Monthly Archives: August 2011

Much ado about running

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The calm before the storm isn’t nearly as rewarding as the picture perfect running day after.

Our offices were closed Monday due to all the trains being down. Waking up with a crisp ‘Autumn-like’ breeze coming in through my sunlight bedroom window one thing came to mind… running. I talked to Coach S. (as swimming is my normal Monday routine) and told her I felt like ‘running my face off’. After a green light from her, I took off, not knowing where I was going to end up exactly.

I had eaten some steel cut oats and had a cup of coffee prior to leaving and anticipated this fuel getting me through my run.

As I entered Central Park I became really excited. 60 degrees, breezy, not a cloud in the sky and my energy was on point, what more could a runner as for?

I made my way counter-clockwise around the Park, taking note of any storm damage. If there was any, it looked minor. There were occasional trees that had fallen and small pieces of debris on the path, but it was nothing compared to that crazy storm that ripped up all the trees last year.

I was maintaining a 7 minute pace as I approached Columbus Circle. It was here that I thought, “All of my friends are at work, I have nothing on my schedule…” and I bee-lined it out of the Park and over to the West Side Path heading South.

The sun was really blasting me now that I was out in the open and I stopped quickly once or twice to drink some water.

As I entered Battery Park, the point in which I thought I might turn around and head back, I just decided to keep going. Queue up Forrest Gump jokes anytime if you haven’t already. Down by Lady Liberty I noticed how crystal clear the sky was.

I rounded the tip of the island and headed up the East Side Path, still feeling good. I haven’t run more than 13 miles in quite some time (January in fact) so I was wondering how I would fare.

At Houston Street I moved inland and blazed up Second Avenue, heading straight toward 83rd Street which was my starting point. It was during this stretch I started to feel fatigued, overheated and overly excited for lunch.

Finishing up just over the 17 mile mark I grabbed a Gatorade and drank it in record time. I finished in 2 hours with a  7:05 pace and a 155 average Heart Rate.

1PM – 4PM: Read, write, chill, eat.

Abbe and I had planned a ‘run-to-dinner’ date for that night (something we really love to do) so I met her at her place to start at 4:30PM. Setting off across 35th Street my legs felt like lead. This was a fun challenge for me, how do I get my legs to get back in run mode. It really only took a mile or so before I was warmed up and everything was running as planned.


We chatted a bit and ended up down at Battery Park (second time for me that day) to have a really relaxing dinner. They even let us in with our running gear on!

We ran just over 5 Miles bringing my daily tally to 22 Miles.

Look how beautiful the sunset was.

RACE REPORT: 064 Fire Island 5K: 17:52 – 2nd Place Overall

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When it rains, it pours. I mean that literally, not figuratively.

Abbe and I left work on Friday and hit the Lurr (as I like to call it), or Long Island Railroad enroute to Bay Shore for the Fire Island Ferry. The train was so preppy I couldn’t stand it. It was like an Ad for Vineyard and Vines (which I hate). I soon found out that this was also the train out to the Hamptons, hence the preppy dress.

Bunny ears!

 

After hopping off the ferry you are immediately met with peace and serenity (especially if you are from NYC) because there are no cars allowed on the island. Its just crazy cruiser bikes and walkers. ‘Margaritaville’ if you will.

We were guests of ‘Dad Posse’ Ed and his wife Annelise. This was my 3rd year going and I was very excited, it’s always a fun time. Abbe and I stopped into their house (which is next to the Fire Island Hotel where we sleep). Cocktails started flying. In attendance was the entire ‘Dad Posse’ plus families! Role Call: Ed and Annelise plus Jack, Isabelle, and ‘The Karate Kid’ or Ben; Jim and Lisa plus Josephine and Elizabeth; Mike and Kara plus Kelly and Kevin and last but not least the pups Louis and Daisy!

After a fun barbecue we were in bed by 11.

We woke up at 5:30AM since Abbe had 17 Miles queued up for her training. While she did that I went with Ed and Mike to watch Kelly, Jack and Ben play a pick-up game of baseball. It was pretty exciting, the three kids are really good and knocked in a few runs!

One of the highlights for me was the planned open water swim we normally do. Ed, Jim, Mike and I all being triathletes love this kind of stuff because you cant get this kind of training in a pool. We decided on the 1 Mile course over the half.

We set off, it was a beautiful sunny day by the way, and I focused on my form. It’s so cool swimming open water with just 3 other people because it’s very challenging trying to keep track of where we all are. On the return I noticed my hands ripping through an invisible force field or something. I later found out they were jellyfish.

The rest of the day was spent at the beach and then later, we had a Luau for Elizabeth and Isabelle who were celebrating birthdays. Hawaiian shirts, leis and coconut drink cups… it was awesome! We had tons of great food, all kind of tropical in one way or another.

Pre-race rituals…

With the anticipation of rain (and Ed being quoted as saying “No way is it going to rain.”) we all went to bed just before midnight.

RACE DAY
Sleeping in until 8AM is a treat, especially on a race day in which gun time is 10:30AM and you’re sleeping at the Start. I took a look outside and it was steadily raining. This pleased me as the last 2 years its been 90 degrees and sunny, not ideal sprinting conditions.

We made our way to Ed’s place and fueled up on coffee and bagels, taking our time since we had 2 hours to the start. Ed, Jim, Mike, Annelise, Jack and I were the ones running, everyone else would be cheering (or in the youngsters case watching movies).

As we sat their joking about how many puddles there would be the steady rain turned into a downpour. It would go on like this all day… steady rain to downpour and back.

Jim and I did a warm up run about 15 minutes before the taking our place up at the start. The rain had calmed a bit but we could see huge lake-like puddles down the course and the organizers Anthony and John DiGangi (friends of mine) we warning us to be careful. In mind I told myself I was going to have some fun and just barrel through the puddles rather than trying to run around them. Steeplechase baby!

The gun went off and we lunged forward. The first ⅛ of a mile is a straightaway and 4-5 of us took the lead. I didn’t yet feel good, but have learned a lot about myself the last few months and knew that I need a mile or two at race pace before my engine turns over.

The puddles were insane. Most of them were across the entire path, 12-20 feet long and 3-6 inches deep. It definitely slowed us down when we hit them, especially since we were all kind of looking for holes where would snap our ankle if hit wrong. I have to admit, the first few puddles I was laughing out loud yelling, “This is so awesome!”

By now, the leader Josh (a Front Runner who I befriended after the race) was slowly pulling away from us. I was now in a pack of 3 with Alex and Davis and we were all running pretty steady, hitting Mile 1 at 5:32. It had also started to rain heavy again, but the positive thing was that we were all cooled down perfectly!

At Mile 1.5 a woman yelled “You’re almost there!” and I replied, “No. We are not.” Davis laughed and we both chatted about how we hate it when uneducated spectators yell things like that. Like at Mile 18 in a Marathon, “Looking good! Almost there!” C’mon! Really!?

As Mile 2 approached I was feeling pretty fired up. I saw Josh in the distance but knew I could never catch him with a mile to go. Still, I pushed forward. At Mile 2.5 there was a woman spectator smoking a cigarette. Once again, really?!

Coming down the home stretch I knew Alex wasn’t far behind me and I had to keep up my speed. As we rounded the turn to the 50 meter straightaway finish I punched it just to be sure, coming in 2nd Place overall.

Sex/
Age		 Bib Overall Place Age
Place		 Finish
Time		 Pace/
Mile		 AG %
M33 3 2 1 17:52 5:45 72.6%

As I crossed I high-fived Anthony and John who were flanking the Finish line, then found Abbe and gave her a kiss.

As I was getting water Josh, Alex, Davis and I were all congratulating each other and laughing at the conditions. It was one of the most memorable display of sportsmanship I have seen in a long time.

Back at the finish with Abbe it was completely down-pouring. We watched Jim, Mike, Ed, Jack and Annelise come through before we all decided to take cover as we were shivering. After the awards ceremony a bunch of us headed down to the after party at Schooners Bar. Did it stop raining? No. The DiGangi’s raised over $40,000 for the ABTA!

It was a fantastic race weekend that was capped off with Abbe taking me out to a healthy celebratory dinner back in ol’ Manhattan.

Bike Talk

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To truly know me, is to know bikes and how much I love them.

Bikes are awesome. Anyone that thinks otherwise should be locked up. Seriously, watch out once I become Mayor cause you’re going to jail naysayer!

In the last year I have slowly been building up my TT Bike (Time Trial Bike or ‘Triathlon Bike’) to get it up to Ironman worthy status. (Ironman Arizona is fast approaching) A new cassette, a new saddle, adjusting things after rides, new shoes, handlebar streamers, and finally my rear water bottle cage.

I hate excess, but unfortunately in any distance race you need to be prepared for flats as well as have ample nutrition. My solution was the Profile Design RMC (in white of course to match my saddle). I installed it last night and can’t tell you how thrilled I am with it.


It sits under your saddle and back a bit, creating this like ‘bucket’ area to put things! Inside I have my Co2’s and tire levers, and underneath my spare tube! Oh, and you also have to water bottle cages for nutrition. Its perfect! Now I can load up the front of my bike with snacks (like my Race Burritos!)

Reporting LIVE from the Queens Half Mary!

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I chose to not race this year’s Queens Half Marathon based on my experience last year. Basically, it was hot as hell.

This race happened to fit perfectly into Abbe’s Chicago Marathon training plan so she signed up. (I did warn her of the heat though…)

The night before we went out for her to carbo-load. I carbo-loaded cause that’s just what I do. Especially since Coach Sonja has me training 24/7 these days. It’s a really strange feeling knowing you will be going to a race, but not running it. It’s very… how should I put it… ‘peaceful.’ I was stress free and could go to bed at any time!

RACE DAY!

The next morning I woke up like 45 minutes after Abbe, cause I could! There were no D-tags. No pinning a bib onto my shirt or making sure I had a hearty breakfast. It was amazing!

We took a cab out there since the 7 Train wasn’t running and I got her to the corrals right on time. After saying goodbye and wishing her luck (I was also supposed to pace her in the last 3 miles) I set off and changed into my spectator clothes.

In my mind I smiled and said, “This is Chris Baker reporting LIVE at the Queens Half! Say tuned people!” I sought out the best place to watch the start and found my perch right in front of the giant globe fountain thing-a-ma-bob. The runners would be coming right at me before veering ti the right and there was no way Abbe would miss seeing my cheers.



After a slight delay the runners were off! I saw Susan who would go on to have a spectacular race but somehow didn’t see Abbe in the sea of heads.

After all the runners passed it got kinda quiet and weird. I was like ‘Whoa, this is spooky.”

I looked at the map and made my way over to Mile 10 which was like a 15 minute walk. Actually, while I was walking I thought to myself, “You know, if I just ran to Mile 10 it would be so much faster then walking.” But seeing as how it wasn’t a race day I decided to stroll. I also wasn’t expecting Abbe over there until 9AM and it was 7:45.

Out in no man’s land I was like the only human around. I made a call to my Mom and basically enjoyed the quiet morning.

I got very excited when the leaders started coming through! I had no idea what to say though because I know sometimes when I’m on Mile 10 of a Half Mary and people are yelling dumb stuff at me like “Lookin good!” or “Almost there!” I’m like shut up people! I look like crap, am probably sunburned and 3 miles is a long ways to go! Instead, I took pics and tweeted a lot.

I had no idea there would be so many of my friends running! Lets do a quick cast in order of appearance. Kevin! Lam! Susan! Michael! Dana and Bardy! Dori! and of course Abbe! There may have been more but I took off pacing Abbe. I was pretty excited to get moving but quickly realized that it was very hot out. I missed my cute shady spot at Mile 10.


Look! I’m running!

I felt very rebellious running in the race. I didn’t even get any water at the aid stations because I thought someone would go, “Hey man! Where’s your bib! Security!”

After pacing Abbe 2 Miles she told me she had the last Mile on her own so I dipped off to the right. I still kept her in eye shot in case she needed anything.

While waiting for her at the finish I saw this local woman peddling a cart around with some goodies on it. I was hungry. I approached her and was like, “Oh my god is that fresh mango slices!” “Si.” A whole bag of like 12 slices for 2 bucks! I then realized I must turn my attention back to the finish so as to not miss Abbe.

There she was, looking great and finishing with a PR! Congrats Abbe!

I had a real fun time reporting the race and being a spectator but deep down, I wanted to RUN!