WEEK OF JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2002

• THE BRONX HALF MARATHON:  We did not to bring this up too soon, but there is another men's scoring race this coming Sunday.  Historically, this is our second weakest event on the schedule after the Queens Marathon.  Who needs to run a half marathon on a hot day along an unshaded course down a tar top road?  This is especially grueling since it is just one week after another scoring race in Central Park.  In any case, we don't want to fall off the wagon completely since the difference between first place and no-show is 15 points, so the team captains need to take headcounts and beg (but never to steal or borrow) people to run.
    

• FRNY LESBIAN-GAY PRIDE RUN RESULTS:  Major corrections were made on Monday as many more people are added back in, including our Toby Tanser, Jesus Montero and Carol Tyler.  The women's results are still not correct because there are two people in the top 10 listed twice.   For the FRNY Lesbian-Gay Pride Run, the NYRR website has full photos of Alan Ruben, Margaret Angell, Armando Oliveira and Glen Carnes.
   

• WESTERN STATES 100:  John Kenney points out that former CPTC member Tim Fitzpatrick finished this 100.2 mile race in 21st place.  This year's race was particularly brutal due to the heat.  The race began on Saturday at 5am, and Tim finished on Sunday at 1:18am.
   

• MIDDLE DISTANCE STARS:  Our middle distance group has an email communication system about the workouts, so that the workout webpage is redundant because everyone will have seen it already.  However, we have made the page interesting by inserting a photo each week.  You better check that page each Monday, because you could be featured on it!  Where do these photos come from?  While we have links to 7,500+ photos on the website, there are still more than 500 previously unpublished photos of all sorts of people in all manners of situations.  You are bound to be there somewhere. 
   

• RECRUITMENT POSTER:  In the mailbox: "At this point, it seems that you have a pretty good women's open team, but your men's open team could use some help.  How about taking this photo and replacing the guy's face with a 'This could be you'!?  I am sure that you will have the guys knocking down your door to join ..."  
   
  Excuse us, what decade did you emerge from?  Ever heard of the phrase 'politically correct'?  Spare us that sexist slant!
   
  Jerome O'Shaughnessy finds the comment funny, but thinks the recruitment campaign can also be turned upside down: "Why not blank out the two girls' faces and say you can be like them too?"  Ahem ... we are not sure the gals would be knocking down the door to join ...
   

• FINAL EXAM:  Pardon us, but we forgot to congratulate Aubin Sullivan for having completed her final exam.  By 'final', we mean final as in 'never again in this lifetime.'  Now she will have to put the books away and look at the real world ...
    

• OUR TWO GREATEST TRIATHLETES:  Ross Galitsky and Scott Willett will no doubt claim that they blushed when they saw the 'Greatest' label.  But then epithets are free to dole out, so we certainly do not mind.  We are not talking here about their legendary accomplishments, but we want to point out that they both DNF'd at the Tupper Lake Tinman Triathlon this weekend.  Those two DNF's must be harder than anything else that they have done before --- first, because fierce competitors never DNF willingly; second, because they have literally not been able to do any running for months due to injuries.  (You didn't think Ross would willingly skip workouts that he paid for, did you?)  So we tell them that their (running) team misses them and wishes them a healthy recovery ...
   

• BRAZIL WINS WORLD CUP!:  ... just as we told you over a month ago.  Furthermore, we even named the referee correctly --- Pierluigi Collina who was impeccably correct in his decisions.  Back then, Toby Tanser characterized our selection as 'obvious' but that was certainly not obvious to the bookmakers and everybody else around here.  In fact, even the Brazilians had written their team off.  We believed, and we will always believe.  We do have some regrets for individual Brazilians --- captain Emerson dislocating his shoulder during some horseplay after practice before the first game, the brilliant Juninho Paulista not being able to find the chemistry with which to display his talents, the mercurial Denilson not getting enough minutes, ...  But when all said and done, this may not be a good thing for Brazil after all.  Yeah, we know ... we have a justified reputation for being contrarian, but we really have our reasons for saying so.  
   
  As a soccer nation, Brazil is in serious trouble.  There was a series of truly disturbing scandals (such as the top soccer official being charged with 14 counts of corruption, a national trainer being dismissed for having a mysterious US$700,000 in his bank which is suspected to be payoffs for selling players to European clubs at sub-market prices, etc).  Soccer games in Brazil are poorly attended, because all the best players go to play in Europe and even in Japan.  A sport will not have much of a future when its core audience has left.  Because Brazil won this World Cup in spite of these going-ons, there will be no serious attempts to address the root problems.  Had Brazil lost, there would have been some serious soul-searching and even bitter acrimony so that perhaps something good can come out it.  Now, this victory has vindicated the system even though the team succeeded in spite of it.
   
  As a nation, Brazil is in serious trouble.  At this moment, neighboring Argentina is the one which is in dire straits, but Brazil may be next.  This would not be a spillover from Argentina, but because of its own economic problems.  As an anecdote, our international banker teammate tells of speaking to a Brazilian colleague who says that their own division will probably lose their jobs if Brazil should have to default on their national debt.  The genesis of Brazilian economic problems lies in the same type of corruption that has infected the soccer sector.  Politicians believe that they can use the system for patronage and self-enrichment with impunity.  (note: You may ask, What do we know about this?  Try reading this article written by someone whom we obviously respect).  However, winning the World Cup is not going to 'disappear' (following Latin American usage) the economic problems.  The major looming crisis is the presidential election in December, in which a socialist Lula is polling by a margin of 2-1 over the next candidate.  This may lead to yet another US attempt to interfere with a democratically elected president, as was the case with Venezuela in April 2002 (as well as other cases that would take too long (and too painful) to get into).
   
  We thank the Brazilian national team for all the joys that their jogo bonito has brought us this month, and over all the past years.  A people with such beautiful imagination deserves the best that life can give.
    
  P.S.  Let us note that ABC cut right away to their political talk show This Week promptly at 9am, while Univision continued their live coverage until 10am.  The Disney people still don't get it and it is no wonder that Spanish television is caliente these days.  That additional coverage was actually very interesting (such as the sour-faced Germans doing the medals and obligatory photo shoots).
  
  P.P.S.  An enquiring mind wants to know why we have nothing to say about the third-place game.  Well, the winner of the third-place game is ... still a LOSER!

Ronaldo and characters from Turma da Mônica
 (note: his haircut is supposed to be like the Cascão character on the right)

• FRNY LESBIAN-GAY PRIDE RUN WRAP-UP REPORT:
   
  Men's open team, third place; Toby Tanser finished in fifth place (and we have photos to prove) but was not listed due to NYRRC registration/chip issues to be resolved, although the correction would not have changed the team placing; good team debuts from Armando Oliveira and Ken Shatzer (oh, we don't mention John Prather because it is taken for granted that he would be great).
   
  Men's masters team, first place again (by 3 points only!)
   
  Women's open team, first place (second race in a row) with Margaret Angell (3rd overall), Alayne Adams (4th overall) and Ali Rosenthal (9th overall); a good debut from Kira Morser
   
  
  Alayne Adams & Margaret Angell
   
  Most importantly, we had fun out there!  Furthermore, we now have photos of Kieran McShane Calderwood.
   
  
  Kieran McShane Calderwood
   

• UNATTRIBUTED SAYINGS (because it could spell BIG TROUBLE if we attributed them)
  FRNY Lesbian+Gay Pride Run: "I have not come so near to puking in quite a few races, so I must be doing well now."
  FRNY Lesbian+Gay Pride Run: "I will show you mine if you show me yours ... oops! ... I hope you-know-who is not listening."
  JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge:  A petite elite woman taps the shoulder of a big, tall man in front of her (with French accent): "Excuse me, this is about speed, not size."
  FRNY Lesbian+Gay Pride Run: (with French accent) "You have no idea how many people congratulated me after they read the Texas Barbecue comment that someone is pregnant."
  HOUSE OF TYRANNY: "I'm not allowed to cheer for Brazil (even though they will win), unless I want to sleep on the couch :-)"  Comment: You won't be :-)ing when your wife reads this, and she will.
    

• FAST-WOMEN.COM PHOTOS:  Out of the photo album taken at the NYRR Women's Mini Marathon, we found
  - Margaret Angell
  - Alayne Adams
  - Stephanie Gould
  - Ali Rosenthal
  - Lauren Eckhart
  - Yumi Ogita
  These photos were taken at the finish, and so high degrees of intense pain were displayed.  Do not laugh, because it could be you next time ...
     

• RAISON D'ÊTRE:  Over time, the perennial question "Why are you doing this?" gets somewhat different answers.  If at first this website began on a pure whim, it later became a testing ground for a sociological theory about the limits of oganizational size.  Today, there are multiple reasons for continuing the project.  Among these is one that seems to reflect the profile of many new members --- young professionals who ran in college but are now looking for a friendly environment to continue running.  But when one is in a new town without ties, it is hard to know if an organization is right for them.  In our case, we have an extensive website that should make that decision quite easy, one way or the other.  We may not hold on to these people forever as some will move on, but we hope that we made a difference for them at one time in their lives.  And they can always come back to this website and relive those fond memories.
   
  Here are some words from two people that we will miss:
   
  Isaya Okwiya: "I have, and still totally enjoy the CPTC website and was a major reason for me joining the club."
  Sonja Ellmann: "I had a great time with the club and will miss everybody a lot. Thanks for being such a good webmaster. The webpage was actually what brought me to the club!"
    
  And just those few words make everything worthwhile for us to be doing this ... 
   

• 300,000 RE-CAP:  A non-winner wrote: "I reloaded (yes, reloaded) at 299,998.  It was creeping up all day one here, one there. I couldn't believe how long it was taking!!!! So when I reloaded, I figured 299,999, and then 300,000.  Well you can imagine my disappointment when I saw 300001.  :-("  At this time, we still have no clue as to who nabbed #300,000.
    

• THURSDAY NIGHT WORKOUT:  Ahem ... what workout?  Did you not hear the thunder and see the lightning?  And do you not remember our only safety rule?
    
  Actually, the thunder and lightning did not start until 730pm, so it was entirely possible that Stuart Calderwood managed to get a workout started.  However, this workout reporter was trapped at work until 12:20am (but that includes a corporate-financed outing to a restaurant to be whipped ... sorry, we mean reviewed) and therefore can provide no further information.
   
  In lieu of the regular workout report, we offer you two New York stories instead:
   
  John Prather: "So there I was last night, running through nice peaceful Long Beach at 9:30 p.m., finishing up a quick seven-miler, when a tan cat wandered into the street about 30 meters ahead. "No problem," thought I, knowing that any self-respecting feline would scurry away as humanity approached. Yet, for some reason, this one didn't, and I was forced to chop my steps and then jump over it. Upon landing, I tweaked my left knee, and only then did I realize that I had just injured myself hurdling a ten-pound bona fide New York rat!"

  Bernadette Wehr: "Ask Tyronne Culpepper two questions: Why hasn't he started training for the NYC Marathon? and why do people call him Sharkie?"
  If his answer does not include a fish-hook, an ambulance, an emergency room, and a clueless medical student, then you're not getting the whole story. .. )
   
  P.S.  If you still don't know, the 2002 New York City Marathon lottery results have been published (see www.nycmarathon.org ).
    

• MORE WORLD CUP PREDICTIONS COMING TRUE:  We told them to bring on Pierluigi Collina and, yes, he will be the referee for the final game. However, it was not smart of them to choose an Englishman as line judge.  Let's hope nothing untoward happens.
    

• WEATHER REPORT: Wednesday was hot, hot, hot with intermittent thunderstorms.  The Corporate Challenge in the Park was turned into a fun run (that is, no clock).  So you should be totally and completely rested for Saturday's race.  Thursday will be another day (90+ temperature), but Saturday will not be as hot.
   
  
  Don't let your talents and hard work go wasted ---
  Remember to put down CPTC on your race application.
    

• WORLD CUP FINALISTS:  Have we been wrong so far?  It's Germany vs. Brazil!  Our complaint?  Those ESPN commentators are so anti-Brazil!  Example: "Denilson is a ball-control guy but he also loses the ball."  Make up your mind!?  Does he keep the ball or not?  Another example:  "Denilson is a playmaker and he can't shoot."  Well, he was also worth £22 million to Real Beatis (Spain).  That is a lot of money for a forward who can't shoot.
   
  As we watched the evening replay of the Brazil-Turkey game on Galavision, we had these thoughts
   
  --- Singing lessons ought to be mandatory for the players, because the singing of the national anthems was atrocious
   
  --- Since we are in the television audience measurement business, we know one or two inside facts about the audience to the World Cup.  Now some people will have you believe that there is a surge in interest in soccer in the USA because of the performance of the national team.  Fact one: at the Cannes conference, someone presented the results of a new portable radio-television measurement device currently deployed in Philadelphia.  The speaker pointed to the fact that the typical ESPN audience at 3am is about 500 people, but when the USA team played Portugal at 3am, the audience went up to 33,000.  Mind you, there are 5.4 million adults living in the Philadelphia area.  So 33,000 out of 5.4 million was taken to be a 'tremendous interest.'  Fact two: for the Brazil-Turkey game, 71% of all television homes in Rio de Janeiro and Saõ Paulo were tuned to the game, with an unmeasured number of people who were watching the game in public places such as bars and community centers.  That is what can be called 'tremendous interest.'
   
  --- We would have expected the Argentines to be heartbroken, but we may be underestimating them.  Just today, we received an e-mail from our Argentine joint venture partner that began with "Re: The product quality issue.  How is it that YOU sounded like a bitter and angry Argentine whose team got sent home after the first round?"
   
  --- Near the end of this game, there was a singular moment when we jumped out of our chair in excitement  At the 44th minute, Denilson was open on the right.  As he reached the penalty area, he saw that the only other Brazilian player was well covered.  Rather than try to move towards the goal alone, Denilson dribbled the ball towards the right corner to kill some time and protect that one goal lead.  When the Turkish players realized his intent, four red shirts converged quickly to that corner.  We jumped up because this could just be one of those magical once-in-many-lifetimes moments if Denilson can pull off a trick to get pass all four people!  Had that happened, I would be able to say forever afterwards that I saw that play (with one billion other people) when it happened.  As it were, Denilson actually just shielded the ball until they had to foul him.  At the restart, when the Brazilians tried the same thing, the Turkish player Hasan Sas totally lost his head, chopped down his opponent and received a yellow card.  In Brazil, they call this game jogo bonito --- the beautiful game.
   
  ---  Now that we know that the finalists are Brazil and Germany, we will have one winner from the Central Park Track Club.  Brazil was our personal pick and Germany belongs to Sonja Ellmann.  The rest of you are LOSERS.  In case you don't get it, we repeat: the rest of you are LOSERS!  P.S.  On another website, we read that a certain Frenchman was 'the only one who picked Germany,' but he does not count here because he wears the wrong colors.  
   
  --- Who will win?  Here is our tactical analysis: if Germany tries to play Brazil with an open game, they will go down 3-0 because they don't have the speed, agility and skills.  The first yellow card for German striker Oliver Neuville has been rescinded due to a case of mistaken identity so he can play in the final, but we feel that his replacement Oliver Bierhoff would have been a bigger (as in, size matters) threat to Brazil.  Germany's best hope is to use their size and height advantage to get an early lead and then pack in the defense.  It will not be a boring game, because we will see a barrage of shots at goal.  One way or the other, we look forward to a jogo bonito on Sunday morning.  And when that happens, we are all winners.
    

• TUESDAY TRACK WORKOUT:  Warm, humid day (but not as bad as yesterday), and perfect for sprinting.  Fifty-five people were at the distance runners' workout.  Our regular coach Tony Ruiz is on vacation, so this workout was given by Stuart Calderwood.  There was no email notification and no website posting before the workout (see Frank Morton's comments).  This is a warm night and we have a scoring race on Saturday, so it is important not to run too hard tonight.  We will also have a light road workout on Thursday.
   
  Special commendations:  Rather than point out specific individuals, commendations were given to all those who have ran recent races.  Having said that, we will proceed to mention certain specific individuals: 
  (1) Harry Lichtenstein for getting his first NYRR age-group win (M50-54 at the Nike Run NYC Fitness 3.5 Mile Run); 
  (2) Carol Tyler for running eight miles right after chemotherapy treatment; 
  (3) Olivier Baillet for completing the inaugural Ironman France in his home country; 
  (4) Sylvie Burlot for notching individual win #14 this year for the team at the Highland Triathlon; 
  (5) Sid Howard for telling the soccer players --- "You keep playing like this and you'll be in the World Cup soon" (sorry, but print does not communicate the sarcastic tone);
  (6) Charlotte Cutler for using her UN-diplomatic tact to get the soccer players to move their goal a few yards away from the start line;
  (7) the C-group workout timer for doing a set of 200m sprints during the recovery jog for his runners;
  (8) Frank Morton for saying "One reason that the website hits increased so much today was because I (and I assume many others) kept going onto the site to see if today's workout was posted.  I hate not knowing what the workout is before going to the workout!! I'm spoiled. In the old days (before the internet even existed) we would never know";
  (9) Yves-Marc Courtines for being caught running in the Nike Run NYC race even though he did not sign up under CPTC.  Alyse Daberko signed up under CPTC and this was an instant cue to look for Yves-Marc!
  (10) Alan Ruben for running 24 miles on Sunday, including 4 extra miles looking for a haplessly lost coach; 
  (11) Sid Howard for receiving a $55 parking ticket tonight.  That sum would have been insignificant if Sid had been able to collect just a quarter from everyone who ever rode in his van over the last 20+ years.  How about taking up a collection for Sid?
  (12) David Howard and Michelle Santomassino for getting engaged on Saturday, June 22nd! 
  (13) G'mo Rojas for conceding defeat in not being able to conceal the Pawling Triathlon results and, since he was not going down alone, he told us to look for perps at the Tinman Triathlon results this weekend; 
  (14) FIFA for realizing that the bad referee calls are public relations disasters and assigning six European referees for the semi-finals and the final.  Immediate outcome: Germany beats South Korea without referee calls being an issue, but the Germans lose star midfielder Michael Ballack (with two game-winning goals so far) for the final game after receiving two yellow cards during the knockout rounds.
   
  Cross examination transcript:  One of our runners reported in a time for either the 1500m or the mile at the MAC outdoor championships.  Since there is a difference of 109 meters between the 1500m and the mile, it is important to know just which is the actual distance in order to evaluate the time.  The cross-examination was conducted by a practicing attorney.
  Q: Did you run the 1500m or the mile at the MAC outdoor championships?
  A: I don't know.  All I remembered was that I was running laps around the track.
  Q: Do you at least remember where you started?  Did you start near the finish? Or did you start at the top of the backstretch?
  A: I don't know.  I started with everyone else.
  ... and so it went (and we don't know if the cross-examiner complained that the answers were evasive).  But we know that the truth is out there, because even though the meet results will never be posted, the meet schedule did list the race as a 1500m!  We also know that the person was in fact the MAC age group champion (note: there was more than one person in that age group in the race).
   
  Sonja Ellman's farewell party:  This was held last Saturday night somewhere in East Village.  While this workout reporter could not attend, there was no fear as Brian Barry stepped in and presented an unauthorized characterization of our work.  Second-hand accounts claim that Sonja's jaw dropped at those revelations.  With friends like these, we are better off with enemies.  On a related note, the ethics code does not require us to disclose the identity of the person who could/would not say if he ran the 1500m or mile at the MAC meet, but we can tell you that hell knows no fury like a dissed reporter ...
    

• 300,000:  On Tuesday (25th June, 2002), the home page counter on this website went past the 300,000.  How many people are 300,000?  Assuming that there are 30,000 runners in the New York City Marathon, this is ten times as many people.
   
  
   
  This counter was initiated on June 24th, 1997 and so it took five years and one day to reach this landmark.  During this five year period, we grew at a very rapid rate.  During the calendar year 2001, we had almost 100,000 home page visits.  For 2002, we are likely to get around 150,000 home page visits.  The home page counter refers to the number of times that the home page was downloaded.  Behind this number, there is an even larger number of hits (defined as the number of files that were downloaded, including pages, graphics, sound and video files), wherein we expect to get more than 3,000,000 hits in year 2002.
   

• SEEKING RUNNING PARTNER:  Chris Blaydon wrote: "I am looking for someone to run with on the East River (east village area) or West Central Park (around 56^th street) at around 6-6:30 am.  I am unable to make the evening CPTC sessions, so I would like to do some tempo runs and possibly speed work.  I am training for the NYC Marathon, and probably run about 7 minute or faster pace (I have been away from any type of serious training so hopefully my speed should improve over the summer).  If anyone is interested, you can reach me at chrisblaydon@yahoo.com or 312-961-1852."
   

• TWO LONG REPORTS:  This website would be extremely boring if all we do is tell you about who ran what time where.  (Or, even worse, all we do is tell you how many people showed up at the last evening's workout)  In today's Famous Sayings page, we are glad to have two long and interesting first-person reports.  In the first one, Steve Paddock reports on that Shawangunks long run which will undoubtedly go into the legends book.  A few more long runs like that and we won't have a team left!  In the second one, Craig Plummer gives the perfect case study of why doctors should prescribe leg irons for injury healing.

  ---

  WEEK OF JUNE 18-JUNE 24, 2002 

• COPYCAT:  Even the venerable New York Times has weighed in with a Monday article about South Korea's favorable treatment from the referees.  Ahem ... shall we remind the world that we stated this to be a major factor (to the point of willing to put money on it!) BEFORE THE WORLD CUP STARTED!?
    

• WORLD CUP COMMENTARY:  You know that we have been complaining about the moronic comments heard on ESPN.  But then again, you might get more than you bargain for, as this BBC TV story shows:

  BBC TV has apologised for accidentally broadcasting a swearing outburst by its World Cup pundits.

  Alan Hansen and Ian Wright made their comments after the England defeat, thinking they were off the air.

  Digital viewers saw their screens go blank, but could still hear the panel discussing the defeat to Brazil.

  The Mirror reports Hansen was asked which match was next up and replied: "It's the f***ing Krauts."

  A BBC spokesman put the blunder down to a "technical fault" and said no offence was intended.

  Hansen and Wright were discussing the match with Gary Lineker and Peter Reid in the studio in Japan.

  Wright reportedly said: "Seaman was f***ing five yards off his line. And what the f*** was he (Sven-Goran Eriksson) doing taking Michael Owen off?"

  A BBC spokesman told the paper: "Due to a technical fault, the audio feed from Japan was left switched on for about ten minutes after the match. This meant that the boys' post-show repartee was inadvertently broadcast."

  "Obviously Gary, Alan, Peter and Ian were unaware they were on air.  It was a private conversation between friends and no offence was intended." 

• MS. PERSONAL BEST:  This week's cover personality is Stephanie Gould, who has a string of personal bests this year from 5K to half marathon, often with improvements of many minutes.  Obviously, everyone wants to know the secret, which we think is this: "STAY OFF THAT BIKE!" [note: Stephanie also competes in cycling and triathlon events]
   
  
   

• CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING:  We are heading towards the halfway point of the NYRR Club Championships with a scoring race coming up next weekend, so it is appropriate to see where we stand.
   
  OPEN MEN:  Third place with 57 points, 5 points behind WS and 7 points behind WSX.  It will be tough to catch those two, but we are 21 points ahead of the next team.
   
  MASTERS MEN:  First place with 72 points (out of a maximum of 75), 17 points ahead of JSRC.  Our team is more than ten deep, to the point where we can assume that we will be competitive even if we do not coordinate our entries.  The next race will see the debut of John Prather.
   
  VETERANS MEN:  Ninth place.  In this division, we have the 2001 Male 50-54 Runner Of The Year in Alston Brown but we lack depth otherwise.   This just goes to show you that a team is more than one individual.
   
  OPEN WOMEN:  First place with 64 points, 7 points ahead of MCNY, 13 points ahead of GNY and 20 points ahead of WS.  The battle will continue on among these teams.  Depth, commitment and organization are what we need.
   
  MASTERS WOMEN:  Fourth place, behind MCNY, GNY and TRR.  This will not be our year, and we can only ask what if we could have Alayne Adams, Yumi Ogita and Stacy Creamer in top condition together ...  We may have a very good team in time for the New York City Marathon (note: start training, Kellie Quinones!).
   
  VETERANS WOMEN:  Fifth place, and an unusual situation.  Out of five scoring races, we got zero points in three of them because we did not have enough runners but we won the other two races in which we fielded three runners.  It will be even harder to coordinate our core runners given that Irene Jackson-Schon will be living in New Mexico and Sylvie Kimché lives in Columbus (OH).
   

• WORLD CUP UPDATE:  The Spain-South Korea game was just over.  Need we remind you what we said about the thirteenth-man (namely, the officials) advantage for South Korea?  We are certain that the disallowed Spanish 'goal' will be replayed again and again from here to eternity.  Next up for South Korea will be that big German team.  The Germans play a very physical game and we can see this coming --- a couple of quick red cards from the referee against the Germans and South Korea gets through.  Without that, there is no hope for the mismatched South Korea.
   
  Meanwhile, the Senegal-Turkey game looked as if those two teams can play again and again from here to eternity without ever scoring.  By our reckoning, the Parma forward Hakan Sukur should have scored about 5 goals for Turkey if he had seized the opportunities given to him.  This sets up the stage for a re-match between Brazil and Turkey in the semi-final which will prove harder to predict now because both sides will make tactical adjustments.
   
  We know that we are looking for a tv-ratings-busting Brazil-Germany final.  But what if the nightmare scenario of a Turkey-South Korea final happens, with those two teams getting there through a series of bad calls by referees?  Bring on Pierluigi Collina!  The man even has his own website!
   

• SONJA IS LEAVING:  Another entry in the 'Going' section is Sonja Ellmann, who will be going back to Germany next week after completing her studies at the New School.  Perhaps she will be there just in time to see the Germany team win the World Cup.
   
  

[Die Welt ist weit]  von Ingeborg Bachmann Die Welt is weit und die Wege von Land zu Land, und der Orte sind viele, ich habe alle gekannt, ich habe von allen Türmen Städt gesehen, die Menschen, die kommen werden und die schon gehen. Weit waren die Felder von Sonne und Schnee, zwischen Schienen und Straßen, zwischen Berg und See. Und der Mund der Welt war weit und voll Stimmen an meinem Ohr und schrieb, noch des Nachts, die Gesäange der Vielfalt vor. Den Wein aus fünf Bechern trank ich in einem Zuge aus,  mein nasses Haar trocknen vier Winde in ihrem wechselnden Haus. Die Fahrt ist zu Ende, doch ich bin mit nichts zu Ende gekommen, jeder Ort hat ein Stück von meinem Lieben genommen, jedes Licht hat mir ein Aug verbrannt, in jedem Schatten zerriß mein Gewand. Die Fahrt ist zu Ende. Noch bin ich mit jeder Ferne verkettet, doch kein Vogel hat mich über die Grenzen gerettet, kein Wasser, das in die Mündung zieht, treibt mein Gesicht, das nach unten sieht, treibt meinen Schlaf, der nicht wandern will ... Ich weiß die Welt näher und still.

[The World is Far and Wide] by Ingeborg Bachmann The world is far and wide, and the roads from land to land, There are many in each place, which I've seen firsthand; from inside every tower, I have seen the cities, the people who are coming, the people who've left already. The fields are so immense with sun and snow,  between the mountain and lake, the tracks and roads. And the mouth of the world was wide, full of voices at my ear that transcribed, not only at night, the songs of the diversified. I drank down five cups of wine in a single sitting, the four winds dried my hair in their house that is ever-changing. Now the journey is over, and yet with nothing I've come to the end, a piece of my beloved each place has taken, my eyes have been scorched by each light they've borne, in every shadow my dress has been torn. Now the journey is over. Yet to every distance I'm still bound, though no bird has lifted me over the border beyond, no water, drifting towards the sea's mouth, carries my face, that still looks down, nor my sleep, which does not want to travel ... I know the world that's nearer and still

• CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE:  To our list of team members' occupations we can now add political candidate, for Paul Stuart-Smith.  The biography reads: "I am married and have two young children. I have worked in the financial markets for more than ten years, served in the Army for four years and am qualified as a barrister.
  I first moved into the borough in 1987. I have also lived in Clapham and Wapping and,for several years in New York. Whilst in New York I worked as a volunteer athletics coach at a school in Harlem where the students had few other opportunities to take part in sports. I also run competitively myself and recently won the Regent's Park Winter road race series. I would very much like the opportunity to put my wide experience and my understanding of living in a vibrant, diverse and cosmopolitan community to work on you behalf. If elected I will work particularly hard to make your streets cleaner and safer."  The picture of him could be improved with any number of his photos on this website.
   

• WORLD CUP UPDATE:  England and USA are now out, very much according to the natural order of things.  The following teams and their selectors are still in the running: Spain (Ramon Bermo), Germany (Sonja Ellmann) and Brazil (our pick!).  To be more precise, we opted for Brazil from our heart and we put money on South Korea not because of the twelfth man (the crowd) but because of the thirteenth man (the referee).  We consider the next two games (Senegal-Turkey and Spain-South Korea) to be the weaker links and we expect to see a Brazil-Germany encounter in the final.
   
  As we look forward the final, we realized that it would be on Sunday morning.  Thankfully, the Gay & Lesbian Pride Run will take place on Saturday morning, or else the turnout at the race may be truly pathetic.  Was it foresight?
    

• BLACKMAILER:  Central Park Track Club member Ross Galitsky operated the website EnduranceWorld.com.  Recently, he had the misfortune of forgetting to renew his domain registration on time.  Before he knew it, some guy in Taipei had snapped up the domain name and is negotiating to sell it back.  Meanwhile, Ross has migrated to EnduranceWorld.org.  If it were us, our principle would be to never yield to blackmailing, and the best revenge is to make them eat the domain registration fee.
   

• CONVERSATION STARTER TIP:  Ask Alayne Adams: "How do you like running on the reservoir path?" and be prepared for an earful.
   

• THURSDAY ROAD WORKOUT DESCRIPTION:  Forty-eight people were at the start of the workout.  If we add the usually late Harry Morales, that would be forty-nine people.  Then we had Sara Grillo jumping in at West 78th Street, and we broke the 50 barrier when Aubin Sullivan showed up to complain about nearly being run over by one of our runners on the reservoir path.  P.S.  Cyclist Ross Galitsky was not counted.
   
  When Audrey Kingsley arrived at 7:08pm, she was shocked to find that the coach had already begun talking.  What's the hurry?  THE GAME IS ON TONIGHT!  So let's do the workout, go home, eat, catch some sleep and then get up to watch the game.  When a voice in the back wondered, "But the game starts at 730am?" the response was: "What are you talking about?  THE GAME is Brazil versus England.  Who cares about anybody else?  I am Brazilian!"  At least for one more night ...
   
  Don't forget the team long run this Saturday (June 22nd, 9am) in the Shawangunks.  If you are interested (plan on leaving the city 7:15am) please email Alan Ruben at alan@montran.com stating whether you have or will need transport.  As you know, last week's run was cancelled due to the wet weather, except nobody told Audrey Kingsley.  So when she showed up, there was only the local host Alan Ruben and her.  But if we had to pick any one from the entire team roster who would do a long run in the rain, those are the two.  Audrey reported that they ran for two hours ten minutes, and she only had two near slips in the mud and one near trip on a cable across the trail.  Fun, huh? 
   
  Lucky story of the evening:  On Tuesday, someone wished Sonja Ellmann's German team good luck.  She said, "Luck?  We don't need luck.  It will be a walkover!"
    
  Yet another  'Go Irene' Story:  Patrick Cowden: "About your story of people shouting 'Go Irene' in Central Park --- I've had the same experience once in a race.  After a while, I was beginning to think that this Irene person must be the Mayor of Central Park ..."  Of course, the best 'Go Irene' story is the unpublishable 'blue' version, which we are willing to tell you if you buy us a pack of Viceroy and a Bloody Mary at the Oak Room.  (Warning: There is obviously an obscure (but famous) reference here).
   
  Famous remark of the evening:  Audrey Kingsley: "So I went to a function at the Metropolitan last night.  At the entrance, I gave them my name and the person said, 'Are you the Audrey Kingsley of the Central Park Track Club?'  That was very cool ..."  P.S.  The person was a member of Urban Athletics.
   
  Strange remark of the evening:  Ross Galitsky: "Dr. Randy tells me to wear a boot when I go to sleep ..."   Question:  What did the wife think?
   
  Sad story of the evening:  David Smith:  "You have no idea what a sad life I led last week.  Every day, I went to the website to check in case you left something there that I hadn't read before ..."
   
  Best cellular phone call of the evening:  Michael Rosenthal to Mary Minieka: "Congratulations!  I was just informed that you won a team medal for third place at the WABC Father's Day 5 Miler."
    

• CAUSE & EFFECT:  Some self-appointed genius has deduced the cause of the lackadaisical running performances recently, and it was not due to those late night World Cup games as you might suppose.  Rather, our expert points to these website statistics ---
      March 2002 --- Current Race Results viewed 2669 times, Journals viewed 2335 times
      April 2002 --- Current Race Results viewed 2954 times, Journals viewed 2817 times
      May 2002 --- Current Race Results viewed 3010 times, Journals viewed 3213 times
  The trend is ominous --- pretty soon, no one will be running because they will all be sitting home staring at the computer screen ...
    

• TUESDAY NIGHT AT THE RACES:  The official race results are not posted yet, but we have ineluctable faith that they will be posted eventually, just as we have ineluctable faith that we will never see any MAC/USATF-NJ race results.  If these race results do not appear soon enough, we will have to send Jeff Wilson up there to get our own times (all splits included, of course) in the future.  Of course, we do not want to sound bitter.  Far from it, because the unofficial report from Devon Sargent closed with "I have to tell you how beautiful Stuart and Stacy's baby is!  And what glowing parents too!"
    

• COMINGS AND GOINGS:  In the 'going' section, Isaya Okwiya is now a resident of Washington DC.  But he says "I'm still CPTC all the way."
   
  Having titled this item "Comings and Goings," we are now obliged to provide a 'coming' section.  This is much easier and happier, since there are many tales of people who move to this city.  If at first they are not certain about their choice, eventually they make friends and stay on.  This particular story is about Ali Rosenthal, who would rather live in Washington DC once upon a time after graduating from Brown University.  Although she said "I don't think I'd want to live there [in New York City] when I'm older," she is still here and making new friends on the Central Park Track Club team.  Such is life ...
    

• WORLD CUP UPDATE: Now that South Korea has beaten Italy, we remind you what we wrote before: "Somehow, if we had a dollar, we would put it on South Korea because we know all about the mythical host country advantage --- remember Roy Jones Jr. at the 1988 Seoul Olympics?"  So it was that Italian Francesco Totti received a red card from the Ecuadorian referee for the phantom diving ...
   
  If you think that we are being too cynical, please read the Eurosport.com report: "Italy say Arrivederci to the World Cup with bitter regrets. It was written in the Korean history books: this one was not to be theirs. And the referees from around the globe probably helped them out a little."
   

• TUESDAY TRACK WORKOUT REPORT:  There was a NYRR track meet up at City College tonight, so we take it that quite a few of the middle-distance group is up there.  In fact, we only saw Sara Grillo running by herself.  Meanwhile, there were forty-eight people at the start of the workout.  A good, clean workout on a mild and dry evening.  There were no soccer casualties tonight.
   
  Once again, we were asked by a team veteran: "Who are these people?  How come I have never seen them before?"  Why are you asking us?  We haven't seen them before either and we've only been away for one week ...  Although we have been back for only three days, we must say that even we were impressed by the amount of drivel that we have been able to produce for the website.
   
  Tonight, Tony Ruiz thanked Irene Jackson-Schon for all the years, including welcoming him to the team many years ago.  Irene is moving out to New Mexico.  There is a story about the famous 'Go, Irene' chant inside Central Park in last week's journals.  Irene actually has a 'blue' version of the same story featuring a different teammate, but we would lose our 'family-friendly'-rating if we published that one.  Just use your imagination and then stretch it some more ...
    
  Let us simply note that putting a single 400m at the end of the workout may be a bad idea.  Whereas the instructions were to run the last 400m at 3 seconds faster, we don't think running it 20 seconds faster is within statistical tolerance!  Oh, that feigned look of shock when you heard the timer's call is not going to make you any less guilty!
   
  Unobscure fact: Adam Manewell, who recently ran 15:59 at the North County News 5K, is Canadian.  Oh, tell us that you were surprised ...
    
  Tony Ruiz: "I happened to look into the website last night.  You know, once I started, it was difficult to stop because there is so much in there.  This stuff is addictive."
   
  Steve Paddock: "I have to thank the Nets for going out in four games.  Otherwise, the west coast game would end at 1am, then I could get one hour's sleep, wake up to watch the 230am game, go back to sleep at 430am, wake up again and watch the 730am game.  As it is, I will be getting three nights' rest.  Then I am going straight to bed after this Thursday's workout, wake up to watch the 230am game between England and Brazil, celebrate for a couple of minutes, go back to sleep immediately and get up at 730am to watch the Germany-USA game.  P.S.  It should be obvious why my running has recently gone to s***!"

WEEK OF JUNE 11-JUNE 17, 2002

• POR LOS CHICOS DE ARGENTINA:
   
  
   
  Argentina came into the World Cup as one of the favorites, but the team performed poorly and were eliminated in the first round.  For the country, this was deeply disappointing.  The above photo has been going around the Internet, and is quite unfair to the players.  Currently, Argentina is in a deep economic crisis without any apparent solution, and a World Cup victory (or, at least, a victory over England) would have been uplifting.  Argentina is now an ex-second world country with major third-world problems such as malnutrition and outright starvation.  Never mind the socio-political causes of the current crisis, but the people did not deserve this.  There is a website Por Los Chicos (For The Children) that works on the same principles as The Hunger Site.  So let us all take a couple of minutes to help the people of Argentina.
   

• MASTERSTRACK.COM RANKINGS (6/17/2002)  The following list was extracted from MastersTrack.com by Noah Perlis:

2002 MEN'S MASTERS TOP PERFORMANCES
TRACK EVENTS
Revised 6/17/02
 

(i) = indoor results

hand times (h) vs. automatic times

M50 55 METERS
  
6.82 Bill Collins - USA (i)
7.23 Nathan Robinson - USA (i)
7.2h Melvin Fields - USA (i)
7.2h Gary Geiger - USA (i)
7.39 Jimmie Jones - USA (i)
7.3h Bob Davis - USA (i)
7.41 Robert Reich - USA (i)
7.4h Gary Arend - USA (i)
7.5h Rick Lapp - USA (i)
7.5h Steve Bubb - USA (i)
7.61 Peter Hull - USA (i)
7.7h Darryl Decker - USA (i)
7.73 Tom Cunningham - USA (i)
7.81 Robert Hahn - USA (i)
7.94 Noah Perlis - USA (i)
 
-------------------------------------------

M50 100 METERS
WR: 11.39 Bill Collins (USA) 50 7-7-01
 
11.37 Bill Collins - USA
11.97 Alslton Brown - USA
 
 -----------------------------------------

 M50 400 METERS
WR: 51.39 Fred Sowerby(USA) 50 8-27-99
 
51.9h Alston Brown - USA(i)
53.92 Charles Allie - USA (i)

M55 400 METERS
WR: 52.6 Ralph Romain(TRI) 58 7-22-90
 
55.8h Richard Hamner - USA (i)
55.90 Stan Immelman - RSA
 
 M50 800 METERS
WR: 1:58.65 Nolan Shaheed(USA) 50 5-13-00
 
2:02.43 David Salazar - USA
2:02.8h Nolan Shaheed - USA
2:03.7h Alston Brown - USA

M55 800 METERS
WR: 2:03.7 Stan Immelman (RSA )55 12-1-01
 
2:06.22 Stan Immelman - RSA
2:10.43 Ronald Mercelina - NED
2:13.54 Wolfgang Beyer-Maidhof - GER (i)
2:14.77 Rudolf Thiele - GER
2:15.56 Leslie Gillies - AUS
2:16.80 Steve Lassegard
2:17.87 Werner Wetzel - GER (i)
2:18.10 Gerhard Flachowsky - GER (i)
2:18.14 Lars-Eric Branfeldt - SWE (i)
2:18.26 Henri Cortis - AUS
2:19.75 Paul Perry - USA (i)
2:19.8h Rich Tucker - USA
2:20.00 Kalevi Ranta - FIN (i)
2:20.01 Roland Kluttig - GER (i)
2:20.32 Dale Gaide - USA (i)
2:20.39 Richard Hamner - USA (i)

M60 800 METERS
WR: 2:10.42 Alan Bradford(AUS) 60 8- 3-99
 
2:20.87 Sid Howard - USA (i)
 -------------------------------------------

M60 MILE
WR: 4:54.07 Joop Ruter(NED) 60 8- 1-93
 
5:10.59 Sid Howard - USA (i)
5:15.16 Doug Goodhue - USA (i)
5:24.98 Dennis Featherstone - USA (i)
5:26.87 Maxwell Hamlyn - USA (i)
5:27.26 Richard Colasuonno - USA (i)
5:38.75 Carl Landis - USA (i)
5:39.53 John Pelton - USA (i)
5:40.36 Pat Cosgrove - USA (i)
5:42.27 Jack Brennan - USA (i)
5:42.3h Dave Galligani - USA (i)
5:52.3h Siegfried Niestadt - GER
5:54.55 R. McAlpine - USA
5:57.50 Denis Daly - USA (i)
5:57.69 Bob Laufer - USA (i)
6:11.98 Jurgen Hoyer - GER

2002 WOMEN'S MASTERS TOP PERFORMANCES
TRACK EVENTSRevised 6/17/02
  
W50 400 METERS
WR: 58.51 Marge Allison(AUS) 50 7-22-95
 
60.83 G. Kirkman - NZL
64.12 Kathryn Heagney - AUS
65.20 Pam Immelman - RSA
65.4h N. O'Keefe - AUS
65.61 Carolyn Smith-Hanna - USA (i)
65.63 Ann Holcombe - AUS
66.65 Sheryl Gower - NZL
67.25 Maureen Rossiter - AUS
67.50 Sharon Warren - USA (i)
67.55 Ulrike Hiltscher - GER (i)
67.59 Ann-Britt Eriksson - SWE (i)
69.36 Bernadette Rahim - FRA (i)
70.10 Hillen Stubendorff - USA (i)
70.21 T. Ashe - NZL
70.47 Elizabeth Riordan - USA (i)
70.56 Ann-Britt Eriksson - SWE (i)
70.59 Kaye Smythe - AUS
70.72 Josefina Nava Perez - MEX
71.10 Aija Hynynen - FIN (i)
72.35 Lynn Crosby - AUS
72.76 Margaret Curtis - USA (i)
73.30 Sylvie Kimche - USA (i)
73.41 Stephane Van Rooyen - RSA
73.57 Erika Campbell - USA (i)
73.9h Mary Rosado - USA (i).

W55 400 METERS
WR: 62.40 Avril Douglas(CAN) 8-18-01

65.69 Marge Allison - AUS
66.99 Nadine Lowenstein - USA (i)
68.84 Ulla Littenheim - SWE (i)
70.22 Lynne Ingalls - USA (i)
71.42 Lynn Naftel - USA (i)
71.68 M. Tomlinson - RSA
71.80 Chris Waring - NZL
74.08 Sylvie Kimche - USA (i)
74.0h Joni Shirley - USA
 
W50 800 METERS
WR: 2:21.05 Barbara Lehmann(GER) 50 5-23-92
  
2:27.42 Kathryn Martin - USA (i)
2:28.52 N. Hitchmough - GBR (i)
2:28.68 Carolyn Smith-Hanna - USA (i)
2:29.55 Dagmar Gocht - GER (i)
2:29.62 Sharlet Gilbert - USA
2:31.23 Ann Holcombe - AUS
2:32.51 Pam Immelman - RSA
2:37.06 Elke Hagenstab - GER
2:37.22 Coreen Steinbach - USA (i)
2:41.19 Linda Findley - CAN (i)
2:42.72 Angelika Asche - GER
2:42.93 Kathy Sims - AUS
2:43.02 Maureen Rossiter - AUS
2:43.12 Ulrike Hiltscher - GER (i)
2:45.70 Erika Campbell - USA (i)
2:48.35 Tuula Lahdenpera - FIN (i)
2:49.54 Sue Waru - NZL
2:50.26 Kaye Smythe - AUS
2:50.91 Lyn Crosby - AUS
2:50.97 Helga Preuss - GER (i)
2:51.64 Paivi Hannula - FIN (i)
2:51.84 Mary Rosado - USA (i)
2:55.57 Dorothee Tietze - GER

W55 800 METERS
WR: 2:22.47 Carolyn Oxton(GBR) 55 8-30-98
 
2:40.76 Ulla Littenheim - SWE (i)
2:41.60 Nadine Lowenstein - USA (i)
2:43.51 Marge Allison - AUS
2:44.0h Sylvie Kimche - USA (i)
2:50.91 Roswitha Schaffler - GER (i)
2:52.40 M. Tomlinson - RSA

W55 1500 METERS
WR: 4:57.4 Carolyn Oxton(GBR) 55 8-26-98

5:29.92 P. Gallagher - GBR (i)
5:35.23 Lavina Petrie - AUS
5:40.98 Sylvie Kimche - USA (i)
5:42.57 Marie-Louise Michelson USA (i)
5:46.32 B. Menzies - AUS
-----------------------------------------------------

ONE MILE
 
W50 MILE
WR: 5:24.6 Elaine Statham(GBR) 50 8-27-94
 
5:22.6h Kathryn Martin - USA (i)
5:26.03 Carolyn Smith-Hanna - USA (i)
5:44.81 Coreen Steinbach - USA (i)
5:56.37 Erika Campbell - USA (i)
6:00.37 Angelika Asche - GER
6:06.00 Mary Rosado - USA (i)
6:24.85 Carol Gellman - USA (i)

W55 MILE
WR: 5:32.7 Carolina Keijsers(NED) 56 6-16-98
 
5:43.96 Joni Shirley - USA (i)
5:58.32 Joan Ottaway - USA (i)
6:09.49 Sylvie Kimche - USA (i)
6:29.78 Ann Makowski - USA (i)

• VCTC SUMMER SERIES #2: Great results here: Armando Oliveiro and John Prather went 1-2 for men, and Naomi Reynolds and Sue Pearsall went 1-2 for women.
   

• GOODBYE, IRENE:  From Irene Jackson-Schon: "My e-mail addresses are about to become obsolete: at the end of June I am finally moving to Santa Fe, where my husband has been doing the laundry and vacuuming--in his way--for too long alone. I'll be back from time to time, and I'll no doubt be racing out there (where, at 7,000 feet up, every race feels like the Riverdale Ramble). Anyone--well, almost anyone--heading that way must call/write and visit. Coordinates: 4 Balsa Place, Santa Fe, NM 87508, (505) 466-2955. Tentative e-mail: jacksonschon@aol.com .  Adios, Irene."
    
  Roland Soong: "It is with great regret to hear that Irene is moving away.  After all, I first learned about the Central Park Track Club through Irene, but it wasn't because she told me anything about the club.  In 1987, I ran my first race in Central Park.  Somehow, I found myself running close to someone that every spectator was cheering 'Go, Irene!'  After the X-hundredth time, I began to wonder whom this person is.  Later, I found out that (1) Irene Jackson was a legendary member of the Central Park Track Club and that (2) the roadway in Central Park is always lined up with Central Park Track Club members and friends during races.  Irene will be missed by the team, especially the masters women.  In 2001, she was the New York Road Runners' Female 50-54 runner of the year.  Just last week, at the New York Women's Mini Marathon, she was a member of our first-place veterans' team too."
   

• WELCOME BACK MESSAGE: On tanser.org, we read about " ... the only guy who knows how to run a running club [website] in New York from the 29th floor of an eagle-eyed apartment. P.S.- Can we have a welcome home party on your roof top?  News that the CPTC team were shedding tears of boredom in his absence (with nothing to do at work, except read the Times, is not an exaggeration!)."  
   
  Point #1:  As it turns out, living high is not living easy.  Just today, we gave two guys from our office the roof top tour.  One is from Queens and the other from New Jersey.  We will have to say that they were shaking and pale from looking down to the streets from the heights. They said, "How can you live this high?  You have to look at this every day!"   Of course, when they reached ground level again, they looked up and said, "Oh, this doesn't look that tall ..."  Wimps!
   
  Point #2:  The house rule for roof top parties is "NO PARTIES!"  So much for that idea.  Even if you are just going up, you can't bring any beverages (alcoholic or otherwise) up there.
   
  Point #3:  We knew it.  We left them with homework reading assignments (see last week's journals), and we recorded these pathetic download statistics:
       Adams/Evans --- 54 downloads
       Bendich --- 19 downloads
       Jacobson --- 25 downloads
       Pillow --- 27 downloads
       Soong --- 57 downloads
  But reading the Times is not so bad after all, according to someone who sat on the Cannes beach with nothing to read except the Nice-Matin or Riviera Times ...
    

• 300,000 STRONG:  Our lifetime home page visitor count stands at 297,000 now and we will go past 300,000 sometime next week.  Maybe you'll get a soppily sentimental thank-you speech ... maybe you won't ...
   

• A CHAT WITH NORMAN GOLUSKIN: Sorry, we missed this article that appeared in May in Runner's World Daily.  Both the interviewer and the subject are famous members of the Central Park Track Club, and the conversation covered a number of areas (New York Road Runners Foundation, track relay records, ultra-distance, Dr. Rosa's training camp, etc).
   

• LONG RUN IN THE SHAWANGUNKS: Last weekend's trip was cancelled because of the weather (for some reason, Tony Ruiz didn't want to drive 90 minutes each way to run in the rain).  This means that all of you who wanted to go but had schedule conflicts have another chance for a long run on soft trails with spectacular scenery this Saturday (June 22nd, 9am).  If you are interested (plan on leaving the city 7:15am) please email Alan Ruben at alan@montran.com stating whether you have or will need transport.
   

• BRAIN PACEMAKER OFFERS HOPE FOR PARKINSON'S:  Click on this story and watch Dr. Michele Tagliati.
   

• WORLD CUP PROGRESS REPORT:  Ireland is also out, but they played a glorious game (and not the dull defensive game that Gordon Holmes humbly predicted) and might have won (practice that penalty kick!).  The following picks (and their selectors) are still left in the running --- Spain (Ramon Bermo), England (Shula Sarner/Steve Paddock etc), USA (nobody), Italy (Paul Bendich but you can count on Michele Tagliati and Luca Trovato too) and Brazil (our pick!).
   
  The omens are good for Brazil --- at the Cannes meeting last week, eight awards were given out and the Brazilians grabbed three, including one for the delegate from the Central Park Track Club.  Yes, we Brazilians are on a roll.  What is not good is the commentary work by the ESPN folks --- Brazil beats Belgium by 2-0 and got nothing but criticism.  Rivaldo tries a shot on goal and the ESPN commentator complains that he does not use his head.  Please!  Rivaldo is arguably the best player in the world and that left foot is absolute magic!  ESPECE DE CON!
   

• SHOES4AFRICA STORY:  This Washington Times story tells about how Keith Dowling got involved in this program.  Toby Tanser's plea for help is a permanent feature on our home page: "Ever since 1995, I have been sending used running shoes to Africa --- not decrepit worn-out models but shoes with at least 150 miles worth of wear left.  For me to collect such items is easy as I am good at asking friends and pestering people. However I am looking now for a sponsor for package/postage costs as the old sponsor (moi) is getting steadily poorer.  I am not looking for personal contributions, but someone out there wants their name/company to head a project like this.  I will willingly do all the work - find the shoes, pack the shoes, send the shoes, provide accurate receipts ... It is a very worthwhile project, and one that takes just a little effort - my first athlete that I helped (when he was a runner with a pair of cutoff jeans) won the Falmouth Road Race. After spending some time in Tanzania, I saw an even greater call for running shoes than in Kenya, so I'd like to do something about it, and would love 'you' to be a part of this venture!"  If you wish to help, the details can be found at www.tanser.org .
   

• MAC OUTDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS:  From Frank Morton: "The MAC championship meet had good weather but almost nobody showed up. There were a few other CPTC members, but I'll let them tell you their times (if they want). I ran the 800 and there was only one other guy in the race (he had just won the 1500 about 40 minutes before - he was 27). My time was 2:29.5 (hand timed) and 2:29.74 using fully automatic timing. And guess what, I was second in the race and first in the M45 age group so I am a MAC champion."
   
  From David Barrett: "One possible reason for the low turnout at the MAC Championships is that the MAC website provided BOTH an incorrect address for the track AND incorrect subway directions. Since the directions given were seductively simple, I did not bother to check them versus a map and ended up wandering through Queens for 40 minutes until I gave up and went to the 6th Street track to get the 1500m out of my system."
   

• WOMEN'S MINI MARATHON PICS:  Finally, we caught up with posting the photos.  There were three sets, taken respectively by Bola Awofeso, Michael Rosenthal and Steve Paddock according to their own styles.  There is another huge set of photos from Cannes, but that is another story altogether ...
   

• NIKE RUN NYC TRAINING RUNS:  Toby Tanser is leading the group on Monday from the Wollman Rink, and Jonathan Cane is the not-so-fearless leader on Tuesdays at Pier 26 ( North Moore St.).  It's free and Nike will have lots of products to sample, and other goodies for the runners.  It looks like it'll be a real good program for a beginning runner who's looking for some guidance and company.  Details available at the Nike Run NYC website.  
   

• ALAN RUBEN QUIZ:  The Museum Run win is his fifth lifetime win.  He has posed this question, "What are the other four?"  We'll make it real easy for you by giving away the hardest one (note: there are two more CPTC members on that list).  This quiz is rated as so easy that no material prize is awarded.
   

• COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT:  Jonathan Cane: "No more business trips for you!  I had nothing to read all week."
   

• ERICA MERRILL: ... won the ABB run for R.E.D. 5K last week.  Do you recognize her from the photo?  P.S.  She also ran the Women's Mini Marathon in a time of 39:41 as an unaffiliated runner.  Time to sign up again?
   

• SC'S NOTE:  Stuart Calderwood and Stacy Creamer welcomed their son, Kieran McShane Calderwood, into the world on Thursday, June 6 at 1:02 AM. He weighed in at 7 pounds, 5 ounces.
   

• WEBSITE WORK RESTART:  As of Saturday, June 15th, we are back in operation.  All the information that has filtered in over the last week will be posted eventually.  Patience, patience, patience ...  Very briefly, we learned that while we were away
  --- John Prather has landed in New York --- 1st master at the Shelter Island 10K
  --- Our women won the premier women's event on the calendar, the New York Women's Mini Marathon, and Alayne Adams won $100 for third master
  --- Argentina, France and Sweden are all out of the world cup, thus removing our two loudest cheerleaders.  Now, if England flops soon enough, it'll be all quiet on the western front...

WEEK OF JUNE 4-JUNE 10, 2002

• WEBSITE WORK STOPPAGE:  Once again, this is the time of year for us to go somewhere else in the world (for business, of course).  Last year, it was Venice.  This year, it will be in Cannes, France (note: empty hotel rooms are aplenty after the Cannes Film Festival crowd has dispersed).  Whereas for Venice we gave a quiz that was rated as difficult beyond any category, we won't bother this time because all you have to do is to type the name of the person and the place on Google.com and it will be the first result.  This means that we will be in France when France plays Denmark, and we will see if Les Bleus get Les Blues or not.
   
  Therefore, this website will not be updated between June 7th and June 14th.  For the Women's Mini Marathon on Saturday, we will have photographers on the course but the photos will not appear until much later.  The results page has the links to the more prominent races this weekend, so people can check on their own.  A bientôt!
   
  Of course, we promise you that we will make copious notes of all the dining occasions.  Already, we have perfected our pronunciation of "C'est vraiment dégueulasse!" ...
     

• CLASS ASSIGNMENT:  Our favorite math story is about Carl Friedrich Gauss.  As a child, he was in a math class taught by a teacher who had better things to do than deal with the kids.  A very typical ploy was for the teacher to assign a long, time-consuming task for the students and then he could go on with his own reading.  One day, the teacher told the students to add the numbers 1, 2, 3, ... , and 100, thinking that this would buy him a lot of time.  The young Gauss looked at the problem, applied mathematical induction to derive that the sum of 1, 2, ... and n is equal to n(n+1)/2 and so he raised up his hand immediately to give the correct answer of 5050.  For his impetuous behavior, as the story goes, the teacher gave young Gauss a thrashing (note: physical punishment was permitted at that time).  
   
  So, as we go off to France, we leave you with these summer reading assignments from the works of six teammates.  Now you can't complain that you have nothing to read during our absence.  [Technical note:  These are Adobe .pdf files; if you have problems in opening them directly, you should save them first (use the right click button and select Save Target As) and then open it from your local file directory]

• Alayne M. Adams, Timothy G. Evans, Rafi Mohammed and Jennifer Farnsworth.  Socioeconomic Stratification by Wealth Ranking: Is It Valid? 

• Paul Bendich and Tristram Bogart.  Tree Groups of Shifted Graphs

• Tivon Jacobson.  Vorticity on a Barred Beach

• Richard S. Zemel and Jonathan Pillow  Encoding Multiple Orientations in a Recurrent Network

• Roland Soong and Michelle de Montigny  The Contribution of Magazines in Mixed TV-print Schedules 

These articles will be extremely useful if you are trying to go to sleep early in order to wake up to watch the World Cup games --- just open any one of these and you should be knocked out within seconds.  If you manage to go through all five of them, you may want to tell  Roland which is the most unreadable and compare against the insider's selection.

• LONG RUN IN THE SHAWANGUNKS: On Saturday June 15th 9am, Alan Ruben will be hosting a long run in the Shawangunk Mountains. For those of you who have never run here, you are in for a treat - there are over 100 miles of soft carriageway trails with spectacular scenery (lakes, cliffs and vistas). If you are interested (plan on leaving the city 7:15am) please email Alan Ruben at alan@montran.com stating whether you have or will need transport.
   

• THURSDAY NIGHT WORKOUT:  Shame on you for trying to read about this workout!!! 
   
  Of course, you may be a newbie who doesn't know the rules of operation.  There is a very simple set of rules regarding when workouts are held or else cancelled.  There is one and only one rule ---
       (Rule #1)  The workout is cancelled immediately if lightning is seen and/or thunder is heard
  Tonight, right at 650pm, there was lightning and thunder and, according to the forecast, with the expectation of wet, windy weather through next morning and an anticipated accumulation of 2 inches of precipitation
   
  Conversely, this means that the workout will be held if
  --- a hurricane
  --- a tornado
  --- snow
  --- hail
  --- ice
  --- the coach not showing up
  --- ... and so on
  All of the above has in fact occurred before (and that includes running in thunder/lightning!)
    

• BOOK SALES PITCH:  We note with pleasure that someone has purchased a copy of Gordon Bakoulis' Getting Real About Running through our Amazon.com link.  Of course, one is not enough.  On a related note, we were suitably appalled when somebody informed us that he has NOT read the book ... who is HE?  Hint: We have a scandal of major proportions here ...
   
  On another related note, we checked today that the highest number of intra-CPTC-site Google.com mentions has now gone to Alan Ruben (184) over former leader but currently very pregnant Stacy Creamer (180).  Audrey Kingsley is also threatening at 177.  But Gordon Bakoulis (61) is not a significant threat to those three yet.
   

• COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT:  "I have noticed that the featured cover personalities on the website are almost always females."  
   
  
   
  Well, what kind of complaint is that?  Just take a look at this week's photo.  How can anyone complain?
   

• TANSER.ORG GOES ALUMINUM:  Congratulations to Toby Tanser for reaching 50,000 visitors, all in less than 2 years.  What did he have to say?  Would you believe "O Mother of Pearl"?
   

• WHO'S THAT GIRL?:  We noted that Ali Rosenthal has been accepted as a new member this week.  Who's that girl?  That is a question that we have been asked too many times already by people who wanted to know about that fast girl at our workouts.  So, for those people and everyone else, please make sure to say welcome to Ali the next time that you see her.
   
  
  Ali Rosenthal
   

• BRONX CHEER:  Last Thursday after the workout, we found Bronx Science graduate Audrey Kingsley conversing with the 1955 hurdles champion from her school.  So it was with interest that we read Clyde Haberman's account of the 40th reunion of the class of '62 in the Metro section of the New York Times on Wednesday (June 5th).  We quote

They went on to do well, not surprising for a group of strivers.  The ballroom at the Roosevelt was filled with doctors, lawyers, professors, business executives, school administrators and a few lost souls who had strayed into journalism.  Some had even done right by their alma mater, becoming scientists.

But if they were impressed with their successes, they kept it to themselves on this evening.  The lack of pretense was striking, some found.

Those who had attended the last big reunion, the 25th, remembered sharp elbows.  In their early 40's then, they spent a lot of time checking out how they stacked up against each other.  (Not that they could have been more insufferably status-conscious than the guy who asked a colleague of mine at this 10th high school reunion, "So, what are you driving?")

The grand discovery of the 40th reunion was that people had come to terms with themselves.  Competitiveness might not have disappeared, but it had receded to a comfortable distance.  Why waste time with meaningless comparisons about who has done better?  These men and women are drawing a bead on 60.  For better or worse, they are who they are.

The thing about a reunion, a wise counsel said, is that "it is the ultimate mirror."  If that is so, the class of '62 looked in the glass and came away reasonably content with what it saw.

As for us, we are preparing for the 30th anniversary of the Central Park Track Club.  There will be a party in December, when we will no doubt remind ourselves that the club founded by Jack Brennan, Frank Handelman and Dave Blackstone was characterized by competitiveness, lack of pretense and humor.

• WORLD CUP REPORT:  On Tuesday, Steve Paddock said, "I think I will get up early tomorrow morning to watch the Portugal-USA game.  There is someone in my office from Portugal, and I can really annoy the hell out of him if Portugal should lose."  Final score: Portugal 2, USA 3.
   
  As for us, we did not watch the game live.  After looking at the line-up for the night, we did not plan to watch any of the games.  As it happened, we were up working until 430am for an 8am meeting.  We had just finished when the game came on, and so we were faced with this choice --- stay up, watch the game and forsake sleep altogether, or go to bed and sleep for a couple of hours.  That was an easy choice.  When we woke up, we heard that USA had won the game.  Throughout the day, there were in fact three repeat showings of the game: ESPN, Telefutura and Galavision.  After watching the game, we'll have to say that this was amateur time at the World Cup.  All five goals should not have happened with any modicum of defense.
   
  As for the rest of the games, since we didn't watch any, we'll spare you the second-hand reports because you're better off reading the newspapers.  P.S.  Oh, who was it that said, "The Germans are looking good" on Tuesday?  Time to revise your opinion ... after winning 8-0 the first game, they are actually in danger of not making the next round.
   

• CORPORATE CHALLENGE SPECTATOR GALLERY: John Kenney, Frank Handelman, Kevan Huston, Stacy Creamer, Frank Schneiger, David Smith, Patrick Cowden ...  Yes, this special report for this race series has become a standard feature in these pages.
     

• WELCOME NEW MEMBERS:  At the June exec board meeting, the following people were accepted
  - Maria Chale
  - Nick Mahedy
  - Ali Rosenthal
  - Okai Tettea
    

• CPTC NYC MARATHON BUS: Our club is looking into the possibility of providing a FREE bus service for our members to take you to the start of this year's New York City Marathon. It would allow you to go up to the start as a group. We might even be able to persuade Tony Ruiz to travel with you for last-minute soothing of nerves and formulation of race plans. In addition, we would certainly have rest room facilities on board.
    
  If you are planning to do the New York City Marathon and you would be interested in using such a service, please email Alan Ruben at alan@montran.com . We will base our decision on going forward with this project on the level of response which we get from this posting.
   
• TUESDAY WORKOUT REPORT:  Nice sunny day, somewhat humid, mild threat of rain that never materialized.  Forty-nine people at the distance runners' workout.  All eyes were on Lee Shearer stretching on the sideline and all set to get back into the running.  For this workout, the world was divided into three classes of people: (1) fast women who will be racing on Saturday; (2) fast men who can handle extra speed load; (3) and the rest of the world.  The women's scoring race on Saturday will be five deep.  According to history, this is a race that we will never do as well as we should because it conflicts with the Montauk Triathlon.  If you are running this race and have not told Audrey Kingsley yet, please drop an email to ask231@stern.nyu.edu to let her know.
   
  Victor Osayi brought the over-sized open men's team trophy won by the three masters men (Victor, Ricardo Granados and Blair Boyer) at the Riverdale Ramble 10K.  This led the coach to reflect: "I used to have to fight to get a trophy this size.  These days, all I do is bark some orders at workouts and the trophy is handed to me."
   
  James Siegel: "I need to talk to my press agent.  The only publicity that I have been getting is negative."  We take it that the name of press agent is NOT Graeme Reid ... or maybe it is ...  As a response, we note that all press agents will tell you, "There is no such thing as bad publicity.  There is only publicity."
   
  (Name withheld): "For the first time in my life, I DNF'd a race.  I checked that the website and was glad that this fact was not published.  So ... how come everybody still knew?"  Yes, it's a mystery, like many things around here.
    
• GORDOWORLD:  In Spanish, the word Gordo means fat.  In triathlon, Gordo Byrn is a professional with his own website GordoWorld.  But last week, at the Keauhou-Kona Half Ironman Triathlon, Olivier Baillet managed to finish ahead of both Gordo and 8-time-Ironman Hawaii champ Paula Newby-Fraser.