Ed – BEYOND DEFEAT

RACE REPORT: 041 Wall Street Run – 3 Miles: 19:25?

Posted on June 25, 2010 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 3 Comments

The AHA Wall Street Run takes place in lower Manhattan’s Financial District and is pretty much organized chaos. The 3 Mile course runs a maze-like route through all the narrow roadways, finally ending at the ever-so-familiar Battery Marina. No I don,t have a yacht, it’s where a lot of the open water swims happen to end.

Erika asked me to pick up her number at the NY Road Runners, no problem. The problem, it seemed, was that I had not registered for the race!

Half disappointed and half excited, I left the Road Runners and sent some emails explaining my dilemma. Ed from ‘Dad Posse’ solved the problem. He couldn’t run the race so I could use his bib! Fantastic!

At work the day of the race I sat and thought about what I was about to do…
I was going to wear Ed’s bib in a 3 mile run.
SIDENOTE: Ed is in the 50-54 age group. (Sorry Ed for revealing your age)
I would surely take home an age group award for him, which would be kind of strange at the awards ceremony.

I decided to run without the official timing chip for 2 reasons. 1: Ed is running to gain entry into the NYC Marathon and however funny WE thought him knocking 3 minutes off his mile average in a weeks time was, the NYRR might penalize him. 2: Not fair to the 50-54 age group.

I met Mike and Patrick (also from ‘Dad Posse’) before the race then we set out to line up for the start. This is a general mess of a start with no seeded corrals and a total bottle neck right in the beginning. It’s a charity fun-run, not something where you’re going to be setting any records so I always tell people to just enjoy themselves.

In the start corral I ended up bumping into Anthony DiGangi who I met at the Fire Island 5K last year. He and his brother organize the run and I highly recommend it. I’m already signed up for this year’s race (fi5k.org).

The gun went off and it took me 2 minutes or more to cross the start. After getting through we were truckin’ at an 8 minute pace, people were hopping on the sidewalks and it was actually kind of dangerous from a sprained ankle perspective. This is why Erika opted to not run. She hurt her ankle in a bike fall Tuesday and didn’t want to risk injuring it further.

On Church Street there was a moment where the course widened so I sped up and cruised down the left side.

Back into the narrow streets it got really hot. It was already 93 degrees, but it seemed to escalate in those tight quarters.

I’m a huge NYC history buff and in my head I was thinking “Man, I would love to teleport an early Manhattan Dutch settler to this moment see what he thought of our little 5K.” At least he would know how far a kilometer was right? Ha.

Water Street widened the track again and I picked up my pace. We were running directly into the setting sun and it got HOT!

The final stretch runs right along the water. The group I was with all started sprinting and yelling, why not.

The clock said 19:25 when I finished but I have no idea how accurate that was without a timing chip and how far back I started. It just felt good to get the blood going and race with a big group.

I grabbed a bottled water and poured the whole thing on my head. Problem solved.

Then I heard “Hey Baker!” It was Daniel (or Dnorton). He and I chatted about the run, along with another fast guy who introduced himself to us.

I grabbed my baggage and was gearing down when I saw Mattsix, followed by Joeonetime! (using Twitter names make me imagine we are all super heroes)

I left them to meet up with Mike and Patrick. The 3 of us ended up going to Nancy Whiskey Pub which I have been wanting to go to for 10 years! It was awesome! A classic NYC dirty irish pub with loud rock-n-roll and cheap drinks. I shall return.

Good luck to Eissa, Ron and Sonja who race the Ironman Coeur d’Alene on Sunday! (I’m secretly jealous)

RACE REPORT: 040 Lavaman Triathlon

Posted on June 22, 2010 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Triathlon 8 Comments

Sex/ Age	Age Place	Overall Place	Swim 0.3M	T1	Bike 13.7M	T2	Run 4M	Total Time
M32	3	19	9:49	1:33	36:53	1:33	25:39	1:15:29

Jim (from ‘Dad Posse’) had us sign up for the Lavaman Sprint Triathlon for 2 reasons. 1: triathlons are awesome 2: the course went by his Grandma’s house so we had a place to stay and easy access to the start!

The plan was as follows…

Saturday afternoon Jim and I drive down to Granny’s. Ed (also racing) would be either driving down to meet us later that night or leave at 4AM the next morning to arrive in time for the start. Mike and Gio would show up once the race had started to cheer us on.

Saturday morning I took a 4 mile run in the sun then hopped on my bike to meet Erika and Marie downtown to go to an art festival in Brooklyn. I parked my bike in Union Square then we took the L Train to the center of the hipster world. Any of you who know me know I despise hipsters and if I had my way I would hunt them. Full beard in the 90 degree summer sun = retarded.

We got back to Union square just after 1PM and seeing as I had til 4PM to play, I rode my bike out to Fort Greene to see Jasika and Claire who were having an impromptu gathering. Jasika made us Pear Sangria which was out of this world refreshing! After catching up with them I took off to head back to the Upper East Side. It took 40 minutes on my bike – not bad.

Jim picked me up and we were on the road around 6PM headed to Lavalette, New Jersey!

We arrived at the Jersey Shore around 8PM and after quickly saying hello to Granny we went out to get some food. We stopped at Mia’s and had some pasta. It was a cool and windy night and we were hoping the wind would ease up for tomorrow.

Back at the house we hung out in the garage drinking beers and working on our bikes, preparing them for the morning’s battle. Around 10:30 we were winding down for bed (we had to wake up at 5AM) when we got a text that Ed had just left Manhattan en-route to us! It’s easily a 90 minute drive. Jim and I had a quick conference and decided that in all fairness to Ed, we couldn’t go to sleep until he arrived. That would have given us the unfair advantage of 2 hours more sleep than him on race day, duh. Therefore, we continued drinking beers on the roof deck.

Ed showed up around 1 in the morning! In fairness to us, Ed insisted he have a beer! We rolled into bed at 2AM!

RACE DAY

No sooner did we lie down, we have to pick our heavy heads off the pillow. It actually hurts my mind and body right now just thinking back to how I felt!

Jim dug around the pantry for awhile and found some American Lite coffee which may have been from the late 70s. It was beyond horrible and yet… I still drank all of it!

My head cleared a little once we hopped on our bikes to ride to transition.

I set up my transition pretty quick then made my way over to Jim and Ed to see how they were doing. For such a small and local race there were some very hard core bikes floating around. Some to the tune of $10,000! There was also this total jerk in front of Jim who made me upset. He thought he was away “too cool for school.” In these kinds of events, 99 percent of the racers are awesome, totally down to earth, and fun to talk to. This guy was part of the remaining 1 percent. During the bike course he would become my target.

Before the start, we had time to jump into the Bay. It was really shallow, but the water was nice. I got stung by a jellyfish. He would not be the only jellyfish I encountered during this race. Mike had showed up and was taking pictures from the shore.

6:50 was my start and I waded into the water to wait for the gun. I wasn’t nervous at all and thought, finally, all the open water swims and triathlons had eased my mind. The gun went off and I dove in, digging hard.

After a hundred yards or so I slowed up my pace and caught my rhythm. I attempted a new technique I was working on last Wednesday in the pool and thought it was speeding me up. I finished the .38 mile swim in 109th position which was a slight improvement since the Rev3, but still wasn’t up to my standards.

Running out of the water I ran by Gio who was yelling something like “Hustle Baker!!!”

Made it through T1 in good time and jumped on the bike, taking off in hot pursuit of the leaders. (Did you notice that my T1 and T2 times are identical? Strange indeed.)

The bike course was a 3 loop, out and back, so you could always see whoever was in front of you coming back in the opposite direction. This is great because you can figure out how many spots behind you are. It also sucks, because you’re like “Seriously? How is that guy biking so fast! I have to catch him?”

The first lap was tough, but as I came around into my second lap, I saw that jerk from transition up ahead and really let my legs burn. I passed him a few minutes later and never looked back. I just stayed in aero position and let the pain start, never coasting.

I saw Ed and Jim a few times on the coarse and we yelled to each other! I also saw Mike and Gio at transition numerous times, taking pictures and yelling for us to kill it!

As I pulled into T2 to ditch my bike, I saw that there were runners already out and I knew I had some work to do.

Bolting onto the road my legs were not ready at all! It’s not that they hurt, I just can’t get up to full speed, like being stuck in the mud in a car. I passed a few guys and then around mile 1 we hit an aid station where I poured water on my head and took off! My legs were warmed up and in full swing.

SIDENOTE: Erika and I participated in a running clinic hosted by Danny Abshire, Ian Adamson, and Ian Anderson from Newton Running on Tuesday that taught me a lot about form. At a few moments in this run, I used what I had learned and it definitely helped me increase my pace and stay focused. Thanks guys!

At this point I was cruising at a 6:15-6:20 pace and steadily gaining on people. I felt good, but the sun was out and heating things up real fast. I wanted this to be done. Coming around the corner I could see the yellow of the finish in sight and sped forward.

I finished in 1:15:29 which I was happy with.

I found Mike and we cheered on Jim and Ed as they came through the finish at their respective times.

We grabbed food and watched the awards. I ended up getting a trophy for 3rd in my age group which was cool!

We rode back to Granny’s where we eventually took off to head back. Jim dropped me off at my cousin Cat’s grad party in North Jersey where we rocked until 4PM or so. Was I deliriously tired? Yes. Was all the pain and sleep deprivation worth it? Indeed!

—

I leave you (anyone who has ever considered doing a triathlon) with this…
This was Ed’s second triathlon (his first being the week before!) and he has only been training for 9 months or so. As he sat eating his bagel after the race looking somewhat serious, somewhat pissed, kinda staring off, I said “Hey Ed, what’s up, you good?” He chewed for a second then stopped and said, “That was Awesome!!!”

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

Posted on April 23, 2010 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 4 Comments

Sex/
Age

Bib

Overall

Place

Gender

Place

Age
Place

Finish
Time

Pace/
Mile

AG %

M32

563

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!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJVMYQI49KA

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

RACE REPORT: 031 NYC Half Marathon: 1:20:48

Posted on March 23, 2010 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 7 Comments

Overall

Place

Gender

Place

Age
Place

Finish
Time

5K
Split

10K
Split

15K
Split

Pace/
Mile

AG %

170

145

1:20:48

18:46

37:58

57:15

06:10

73.31

March goes in like a lion and out like a lamb? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…

After the monsoon that was ‘last week’ the sky cleared into what one might actually call Spring. Our running group took full advantage of this Tuesday night with a tempo run around the park. Roll Call: Amy, Elyssa, Michele, Josh, Joe and Allen! After we finished we went to Cold Stone and rocked out some ice cream, awesome! I felt prepared for Sunday 100 percent.

Saint Patrick’s Day is maybe my favorite holiday. It’s even my phone extension at work, 317, seriously it is, call me. My office sits on the 3rd floor of 5th avenue and 53rd, aka FRONT ROW SEATS to the parade every year. Some people hate it, but I savor the bagpipes, military processions and the marching bands. I do not savor, however, the drunken maniacs that hinder me from getting my lunch. I liken it to a zombie movie. You need to get to from point A to point B, acquire a sandwich and return, crossing the streets or running away whenever a drunken zombie yells or approaches you.

As if all that excitement wasn’t enough we had Lindsey Vonn in our offices for some PR and I got to meet her. She is very down to earth and really funny. I told her about the Half on Sunday but she cringed, running isn’t her thing. She’s more of a biker actually.

I biked and ran Thursday as it was around 70 degrees and sunny. Strictly amazing. I also went on a ‘drink date’ with someone who out-marathons me (you know who you are)! True story. It was a really great time and no, we didn’t talk about running the entire conversation!

Saturday I woke up and took a 1 hour bike ride around town. It was beautiful. Later that night I got ‘tuxed’ out for the Explorers Club Annual Dinner at the Waldorf. This was my 4th year going and I normally get to eat tarantulas, scorpions, and hissing cockroaches but they made cuts this year and they were left with cured meats and cheeses. Boring. I even asked a bunch of people “hey, were are all the weird things to eat?” The strangest thing he had to serve was Eel. C’mon man, thats like a household item these days…

I got to catch up with my friend Cenk (we raced Harriman together) as well as my friend Leroy who is an astronaut and was co-chair of the dinner. (www.leroychiao.com)

Dan Aykroyd was the MC and he did a ‘Coneheads’ skit which was hilarious. Part of the night we heard from Donald Johanson, who was the scientist who discovered Lucy (the missing link). He was an amazing speaker discussing our evolution and where we were headed. I could listen to him for days, very intelligent and captivating man.

Another speaker who caught my interest was Steven Squyres. He is responsible for the Mars Exploration Rover Project! He had images of Mars from the robots and talked about (as Bowie said it best) Life on Mars! Amazing.

Jim Fowler came out with his usual assortment of strange and amazing creatures… 27 foot long anaconda, african sea eagle, and a baby bobcat to name a few.

The night was concluded with a performance by the Cirque-tacular Arial Dance Company. A woman and 2 men swung, spun, climbed and hung from a sash suspended 75 feet in the air while classical music played. It might have been one of the most breathtaking and beautiful things I have ever seen.

I left around 11:30PM and got to sleep at Midnight anticipating my race in the morning.

RACE DAY

My alarm went off at 6AM and as I looked out at the dark skies my body was saying… “sleeeeep, go baaaaaaack to sleeeeep.” My brain however was like “Battle stations! Its a race day.” I therefore pulled myself up and got some coffee on. Miss the NYC Half? Never.

I left at 6:30 catching a cab up to 84th and 5th and was at baggage by 6:50. Perfect.

As I was walking to my corral I bumped into Eissa and Elyssa from Tuesday night speed sessions and we hung and chatted for a bit before it was time to jump in. In my corral I hear “Baker!” I look left and its my trainer friend Jenn! Photo op!

The corral filled I was right in front of the stage and got to see some of the elites get up and speak… shortly after the gun went off!

Even though I was in the front it was still pretty crowded for the first mile or two. There was a lot of competition, drafting, elbows… boxing people in etc. This would go on all race and it was the first time Ive ever experienced this outside of the track. Right off the bat I see Ed from ‘Dad Posse’ cheering me on, shortly followed by Jim!

As we looped down around the bottom of the Central Park loop I was passing people and getting into my groove. Normally, my ‘Running Engine’ doesn’t really kick in until maybe 3 miles deep.

At the 72nd Street crossing Elizabeth (or Ms. Ritz as most runners know her) yelled out and took some pics! Soon after I saw Robert who also cheered me on. What a day!

We hit miles 4 and 5 which were the Harlem Hill and WOW it hurt. I tried to bolt up it as best I could, remembering the Hill Digger drills we had done but also maintaining some sort of pace as I still had 9 more miles of this mayhem.

We passed the start line (Mile 6) and were headed south again, but this time we were to exit on 7th Avenue and make our way into Times Square. Along the way I saw Jim again who said I was killing it and to keep it up! I grabbed the first of 2 waters I was to drink here.

Erika was right where she said she would be at 58th and 7th Avenue cheering us on with her awesome sign! As you can see from it, we had a big group (from our Tuesday Speed Team running).

Continuing on into Times Square I hear “Hey Christopher! Go!” It was a coworker, Stephanie, who was in town from Geneva!

I was really looking forward to the Times Square portion of the race. Why you ask? Well, on any given day I avoid Times Square like the plague. Its smelly, crowded and most of all has rookie ‘walkers’ everywhere holding up foot traffic. TODAY, however, I got to run right down the middle of it (like a steel version of the Grand Canyon) without anyone getting in my way. I was also the center of attention cruising down the width of a whole Avenue, which I tend to enjoy.

At 42nd Street we took a sharp right and headed down towards Hudson. I thought about running straight into it to cool off, then realized it would jeopardize my time. Speaking of which, I was indeed flying and was on target for my sub 1:25 mark! I kept telling myself “Just keep going, eggs and coffee at Todd and Ila’s after… the sooner you finish the sooner you eat.” 42nd Street is actually all downhill to the river which I have personally never noticed.

As we rounded the West Side Highway and began our descent I knew we had a solid 3 miles to go and as I looked at the clock it showed 1:01! What?! Was I really blazing that fast? I would surely make my goal (pending no fluke situation, which of course is always very possible). I grabbed another water for safety and kept moving fingers crossed.

One of our Tuesday Speed racers (Erin) is a musician that goes by the name Lady Southpaw. She was picked to be part of the entertainment and was set up on Mile 11, playing all day. As I neared she was looking my direction singing and added “Chriiiiiis Baaaaaker!” into her lyrics! Too cool. I pushed on.

Shortly after I saw Robert again and he yelled “Yeah Baker, finish strong!” which actually resonated the most and I really thought to myself, “Hell yeah, 1 Mile to go, lets do this.” I picked up my pace and passed maybe 1 or 2 other runners en route to the finish which was now visible. It was the white bridge that goes over Chambers Street which rocks because on any normal morning run that is my turn around point, so I know the path well.

As I got close I saw the clock ticking at just past the 1:20 mark and I nearly freaked out! I totally had a huge SEG (s&*t eating grin) on my face as I blazed into the finish! Thanks again Elizabeth for sending me these pics!

Final time: 1:20:48 with a 6:10 pace.

I walked onward, very happy and relived that it was over, got my medal and some water. It was there that someone I had been corresponding with over email, Russ, approached me and we got to meet in person! He is really fast and clocked a 1:14 or so.

Soon after I was off to Todd and Ila’s where we had a fantastic brunch (or breakfast as it was 9AM). My friends Asher and Ilka joined us as well and I recapped the race and my excitement at all that had transpired. With my time I had qualified for the NYC Marathon next year which was very unexpected!

After brunch I joined my friends Robin and Ahern at their place uptown (after a shower of course). Ahern’s father ran it as well and PR’d too! He is from Philly and is on course for the NYC Marathon 2011 (pending he doesn’t make it into 2010 with the Lottery). Awesome! We celebrated with quesadillas and beers.

—–

What a day! Sunshine, friends, warm weather… all before 9AM!

Seriously though, I was a bit emotional and almost lost it right after the finish on my solitary walk over to Todd and Ila’s (they live a few blocks from the finish). Not really because of ‘qualifying’, or ‘PR-ing’, but more just being surprised! At what? Surprised at what I was capable of at that moment (cutting 4 minutes off my last half in only 4 months) and what I could look forward to accomplishing in the near future. Ironman Kona is on my ‘to do list’ (not just to participate in, but to compete) and with every race I get closer. I really took in the moment and was pretty overwhelmed with happiness.

It really was an awesome day for all runners. Congrats also goes out to my Tuesday crew who ran – I know all of you had fantastic races as well!

RACE REPORT: 030: NYRR 8000 (5M): 32:48

Posted on March 13, 2010 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 4 Comments

Sex/
Age

Bib

Overall

Place

Gender

Place

Age
Place

Finish
Time

Pace/
Mile

AG
Gender
Place

AG %

M32

32:48

6:35

180

65.5 %

This week has been absolute mayhem. Lets do a recap and finish with a race shall we?

I started Monday off with a happy hour hanging out with my Harper Collins friends. Roll call: Robin, Mandy and Feeza. We went to a place right by our offices called Papillon. That’s frenchie for butterfly people.

Tuesday was speed sessions but instead of speed Erika, Matt and I did a cool 6 miles around the park (The Coogan’s still had my calves begging for mercy). Erika offered me a piece of cake so we left Matt and ran to her apartment. Any of you that personally know me understand my weakness for sweets) Her chocolate peanut butter cake was so delicious and fueled me for what happened next! I ran from the Upper West down to Midtown East to Robin and Ahern’s to cook them dinner and watch LOST. Total miles somewhere around 13 give or take.

Wednesday night I fell asleep watching movies (Muppets From Space followed by Life Aquatic) at like 10PM! I needed it.

Thursday was my friend Amanda’s masters opera recital. The word amazing barely describes her beautiful performance! What I really like about the whole situation is that she had our friends (Walter, Kiersten, Noah, and Antonia to name a few) playing along side of her singing. Too cool. After the show we went to Phoenix River for the after party. I got to hang with my piano teacher Sugar (founder of the Nouveau Classical Project) Daniella and Pokie, all great people. I was out till 1AM which is very late for me these days.

Friday night was my friend Danny’s birthday. We started at El Quixote in Chelsea then ended up at he and his wife Anna’s pad. They have a newborn baby named Alice who is completely adorable! We were all drinking Jamesons Irish Whiskey which is a no no for me the night before a race. Beer=yes, liquor=no. On the plus side, I had no problems falling asleep…

RACE DAY

I awoke to a miserable cold and rainy morning around 7AM. Really? Run? After a few motivational texts from Erika (she also noted that the race was at 8 and not at 8:30 like I had thought, thanx) I got in gear and headed out. I was already late.

I ran from the west side of the park over to the east where the start was. I could hear the National Anthem as I was approaching from the rear – realizing that I would be starting at the back of the pack blue bib or not.

Luckily there wasn’t as many people running as there are normally so I started blazing down the right side trying to catch the leaders. I felt great and even though there was a borderline monsoon happening it didn’t really phase me, I was all smiles. It was here that I once again had the existential thought “This is what I do now, I race. I love this and live for this moment, enjoy all of it.”

Mile 2 passed at 15:00 which meant I was doing 7:30 miles so I had to really pick it up. Overdrive!

Coming down the west side of the park who do I see in front of me bobbing along with her yellow leotards but Erika! Yes, I called them leotards. I came up along side of her and pretended to be an annoying runner and was elbowing her and getting all up in her runner space. When she turned to yell she was like “Baker!” and started laughing. We cruised along for a bit before she ushered me off to continue picking off people.

Mile 4 came out of nowhere and I was like “Really? Already?” I picked it up again at this point and even stripped down to my dry fit short sleeve. In my head, I think… “Short sleeves, more aerodynamic=faster me.” Does it work? I have no idea.

I sprinted through the finish to a time of 32:48. Not my best, but a good race all things considered AND I had fun.

So now the weather makes itself known. Cold. Windy. Rain. As I was walking along cooling down (with my head bowed down) I see this pair of feet like totally up in my space. I look up and its Ed from ‘Dad Posse’! High five. We hung out for a hot second before he took off for his morning run. Shortly after, I see Erika and we headed to baggage to wait for her friend Frankie to finish.

We three hopped in a cab and bee-lined it to the Upper West to have brunch at Popover Cafe. It was awesome! Erika and I had the Eggs Benedict ON a popover and I will probably get that every time now. Its like Eggs Benedict on crack and now I’m addicted. Please help.

We split up after to head home and get cleaned up. We were all very happy about our races! Rain, what rain!

RACE REPORT: 029 Coogan’s Shamrocks 5K: 18:15

Posted on March 7, 2010 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 8 Comments

Sex/
Age

Bib

Overall

Place

Gender

Place

Age
Place

Finish
Time

Pace/
Mile

AG
Time

AG %

M32

168

156

18:15

5:53

18:06

71.2 %

The Coogans Blues and Shamrocks 5K Race in Washington Heights capped off my week with an exclamation point!

Earlier this week I ‘connected’ with someone online – only to find out that, not only did I already know who she was, but had great admiration and respect for her. We are going to ‘run for margaritas’ which I’m really looking forward to. Its a small world people, and I like it.

Tuesday night we had speed series led by Josh aka SS in Central Park. Other runners in attendance… ROLE CALL: Erika, Eissa, Elyssa, Erin, Amy, Anna, and Matt. We did 4, mile repeats (which means, run 1 mile at almost full capacity, 2 minute break, do it all over again) and they were brutal! We have a pretty fast group I might add.

Thursday was swimming with coach Todd down in Battery Park. He came up with a new drill that we aptly named ‘Triple Homicides.’ Without getting too detailed, its a chase drill where we do 3 sprint laps, 30 second break, repeat times 10. Ive never thought of the possibility of having a heart seizure in a pool before until doing these ‘Triple Homicides’. Yeah I said it again, I really love the name we gave them, makes me feel tough especially relaying it to friends the next day. Example: “Good morning Baker, how was your night?” “Oh it was fine I guess, just did some Triple Homicides, like 10 of em, it was nothing really… just another Thursday”

I took the day off Friday because my friend Lisa (Jim’s wife) asked me to be a speaker at career day. She is teacher up at Wagner Middle on the Upper East Side. I arrived at 9 sharp to a welcome breakfast in the cafeteria. There were probably 40 volunteers and after looking at the schedule it seemed they had managed to get just about all walks of careers… lawyers, news anchors, dentists, singers and more. I happened to be paired up with Phil, who was a comedian! Sweet! I love to laugh, really who doesn’t? We each did 15 minutes, with him opening the show. It was a lot of fun and the kids were very receptive and asked some very great questions. All in all Id say that in 10-20 years time roughly 30% of the kids I talked to will be buying Rolex watches. Seriously though, I really hope some of the creative ones learned that there are great careers in the arts. Perhaps they will want to be photographers or graphic designers some day? I did touch on triathlons briefly but no one seemed to care.

The event was over just after lunch and with my whole day free I figured “What a perfect time to have lunch with one of my friends!” What did I learn today? Nearly all of my friends have 9-5 jobs, therefore I ended up eating by myself. Fine.

Based on the amazing sunshine that was blanketing the city I decided to go for a bike ride. I stopped for Nino’s Pizza and to pick up my race number along the way. My ride was followed up by an afternoon nap.

That night Erika (her royal tallness) and I went to Cassellula to have wine and cheese as she “needed alcohol”. She suggested we sneak into a movie with mini bottles of booze but I was feeling the cheese thing instead. It was really fun, we tried a bunch of what I dub ‘stinky cheeses’ that were paired with items like roasted garlic and pear butter. We also polished off a bottle of wine, 2 dessert wines, Baked Alaska and a Chocolate German Cake in which they poured fresh cream. Yes, it was amazing!

Saturday night I rocked out a bit of my traditional pre-race routine. I stayed in and watched horror movies, bad ones! For dinner I made my shrimp scampi, BUT, I altered the recipe slightly on a whim and may have made the best scampi ever! Seriously. I had a few beers to carbo-load and was tempted to get some ice cream but opted out due to the fact that I was basically in my PJs. In bed just after 11 and had a solid nights sleep.

RACE DAY

(wow, it took a page of text just to get to my race. sorry readers.)

Woke up at 6:45 and juiced up with the Bustelo. I was out the door on my bike to meet Jim and Ed of the ‘Dad Posse’ at 7:30. We arrived in the Heights around 8:15 and had loads of time to spare before the race. It was quite beautiful out and as long as you stood in the blazing sunshine it felt awesome.

10 minutes prior we all made our way up to our respective corrals. I stood around all the club team racers (who were psyched as this was the first club points race of the season.)

As I glanced to my right who do I see? Robert and Antonio! Its like clockwork man, we always run into each other in the corrals. We hung out and chatted about the course, our times, Garmin satellites, you know, runner stuff.

As the gun went off there was an immediate bottle neck! It turns out a woman in front had fallen causing a pile up for a hot second. She jumped back up and everything was back on course (literally, ha). I jumped in behind Robert as he was clearing a good path through the crowds.

Mile 1, 6 flat. My goal was to be sub 6 the whole time and this was a clear sign that my goal would be hard to achieve. Shortly after that I lost Robert in the crowds and just started trying to catch my pace.

Holy cow were there hills! 1 1/2 miles in there is this mega descent where I was practicing my new downhill technique. Basically you barrel down the hill with huge strides, almost like a prance. Yes, I was prancing. I started laughing out loud though because I then realized at the turn around we would have to run UP this monster hill. Whoa momma.

As we turned I started to pick up my pace (thanks to SS and the Hill Digger workout we did a few Tuesdays ago. Thanx!) and was cruising up the hill. It might have been a solid half mile incline, I don’t know, but it was painful.

At mile 2, 2 1/4 it all started back downhill to the finish! We were all blazing down the hill anticipating the finish. Did I mention there were bands all over? Bagpipes, Salsa, Blues… it was great! I have a sore spot in my heart for bagpipes so that really got my spirits up.

I sprinted at the end – just barely – and made it through the finish at 18:15! I was kind of upset as I wanted to break the 6 minute barrier in a NYRR race and didn’t think I had done it. You do know I went to Art College right? Yeah, no math. Later on Robert would clarify that I had indeed met my goal! I was very excited.

While waiting for my friends I bumped into Lam! Nice to finally meet you Lam! Then, Robert and Antonio popped over for a chat before they took off to run home.

Jim, Ed and I rode our bikes down to the Columbia University area to find coffee before parting ways.

Everyone had a great race today AND it was perfect spring weather for it! Congrats to all the runners!

My new post race treat is the Naked Superfood drink. (see below) Its really great, like someone took a garden and stuck it in a blender!

RACE REPORT: 028 Thursday Night at the Races

Posted on February 26, 2010 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 2 Comments

My 2 cousins Gillian (20) and Catherine (18) are pretty serious athletes. Aside from being sick basketball players they are also speedy trackstars, so once Jim and Ed of the ‘Dad Posse’ notified me that I would be running the New Balance Armory for Thursday Night at the Races I immediately contacted them for track advice on the 1500m and 800m.

Catherine: “yeah the eight hundred stride the first lap and give it your all on the second, it is going to hurt a bit.
the fifteen hundred run the first two laps around your mile split but a bit faster and then book it for the last lap.”

Gillian: for the 800: “get out fast and make sure you stay with the front people until the second lap. just give it your all. it comes down to who wants it more. make sure you read the runners and don’t get too far ahead of yourself.”

Cat: “i guess you should just listen to gillian instead…”

RACE DAY

There was a blizzard in full effect all day Thursday expected to continue into Friday but no one was phased as it wasn’t sticking to the ground… yet.

I got off work at 4, headed home to gear up and met Jim and Ed at Local Bar by the A,C Train. We departed shortly after and made it to to the Armory by 6:30.

The Armory: This 60,000-square-foot Washington Heights arena—home to one of the world’s fastest indoor tracks—hosts a jam-packed season. The venue welcomes approximately 400,000 athletes, coaches, parents and fans from 1,000 high schools and 36 states to more than 100 meets each year. Also on-site is the National Track & Field Hall of Fame—an inspiring, enlightening tribute to the sport’s history.

I have been to a few tracks in my day, but this one was really great. I was instantly intimidated. On the inner circle of the track were all these young people doing sick sprints and hurdles. I thought “Wow, I am in the wrong place, I am going to get my a$$ handed to me.” Luckily, just after 6:45 the announcement came on that all High School students at the earlier practice need to leave! So funny, after they did it equalized and I felt 100 times better, not to say that these remaining people didn’t look blazing fast, they just didn’t look like up and coming Olympians!

They made the announcement at 7 for all 1500m racers to go to the center area for heat seeding. I ran over, there were probably 30 women and 50 men. They had already started the first heat of the women’s race.

They broke us into heats based on what we thought we could finish in (honor system.) Being that I had never done this before AND that fact that I hate numbers, I was kind of lost. I waited to the 4th heat to be picked before I jumped in. I think it was the 4:40-4:55 heat.

It was really exciting as I love watching track racing to begin with! Its very strategic.

As the third heat finished it was our turn to line up. I had butterflies and was in the 1 shute and ready to go. As he fired the gun we were off and I immediately pulled into number 2 position. Following the advice of my cousins I held back and tried to actually maintain some kind of pace.

We had 7.5 laps to run on the 200m track. It was really exciting but after maybe the 4th lap I was in pain. Sprinting for 1500 meters is hard! I was now in 3rd position and the lead guys were gaining on me. Every time I crossed the midway point Jim and Ed cheered me on from the stands.

On the last lap its like every one turned up the juice! I got passed by another really fast guy and this other runner with 100m to go. Not having it. I blasted into a sprint on the straightaway and caught the second guy who passed me but couldn’t catch the previous. I was wiped!

1500m TIME: 4:47. I don’t even know if thats good?

I was on a total bee-line for the water fountains. SIDENOTE: Bring bottled water next time.

I ran into Christine there and said hello. We had never met so it was cool seeing her face to face. She was queued up for the 800m next so she bolted to get in her heat.

Since there was a snowstorm, the track meet wasn’t super crowded. Therefore, I had to run the 800m like 10 minutes after I ran the 1500m. Team Crazytime… my heart rate didn’t even slow up and I was coughing from he dry heat in the Arena. As soon as the women finished we were up. I put myself in the 4th heat again.

This time as the gun went off I was in 3rd position and we were in tight formation. We only had 4 laps to run and we were cruising through them every 30 seconds. My number 1 and 2 guys started putting some distance on me. Then, same thing at the last lap, super fast guy blazes past me. I try to keep up but its really quite impossible. I did however sprint at the end to make an attempt but couldn’t manage to catch and pass him.

800m TIME: 2:27

Water fountain save me.

In my head I was finished racing. I went up to Jim and Ed and hung for a hot second before heading down for more water. Then, I walked over to chat with Christine and see how she was doing. We were laughing about our races when an older gentleman with a grey beard approached us. “Excuse me, would you two like to be on our relay team?” A relay? Holy crap! Ive never done that but always wanted to! I blurted out to the guy “totally!”

Evidently, Christine ran track in High School (I have no athletic background aside from ultimate frisbee) so she schooled me on how this would work. 10 Teams, 10 people per team, each team member runs 1, 200m lap 5 times to make the total distance 10,000m. It sounded awesome.

Our team introduced themselves to us. They were a group of guys from Tishman Contracting if Im not mistaken. All very cool. We got numbered as Team 5 in the race and also made it our respective team name.

The race began and it immediately became a blast! We were racing some serious teams such as Central Park Track Club and the Frontrunners (who my friend Kevin Masse is on but wasn’t there). Christine was off and then as she rounded the track I stepped up. Her job was to hand off the baton to me. As she approached I grabbed it and booked! Its such a relief to have to just sprint one 200m lap! As I came around I sped up and ran along side my hand off guy (number 6 in line) before pulling off to the left. WOW! I could get used to this.

In my poor calculation of mathematics I was under the impression that we all had to run 10 legs of the race. It wasn’t until I overheard another team member say ‘only 4 to go’ I realized it was only 5 legs. Sweet! I could really blast off.

I hung with Christine and we laughed at the insanity of it all. I was really enjoying the camaraderie and the cheering. For sure we were not the fastest team out there but it was so fun! The next time I went I learned that I could actually run with Christine before she made the handoff increasing my take off speed. My goal each lap was just to find someone to chase down and pass.

The whole thing ended in around 30 minutes. We stuck around and watched a second 10,000m relay for a bit then head out to grab a bite. As we opened the doors a blast of snow came in. It was at that point we started to realize that this storm was for real! There was 4-6 inches of snow that had accumulated while we were running!

I said goodbye to Christine (she had to work the next day regardless of snow) and the rest of us hit Coogan’s Bar.

We grabbed a table and right off the bat we noticed the numerous track jerseys hanging off the ceiling. It was a track and field bar! Looking around I recognized some faces from the meet, sitting and having a post race drink and meal. Too cool.

As soon as we got situated a big group came in and what do you know, it was my relay team! They sat next to us after saying hi and thanking me for being a part of their team. Really, some stand up guys. As our drinks came the server notified Jim, Ed and myself that my relay team leader had bought that round! We all cheered each other. After wolfing down some food and a few pints we hit the subways. I slept like a rock!

—

It was an amazing time and I made some cool new friends. Track Racing is such a different ball game from distance running. Its very similar to race car driving with its drafting strategies and sitting back a few places waiting to make a move. I will totally do this again especially if I get to be on a relay team!

RACE REPORT: 027 Run for Haiti 4M: 29:45

Posted on February 21, 2010 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 2 Comments

6921

Sex/
Age

Bib

Overall

Place

Gender

Place

Age
Place

Finish
Time

Pace/
Mile

AG %

M32

6921

840

743

156

29:45

7:26

57.0 %

There wasn’t supposed to be a race on February 20th, 2010. It was supposed to be an ordinary day in Central Park, nothing special… until the devastating earthquake that destroyed Haiti last month.

NYRR came up with an idea to raise money for Haiti by way of a 4 mile race in central park where regular race entry would be $40.00 instead of the usual $15-20. They also noted that this race would count as a double qualifier for the 2011 NYC Marathon. Needless to say, everyone came out for this one.

—

My Friday night was actually quite fun.

Before I went out I made (from scratch) some Shrimp Fra Dialvo. Those of you who keep up with my posts know that this is a staple for me before a race introduced by my friend Ahern last summer. It turned out awesome. I wolfed it down and hit the subways.

My piano teacher (and good friend) Sugar has been producing this show called the Nouveau Classical Project (nouveauclassical.org). The concept is… classical music is dead. Young people are uninspired to listen to or understand what it is. Sugar’s idea is to merge cutting edge fashion designers and fine artists with a series of classical pieces and have a show. I have been to almost all of them (one of my paintings was even in the first!) and have never been disappointed.

This NCP took place in Tribeca and featured 5 performances of which my friends Amanda, Walter, Kiersten, Nolan, and of course Sugar played in. It was sold out. It rocked. Everyone was amazing and I will never be unimpressed by any of their performances.

After the reception I joined a group of the musicians at an italian restaurant for a few beers and pasta… carbo loading. I left at 12 and crashed (bedtime) shortly after.

RACE DAY

I awoke at 630AM and began fueling with Cafe Bustelo. Based on my 2 pasta dinners I had the night before I wasn’t hungry. Grabbed two bananas anyway, and headed out.

Rolled into Central Park at 830 and headed to the bandshell to meet the ‘dad posse’ minus Mike, plus Annelise and Lisa. I had wolfed down the bananas by the time I arrived. One of my coworkers often calls me a monkey for my affinity toward this divine fruit. I don’t mind.

We headed out to the corrals realizing there actually were no corrals that it was indeed as I dubbed it a ‘Sh&t Show.’ We made our way to the back of the line which turned out to be the 11 minute milers. I stood there with the gang thinking… ‘well, you just gotta pick your battles and i guess today isn’t that day. lets just have some fun.’

The gun went off and it seriously took 10 minutes before we had moved. I made friends with this really sweet girl named Stephanie next to us and we started the run together. She told me she didn’t make NYC Marathon 2010 because she did all of her 9 races and forgot to volunteer so they denied her entry! Anyone able to pull any strings? After running with her for a little while we lost each other at which point I decided to start barreling down the right side.

I crossed Mile 1 at 23:15 or something which was a total PR.

It was actually a lot of fun running with the group. Once you accept the fact that it isnt going to be a banner day in the personal record books it turns into a pure love of the sport.

At Mile 2.5 we were rounding CP and starting to head south. It was then that I decided I needed (just for me) to turn up the heat. I started sprinting up the hills (like we did a few Tuesdays ago with SS in the Hill Diggers night!) and what do you know, it worked!

I was really cookin now and really having a great time. As we turned toward the finish I picked up the pace and was doing well until out of nowhere super-tall-lanky-guy cuts right in front of me without looking! I slammed on the brakes (all Top Gun style) and may have actually burned rubber as he sped by. Not cool buddy. You just messed with the wrong guy. Hahaha, I’m kidding, or am I?

So of course my mission now was to beat him, duh.

I bolted left and started (carefully) bobbing and weaving gaining speed. Right before the finish I cut right and jumped in front of him boxing him out and beating him. C’mon, it’s the little things in life that matter people! Anyway, I guess I’m competitive after all and maybe a touch obsessive.

Never have I been to a race in Central Park so ridiculously crowded (9421 runners). It didn’t matter though, as it was for Haiti. I think the race raised over $400K which for one morning in CP is amazing.

I waited for ‘Dad Posse’ + wives and anyone else I might find (Erika, TK) finishing the run. Based on my starting right before the walkers corral I figured Erika and TK were done already.

As I sat watching the runners, who comes by but my new friend Stephanie! We high fived and said a few words as she took off for water. Seconds later Ed came in followed by Lisa and Annelise. Jim had already finished and was waiting for us by baggage.

What a beautiful day. Sometimes you have to put aside your competitive drive and just be a part of the collective, working together for one concept. I like that. Runners get it. (I’m a triathlete too so I gotta give shouts to them to as they are a part of this as well)

It takes heart to get up early and do a 4 mile race, and I’m not even talking to you my runner compadres as we do this crap every morning. I’m talking about the rookies out there today, props to you folks for coming out and killing it. I hope you all get the running bug and come join us in the Park every weekend, it will change your life.

RACE REPORT: 025 NYE Midnight Run: 4M

Posted on January 4, 2010 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 3 Comments

I hate 2 holidays in New York City, The 4th of July and New Years Eve. It’s not that I don’t like these holidays in and of themselves, I just hate spending them IN NYC.

Im quite sick of the overly crowded bars with the ticket prices, the house parties with strangers… it’s all so old. Therefore, I had planned to be on a beach somewhere, in the heat, with a pina colada. This plan failed as I jinxed myself by planning a trip to Florida on the 7th to run the Disney Marathon. There would be no way to schedule a NYE trip so close to another vacation based on work etc etc etc. What to do, what to do?

END RANT —

Ed, Jim and Mike of the ‘Dad Posse’ had mentioned that they would be running the NYE Midnight fun run in Central Park. Maybe I would like to join? After an email from Ed’s wife Annelise inviting me over for the pre-run party it was a no brainer and I signed up.

I had a pretty laid back day. I went ice skating with Marissa, shot over to Robin and Ahern’s for our annual Irish Whiskey toast then made my way up to Ed and Annelise’s place.

The party was perfect. Role call: Ed, Annelise, Jim, Lisa, Mike, Kara, Jack, Isabelle, Ben, Josephine, Elizabeth, Kelly, Kevin plus some of Annelise’s family. For our pre-race medicine I made margaritas from scratch (I think it may have took a half hour to juice all the limes). None the less, I think they were a hit and may have improved our race times in the end.

At 11:30, Ed, Jim, Mike, Zack his sister and I hit the road to make it to Central Park in time.

We were a bit late and the race had begun (remember its a fun run and un-timed). We ditched our gear with Zack and his sister (big ups for watching our stuff) and we started the run.

It was like a snow-rain mix but the 4500 runners didn’t seem to care, nor did we. There was a barrage of fireworks going off the whole time which was totally amazing to run under.

We started the race in a group of four, taking turns leading. Really, we all were following the 3 gals running in bikinis. I’m serious, they were and they were totally awesome. I chatted with them briefly, one of the girls was ‘duped’ into running this thing and was clearly not pleased with her run-happy friends.

It was around this point that we all lost sight of one another in the pack. It was then that I decided to start ballin’ down the course. I would occasionally slide out on the snow patches to see how far I could go, then jump right into a sprint. Although entertaining to me, I’m sure no one around me thought it was that cool.

There were lots of people high fiving us on the sidelines and it was really great. Props to anyone who hangs out in bad weather cheering on runners!

I was cruising pretty fast and was soaking wet head-to-toe. In all honesty, it started to become quite hard to race. At mile 3, I was being drafted by a guy who annoyed me. I pulled a ‘Top Gun’ and jammed on the brakes allowing him to fly past me at which point I yelled “your turn to lead buddy!’ He agreed. Remember, I was juiced up with margaritas and positive-crowd vibes. We rounded the corner to the finish and I sprinted it out nearly having heart attack… or maybe that was margarita induced heart burn?

After finishing I turned around to hit the finish and cheer on the guys as they completed the race. Its so hard to see anyone in a dark storm though, FYI.

We all found each other and did a round of high-fives as Ed says “Who wants some refreshments?” and produces 4 Fosters Oil Can beers! Wow!

We all cruised out of the park saluting the New Year and our race.

It was exactly how I imagined myself ringing in the New Year. What better way then to be doing something I love and now live for, running and competing.

RACE REPORT: 024 Knickerbocker 60K: 5:01:01

Posted on November 21, 2009 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 6 Comments

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Net Time	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile
M31	14	12	12		5:01:01	5:01:01	8:05

The Knickerbocker 60K is a mild Ultramarathon (I say that because hard core Ultra Runners only consider a 50 miler and up Ultras) consisting of 9 laps around Central Park totaling 37.2 miles.

I had been signed up to run this race for a few months, and during a conversation with Ed from the “Dad Posse” he asked me why I would want to run such a crazy race? After a day or two of introspection it came to me… Fear. Fear was the reason I was running this thing. I was afraid of this race from the get go and wanted to take it on head first.

I was a little nervous as I had only run a distance no greater than 17 miles in the last 4 months, which some would say is poor preparation. Whatever.

2 weeks prior I was actually stressed about it. The week of, not the case. I was actually more excited just to run because I had taken the week off from physical activity, which to any of you who know me personally is like torture.

The night before the race I spent ‘preparing for battle’ as I like to say. I made 3 Powerade Redbull 50-50 mixed drinks for the run. I also made 7 mini burritos made from rice and beans. Why? My hero runner, Scott Jurek, is a naturalist and isnt into Gels and Goos. Quite frankly, neither am I , they are gross. Take yourself back to the 70’s and 80’s when these things didnt exist, what did runners do? Eat burritos? Maybe not, but that is what I had in store for my “Brunch” tomorrow.

Once my bag was packed I made my staple pre-run meal. Pasta with fresh shrimp. Its the perfect meal and Im never hungry when I wake up. I ate this and watched the 2006 Ironman Championships which is a great way to get inspired. Try it. Oh, and try and not shed some tears too, impossible!

I was in bed by 10:30, 11 o’clock and had dreams about the race. I woke up every two hours.

RACE DAY

Woke up at 6AM, had some Bustelo and was out the door by 6:30.

Elizabeth (or Ms Ritz) had been generous enough to offer up holding my bag-o-goodies prior to the race! So nice, thanks Eliz! So after dropping my stuff with her I went over to the Road Runners and geared up. I made a few friends at the start. One of these gals, Jessica, happens to be running the Disney Marathon in January too! Small World! It was cool hanging with someone prior to a race of this magnitude.

Speaking of which, compared to other RR races in New York, this almost seemed like a rogue operation! In comparison, other races have close to 5,000 racers, this had 185!

Mike and Ed popped over to say hi before the start. Ed would be riding his bike around the track and Mike would be running.

After a quick speech by the race coordinator we were off.

I was running without my music on as it was a beautiful morning. Not sure how my pace was but I was in the top ten runners and we were chatting and being silly about the whole 9 laps thing. Its rare in a race that you get this kind of humanity, all of the competitive edge being gone. You’re really testing yourself, not others.

Laps 1 and 2 went by pretty quick and I was right on target with my 1- 1:10 hours per 2 laps time frame. My only morning fuel was a Clif Bar and two bananas, but I wasn’t hungry. Weird. .

At the end of Lap 2 I was pacing a guy I had caught up to. His name was Sebastian and we became friends. We chatted about our runs etc. He was faster than me for sure, but we stayed together until Lap 4 when I had to take a bathroom break.

It was after this that I turned on my headphones and started to get into my zone if you will.

People often ask what I listen to when I run? I listen to Drum n Bass mixes, this one happened to be a very aggressive DJ Hype mix.

Something to take note of…
We were running against the flow of normal running traffic, so we would pass the same people numerous times and they started routing for us! It was so helpful and fun! I saw Ed, Mike, Jim and Patrick (of the “dad Posse”) numerous times, giving me high fives as we passed. Sebastian at one point asked who I was and how I knew so many people, hilarious.

At Lap 5 I removed my white zip-up top and just had my red dry fit on with my track pants. It was getting warmer and I needed to lose some weight. I had made more friends with all the volunteers around the course because you pass them so many times. They were teasing me about changing my outfit calling me the stripper runner!

Lap 6 is when I started to get hungry. I pulled over to where Elizabeth was stationed with my gear and grabbed a burrito. Some of my volunteer pals were astonished at the fact that I was actually eating a rice and bean burrito. “Dude, are you seriously eating a burrito?!” I offered them one on the return loop but they werent hungry. This kind of banter back and forth only solidifying what an insane race this was. As I returned the next lap the gals asked if I was having a margarita (my powerade mix) to wash down my burrito.

Im not going to lie and try and act all macho about this run, at this point my legs were basically on fire. Trying to ignore the sensation, specifically in my quads, was very hard to do. I was using every water station as a chance to have a 15 second walk and drink break which helped and also gave me something to look forward too.

My next lap around I took off my track pants and red top, revealing my staple beater-running shorts combo. This felt great and I could really fly without the pants.

It was at this point I noticed all my friends gathered at the finish! Role call: Todd, Ila, Jeff, Ali, Jon Boy, Danny, Anna, Phyllis, John, Robin, Ahern, Becky, Cottom, Benny!
I yelled as I went by that this was my last lap, Lap 8! Boy was I mistaken.

I cruised around the 3.9 Mile loop ecstatic that this would be my final lap and telling all my volunteer buddies the same, I felt pretty good. It was 55 degrees and sunny in an amazingly colored Autumn Central Park. It was spectacular and I kept telling myself ‘what a day to be alive.’

200 Yards to the finish I saw my brother and his GF Ali yelling to me that I still had a lap to go! What? As I cruised up the race guy said I did indeed have one more. He showed me the race log and it said I had completed 8 laps? No, he said, its a 9 Lap course! WOW. Buzzkill.

I smiled at him and said “Okay, one more lap it is.” and I took off!

It felt like I might have ran that 9th Lap the fastest. What was really weird is that, even though my quads were burning, I was still feeling great, I even had a smile on my face. This is a trait I have picked up from another hero of mine, Natascha Badmann. She is a 7 time Ironman champion and always runs with a smile on her face. When asked why she does it, she simply states that running and racing is what makes her happy. I like that. Me too.

As I made my final turn towards the finish I did get a little choked up thinking about what I was going to complete. I told myself to save those emotions for later, when it would really set in. For now, bathe in the glory of the finish.

As I came down the home stretch I rocked a pretty good sprint into the finish as seen here (thanx benny)

Finish Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG77fgrfzms

I hit my target goal of 5 hours and actually came in 12th Place overall, earning a plaque! Cool man!

I have never felt more relieved to stop running, then after a 37.2 Mile fiasco. Oh, and I now know every inch of Central Park… every turn, tree, shadow, curb, trash can, sign… Im not running in it for like a month.

After the race a bunch of us went to Brother Jimmy’s which seems to be my staple race ending meal. We had some beers and loaded up on food. I had blackened catfish, mac and cheese and collared greens. At 3 we all left as I was in dire need of a shower and a nap.

I am now an Ultramarathoner!

Special thanks to all my friends who made it out to support me, it means a lot! Also special thanks to the volunteers and all the runners who saw me and cheered me on!

SIDESTORY: Sunday I was watching football at our local bar, Black Sheep, with my brother Jeff. This gal in a booth is staring at me and as I caught her glace she holds up her arms like “Well?” I was like “Um, hi?” Then she says, “Yea hi, Burrito Man! How did the race finish for you?” Wow what a small world, she was one of the spectators that joked about the margaritas!