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Send comments to webmaster@centralparktc.org. Week of March 28, 2006 - April 3, 2006 Free At Last
CPTC Board Elections We will be holding elections to the CPTC Executive Board shortly. If anyone is interested in serving on the board please contact Alan Ruben at aruben@montran.com. Blonde on Blonde If you were really bored today — like we were — you might have considered reading the article in the Times about women who spend thousands of dollars a year to dye their hair blond. To save you time, we'd like to point out that Raymond Chandler provided far more insight on the topic in just two sentences in The Long Goodbye: "There are blondes and blondes and it is almost a joke work nowadays. All blondes have their points, except perhpas the metallic ones who are as blond as a Zulu under the bleach and as to disposition as soft as a sidewalk." Madness! Madness! It's been an exciting NCAA tournament so far, hasn't it? Upsets, overtimes, Cinderella stories, players crying. But even with all that, we know all of you are sitting on the edge of your seats, wondering how things are going with the CPTC pool. Well, we're here to tell you that things are going really, really badly.
As you can see, eight of the 11 contestants (that's 73%) did not get a single Final Four pick right. At least this team is good at running! Anyway, while there are still games to be played, only Tyronne Culpepper and Marty Levine have any chance of picking up more points. However, since they both picked Florida to advance to the finals, there's no way for Marty to catch Tyronne. So Tyronne Culpepper is the official winner of the 2nd Annual CPTC March Madness pool. We promised excessive praise for the winner, so let us state for the record that Tyronne Culpepper is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being we've ever known in our life. And since we said we might provide a trophy of some sort, the next time Tyronne is in New York City we will glady present him with his prize. We'd mail it to him, but it's not worth the price of the stamp. We also promised merciless mocking for the losers, but that was before we knew how pathetic our own showing would be. In our defense, we know nothing about college basketball. Which would be a lot more comforting if it weren't for the fact that most March Madness pools are won by someone who couldn't tell you how many players are on the court at a time, and bases his or her bracket on meaningless standards like the colors of the uniform, or the hairstyles of the coaches. Next year we're flipping a coin. Explanation Last week, Patrick Cowden posted this photo of GNY coach Bob Glover, with the caption "Please explain," referring, it would seem, to the small mask covering Bob's mouth.
We were willing to supply a number of guesses, ranging from the prosaic (the mask keeps his mouth warm) to the strategic (the mask muffles the sound of his breathing, allowing him to sneak up on other runners and then pass them just before the finish line) to the ludicrous (Bob is an early adopter of the latest fashion trends, and while this may look odd now in six months we'll all be running with these masks). Fortunately, Bob saw the picture, and provided the true explanation: he's allergic to blue oranges. Have no fear! We'll be back to our regular color soon, and everyone will be able to breath freely again. Meanwhile, anyone who's sensitive to disclored fruit should stay far away from our refrigerator. We'd throw the rotten fruit out, but some leftover lo mein acheived conciousness and barricaded the fridge from the inside, and so far the hostage negotiators have had no luck getting it to open the door. Membership Dues If you want to use PayPal to pay your membership dues, you must transfer the funds directly from your bank account. Credit card payments are NOT accepted because they incur a fee and our PayPal account is not structured for this option. Sorry we didn't mention this before. Also, if you'd like to add support for CPTC above your $75 dues, you can use this new link: Paris Marathon If you will be participating in the Paris Marathon on April 9th, please let me know so that I can look for you and take your picture.
Boston Marathon I have two Boston Marathon entries to offer up to anyone who happens to be in marathon shape and wants to use them. My cousin works for Pfizer, one of the sponsors, and has two unused entries to give away. Those who use the entries get to run under their own names. All you have to do is pay the entry fee. Please email me at bhschaffer@yahoo.comif you are interested.
Week of March 21, 2006 - March 27, 2006 Membership Dues If you'd like to pay your membership dues on line, you can do so via PayPal. Go to the site and send $75 to cptc@courtines.net. Or just click on the button below. Please include your name in the "Message to Seller" field. Week of March 14, 2006 - March 20, 2006 Shoe4Africa Dear CPTC teammates:
P.S. Please shoot an email to shoes@courtines.net if you intend to bring donations this Thursday so that he and Toby can get an advance estimate. Photos Sue Pearsall has posted photos from the Front Runners Track Meet. And Patrick Cowden has posted photos from the Brooklyn Half-Marathon. Best Times Peter Gambaccini writes:
And then Kate Irvin writes:
So if anyone else has an old time that never made it onto the list, please let us know. Golden Boy Over in Austria, Sid Howard won his umpteenth gold medal, this time in the 800m M65-69. Neil Fitzgerald took silver in the M35-39 division of the same distance. Kings (and Queens) of Kings County Whatever the borough, CPTC rocks the points race series. The men — Homer J, Handsome Joe, Tom McC, The Prez and Big Jim — were second, edged out by West Side Runners by just seven points. The 40+ men — The Prez again, Peter Allen and Stuart — were also second to West Side, and the Men 50+ are currently listed as 8th, but should move up to 7th once Harry Lichtenstein's team affiliation is corrected. Harry finished behind Yashuhiro Makoshi and ahead of Michael Siegell and Kevin McGuire. On the distaff side, our ladies — L.E., Katy, Felice, Liz Kaicher and Nicole Sinquee — won for the second time, and the 40+ team — Stacy, Sue P. and Margot — took fifth. NYRR will update the team standings later in the week, but they should show the open men (tied with West Side) and women in first , and the two 40+ teams in third. March Madness Pool - Last Chance Remember, you've got until noon to enter the CPTC March Madness Pool. (You do read this site first thing in the morning, right?) There are already nine people in the group, including last year's winner, Alan Ruben. So if you've ever wanted a chance to beat the Prez, and don't think it's going to happen while running, join the contest now by clicking here. (If you have any trouble with that link, go to the ESPN Games homepage, and select group CPTC and enter the password (cptc). Front Runners Track Meet Prize Money Increased There's more prize money to be had at this Sunday's Frunt Runners Track Meet. In addition to the $200 prizes for the top men's and women's teams, now the male and female winner of every race will receive a $100 gift certificate to Urban Athletics. Not that you need any incentives to run fast, but now you've got one anyway.. Nike CPTC Singlets for Saturday's Brooklyn Half Marathon We will be distributing our new Nike singlet complementary to our racers who do not yet have one, from 7:00am to 8:00am on the Boardwalk at the
end on Ocean Parkway (there is an access point to the Boardwalk at the end of Ocean Parkway). March Madness Pool We figure most of you have already thrown your money into a two-thousand-competitor NCAA Tournament pool that you have almost no chance of winning. But why just lose some money when you can also lose your pride? That's right, it's time again for the CPTC March Madness Pool! To join, just click here and fill out your bracket. (If you have any trouble with that link, go to the ESPN Games homepage, and select group CPTC and enter the password (cptc). Happy Pi Day! It's National Pi (π) Day! Celebrations start at 1:59 pm. That would be 3/14 1:59 if you were writing it out, which is the first five decimal places of pi. Being the geek we are, we know pi as 3.14159265358979323, but we don't think anyone waits the extra 26 seconds — let alone the roughly half a second that would come afterward — to mark the occassion. Bigger geeks might know it as 3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510. Anyone who wants to know more digits can see some of these links. Pack Rats Felice Kelly sent us a link to this article on how running with a group can make you smarter. Okay, so they caution that that "there's no evidence yet to say that joining a running club makes you smarter." But they did find that "rats that exercised in social groups had more new brain cells than nonrunners, while rats that ran but were housed by themselves had comparatively less neuron growth." This all has something to do with stress. Week of March 7, 2006 - March 13, 2006 Cars Out of Central Park Car-Free Summer Within Reach: City Hall Rally on Sunday, March 26 Race Winner Congrats to Kate Irvin, who won the Colon Cancer Challenge 4-Miler on Sunday. And her time of 23:34 gets her back onto the Best 4-Mile list — in eighth place — after being knocked off last month. Broad Street Run We’re hoping to put together a team or some teams for the Broad Street Run, Philadelphia’s premier 10-miler. This year the race falls on Sunday, May 7. The start is at 8:30 AM. The course is flat, fast, and point-to-point. If you’re interested, please contact Stacy Creamer at screamer@randomhouse.com or Stuart Calderwood at stuart.xc@verizon.net. Teams consist of five runners with the top three scoring. For co-ed teams, on of the three scorers must be female Brooklyn Half-Marathon Spectating and Brunch Come cheer on your teammates at the Brooklyn Half-Marathon this Saturday as part of a mini Wall of Orange at mile 8.5 at Ocean Parkway and Church Avenue. Since that's right by our apartment, we'll be providing bagels and juice and coffee to spectators before the race and runners afterward. The racers will get there at about 8:40; we'll be welcoming spectators starting at 8:00. For runners, just come by anytime after the race.
RSVP appreciated, so we know how much food to buy. Directions from the Finish Line or from the F Train (Ft. Hamilton Parkway station):
New Arrival From Kim and Frank McConville:
Nike Sponsorship Meeting All CPTC members are invited to attend a special Meeting covering all aspects of our new Nike Sponsorship deal.
CPTC Website Upgrade Speaking of help with websites, we're always looking for people to help with site. In fact, we're about to embark on a major overhaul of this site, which means we can use help from web developers, graphic designers, writers, proofreaders, testers, and just about anyone else. If you'd like to help with the upgrade, add suggestions for what to include or discard, or just complain about the idea because you fear change, send us an email at webmaster@centralparktc.org. Stair Climbing Mike Rosenthal is mentioned in an article on stair climbing in this week's Business Week. It turns out he's started a group called the International Federation of Stair Racers, and he's looking for some members. Well, first he's looking for some volunteers to help with the organization in general and also with the website (web-developers, people to help collect, create, and maintain content, etc.). If you'd like to help out, please email him at michael@walrus.com. Barry Bonds Since we used to write excessively about steroids in sports, we felt we should probably say something about the latest allegations concerning Barry Bonds. Luckily The Onion offers a better cmomentary than we ever could — there's a reason these guys get paid for their work — with today's story "Barry Bonds Took Steroids, Reports Everyone Who Has Ever Watched Baseball." A Cautionary Tale A top Age-Group Runner and FOCPTC (Friend Of CPTC) who runs for a rival club was temporarily disqualified from the Al Gordon Snowflake 4 Miler after a park ranger took down his number when he was spotted using the woods in favor of a port-o-san. The disqualification was subsequently downgraded to a warning but we all should be forewarned. The NYRR is taking a hard line on this subject. Please take note. Snowflake Photos Patrick Cowden has posted some photos from the Snowflake 4-Miler. |
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