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Week of June 29, 2004 - July 5, 2004 Lucky
Number Seven CPTC men finished seventh at the USATF National Club Track & Field Championships this weekend. And that, with just four men there – Kobie Fuller (200m and 400m), Evan Zeisel (800m), Filip Jagodzinski (800m) and Nnamdi Okike (800m). Evan and Filip even move up on the best times list for 800m, to 3rd and 4th places, respectively. Model
Behavior If a CPTC runner became a featured model on Nike's website, you might expect that runner to tell us. Unless you pay attention when you read this site, in which case you'd know that most of the team thinks we will just hunt down every race result, photo or other mention of each and every member. This is especially true for the Nike model in question, Alexandra Horowitz. The pictures of her show up randomly when you visit the Nike running site, so we've got a couple of screen captures here for those of you who don't want to keep hitting reload. Click on the thumnails for full sized pictures.
More Old
Times Our latest updates to the Best 3K Times page knocked Alan Ruben off the list. We didn't expect him to put up with that for long, and, sure enough, he sent us the following note: "Before anyone else comes forward, I ran 9:05.06 for 2 miles on March 21st, 1997, finishing 3rd. This should put me on the list for a short while, and at the very least it removes John Scherrer. Talking of John, did I tell you when I outkicked him at the end of a 5K race?" Since that time works out to 8:28 for 3k, Alan is now in second place on the list. John is indeed off the list, but he does have his own website, so maybe he'll start his own list there. Around
the World Update #21 – Trekking in Ladakh (North India) Julay! (hello in Ladakhi) It has been one month since we last sent an e-mail. This is because we were in Ladakh, a very remote region at the extreme North of India, where Internet – and electricity – do not work properly, to say the least. The Ladakhi people have the same characteristics as the Tibetans (and, to a lesser extent, Nepali sherpas): similar physical features, religion (Tibetan Buddhism), language, and culture in general, and the three countries share the same incredible Himalayan mountain range. As a result, we really felt unity in the two months spent in the mountains of those three countries. Trekking
in Ladakh We did two "regular" treks (of 8 and 7 days, respectively) and climbed one peak (4 days). The two treks were very different from each other. The first one, the Marka Valley trek, led us to villages sometimes composed of 2 or 3 families, where we were invited several times for tea or "chang" (the home-made beer), visited remote monasteries invariably located on top of hills overlooking the villages, and watched the everyday life of the inhabitants. They still work in fields with Middle-Age tools, but they use yaks instead of cows or bulls and chant all day to set the pace for the animals. On this trek, the mountains are steep, and look as if they were cut with a saw and then got crushed. On the second trek, the mountains have on the contrary a round shape and look as if they were polished, pretty much like those we saw in South Tibet. On the third night of that second trek, we stayed at a nomads' village, watching them getting ready for their next change of location, catching all their horses scattered everywhere in the fields. Both treks were also the occasion to see wildlife, like the curious marmots standing on their back feet to watch us passing by, wild horses creating havoc in our caravan by frightening our tame horses, yaks groups migrating through our camping site, pashmina sheep whose wool is known as "cashmere", blue sheep (normally very rare, but not there) ... but we met less than 10 tourists in 15 days. Climbing
Stok Kangri (6153 m / 20,500 ft) We woke up under a star-filled sky, and knew we had a chance. After a quick tea & oatmeal breakfast in the guide's tent, we headed to the trail, and started to walk, with our headlamp as unique source of light – that night was new noon! We easily traversed the snow fields, then walked carefully across a glacier, and finally started the real ascent, a 40-degree slope that we climbed straight up, using the ice axe as lever. The snow was deep, and any step off the main trail or loss of balance immediately resulted in being knee-deep or more into the snow, and moving back on track would make us out of breath. Around 5 AM, we finally got daylight, which helped secure our stepping. For a couple of hours, our mind was focused only on our climbing rythm: left foot, right foot, ice axe (to plunge it higher up), left foot, right foot, ice axe. That rythym also helped to breathe, as the air got thinner. Finally, the slope started to be less steep, and the guide told us that the summit was 10 minutes away. We reached it slightly after 6 AM. As in Nepal, the summit was covered by hundreds of prayer flags, whose colors – blue, white, red, green, yellow- constrasted beautifully with the snow and the sky around. There we were, on top of Stok Kangri (Olivier's second highest peak, Anne's highest peak). We only stayed there for half an hour, as it was quite cold in spite of the sun. We also wanted to have hard snow for the descent, always the most difficult part, and headed down. We reached Base Camp around 9 AM ... funny to think the day was over that early! Between treks we relaxed by visiting beautiful Tibetan-style monasteries around Leh, often built in breathtaking mountain setting, and by doing 4-wheel-drive excursions to the different valleys along the Indus river. Right now, we are in Delhi, visiting the main sites and doing some shopping. Our plane to Paris is tomorrow... Yes, the dream is over. It has been a wonderful year for us, we hope that you enjoyed our stories and that we gave to many of you the motivation to visit some of the places we have described. Please, do keep in touch with us, we will have PLENTY of time to read and answer e-mails... Take care,
Weekend
Fun Assuming we don't get any posts up before Monday – which is a very safe bet – here's a few things to do this weekend:
Running
a Marathon Is Your Patriotic Duty We've gone several weeks without criticizing fat people on this page. We've even refrained from doing so in conversation for at least a day or two. Thankfully, ESPN's Page 2 picked up our slack with this comment in their preview of the rest of the year in sports:
If You
Can Fill the Unforgiving Seven Weeks With 3,304,800 Seconds Worth
of Distance Run... The Times profiles Sri Chinmoy and his Self-Transcendence 3,100-Mile Run (3,100 miles, run on a half-mile course, 18 hours a day, for 51 days. They seem just as mystified by all this as we are. Euro 2004 Kevin Arlyck writes:
But the Czechs lost, so it will be Portugal-Greece on Saturday. While it might be nice to see some members of the Golden Generation win a title (not they we care much personally), there's a good chance that Figo will be the only member of that group to actually play in the final, so we find it hard to get too sentimental over it. Though we'll probably still root for them over the Greeks. As for the Dutch: mostly we wanted to see a rematch of the Netherlands-Czech Republic game. Also, we're part Dutch. And regarding van Bronckhorst vs. Feldman: Best of
Old Times When we set up the Best 3K Times list, it covered only races that took place during the history of this site. We've been able to add one or two older results so far, and now, thanks to Peter Gambaccini, we have three more. He writes: "I see you're using converted two-mile times for the list. In the summer of 1982 I ran 9:26.9 for two miles at Randall's Island. Tony Ruiz ran 9:32 and Graydon Pihlaja ran 9:38 in that same race (it was about the only serious outdoor two-mile any of us ever had a chance to run in NYC). This is all very ancient history...but not as ancient as some CPTC history." Ancient or not, they're all good enough times to make the list. We All
Scream for Hyperbole A quick note to the writers and editors of the New York Times Dining In/Dining Out section: Your job is to write about food. You can tell us how it tastes. You can tell us how it's prepared. You can even write fawning profiles of your favorite chefs. But there is no excuse for making food into a metaphor for freedom, justice, love, or any other such concept. Which is to say that the following paragraphs should never have been written:
The rest of the article is just as bad, but we'll spare you. Well, maybe just the last sentence, which makes the article sound like something the FCC would like to investigate: "An ice cream sundae is summer's Cinderella. Enjoy her, if possible, before midnight." On the plus side, the article on sundaes made the article on park grills almost bearable, despite starting thus:
Or, to paraphrase Thomas Jefferson: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are ice cream sundaes, park grills and the pursuit of a job in journalism where you're allowed to be either high or drunk while you write." Tuesday
Night Uptown Track Workout Report We've learned our lesson, and there'll be no more excessively early arrivals at the track for us. This time we got up there so late that even Coach Devon beat us to the workout, which never happens. Still, we were the sixth person to arrive, and our later-than-usual commute led to us bumping into the injured Dave Howard on the uptown 1 train. By the time the workout started at 7:38, eight more runners had arrived, including Kamal Dahib, fresh from running three races in two days (1500m and 800m on Saturday and 5k on Sunday); and Charles Miers, fresh from winning the Most Senior Executive Award at last week's Corporate Challenge (photo here). And when you see Charles at the track, his daughter Henrietta is never far behind, although she tried to remain incognito by hiding behind her bangs:
Henrietta's taken up tennis since we last saw her at the Armory, but has no plans to compete in the U.S. Open any time soon. She'd be a little out of place there, since she not blond and/or Russian, and her parents aren't crazy troublemakers. Give her a few years, though, and she can probably work on all those things. For now, she's still running intervals. In this case 400m, as part of the group running 1000m/400m/1000m/400m, which also consisted of Kamal, Charles, John A., Ligaya, Bola, Neil, and this reporter. Jeremy, Leon and Micah ran 500m intervals. And Noah P. ran whatever workout it is that he usually runs. We're not sure what the latecomers did, only that Evan Zeisel showed up and asked "Does anybody have a pair of running shorts I can borrow? Or should I just run in my boxers?" We suspect he was looking for a less apathetic response to that question than he got, but at least he found someone willing to lend him the proper clothing. After the workout the Coach confessed to a sudden craving for McDonald's, and could not be dissuaded even by those people who'd seen Supersize Me. She managed to avoid giving in to temptation, mostly because she couldn't find a franchise near by. For future reference, there's one just across the Broadway Bridge, and another just a block from the A train. On that A train we learned that Leon, Ligaya and Micah are all fellow crossword puzzle afficianados. So you can imagine the excitement in store on future subway rides as we all race to see who can finish the Times puzzle quickest. Vacation
Running A budget crunch at the casa de webmaster means we'll be stuck in the city this summer. So we weren't really helped by Toby Tanser's article, Running and Racing on Your Vacation. But there's plenty of good ideas in it for those of you who didn't throw all your money away on booze, gambling, and loose women. Remember, your vacation from work doesn't have to be a vacation from running. Baby Jogger I'm about to purchase a baby jogger and would like some advice. Does anyone have any recommendations from the three listed below?
Keep in mind that I'll be running 60 miles a week. Please email me at mc334@columbia.edu if you can help. Thank you.
Nike Running Anyone who's been to one of the Nike Run Hit Wonder training runs knows that these events are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. But this Wednesday's run will be even better. For this week only, the Wednesday run is being moved to Niketown (57th Street and 5th Avenue), but it still starts at 6:30 pm, and there will still be food and drinks after the run. Why the change of venue? To accomodate the Run Hit Wonders, the best '80s cover band you'll see this year! We guarantee this will be more fun than two barrels of monkeys. In fact, early estimates put it in the 2.7-3.4 range on the Monkey Barrel Scale. Thursday
Night Uptown Track Workout Report (Better Late Than Never) This time we were the first to arrive (if you don't count the Millrose runners doing their own workout up there), but we weren't alone for long – the elusive Jessica Reifer showed up a few minutes after we arrived, but not to do the workout. "I'm just here do a few strides, since I'm running a secret time trial on Saturday." Normally we wouldn't betray a teammate's confidence like this, but after Jessica told everyone else at the workout about the race – including the time, location, and the assumed name she planned to run under – we realized there was no secret left to protect. Noah Perlis was the next to arrive, remarking "I was glad not to see any mention of me in yesterday's workout report." Which reminded us that Noah ran one 400m interval with the group on Tuesday. This is not only the first time we've seen him participate in the main workout, but it's also the longest distance we've ever seen him run. He then asked us not to mention certain things he was saying and doing, none of which were even remotely interesting enough to be included in this report. (Yes, despite how boring or pointless these reports may often seem, we actually are including only the most exciting details of the workout.) We've found that at least 90% of the times we've been asked not to report a quote or incident, it is something so trivial that we hadn't even considered writing about it. In our last report, we were criticized for not mentioning our own pace at the workout. So this week we will admit that we were the first finisher in every single interval. Of course, we were running 200m intervals while everyone else was running 300m (except for Kamal Dahib, who showed up late and started his workout when most of us were finishing up), but we'll take what we can get. John Affleck's wife showed up just as the workout was ending, sporting a nice pair of binoculars. Since the Affleck's new apartment is within sight of the track, we're guessing she used those to time her arrival perfectly, but it could be that she brought them along just to keep an eye on the new place while she was out. And, just to keep the other reporter happy: the weather was perfect for running; the workout started at 7:32, and there were ten people present. Volunteers
Needed If you are stuck in town this weekend, what better way to spend the day then relaxing on a boat circumnavigating Manhattan? This Saturday, July 3 is the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. Twenty-two solo swimmers and fifteen relay teams will compete in the 28.5 mile swim around Manhattan. The organizers are looking for about a dozen more boat monitors, as well as checkpoint officials and land volunteers. Boat monitors ride around the island on the escort boats, ensuring that the swimmers (a) fully comply with the rules and (b) don't endanger themselves. It is a very fun day. If you want to help out but can't commit for the entire day, you can volunteer for a shorter period at either the start or the finish. Two years ago, we ended up as a boat monitor for a local swim coach and got to spend the day on the boat hanging out with his crew, which included five-time Olympic medalist Shane Gould (3 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze in swimming at the 1972 games). We can't guarantee that all volunteers will get to spend the day with a former Olympian, but we're sure that your boat will be full of interesting people of some sort. Please contact Francine Alfandary at falfandary@nyswim.org if you wish to volunteer. Of Course,
The Family Did Own Its Own Country, So Things Weren't All Bad For much of the 20th Century, the people of Central and Eastern Europe lived under a series of totalitarian regimes and suffered through war, starvation, genocide and devastation. But some victims fared worse than others, as today's Times reminds us: "The mid-20th century was not kind to the Liechtensteins. Long a pillar of the Austro-Hungarian empire, owner of some 30 castles and palaces across Europe, the family was forced by World War II and the Soviet era to retreat to the tiny principality tucked between Austria and Switzerland that carries its name. In the 1950's and 60's, it was even obliged to sell off part of its vast art collection to make ends meet." Euro 2004 The original webmaster writes on his own site: "Euro 2004 is going on right now. I should be writing about this subject since I know it well, but I won't." We've been watching some of the games (though not as many as we'd like), so we'll just briefly report that Portugal beat England on penalty kicks; Greece beat France 1-0, in one of the dullest matches we've seen; the Netherlands beat Sweden, also on penalty kicks; and the powerhouse Czech Republic beat Denmark, 3-0. The Czechs have one all their games in the tournament, and should make short work of the Greeks on Thursday. Hopefully the Dutch will win their quarterfinal on Wednesday, setting up a rematch with the Czechs for the final on July 4. Week of June 22, 2004 - June 28, 2004 Best Times We often joke about how we don't read half the information we post on this site. That's not actually true, but we often don't read things as closely as we should. Luckily we have a talented staff who catch the things we miss. Like the fact that Alexandra Horowitz's PR at the Ridgewood 5K moved her up from 8th to 4th on our Best Times list. In more recent results, Andrea Haver improved on her PR/Best CPTC time in the 3k this Saturday. Congratulations to both of them. July 4th
Weekend Hamptons House for Sublet Have no plans for Fourth of July weekend, but still looking to get out of town? Yves-Marc Courtines sent us the following offer: 3 Bedrooom Easthampton Summer House, including large 2nd floor Master Suite. Full-sized heated pool (with safety enclosure for children) with lounge chairs. Large private garden for frisbee or hanging out. Great running routes nearby with little to no car traffic and majestic seaside views. Easy to follow directions from LIRR or by car (off Three Mile Road). $2500 for long weekend (free to use for the entire entire week before and and after July 4th weekend). Contact Yves-Marc at ymc@courtines.net, or by phone at 212.475.5907 or 917.774.0060 (cell). Race Results We were already impressed with Stacy Creamer's finish in today's NYC Triathlon (3rd place in her age group). Then we learned that she lost roughly ten minutes to two flat tires caused by a pothole on the course, so she could have easily finished second, or even first, if she hadn't had equipment trouble. There'll
Always Be an England, Just Not In This Tournament Those nine million English workers calling in sick tomorrow? They're sad drunks, not happy ones. England lost today's quaterfinal to Portugal on penalty kicks. And who missed the crucial shot? David Beckham, who also missed a penalty kick in England's opening loss to France (that was a very different situation, but basically he's now choked twice). Beckham, of course, plays in Spain now, which is next to Portugal. Coincidence, or evidence of some Iberian shenanigans? Probably coincidence. Workout
Report Clarification The Webmaster's modesty will no longer be tolerated amongst his readership. In his account of Tuesday night's uptown workout, he reports that "the front group" was timed in 68-70 seconds per 400, but he fails to report that he was a member of that group and was timed running his quarters in 67 and 68 seconds by more than the three stopwatches required to qualify a time for USATF record status. We therefore hope that these times will also be good enough for formal recognition on the Webmaster's own site if contributed by agents other than the Webmaster.
Tuesday
Night Uptown Track Workout Report After a week away from the track, we were looking forward to last night's workout. Then we looked out the window at the midday rains and wondered if we'd have to wait two more days before heading north again. Luckily the rain subsided, and we strolled into Baker Field at about 6:30 pm. A traveler might expect we would be the first to arrive for a workout that officially starts at 7:00 – but never really gets going until close to 7:30 (7:32 in this case, for those who insist upon knowing these things) – but we were beaten there by Glen Carnes. "I want to warm up," said Glen, "but if I do that now, I'll just have to warm up again when it gets closer to the start of the workout." Luckily for him – and us – twenty-one other runners started showing up soon after that. John Affleck showed off his medal in the 3200m from Saturday's Pioneer Track Club meet, where Kamal Dahib edged out Glen in the 1500m, and Ligaya Mishan won her age group in the same race. We were impressed by all this, but our attempts to praise these results were quickly met with admissions that John had been the only entrant in his race, Ligaya was the only woman in her age group, and Kamal and Glen were the only men in their race old enough to vote. Still, wins are wins, so congrats to all of them, and we'll have full results here as soon as they're available. As for the workout itself, it was a series of quarter-mile intervals. At the Nike runs there is a sign listing various things the company believes about running, and one of them is "We believe 20 quarters on 70 is still a good workout." We think that would be an amazing workout. Especially after seeing how the front group looked while running 6-8 quarters at 70 seconds each. Although the 99.98% humidity may have had something to do with everyone looking so drained. And also why nobody wanted to sit near our merry band of runners on the A train home. Go Orange! The
Netherlands advanced to the quarterfinals of the European
Cup. Things looked bad for the Dutch after a 3-2 loss to the
Czech
Republic on Saturday, in what was probably the best game of
the tournament so far. But the men in orange beat Latvia
3-0 today, giving them enough points to advance. They'll face Sweden
on Saturday. In other quarterfinal action, England
faces host country Portugal
tomorrow. The English are known for taking Run Hit
Wonder We hope you've all registered for the Nike Run Hit Wonder 5K already. If not, you're in trouble, because the race is sold out. There's still room available in the 10K, but you'd better register soon. It is still possible to get into the 5K. All you have to do is show up to 9 of the Run Hit Wonder training runs, which are held every Monday through Thursday evening and Saturday morning until race day. Not only will you get into the race this way, but you'll even get to run for free! Sound too good to be true? Well, there's just a little bit of fine print: you also have to try on a pair of Nike running shoes, and you need to bring a friend to one of the runs. Of course, with eight different shoe styles to choose from, you'll probably want to try on several pairs. And once you come to one of the runs, and enjoy the camaraderie, the free food and drink, and all the 80s music – from DJs, cover bands and karaoke – you'll want to invite all your friends along. The full schedule of these runs is:
NYRR Track
Races Thursday Night at the Races is back for the summer! Except now it's Sunday Morning at the Races. Whatever. NYRR is organizing some track races, and we'll be there. Meets are at the City College Track (Convent Avenue and West 133rd Street) on July 11, 18 and 25, starting at 11:00 am (registration opens at 10:30 am). Each meet includes the mile, 400m, 800m and 4x400m. The July 11 and 25 meets will also include a 5000m track race, and the July 18 meet will feature a 2-mile race. Registration is $10; $8 for NYRR members. Unlike the Armory races, the outdoor meets are rarely crowded and always move fast, so you can come up to the track, run a PR, and still have the whole afternoon free. Thursday
Night Road Workout Report The traveler did not expect to be able to find the time to file a report. But here he is, stuck at JFK Airport at 3:30am in front of a public Internet terminal. So it is destiny that a workout report shall be presented. On Thursday, the traveler had just landed in New York City from Geneva. His knees were weak and his mind was feeble after the futile effort of going up and down the Geneva lake front in search of Alayne Adams and family. At 5:30 pm, the skies turned dark and a thunderstorm swept through the city. Quickly, the traveler turned to weather.com and saw that the forecast called for thunderstorms in New York City at 5:30 pm and 9:00 pm. Yes, it was perfect timing for a 7:00 pm workout. So the traveler headed for the Daniel Webster statue. Last week, the traveler had designed an experiment in which he wanted to count the number of unknown new members to appear. Unfortunately, a couple of known old members were already there when he arrived. This week, he arrived at 6:55 pm, but there were already six people present. Of the six, he knew five of them. But as the time rolled on, raindrops began to come down. The traveler sought shelter under the ledge (all six inches of it!) under the information booth in front of the Daniel Webster statue. Of course, that did not do much good. Of those present, Shelley Farmer did not appear to be bothered by the rain. After all, she is a triathlete. In her own words, Shelley said, "I fell into a deep black hole in the last two years as far as running went." But she is back now, with two recently completed triathlons. In view of the situation, the coach actually cut down his talk and sent the groups out relatively quickly. The workout consisted of a four mile counterclockwise loop, followed by a last 800m pickup beginning at the Stuart Mile marker. Since the traveler was still wobbly after the flight during the day, he volunteered to proceed to the end point which was not clearly marked. He proceeded there at leisurely pace, while holding a deep conversation about the privacy aspects of G-mail with the injured Michael Rosenthal, who was on a bicycle. By the time the runners came around, the rain had gotten heavier. When the last runner came by, the traveler headed towards the 7th Avenue/57th Street subway station. By the time that he emerged again at Union Square, it was 8:30 pm. The flood gates of Hell had opened in the skies by that time. That should teach him never to trust the weather report, even with those Doppler radar photos. P.S. What count? Front
Runners 5-Miler Prizes This Saturday at 9:00 am is the Front Runners New York Lesbian and Gay Pride 5-Miler. It's basically your standard five-mile race in the park, with one big exception: they have some awesome prizes. In addition to the regular trophies, the following awards will be given out:
As much as we like adding new entries to our list of race winners, we're hoping that some CPTCer will finish in second place, and then use that digital camera to take pictures at future races. Book Review Once upon a time this site was renowned for its restaurant reviews. Then people stopped sending their reviews in and we haven't published a new one in almost a year. (We'd write our own reviews, but we don't eat out enough.) Which is really too bad, since we were hoping to expand into other reviews – books, movies, tv shows, music, etc. Should we ever get around to that, it's good to know that we have a professional reviewer on the team. We refer, of course, to Ligaya Mishan, who reviewed Ruba Bajwa's debut novel, The Sari Shop, in last Sunday's New York Times Book Review. We're hoping her next review will be for this site. The pay's not at good as at the Times, but we think the prestige is about equal. Week of June 15, 2004 - June 21, 2004 Latino Runners Needed for Ad I am a casting director in New York who is currently looking for male runners who are Latino for an AT&T commercial. I have attached the details for your review. If you fit the profile, we would appreciate if you call us for an audition appointment. The commercial is in Spanish, so we need the runners to be fluent in Spanish from the countries noted in the spec sheet below. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Joyce Batson at our office. Please fax or email name submissions ASAP to info@starknakedproductions.com or FAX# (212) 366-0495. If you have any questions please feel free to call me at (212) 366-1903. Thank you.
CASTING CALL If you fit the requirements please call us for an appointment to audition.
Seeking the following: ALL TALENT MUST BE FLUENT IN SPANISH AND, WHERE REGIONALISMS ARE REQUESTED, THEY MUST SOUND LIKE A NATIVE OF THAT COUNTRY. Track Runners: Male Latinos 18 to 25 years old. They must be physically fit and look like track runners. Runners are lean and have good muscle tone. All need to be fun, expressive strong actors with a likable quality. We need runners to represent the follow countries (this means their accents need to sound genuine):
"Ondrya" Frank Zappa spelled "Andrea" this way in the lyric sheet for "Valley Girl" (1982). The name was that of the Valley Girl in the song, whose voice was provided by Zappa's daughter, Moon (Yes, that's short for "Moon Unit"). She says the name this way in the song, distinguishing it from a pronunciation that would start like "Andrew" does. How, like, totally coincidental is it that you used the Valley Girl voice to report a race run by Andrea Haver, who often has to specify that her name, unlike that of Andrea Costella, with whom she is often associated in an unlikely number of ways, is pronounced "On-DRAY-ah"?
And tying all of this back into the last report we did in a foreign language, "On-DRAY-ah" would be the proper pronunciation in Italy, although over there it is usually a boy's name. Shawangunks
Mountain Group Run Anyone interested in a run this Saturday (June 26th) on wide, soft-surface carriageway trails with breathtaking views, please contact Alan Ruben at alan@montran.com or 212-519-1372. This is absolutely the best place to run - watch out for the article in the next issue of NY Runner by our own Gabe Sherman. Best of
Times Congratulations to Andrea Haver, like, who finished second in today's Fight Against Prostate Cancer 5-Miler. Like, gag me with a spoon! Plus, fer shure, her time of 29:23 puts that chick in fourth place on our Best Times list for that distance! Like, oh my gawd! Sooo, like, this is totally the fourth list she's made it on, like, wow, joining 1500m (8th), 3k (1st) and 5k (4th). In related news, Clinton Bell improved his 1500m time to 3:49.47. That still leaves him in second place on thuh list, like, but he's now just a quarter of a second behind Amerigo Rossi. As always, like, wow, we report this in a foreign language – in this case Valley Speak, like, wow, courtesy of The 80s Server. No particular reason for this choice; it just seemed, like, totally funny. Father's
Day A few years ago, Esquire published the following note:
The details in our life may be a little different, but the description still fits. So, thanks, dad. For everything. Even for making us into a crank who is constantly offering unsolicited punctuation advice, and who walks around the apartment turning off all the lights in empty rooms while muttering to the roommate, "Do you think electricty grows on trees?" And congratulations on a nice race this morning. Congratulations to mom, too, who ran her first 5-mile race today. New York
When It Sizzles There are plenty of reasons to hate New York in the summer, but Manhattan Transfer reminds us that there are even more reasons to love the city when it's hot out. Torch
Relay Volunteers New York Road Runners is looking for volunteers to assist with the Olympic Torch Rally on Saturday. Frank Erlanger sent the following request:
Tuesday
Night Mets Game Report Yeah, we skipped the workout to go to the baseball game. Coach Devon questioned our priorities, but we think they're in the right place. We're skipping tomorrow's workout to go back to Shea, but maybe somebody at the workout will send us a report. Burden
of Proof The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has changed the level of proof required to ban athletes for steroid use from "beyond a reasonable doubt" to "comfortable satisfaction." The change is designed to align USADA with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which adopted the "comfortable satisfaction" standard last year, and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), which followed suit on March 1. However, the IAAF is still using the "reasonable doubt" standard to judge alleged offenses that occurred before March 1, while USADA will apparently apply the "satisfaction" standard to any cases that were brought after March 1, regardless of when the alleged conduct occurred. Lawyers for accused athletes are, understandably, upset about this. One, Edward Williams, said "You can't change the rules in midstream. You can't change the burden of proof. If it is true, it is yet another example of USADA trying to ensure the outcome of its cases." Travis Tygart, USADA's legal affairs director, responds that "We don't mandate the rules, we enforce the rules. The world has set comfortable satisfaction as its standard since it most appropriately balances the right of clean athletes and fair sport against the interests of the accused." We're going to give USADA the benefit of the doubt on this one, although we think the "reasonable doubt" standard should apply for the old cases. USADA probably has the right to change the rules retroactively, but that doesn't mean they should do so. First, it's bad PR. As Duke Law professor Jim Coleman notes, "The last thing you want to make it look like is that you're trying to cook the books to make it easier on yourself. This makes it look like they're planning to use documents that they can't authenticate." It also sets a bad precedent to make any retroactive changes. And it's just begging for a series of lawsuits from banned athletes. The fact that these suits will most likely fail doesn't change the fact that USADA will have to waste a lot of time and energy defending against them. There's also the problem of applying the new standard. Jerrold Colton, attorney for Kelli White (who has already accepted a two-year ban under the "reasonable doubt" standard) asks "What the heck does [comfortable satisfaction] mean? I think we'd need to define that." Actually, the World Anti-Doping Code already has defined it, as "greater than a mere balance of probability but less than proof beyond a reasonable doubt." Well, that sure clarifies things. This sounds like something that needs to be better defined by current cases before anyone should think about using it retroactively. In other steroid news:
Pioneer
Meet Just a reminder about the NY Pioneer Club Track Meet this Saturday, June 19, in Van Cortlandt Park. Events will be 3200m, 4x200m, 400m, 100m, 1500m, 800m, Co-Ed Medley Relay, and 4x400m. Registration opens at 10:00 am, and the meet starts at 11:00. Details at the NY Pioneer Club's website, or call 201.220.3628. Pete Squires Most visitors may not know enough about Pete Squires to appreciate his place in our club history. Our all-time lists of 10K, 10 Miles and marathon times attest to his superb times, and he was a CPTC running companion to Frank Handelman, Fritz Mueller, the late great Jack Brennan and Sheldon Karlin, John Kenney, and possibly Stuart Calderwood and Tony Ruiz (although Tony appears to have had the good sense never to have competed in a marathon). Check out the rankings in the marathon for the years 1977 to 1983, when 11 of our best top 13 times were recorded, all under 2:27!!! For more info we turn to the Asbury Park Press:
Unfortunately, last-minute injuries kept Pete from running the 2004 Boston Marathon. Casual
Fridays Her'es a simple rule for middle managers everywhere: if you're not sure whether a new policy is a good idea or not, just ask yourself "What would Lumbergh do?" Then do the opposite. That's Bill Lumbergh, the brainless supervisor in Office Space, of course, who once tried to inspire his employees thus: "Oh, and next Friday ... is Hawaiian shirt day ... so, you know, if you want to you can go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans." Somebody at MSNBC either never saw that movie, or else simply forgot about it when sending out the following memo, courtesy (like most snarky, embarassing items) of Gawker.com:
Think Before You Write June 16, 2004 Two more items from Gawker, for those of you aren't regular readers of that site (probably all of you other than Ligaya Mishan). Both are emails that people may have regretted sending. At least, the first author probably regrets sending this letter:
Rumor is they met on JDate, so that's one more strike against on-line dating, our friends who met their spouses on JDate not withstanding. We hope the author of the second letter has no regrets, since we've always wanted to make a similar exit:
A few of our friends were speaking wistfully this evening of the time (hopefully soon) when they might give up the jealous mistress that is the law. We wonder if any of them will send a similar letter when they go. Slow Week We're trying out the radical concept of actually going to sleep at a reasonable hour this week (albeit with only partial success so far). Since we seem to be unable to get home at a reasonable hour, this will limit the quantity (and possibly quality) of journal entries, unless we get a chance to do some writing at work. Also, it means the photos from Saturday's races will have to wait a little longer. New Job The following message was sent out by NYRR Vice President Mary Wittenberg:
Congratulations! Although we wonder what Coach Devon has to say about Andrea being classified as a distance runner. Week of June 8, 2004 - June 14, 2004 CPTC Goal
Races For the second half of 2004, Central Park Track Club will focus on the following goal races:
Note: We have made two changes to our goal race strategy previously outlined: there will now be the same goal races for everyone, regardless of whether you identify yourself as a 10K runner or a marathoner, and most races will be local races. Greetings from CPTC Alum CPTC alum and friend, Peter Squires, sends regards from his New Balance store in New Jersey. Shelter Island Recap There was a nice CPTC showing at the Shelter Island 10K yesterday. Josh Feldman led the team with an eighth-place finish, and might have been seventh if he haden't taken a wrong turn that cost him roughly 15 seconds. He also won $75, as did Kurt Matarazzo (9th place) and Gordon Streeter (11th place). Stuart Calderwood finished 17th, but picked up a cool C-note as 3rd master, and he did it while running alongside John Prather, who is recovering from knee surgery and a bike crash. We remember a rule that the coach gets a $1 tip from each money winner, so Tony Ruiz will almost get a free drink out of this. In non-financial news, John Kenney was 5th master, and other CPTC runners were Adam Newman, Michael Rhymer and Chris Potter, in his first-ever race longer than four miles. Mini 10K For those of you planning to cheer on your teammates tomorrow, we reccommend that, if you choose to wear your team colors, you don't wear the t-shirt that says Smokin'; Never Quittin' on the back. Yes, this is a great shirt, but this year's Mini is sponsored by Circle of Friends, which helps people quit smoking, and people undergoing nicotine-withdrawal may not be so amused by the slogan and might beat you to a bloody pulp. Thursday Night Uptown Track Report Once again, the master has show us the proper form for a workout report. At least, in most respects. For all his talk about how he is "appalled that this new generation after him has no respect for preserving data for posterity," we did notice that he forgot to include the workout's attendance in his report. Perhaps the runners in the park were too numerous to count, as is often the case, but that's never stopped him (or us) from simply making up a number that sounds roughly correct. We don't need to resort to that today, though, since we can report with absolute certainty that there were 13 people at the track. Note that we said "people," and not "runners" or "CPTC members." That number includes Coach Devon, who was too busy coaching to run, and Sid Howard, who was too busy schmoozing. The main target of his gregariousness was a young doctor running on his own, whose name we didn't catch. After hearing Sid and Devon sign the praises of the club, we expect this young man won't be running alone much longer. Sid is even more confident, and has already claimed claimed credit for recruitment. "Make sure I get the points for him, and not Devon." As if we have any say in the matter! We occasssionally dream of having dictatorial powers (though we usually envision ruling a realm slightly more vast that just the Central Park Track Club), but for the most part we are glad that assigning recruitment points is one of the many club functions that we can classify as "Somebody Else's Problem." And they shall all stay that way, despite Noah Perlis' efforts to volunteer us for more projects. The master is correct in noting that our reports rarely include the starting time for the workout (it was around 7:30 last night). This is because we are too busy running when the workout starts to note the time. A road runner has the liberty of noting the time on his watch, switching to its stopwatch function, and then starting the stopwatch, all without creating more than a two-second error over the course of his 40-minute workout. The situation is quite different if one is running 400m intervals at mile pace (as we and Glen Carnes were), or sets of 300m, 200m, 150m at 800m pace and faster (as the other runners were). In such cases every second counts, and reporting must take a back seat to running. Of course, the master may not see it that way, as he has never let his running interfere with his reporting. Managing to be at the workout, but not fully part of it, he can be all-seeing and all-hearing, yet remain somehow unnoticed. Not so for us. We report from inside the workout, and our presence there alters the event in quite noticable ways. Readers who wish for more gossip on this page will be diappointed to learn that all interesting conversations cease once we are noticed, replaced by small talk regarding the weather. Should an interesting item be raised, it is quickly shot down with a curt "Be careful what you say around the webmaster; you never know where it might end up." Fear not! We would never print anything too embarassing about our fellow members. At least, so long as they pay the appropriate blackmail. Thursday Night Road Workout Report If on a winter's night a traveler ... oops! ... sorry, wrong season ... If on a Thursday summer's evening a traveler arrives in New York City, his first destination must surely be the Daniel Webster statue. This time, the traveler had an interesting (to him, at least) social experiment in mind. On his last visit to the same location in March, he had counted five unknown persons showing up before he saw someone that he knew (Andrea Costella). The traveler had a hypothesis: the longer one is away, the more new people he won't know. This would be supported by the empirical evidence that each time that he shows up, he would encounter more and more unknown persons before he sees someone that he knows. On this evening, the traveler arrived at the Daniel Webster statue at 6:57pm. To his dismay, he saw Andrea Costella already there, together with the famous Bola Awofeso. However, the traveler is well-versed in sequential statistical hypothesis testing, and he will not let a minor blip in the data stream affect his continuing case study of the inevitable march of old age. Certainly, the traveler was delighted to hear Bola complaining about being out of shape because he thought that he would not have to run alone. Andrea Costella proceeded to file a complaint to the wrong person about the website not posting her Vermont half marathon result. The traveler bit his tongue and held back from the tongue-lashing that he usually doles out to all those people who think the webmaster has nothing better to do each night than to check race websites all over the country. [Ed. Note: Actually, most nights that's true.] After all, Andrea was quite happy at that moment about her personal record by three minutes. Andrea went on to say that her partner-in-crime was Andrea Haver, who ran at the Freihofer 5K in Albany and then drove up to Vermont to run the half marathon in 1:28. This Andrea was impressed with that Andrea, not knowing that our coaches will probably slap leg irons on Andrea Haver to prevent her from over-racing her most valuable legs. The queen of the night was Margaret Schotte, who did not bring her gold medal from the World Duathlon championships. She told the traveler that she had just posted the photos on her website (the aptly named MargaretSchotte.com) together with a lengthy essay. Actually, she said that this was more photos than anyone would ever want to see of her (waving the maple leaf flag). The traveler promised to remind the readers that Margaret is always looking for sponsorship. Since the next championships will be held in Newcastle, Australia, she will really need your help! With his usual meticulous attention to details, the traveler recorded that the first group of runners set off at 7:22 pm. This was far short of the all-time record of 7:35 pm. The traveler is appalled that this new generation after him has no respect for preserving data for posterity, and so it will be up to him to try to reverse the tide each time that he is here. Oh, about the workout itself, which the traveler is famous for ignoring in his workout reports. This was a simple six mile loop of the park, with fartlek sections based upon time (e.g. two minutes, four minutes, six minutes, etc). Inside his deep memory, the traveler remembers a disastrous session in the late 1980s with a similar workout. On that occasion, the workout took place in winter when the night was dark. Nobody could read what was on their watches, so a time-based workout was just hilariously impossible. On this evening, it was the month of June when the sun does not set until near nine o'clock. Besides, we all have illuminated watches these days (except for Heidi Newell, who had no watch but got the coach to run next to her). The point about this workout is that the runners are supposed to have 'fun.' Was the objective achieved? A post-workout interview of the A group got this dead-pan review: "We were going to have some fun ... (ominous pause) ... and then Alan Ruben showed up. For most of the workout, he was actually struggling to keep up with us. And then we hit Cat Hill. He passed us going downhill, and we looked at each other and shook our heads." The traveler had just arrived from the Far East after a twenty-hour plane ride with no sleep. He was terribly tired and never even attempted the workout. He jogged with the coach around the reservoir and then met Bola Awofeso on the upper west side. As they ran south together, the traveler began to wonder when he should inform Bola that he was going to have to turn at 72nd Street. To his immense relief, Bola opened his mouth first and said he was going to have to turn at 72nd Street. The traveler was so delighted that he even confessed his own intention out of solidarity too. The traveler had come into New York to see if his apartment is still standing. It is. On Saturday, he will be continuing his journey to Geneva. The big question on everybody's mind is: "Will he accidentally bump into Alayne Adams and family in the streets of Geneva?" [Ed. Note: It depends a lot on how long he stays there, since Alayne will be in New York at least through her party on Wednesday.] This would be strong evidence in confirmation of the small world hypothesis. Here the traveler is not referring to the famous 1967 experiment of Stanley Milgram; he is thinking of David Lodge's little novel. Deep in his heart, the traveler also wants a job in which he is paid to stare at Lake Geneva and think about solving the problems of the world. Steroid
Correction The Washington Post has backed off from its claim that Ukranian sprinter Zhanna Pintusevich-Block received a letter from the USADA regarding possibld drug violations, although they add "Block has been a subject of the agency's nearly year-long investigation into drug use among track and field athletes." In other news, Italian hammer thrower Loris Paoluzzi and discus thrower Danilo Liorni have both tested positive for steroids, and are now waiting for the results of the B samples. Come On
and See the Show To you,
Now in the past I have sent out form letters and mass mailings about shows that I am in. Well, [insert your name here], this is not one of those e-mails. I am in a two person show June 19th and 20th. Yup, that’s a Saturday and Sunday coming up soon. The show is The Dumb Waiter (see picture and details here) by Harold Pinter. It is an English play about two hired killers waiting to find out who their mark is. Being that it is an English play I will be sporting a nice ol’ accent and at the least that should be worth the show. Seriously though, it’s a really cool play, a comedy of sorts, and you should come. Any questions you can e-mail me.
Big Steroid
News The USADA has sent official notificiations of possible drug violations to four or five track and field athletes. The Times reports that Tim Montgomery, Michelle Collins, Chryste Gaines and Alvin Harrison all received letters. The Washington Post adds Ukrainian sprinter Zhanna Pintusevich-Block to the list (her case would be handled by the Ukranian authorities). Marion Jones also got a letter from the USADA, but it just contained follow-up questions to her last meeting. For the other athletes, these letters mark the beginning of formal investigations, which appear to be based on evidence from the BALCO investigation. The athletes have 10 days to respond, and then a USADA review board will decide whether to pursue a case. Accusations of steroid use have been swirling around Montogmery and Collins in recent weeks, and Gaines tested positive for the stimulant modafinil last year, but so far none of the athletes have tested postive for any steroids. The USADA has promised to ban athletes based on non-analytic positives (evidence other than drug tests), but we don't know yet what evidence they have in these cases, although the Times article has some details on the letter sent to Collins. A lot may also depend on what cooperation Kelli White is providing, and whether any deal can be reached with BALCO founder Victor Conte. We'll try to keep you up to date on all this, but you're probably better off checking Let'sRun.com everyday to see what links they've collected. Welcome
New Members Welcome to our newest members, Micah Adriani, Thomas Bolster, Filip Jagodzinski, James Strickland and Laura Vitteli. Only one recruitment point, and it goes to Sid Howard. It seems strange, but we suppose these runners actually recruited themselves. Sid pads his lead in the recruitment race, and now has 5 points, 3 ahead of his closest challenger. Devon Martin continues to lead in the unofficial coaches race. Corrections The eagle-eyed copy editor sent us this note:
Yeah, it was intentional. That's it. Just like that novel that never used the letter "e" or the new French novel with no verbs. No wait; that kind of writing is stupid. This was just a typo. Track
Spike Testers Needed My name is Kathryn Kelly and I work in the product testing department here at Reebok. We are currently in need of track athletes to test our track spikes. I am hoping that some of your club members do regular track workouts, and also wear a men's size 9. The particular spike we have to test is for the 100 meter to 400 meter sprinter. Hope to hear from you soon, thanks!
Fat Stats An article in the Times suggests that Americans in general aren't actually getting fatter. Rather, people who were already fat are getting fatter, and everyone else is staying about the same. At least, that's what Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, an obesity researcher at Rockefeller University, says. His reading of the statistics backs him up on this, but of course the Times doesn't provide any data, or even offer an independent analysis, so we're not yet convinced. We're also not sure exactly how different his argument is than the conventional wisdom. Friedman cites statistical analyses conducted by Dr. Katherine Flegal of the National Center for Health Statistics which show that thin people are just as thin as they were in 1991, people in the midrange are up 6-7 pounds, and the obese are up 25-30 pounds. (The total percentage of Americans who are obese has increased from 23% in 1991 to 31% today.) We'd like to see the data broken down a bit more. After all, not every person in that midrange gained 6-7 pounds. Some of those people may not have gained any weight, and others may have put on 15-20 pounds, which would be enough to push many people into the overweight category. Contrary to Dr. Friedman's insinuations, nobody has claimed that every American is getting fatter, but enough Americans are packing on the pounds that we should worry about it. "Before calling it an epidemic, people really need to understand what the numbers do and don't say," Friedman said. But Friedman's interpretation of the numbers still sounds like an epidemic to us, and it's not even that different from the one every one else is talking about. Horse
Nonsense A horse is a horse, of course, of course. Unless that horse is also a symbol of all that is good and pure in America. And so, poor Smarty Jones didn't just lose the Belmont Stakes and the Triple Crown last Saturday; he also crushed the hopes of every American, leaving the country sadder than it's been since the Great Depression. Or at least since Funny Cide failed to win the Triple Crown last year, and War Emblem the year before that. (How many of you even remember those two horses?) At least, that's the impression one might get from the overhyped media coverage and the completely baseless comparisons to Seabiscuit. But surely nobody outside the media is falling for this, right? Alas, no. Just look at these letters to the Times:
Ah, for the good old days when the myth-making didn't start until at least a few people had forgotten the facts. Smarty Jones "by all reckoning shouldn't have won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes"? He was undefeated going into each of them, and was the favorite in both. Smarty Jones is "a rags-to-riches blue-collar winner"? He's a horse, and his owners, while not as rich as some others in the sport, don't fit the role either. "Smarty Jones gave us all the opportunity to vicariously live the makings of the American dream"? We don't even know what that means. His loss "broke the hearts of millions of racing fans"? We're not sure there even are millions of racing fans these days, and they weren't all rooting for Smarty. "We needed the horse to win"? No, we just wanted him to. But he lost, and we all got on with our lives and most of us have already forgotten about horseracing until next May's Kentucky Derby, when the whole cycle starts again. Tuesday
Night Uptown Track Workout Report We don't know what changed over the weekend, but after last week's low turnouts we all of a sudden jumped to 23 people. Was everyone just waiting for it to be unbearably hot? Or did they all know that we would have a special guest:
Yes, Bola's back and he's sporting a new aerodynamic look! How can the rest of the report top that? It can't really, even though we can tell you that Catherine Stone-Borkowski made her first trip uptown this season, and Frank Handelman his second. And Chris Price helped time the runners. And Micah Adriani didn't even know about the journal until she was mentioned in it last week. And there was some running, too. But, c'mon! We've got a photo of Bola. Who's even reading at this point? Week of June 1, 2004 - June 7, 2004 Bannister
Book Signing Roger Bannister will be signing copies of his book The Four Minute Mile next Monday, June 14, from 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm at Paragon Sports, 867 Broadway (18th Street). For more info, see here. Best of
Times We don't think there are any to report, but we do have this comment on them from John Scherrer:
Well, we don't usually record age-graded times here, so this could be a major project. Of course, the man most responsible for these lists is the abovementioned Mr. Calderwood, who would probably grab the top spots on a few of the age-graded lists. We worry that he might now devote all his free time to generating these age-graded lists, leaving him unavailable to correct our endless typos on this page. Speaking of age-graded performances, we were saddened to read about the death of Jack Foster, who was struck by a car while bicycling near his home in New Zealand. At the 1974 Commonwealth Games, Foster, then 41, won the silver medal in the marathon by running 2:11:18. Speaking of John Scherrer, we noticed that one of his friends mocked him for being one of "those ex-new yorkers who find themselves temporarily adrift in the midwest and maintain links to the central park track club on their blogs even though they reside in illinois." We'd like to think that all our members will maintain links to this site on their blogs, regardless of where they may "temporarily" find themselves. We would also like to see people use capital letters on their blogs, but we'll overlook that here, since this woman's blog, i want more to be said to me than just orange, does refer to our favorite color. Anniversary
Run Updates Chris Potter noticed that the paces listed on the Road Runners website for the Anniversary Run were incorrect and that adjusted times has been posted. A quick check of the site revealed that the old paces were calculated as if the race had been 4.51k. The new ones, however, are based on a distance of about 4.67k. We did our own math, and now offer the accurate paces for 4.6k. Who Would've
Guessed That Eating Fatty Foods Would Raise Your Cholesterol? We've let the Atkins folks off the hook for a few weeks, but we're back in the fray now. Why? Because it turns out that these low-carbos aren't just ruining their own lives, they're ruining ours as well. Quoth the Times: "Milk prices are derived from a complex formula determined by the selling price of cheese on Chicago's commodities market, so high demand for cheese this year, driven in part by the craze for low-carbohydrate diets, among other factors, drove up milk prices as well." It was bad enough that the dairy supply has been shrinking, first because low prices drove many dairy farmers out of business and then because of Mad Cow disease (those crazy Canucks!). Now we have to pay even more for milk because of these nuts who are convinced that the bun is the unhealthy part of a bacon cheeseburger. One Atkins-ite learned the hard way just how wrong this can be. Jody Gorran, a 53-year-old Floridian, started on the Atkins diet in 2001 in an effort to lose eight pounds. After two months on the diet his cholesterol had jumped from 146 to 230, and in 2003 he had to undergo an angioplasty to overcome the 99% blockage in a major artery. He's suing now, although more for publicity (he's teamed up with the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a vegan group that often clashes with Atkins) than for money (he's only asking for $28,000, which probably won't even cover his expenses). His lawsuit will probably fail, since you generally can't sue someone for giving bad advice in a book. We would also argue that Mr. Gorran should have known better (and shouldn't have eaten so much cheesecake), but that shouldn't let Atkins off the hook, especially since he admits in his book that one-third of dieters will see their cholesterol go up, but recommends that they merely "eat only the lean proteins - turkey roll, skinless chicken breast, fish, farmer cheese, lean cuts of meat and so on - but do not increase your carbohydrate intake more than 5 grams. However, if you are not happy on the low-fat version of the diet or get hungry, or don't feel well on it, then don't bother with it; go back to the regular Atkins diet that you enjoyed more." (emphasis added) Yes, if being healthy is too hard, then just forget about it. Of course, that's been the basis of the Atkins' diet (and most other popular diet books) all along: being healthy takes too much work, so here's a shortcut. Eat all you want and still lose weight! Spend as much as you want and never worry about debt! Get in shape with only three minutes of exercise per day! The shocking part is not that these schemes fail, it's that so many people are willing to believe them in the first place. In completely unrelated Atkins news, the Atkins center at 152 East 55th Street was just purchased for $5.5 million and will be replaced by a Kaballah Center Nike Running What could be better than a race that includes performances by Kajagoogoo, A Flock of Seagulls, Tommy Tutone, General Public, Devo and Tone Loc? How 'bout a whole series of group runs leading up to the race! Starting tomorrow, Nike is sponsoring a series of group runs every Monday through Thursday evening at 6:30 pm at four different locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn. These runs will be 3-6 miles, followed by all sorts of fun events afterward, including free food and drinks and lots of '80s music. Anyone who attends nine of these training runs will get free registration to the Run Hit Wonder race on July 22, which is our goal race for July. Full details about the runs can be found at www.NikeRunHitWonder.com. Anniversary
Run Congratulations to everyone who ran a PR in today's 4.6K. We imagine that's everyone who did the race, since we've never seen this distance contested before. We have some photos here, courtesy of Richard Brounstein of the New York Flyers. Farewell
Party First on the alphabetical list, first in many races, and first in the hearts of her teammates. And now Alayne Adams becomes the latest member of CPTC to depart for foreign shores. While we don't approve of our best runners always leaving, we figure if they must go, we can at least send them off in style. In this case that means a party at The Parlour, (250 W. 86th Street, between Broadway and West End Avenue).on Wednesday, June 16, starting at 7:00 pm. Thursday
Night Uptown Track Workout Report Nine people showed up for a workout in the pouring rain on Tuesday. Surely we could top that on a beautiful Thursday evening? Nope. In fact, it wasn't until Jessica Reifer stopped by to chat at the end of the workout that we even equaled Tuesday's attendance. Tuesday attendees Micah Adriani, John Affleck, Jesse Lansner and Chris Price were all back, joined by Leon Brown, Ligaya Mishan, Noah Perlis and Julio Rodriguez. They had their choice of running 100s, 200s or 300s, depending on their particular training plans, and how often they wanted to run past the two kids playing catch across the backstretch. So Micah ran 100s, Chris, Leon and John ran 200s, Jesse and Ligaya ran 300s, and Noah and Julio ran their own workout, just like they always do. There was an attempt to unify the groups. Ligaya aked the 200m runners to start their intervals just as the 300m runners finished their first 100m, thereby helping the latter group to stay on pace. Alas, this didn't work out. Maybe next time. The Coach was working again, or so she claimed. We're starting to suspect that she's got a regular happy-hour group on Thursdays. Or else it's her bowling night. Surely she wouldn't let her job interfere with her running/coaching so often. Micah didn't, even when she was recently offered a job that was perfect in every respect but one: she would have to work until 7:00 on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and so would miss the track workouts. She declined the job. We're glad to see she's got her priorities straight. The Bold
and the Beautiful James Siegel complains: "If you're going to have the audacity to publish the ludicrous times that Adam Newman and I ran in the Bolder Boulder, at least let us defend ourselves. First of all our "real" race time was more in the 50-minute range. Not bad considering that we stopped many times along the route to cavort with belly dancers, kiss babies, pose in front of mountains, take in oxygen, and to drink beer. Not exactly the way I remember Tony drawing up a race plan! We also made many enemies from those around us who were really racing." We hear excuses like this all the time, which is probably why James made sure to include photographic evidence of the belly dancers. Or else he just wanted to show off.
Far East
Update On Saturday I ran the Runners Tokyo 10K - Summer. This event is held once every season at a large park on the outskirts of the metropolitan area of Tokyo. How was it? It was H-O-T. The 30 plus degrees does not do justice, as up until today the weather has been mild and overcast, so realtively speaking it was EXTREMELY hot. I have run dozens of marathons over the past two decades but I had yet to see destruction like this. In a 10k race I counted not less than three people sprawled spread-eagle on the ground, seemingly passed out. At the medical tent I witnessed three people brought in by stretcher. There were four in the tent already. One guy came in delirious and flailing his legs and arms and had to be held down by five doctors and an IV forcibly inserted while an ambulance was summoned. I watched one guy sitting in a chair just collapse on the ground and medics swarm over him yelling that he was in danger of going into cardiac arrest. Outside the tent medics were trying to sort the thirsty from the needy patients as the tent was full up. I guess the lesson is drink water and pace yourself. How did I do? Well this was the first race ever I ran with a baby jogger. My one-year-old (Charlie) and I completed the 10k in just over 42 minutes which, judging from my previous times under similar circumstances, means that a baby jogger subtracts about 4-5 minutes from a 10k time. I wonder if any one else (Stuart?) has a similar comparison. I had to start from the back, and trying not to run into any one was a major drag on pace as well. I managed to run into something only once at the drinks station when I slipped and almost toppled the whole station over. The woman behind me was not amused.
P.S. The email address page for members is WAY out of date. Not that this is a complaint - just maybe a reminder to Audrey to update the page. The updates to Audrey don't even go to a valid address I fear. Conference
Bike You could spend several thousand dollars on a really fast road or tri bike. Or, for just a little bit more money – €9,500 (approx. $11,500) plus taxes and shipping – you could get the Conference Bike, a bizarre looking contraption in which seven people pedal together. You really need to see this to believe it. Pitctures Fast-women.com has several photos (Pages 1 and 2) of Kate Irvin from Saturday's Boston High Performance Track Meet. We're especailly impressed that one caption reads "Kate Irvin finished third in 4:32.20, placing her second on the CPTC all-time list." Tuesday
Night Uptown Track Workout Report The runners of the Central Park Track Club are a hardy bunch. Regardless of the weather, they always get in their miles, undeterred by snow, rain, heat, or anything else that isn't enough to scare a postal worker. There is one exception: We don't run when there is lightning. So yesterday, as thunder shook the skies, and lightning flashed around the track, all the runners stayed home. Well, all but Jeremy Busch, Frank Handelman and Jesse Lansner, who showed up at Columbia at 6:30. And they were joined by John Affleck and Chris Price a few minutes later. And also Micah Adriani and Anna Shaver, who's not even on the team yet. And after they all finished their warm ups in the relatively dry area under the stands of Baker Field, they were even joined by Coach Devon. By then the rain had stopped and sunlight was visible somewhere off in the distance. The ninth, and final, runner at the workout was Mary Rosado, who arrived late after being detained at work. For those who've never run on a wet track, it's really the same as running no a dry one, except that the runners in front of you keep kicking dirty water onto you. And there are occassional puddles that you need to avoid, although anyone who's run at the East Sixth Street track faces more difficult obstacles. Speaking of the downtown track, we notice that the workout there was canceled. Wimps. No wonder Frank scoffed at road races. Champion
of the World Margaret Schotte won the World Duathlon Championships for her age group (F25-29). She also finished first out of all the age groups. And her time of 2:03:16 would have made her 11th among the elites. Wow! Best Times You didn't think a weekend would go by without some changes to the best times lists, did you? New member Filip Jagodzinski ran 1:55.79, placing him fifth on the Best 800m List. And, of course, Kate Irvin, continued her assault on all the track records, moving up one spot to second on the Best 1500m List, with a 4:32.2. We expect to see more changes to the list this weekend (and every weekend following), so we're looking for someone to translate our next report into some foreign language. All you bilingual members, this is your chance to shine! Results Hmm. We fail to post race results for a few days (since we weren't at our computer), and we come back to find that everyone has emailed their results in, rather than waiting for us to search them out. We should go out of town more often! Facts
on Fiction Several years ago, when an interviewer asked Roger Angell how he chose what fiction to publish in the New Yorker, he responded that "we publish what we like." In general, the magazine has stuck to that answer, even though there has always been a recognizable tone to the stories they've published. Now Katherine Milkman has done a statistical analysis of the short stories in the New Yorker from October 5, 1992 through September 17, 2001 for her senior thesis at Princeton University. So what did she learn from reading 442 stories and writing a 116-page thesis about them? That the New Yorker publishes stories that the fiction editor likes. While there is no typical New Yorker story, there was a significant difference in the stories published when Charles McGrath was fiction editor and those published under his successor, Bill Buford. (There was no measurable change in fiction when David Remnick replaced Tina Brown as editor in chief, so either the boss doesn't influence the fiction choices very much, or those two have an eerily-similar taste in short stories.) Compared to Mr. McGrath, Mr. Buford showed more preference for stories that were set in New York, and that focused on sex rather than children, travel, money or religion. We'd be curious to see a similar analysis of the journal entries on this page under the different editors. After all, other than updates regarding the team, we have always focused simply on whatever interests us. Of course, we don't want to offend any of our readers, so we avoid any discussion of sex, money, religion or politics. Except when we don't. Politics
Makes Strange Bedfellows Normally we just skip articles this stupid, but it was cloudy out at the beach yesterday and we ended up going through so much the Sunday Times that we even read part of the Styles Section. And there, in the middle of a ludicrous story on how the BlackBerry is changing dating in Washington, D.C., this paragraph stood out:
Here's a suggestion for the next time this situation occurs: WALK OVER TO HER AND TALK TO HER IN PERSON LIKE A NORMAL HUMAN BEING. Yes, these are all Washington politicos, so they're hardly normal, but they could pretend. Leaving aside the fact that this article could have appeared (and often did appear) anytime in the last ten years, albeit with "email," "instant messaging," "mobile phones" or "text messaging" replacing the word "BlackBerry," isn't this article a little dumb, even for the Styles Section? If the Times really wants to be the gossip page for the Washington not-quite-elite, after all, they could just report on the saga of Jessica Cutler, a.k.a. Washingtonienne, who was fired from her job as a staff assistant to Sen. Mike DeWine (R-Ohio) after blogging about her sex life while at work. The Times remains one of the best American papers when it comes to reporting real news (though that's hardly much of a distinction these days), but the sections that focus on cultural issues – Styles, House and Home, Travel, most of the magazine, etc. – are always either two years behind the times or simply wrong. We wondered for a minute if the writers and editors there are really this clueless about the world around them, or if this is all a clever plot to keep readers interested in the paper by giving us all something to complain about. But the recent history of the Times – from Jayson Blair to Judith Miller and basically every article she wrote on Iraq's WMD capabilities – suggests that the paper does much better at ineptitude than at Machiavellian intrigue. |
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