July 2013 – BEYOND DEFEAT

The Dizzy Bat Race

Posted on July 24, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of running whilst being blasted out of your mind dizzy.

Thursday night after work we headed off to Central Park, the East Meadow to be specific, for the 2nd Annual New York Rogue Runners ‘Dizzy Bat Race’ hosted by Claire. Although the race was covered in Timeout NY and Blood, Sweat and Cheers we knew that the hellish weather might deter people.

We set up the bases and Claire had me do a test run. I spun face down head on the bat 10 times (which in and of itself was a challenge) then took off running. Instead of heading toward 1st base, like any normal American would know to to, I veered off to 3rd base before collapsing into the field. Quite a daunting task rewarded with loud bursts of laughter. This was going to be fun.

Once we had a decent crowd Claire announced the rules. Plain and simple, the clock starts, spin around the bat 10 times, run the bases making sure to tag up at each one. The winner would get a $50 gift certificate to Stub Hub and a check for $9.50, the price of a beer at Yankee Stadium.

Claire started off the madness and did pretty well. Juan was next and he spun the opposite way the rest of us were spinning so instead of him veering to 3rd base head went toward 1st! A great strategy!

Without getting into too much detail about the race I urge you to watch the awesome video Juan made with everyone’s runs in it. Thanks Juan!

Official Times:

Claire: 39:5
Juan: 44:4
Baker (me): 45:00
Neal: 1:02
Elizabeth: 2:10
Abbe: 1:00
Rachel: 1:04
Andrew: 37:2
Maura: 38 flat (her real time was far to great so our time keeper cut her a break)
Elyssa: 1:01

This was a really fun time. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.

After Claire presented newcomer Andrew with is prizes we all headed to the bar for the after party!

Guardian angel, or bus driver?

Posted on July 5, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Fitness, Training: Cycling Leave a comment

Today I opted for a bike ride instead of a run. Why? Because I wanted to go inspect my city and see what was shakin’ in all corners.

Riding through city streets means I take my track bike as its indestructible. My tri bike would be destroyed with a single door to the frame.

Down Fifth, through Times Square then over to the speedy Lexington. To Park and through Union Square cutting right into the West Village. Tribeca and on into SoHo before heading east to yes, the East Village. Waving to the shuttered Nino’s Pizza with respect as I cut north. Things were going great and I was thoroughly enjoying myself.

Making my way up Park Avenue to begin my return trip my chain popped as I was at 18th Street. To those of you unfamiliar with track bikes, when the chain pops you now have zero control over the bike. There are no brakes and no gears, it is a single drive train, purest form of the bicycle. My right foot jolted out of the clip when this happened and I teetered right then left. I purposefully brought myself own to the right, bracing my fall with my hands and swinging the bike with my still attached left foot to my front like a brake dance move.

I detached my left foot and picked up my bike, inspecting it. My right shin was on fire, I must have had part of the bike smash in it.

As I turned to face traffic there was a bus stopped right behind me. The driver was like, “Hey man, you cool? What happened?” “Yea man, the chain popped! Could have been worse right!?” He replied, “For sure. How’s the knee doing?” I told him my knee was fine and that my shin was what got banged up. “Thanks for looking out man!” I yelled as he continued up Park Avenue.

I pulled my chain back onto the drive train and made sure the bike was seaworthy. Since my shin was killing me I decided I’d ‘walk it off’ a bit.

At 24th Street I decided it was time to get moving again due to my thoughts of lunchtime. I cruised steady, but very easy making sure I had complete control of the bike. Since Grand Central as totally blocking me from continuing north on Park I busted a left and then a right onto Madison. On a normal day Madison is a death trap for bikers, but it was a quiet holiday.

As I approached Carnegie Hill I popped off at 92nd Street, 1 block from my apartment. I started walking when all of a sudden I heard a double tap beep behind me. I turned around and at the bus stop was my bus driver! What? He gave me a thumbs up sign like, “You good?” I laughed out loud at him and I threw up my arm with a thumbs up. He sped away and gave a fist pump into the air!

Hell yea New York City.

RACE REPORT: 092 Pride Run 5M – 31:04

Posted on July 1, 2013 by admin

Posted in All, Fitness, Race Reports, Running 4 Comments

Pride Week in NYC is always a bit crazy and fun. There is one factor that seems to remain the same every year… the heat!

My stupid knee was acting up all week since I thought it a good idea to skateboard to work Monday. After all my super sleuthing in trying to figure out where my knee tracking originated I think skateboarding is my final conclusion. Its a pretty jarring activity for the knee and leg in general. I guess I’m retired. Who wants a skateboard?!

My youngest brother Jeff decided to run the race as well. He made it into the NYCM lottery and so I advised him to get familiar with race protocol and run a few small races for the experience. We had an easy run over to 102nd street as I gave him a few pointers about positioning and some ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts.’

We linked up with Erica, Robert and Antonio before entering the corrals. It was overcast and didn’t seem too hot, for the moment. The energy in the crowds was great. People really enjoy this race and you can totally tell.

Baker Bros aint no joke!

We bid farewell and good luck to Jeff as we (Robert, Antonio and I) entered our corral. I think I have spent 75% of all race starts next to them. A little fist bump and then the gun went off.

We set it off at a pretty quick pace to start. We were easily pushing a 6 minute mile or quicker. Since my knee felt great right off the bat I just went with it. Making our way up the west side of Harlem Hill I had Robert flanking me to the left and Antonio pulling away up ahead. It was still pretty thick as thieves but beginning to thin out as Harlem Hill took its toll on some runners.

Water was all I really cared about. The sun had come out and it was blazing. I grabbed two cups at the first station, drinking one and pouring the other all over myself. I immediately felt better. Onward!

I had no idea of my pace as I was running ‘naked.’ I figured we were rocking along somewhere in the low 6’s. By now Robert was ahead of me by 1-2 seconds while Antonio was ahead of him by 1-2 seconds. I was hurting pretty bad. Not my legs, but my internal engine as I really haven’t been running that much, especially speed. Just hang on…

I have never been a fan of this particular course due to the left turns on 72nd Street. They are both like 45 degree turns and I feel as though I slow down tremendously taking them.

I finally caught up to Robert and joked with him, “What the hell did Antonio eat for breakfast, he’s cookin!” Along the Engineer’s Gate straightaway I saw Grace and Megan cheering. After saying hi to them they reprimanded me, “Stop talking Baker, you should be running!” Indeed. Next, I saw Abs who took this pic.

I saw Erica 500 meters from the finish who was snapping some pictures. I hammed it up as usual.

I finished in 31:04. It’s off my PR by 40 seconds or so. This makes me really happy. All season I have been healing my knee and doing 1/4th of the training I was doing last year due to it. To pull off some decent speedwork is a great sign AND I beat my 5M time from 2 weeks ago by like 16 seconds!

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M35	662	96	14	31:04	6:13	70.16%

Jeff cruised in shortly after we did. He rocked a 7:14 pace which is impressive for his first race.

I was hanging with Robert and Antonio when this older runner came up and said, “Hey, I see you out here running all the time. You must do triathlons too? Figured I’d come say hi.” His name was Pat and we chatted about our races before he headed out. THIS is what makes our sport so great people. Don’t be shy out there. You know as well as I do that you run by the same people over and over again. We are all one giant Runner Army. Say hi.