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Week of April 25, 2006 - May 1, 2006

Queens Half
May 1, 2006

A slew of PRs, but not so many points this time. Well, that's what happens when too many runners do spring marathons and track races instead of focusing on the scoring races. The open men — Thom "Homer J" Little, Tom "McC" McCarney , Sean "Soldier of" Fortune, Russ "Salt and" Pfeffer and Eric "Insert Nickname Here" Boucher — took second again, streghtening their hold on that spot on the cumulative score, while keeping close to first place West Side. The women — Andrea "FloCo" Costella, Elizabeth "Park Slope Liz" Colville, Nicole "Insert Another Nickname Here" Sin Quee, Louisa "Lulu" Sandes and Anna "Race Every Weekend" Fyodorova — finished fourth, making this the first race of the year they didn't win. They stil llead the series, though.

But while the kids did their part, the masters lacked the depth to make up for the missing runners. Without folks like Alan Ruben, Peter Allen, Casey Yamazaki, etc., the 40+ men — Allan Piket, Yasuhiro Makoshi and David Smith — fell to sixth, the 50+ team — Yasuhiro, Harry Lichtenstein and Peter Tipograph — were ninth, and the women didn't even field a team. We expect they'll all be back for the next scoring races, though, so other teams shouldn't get too complacent.

Happy Birthday Empire State Building
May 1, 2006

King Kong's favorite skyscraper turns 75 today.

Movie
May 1, 2006

Following Sean, my father's latest film, will be playing at Cinema Village starting this week. In this documentary, my dad goes to San Francisco to find the subject of his first film, made in the late 60s: a four year-old kid named Sean. In the first film, Sean talked to my dad about his hippie parents, smoking grass, and sailing a boat around the world. People asked my dad what happened to Sean and his crazy family, so he went to find out. The result, ten years in the making, looks at what has happened to Sean's family, my family, and the country in the intervening decades.

More information is available at the film's website, including reviews and a trailer. And yes, I'm in it (but only briefly). Disclaimer: There is only one very quick shot of running in this film, and it's of joggers. That's it.

It opens Wednesday and will be at Cinema Village (http://www.cinemavillage.com/) through the week and hopefully beyond. I'll be going to the 9ish show on Wednesday, and the 7ish show on Friday. My dad will be at the 7ish shows on Friday and Saturday, and there will be a Q&A afterwards. Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

— Kevin Arlyck

Best Time
April 28, 2006

Not even a week after she worked her way on to the Best 1500m list, Katy M. has grabbed the number two spot on the Best 5K list, with 17:15.927 at Penn Relays (yes, they measure to 1/1000th of a second there). According to our on-site reporter, Katy — running her first 5k ever — fell during the fifth lap, but got up all bloody and kept on going. So just imagine what she might run next time!

Ride Needed to Queens Half
April 27, 2006

New member Elizabeth Colville is looking for a ride from Park Slope to the Queens Half-Marathon this Saturday. If you're planning to drive there and have room in your car, please email her at ecolville@gmail.com.

Jane Jacobs, 1916-2006
April 27, 2006

We haven't gotten around to Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities yet — it's first on our pile, after we finish Emily Barton's Brookland and Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America — so we don't know if she has anything to say about running in there. But we think she would have been pretty pleased with a group of runners who come together to run in parks throughout the city. Jacobs, who died on Tuesday, is in many ways responsible for New York City not turning into the type of lifeless sprawl seen throughout the country.

Witold Rybczynski offers an appreciation at Slate; Curbed collcets some of her interviews; and Gawker opines: "There is some sort of symbolism, we’re sure, that this deal to replace the hulking superblock of the old World Trade Center didn’t come till several hours after the death of urbanism guru Jane Jacobs, who passed away in her sleep at a Toronto hospital this morning. But we’ll leave it up to you to decide exactly what the symbolism is."

Inline Skater Incident Update
April 27, 2006

Remember the injured inline skater who was helped by some CPTC runners last week? We have some more info, thanks to those very CPTC runners. First, from Nicole Sin Quee:

What a nice note from the inline guys. I was biking home that night and saw the whole thing — a really nasty fall. I didn't do much beyond calling the ambulance and sticking around to see if I could be of any help. The person who was really amazing was Dr. Dan.

Dr. Dan's full name is Dan Sack, and he sent this update:

Miguel, the skater in question, was released from the hospital after tolerating several days with a tube in his chest to re-expand his lung and an epidural catheter in his spine to deliver pain medication for his multiple fractures. Miguel is now convalescing in Florida with his girlfriend Naomi, also a team member. I remain in touch with them both. Despite their temporary setback, I wish the entire Empire InLine Skating Team the best in their future competitions.

Week of April 18, 2006 - April 24, 2006

Boom 'Em, Dan-O
April 24, 2006

One of those factoids of dubious provenance that keep floating around claims that the average person doesn't finish reading the Sunday paper until Wednesday. We, of course, are in no way average, and proof of this can be seen in the fact that it usually takes us we several months to finish any particular Sunday paper. Which is why we're a week late in reporting that Ligaya Mishan had another review in the Times last Sunday. This is Ligaya's fourth review for the Times, but the first one where she's had a chance to use the sentence "Imagine Mary Poppins with a heavy dose of Sylvia Plath."

Deena Is a Punk Rocker
April 23, 2006

Deena Kastor won today's London Marathon in 2:19:36. That's a PR for her. And, since she already held the US record, a PR for her is also a new US record. With Margarat-Angell-like precision, she ran exactly even splits — 69:48 for each half. No records on the men's side, but Khalid Khannouchi did return racing, finisihing in fourth with 2:07:04.

The KKK (Kate, Katy, Kathy) Took My Best Times Away
April 23, 2006

We won't rest until everyone on the women's Best Times list is named some variation of Kate. This week it's Kate Cushing and Katy Masselam on the 1500m list and Kathy King on the 5k list.

Bonzo Goes To Boston
April 23, 2006

Okay, we think we have all the results from the Boston Marathon up now. Lots of good times, as usual, including a PR for Nate Horne, and a nearly 11-minute PR for Corey Henry (dropping from 2:50:23 to 2:39:37) to lead the team. In non-CPTC results, American men took the 3, 4, 5, 7 and 10 spots Patrick Cowden has pictures on his site. Corey Henry and Brad Weiss were featured in the Boston Herald. Race directors are trying to get the public more interested. And DJ Gallo thinks that marathons should be outlawed as long as any runners get bloody nipples.

Don't Start Nothing, Won't Be Nothing
April 21, 2006

Remember Cornelius Horan, the crazy guy who attacked Vanderlei de Lima at the 22-mile mark in the Olympic Marathon? Well, he's planning to cause trouble again at this weekend's London Marathon, somewhere on Tower Bridge. If he tries anything, we recommend race directors follow Rick Reilly's advice for dealing with fans who interrupt baseball games. Sure, the skinny runners he might try to attack probably can't do as much harm to Mr. Horan as some roid-infused baseball players would, but a few hundred spectators beating him to a pulp and throwing him off the bridge would probably deter any further interference.

See, It's Really Not About the Bike
April 21, 2006

In an interview that surely sent the posters on Let's Run into paroxysms of delight that will be exceeded only when they actually speak to a flesh-and-blood female, Lance Armstrong announced yesterday that he will finally run a marathon. Even better, he's chosen the NYC Marathon for his debut, partly because it fits with his schedule, but mostly, of course, because New York City is awesome. NYRR president Mary Wittenberg's managed to contain her enthusiasm in her statement ("A bit like winning the lottery...").

We're not making any predictions on Lance's time (Stuart A. thinks Lance will at least beat fellow-cyclist Laurent Jalabert's NYC 2005 time of 2:55:15; some overly excited fans have predicted as low as 2:15), though his recent 5k time suggests he should easily break 3:00. But we know that if he wants to do well he'll need two things: a good coach and an orange singlet. Luckily, we can provide both of those. So here is an open letter to Lance:

Lance Armstrong
Austin, TX

Dear Mr. Armstrong:

I am excited to hear that you will be participating in this year's New York City Marathon. While you have made said that you are doing this is as "something to fill a void in my life after I quit competing as a professional cyclist," and that you have no plans to become a professional runner or triathlete, I'm sure you will be aiming not just to complete the marathon, but also to compete in it. You are no doubt aware of the high level of training this will require, and how difficult it can be to prepare on your own.

Since your Discovery Channel are too busy preparing for cycling races to train with you, I would like to invite you to join the Nike Central Park Track Club. Not only will you receive expert coaching from Tony Ruiz, you will also gain a network of running companions, both for workouts on Tuesdays and Thursdays and for long runs on the weekend. As you can see from our recent results at the Boston Marathon, and last November in the New York City Marathon, we have plenty of fast runners to push you on to a great finish. (We even have an old friend of yours on the team.)

Then, on race day, you can proudly don the famed orange singlet — which even includes your familiar Nike swoosh — and take your place among the local elites. (I know you're used to wearing yellow, but while that color looks good on cyclists, it looks silly on runners.) You will be able to start the race with your training partners, be cheered on by the famous Wall of Orange, and join your teammates for a post-race celebration at The Parlour.

I look forward to hearing from you soon, and good luck in November!

Jesse Lansner
CPTC Webmaster

Email of the Week
April 20, 2006

We get a lot of email here, and we welcome most of it — excluding the 90% of our email that is just pure spam, naturally. Oh, there are the occassional annoyances (I read in 18 different places on your website that you have workouts on Thursday at 7:00. When are your workouts? And where exactly is Central Park? Also, I've never run before. Do you think I need sneakers or something like that?), but usually even the email from complete strangers is worth reading, and helps us to do a better job with this site (at least, when we're not being swamped by work). Every now and then, however, we get an email so bizarre that we wonder how anyone smart enough to type could have actually sent it. This week's case in point:

I'm 23 years old and live in Queens, NY. I would like to know if you offer Field Hockey in your club. If you do please let me know I would really appreciate it. Thank You.

Is there something on the website that suggests we might offer field hockey? The game is mentioned on exactly two pages on this site, and in neither case would any reader suspect that anyone on the team plays the game. But we could be wrong. Any field hockey stars on the team?

Shouldn't This Be Cheney's Department?
April 20, 2006

The problem with the war on obesity is figuring out just who to blame. Food companies? School districts that cut back on gym and sell soda to raise money? Elected official and taxpayers who force schools to do that and let the food companies pretend that the junk they sell the rest of us is healthy? People with no discipline who eat too much and never get off their gargantuan asses to walk more than half a block, let alone actually do any exercise? Nope. Thanks to Andy Borowitz, we know now it's Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's fault.

Thanks
April 19, 2006

Last night our Inline Speedskate team had practice at Central Park. We were doing intervals at about 27mph when one of our skaters lost his footing and hit a guardrail. He broke several ribs and a shoulder blade. There were a couple of Central Park TC Runners who helped us out until the ambulance arrived. I didn't get a chance to get their names but on behalf of the the Empire Inline Racing Team, we'd like to express our gratitude for their help.

Just thought you could relay a message to the crew or at least know a little something about the good 'ol folks of CPTC.

Thank you!

— Oliver Martinez
Empire Inline Racing Team

Another Brief Chat With Sid Howard
April 19, 2006

Every CPTC runner knows that if you're feeling lonely or confused at a workout you should just find Sid Howard and talk to him. Clearly the folks at Runner's World know this, too. Which is why Peter Gambaccini's third brief chat with Sid is on the RW website today. (The first two aren't on the RW site anymore, but you can read them here and here.) This may be the first time that Sid has been featured on the homepage, however.

Week of April 11, 2006 - April 17, 2006

Election Time
April 17, 2006

All CPTC members are invited to print out the ballot and vote for their representatives on the CPTC Executive Board. Ballots must be postmarked by Friday, April 28th.

Race Winners
April 17, 2006

Congrats to Alston Brown on winning the Mount Vernon 5K on March 26. And to Stacy Creamer for winning the Urban Environmental Challenege on April 2.

Week of April 4, 2006 - April 10, 2006

Tom Labrecque Classic
April 10, 2006

Another super showing by the boys and girls in orange blue yesterday. The men took 2nd place in the Open division (Will B., Hipster Joe, JR, Tom McC and Homer J.); 4th, 40+ (The Prez, Affleck and C. Potter); 3rd, 50+ (Alston, Yasuhiro and Harry); and 2nd, 60+ (Sid, James Hanrahan and Freddy T.), the first time we've fielded a team in that category this year.

And the ladies? All they Open women (Katy, Swervin', K2, Sarah and Flo) did was win their third consecutive race, with a bunch of PRs and some shifting on the Best Times list. Meanwhile the 40+ team (Stacy, Yumi, Sue P.) edged out the Harriers for another top three showing.

We were out of town, but luckily Patrick Cowden was out there with his camera, and photographed all of this for posterity.

And for any of you who thought your mile splits were a little off, here's an apology we received from Mary Wittenberg:

Please relay to all of your team members that ran yesterday, our most sincere apologies for the incorrectly placed mile markers. It was a devastating blow to us as race organizers as we work so very hard to ensure top notch events to you – week in and week out. As the saying goes, we are only as good as our last race.

Unfortunately, the course certifier had the mile markers in the wrong places (the distance was correct.) and our NYRR staff followed the incorrect directions as they knew the course had been measured and certified so trusted the information in front of them. Bottomline, it is our responsibility to provide accurate mile markers and thus we take the blame. We have now instituted triple checking measures on our staff team to ensure this does not happen again.

Thanks again for your great support of NYRR, we hope you enjoyed the rest of the race. I was so inspired – this is truly the best running scene we have had in years and years and you are all a critical part of it. Congrats to the so many who ran well.

Best Times
April 10, 2006

In addition to the changes in the Best 4-Mile Times mentioned above, Natalie Gingerich jumped from 10 to 3 on the Best 1500m list with a 4:34.22 at Saturday's U Penn Invitational. And it's lucky for her that she did, otherwise she would have been knocked off the list by Kate Cushing, who ran 4:44.19 at the same meet. That's just .02 seconds away from Margaret Angell's time, so it won't be long before there's yet another Kate on the lists. (And after that, can an all-Kate relay team be far behind?)

Also, while we rarely mention it, we do keep lists of the top CPTC marathoners (sub-3:00 for men, sub 3:30 for women). We're making this one of those rare occassions, since Big Jim McQuade moved up to the top 100 on that list yesterday with a 2:43.54 at the Rotterdam Marathon. The folks in Rotterdam were kind enough to provide splits for each 5k, so you can see just how evenly Jim ran. We recommend you do that on the results page here, and not at the Rotterdam site, since for now the results are only available in Dutch.

Interview: Winter Running
April 5, 2006

While running on the first nice spring weekend a year or two ago, a friend griped "there should be a lane reserved for people who've been running here all winter." If you've ever thought something like that, here's your chance to share it with the world, via The New York Times— which, if anyone asks, we have never, ever criticized or made fun of, especially not regarding their ignorance of running in the winter.

I was wondering if any CPTC members can spare a few minutes to chat with me for an article I'm working on.

I'm looking for people who use Central Park regularly throughout the winter, and have mixed feelings about the warm weather coming on. (I count myself as one of these people.)

On the one hand, it's much more pleasant to be outside when the weather's warmer. On the other hand, spring brings crowds, who can be ignorant of the rules. During the winter, running can bring blessed solitude. The park can feel like it belongs to you alone.

I'll be at the workout on Thursday, or you can contact me at acchang4@gmail.com.

— Andrew Chang

Thomas Labrecque Classic Pre-Race Meeting
April 5, 2006

An important message from the coach regarding this Sunday's points race:

We will be meeting prior to the race this Sunday, April 9th at 8 am. We'll gather at the statue, (W 72nd street) do a warm up, discuss race startegy and any concerns that you might have. I must impress that one of the keys to successful racing is to get in the right frame of mind prior to toeing the line. In addtion I think that it sends a clear message to the competition; we're here, we're united and we mean business! So be there or be square.

— Tony Ruiz

Remember men are 1st place in the Open diviesion (tied with West Side); 3rd, 40+ and 50+. Women are 1st, Open and 3rd, 40+. Those standings are thanks in large part to the team dominating at the Al Gordon Snowflake 4-Miler, so we expect more great things from all of you in this 4-Miler.