Monthly Archives: October 2010

RACE REPORT: 051 Little Silver 5k: 17:38 – 11th Place

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After Saturday’s 5K I headed back to my apartment to pack for the Little Silver 5K I was racing on Sunday. Jim, Ed (from ‘Dad Posse’) and Jack (Ed’s son) and I left around 2:30 to head to Mike and Kara’s house in the Red Bank area.

After a lovely jaunt down the ever-scenic New Jersey Turnpike we arrived at our destination. The sun was setting and Fall was in the air, so we caught up over a few beers in the backyard. The rest of the wives (minus Erika 1- because she was running the Staten Island Half Mary in the morning and 2 – she’s not my wife!) were arriving the next day for post-race festivities, so the guys were let loose to roam Red Bank.

Jim, Ed, Mike and I set off to The Globe Bar to grab some food and more beer. It was supposedly a ‘Dive’ but all 4 of us have spent many years in ‘Dives’ in NYC and this was way off. It did have a cigarette vending machine though! They had great food, especially the wings. We spent a few hours there before setting off to Dublin House.

The Dublin House is a very respectable irish pub. Unfortunately, all 4 of us were wiped so we headed back to Mike’s house to ride out the night after just one Guinness.

Once there we got the fire pit going and all sat around continuing our conversation. Kara joined along with the neighbors, Jim and Amy. I ducked out around 11PM because I was really feeling tired from the day’s events. I was also worried… how would my legs feel tomorrow for the next 5k?

RACE DAY

When I woke up at 7:45 I could definitely tell I needed more rest. Mentally substituting Santa Claus for coffee, I tip-toed downstairs to see what might be waiting for me.

After a cup of coffee and a banana we were off to the race. It really couldn’t have been more perfect as far as weather goes. 55 degrees, not a cloud in the sky.

As we prepared to line up at the start there were a bunch of college track runners warming up. Jim told me not to worry, but looking at them I thought “These dudes look fast! Yikes!”

The gun went off and I hung back. Not wanting to be the rabbit this time around, I let 3 guys lead us. We hung together in a 2 and 2 formation (envision us sitting in a car) and were blazing. We ran our first mile in 5:20.

Soon after Mile 1 the 3 underage speedsters I was running with separated from me. A few minutes later, another fast underage group overtook took me. I held onto these guys for the remainder of the race though.

SIDENOTE: How did my legs feel after racing a 5K the day before? Like crap. Imagine starting a 5K with that feeling you have at about Mile 8 of a Half Mary.

Mile 2 was hit at 5:40, and I was struggling.

Not much to report for the last mile aside from me just hanging onto the back of the heels of this college track runner named Alec. Rounding the corner and entering the high school track where we were to finish, I tried to punch it and take him, to no avail.

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall

Place

 Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M32 11 11 1 17:38 5:40 73.80 %

I crossed the finish at 17:38 and a 5:40 pace. Only one second slower than the Hoboken 5k the day before… science where are you when I need you?! This makes no sense at all but I’ll take it.

Jim came in followed by Mike and Ed. We all had goals set (without going into them as people’s race times can be personal) and all of us accomplished them! We hung around for the awards presentation as I won 1st in my age group (11th overall which is weird as my bib number was 11) and Jim got 3rd in his!

We went back to Mike’s where we had a fantastic BBQ. The rest of the wives and kids showed up as well. I helped all 7 of the kids paint pumpkins for Halloween which was awesome as I’m an artist at my core (even went to Art College) and got to be creative.

The weekend was fantastic for racing in general. I would like to say ‘hi fives’ to all my friends and acquaintances who raced this weekend whether it be Chicago Marathon, IM KONA World Championships (so jealous), Staten Island Half Mary, or the Hartford Marathon. Big thanks to the Farley’s for hosting us crazy runners!

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In conclusion, Racing a 5K on both Saturday and Sunday is very strenuous, especially when it involves social activity, not movies and sleep. But, my times for both were just 1 second apart. It’s very strange and I can’t come up with any logical explanation as I should have been more tired the following day. Is there a doctor in the house? Please explain!

Also, in analyzing my almost exact race times from both days and how I placed (3rd and 11th), it just goes to show… you never know who is going to show up on race day.

RACE REPORT: 050 Hoboken UMC 5K: 17:37 – 3rd Place

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This weekend I would attempt a double header 5K. Meaning… the first 5K on Saturday morning and the second on Sunday. I was very curious (scientifically) as to the outcome of both. Would I be faster on the first race, or would that race simply warm me up for Sunday? Stay tuned.

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Erika and I left Manhattan on the Hoboken Ferry (it’s really the best way to get there, the Path is crap) Friday night after work. Our plan was to meet up with Jenn and Josh, drink our face off, wake up and blaze the Hoboken UMC 5K.

Erika, Josh, and I started at a cute Mexican restaurant and began the night with a few margaritas. Shortly after we met Jenn at their place to relax on their back patio. After a few more drinks we decided that a Nintendo Wii contest was in order.

1:30AM, Wii-ed out (is that a new term perhaps?) and intoxicated, we all went to bed.

RACE DAY

We woke up at 7:45AM after Mike and Meryl arrived to join us for the race. All of us feeling a bit groggy, we made our way out to the start of the race.

It was beautiful out and couldn’t be more perfect for a run.

Jenn (who is pretty fast) and I lined up right in front. I wasn’t sure what I felt like doing as far as the run was concerned, but I knew once we were moving I would figure it out.

The gun went off and the group lunged forward. I held down the left flank and in 30 seconds found myself leading the group. I hate being in this position. It’s called ‘being the rabbit’ and personally I would rather chase the rabbit. (Not to be confused with chasing the dragon.)

Sure enough 3 guys overtook me in at mile 1. It was there that my cousin Phyllis and her boyfriend John made an appearance on the sidelines, cheering me on! Family rules.

It was an out and back course and as the 3 leaders looped around I smiled and pointed at them as if to say “I’m coming for ya!” but they didn’t respond. I was very disappointed as I love fun sportsmen that get my humor. In reality, I would not be coming for them as they were cooking.

At mile 2 I felt good but was really pushing and starting to notice bits a fatigue setting in. I remembered what Danny Abshire from Newton told me during a running workshop in Central Park, “Shake it off, loosen up, then regain your form. It’s what Craig Alexander does.” I did this and it helped a lot. I un-kinked some things and kept along.

I saw Erika and we cheered at each other!

Coming down the finishing stretch there was no way I was going to overtake the lead guys, but on the other hand no one was behind me closing in.

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall

Place

 Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M32 306 3 1 17:37 5:40 73.80 %

I finished in 17:37 and in 3rd place overall! One of the guys running in the pack ahead wasn’t registered but just want to run it. And I, and I thought I was nuts!

Jenn came in 3rd female overall, then Erika came in 1st in her age group! The 6 of us walked away with 3 trophies!

Erika and I couldn’t stay for brunch so we took the ferry back home.

Later on, Erika’s trophy planted a kiss on mine.

RACE REPORT: 049 Montgomery River Run 5K: 18:24 – 1st Place

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A dear friend of mine, Mike Bowman (or ‘Bowman’) was getting married in the Chicago suburbs October 1st. In preparation for the trip I said to myself, “I should run a race out there since I have never been.” After some difficult research I signed up for the Montgomery River Run 5K Oktoberfest celebration. It was at 9AM the morning after the wedding. Crazy indeed.

SIDENOTE: This is a long post.

I left at 5:30AM Thursday morning to catch my flight. It was relatively painless, although I was up so early I felt like I should be running a Half Marathon or something. “Runner Brain.”

I landed at O’Hare roughly around 9:30AM and had until 4PM to get out to Aurora (a suburb 60 miles west of Chicago) and so I decided to have an ‘Adventure.’ Rather than take the $100 cab directly to Aurora, I took the subway into downtown Chicago to check it out, since I had never visited.

Here is a note to all you Chicago Marathon runners, they are ready for you! Unlike NYCM, there were huge ads and billboards canvassing the city to let everyone know what was coming.

Chicago is great. It’s very clean, has a pretty skyline, and the subway is efficient. I walked around for awhile and then had lunch at a pub.

I took another train out to Aurora and then checked into my hotel. Since all my friends were busy I went for an 8 mile run to explore town and pick up my race number.

That night was the rehearsal dinner and I got to see a lot of good friends.

ROLE CALL!!! Brendan and Stacy, Jeremy, Grant, Leigh, Kevin and Joan, Matt and Kate, Katie, and of course the wedding couple Bowman and Kim. I also made friends with some new people, Eric and Phe, Jay and Snake.

After dinner Kim’s brother Kevin took us all to a ‘speak easy’ of sorts. It was called The Phoenix Club, located in a town hall. You had to be a member to get in and there was a key card swipe to access the bar. This was not the speakeasy that Al Capone frequented. Bright lights, and lots of wood paneling… think truck stop meets Midwest bar. None the less, it was fun. They had the local beer for 75 cents per beer. It was called Old Style and if I knew now what it would do to my head the next day I would have spent the extra 25 cents for a mainstream beer.

We stayed out till 2AM or so and had a blast. All of us as a group haven’t been together in at least 10 years!

The next morning it felt like a squirrel was eating my brain, thank you Old Style.

Jeremy, Eric and I explored the town some more and ended up at a casino for awhile. Nothing like a little roulette at 2PM on a Friday…

The wedding was at 4:30PM so after a shower and getting ‘suited’ up we all made our way to the ceremony. It was really beautiful, set on a gazebo-like structure. The reception immediately followed and everyone jumped into party mode.

At midnight, after a thorough amount of drinking and dancing, I called it a night. The rest of the gang stayed out till 3 or 4 in the morning. A few of them woke me up at 5AM upon their return to the hotel room to give me all the details of what I had missed. After a little coaxing I convinced them to let me sleep as I had to be up at 8:30AM to race.

RACE DAY

In an email dated September 14th to the bride and groom, this was my response to the 5K, “I’m gonna sign up for the race and win it the day after your wedding in honor of you kats.” This was my intention all along, but I was worried about pulling it off. SIDENOTE: I sometimes call people ‘kats’ as in ‘Cool Cats’.

I grabbed a cup of coffee, then Jeremy and I headed out. He was my ride to the race and I am really thankful for him agreeing to do that, otherwise I might have had to run to the run. Ha.

Arriving at the race start, which was the local fire station and town hall, we found Eric waiting for us! He wanted to see this thing go down too. It was sunny and 50 degrees, running perfection and the epitome of Fall.

Everyone knew each other and were kinda milling about. Eric and Jeremy were smiling and they walked over and were like “Baker, you got this man, you can do it!” As I responded with, “Guys! Don’t jinx me!”

The start line was a crosswalk. Yes, it was a small town race. Around 9:15 people decided we could maybe start the race so all 144 of us were huddled in the street. There were a few serious looking runners there geared out and jumping around. A man standing in the lift of the fire truck called the start and then fired the gun.

Taking off in the front 5 runners or so I made the quick decision 50 meters out to just go for it ad I blasted ahead.

There was an ATV leading us down the town roads. It was a pretty simple course in a rectangle. At Mile 1 there was a volunteer and I yelled (as a joke) “How many miles is this thing?” Looking worried she yelled back, “It’s a 3 mile race and you just ran mile 1 in 5:45! Keep going!” I guess my race humor can be a little much at times.

I don’t like to ‘look back’ during races, but if there are turns I do glance back. I did this at one of the turns and didn’t see any runners. I found this odd and had I not been following the leader ATV I might have thought I took a wrong turn.

I felt good and was cooking, but I didn’t feel like I was pushing that hard. Rounding the final turn to the last 1/2 stretch I got pretty excited at the prospect of winning. The finish is a down hill and there were about 10 people (including Jeremy and Eric) cheering us on. Jeremy and Eric were really excited and totally making a cheering ruckus! As I crossed I threw a hand up and yelled “For Bowman and Kim!”

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall

Place

 Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M32 658 1 1 18:24 5:56 70 %

I got high fives from the fellas and then we cheered on the rest of the runners as they came through. My time was 18:24 which I was happy with even though it wasn’t Sub 17 which is my new 5K goal. Second place came in 50 seconds later followed quickly by the third place guy who was close to overtaking him.

I won a plaque for first place. We couldn’t stick around to watch all the awards as we had to get to the Wedding Brunch which would be ending in the next 30 minutes.

SIDENOTE: the first place female was 54 years old! Totally bad ass!

Arriving at the wedding brunch there were looks of disbelief, then loud cheering! Everyone wanted to hear how the race went down. Some people wondered why on earth I would want to run a race the morning after a wedding? I have no logical answer for this question accept that if you know me, then you know why.

I gave my trophy top Bowman and Kim as a wedding keepsake.

Most of us said goodbye shortly after. A group of us decided to go into Chicago for lunch to kill time before our 7PM flights. I got to be a tourist in a big city for once, instead of being the tour guide. It was actually pretty fun. After lunch we all went to the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower).

It was awesome! They have these clear glass boxes you can stand in and you are literally 1200 feet above the streets. I wont lie, I was scared.

At sundown we headed to the airport to leave the windy city. It was an amazing trip that once again made me realize how great it is to see friends you haven’t seen in ages, and everything is still the same as it always was.