pace = Kills 10

As our 3rd leg came to a close all of us were really wiped out. We were delirious. Immediately we drove to our last transition start to try and sleep before Van 2 made their way to us.

We did actually manage to get somewhere between 20-60 minutes worth of sleep. It helped me tremendously. As I woke to the sun at 6AM I felt not great, but good. I walked over to some local moms selling coffee and BSed with them for awhile. The volunteers and helpers in this race were so wonderful!

The rest of the gang woke up and were a bit groggy. Allen got ready for his 4th and final leg and went to meet Neal.

It was kind of refreshing to be out of the darkness and into the light. I feel like we had made it.

The only unfortunate thing about the light is that it gets hot fast.

During Robin’s last run Allen and I were waiting to give her water we we started chatting with a few other teams. They actually thought we were an Ultra Team! We told them no way and they insisted, saying that they started at 9AM as opposed to our 12 Noon and so we had made up 3 hours. I’m not going to try and be modest here, because this is a team race, but we felt pretty bad ass. A few other teams after said the same thing and thats when we started doing some quick math. “Did we have a shot at placing?” We had been running for fun this whole time, not knowing if we stood a chance at a decent finish time.

As I started my last run I was far from excited. It was 75 degrees and sunny and I was very tired. Mainly, my legs felt trashed.

My leg was a straight shot down a highway, so exciting. I wanted to quit and walk so very badly but I just kept going. I took it mile by mile. Abbe saved me when at mile 3 she busted out some Coca Cola for me. I chugged a few ounces and kept going, the heat bearing down on me.

Finally, I rounded a corner and came into transition, finishing my end of the race.

6.5 Miles @ 6:35 pace = Kills 2

Exhausted and hungry, our van decided we needed a proper breakfast. We hit Old Country Buffet. As far as NY Times food rating go, it would have been sub par, but I’ll tell you what… that food was fantastic! Bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes, fruit, coffee and for dessert a Raspberry Lemonade Icee!

We headed to the finish after that so we could rendezvous with the gang.

We chatted with Jess for a bit, who was on the New Balance Team before heading to the beach to run in with Neal. As he round the corner we all gathered around him and ran into the finish chute, all nine of us triumphant! I have never crossed the finish as a team before and it was quite cool.

Next? What a silly question… the beer tent! We all threw back 1 or 2 delicious cold ones before heading to the beach for a group picture.

200 Miles = 26:09 Hours. 20th overall and 5th in our division!

That night we went out for an early dinner. The last time I stayed up all night was 15 years ago so I was basically a mess. Half of us went to sleep at 8PM. We slept a full 10 hours and I felt so refreshed in the morning.

Total Kills = 133

Thanks to Captain E for setting up this race and thanks to my amazing teammates! All 8 of you are truly Beyond Defeat.

To those of you who think this race might be easy… it is far from it.

—

After traveling back I headed down to DC to be with my 6 brothers and my bonus mom (step-mom.) The following day, on the one year anniversary of my father’s death, we drank Johnny Walker Black scotch around his grave site telling happy stories about him and what he meant to each of us.

The people we surround ourselves with are a direct reflection of who we are and what we represent. I am honored to have these friends and family in my life. Keep running.