Mike – 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: 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!

NYC Marathon: Commentary

Posted on November 1, 2009 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 3 Comments

I did not run the 2009 NYC Marathon, BUT, in honor of my 3 friends who ran it I wanted to do a write up.

—

A common question I hear in the weeks up to, and during the Marathon was “Baker, are you running this year?”
I wanted to, believe me. As a runner and someone who has run NYC, to be a spectator definitely feels like you missed the bus. But, to be part of the cheering committee, especially when you know people running is great!

There are a few ways to run the NYC Marathon, and I did not get in using any of these tactics.

– Charity. Raise upwards of $2500-$3000 for any given team and you can run. Here’s the catch, if you don’t raise 3K, they take the difference out of your bank account. Last year this was how I got in. I wasn’t a runner at the time and never figured on doing multiple Marathons. In fact, I am quoted as saying at the finish to my friend Ila “I will never do this again!”

– Grandfather clause. Run 15 or more NYC Marathons and you’re in. No comment.

– Qualify. My time would need to be 2:55 in any marathon or 1:23 in a Half, which I just missed by 2 minutes at Grete’s Gallop.

– Lottery. 100,000 entries, roughly 40,000 accepted. Its like the Ivy League of running. I did not get in using this tactic this year.

– Lottery rejections. If you apply and are denied 3 years in a row, you get automatic entry the next year.

– Running! What better way to secure a spot? Run 9+ Road Runner Qualifying Races, volunteer once and you are locked in for the following year. So, with my 13+ races I am in for 2010! I will also run these races next season and ‘snowball’ myself into the marathon every year from here on out. Had I known this last year I might have done it, but remember, I wasn’t a runner at that point.

—

I went up to Bar Coastal on 78th and 1st around 11AM. Anyone who lives in NYC and hasn’t been a spectator at the world’s greatest spectator event really needs to get in gear. It was my little brother Jeff’s birthday so we had a dual purpose. Actually, our middle brother Phil, and his wife Naomi, had a child the night before. Cayden Charles Baker, so Jeff and I were also celebrating his birth and calling each other Uncles all day!

I would be lying if I didn’t say it was crowded. Any of you who know me well, understand I don’t do well in packed bars, but today is different. Today, you just accept it, mainly because every place you go is teeming with cheering New Yorkers.

Aside from partying, I was up there to cheer on my 3 runners…

Roll Call.

Becky!
Becky is my new roommate and friend. She is a runner and has done a marathon before, just not NY. Her leg has been bothering her, but after a visit to her doctor she said it was a green light for the race. I signed up for athlete tracker (which is cool) but beware, after 10K I didn’t receive any more updates for her and was a bit worried thinking she might have been injured. Jim and Elizabeth’s updates were streaming in fine. At around 4PM I got the message though, Becky had indeed finished strong! She’s a trooper and had to fly out on business that very night!

Elizabeth!
Elizabeth, or Ms Ritz, I met because we both write about running. Our friends Robert and Antonio (who I run with) introduced us. Her leg had also been bothering her 3 weeks prior to the race. She really wanted to run… anyone who knows a serious runner understands that once a goal is set, its hard to get around it even with doctors orders. I was getting all my updates for Elizabeth and man, she was cookin! 8:30s or less all day long! I owed Elizabeth a high-five as she was cheering me on at the Poland Spring race. I missed her and Becky at my post on 78th street as its so crowded and crazy. Its really hard to find your people. She finished and made her qualifying Boston time! Nice work Elizabeth, hopefully after my Disney marathon I will get a BQ and see you there!

Jim!
Jim is a member of the notorious “Dad Posse” also consisting of Ed, and Mike. Jim’s main goal was a Sub 4 marathon. Jim is pretty funny in the fact that he is real humble about racing. I mean, the guy has done an Ironman! There is no higher power than an IM. I was at the sidelines with Ed and Annelise, their 3 children Jack, Isabelle, and Ben Skywalker along with Jim’s wife Lisa and their 2 children Elizabeth, Josephine (and Louey!) We were anxiously awaiting Jim’s approach, the kids even had signs made up! Very cute. He cruised up looking pretty good for having run 17 miles, eating some gels his wife had and posing for some PR photo shoots. He bid us farewell after his 60 second stop and continued on.

I left the gang and headed indoors to continue Jeff’s birthday celebration. So many friends came out, it was great. We were maybe 20 deep having a blast when I get an email from Athlete Tracker saying Jim had finished in 3:58 and change. I threw my arm up in a fist pump and screamed, everyone around me wondering what the hell I was doing. I looked around and yelled “Jim ran a Sub 4! Hell Yea!” and still, people looked around at each other, “Who is Jim?”

It didn’t matter, my 2 worlds of racing and recreation were smashed together in a funny juxtaposition.

All 3 of my friends, new friends, who I met this year from running and am proud to call friends, were Beyond Defeat. They all accomplished their goals, and each one of them, as I have said in entry 1 of this blog, got to be King for a Day. Congratulations.

RACE REPORT: 021 Little Silver 5K: 17:40 – 3rd Place

Posted on October 11, 2009 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 4 Comments

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile
M31	7	3	3	2	17:40	5:40

The Little Silver 5K Classic takes place in the Red Bank area of NJ. Mike (of the ‘Dad Posse’) and his family moved there recently and had invited us (‘Dad Posse’ and their respective families + baker) out for the race and a BBQ.

Ed was picking me up in the early afternoon Saturday to head out so I used the morning to go for a 30 mile bike ride around the city. It was a beautiful day and for once, i wasn’t anxious about leaving the city as I normally get, I was genuinely excited to get out for the weekend!

Ed and his wife Annelise picked me up around 3 to head south. I sat in the way back with their eldest son Jack, who is also a runner. We chatted about our race strategies for the next day, also having a deep discussion regarding LEGOS and which theme set was best. The younger two, Isabelle and Ben, were sound asleep for most of the trip.

Mike and Kara live on a very cute street with their two children Kelly and Kevin. As we pulled up, droves of neighborhood kids were running and playing in the yard. We exchanged ‘hellos’ and then immediately got a tour of the new house, which is quite a beautiful place. Jim and Lisa arrived shortly after with their two daughters Josephine and Elizabeth.

They have a big backyard with a deck (and had a cooler of Coronas), so we planted ourselves there. The kids were down in the basement playing and having a blast. All the kids range in age from 4 to 9 and I must say, are very well behaved and quite an adorable little bunch.

Mike and Kara have a fire-pit (which rules) so we helped all the kids make s’mores. After the kids ate, the adults sat down to an amazing meal prepared by Mike and Kara. Later in the night I found myself sitting at the kitchen bar with the guys as we ‘Carbo-loaded’ on beer for the race. SIDE NOTE: why is it at every gathering people always gravitate to the kitchen? I’ve seen this many a time. Around 1-1:30AM we decided it best to get some sleep.

RACE DAY

At 6AM the kids started stirring, and therefore so did we. We had coffee and a big breakfast spread of bagels, bananas, muffins and yes, my Chia Seeds. We got the kids ready, tagging them with their race numbers, and then heading out for the local High School.

It was brisk with a fall chill in the air. The first race was the kid’s 1 Mile. Jack and Kelly ran this one and did great! In fact they were probably top 10! We had 30 minutes before the 5K and we were all hanging out chatting. I spent most of the time fake ‘Star Wars’ fighting Ben (the 4 year old) which was a workout in itself.

By now it had warmed up to 60-65 degrees and the sun was out. Perfect running conditions. We all made our way to the start. Jim, Lisa, Annelise, Mike and myself were the adult runners. Ed still has a sore knee from the Half-Marathon the weekend prior so he sat this one out.

At the front of the pack I was hanging out with a group of 3, 6th graders who were really funny. Some jerk behind me told them “You kids better watch out, if you’re not fast you’ll get trampled.” They looked worried so I leaned in and said “Don’t listen to that fool, you will be totally fine!” I mean c’mon buddy, it’s a local race, not Olympic Time Trials.

As the gun went off I immediately jumped in behind a guy who I pegged for some serious competition. We were flying down the road, I was flanking him to his right side. This guy was very fast and had a serious stride. Nearing the first turn (the course was one big block, and ended on the track at the HS) he sped up and I thought “No way can I keep this up.” I backed off and caught my pace. As we took the turn I glanced to my left and saw that we had put some distance on the rest of the pack.

I ran the first mile at 5:24… whoa momma.

It was right around this time I heard footsteps coming from behind, coming fast. This kid in a Tri-suit passed me, blazing down the course. On the back stretch the lead man had 1 minute on me and then the 2nd guy had 30 seconds on me, a serious distance in a 5K. I always kept my eyes locked on the number 2 guy, pressing forward.

As we neared the High School I could hear cheering and got pumped! I was very tired and was seriously looking to end this race.

I hit the track and started around my final 300 meters, people screaming. I knew there was a guy behind me, but I wasn’t sure how far back. It was then, that a spectator yelled, “He is like 30 yards behind you, you got this!” I thought “Thank you helpful spectator.” As I took the top curve I could see him in my peripheral, I also knew, if he was going to make his move, it would be now. I picked my pace up to a sprint as I entered the straight away. To my right were all the kids… Jack, Kevin, Kelly, Ben, Elizabeth, Josephine and Isabelle (Kara and Ed too) yelling and cheering me on! I waved and got a burst of crowd energy, finishing in 17:40, a personal record.
I grabbed a water and headed up to the finish to cheer on the rest of the gang.

The first one we spotted was Mike. He cruised by in great form and also finished with a PR!
Next Annelise, Lisa and Jim came running around. They all made it in under 30:00 which was a PR for the gals. Jim had run a serious 20 miles the day before so he wasn’t out to set any land speed records.

After we finished there were lot of high fives and excitement. As they announced the winners I heard my name “Christopher Baker, hailing from New York City! Third Place overall!” They gave me a trophy and some gift certificates! SIDE NOTE: Why was this important to me? This was the first trophy I had ever won. To much disbelief, no, I had never run Track in High School, nor played on any sports teams. I was an artist (still am) and only in the last year or two have become interested in competing. Just ask my brothers… they will say something like ‘Yeah, he’s bad at sports’.

The younger kids had races after us. You have never seen anything cuter than 25, 4 year olds running a 50 yard dash with smiles on their faces! All of them ran in their respective age groups. Jack really did well in the 220, which is 1/2 of a lap. I think he came in second or third and was really cooking! He has real potential to be a serious runner as he gets older! In fact, all the kids looked really good out there so we might have a young running team on our hands. All the kids get medals and a cookie (I unfortunately, did not get a cookie).

What was so great about this dynamic was that all of us were feeding off of each others accomplishments. The adults ch
eering the kids and vice versa. No 1 race took precedence over another, all were of importance. Everyone came out feeling great and having a really fun time. Its so crucial to have a group of people that supports you, especially in a competitive environment like that.

Before leaving, we spent the early part of the afternoon at Mike and Kara’s having a delicious lunch (I had Kara’s chili which was superb!) and playing in the backyard with the kids. Thanks for having us over Mike and Kara!

RACE REPORT: 011 Father’s Day 5 Miler: 30:54

Posted on June 21, 2009 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running 1 Comment

Sex/ Age	Bib	State	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG Time	AG Gender Place	AG %
M31	43	NY	149	147	30	30:54	6:10	30:45	278	69.3 %

As many New Yorkers will testify, this weekends theme was rain. Therefore my Saturday night ritual of a big meal with friends was squashed as no one wanted to go out. Instead, I made some fresh salsa and grilled up some swordfish. It was amazing and in my head I thought it would be a fantastic energy boosting meal.

The following morning I had a weird dream that I was running the race and at some point I took a wrong turn and backtracked 2 miles. I was then confronted with the option of pseudo-cheating but cutting through the fields or to re-run the 2 miles. I chose the re-run option and was very upset as my time was horrible. I woke up startled and looked outside, it was a light drizzle but looked generally okay for running. I decided I had to run based on my dream. After emailing Mike, Jim and Patrick (whom I was meeting prior to the race) that I was in, I noticed on the NYRR website that the race was at 8:30 and not 9 as I had planned! I was now late.

After a quick cup of Cafe Bustelo I headed out and decided I had to run to the race in order to make it on time. I sprinted up 9th Avenue and made it in good time. Upon seeing the fellas Mike told me that baggage check was a good distance away, so off I went again to drop off my stuff, just barely making it to my corral in time.

I queued up some tunes just as the gun sounded. We were off.

The first mile was fun, we were still in a relatively tight pack, but moving fast. I hit mile 2 at 12:20 and was dead on pace, by now we were thinning out and it was getting harder. I was picking off people and then around mile 4 I recognized my friend Kevin Masse cruising at a speedy pace. I ran along side and we both said hello. We paced each other for the rest of the race which was really fun and mentally helped a lot. I finished in 30:54 which I was happy with, although I had set my goal to be 30 flat.

Kevin and I went to the finish line to cheer on our fellow runners and catch up. Jim, Mike, then Patrick all finished with great personal times.

Mike, Jim and Patrick are all fathers and had received word after the race (via very cool flyers in manilla envelopes made by Mike’s wife) that they were free to do as they wished for the first part of the day. Stop one was Starbucks. It was there that we decided to reconvene at Brother Jimmy’s a few hours later for beer and food as it was still a little early to have a pint.

12:30: Brother Jimmy’s

We were all seated up at the bar having a few as we discussed the days race. We also made the perfect decision to get the rib special, very suiting for our race finish and it being Father’s Day. Jonboy and CJ made a quick appearance but then had to jet out to other plans.

Mike, Jim, Patrick and I split ways around 5 and I made my way downtown to meet up with an old college friend who was in town for the Bike Film Festival. It was a solid Sunday.

Certificate of Freedom001.jpg

RACE REPORT: 002 Colon Cancer Run – 4 Miles: 26:12

Posted on March 23, 2009 by admin

Posted in All, Race Reports, Running Leave a comment

Sex/ Age	Bib	Overall Place	Gender Place	Age Place	Finish Time	Pace/ Mile	AG Time	AG Gender Place	AG %
M31	1044	69	62	9	26:20	6:35	26:12	123	64.2 %

The Colon Cancer Challenge marks my first competitive race since the Marathon. Actually, its my second competitive race ever. I had learned that someone I work with (outside of work) Mike, was running it with 2 of his friends. We agreed to meet prior to the race at the bandshell in Central Park.

I was very tired in the morning as the night before was the Explorers Club Annual Dinner where I normally eat tarantulas and scorpions, washed down with some champagne. Not really the best pre-run food, but I made do. I met Mike, Jim and Ed at the bandshell and we geared up for the run. We all went to our respective pens and waited for the gun.

The run was good. It was brisk out- perfect for running. I finished in 26:12 which I think is pretty good.

After the race we all met up. Their wives and children had been cheering us on which was really cool. We grabbed some coffee and hung out for a little bit, conspiring on which race we would attack next.