The Central Park Track Club Journals

The Journal: The Life & Times of the Central Park Track Club

WEEK OF JULY 29, 2003 - AUGUST 4, 2003

FAT WARNING [8/04/2003] We didn't really want to write another story about obesity, especially since that seems to be all we read about in the Times these days. But, as we flipped through The Week, a magazine that collects stories from other publications, we found a troubling article. It seems that The Weekly World News has taken time out of reporting on alien abductions and the Loch Ness Monster to address an unreported danger of the obesity epidemic in this country. According to the article, geologist Rovert Roverne warns that if Americans don't lose 1.5 billion pounds (roughly 20 pounds per obese person), the entire continent will sink into the ocean. "Innocent people, and I'm talking here about slim Americans, are in dire peril through no fault of their own." Maybe this warning will finally get more people on a diet.
THURSDAY NIGHT ROAD WORKOUT REPORT [8/01/2003] We were a little late, since we were playing kickball in the lower end of the park. Luckily the workout was still operating on Tony Time, even though Coach Tony got stuck at work and couldn't make it. Stuart Calderwood ran things instead, covering the workout and one announcement: that Kevan Huston ran 101 miles in a week before winning his first road race last week. We often don't run 100 miles in a month! Forty-four people were on hand at the 7:14 start of the workout. Michael Rosenthal arrived just as his group was starting for 45, and Sarah Rivlin made it 46 when she caught up with her group halfway through the workout. To get ready for the Club Championships, this workout was 7 miles long, with two 1.5 mile pickups at 5-mile pace. Given the trouble we had with that second pickup, we're definitely not ready for the Club Champs, but with a few more kickball games we expect to be in great shape for the team softball game afterward.
OFF THE RADAR SCREEN [7/30/2003] Jerome O'Shaughnessy notes: "You make note of the 'global surveilance system' on the web site refering to James running in Paris. Of course if you really did have a GSS you would have seen me running up and down the Seine and around the Tower Eifel two days before James. You might also have picked me up in the Silks and Satins 5K in Saratoga with Adam and Tyronne where I ran a hung over 19:48 for a 12th place M45-49 placing." Alas, he's right. The GSS is not complete, and our man in Paris cannot spot every runner there. That doesn't excuse the missed race result, but since we were similarly hung over when we checked the results, finding two out of three CPTC runners isn't so bad.
CORRECTION [7/30/2003] Jonathan Cane writes: "In reference to the description of the iliotibial band in the journal page, I would like to point out that the ITB is not a tendon. And you thought I only found mathematical errors!" Actually, we thought we only made mathematical errors (and typos), but we're glad that there are readers who can catch all our mistakes.
SHORT AND SWEET [7/30/2003] "Brevity is the sould of wit," wrote Shakespeare. The fact that he gave that line to Polonius (whose speeches were seldom witty and never brief) doesn't make it any less true, as anyone who's bothered to read some of our longer posts on this page can attest. But brevity is hard to do, and just as work expands to fill the time available to complete it, paragraphs tend to expand to fill the space available to print them. Until recently that space was limited, and nowhere more so than in the classifieds. Want to meet someone? Describe yourself and the person you are looking for in under 120 letters, and somehow separate yourself from every other SWM 25 ISO SWF 22-30. Enough people did it with enough skill to make the personals in the New York Press a must read. The rest of the Press was fairly worthless, and eventually we stopped bothering to pick it up. Then, over the weekend, we were coming home late from a party and found ourselves with nothing to read on the long subway ride home so we grabbed the first free publication we saw – the New York Press.

We breezed through a few mediocre columns, scanned the pointless feature story, and reached the section we were looking for, only to find it's no longer there. Oh sure, there was a personals section, but barely a third the size of what we remembered, and with not one amusing ad in the bunch. And why should there be? These days anyone can place a free ad on a dozen different websites, with endless description and even pictures. No more word limits, since, unlike in a newspaper, printing a long ad costs just as little as printing a short one. This may be a more efficient market than the old system (and it certainly seems to be more popular), but it's a lot less fun, and requires a lot less creativity. The internet is great at giving us more of almost everything, but it doesn't do so well on those occassions where less really is more.
STATE OF THE SPORT [7/30/2003] Today's Runner's World Online features a report on the state of running in the United States, with some interesting statistics. Who would have thought that the cities with the highest concentration of runners were San Antonio and Indianapolis?
TUESDAY NIGHT DOWNTOWN TRACK WORKOUT REPORT [7/30/2003] Nope, not from us. We went on a group trip to the Mets game. They lost. Nothing more to report, except that one member of our group, who even grew up in San Diego, had never heard of the San Diego Chicken. These kids today; no sense of history.
YOGA CLASS [7/29/2003] Jeff Rochford, owner of jeff's gym and The Yoga Studio located in Greenwich Village, sent us the following offer:

I'm enclosing info on a new workshop your members may be interested in. Central Park Track Club members recieve a discount to this program. Being a runner and triathlete myself our programs are geared towards the endurance athlete. Thank you for your time.

The Yoga Studio @ jeff's gym is offering an 8-week Yoga For Runners workshop. Starting August 16, 2003, students meet once a week on Saturday afternoons from 2:30 to 4:15. Enrollment is limited to 12 students, to insure personal attention.

This workshop will teach you the basics of yoga and stretching; focusing on alignment and strengthening of the muscle, ligament and tendon groups runners use most. Special attention will be paid to the Iliotibial band. The ITB is the tendon linking the pelvis, upper and lower leg. Shortening of the ITB can result in runners' knee, often referred to as an over use injury. Learning to keep the ITB long through various stretches helps prevent many over use injuries.

The enrollment fee for this 8-week workshop is $300.00. CPTC members receive a 10% discount. To register please call The Yoga Studio at 212 871-1003 or jeff's gym at 212 691-5905
AROUND THE WORLD UPDATE #3 [7/29/2003] July 23, Ponta Negra, Brazil

Dear friends,

We have spent the last two weeks in the North East of Brazil, from Porto Seguro to Natal. We are leaving tomorrow for other famous beach spots until reaching Belem and visiting Amazonia.

Salvador
Salvador da Bahia is a very special city in Brazil for several reasons. First, you need all your senses to fully appreciate Salvador. As soon as you reach the city (be it by boat, bus, plane), there is that special smell floating in the air ... the dende oil, which is the most important ingredient for Bahian cooking. You can smell it everywhere because it is everywhere. At every street corner, there is a Bahian woman, dressed in the traditionnal costume (long white dress with a white kind of hat/turban) selling the Acaraje, bean paste which is deep fried in dende oil. Then you start walking in the city and somebody will grab your wrist. You will be 'offered' the fita de Nosso Senhor de Bonfim, a small ruban that they securely tie to your wrist (the first one is for free, then you need to buy a dozen...). The Fita is for good luck; you make three wishes as the man ties it to your wrist. They will be realized when the fita breaks by itself (Anne's personal experience shows the excellent quality of the fita: the first one – she has two now – is still on her wrist after 19 months!). You certainly cannot look like a non-Bahian and survive more than 100 meters without the Fita on your wrist. Once you wear it, you're almost safe!

Salvador is a city to wander in. You will most appreciate it just by walking through the little paved streets. Wherever you look, it is bright, colored, from the churches to the paintings they sell on the street. But there is not just things to see. There is another constant show on the streets: Music. Music (mostly drum-based or just drums) can be heard everywhere. Bahians love it, so whether you´re in a church, in the street, buying stamps or eating, there will be music. Groups perform regularly in the historical center. They just rehearse in the street! At night, most bars have live music, offering a little more variety than drums. You can also get Bossa Nova or the popular Axe.

The incorporation of the African culture and tradition is not just limited to food. What makes Salvador so special is that you see the fusion of three cultures – the Indian, the Portuguese and the African one – becoming a fourth, the Bahian. Bahia was the port of entry of slaves from Africa. Slaves brought with them all their traditions and religion, keeping them alive, and progressively merging them with the ones of Brazil (Portuguese and Indian). Two striking examples are Capoeira and Candomble. We assisted to a Capoeira class, with is half way between a dance and a martial art. It is more than just an art, it is also a philosophy of life.

We also went to a Candomble ceremony. Candomble is a religion based on divinities related to the powers of nature.

Maceio
Maceio – and its nearby beaches – is THE great surprise of our trip so far. We knew – more or less &150; what to expect from the other places we visited. Maceio is much cleaner, much calmer and much safer than any other places we´ve been to in Brazil so far. It really looks like some places in Europe. The food is absolutely incredible, especially the seafood, and so, so cheap (I know, we talk about food in every e-mail but that´s a big thing when you´re travelling ... and even when you're not, in fact). Our hotel was ON the beach, our room had a huge window with a view over the coconut trees, for a bit less than $5 a day for each (a bit more expensive than the usual treat, closer to $3 per person, tropical breakfast included, of course).

Praia da Pipa
In the South of Natal, North of Maceio, there is a string of fabulous beaches. Pipa is not easy to reach, but when you get there, you´re rewarded with ... the dolphin bay. This is not a tourist trap. Dolphins come at midday looking for fishes that, for some reason, are close to the coast, and once they're done with lunch they surf in the waves, jump, still catch some fish (we saw a dolphin jump to get a fish that had jumped to escape his hunter), and all this happens at less than 100 meters from coast. At some moment, one can get as close as 5 or 10 meters, as the dolphins get closer and one can swim toward them. All this at a breathtaking beach with a mix of colourful cliffs, white sand and emerald water.

Ponta Negra
Still in the South of Natal, but closer, dunes get more and more common and Ponta Negra is one of the starting points for buggy trips. We have just come back from a day trip in one of these crazy cars, climbing dunes, cruising along on beaches, and basically having a lot of fun.

The story of the day:
Do not assume that being on a beach in Brazil is a restful activity. On some beaches, you get interrupted in your sunbathing by a lot of people. Here is a list of the things that we were offered to buy at Itapoa beach (Salvador de Bahia) in 30-40 minutes: cachaça (white rum) bottles with crabs inside (!), henna tatoos, leather bracelets, collars and bracelets, sunscreen, enormous shells, monkey wood statues, huge dried seastars, beach dresses and hats, grilled cheese brochettes, coco-wood-made bags and belts, sugar cane pieces on sticks, capoeira (see above) shirts and trousers, coconut water (carried on a donkey), caps (two, chapeaux et casquettes), ice creams, cashew nuts, sunglasses, rings, cooked eggs (oeufs de caille), shrimps, CDs, sandwiches, salted cakes (empadas), T shirts, fruit salad, hamac, kites, earrings, sausages. Meanwhile, there are kids playing football (soccer, for our American friends) everywhere, some capoeiras specialists in training and we get served some delicious seafood at the mini bar we´re seated at. So, please, don't assume we're having a good time.

Our itinerary (we forgot to include it last time), starting on July 1st:
1: São Joao del Rei,
2: Tiradentes, Congonhas
3-4: Ouro Preto, Mariana
5-6-7-8: Porto Seguro, Arraial d'Ajuda, Ilheus
9-10-11: Itacare
12-13-14-15: Salvador
16: transport
17-18-19: Maceio
20-21: Praia da Pipa
22-23: Ponta Negra

Now, just have a quick look on a map and see the ground we're covering...

Abracoes,

— Anne Lavandon & Olivier Baillet
WORKOUT REPORT UPDATE [7/29/2003] After filing his story, the Uptown Workout Reporter sent in a new opening paragraph extoling the virtues of Baker Field. We have added this new introductory paragraph to his workout report, for those who care to humor him by reading it.

WEEK OF JULY 22, 2003 - JULY 28, 2003

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS [7/28/2003] Our global sureveillance system doesn't just find race results. Last weekend it picked up James Siegel running quickly in the pouring along the left bank of the Seine, across from the Cathedrale de Notre Dame (that's in Paris, in case you couldn't tell). Don't you wish you're training runs were as exotic?
TUESDAY NIGHT, THURSDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING UPTOWN TRACK WORKOUT REPORT [7/28/2003] Baker Field, Columbia Univ, A Heavenly Oasis amid the daily turmoil.

On Tuesday when it poured buckets downtown at 6th Street, a mere 9 miles to the south, it barely drizzled refreshingly in our hidden Camelot, where it is forbidden by royal decree to rain hard during workouts, ever. One of the many splendored fringe benefits, along with a carefully calibrated time-warp worm-hole effect which speeds up each interval by exactly 3.78 percent.

Our motto remains: "quality, not quantity," referring to the small turnouts of our devoted middle distance groupies, in this case 9, 6, and 6 on each date. The intervals with very short recoveries remain uniform in their challenge, and the recent slate of PR's attest to their effectiveness.

Chiming in to our refrain were recent newcomers to the oasis, Shula Sharner and Marty Levine. Despite an absence of some time from any or much competition, both appeared in fine form considering. As did Kim, with her return after several weeks abstinence. Even Harry Lichtenstein must appreciate the special nature of our venue as he appeared on time for a change. Of course, when Marty Levine wonders why everyone doesn't take part in this perfectly situated private country club atmosphere, we take his perspective into account with his new BMW Z4 convertible parked safely 20 yards from the track, which is directly on his way home from the city.

Sunday had some of us in a special workout in preparation for an easy Tuesday preceding the last Thursday Night Track meet at Van Cortlandt Park. Last local chance for some of us, or you, who have been holding out entering a track race outdoors this year.

Fashion Report: CPTC Website Cover Girl Of The Month Alexandra Horowitz modeled the new track short (men's), and despite the reportedly weaker waistband hold, it managed to stay up fine in her intervals (maybe her bending the waist down for her preferred hip-hugger look helped keep them up). We had our own rainbow coalition as 5 runners showed up each in a different color running attire, including bright burgundy, blue, black, neon yellow, and gray. Guess which color Frank Morton was. At least we couldn't miss him as our timer if we had our eyes closed (which some of us did at the end).

Paul Bendich made what could be his last interval workout with the club (at least uptown) before he departs August 12th to down in Dixie for a 5 year stint for a Ph. D. in math (officially the Physics department). He is most likely planning a surprise going away gathering for himself where all club members and friends, family, and neighbors are invited, but we must each buy or bring our own food and drink, as well as provide for him. The surprise is that he refuses to divulge the time and place which so far is only known to him. In case he does not have a change of heart, be sure to wish him off properly if you see him before he leaves (no physical acts of violence, please).
THURSDAY NIGHT ROAD WORKOUT REPORT [7/25/2003] We had several good reasons to skip the workout last night. There was the cultural excuse: Richard Stolzman was kicking off Mostly Mozart with a free concert featuring the overture to Don Giovanni, the Clarinet Concerto, and the Haffner Symphony. Being a former clarinetist ourself, and a fan of Mozart's music in general, we predicted a great evening at Lincoln Center. Alas, we heard about the concert too late to pick up the free tickets, so there was no culture for us. Still, there was the financial excuse: a meeting of all the owners in our condo to discuss the myriad problems in the building before the upcoming meeting with the people who are mismanaging the building. But we've been getting all the e-mails, and we notice that we suffer only from a few of the minor common problems (incomplete phone wiring, poor garbage pick-up), and none of the major problems (lack of water on the upper floors), so we had no need to rush home for that.

That still left us with an athletic excuse, since we ran the Summer Speed Series on Wednesday night. Our original plan was to show up just for the camraderie (our parents decided to make the race a family/office event) and jog the race (though not as slowly as we jogged Staurday's 4-miler). Then Tuesday's track workout was rained out, and Wednesday's race weather we've had in a while, and our legs felt good as we ran from our apartment to the start of the race, so we decided to try actually racing. Five kilometers later that decision was rewarded with a second-place age group showing. Of course we should have been first, because the Kenyan who ran 15:15 really shouldn't have wasted his time with a silly little race like this, and if he hadn't shown up then Daniel Campos would have been first overall, and we would have moved up to the top of the male 20-29 standings. "So?" you ask. "Does it really matter whether you're first or second in a race that doesn't even have printed results?" It does, because this was a family event, and mom and dad both took first in their age groups. Yes, dad, who's idea of tapering for this race was to run only 35 miles over the preceding four days, and mom who does zero training, just races (she's run four times in her life, all races, all this year) got top honors, but their son couldn't complete the sweep (their Parisian houseguest took third in her age group, but she's not part of the family, so she's off the hook). Well, we'll try again in two weeks when they're out of town. See if they beat us then!

So, all those reasons not to go to the workout, and when 7:00 rolls around, where do you think we were? At the statue of Daniel Webster, of course. Forty-five people were there (we actually counted this time!). One of them was Coach Tony, who arrived at a workout early for the second time in one week! Bill Haskins and Audrey Kingsley were there to talk about the recent 150-mile relay (look for a full recap here soon). Sarah Rivlin was at her fifth-consecutive Thursday workout, but she still refuses to join the team (something about moving out of New York next month, as if half our team hadn't already fled the NY metro area). The workout: similar to what we didn't do on Tuesday (except for Zeb Nelessen, who ran around the track in ankle-deep water). One mile pickup, two mile pickup, and another one mile pickup. We did the first two miles or so, before running out of energy and switiching to our own light jog. Stuart Calderwood later admonished us that "you can't run hard two days in a row!" We didn't. But even the easier running we thought we were doing was too much for us. Next time we'll know better, and either skip the workout all together (but who would write the report then?), or just show up and not run.
THE MILE [7/25/2003] Toby Tanser has a new article in MetroSports on training for a one-mile race.
TRIATHLON COACHING [7/25/2003] Scott Willett and Ross Galitsky are inviting a limited number of dedicated athletes to join their Ironman training group. The program is specifically designed to prepare athletes to complete their first ironman distance triathlon – Ironman Lake Placid (IMLP) 2004. The training program will start in the fall of 2003 and will progress through a Base Training Phase in the fall and winter, a Build Phase in the spring, and culminate in a Peak Training Phase in the early summer. After a Taper Phase you will be ready for your first Ironman finish line on July 25th, 2004. The program includes initial Athlete Assessment, 2 free one-on-one sessions with the coaching staff, 2 coached sessions per week and weekly training plans. We anticipate that most of you will take advantage of group training dynamics (running, cycling and swimming together) but respect that some will train solo. Spaces in our program and IMLP are limited. Online registration for IM Lake Placid 2004 begins July 27th, and is expected to sell out within 24 hours. If you are interested, do not delay – contact Scott Willett (scottwilltri@yahoo.com) or Ross Galitsky (ross_galitsky@bankone.com) and we will send you a detailed description of the training program, our coaching philosophy, and the fee structure. Also plan to register for the race late Sunday/early Monday (the event website is www.ironmanusa.com and the "Entry" button is on the right side of the home page. Clicking will forward you to active.com website where you will fill in the registration form and pay with your credit card. The race fee for 2004 is expected to be around $400; in addition, you will be charged a nominal active.com online registration fee. Send a copy of your registration confirmation to your coaches.)

— Scott Willett and Ross Galitsky
MEMBER WEBSITE [7/25/2003] New member Sarah Abdallah has her own website, at www.sarahabdallah.com.
RADIOCATIVE WOMAN [7/24/2003] A friend writes: "I went for a bone scan of my shins the other day, which entails them injecting me with radioactive isotopes and then taking pictures of my legs. When I finished the test I biked up Fifth Avenue, and there were tons of people there, including security for the funeral of the singer Celia Cruz at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Suddenly a cop stopped me, and put this machine up to me and said '4000 ... 5000 ... 6000 – You're radioactive!!!' Then he asked 'Miss, did you go for a test of something??' I told him that I'd just had a bonescan and he and his buddies laughed, quite surprised that the device was so sensitive. I was very impressed, and told them that I'm glad they're doing such a good job! See, New York is safe afterall!"
DAILY BOOKMARK [7/24/2003] Yesterday's Runner's World Online featured the following as the Daily Bookmark:

Central Park Track Club: www.centralparktc.org
The Central Park Track Club was founded in 1972 and today has close to 300 members. The club takes its name from the famous Central Park in the borough of Manhattan in New York City and recently helped celebrate the Park's 150th birthday with a 4 mile run.

While we're always happy to have more publicity, we're confused as to how we got credit for the New York Road Runners Club 4-Mile run and not for our own 150-mile run.

RUN IN THE SHAWANGUNK MOUNTAINS [7/24/2003] Alan Ruben is inviting people to come upstate for a medium or long training run in the Mohonk Preserve on Sunday, August 3rd, 10:00am. This will be ideal training for the Club Championship race two weeks later. For those of you who have never run here you are in for a treat – well-maintained wide carriageway trails with scenic views of cliffs and lakes, and only 90 minutes from the city. If interested, contact Stuart Calderwood at stuart.xc@verizon.net or 212-749-8145.

NEW MEMBER [7/24/2003] Due to either an editing error, a reporting error or a transmission error (we usually just pick adjectives at random to describe mistakes on this site), the list of new members omitted Matt Geffuni. Our apologies to him.

BEST TIMES [7/24/2003] One of our many copy editors pointed out two things to us today: First, that we seem to have an inability to spell Alexandra Horowitz's name correctly, and secondly that Ms. Horowitz's 5:15.6 in Van Cortlandt is the 10th fastest mile by a CPTC woman, which means her name should be listed (with the correct spelling, of course) on our Best Times page. Then, as we went through some old, misplaced e-mails, we came across a 4:53.50 in the 1500m for Catherine Stone-Borkowski, giving her 10th place on that list.

ADDITIONAL TUESDAY NIGHT DOWNTOWN TRACK WORKOUT REPORT [7/23/2003] Finding Nemo, Captain Nemo or The Submariner. Pick your cultural reference. The track and infield was covered by 3-4 inches of water. A daring few made it inside the fence to see Ted from the Harriers doing his workout, with the water splashing up to his knees. After Coach Tony, Victor Osayi, Glen Carnes and your reporter discussed the options of a triathlete workout, chatted with the Millrose women and the kids' soccer club, and waited for some fish to jump out of the water, the pack started the trek back to the trains, picking up newbie Raj, then Zeb and two of his friends. Zeb opted for the triathlete workout and headed for the water. The rest headed to Central Park, health clubs or home. Better luck next time.

— Jonathan Federman

TUESDAY NIGHT DOWNTOWN TRACK WORKOUT REPORT [7/23/2003] You'd think we might have learned our lesson after being caught in the deluge when we went out to lunch, but a few rays of sunshine had managed to pierce the clouds as we were leaving work, so we headed down to the track. We made it as far as Cooper Square (one block from where we got out of the subway) before we (almost literally) ran into Glen Carnes, Stacy Creamer, and James Siegel, who informed us that the track was flooded. So? What's wrong with doing a speed workout in ankle-deep water on a slippery track? After all, we were willing to run through intermitent thunderstorms. Luckily, common sense won out and the group dispersed and, we imagine, all went home and ran on their own.

MANHATTAN HALF UPDATE [7/22/2003] We received an update from the New York Road Runners Club today regarding a course change for the Manhattan Half Marathon. The race will now start on 109th Street and head West for one full lap, then an upper (Northern) loop, followed by an almost "full" loop, ending at the 102nd Street transverse. More specifically: The race will start on 109th Street near Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and head West/counterclockwise for a full loop around the park. After that first full loop of the Park continue West to the 102nd Street Transverse, turning left/East onto and across the Transverse to the East Drive, then head turn left/North onto the East Drive. Continue around the park for another complete loop. At the end of this loop continue left, turn left/west onto the 102nd Street Transverse to the finish.

In order to ensure a safe start for all, the North end of the Park will be closed to cyclists from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. The Transverse will remain open for their use during this time. There is no race day registration or pickup. Information on baggage and port-a-john location will be available at packet picket.

WEEK OF JULY 15, 2003 - JULY 21, 2003

PHOTOS [7/21/2003] Neeraj Engineer has posted photos and video clips from Saturday's race on his website.
BLUE SKY GRAND OPENING [7/21/2003] We're having a grand opening celebration at Blue Sky Bakery this Friday, July 25 from 7 - 10 pm. Also sharing the evening's event with us is a photographer friend of mine, Kim Hubbard, who's exhibiting her photographs of pets in our space.

We're located at 53 Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn (between Bergen Street and St. Marks Avenue), just 3 blocks west of Flatbush Avenue. The nearest subway stop is Bergen Street on the 2/3 trains. Take the middle exit stairway and keep walking in the same direction as you exit above ground down to 5th Avenue. Take a left at 5th Avenue and #53 is in the middle of the block.

Come by to see the space and sample the products. I look forward to filling the space with orange!

— Eric Goetze
ERROR; DOES NOT COMPUTE [7/21/2003] Our apologies for the lack of updates over the weekend. Partly it's that we were too busy enjoying the fine weather to work on the site, but the main reason is that our modem seems to have died on us. Our new DSL modem is scheduled to arrive tomorrow, giving us high-speed access from home for the first time, and hopefully putting an end to the weekend blackouts on this site.
THURSDAY NIGHT ROAD WORKOUT REPORT [7/18/2003] Many people at the workout last night. We counted into the low 40s, but more people kept showing up. New member Sarah Abdallah was there, a little tired from her first CPTC race, where she'd run a nice 5K only to discover the race was actually 5 miles (that's happened to us in the past). Still, she held on to easily finish in the top 20. Not-as-new member Ali Rosenthal made her return from injuries and vacation. Not-at-all new member Toby Tanser showed up at 7:20, and asked "Why are you guys still here? Shouldn't the workout have started by now?" Theoretically, yes, but in practice that's rarely so. There was a good excuse for the tardiness this time, though, since Tony Ruiz, Stuart Calderwood and Stacy Creamer had all just returned from their successes in Puerto Rico, and needed to share the details of their trip. Most of the details have already been reported here, but we did learn that Tony is an excellent guide to the restaurants of Puerto Rico.

The main reason for the delay, though, was that we were waiting for Gold Medalist Sid Howard, who was stuck in traffic. When he finally arrived he was greeted with great cheering. Then Audrey Kingsley made an annoucement about the 150-mile relay (no, that's not really that important, but it will help her google rating).

The workout itself was three loops of the reservoir, with lamppost pickups – 1 on, 1 off for 1.5 miles, then 2 on, 2 off for 1.25 miles, and finally 3 on, 3 off for 1 mile. Sounds easy enough, but it turns out some people in our group can't even count to 1! We kept looking for the new, nicer-looking fence around the reservoir, but it appears that work on that has still yet to begin. Maybe by the next time we run up there that will have changed.
150-MILE RELAY [7/17/2003] We've got 30 people signed up for the 150-mile relay this Saturday, but there's still room for more. The relay will take place on the bridle path, with everyone running the 2.4-mile loop (it's your choice of how many loops to run), starting at the entrance to the path on West 90th Street and West Drive. If you'd like to sign up (or if you've already signed up and have questions), e-mail Bill Haskins at bill.haskins@verizon.net. On Saturday, those taking part in the relay should call Bill at 917-968-5613 about an hour before they are scheduled to start to check whether the relay is ahead or behind schedule.
SCAVENGER HUNT [7/17/2003] Need something else to do while waiting for your turn in the relay? The New York Flyers are having a Scavenger Hunt and picnic. The hunt starts at 9:30 (so you can run the NYRRC 4-miler before hand if you'd like), and the picnic follows at 11:30. The hunt will consist of four-person teams. You can form your own, or let the Flyers match you up with others, but either way you need to RSVP to Heather Marcellis by Friday. You can e-mail her at ackerjablow@compuserve.com or call her at 212-216-1309.
A GIRL GOT ME [7/16/2003] Many of you may remember Brian Marchese, who was our most improved runner a few years ago. He was one of those sad cases of people with track speed who somehow got the marathoning bug. The long miles caused him a series of injuries, to the point where he decided to become a physical therapist himself. Just when he was getting back into top injury-form, he told us that he is moving to Chicago. We asked, "Why? What have we done to deserve this?" He said, "Oh, a girl got me." This is Brian's home page from Chicago.
TUESDAY NIGHT DOWNTOWN TRACK WORKOUT REPORT [7/16/2003] We went this time. So did about 40 other people (although we didn't actualy count), including Frank Handelman and Bill Haskins as timers. It was pleasant and breezy. We hadn't done any speed work for a while, so the workout (800m at 5k pace, 6x400m at 3k pace, 800m at 3k pace) left us too drained to notice anything that was going on around us other than the walkers who inist on staying in lanes 1 and 2 no matter how close they come to getting trampled by lots of runners.
CAUGHT IN THE WEB [7/15/2003] Catherine Stone Borkowski now has her own website, at www.catherinestone.net.
WORLD MASTERS ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS [7/15/2003] Sunday's World Masters Athletics Championship marathon was as grueling as you might expect. The race was scheduled to start at 4:30 AM but was delayed three times. It ultimately got off about fifteen minutes late. They had it so early to beat the killer heat, but even then it was 83° with 85% humidity at the start. Kieran and I got to cheer for Stuart six times on a course that was essentially 3 laps of an 8-mile figure eight course. Stuart started out very conservatively – because of the heat – but passed competitors throughout the second half. With about two miles to go, a hurricane-caliber storm blew in. Suddenly we were calf-deep in water! (In Kieran's case, the agua was stroller-wheel-deep.) These terrible conditions – which included no mile markers (there were distance markers only every 5K), no clocks, and nothing but water at the aid stations) – only seemed to invigorate Stuart. He finished his race with a 300-meter sprint on the Roberto Clemente track that was worthy of a Tuesday night East Sixth Street finale. He was eleventh overall – third in his age group – and led the US team to its bronze medal team win.

Kieran is still showing promise mainly as a thrower. He can clear out his play pen in about a minute flat.

— Stacy Creamer

Ms. Creamer is too modest to trumpet her own achievements. Luckily we have no compunction on that score, and can inform you that her 800m time (2:32.80) was a PR by 1.50, and her 1500m time (4:58.84) was a PR by 2.92, and that her previous bests came over three years ago. For another idea of how well she ran: in this past indoor season she concentrated on the 800m, ran legs on two record-setting masters 4-by-800m relay teams, got faster in almost every race, and got down to a 2:36.29 at Indoor Nationals. In Puerto Rico, she had to run a 2:35.35 just to qualify for the final; then she took another 2.55 seconds off that two days later! In her 1500-meter race three days later, she came by the 800-meter mark at 2:37 – a time that she could do only with an all-out effort just this past winter. Her final time of 4:58.84 was her first time under five minutes and the equivalent of a 5:16 mile (her PR at that distance is 5:26).
UK, RAF & HK [7/15/2003] Since nothing is ever supposed to elude the global surveillance system, we point out that at the inaugural Royal Air Force Lyneham 10K Road Run on May 10, Steven Paddock was the male winner. The female winner of the race was Christine Double, currently the top local runner in Hong Kong, where the agent who discovered this result is based.

WEEK OF JULY 8, 2003 - JULY 14, 2003

BULL FRIGHT [7/14/2003] Some of our readers have probably been glued to their TV sets for the last week following the Tour de France. We've been watching some of it ourselves, but not too obsessively. After all, there's still baseball to be watched. And soccer. And the World Series of Poker has been on ESPN lately (and it's so much better than the World Poker Tour on the Travel Channel). And, best of all, there are those times when OLN takes a break from their fourth rerun of the day's Tour to show what's happening at the Fiesta de San Fermin in Pamplona, Spain, better known here as the Running of the Bulls. It's just your average half-mile long run on narrow cobblestone streets, with crowds of the size normally found at a race in Central Park, and six angry half-ton bulls with sharp horns chasing you. What fun! Maybe we'll do it next year.
A WALKING CLICHE [7/14/2003] We were walking into Central Park this weekend from the entrance at 59th Street and Sixth Avenue. Although we've used this entrance often in the past, we'd never before noticed the small water trough set up for the carriage horses. It caught our eye this time because a driver had led his horse up to the trough, but, despite his strong efforts, he could not make the horse drink.
GOLDEN BOY [7/14/2003] Sid Howard took home the Gold Medal for Men 60-64 at the World Masters Atheltic Champsionships by running the 1500m in 5:04.19. On an age-graded basis, that's the equivalent of a 3:51.13. Leo Durocher was wrong. Sometimes nice guys do finish first.
AROUND THE WORLD UPDATE #2 [7/13/2003] July 13, Salvador de Bahia

Dear all,

Tons of adventures since last time, so it's hard to keep track. We both write notes every day to try not to forget, and, even harder, synthetize. Basically, after visiting São Paulo, the Costa Verde and Rio de Janeiro, we headed to the Minas Gerais state and the Bahia state.

Minas Gerais is historically the richest state. Thanks to the early discovery of gold and precious or semi-precious stones, wonderful cities were erected during the 16th, 17th and 18th century. This wealth attracted the best architects and artists from Portugal, and the list of wonderful cities we visited is pretty consequent: São Joao del Rei, Congonhas, Tiradentes, Ouro Preto, Mariana. We saw golden churches, colorful streets, villages where cars are nonexistent and which look like 200 or 300 years back. We also visited gold mines and museums, as well as restaurants. Food there is pretty heavy, based on rice and beans with mashed meat, to resist to the relatively cold climate. Yes, it can be cold in Brazil, especially in some of the cities we visited, some being over 3000 feet/1000m.

What a big contrast when compared to the State of Bahia. We have been back to the Coast and we arrived in this State 8 days ago. Since then we've been in the heat, with some heavy bouts of tropical rains. It's winter here and it's over 90° – 30° Celsius – today. We first headed to the beach and party places, Porto Seguro and Arraial de Ajuda. There, we saw quite a few amazing beaches and some very lively places. Then we went to Itacare where Olivier did a 3-day surfing class. It is NOT an easy sport, and the few seconds he could actually stand on the board where rare, to say the least. The State of Bahia is not only known for its beaches, but also for its food, which is delicious. Everything is based on coco, fishes, tropical fruits. In fact, most of the recipes come from Africa. Oh yeah, we forgot to mention, everybody is black here apart from the tourists, so we cannot hide and pretend we're from here...

In order for you to understand more of the country, we are collecting some short fun stories/unexpected situations which are telling examples of the country. Here are some of them:
More funny stories next time, and everything on Salvador de Bahia, a city that would deserve pages of description (but you'll get just a few paragraphs...).

Abracos,

— Anne Lavandon & Olivier Baillet
TUESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY NIGHT UPTOWN TRACK WORKOUT REPORTS [7/12/2003] Columbia Univ. Lawrence Wien Stadium at Baker Field, July 8 and 10.

Yes, there was a middle distance workout each day. Tuesday was about to start with 9 stalwart men, but was turned into an unorthodox minyan when Coach Devon just made the start of the intervals. Devon kept checking her cell phone for messages about the 800m results at the World Masters Champs, and just after we finished she heard and relayed Frank's message with all the times and places for our contingent who proudly representative CPTC (and the U.S.).

Thursday had very comfortable weather and 5 stalwart men (plus Harry at the tail end, for 7 of us total) made for a welcome back committee for Frank Handelman returning from his vacation/competition at Puerto Rico. With the Summer track season at least half-way over, there are only a few meets left to focus on, but the general consensus seems to be on conditioning and strength building inherent in the craftily designed intervals and their sinister short recoveries. No squirrels were sighted on either day.
ODDS & ENDS [7/12/2003] It takes an obsessive-compulsive (former) surveillance agent to find these:
BLUE SKY 2 [7/11/2003] Just a quick plug for the new Blue Sky: the chocolate chip cookies are no joke. I bought one Wednesday and just finished it today; they are so rich and delicious that I could only tolerate small pieces at a time (and anyone who's seen me scarf half a pound of Oreos in one sitting understands the severity of my restraint).

Plus, the place has one of the nicest bar/restaurant/cafe bathrooms in the city. Next time I go I'm bringing a magazine and spending some quality time in there. Come check it out!

— Kevin Arlyck
BLUE SKY [7/11/2003] Eric Goetze has just opened the Blue Sky Bakery at 53 Fifth Avenue (Bergen Street) in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The sweets available include fresh strawberry muffins, chocolate chip cookies and brownies, and a rich chocolate-walnut torte. Sounds like a good way to carbo-load for our next race.
THURSDAY NIGHT ROAD WORKOUT REPORT [7/11/2003] We ran last night! And there was much rejoicing. Or some rejoicing. Or maybe none. We weren't really paying attention. Anywhere there were a lot of people there. We counted about 52 (including a bunch of new and prospective members), but then more people kept showing up, so we're going to say 57, because we haven't eaten anything good today and we keep thinking about a nice juicy hamburger with lettuce and tomatoes and onions and pickles and ketchup or, better yet, barbecue sauce, but either of those last two would probably be from Heinz and would say Heinz 57 on the bottle. That number doesn't include Stefani Jackenthal who stopped by at the end of the workout on her bike, even though she just finished riding across the country. After our brother road cross-country one summer he left his bike in its box for a year and a half.

Tony Ruiz wasn't there because he's still in Puerto Rico, but Alan Ruben led the workout in his place, and didn't start it any earlier than Tony does. The workout itself was six miles, with three one-mile pickups, done at 10M, 10K and 5K pace. Except everyone in our group had a different idea about where exactly the first pickup started, so some people had a harder workout than they planned. Hey, it's good for you. Not so good for you is failing to run the last pickup at the correct pace (guilty!), although Alexandra Horowitz had a good solution; she simply ran without a watch and figured her paces were correct. If only that worked in races, too!

One of our teammates expressed concern that a recent delay in updates to this page may have been caused by us working too hard. Not to fear! In fact, our horoscope yesterday read "Time is all there is, practically. You'll think a lot about how you're using yours. If you can't say why you actually make your company a better place, it's time to get out. Posing the question to yourself could renew your energy and will to work." We posed the question and concluded once again that our work does little to make our company a better place. Our presence in the office, however, is certainly a bright spot in the otherwise drab lives of some of our coworkers. None of this restored our will to work, but we're not ready to get out just yet, since we do need the paycheck, especially since our plan to with that $250 million Powerball jackpot didn't work out.
CUT AND PASTE [7/11/2003] Due to a technical error (we didn't pay attention while cutting and pasting), the last two paragraphs of the Tuesday Night Concert Report were omitted from the journal. These paragraphs have been restored, for those who care. We would be embarassed about this if we hadn't just read about a cut-and-paste error at Canadian power generator TransAlta that led the company to buy too many contracts at too high a price, costing them $24 million (American dollars, not Canadian). At least our oversight didn't cost anything.
SHORTCHANGED [7/10/2003] We're used to mismeasured race courses, but we've never heard of a mismeasured pool before today. It turns out that the 25-meter pool where the Virginia state high school championships took place actually varies from 24.979 meters to 24.992. With everyone swimming slightly shorter laps in a sport where victories are often measured in hundreths of a second this had a noticable effect, and 10 records set is this pool have now been negated.
BIG KIDS [7/10/2003] Yet another story about the rise of obesity in the United States. This time it's New York City school kids, with half of them overweight, and a quarter obese. We don't really have anything more to say about this. Adults are fat. Kids are fat. Both groups need to be more active and have healthier diets. This isn't rocket science, people. Yes, the food companies deserve some of the blame. Steven Anderson, president of the National Restaurant Association, said in today's Times "There are not good or bad foods. There are good and bad diets." That is utter nonsense. There is plenty of bad food out there, from Twinkies and Snickers to Pepsi to almost anything served at most fast food establishments, no matter how tasty these foods may be. Anderson does have a point, however, when he notes "This does come down to personal responsibility." Increasingly sedentary lifestyles and easy availability of junk food have done a lot to make Americans fat, but nobody wakes up one morning and discovers that he's become fat overnight. It took years for Americans to get this fat. Let's hope it doesn't take years of these articles before people start getting back in shape.
ALL-STARS [7/10/2003] We came across a list of the bonuses that all the players who were named to Major Leauge Baseball's All-Star Teams will receive. These range from $0 to $125,000, with some players even receiving salary increases for next year based on making the team. This is ridiculous. Some of these players aren't any good, and only made the team because of the rule that each team gets at least one player in the game. Most of the good players are already making $10-$20 million per year; for that much money they had better be an all-star. In fact, we'd like to see some of the overpaid players who didn't make the team return part of their salaries as an apology. Of course we also think the Mets should lower their ticket prices as an apology for how poorly they've been playing. Or they could lower the price of beer at Shea, since we usually need several drinks in order to put up with the ineptitude we see on the field.
MODESTY [7/9/2003] We're used to our members submitting race results for themselves that do not mention any other team members. (This is not done out of malice or jealousy, but rather because the member either didn't notice any of his or her teammates at the race or didn't get a chance to record anyone else's time). Rarely, though, does a member send in results for her teammates but not for herself, but that's just what one person did last week. Of course the full race results were eventually posted, and we discovered this omission. The Global Surveillance System strikes again!
TUESDAY NIGHT CONCERT REPORT [7/9/2003] Yes, we skipped the workout again. This time we chose the Philharmonic in Prospect Park over running. The Philharmoinc performed the same concert in Central Park on Monday, but we've always found Prospect Park to be much more civilized. Finding one's friends in Central Park is usually a long, frustrating process in which the searcher makes repeated attempts to get cell phone service, finally gets a call through to the friends who have arrived early to put out some blankets, is given directions like "We're about 50 feet back from the third baseball field on the East side, about one-third of the way in from the fence and four blankets to the left of the yellow balloons," and then spends twenty minutes trying to find a way through the mass of people that does not involve stepping on anyone. It's much simpler in Prospect Park. People arrive, glance across the sparser crowd (perhaps one-tenth the size of the Manhattan audience), wave to their friends, and easily walk over to their blankets. Finding our group was even easier than usual, which is not surprising given that our group totaled 20 people by the time the concert started.

Such a large crowd demanded a lot of food, and we certainly ate and drank well (although we see in today's Daily News that such brazen flaunting of the public drinking rules has caused a bit of a stir). The music itself was nice. We had really wanted to hear the Mozart/Sibelius concert that the Philharmonic performed in Staten Island in Sunday, but last night's selections were still fine. We even liked the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, despite our usual aversion to violin music and our feeling that all of Tchaikovsky's music sounds the same. There were also some nice fireworks.

In honor of the all-Russian music (in addition to Tchaikovsy they played Borodin's Prince Igor Overture and Musorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition), we traded jokes about Russia with the ex-rommie (who spent her first few years in Moscow). This led to jokes about Russian Jews, jokes about Jews in general, and finally jokes about Israel (one of which was so old it involved Menachem Begin). The punch lines to the better jokes were "You call this living?" and "The plumber is coming in the morning." The punch line to the Begin joke was "From here it's a local call." The joke isn't that much funnier if you hear the whole thing. Mayor Mike was there, too, although just to listen, not to give a speech. He received a nice round of applause, although it was unclear whether this was due to his presence or his silence. Of course the only speeches anyone ever remembers at these shows are the ones made by Brooklyn BEEP Marty Markowitz. 'BEEP' is how headline writers used to abbreviate Borough President back when the Borough Presidents were worth writing about.

A short history lesson: New York City used to be governed by the Board of Estimate, in which the Mayor, Comptroller and City Council President (who was not actually part of the City Council) had two votes each, and the five Borough Presidents each had one vote. The City Council existed but did nothing. In the 1980s this system was ruled unconstitutional, since it violated the 'one person, one vote' rule. A new charter was drafted which tossed the Board of Estimate, and divided power between the Mayor and the City Council. The City Council President became the Public Advocate (with no real power), and the main power left to the Borough Presidents was their right to appoint one member each to the Board of Education, which became meaningless when the mayor was given direct control of the schools last year. Of course the real reason that the BEEPs made headlines so often in the 80s (and rarely do so today) was that back then they were generally under investigation or indictment (with the exception of former Brooklyn BEEP Howard Golden who held his position for 24 years without ever doing anything remotely newsworthy, good or bad), while today's crop are far less interesting (how many people even know their names?). The most exciting Boro Prez these days is Marty, who is best known for his free concert series, his party for the Brooklyn Bridge, his "Lighten Up Brooklyn" weight-loss campaign and his rousing speeches. His speech last night was typically brash and boisterous, but didn't quite live up to his introduction at the concert a few years back (when he was still just a State Senator) which ended with the members of the Philharmonic stomping their feet and waving their instruments in the air and the audience looking around for somewhere to enlist in whatever army Marty might be organzing.
WESTERN STATES 100 [7/8/2003] CPTC and Montrail-Patagonia running team member Bob Schulz finished the Western States 100 in 25:17:40 (102 of 272 finishers) on June 28. In 2003 about 60% of those who started finished. The WS100 is the oldest and probably most famous 100 mile trail race and is run along the Western States Trail starting at Squaw Valley, California, and ending in Auburn, California. The trail ascends from the Squaw Valley floor (elevation 6,200 feet) to Emigrant Pass (elevation 8,750 feet), a climb of 2,550 vertical feet in the first 4 1/2 miles. From the pass, following the original trails used by the gold and silver miners of the 1850's, runners travel west, climbing another 15,540 feet and descending 22,970 feet (this aspect is particularly cruel to the quads of runners from the flatter parts of the east coast) before reaching Auburn. Most of the trail passes through remote and rugged territory, accessible only to hikers, horses and helicopters.
ANOTHER SLANT [7/8/2003] I'd just like to add my two cents and point out that the road banks in Central Park, and so, when doing long runs, I go clockwise and then counterclockwise to offset the tilting.

— Kellie Quinones
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS [7/8/2003] A warm welcome to our newest members, Sarah Abdallah, Dave Delano, Scott Johnson, Jeff Lundwall, Brian Maiolo, Warren Margolies, Xose Navarro, and Susan Strazza. Recruitment points go to Ramon Bermo, Glen Carnes, Andrea Costello, Yves-Marc Courtines, Stacy Creamer (2), Dan Hamner, Joseph Kozusko, Emily Pierce Emah and Larry Thraen, with honorable mentions (but no points) to coach Tony Ruiz. No points for Devon Martin this time, but she's still in the lead this year, with 7. See all the details on our Recruitment Scoreboard.

WEEK OF JULY 1, 2003 - JULY 7, 2003

THE WRONG WAY [7/7/2003] From yesterday's New York Times:

Obstacle Course In Central Park

To the Editor:

Witold Rybczynski's comprehensive and compelling article about Central Park, "New York's Rumpus Room" (June 22), calls the park "a democratic arena, where there is no fixed consensus" and a place where "users jostle each other."

Unfortunately, even when some rules have been suggested, they are rejected by a small minority that wreak havoc for the rest of us.

As I jog on the park's Lower Loop, I am continually perplexed by the folks, mostly joggers, who insist on running clockwise – even though the pavement is clearly marked with arrows pointing in the opposite direction, even though they obstruct the 90 percent of bladers, cyclists and joggers going the right way, and even though a few brave souls shout, "Wrong direction!"

Even more baffling is that a lot of these are packs of running club members who should know better and set a better example.

Perhaps Mayor Bloomberg can find another revenue stream here.

Kevin Horne
Upper West Side

Leaving aside the awkward writing (of course it's joggers who run clockwise; cyclists ride and bladers roll) and the suggestion that the city deploy an army of park rangers to ticket runners, we must concede that Mr. Horne has a point. The park might function more effeciently if everyone ran in the same direction. But is he really "perplexed" that some runners may choose to go against the crowd? Does he enjoy running the same course day in and day out with no change? If so, more power to him, but for most of us variety is indeed the spice of life. And, despite what he may feel, the road is more than wide enough to accomodate a few runners going the "wrong way," especially when those runners run only two abreast (like we always do, right?) and do so only when cars are banned from the park (as all the "packs of running club members" do).

Far from wreaking havoc or obstructing other people's use of the roads, as Mr. Horne charges, the runners going clockwise usually do not even jostle those heading counterclockwise. We've seen more accidents caused by walkers and joggers not paying attention while going the right way than we have of anyone colliding because one person was going the wrong way. Of course the best solution to this problem would be for the city to finally ban cars from the park once and for all, and then make the park road a two-way path for all runners, cyclists, bladers, scooter riders, etc. Until that day comes, we suggest Mr. Horne yield 10% of the road to the 10% of the runners he complains about, which, we imagine, would be just fine for the park denizens he claims to speak for.

HIGH ON LINE [7/6/2003] We read today in the Times about people who are "Always On." These are people who cannot bear to be disconnected from their cell phones, BlackBerrys, PDAs, laptops or wireless internet connections. They talk on cell phones at parties, check their e-mail from the bathroom and surf the web during meetings. They "multitask" to save time, although research suggests that this actually makes every project take longer. In a world where unlimited information is available, they need to have all that information and more. We are not one of these people. Sure, we spend part of our work day updating this site or sending personal e-mails, but that's only because our job is really, really boring. We spend a lot of time reading, too, and have been known to play a hand or ten of Freecell. And we take plenty of breaks while writing the journal, but that's a combination of proscrastination and writer's block. But "Always On?" No. We're not even "Usually On." Partly this is due to our technological defenciencies (we have no high-speed internet connection, and no portable internet access of any speed to tempt us), but mostly this is just our lack of interest in being always connected. Must we always be connected to the rest of the world? Is there any news so urgent that we need to be the first to hear it and share it and comment on it? We have two months worth of magazines and 200 books on our shelf that we haven't read yet; not to mention the DVDs we haven't watched, the CDs we haven't listed to in months or years and the pile on our desk that we've been trying to deal with for the last three weeks. Must we find more things to do with our time? Not that we wish to be fully free of the net. It's a useful tool, and a good way of communicating, and there are even somethings worth reading out there (this page of course, but there are other interesting sites as well). But on the whole we could do without most of the latest technology. Which rasise an interesting question: How did a quasi-Luddite end up in charge of a web site?

QUICKE CRICKET [7/5/2003] From our (formerly) resident cricket critic:

Hmm ... we see that the webmaster hinted that he could be publishing some item on cricket. Well, he must be expecting a response from us concerning the New York Times cricket story that he sent us.

We have been sitting on this story because, as Queen Victoria said, we are not amused. In fact, we find this development to be truly appalling. Now we are not the "purists who are horrified at what they consider the defilement of a sacred tradition." Not at all! And this should be obvious to all those among you who were forced to experience 44 days of excruciating coverage of the Ashes series on this website at the end of 2002. Clearly, we derived our pleasure in the game because we love to watch the Aussies thrash the pommies over the course of five days of play. Our ideal match score is Australia 3-901, England 129 all in the first innings and England 53 all out in the second innings (with 3 players retired hurt). This thoroughly uncivilized three-hour game is "not decent cricket; it's smash-grab cricket."

P.S. The qualifier 'quickie' in the item heading is lewd, of course.

NOT AT ALL A THURSDAY NIGHT ROAD WORKOUT REPORT [7/5/2003] The Tuesdayn Night Reporter's update reminded us that we haven't posted a report on Thursday's road workout. Mostly this is because we weren't there. When the workout started we were already on the LIRR, halfway to Bay Shore. By the time the workout ended (or at least when it normally ends), we were on the ferry, heading to Atlantique (Fire Island). The same assumptions from Tuesday's non-report can be repeated here. Or somebody who was actually at the workout could submit a report, but we've mostly given up on that happening.

TUESDAY NIGHT UPTOWN TRACK WORKOUT REPORT [7/5/2003] Baker Field, Columbia Univ., July 1.

There was a workout attracting probably 10 middle distance runners and one visitor John Gleason brought along to increase her speed for the Hawaii Iron-Person Triathlon (yes, another triathlete, and yes, Dia does have an accent from probably somewhere in the former British Empire).

The workout of 400m intervals and one group made for an easy evening for Frank Morton, our unofficial official timer. Our other Frank (Handelman) was also present to practice some form strides in preparation for his upcoming attempt in Puerto Rico to add the World Outdoor 800m Masters Champion title (55-59) to his U.S. Indoor National title. Yes, he is a real contender.

We retract our prior unqualified assessment that this venue is perfect compared to the risks and distractions of the 6th Street Track. The major unexpected distraction for this reporter was a near-collision at almost full speed with an unruly Columbia squirrel charging at me who almost became road-kill in lane 3 (I suspect Jerome and Darlene herded it on in my direction as they were jogging towards me ). I did a quick half-hurdle over it along with a poor imitation of what I hope sounded like a karate yell, but still regained my composure, despite my teammates' laughter, to finish in a 2 month pr for a 300m. This same ferociously furry fiend was earlier observed warming up for its daring dash with a lap of its own, staying partly in lane, causing this reporter to naively think how cute it would look in a modified CPTC uniform if we could train it to stay in the lane a little longer for a short race. (Reporter's post-script - not to be upstaged by any creature 50 years my junior, I got my revenge by returning 2 nights later, finding the most likely tree the fore-mentioned crazed creature would call its home, and organically discretely removed the ability of the offending vermin to enjoy its meals amidst the berry-filled base of the tree which had served as its dinner table.)

ODDS AND ENDS [7/4/2003] There were few fireworks visible from the beach, so we watched the NYC fireworks on TV tonight. They went on rather long, so we switched to the Boston Pops concert, which was cut short to show more fireworks. We don't have cable out here (who knows how many more fireworks we could have found), so we turned off the TV, searched around for a spare phone cord, and got our internet connection up. We didn't have any hot dogs today, but Takeru Kobayashi had 44.5 of them in 12 minutes to win the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. Sonya Thomas was fourth, and first woman, with 25. Thomas is from Virginia, where our own Stacia Schlosser once won a Krispy Kreme eating contest when she devoured 10 of the donuts in 3.5 minutes. Since today commemerates America's rejection of many things British, we will omit our thoughts on cricket (few as they are). That leaves barbecues for tomorrow, the Tour de France for Sunday, and liberty for whenever we finish reading American Scripture, Pauline Maier's book about the Declaration of Independence. Okay, so that's not really normal beach reading – although it is a timely topic – but we read too much Carl Hiassen, Christopher Buckley and Alan Furst (we have no interest in the adventures of adolescent magicians) during the endless spring rains, and found ourselves with only serious tomes left on the shelf.

BBQ [7/3/2003] For those who are staying in town this weekend, Devon Martin is having a 4th of July BBQ on the Upper West Side from 7pm-11pm. Email her at dmartin@cravath.com for more info.

GO FOURTH! [7/3/2003] We're off to the beach again this weekend. We hope to have internet access this time, but in case we don't, please pretend that we're posting stories on any or all of the following subjects: barbecues, fireworks, hot dogs, liberty, the start of the Tour de France, any major baseball trades that may occur, the Boston Pops annual concert, the Bronx Half-Marathon, and the new, faster version of cricket that is becoming popular in Britain.

O-LYMPIC CANADA! [7/3/2003] The 2010 Winter Olympics have been awarded to Vancouver. This may hurt New York's chances of getting the 2012 Olympics, since the International Olympic Committee usually likes to avoid having consecutive games too close to each other. Of course, the 2004 games will be in Athens, Greece, followed in 2006 by Turin, Italy. As those two cities are about three times closer to each other than New York and Vancouver, yesterday's decision may have absolutely no impact on the 2012 selection.

THE CLOSEST WE HAVE TO A TUESDAY NIGHT DOWNTOWN TRACK WORKOUT REPORT [7/3/2003] We weren't there. Nobody sent us a report. We're pretty sure there was a workout, though. There were probably 30-40 people there. Since Tony Ruiz is out of town we would guess the workout started roughly on time. People probably ran hard, and said and did a few amusing things worth reporting on. The weather seemed nice enough. At least, it was nice enough out at Shea Stadium, which is where we were. We talked about running a little bit while we were there, if that counts for anything. No? We didn't think so.

RIDE WANTED [7/2/2003] Vram Malek is looking for a ride to the 2003 East Region Champinships in New Haven, CT on Sunday, July 6. If you are traveling there by car, and have room for one more person, please contact him at vmalek@dbarch.net.

TOUR OF HOPE [7/2/2003] This fall, you can go the distance for cancer research by joining the Tour of Hope. Bristol-Myers Squibb is partnering with Lance Armstrong to launch this unprecedented week-long journey across America to help speed the search for a cure. Lance will lead 20 cyclists, chosen from the cancer community, across mountains and over plains to inspire and inform the public about the importance of participating in cancer research.

We are looking for people touched by cancer with riding ability, physical endurance and a passionate commitment to supporting cancer research by bringing the message of the Tour of Hope to communities across the country.

All applicants must be willing and able to join the Tour of Hope Team for a challenging, inspiring and life-changing ride across the country from October 11-18, 2003. Along the way, the Team riders will meet with members of the cancer community to share their experiences with cancer and their commitment to cancer research with the news media.

Applications are due July 21, 2003. To apply, please go to www.tourofhope.org/team/rider_app.htm. For more information on the Tour of Hope, please go to www.tourofhope.org.

Note: Lance's new book, EVERY SECOND COUNTS, goes on sale in early October. I'm editing this one, too. If you're interested in riding on the Tour, please fill out the online application but also let me know. I'll put in the proverbial good word for you. I can't promise anything, but I'll do what I can.

— Stacy Creamer

AROUND THE WORLD UPDATE #1 [7/2/2003] Dear all, chers tous, queridos amigos,

Today is July 1st and we have been on the road for 12 days. It may sound incredible, but we haven't had time to send long e-mails before today. We have already seen half a dozen places, all very different from each other. We knew it from past experiences, but it is now more clear to us than ever that there are many Brazils.

First, there is the Brazil known and loved by the tourists. Paraty, Ilha Grande, are two fantastic beach places, the second being an Island covered by jungle and doted with 30 beaches. In both places we made boat trips to smaller islands and deserted beaches. On both boats, the tour operators served us tropical fruits, grilled fish, rum (cachaça), all this under a burning sun (although it is winter here...) and surrounded by Brazilian Bossa Nova. The water is emerald, the sand looks like talc, and the only facilities are small bars serving typical dishes.nbsp; Very very nice... There are also the world famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, with incredible young Brazilian creatures in G-string ('fio dental' as they call it, dental floss or fil dentaire...) and their male equivalents!!!! All this is Brazil.

There is another Brazil, the one feared by the tourists, the ultra-violent and outrageoulsy poor Brazil. You cannot avoid it, every big City is surrounded by shanty towns ('favelas'), and you can see hopeless and homeless kids everywhere, with the fear that they may be ready to do anything just to have some food for the night. You can especially feel it in big Cities, but when you know it, it's easy to minimize the risks by avoiding certain areas. This is just prudence, the same you would use in Harlem in NY, Sarcelles near Paris, or the Retiro area in Buenos Aires.

The third Brazil is the one lived by the Brazilians on a daily basis. Far away from the mini-bikinis and the tropical fruit juices, the Brazilians have to go to work, like everywhere else in the world. We purposedly visited the Rio unknown by the tourists, the Center where most offices are, just to get an idea of what it would be to be working in a supposedly paradise place. Well, like in any big City, there is traffic, there is pollution and stress.

The fourth Brazil is in general equally unknown from the public. It is the cultural Brazil. In São Paulo, Rio, and today in São Joao del Rei, we visited scorces of museums, about the Indian native culture, the Portuguese conquistadors, the African slaves, and the local culture resulting from that mix. Among other things, we have been amazed by the masterpieces created by the Aleijadinho, an 18th Century artist who sculpted pieces of art that far exceed most sculptures we have seen so far.

Past itinerary:
June 19-20: São Paolo
June 21-23: Paraty
June 24-26: Rio
June 27-29: Ilha Grande
June 30: transit
July 1st: São Joao del Rei

To come:
Tiradentes, Congonhas, Ouro Preto: colonial cities,
Brasilia: Capital, outstanding architecture,
Then, back to the beaches...

Love to all,

— Anne Lavandon & Olivier Baillet

COMING CLEAN [7/2/2003] Oh, all right, I confess: I won the Hocking College 5K on Sunday, June 8th in Athens, Ohio. I don't think it's anywhere on the Web. I can't deprive the team of a higher tally in the Wins column.

It was about a mile and a half too long because of a missing marker. (I ran the second half saying "Turn around!" to the rest of the field.) My time was 25:32 for approximately 4.6 miles – possibly the longest 5K in CPTC history.

— Stuart Calderwood

REACH THE BEACH [7/1/2003] We're looking for a few good runners for this year's Reach the Beach relay on September 12-13. This is a 200-mile, 24-hour relay (less time if you run faster) in New Hampshire, and it's lots of fun. Last year we sent three teams to the race (you can read about it here). Last year's Men's Masters team is returning intact this year, but there are several openings on our Co-ed Open team, Clockwork Orange. Anyone interested in this race should contact Sarah Gross at sgross@marakon.com or Jesse Lansner at lansnerj@yahoo.com.

SECRET VICTORIES [7/1/2003] Just yesterday our historian commented on "people who take perverse delight in seeing that their victories are not recognized on this website." Is Stephanie Gould such a person, or was she merely testing the Global Surveillance System? In either case, she negelected to inform us of her victory in the Griskus Olympic Distance Triathlon. That's now 27 race victories for for the first half of the year, which means the percentages change again to – oh, who cares. We don't really feel like doing the math, but if you want to know, go ask team math wizzes Jonathan Cane and Paul Bendich.

BICYCLE RELIEF [7/1/2003] Our historian wrote yesterday that "Upon information and belief again, Margaret Schotte could go a lot faster if she had a real bike. Therefore, if any wonderful person could step in to sponsor a proven winner, we could rack up many many more wins for the rest of the year." Margaret's coach, Jonathan Cane, disagrees: "For the record, Ms. Schotte is riding a 16.5 pound Giant TCR with Dura Ace components and Spinergy wheels. I assure you that she could, and has, won races on far inferior equipment. More to the point, while her equipment situation is under control, anyone who wishes to sponsor her pricey trip to the Duathlon World Championship in Switzerland is more than welcome to do so." We're glad to learn that Margaret has such a quality ride. Now if anyone wants to buy us a real bike... It won't help the team rack up any wins, but we'd appreciate it nonetheless.

THURSDAY NIGHT AT THE RACES [7/1/2003] The Central Park Track Club dominated the first installment of the New York Road Runners Thursday Night at the Races series in Van Cortlandt Park. This was due both to the speed of our runners and to the fact that we made up nearly one-third of the competitors. The Road Runners Club is considering discontinuing the series If the turnout does not improve, so those of you who are in town this Thursday (July 3) might want to head up to Van Cortlandt Park for a few laps around the track. The meet starts at 7:30 pm, and this week's events are the 400m, 800m, Mile and 5000m.

DRESS FOR SUCCESS [7/1/2003] No matter the dres code, you can't go wrong with wearing orange: