5 Miles – BEYOND DEFEAT

RACE REPORT: 098 Join the Voices 5 Miler – 30:31

Posted on November 18, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

This weekend was chock full of races! The NY 60K, Philly Marathon, Brooklyn Marathon, Ironman Arizona and the wee bitty 5 mile race I did, Join the Voices.

On Saturday I really dug into New York City. I started the day with ice skating around Wollman Rink (something I do almost every weekend in the winter months). It was a blast, especially due to the warm weather we were having.

After skating I walked home up the east side of the Park watching for Juan who was well underway in his 60K run. I didnt see him, so popped into the apartment to change into running gear and drop off my skates. Back on the scene, running north, I got a cheer from Ali! I pulled over and cheered everyone on along side her. We saw a few friends and then finally Juan came by. I ran with him for a bit chit chatting about whatever. I was trying to take his mind of the pain. I left him at Engineers Gate and hung out with Elizabeth cheering some more.

I grabbed my race bib for Sunday’s race and then wandered around the ol MET. I try to pop in there once every 2 weeks or so you know, because, it’s only priceless artifacts from around the world. I was playing a game (with only me, no other patrons participated) called ‘Find the Oldest Thing.’ The Egyptians always win. It blows my mind looking at pristine specimens of writing and jewelry created 4,000 years ago!

I later met up w Jeff, Alison and Cat for drinks. I convinced them to go to San Mateo for dinner which was maybe the highlight of my weekend. Their pizza is pretty spot on.

RACE DAY

Waking up to race on a grey fall day can be difficult, but knowing that the temperature was in the 50’s got me motivated.

A lil Cafe Bustelo and then a light jog over to the start which was by Tavern. I ‘ran’ into Jess on the way, she too was warming up. I also ran by Claire who yelled out a friendly, “Hey Bakes!”

I jumped in my corral and noticed everyone being shy and staying in the back. Not feeling particularly social as my nerves were a bit edgy, I walked right up to the start mat and hung out. Soon, others followed.

The gun went off and we were all flying down the lower loop. I once again had no watch and was relying on how I felt. At this moment, I felt good so I just hung with the leaders (for a hot second). I had absolutely no pain in my knee even at a speedy rate and so I kept pushing it.

We hit mile 1 around 5:45 and I kind of laughed out loud thinking to myself, “Ha, this pace isn’t going to last.” And it didn’t.

I saw Beth cheering from 72nd Street and yelled out a “Hi!” to her before heading up Cat Hill. It was here that my pace slowed and I thought I was going to have a heart attack. I haven’t run a short distance race in awhile so my internal systems were on overdrive.

I hit mile 2 at a 6:10 pace. By now we had really thinned out and I just tried to hold it together.

I noticed someone coming up on my right. It was a speedy female who had a cyclist tracking her. She happened to be the second place woman and was hell-o-fast. We paced each other for miles 3-4 before she took off. It was very helpful having her around.

The West Side Rollers took a lot out of me. They never end!

I came through the finish at 30:31, ten seconds from a PR. I ended up getting a 3rd Place Age Group Award! Sweet!

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M35	12	19	3	30:31	6:07	72.42%

As soon as I was 10 feet across the finish my friend Antonio came blasting up! He had been right behind me chasing me the whole time! We caught up on life and then did a cool down jog up the east side towards our neighborhoods. I say Beth again and she gave me a high five! We also ran by a volunteer who yelled to us, “Mile 2 coming up guys, looking good!” We had a bit of a laugh at that.

It was a great day for a race and I am happy to say that there was, and is still, no knee pain. I am officially back in business.

—

On a separate note there are a few congratulations in order.

– Big ups to Juan (already an Ironman) who became an Ultramarathoner!

– My friend Doug (who I casually coach) knocked 25 minutes off his marathon time in Philly with a 3:26! Nice!

– My former coach, friend and teammate Sonja rocked a 9:35 at Ironman Arizona earning her a 1st AG Award and her annual ticket to Kona! Awesome!

RACE REPORT: 069 The Voices 5M – 30:21

Posted on December 7, 2011 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 3 Comments

After 2 weeks off (and I mean off) from Ironman, this weekend was a swift introducing back to the world of running.

Saturday, Claire threw her 3rd annual Beer Run. It’s an event not to be missed, kind of like a runner holiday party. Here’s the skinny… run to a bar, drink… then run to another bar… drink; rinse and repeat. Sound like fun? It is.

There were 40 of us this time and by the 3rd bar we were all ‘loosey goosey’ making the running between bars that much more interesting. I got to see all of my runner friend’s from the Runner Army minus one or two who couldn’t make it due to religious obligations. As always it was a blast, thank you Claire for organizing!

This made for a good warm up for Sunday’s NYRR sanctioned race.

RACE DAY

I left my apartment with plenty of time to spare and walked over to the Park. There, I ran into Annalise and Lisa (who were also racing). New York really is a small town.

I jumped in my corral and hung around, thinking about what I was going to do. ‘Should I race this thing, or just run it?’ My legs didn’t feel quite lucid yesterday during Beer Run so I was worried that my speed was lacking.

Out of nowhere Sebastian, Robert, Antonio and Helen showed up! Oh, I also got to finally meet Joe G in person! Nice to finally meet you! We all chatted about… you know… running. Gotta say, making running friends the last few years has been really special. The fact that all of us were just hanging out on a Sunday at the Start talking shop is so cool. You not only feel like part of the running community, but of the community in general.

The gun goes off and we set it off, like getting shot out of a canon. It was pretty crowded the first mile as everyone eased into their paces. I hit Mile 1 right around 6 minutes and said to myself “F-it I guess I’m racing this thing.”

Around Mile 2 Robert and Antonio passed me. They were on a sub 30 minute mission and were killing it.

I wasn’t wearing a watch so at Mile 3 I tried some quick math and figured I was running 6:30s or so. Why are numbers so puzzling!

I felt pretty good as far as my legs were concerned. I mean, I was exhausted from running hard, but overall I felt healed from Ironman and was happy. I had been leapfrogging with a gal from Warren Street (Robert, Seb and Antonios team) and at Mile 4 she saw I was fading. She ran along side of me and said “Come on!” This helped tremendously (thank you) and I just focused on keeping my pace steady.

I came in at 30:21 and actually wasn’t concerned with the time at all. Abbe even asked me, moments later, “Was that a PR?” “Naw.” I responded, as I chowed down on a raisin bagel. Sonja actually emailed me later and told me it was. Oops.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M33	131	136	29	30:21	6:05	71.14%

There were kids races after and Joe had brought his family to race! Too cute man. Oh, and Robert and Antonio broke 30, congrats guys! Yeah and Seb came in 6th overall with a 26:01. That’s a 5:13 pace, killer!

It was a fantastic weekend for racing. It was so great to see all my running friends! I was also very happy that I had my legs back after the Ironman.

RACE REPORT: 023 Poland Spring 5M: 30:28

Posted on October 25, 2009 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 3 Comments

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG Time	AG Gender Place
M31	40	54	51	13	30:28	6:05	30:19	124

After Saturday’s poor performance I was ready for battle out in Central Park. The Poland Spring 5 Mile Marathon Kick-off is an exciting race as it marks the last event before the marathon!

Saturday night I made my Shrimp Fra Di Avlo again and again it rocked! I as in bed by Midnight.

RACE DAY

I awoke at what seemed to be 6:30AM, but the light didn’t seem right. (I work for a watch company so I wear wristwatches) so I checked one and found that it was in fact 7:30AM! My ‘smart’ clock turned back the Fall Time a week early. Robots. I was meeting Ed, Jim and Ed’s neice Amanda at the bandshell at 8 so I had to hustle.

I rode my bike up to CP and found Jim at the spot. We locked our bikes up and he took off. SIDENOTE: Jim is running the marathon next week, so he was doing a training run on his own. He was trying to time his run to coincide with our finishes and as you will see, he did a pretty good job. I found Amanda and Ed down by the start and we gave the usual fist-pound of good luck.

I jumped in my corral kind of late so I was at the very back of the Blue Bibs.

As the gun went off it took me easily 7 seconds to cross the start line, meaning, I was stuck in the pack and had work to do. For some reason I like this. Similarly to when I used to drive and had to ‘bob-n-weave’ through traffic.

I took the left flank and started cruising just as I noticed this jacked-up guy with a tribal necklace and red shirt running at my pace. I decided to run with him. Our first mile was like 6:30! No good. We started to pick up the pace as the crowd thinned.

As we hit mile 3 I was just getting into the groove and feeling it. I also had my brand new racing flats on and was in heaven! (They have no heel really, so it keeps you pushed forward on your toes and mid foot, which is a run philosophy I believe in strongly. Ask me about it one day.) I had passed my pace buddy by this point and was trying to make up for lost time on mile 1.

Around mile 4 I was coming up the hill past the Boathouse when I heard “Yeah, go Baker!” It was Elizabeth (or Ms Ritz as many of you runners know her as) and I ran over and we high fived! Thanks Elizabeth. I actually really needed a push at that point and having people cheer you on boosts your energy.

Then, at mile 5 as Im rounding the south end to start gearing up for my finish who do I see? Robert, who was volunteering, yells “Go Baker!” Awesome, another running buddy! But then, the jacked guy I was pacing earlier passed me! Now, I would like to say that I am non competitive at times, but its so hard to control. How could I let this guy pass me after I passed him, illogical. Pushing on, he had an easy 20 yards on me and I was hurting.

As we started our approach to the finish by Tavern on the Green I saw Jim sidelined yelling at me! By this point there were 3 people between me and the jacked guy. I leaned forward on my tippy toes and started my sprint. (the feeling is similar to watching football drills where they are running through the tires with knees high, toes pointed down) I was cruising and I felt no pain, I was passing eveyone picking up speed along the way, with 2 meters to go I passed my guy!

The end sprint is by far my favorite part of racing. The problem is, saving up a little steam at the end for that kind of a finish… it doesn’t always work out as planned. I finished in 30:28 which was fine by me considering my previous day’s race disaster!

Jim ran down and gave me a high five, he was going to do anther lap and meet up with us around the time when Ed was finishing (like I said, he had the math down!)

After the race I was looking for the Medals that Jim said we get after this particular race… no dice.

I grabbed a water and headed to the finish to wait for the gang. Ed had not run a race in around 3-4 weeks (since the Grete’s Half Marathon) because his knee was being problematic, so I wasn’t sure at what time he would finish. He had said earlier that he was going to complete it, even if he had to crawl! Nice.

Around 54 minutes he came cruising through looking like everything was okay. He had said that it took 7 minutes to get to the start and sure enough his real time came back as 46:52! This is a record for him and not bad considering as he was coming off an injury. Amanda was right behind him with a time of 47:03.

Amanda, Jim, Ed and I shared some good stories about the race. In general, we were all pretty excited that we beat the guy in the banana suit. It was a great day for a run.

RACE REPORT: 011 Father’s Day 5 Miler: 30:54

Posted on June 21, 2009 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

Sex/ Age	Bib	State	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG Time	AG Gender Place	AG %
M31	43	NY	149	147	30	30:54	6:10	30:45	278	69.3 %

As many New Yorkers will testify, this weekends theme was rain. Therefore my Saturday night ritual of a big meal with friends was squashed as no one wanted to go out. Instead, I made some fresh salsa and grilled up some swordfish. It was amazing and in my head I thought it would be a fantastic energy boosting meal.

The following morning I had a weird dream that I was running the race and at some point I took a wrong turn and backtracked 2 miles. I was then confronted with the option of pseudo-cheating but cutting through the fields or to re-run the 2 miles. I chose the re-run option and was very upset as my time was horrible. I woke up startled and looked outside, it was a light drizzle but looked generally okay for running. I decided I had to run based on my dream. After emailing Mike, Jim and Patrick (whom I was meeting prior to the race) that I was in, I noticed on the NYRR website that the race was at 8:30 and not 9 as I had planned! I was now late.

After a quick cup of Cafe Bustelo I headed out and decided I had to run to the race in order to make it on time. I sprinted up 9th Avenue and made it in good time. Upon seeing the fellas Mike told me that baggage check was a good distance away, so off I went again to drop off my stuff, just barely making it to my corral in time.

I queued up some tunes just as the gun sounded. We were off.

The first mile was fun, we were still in a relatively tight pack, but moving fast. I hit mile 2 at 12:20 and was dead on pace, by now we were thinning out and it was getting harder. I was picking off people and then around mile 4 I recognized my friend Kevin Masse cruising at a speedy pace. I ran along side and we both said hello. We paced each other for the rest of the race which was really fun and mentally helped a lot. I finished in 30:54 which I was happy with, although I had set my goal to be 30 flat.

Kevin and I went to the finish line to cheer on our fellow runners and catch up. Jim, Mike, then Patrick all finished with great personal times.

Mike, Jim and Patrick are all fathers and had received word after the race (via very cool flyers in manilla envelopes made by Mike’s wife) that they were free to do as they wished for the first part of the day. Stop one was Starbucks. It was there that we decided to reconvene at Brother Jimmy’s a few hours later for beer and food as it was still a little early to have a pint.

12:30: Brother Jimmy’s

We were all seated up at the bar having a few as we discussed the days race. We also made the perfect decision to get the rib special, very suiting for our race finish and it being Father’s Day. Jonboy and CJ made a quick appearance but then had to jet out to other plans.

Mike, Jim, Patrick and I split ways around 5 and I made my way downtown to meet up with an old college friend who was in town for the Bike Film Festival. It was a solid Sunday.

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