Monthly Archives: April 2010

RACE REPORT: 035 Lincoln Tunnel 5K: 19:24

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Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall

Place

 Gender

Place

 Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M32 84 45 38 10
19:24
6:17
 66.0 %

The week leading up to the Lincoln Tunnel 5K was pretty busy…

Monday: My friend Jasika had her birthday party at SoHo Grand. Erika and I hung out with her, Claire and a plethora of other interesting people until we decided it was time to head out as it was Monday after all.

Tuesday: Speed Sessions in Central Park led by Josh. We did 1/2 Mile intervals around the Great Lawn followed by (at Erika’s suggestion) a group meal at Shake Shack. It was a blast. Lets see if I can get everyone… Role Call: Josh, Erika, Amy, Elyssa, Michelle, Serene, Matt, Joe, Nancy, Erin, Anna, Frankie, Bill, and Jenna.

Wednesday: Hung out with Ed and Daniel discussing serious stuff like ‘stocks.’ We may have had beers too.

Thursday: Erika and I went to Carnegie Hall to see Frederika Von Stade’s farewell recital. It was beyond amazing.

Friday: My friend Matt’s 40th birthday party at Hill Country BBQ that involved overeating.

Saturday night Todd, Ila and I went out to Rick and Molly’s place in Hoboken to stay the night. We went out to a cute Italian place where I had Shrimp with Penne pasta as my pre-race meal. We all went to bed at Midnight, anticipating bad weather for the morning.

RACE DAY

We woke up at 7AM to cold rain, making the process of getting out of bed quite hard, especially knowing we would have to trek out in it to get to the start of the run.

After some fussing, Todd and I convinced Ila that “Yes, this is gonna be fun!” and we geared up.

We grabbed a cab and headed over to the Lincoln Tunnel start area. The dialogue between Todd and the cabbie was funny… “Where to?” says the cab driver. “The entrance of The Lincoln Tunnel,” says Todd as the driver turns in confusion.

The start area was a mess. It was raining and people were trying to find cover once they obtained their race bibs. I was queued up to start in the faster 8AM race but missed it the start, therefore slotting myself to run in the 8:45AM start.

Ila made friends with some of the head Lieutenants in the police squad running the event and they shared their Dunkin Donuts coffee with the three of us. Ila is good at this type of maneuver and we are always thankful when she pulls it off, case in point.

We headed off to the Toll Booths to get in the start pack. I led us up to the front of the gang, explaining to them the whole bottleneck thing that would take place as 1000 people scrambled to get into the tunnel.

The gun went off and we started moving slowly. Its not a corral based race so there were all different paced runners around. I ran the first mile in 9-10 minutes.

By now I had passed the bulk of the people and I opened up my stride and picked up my pace to a full sprint.

Imagine the run like this… a 3/4 of a mile downhill, followed by 1/2 a mile straightaway, then a 3/4 mile uphill… rinse, repeat.

As we made our way uphill toward the New York side I was in the very front (or so I thought). I had dreamed about this one moment prior to the run… looking down the Lincoln Tunnel, seeing a bit of light coming from around the bend, and no one else around, as if it were some surreal movie where I had to escape through the tunnel on foot. Maybe the entrance to heaven? I have a vivid imagination…

Approaching the bend my dream came to an abrupt close as 2 runners passed me coming the other direction at MACH 10! I was not in the front, I was 3 back!

Exiting the tunnel into New York is such a strange feeling. Part of me wanted to stay, thinking to myself “Um, I live right down the street, I could just go home right now.” Instead, I hugged the orange cones and made the quick turnaround back into the darkness hoping to chase down the speedsters in front of me. This, of course, would prove to be impossible as they were easily 400 meters in front of me moving at the speed of light.

The return trip was pretty cool as the large groups of people coming at me were cheering me on. Todd and I high fived as I cruised by!

Basically, the rest of the run I was just truckin’ down the tunnel making sure I didn’t slow my pace. As I came out of the tunnel to the end I experienced one of the most anti-climactic finishes of all time. I was all by myself with no one in sight as I crossed in 3rd place, arm in the air and then… no friends, no cheering crowds, just cold rain and the ramp leading up to the turnpike. I took cover back under the main tent thinking “Well, at least they have bananas.”

I finished in 19:24 at a 6:17 pace which isn’t even close to a PR, but it was fun nonetheless AND I got to run with my 2 good friends Todd and Ila. This was their introduction to NYC running and I’m glad to have been there with them.

We celebrated, or warmed up rather, back at Rick and Molly’s where Rick prepared a huge breakfast for us. Thanks for being great hosts!

RACE REPORT: 034 Run for the Parks 4M: 23:34

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Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall

Place

 Gender

Place

 Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M32 563 43 42 11
23:34
5:53
 72.0 %

First off, good job to all my friends who ran the Boston Marathon! I’m so proud of all of you, what an accomplishment! I was following your progress with the web tracking system (not the email one that we all know failed!)

Instead of Boston, I will be running the ‘prestigious’ NJ Marathon in 2 weeks. I think I’m ready. Ive been running, biking and swimming like crazy, but 17 miles has been my greatest distance in the last few months. Is that enough? Probably not, therefore you might see me out blazing a 20 miler in the next week. Taper?

Our Tuesday speed group led by ‘SS’ or Josh was a blast this week. He had us (Erika, Amy and I) doing some crazy hill workouts in Central Park. I picked up a few new techniques that actually prepared and helped me a lot on Sunday’s run. Thanks Josh!

Saturday night Erika and I made a pre-race meal of pasta with a side of hummus salad. In honor of running we watched Forrest Gump. I hadn’t seen it in quite some time and forgot that it’s actually a pretty inspiring movie!

RACE DAY

I met Erika on her new bike on the west side of the park for a leisurely ride to the race. SIDENOTE: Saturday we scoured the East Village and finally found her a beautifully restored 1982 Peugeot! She named him Blue Steel. It is a really beautiful bike, they don’t make (lugged) frames quite the same anymore.

We arrived at the band shell and locked up right next to Ed from ‘Dad Posse’. We geared up and then split off to our respective corrals.

The gun went off and I crossed over the timing mat like 10 seconds later. We were not really going that fast for being in the first corral so I hit the right side of the crowd and started cruising up the side of the runners.

Thanks to my hill workout Tuesday I was able to speed right up Cat Hill!

We hit Mile 1 just under 6:00 which I wasn’t too happy about as I wanted to really push it this race and maybe PR again. Right around this time the field opened up and we were running single file and really cooking. It was also at this point I had to get out of my head and say “Baker, chill out, this is fun!” I smiled and loosened up a bit continuing on.

Mile 2: 11:40, still having fun. As we started heading south toward Mile 3 I noticed that I felt great. It was one of those days where I felt no pain or cramps and just kept moving my feet as fast as I could.



The 3rd Mile came up fast – I then mustered up some strength for the final Mile. I could see some of the lead guys 100 yards in front of me, but knew I would never catch them at this rate. I rounded the 72nd street final stretch and busted into a sprint. The Finish clock said 23:40 but my actual time turned out to be 23:32.

No PR for me today! I would have needed to shave 4 seconds off that time. It was, however, a great day for a run with perfect conditions.

I hung out with Joe (joeonetime) for a bit and was interviewed by a film maker.

Here is a link to what he made, which is really great!

After a quick race recap, Erika and I rode our bikes up to a Starbucks to refuel with some sweets!

RACE REPORT: 033 Scotland 10K: 37:59

Posted on by Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 4 Comments

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall

Place

 Gender

Place

 Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M32 35 149 139 24 37:59 6:07 71.2 %

This week started out with torrential rain up until around Wednesday. It was miserable. Luckily, Thursday came around and was 70 degrees and sunny, not a cloud in the sky.

I had work off on Friday, so in the morning I biked around town and soaked it all up. I was sore all over though, the ‘got hit by a truck’ kinda sore. Why? Thursday night my presence was requested to help my good friend Todd (Swim Coach Todd that is) move his company’s office spaces. Lots of heavy things… desks, computers, couches, and yes… a soda machine.

Later on Friday afternoon, my brother and friend Matt came over to have roof beers. We lounged around for a few hours catching up before we parted ways, all of us having other engagements.

It was my piano teacher Sugar’s (and friend) birthday so she was having a dinner party down at Cafe Gitane. I arrived there with Walter and Amanda. It’s a really cool room in an old hotel. I am a history buff, so this was right up my alley. In fact, did you know that the survivors of the Titanic stayed there right after the incident? True story.

You runners out there know why going to a restaurant the night before a race is dangerous don’t you? Anyone, anyone? Bueller? Bueller? What if there isn’t any good pasta on the menu for carb-o-loading? There was only one pasta dish, the ‘baked pasta’ which was the equivalent to baked ziti. It was awesome. I quietly slipped out of the party around 11PM in order to get some rest before the race.

RACE DAY

I had pancakes for breakfast, which were amazing! Then, I met my new friends Michael and Jay and we walked over to the race together. It was a beautiful morning and the Park was bustling with activity from every angle.

The blue corral was packed in like sardines by the time I got there so I had to post up at the very back. Whatever.

The gun went off and it took me at least 30-45 seconds to get going. Yes, it was a crowded race. Not to sound snobby or anything, but a slew of random slow people were in the Blue. We were bobbing and weaving all around them the entire first 1/2 Mile. Im not sure how they slipped through security…

For the first mile I was flanking the left side, pushing past people trying to get out into the open. As I was cruising I hear “Baker!” to my right. It was my friend Kevin Masse running along side of me! I hadn’t seen him in awhile since he took a running break after running Philly. We chatted for a hot second before he told me to get going.

At Mile 2 things were getting better. Erika was there on the right snapping photos and cheering me on. Thanks Erika!

The Harlem Hill came up quick and it hit hard. It never ends man! I tried to push up the hill as best I could. Once we rounded the top corner and started to head back south I smiled big, knowing that the hardest part of the run was now behind me. I mean, I still had to finish, but there were no more monster hills.

By now we were a single file line of runners and were all cruising around the same pace. Mile 5 happened fast as well, which was a relief. Right around this time a few guys kinda boxed me out and were passing me. I just thought to myself, ‘let them go by, chase them down at the end.’

As we rounded Columbus Circle I was holding back… wait for it, wait for it… (not wanting to burn out right before the finish which I did once by starting too soon).

As soon as we hit the uphill and I could see the Finish coming into view I hit the afterburners and brought it into full sprint! I think I might have taken out 7-8 people that were in front of me, it was awesome! SIDENOTE: It’s true that sprinting past people at the end isn’t that big a deal if you aren’t contending for the 1, 2 or 3 spot, but for me, I get like a movie soundtrack ( the end of Teenwolf or Karate Kid for example) in my head and pretend I’m winning. It’s these little personal moments that make it fun for me.

When I stopped running I did feel extremely light headed and nauseous. This was the first time this has ever happened. I needed water, STAT! After slamming 2-3 cups I felt back to normal.

I finished in 37:59 which is a personal record by 10 seconds which makes me happy. What a great day for a run!