May 2014 – BEYOND DEFEAT

RACE REPORT: 102 Boston Run to Remember Half Marathon – 1:22:45

Posted on May 31, 2014 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

Abs n I caught a late afternoon train on Friday, barreling due north towards Boston. I love train rides. You can bring your own food and beer, plus the odds of a crash are pretty low. There is also something timelessly romantic about train travel.

Arriving in Beantown we noted that it was a bit cooler than our weather apps had let on. This would be helpful for Sunday.

Abbe works in the food industry so she is always looking for cool places to go. She heard of this place Uni, where head chef Tony Messina set up an intimate sashimi bar.

We sat at the sashimi bar where Tony himself was at work. He had a small, but expert team, of people preparing sashimi at lightening speed and accuracy. It was great to watch.

We had the chef’s tasting menu, on his recommendation. Being a traditionalist, I have to admit that I was skeptical at first. As the first amuse arrived, a non-alcoholic tomato water martini with caper berry, my skepticism was swept away. For the rest of the night, dish after dish, I was blown away by Tony’s combinations. One of my favorites was the Smoked Uni Spoon (Sea Urchin, Maine) Quail Egg Yolk, Osetra Caviar, Chives. Without going through each of the 15 dishes I will let the photos speak for themselves. It is rare that I am totally amazed by a restaurant, but it is as if Tony has invented a new way to view food. I highly recommend stopping in.

Back at the hotel we met up with Jessica, one of Abbe’s best friends who had flown in from North Carolina for the race for some cocktails.

On Saturday we first walked to the expo, which is in the same venue as the Boston Marathon, to pick up our bibs.

Since we had all day in Boston we played tourists. We all love history and so we decided to walk the Freedom Trail. It was awesome, not only historically, but also as a great way to see the city. Some highlights were seeing Paul Revere’s home and the Old North Church. We even had lunch at the Green Dragon, a place where Paul himself hung out plotting against the British.

We lounged around Boston Common for awhile before heading to Cheers for a drink. My Dad loved that show and watched it all the time when I was a little kid, and so it was a bit nostalgic.

We decided to go chill back at the hotel until dinner. I have a hard time ‘chilling’ so I went to the hotel pool and did laps. I got in about 3/4 of a mile before my time ran out and I needed to get ready for dinner.

Our next food adventure was at Scampo in the Liberty Hotel. Italian (of course) as we had to carbo load! We once again got to meet the chef and some menu advice. The highlight of the night was mozzerella with king crab, cocktail avocado & green mustard oil. It was nuts! I choose garlic and anchovy pizza as my main and was not disappointed at all. Once again, I highly recommend stopping by Scampo if you are in Boston.

RACE DAY

Woke up quick, at about noon…

I was really up at 6AM, after a night of weird race dreams where I was late to the start. Our hotel practically overlooked the start so we had loads of time to get there. Still full from the dinner before (a great sign on race day) I housed a banana and cup of coffee and was ready to go.

Weather could not have been more perfect. 55 degrees, overcast with a light breeze.

There were no corrals at this thing so I just stood around at the front. The Boston Police had their pipes band there and they did a rendition of Amazing Grace that brought chills up my spine. Run to Remember is a tribute to all fallen police officers. I had a few friends who work for the NYPD back home and so this tribute race felt right.

The gun went off and we blasted into a speedy frenzy. I was running naked again (no watch) and so just ran at what I felt a reasonable pace. I had no expectations going into this thing. The only thing I wanted to happen was to not have a ‘bad’ race.

At mile two the clock said 12:10 which means I was going way too fast.

We were running through the historic downtown area and it was very cool passing all the monuments. Miles 2.5-4 had this crazy straightaway stretch. I just put my head down and ran. By now we were in single line race formation and spaced out around 15 feet apart.

We hooked a right and cruised over a bridge toward MIT for the 5 mile out-n-back along the river. Once over the bridge runners took a right, ran for a mile then turned around headed back toward the bridge but kept going another 1.5-2 miles to another turnaround point. At the first turnaround I was exhausted (similar to Brooklyn the week before) but saw that there were not that many runners in front of me. Cool!

As we headed back toward the bridge I got to see Abs and we gave each other a wave!

Past the bridge we ran past around 2 squad cars, all flashing their lights with the officers in front, representing all the districts on Boston Proper. I gave salutes to all.

Finally, we reached the last turn around point. It was here that somehow, someway out of nowhere a new surge of energy came my way. I started passing people with renewed zest! That’s right, I had zest! I even saw Abbe again!

The miles were ticking off quick. Soon, I was crossing Harvard Bridge back to Boston.

My nutrition was spot on too. I didn’t even have any Gu. So meaning, my meal the night before of garlic and anchovy pizza was perfect.

I rocked through the last 2 to 3 miles and it was kind of a blur. I was using my old mantra, “There is no pain, only glory” and it seemed to do the trick. I was overriding all thoughts of fatigue.

The last straight away back over the bridge is a doozy. It seems like 1/4 of a mile but it is actually closer to a mile.

I finished in 1:22:45, which was 1 second faster than the Brooklyn Half last weekend! How weird is that!

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M36	793	24	8	1:22:45	6:19	73%

I grabbed my medal and then went to watch Abs finish. While doing so I heard, “Chris?” It was a former coworker from Rolex who happened to have family running too. Small world!

Abbe, Jess and I hit the hotel to shower and prepare for lunch at the Barking Crab.

What is the Barking Crab? Only my favorite place in Boston, that’s all. Seafood meets outdoor bar meets dive bar meets beer equals fun. I housed a set of crab legs and a few beers in celebration of being 1 second faster than the weekend before. I’m kidding, I celebrate any race just because it’s a celebration of being alive.

We hopped a late afternoon train outta there back to mighty Gotham.

RACE REPORT: 101 Brooklyn Half Marathon – 1:22:46

Posted on May 18, 2014 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

I like being sporadic. I think we all need to be more sporadic. I decided last minute to pop a train down to my alma mater (MICA) and hang with my friends Alex and Will for something called Artwalk. It’s a blast. Just envision the largest art opening you can, paired with food and booze campus-wide. If you are a creative, it will inspire you tenfold.

But where was Abbe during all of these adventures?! She is in Chicago for work so she is missing out on Brooklyn/Baltimore things. I hear it’s warm there right now.

I crashed at Alex and Lisa’s and got to spend some time with my godson Jackson and his new baby brother.

Friday I departed on an early afternoon train, excited and dreading the prospect of running a half marathon the next day. The distance and race in general didn’t scare me, the logistics of getting there did!

Back on Manhattan soil, I met my cousins for happy hour instead of going home and resting. We only stayed out til 9:30. I decided at 10PM that I needed carbs, so I made some Mac-n-Cheese and not even the Kraft brand, some random bodega brand! Was it still amazingly tasty? You bet.

RACE DAY

After a horrible night’s sleep and a dream in which I showed up like an hour late to a race I decided to get this party started. Waking up for a Half Marathon at 5AM ain’t pretty, but at least it wasn’t an Ironman.

I was in a cab headed down Park Ave by 5:30. I love my neighborhood early on weekends, it’s so peaceful. It’s like the calm before the storm, that storm which is New York City.

I had a thermos of coffee that I was sipping on in the cab which in retrospect I will never do again. I was quite gassy and so I gave my driver a nice tip. “Don’t ever pick up someone wearing a race bib!” No seriously, I tipped in cash, runners are nice.

Sam rolled up on me as we neared the security gates. We were not looking forward to the security screening but it was pretty smooth. Probably like 5 times faster than getting screened at the airport.

We were supposed to meet the team (Gotham City Runners) but we were a little late. I did run into Tara, Kate and Jonathan warming up. We found Maura soon after. I also ran into my friend Patricia, running her first big race since being a mom!

I jumped in my corral and waited. We had 20 minutes to go so I just kinda spaced out for a bit.

As it got closer they moved us around this bend (that messed up a lot of people who started timing it from here) and down to the start line. I was about 50 feet back from the start and kind of thought it was close enough. I wasn’t feeling particularly competitive for some reason.

I saw my friend Alex who happened to be next to me. He and I have been running similar paces for the last 4 years and always finish close together. We chatted for a bit as the race was delayed. I told him I would be happy with a 1:25. Oh, and big ups to the National Anthem performer. He was awesome and I got goosebumps at one point. Well done.

Finally we were off.

It was a bit of a speedy cluster for the first mile going down the narrow roadway. I imagined it must have felt like this if you were Luke’s crew doing the final Death Star run. If anyone tripped up it would have been a domino effect disaster.

Photo credit: Ben Ko (thanks Ben!)

I saw a lot of friends and teammates as we looped up around Grand Army Plaza and came back down along the Park.

I was running naked (no Garmin) and so had no idea what my pace was. I love doing races like this as you tend to not focus on pace, but feel. I was feeling sluggish, or at least I felt that way. Based on the timing clocks I thought I must be running 6:30’s or something close. Not a PR day.

We entered Prospect Park after mile 3. I was still feeling heavy. The route was starting to thin out now and it was much easier to run tangents.

The one thing I don’t like about running Prospect Park is simply that I am not familiar with it. I could probably draw Central Park’s elevation profile by heart if I had to or run it blindfolded. Something about not knowing the turns messed me up.

We exited after Mile 6 and headed out onto Ocean Parkway. From here it was a straight shot down to Coney Island. It is also unshaded, so can get treacherous as the sun gets higher.

As I was cruisin down Ocean I was feeling a bit winded and was like, “Where the hell is the Mile 7 marker!” As soon as I thought about it I saw it, but no, it was Mile 8! This happens every now and again where I miss a marker and it is such a great feeling! I actually got kinda fired up and increased my speed.

I started slowing passing people and my mind and my body kind of separated from each other. My legs just went.

This race picture was a mystery to me, then I remembered seeing Dougie and running over to high five him! All caught on camera!

The miles ticked off really quickly now. At Mile 11 the clock said like 1:09 or something. Doing some quick math (something I am not good at) I thought, “Hey, I’m not doing quite as bad as I thought!”

As we neared the finish on teh boardwalk I saw my friend Alex up ahead! As I cruised up along side, with 100M to go I waved and said, “C’mon! Let’s go!” and we sprinted.

I ran a 1:22:46! I was very happy as I hadn’t run a good Half in awhile. We (Alex and I) high fived and then moved on to get water.

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M36	406	246	43	1:22:46	6:20	72.43%

Then, I hear from the sidelines, “Hey Baker!” It was my friends Mandy and Gabe! They were headed out to cheer on some friends who were running. Great to see you both!

I chilled out in the parking lot outside of the finish basking in the sun barefoot for a little while.

Abbe called me and said I was a metronome. This confused me because I thought I started off bad and finished faster. She sent me my splits and sure enough I was running super consistent withing 2-3 seconds! Strange indeed.

Next up… Peggy O’Neils for the after party. Holy smokes! When I got there it was just me, Sam her boyfriend, Daniel and Leslie but within 30 minutes the place was packed!

Not only did our whole team takeover an are outside, but almost all the other local teams did as well. It was a giant runner party complete with a live cover band! Score!

Doug and Danika popped over to say hi early on. Danika ran a great race!

So many people came by it’s hard to keep straight. I hung out with Beganics and Katie, Eissa and Nick, the whole Gotham Team (and Susan) and so many more. I even found Patricio!

We all hung out for quite some time. At 11 my cousins showed up and revealed an interesting fact. They said that when they got off the train they could smell us, like all 20,000 of us, sweaty and taking over Coney Island. We just didn’t realize it because we were part of it.

At noon we went in search of Nathan’s Hot Dogs. It wasn’t hard as we were right next to Nathan’s BUT the line was insane.

Maura and I decided to leave everyone as we couldn’t handle the line. Walking to the subway she said, “Baker, you look hungry, shouldn’t we get something to eat?” Good call. We went in search of a place with no line and came up very successful. Unfortunately our friends thought we had left and so they dipped as well. Sorry Bojana, Brian and Jodi!

My cousins found us again and we hopped around Coney. I told them that it was a New Yorker’s duty to ride the Cyclone at least once if you live here. We did just that and it was just as awesome as it has been since 1927!

Back to Peggy’s for one last drink and then we headed out. We were not only celebrating the race, but Maura had PR’d so we were being extra festive.

What a day! Congrats to all my friends and teammates who ran!

RACE REPORT: 100 Run as One 4M – 24:19

Posted on May 15, 2014 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running Leave a comment

This is my 100th race! It was also my 10 year anniversary at work… spooky.

Come along, let’s take a walk back in time and see where it all started.

Back in 2007 I didn’t run. In fact, aside from running around in general like little kids do, I never really ran. I dreaded the Mile in gym class. That year a coworker of mine ran the NYC Marathon. I went and cheered her on with some other coworkers. This was my first time investigating a running race. Arriving at First Avenue a female runner pulled over, hot, sweaty and looking like she was on mile 18 of the marathon (as she was) and puked right at my feet. She shook it off and continued running. “Whoa.” I thought. The full magnitude of what was going on started to sink in for the first time and I was in awe.

The rest of my afternoon was pretty uneventful. That would be the last time that Marathon Sunday in NYC would be uneventful for me.

The next week at work the Pres had a little breakfast party for my coworker and our department. It was great. Towards the end the breakfast the President asked aloud “Who from Rolex would run it next year?” A few chuckles erupted and as his glance came my way he simply said, “Baker will do it.” I smiled and said, “Sure. I’m in.”

Just like that my destiny would be forever changed.

I put together a basic training plan and started running a few months after that.

As the following November rolled around I became very nervous. I am intrigued by this now as I rarely get nervous for races anymore now that they are so ingrained into my day-to-day. Now, I get amped.

The race was fantastic (you can read about it here if you like).

I love this photo because 1, I am wearing pants and 2, I would later become friends with the guy next to me, Jeff, an editor at Runner’s World.

I too, got my celebration breakfast hosted by the President. He would turn out to be one of my biggest fans. Before each big race he would call me and wish me luck and after the race he would invite me to the executive floor so I could fill him in on race details. He was a great guy and I ran my first Sub3 marathon for him (race report here) in 2011. He passed away suddenly in late 2010.

After many failed attempts victory was mine. I actually screamed out “Yeah!” when I finished this one.

The marathon wouldn’t be enough to quench my thirst. Small triathlons were next followed by a few Ironmans, which are my main passion these days due to their risk/reward.

Last but not least let’s talk about all of you. Almost all of you are accomplished runners, marathoners, and triathletes and I am so proud to call you friends and peers. You kick ass every weekend.

So there you have it. 100 races in and still loving it. What’s that you ask? My favorite race? Good question. Probably Ironman Arizona as it was my first full IM and it took all of me to finish.

Oh, wait, this is a race report!

I met up with the Team, the mighty Gotham City Runners (lookout for us, we will get ya) and did a quick warm up before hitting corrals. I had dreams of hitting the 6 minute mile marker like old times. This year I am back 100% injury free so everything is kind of new.

Miles 1 and 2 were pretty jammed as I was in the back of the Blue Corral at the start. As I finally pushed ahead and got some space this young tall guy (who had basketball shorts on) got mad that I passed him. All of a sudden he came from behind huffing and puffing right last me. I actually laughed out loud and in my head was like, “See you at mile 3.” Sure enough at mile 3 guess who was walking?

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG %
M36	124	76	69	24:19	6:05	71.27%

I finished just over my 6 minute marker and was happy. I found Abs who was also running and we shot home before heading out to meet a lot of the Runner Army for some celebratory drinks. Good times.