The Central Park Track Club Journals -- August 2003

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

WEEK OF AUGUST 26, 2003 - SEPTEMBER 1, 2003

Before the Fall [9/01/2003] And so the summer of 2003 ends the same way it began, with a bleak, rainy day. A number of our friends have complained about this summer being so short, but we're glad to be rid of the whole season. Of course the winter of 2003 was no picnic, and the spring was nearly nonexistant. We're putting our last hopes into autumn, but, weather-wise, we're ready to give up on the entire year and start hoping for a better 2004. Except by then El Niño should be back to make things even more unpredictable.
It Is What It Is [9/01/2003] We're always glad to get feedback on our comments here, even if they are only grammatical corrections. Our thanks to the eagle-eyed CPTCer who noticed our misuse of "it's" when we meant "its" in our story on the recall election. This was only a typo, however, and not the grammatical error we were accused of. C'mon, we can master writing in the first person plural. Don't you think we can remember the rules on possessives? Especially, since we enjoy learning about language, and have read several guides to style and grammar, including our father's office memo "Commas and Their Flying Friends, the Apostrophes." (Dad's actually a little overzealous with the commas. He never omits a necesary one, but he also never omits an optional one.) Don't believe us? Check out the nearly 40 instances on this page where the two terms are used properly. And yes, we are aware that this maks us a nerd.
World Beater [8/31/2003] Congratulations to Margaret Schotte, who finished 3rd in her age group, and 6th overall, in today's Duathlon World Championships.
I Don't Remember, I Don't Recall [8/31/2003] Hegel wrote once that all great events in history occur twice, to which Marx added "the first time as tragedy, the second as farce." That was Karl Marx, of course, and not Groucho. Which is a shame, since the current Recall Ballot in California (the farcicial follow-up to the Florida debacle of 2000) would only seem normal in Rufus T. Firefly's Freedonia. (That's from the Marx Brothers movie Duck Soup. If you haven't seen it, we suggest you go rent it now. We'll wait.)

The basic idea behind the recall is bad enough, since it subverts a law meant to be used for the removal of corrupt or criminal officials and uses it instead to let a disgruntled minority try to force out a governor just because they don't like him. It's a rare politician who is able to focus on issues beyond the next election; the last thing this country needs is to shorten the average governor's idea of the long-term from four years to one. Indeed, part of the problem with closing the budget deficit in California has been that Republicans in the legislature have focused more of their energy on pushing the recall than on actually working on the budget (though Democrats have a majority in the legislature, a supermajority is need to pass the budget). Not that we're huge fans of Governor Gray Davis. He deserves some credit for the necessary, but unpopular, steps that he's been taking to balance the budget, but he also deserves quite a bit of blame for letting things get so bad in the first place.

Yet a fair share of that blame must also fall on the people of California themselves. While most of the country functions as a republic where we elect officials to make laws on our behalf, California has long felt that the people themselves should have a direct say in forming policy by voting on various ballot initiatives. The most famous of these is 1978's Proposition 13, which placed strict limits on property taxes. Other initiatives have locked in certain state spending, like last year's Proposition 49 which requires the state to provide over $400 million to after school programs (a worthy goal, but forcing new spending when the budget is already in the red is not usually the best idea). And now the state is forced to spend tens of millions of dollars more on a special election. (An even more ridiculous recall effort is underway in California's Humbolt County, where Mel Berti, the former Republican mayor of Fortuna, is leading an effort to recall Democratic District Attorney Paul Gallegos, who has been on the job only six months. Berti defended his drive by saying "I think it's good to recall a couple of these sons of guns every now and then," although he felt differently when he fired the local police chief, and friends of the chief began a recall procedure against Berti.)

And what an election! First the people get to vote whether or not to recall Davis. Then they vote for his replacement. With 135 candidates on the ballot, there is a strong possibility that, say, 45% of the people will vote to keep Davis, leading to his recall, but his replacement will be a candidate who receives only 35% of the vote. Those aren't randomly chosen numbers — in a recent L.A. Times poll, 50% of Californians supported the recall and 45% opposed it, while the leading choice to replace Davis was Lt. Gov. Curz Bustamante (who, as the only Democrat on the ballot, has adopted a campaign of "vote against the recall, but just in case it succeeds, vote for me as the replacement") with 35%. Behind Bustamante is, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger, with 22%. The would-be Governator isn't entirely new to politics; he was the main force behind Prop 49 last year. The longshots are State Sen. Tom McClintock, with 12%, former Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth, with 7%, and a motley crew that includes a former child star, a political commentator, a pornographic publisher, a pornographic star, and a billboard model.

And how do you list 100+ candidates on a ballot fairly? In alphabetical order, or course. Except using a normal alphabet would encourage too many people named Aaronson or Abel to run, so the elections officials created a new, randomized, alphabet, which came out R, W, Q, O, J, M, V, A, H, B, S, G, Z, X, N, T, C, I, E, K, U, P, D, Y, F, L. All the candidates will be listed in this new alphabetical order on the ballot in the first voting district. Then, for the second district, the first name will be moved to the bottom of the list and the rest of the names will all move up one line, a process that will be repeated for the rest of the 80 districts. It's the first election where the biggest challenge is not deciding who to vote for, but instead finding your candidate on the ballot.

Whoever wins will take over a state that faces at least an $8 billion deficit for 2004, have to deal with the same uncooperative legislature that is unwilling to either raise taxes or cut spending (though if Bustamante wins, he promises to introdue a new ballot initiative to make a simple majority enough to pass the budget), and could well be the target of another recall next year. California may well spend $100 million and squander what's left of its reputation just to keep the status quo, and to remind the rest of the country why major issues are usually not decided by direct vote. A cynic observed that in a democracy the people get the leaders they deserve. That leader won't be determined for another five weeks, but it's clear that California is at least getting the election it deserves.
Casting Call [8/30/2003] We won't rest until every person on the team has had a chance to be on TV! This latest casting call is for "Guy's Ultimate Vacation" on SPIKE TV (the former TNN). The show is sending three guys on a worldwide search to find the "Ultimate Guy's Vacation." Based on viewer submissions (and one lucky viewer will win an all-expense paid trip to the ultimate destination for men) each episode will follow the show's travelers as they explore the most exotic and exciting destinations for men. The producers are looking for three men (19-29ish, all ethnicities) who should be: "real guys" who can bring a genuine, unique perspective to the travel experience; dynamic individuals who can work well as a group; intelligent, attractive, athletic, articulate and likeable with a good sense of humor; and must be comfortable with themselves and with the camera. This show is completely unscripted, and will run for six episodes, with the cast earning $3000/episode. If you're interested send your resume, pictures, or video tape by September 9 to:

Barbara Barna Casting
335 Court Street, #195
Brooklyn, NY 11231
barbarabarnacast@aol.com
(no attachments, please)

Life on Mars [8/29/2003] It's nice that Mars is the closest it's been to Earth in 600 centuries, but we really didn't notice any big difference. Without a telescope, it's still just a dot in the sky. We immagine a lot of the Little Green Martians felt the same way about our planet.
Thursday Night Road Workout Report [8/29/2003] Another scoring race this weekend, but stil 38 people showed up for the workout, although none of them were from the Middle Distance Group, who must all be back up at Columbia. About a dozen of the runners were planning to race on Saturday, so they took off on their own jog on the bridle path. The rest of us started our 6 mile workout at 7:18. (Remember when every workout report included the starting time?) The B group ran in a nice pack, and even conserved energy enough to chat a bit: "Did you have an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times last weekend?" "No, that's a different John Kenney, but you're the fifth person to ask me that." After the workout we overheard a new runner tell Coach Tony "I was planning to do my first marathon this year, but I'll skip it if you think I should do shorter races instead." This, of course, is Tony's dream runner: someone who will both give up long distance running, and will actually listen to the coach.
Far East Update [8/28/2003] Sorry for being remiss in my reporting my race results. There have been many events conspiring to rob me of my running and writing time over the past month. On August 17th I ran the Mt. Fuji Children's World (Kodomo no Kuni) X-Country race. This enormous outdoor park divided into different themed sections (water, forest, etc.) is located near the base of Mt. Fuji and makes liberal use of volcanic rocks in its construction. The lightweight porous rocks provided minor amusement as I had a great time picking up enormous "boulders" with one hand and throwing them like Superman. That was the only time of the day I felt like Superman. Unlike the rest of the developed world, Tokyo and its environs have suffered enourmous deluges of rain in the past two months. Throw in a month of rain followed by two pounding typhoons and a steady drizzle on race day and you can imagine the state of the course. My last real cross country course was in Van Courtland park several years ago. Filled with a sense of it-can't-be-so-bad-'cause-anyone-can-run-a-10k attitude, I bolted out at the start, and was immediately reaquainted with mud: slippery mud, mud that clings to your shoes, mud that spatters into your eyes, mud that looks solid but is actually a deep puddle, mud that tries to suck off your leg. After about 1k I wanted to quit. But of course, being a CPTC runner I did not. Up and down throught the four loops it just got muddier and harder. I think at one point I was grunting it hurt so much. (Don't ask why I do this, I don't even understand why.) And so to the finish where, with less than 800 meters to go, two guys behind me started to sprint and actually passed me with about 200 meters left. I can't say I put up much of a defense, I was not really into hurting myself for a measly two places. WRONG CHOICE! The top 6 finishers got a nice certificate and I finished - 8th! out of 91 in my age and 16/237 overall men's race. Final time 42:50 (this was a cross country race after all). The lesson is simple — run your race hard and don't give up. Every place counts even if you are not number one. How many times has coach Ruiz said this? Why didn't I remember?

— Charles Allard Jr
Don't Smile [8/27/2003] Starting November 3rd, all new Canadian passports must contain pictures showing the bearer's "face must be square to the camera with a neutral expression and with the mouth closed." For all our Canadian teammates, that means no more smiling in your photos (what are you all so happy about anyway?), and no submitting race photos when you renew your passports. Meanwhile, our own passport photo (dating from the middle of our college years) is so embarrassing that we're avoiding any international travel until we get a new passport next May.
Free Desk and Mattress [8/27/2003] I need to get rid of two items by this SUNDAY (Aug. 31): a desk and a mattress (no box spring). Someone, please, take these off my hands! Salvation Army does not take a mattress without a box spring. Nor do they take desks. My only requirement is that you pick up either item by this Sunday. Please call me at 212-474-1764 if you want more info.

— Devon Martin
Tuesday Night Downtown Track Workout Report [8/27/2003] Next Monday is Labor Day, the traditional end of summer. That means next week is Back to School time, when we'll once again get serious about our training. But for this, the last Tuesday of the summer, we didn't hesitate to blow off the workout and go out to dinner with a friend instead. We'd like to pretend that this was a difficult decision, but in reality dinner will almost always trump running on our schedule.
Congratulations [8/26/2003] The New York Flyers have hired themselves a new coach, and it's our very own Toby Tanser! Don't do too good a job with them, Toby; we don't need any more competition...

WEEK OF AUGUST 19, 2003 - AUGUST 25, 2003

Around the World Update #5 [8/25/2003] Dear all,

Here is the wrap up of our 2.5 weeks in Amazonia. Enjoy!

The Amazon River

We travelled for 3 nights and 2 days on this gigantic river. We left Belem and slowly went up river to Santarem, and were able to appreciate how important the river is to the area. For most, if not all, cities in Amazonia, the river is the only means of transportation. Our boat was a cargo boat, so the lower deck was full of mattresses, onions, brazil nuts, and many other things. Passengers were travelling either in hammocks or cabins (we had a cabin). The trip was actually not boring because we sometimes got very close to the barges. Additionally, since the river is the highway of Amazonia, many people live in pilotis house a few meters from the river and we saw what life was like for Indian people. During the first day, we even got numerous visits of Indians onboard. When they heard the boat was coming, they paddled strongly towards the boat and hooked their little canoe to it. They were selling Acai juices, palmitos, shrimp... Some were coming close to the boat just to wait and hope to receive a package from passengers. It is a common practice to prepare a little package with second hand clothes or other useful things and to send it to the kids and women waiting in the canoes. There was also some wildlife to be seen during the trip: pink dolphins, parrots, and other birds we cannot name.

In Santarem, we discovered other marvels of the river. First, the meeting of the waters: the Amazon and the Tapajos river meet in front of the city, and their waters are so different (temperatures, colors, speed, acidity), that they run one next to the other, hardly mixing, for kilometers. We saw another, more impressive, meeting of the waters in Manaus. And the other striking marvel we saw were the fluvial beaches of Alter do Chao, on the Tapajos river. When the water level starts falling, beautiful white sand beaches appear, creating a surreal scenery: palm trees growing in the water, jungle all around, and beaches along cristalline water.

Travelling within Amazonia only by boat would have taken too much time, so we flew from Santarem to Manaus, and then again to Porto Velho. We wanted to see the forest from above. The Amazon forest is 9 times bigger than France!!! And indeed, from the plane window, all we saw was river and forest for hours.

Manaus

Manaus is a big city that, on the map, seems lost in the jungle, and that underwent a huge and ephemere take off in the end of the 19th century. With the discovery of the vulcanisation process, the world latex consumption soared up suddendly and Manaus became a rich city. The former latex barons' houses and the Opera have been brought piece by piece from Europe and are architectural masterpieces. Everything collapsed when a British stole hevea tree seeds and had them planted in Malaysia, which soon became a lower cost producer. Nowadays, it is still a huge harbour that has the peculiarity of being built on enormous bidons and that can follow the changes in the Amazon flow (10m tide between summer and winter).

Jungle Tour

We decided to do our jungle trip from Rurrebanaque, Bolivia, and not from Manaus, Brazil, as most tourist guidebooks criticize the overcrowded jungle trips offered in Brazil. We did a hard core version, 6 days trekking in the jungle, instead of the three-day-package usually proposed. It was just this, hard, very hard. Trekking with a 15kg (over 30 pounds) backpack (packed with food, some clothes and local-style tent - i.e. heavy and uncomfortable) in sometimes almost untouched places, with the guide using its machete to open the way, in a heat and humidity never experienced by us before was a real challenge. Billions of bugs, of all sorts, are everywhere, and are very aggressive: 2-3 cm ants (1 inch) whose bite can be felt for hours, mosquitos, sandflies, etc. Our legs are covered with bites, for the souvenir... Frankly, we experienced a certain level of misery, with our clothes full of sweat, with no changing clothes except other clothes also humid (nothing ever dries up there), we barely saw the sun, the food and water were pretty ugly, but... but it was a fantastic experience nonetheless. The guide showed us medicinal plants used by the indians, against flu, headaches, infection, allergies, everything. He showed us how they find water and food within the forest, how they filter the water, where the deadly poison curare comes from and how they used it, etc. He allowed us to visit a small villages of Chimane Indians and explained their beliefs (and his, as he is also Indian). He showed different styles of forests, 40m high (and 30m circumference!) trees, parasite trees and walking trees (trees whose roots move to get more sun). He pinpointed fantastic yellow parrots, toucans and different sorts of monkeys. Among our activities apart from the trek in itself, we did a night jungle exploration, switching off the lights to hear the animals coming (in these conditions, it gets so scary that a mere wild rabbit sounds like a bull), we fished piranhas and we build a wood raft and travel for 8 hours on the Rio Beni watching different kinds of rabbits.

Deforestation

A sad note to finish, though. All these marvels are in danger. During a 6-hour-trip in bus from Porto Velho, Brazil to Guaraja Mirim, Brazil, as well as during most of a 17-hour trip from Guaraya Merin (the Bolivian equivalent of Guaraja Mirim, only separated by a small river), all we saw was devastated forest. In order to get more soil to cultivate, Brazilians and Bolivians (and probably Peruvians) burn woods at such a pace that the sky is grey from the smoke and the air is more polluted than that of Times Square. And this is not even the worse deforestation, as the wood industry, and other industries, are much more efficient in destroying forest. To be honest, you do not need to be an ecologist to be alarmed and appalled by what we saw.

Itinerary (forgot to include it last time)

July 23, 24: Ponta Negra, Natal
July 25: Canoa Quebrada
July 26, 27: Jericocoara
July 28: Camucim, Parnaiba
July 29: Parnaiba, Paulinas Neves
July 30, 31: Barreirinhas, Atins
Aug 1: bus to Sao Luis
Aug 2,3: Sao Luis, Alcantara
Aug 4: bus to Belem
Aug 5, 6, 7, 8: Belem
Aug 9, 10: boat Belem to Santarem
Aug 11, 12, 13: Santarem
Aug 14, 15: Manaus, plane to Porto Velho
Aug 16: bus to Guaraja Mirim, border crossed to BOLIVIA to Guaraya Merin
Aug 17: bus Guaraya Merin to Rurrebanaque
Aug 18: Rurrebanaque
Aug 19-24: Jungle trip
Aug 25: travel to La Paz, we just arrived!
Again, look at the map!

Take care,

— Anne Lavandon & Olivier Baillet

Relax [8/24/2003] A few years back our grandparents went on a number of those foreign tours that are filled with various couples from around the world, mostly in their 50s and 60s. On one particular tour (probably to China, but that's not really relevant), there was a couple who would come down to breakfast evrey morning and one of them would say "We thought about sleeping in, but then decided no, mustn't waste the day!" This couple had a farily strong accent, so the phrase sounded more like "mustn't woist the die," which became a common saying in our family for a while. It never became much of a common philosophy, though. Sure, if we were on a two-week trip to an exotic locale we'd never seen before we might very well fell the need to fill all our days seeing the sites, experiencing the cultlure, and trying the food. But if we're at home, or, better still, if we're at the beach, what better way is there to spend a nice day that to waste it? We certainly can't think of one.
Thank You [8/23/2003] I am off for a trip to Ohio and Minnesota to visit my daughters in college, so my track season is truly over. I want to thank the CPTC for the last year of coaching and training, racing, friendship and support. This has truly been my best racing year since 1977 (interestingly, the year of the last blackout; there better not be pattern there). I would not and could not have succeeded this year without the team.

Special thanks to our wonderful middle distance coach, Devon Martin, who laid out the whole season for me in early January — all I had to do was follow her script, all the way down to splits and when to make my moves. She was truly the key to my wholly gratifying indoor season, while I am solely responsible for my lesser results outdoors. And our training group! — who could ask for more than the help from Sid, John A., Alex H., Charlotte, Devon herself, Darlene, John G., Sue P., Paul B. (where's my bottle of scotch, dude?), Kim, Glen, Jessica (hang up those soccer cleats; you need to run the 800!), Zeb, Craig, the Lingner boys, Jerome and all the rest, including Potter and the rest of the guys too fast for me to hang with. Running for our middle-distance team recalls college track at its best, with less tension and better coaching. And thanks to all the rest of my new and longtime CPTC teammates and coaches, for the encouragement and all kinds of help along the way.

Now on to base training and cross country, and as for next indoor season, I just want to run faster.

— Frank Handelman

Thursday Night Road Workout Report [8/22/2003] It was hot and humid, but 54 people still showed up at the statute. That included two first timers, one visiting Flyer, and several middle distance runners, including Coach Devon Martin and even Chris Price, who showed up after months of absence. Quick announcements this time; just a brief recap of the Club Championships and then the workout description. To take advantage of the hot weather, Coach Tony pulled out an old workout of one loop around the park with two one-mile pickups. "Thank John Kenney for this one," he said. Um, thanks, we guess. Actually, we didn't care, since we were just out there to do a recovery jog after Wednesday's 5K. It looked like some of our teammates weren't so pleased with the workout, since we saw them take off with slower groups. It wouldn't be right to name those people, so we'll just say that their names were mentioned in the second sentence of this paragraph. That kind of sandbagging may be acceptable on the Columbia track, but here it resulted in some well-deserved boos from the other runners. The night of surprise guests continued after the workout, when Stacia Schlosser stopped by at the start of her own run, and told us that she was just a figment of our immagination and wasn't really there. We didn't think the heat had gotten to us that badly!
Sale [8/21/2003] We're sure that everyone who's still in the city Labor Day Weekend will be downtown Saturday morning for the Run to Liberty 10K. Whether you're a runner or a spectator for this scoring race, when it's over you should head over to Urban Athletics, where they're having a sale with 20% - 50% discounts on summer gear.
Tuesday Night Downtown Track Workout Report [8/20/2003] We weren't there, but that won't surprise close readers of this page, since they're no doubt aware that the last Summer Speed Series Race in Prospect Park is tonight. We'll probably be attending workouts more regularly when September rolls around. Of course, if you really want to read about the workouts, you could start pressuring some of the people who attend more frequently to start writing their own reports. We'll gladly print them. Actually, we'll gladly print almost any journal entry that we don't have to write ourself.
Chicago Marathon [8/20/2003] The Chicago Marathon now has 39,000 runners registered. Participation is capped at 40,000 runners, a number which will probably be reached this week. To register for the October 12 race, go to www.chicagomarathon.com.
Worm Alert [8/19/2003] Many members have been receiving e-mails today that claim to be from other team members, and have subjects like "Thank you!", "Re: That movie", "Re: Approved", "Re: Details", "Re: Wicked screensaver", etc. All these files will have an attachment with a name like "your_details.pif" or "movie0045.pif". These files contain the W32.Sobig.F@mm worm.

Details about the worm can be found at securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sobig.a@mm.html.

Because of the large number of CPTC addresses involved, it is likely that one of our members has been infected by this worm.

Please delete these messages without opening the attachments. If you have accidently opened one of these files, or are worried that your computer might have been infected, you can download a removal program at securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.sobig.a@mm.removal.tool.html.

WEEK OF AUGUST 12, 2003 - AUGUST 18, 2003

Good Morning, the Worm, Your Honor [8/18/2003] Three of our teammate wrote to us today to let us know that the Club Championship Results had been posted a day early. Alas, we couldn't get the e-mails at work because our network was shut down for nearly three hours as the servers were updated to protect against the Blaster Worm. We were instructed to shut off our computers and not log in again until further notice. Living up to our expectations once again, the notice that it was safe to turn our computers on again was sent out via e-mail. It took several minutes for the tech staff to realize that, with no one logged in, no one could actually read that e-mail, and they would have to find another way to notify us that the computers were now safe to use. We have a feeling we might be better off letting the hackers run things.
Grants [8/18/2003] Balance Bar is offering grants of $500 to $10,000 to amateur athletes (both individuals and teams) who pursue sports or activities that integrate all aspects of the mind and body. To find out more about the program and how to apply, visit www.balance.com/grants/default.asp. The next deadline is September 15.
Promoting the Cause [8/18/2003] Sorting through our e-mail today, we came across this message that Scott Johnson sent on Friday:

"I had fun this morning giving CPTC some publicity. While doing an (easy, pre-race!) morning run through midtown to see what was going on, I ran by the CBS Morning Show which was being broadcast from the corner of 5th and 59th. Harry Smith, the anchor, asked if he could interview me. I hung around and told him what I saw during my run through midtown (though he said I was a marathon runner who ran through all of Manhattan this morning) and then told him that we are going to sweep the Club Championships! Now America knows! See everyone tomorrow, Scott"

Saturday [8/17/2003] We left our apartment at 7:00 am yesterday morning for the race, and didn't get home until 1:00 am. Of course, our first thought was to post some web updates then, but we lacked the energy or coherence to do so. Results from the Club Championships won't be posted until Tuesday. We don't know when results from the Central Park Triathlon will be available, but we imagine it will be soon. We're expecting to receive pictures from the softball game in the next day or two, but for now we can report that Tony Ruiz's team beat our mixed CPTC/Flyers team, by a score of 12-10. At least we think that was the score. We know that Tony's team was leading by a wide margin, until the valiant CPTC/Flyers staged a late inning rally that, alas, fell just short. Since Tony had divided up the teams in the first place, we were not too surprised by this result. There was a second game, but we have no idea how that one turned out, since we weren't really watching. After the game a group of runners adjourned to Devon Martin's roof for BBQ and beer. Lots of fun details to follow soon, unless some hush money is sent our way.
Photos [8/17/2003] The photos from the Club Team Championships are now posted here. There were a lot of people we couldn't recognize. Normally we'd be able to get all the names from the bib numbers, but because the results won't be posted until Tuesday, we can't do that yet. Please don't be offended if you're name is left out; it will be corrected soon. Note that the photo page now includes thumbnails of the photos. If you click on these you can see the full-sized picture. We'll probably stick with this, although we did notice that all the thumbnails of photos taken during the race look pretty much the same.
Club Champs Update [8/15/2003] The races are still on for tomorrow, although schedule changes are possible. The Road Runners Club will decide whether the Club Team Championship will count as such based on the availability of public transportation. We'll try to keep you posted during the rest of the day, but your best bet is to check out the Road Runners website.
Thurdsay Night Road Workout Report [8/15/2003] Knowing this team as we do, we have no doubt that some of our members were at the statue at 7:00 pm ready to run. We were not among them, but if any of them want to send us an account of the workout, we'll be happy to publish it.
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? [8/14/2003] It was an impulse purchase at IKEA. We'd just closed on our new apartment, and we had no furniture for it, so we drove out to Elizabeth, NJ to drop a few hundred dollars on some DIY shelves and cabinets and chairs. And while we were there we saw a bag of 100 tea lights for $4. We have only the one Moravian Tea Star, and we rarely use it, but we needed to have a few candles around for it, so why not have 100? Five and a half months later we're writing this in the glow of 26 tea lights — the only candles to be found in our home. Despite 26's relevance to the marathon (we don't have 2/10 of a candle to add), playing cards (half a deck, which some people think is what we're normally playing with) and the alphabet, we ended up with that number not out of any obsessive compulsive reason, but simply because that was the point at which we had just enough light to eat and write. (For anything more intricate we have a flashlight).

To get to those 26 lights was a bit tricky. Even though a few phone calls and a survey of those radio stations still transmitting quickly established that the blackout affected at least five states and one Canadian province, our boss still kept us until 5:00 pm before accepting that the computers weren't coming back on soon. She wasn't the only one in denial — one attorney actually called us with a project, not realizing that it was more than just his computer that wasn't working. When we finally were released, it was with the understanding that we would all be sharing cabs back to our various homes. Yet, while all the attorneys were quickly whisked away, a great deal of the non-legal staff were left waiting around for cars that never came.

So we walked. And why not? It's only 12 miles; we've run that distance dozens of times. Not with a bag, of course. And usually in proper running shoes. But there was no other option. We went through Bryant Park, Madison Park and Union Square, each filled with hundreds of Manhattanites with nothing to do. We saw a delivery truck with its back open and full of passengers as we approached the Brooklyn Bridge. We saw it again when we reached the Brooklyn side, as the cars were moving slower than the pedestrians. We saw Marty Markowitz out with a bullhorn, welcoming us all back home. And, best of all, we saw a B67 bus. The B67! How we mocked it for its slowness and unreliability while growing up. We would silently laugh at our classmates who stood in wait for it after school while we walked the 10 blocks home along Seventh Avenue, rarely seeing a B67 pass in either direction. But now it was dark, and we'd been walking for an hour and a half, and the bus was right there, so we squeezed into it with all the other human sardines.

Luckily for us it turns out that the B67 not only stops 100 yards from our parents' house, it even goes within five blocks of our new apartment. Others were not so fortunate. "I just got on the first bus I saw," said several passengers hoping to find a transfer that would take them to Bay Ridge or Coney island. For all we know, they're still in transit.

It took us over three hours to get home, where there was nothing to do anyway. Half the food in our fridge will probably spoil (although, admittedly, there isn't much in there). We missed our chance to see Barry Bonds at Shea. And, for the first time in a quarter of a century we looked up at the sky from the middle of New York City and we saw stars, and things suddenly didn't seem that bad.
Welcome New Members [8/13/2003] A big "hi there and hello!" (true New Yorkers will recognize that phrase) to our newest members, Kamal Dahib, Dawn Eggerts, Laura Holtzman, Nathanael Horne, and Sherri Miller. Recruitment points go to Sid Howard (2), John Kenney, Roger Liberman and Zeb Nelessen. Check out the totals for the year on our Recruitment Scoreboard.
Club Championships [8/12/2003] This Saturday is the Club Championships 5-Miler. This is one of our biggest races of the year. It's also a double points race, and one in which the scoring is much deeper than usual (10 open men, 5 open women, 5 masters men, 3 masters women). This is a great chance for members who normally don't score for the team to have an impact, either by scoring, or my preventing runners from other teams from placing as highly as they would otherwise. The current standings are:

Open Men - 3rd place, 15 points behind West Side Runners, 16 points ahead of Greater New York
Open Women - 1st place, 8 points ahead of Warren Street
Masters Men - 1st place, 17 points ahead of The Running Company
Masters Women - 1st place, 18 points ahead of Moving Comfort

With 30 points at stake for the winner, our first place teams have a chance to move far ahead of the competition (yes, officially we don't care about winning, but in reality we think it's great). The women's race starts at 8:00 am, and then men's race is at 8:30. Don't be late! In fact, stop reading this right now, and start getting some rest. Remember, it's the night before the night before that really matters. And the night before the night before the night before counts for something, as does the night before the night before the — you get the picture.

Team Softball Game [8/12/2003] As if the Club Champs isn't excitement enough, we also have our annual team softball game on Saturday afternoon. We'll be playing on field #6 on the Great Lawn, from 2 - 6 pm. Soft drinks will be provided, as will some bats and balls, but if you have any bats, balls, gloves, or any other softball equipment, please bring it with you. Also, e-mail James Siegel at jsieg@nyc.rr.com to let him know what you are biringing, so we can be sure to have enough equipment. Anybody who is available to help bring stuff to the field, and to help set up, should also e-mail James.
Indoor Track and Field Events [8/12/2003] Indoor season is right around the corner. If anyone is interested in the indoor disciplines, please contact Craig Plummer at bodycraig@msn.com. Craig will design a specific training program for members in the floowing indoor field events: hurdles, shot put, long jump, high jump, triple jump, pole vault, and hammer throw.
Tuesday Night Downtown Track Workout Report [8/12/2003] No threat of flooding this week. It wasn't even raining! At least it wasn't raining water; there were a lot of soccer balls flying onto the track. We have no problem with people playing soccer (football, if you insist) in the infield, but couldn't they at least learn to aim before they try kicking the ball at high speed in the general direction of the goal (and our heads)? Luckily the field was soon taken over by a league game, and we had only to watch out for the normal, slow-rolling soccer balls sent towards the track by the small group practicing behind the south goal. But enough about soccer. We are a running club, which means we run. But first we listen to Coach Tony talk about running, which today was mostly congratulating our members on recent races (Nationals, NYC ~~triathlon~~ duathlon, etc.), and then warning us not to run today's workout too fast. After all, we're only four days away from the Club Championships, and we want all our members to be ready to race on Saturday.

So what happened when the workout started? Well, the B group was too large and disorganized, so it split into two subgroups. Then each subgroup ran too fast. The workout was 6x600m at 5k pace, followed by 3x300m at finishing speed. Tony was very clear about running this at actual 5k pace, not at 3k pace or at what we all usually pretend is our 5k pace. But unless a lot of our training partners are routinely running 16:35 and hiding their results, we think they may have been running a bit fast tonight (yes, that includes us). Maybe we'll see some breakthough performances this weekend.

Special thanks to this week's timers, John Kerner, Yves-Marc Courtines, Frank Morton, and uptown girl Mary Diver, fresh from Nationals, where she improved her 5k time by 40 seconds, and her mile time by 15 seconds over last year's results. We're worried, though, that some dark force may have scared the middle distance crew away from their northern oasis. In addition to Frank and Mary, Harry Lichtenstein, Kim Mannen, and Frank Handelman all made cameo appearances at the Sixth Stree Track. We even got to hear Frank and Tony reminisce about the old days, when they ran lots of fast races at strange distances like 3.35 miles (once around Prospect Park) and 10.28 miles (twice around the lower '5-mile' loop in Central Park).

WEEK OF AUGUST 5, 2003 - AUGUST 11, 2003

Good Help Is Hard To Find [8/11/2003] Here is your chance to help a runner and yourself (or family or friend). College degreed Physical Ed. teach and Track & Field Coach is looking for a full-time live-in or live-out position in the metro area caring for children or an elderly person. This good-natured reliable lady is fluent in Spanish and has great references (including our own World and National Champion Sid Howard). Imagine having your kids become multi-sport proficient and bi-lingual as a bonus to great care!! Call A.C. at 914-396-1130.
Watch Your Language! [8/11/2003] Last week we rendered a common vulgarity as f**k to avoid offending any readers with delicate sensibilities. It seems we needn't have bothered, as the word in question is apparantly fit for discussion even in the hallowed halls of justice. After a Colorado teenager was charged with "interfering with the staff, faculty, or students of an educational institutional" for using several variations of the "F-word" in a tirade against his school's principal, the teen's public defender, Eric Vanatta, filed a Motion to Dismiss, in which he cited the etymological and legal history of the word to show that its use is protected by the First Amendment. Alas, a verdict on the word was avoided when the teen accepted an ACD (Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal, in which the prosecution is delayed for a time — in this case four months — after which the charges are dropped as long as the defendant has not gotten into any new trouble in that time period). For those who are interested, the brief is available on the website, The Smoking Gun. The definitive study of the word remains Jesse Sheidlower's The F-Word.
It's a Bird; It's a Plane; it's a Marathon! [8/11/2003] A friend of Scott Johnson is organizing the "Superman Race,"a super-challenging trail marathon on August 23 in Vermont. It can be done solo or as a team. For more info, go to www.peak.com/superman, or e-mail Joe DiSenna at JDeSena@BurlingtonUSA.com.
Size Matters [8/11/2003] We don't make this stuff up (we couldn't, even if we tried), we just print it. From ic The Wharf:

TRI NO1'S BREASTS 'TOO BIG'
Aug 7 2003
Sam Lyon

This year's Docklands London Triathlon winner had to change her Lycra kit because her breasts made the sponsor's logo too large.

Jodie Swallow's 5ft 7in curvy frame stretches the Buzz recruitment agency advert beyond the permitted 5cm regulation height on her chest.

"It did not enter my mind that the logo might be a problem," said Jodie. "Someone else made a problem where there wasn't one."

The 22-year-old has been threatened with being chucked out of a World Cup event if she competes in the same grippy gear.

She has since had new costumes made with a smaller, 4cm, recruitment agency logo.

But the International Triathlon Union intends to measure the logo on Jodie's chest at events with a tape measure to ensure it does not break the regulations.

Jodie Swallow placed 7th in last weekend's NYC Triathlon, apparently without committing any new fashion faux pas.

Medical Study [8/11/2003] Attention CPTC Women: Marsha K. Guess, M.D. and Kathleen Connell, M.D., two ob-gyns at Montefiore Medical Center who are doing a study on the effects of frequent bicycle riding on sexual function, are still looking for members of female club runners to participate. (We're the control group). If you cycle some, it's okay — just as long as we're not talking 100-200 miles-per-week. A little cross-training on the side won't D.Q. you. For two hours of participation you can earn $50. The test dates are August 22-24. If you're interested, please contact Dr. Guess as soon as conveniently possible at 718-920-2220 or 718-920-6326 or at mguess@montefiore.org.

— Stacy Creamer

Rock and Ride [8/10/2003] Our very own Paul Carbonara is interviewed by our very own Jonathan Cane in this month's Metro Sports about how he balances cycling and running with his job playing guitar for Blondie. One of his rules: never ride more than 80 miles before a show.
Save the Bicycles [8/10/2003] The current draft of the Federal Transportation Appropriations bill calls for eliminating all spending on bike paths and walkways, and cuts spending on everything other than highways (which would get a $2.5 billion increase). Congressional Republicans claim the cuts are necessary to avoid deficits (although they keep defending deficit spending in various other fields), but we suspect they are motivated more by an automobile-centric view of the world. To learn more, or to get involved with restoring this funding, check out the Adventure Cycling Association.
Masters [8/10/2003] Fresh off CPTC's success at the World Masters Competition in Puerto Rico, our runners have added two gold medals and two bronze medals at the Masters Nationals in Oregon. Devon Martin sent us the details:

Sid Howard won two gold medals. In Saturday's 800m he took the lead with 500m to go and never looked back. On Sunday, in the 1500m he took the lead with one lap to go, but then was soon passed by two competitors. He reclaimed the lead with 200m to go and wons by two seconds! Meanwhile, after a brutal preliminary round of negative splits on Thursday (63 and then a 60), Chris Potter came back 2 days later to pop a PR with a time of 1:59.7, running perfect splits of :28, 59, 1:27, 1:59. He led the race for the first 500m — a bit gutsy, but it had to be done 'cause the field was going out too slow. In a battle for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th places, Potter snagged the bronze, beating Chris Yorges, who won last year's gold. Also, James Sutton ran a great race from the start, and hung on for third, and Mary Diver dropped 40 seconds from last year's time in the 500m!

Upsets [8/09/2003] First Funny Cide finished third last Sunday. Now Tim Montgomery didn't even make the finals in the 100m. What's happening to our champions? Whatever it is, we're sure it won't affect CPTC at the Club Champs next week.
Play the Hand You're Dealt [8/09/2003] Our first weekend in a while with internet access, and we figured we wouldn't be able to use it since we were going to take over auntie's beach house while she's out of town. And then we get the type of forecast that leads otherwise sane men to start collecting two of each animal. So much for the beach, since there's nothing to do out there when it rains. Of course we haven't made any plans for the weekend, since we didn't expect to be around, and now it's Friday and we're staring at an empty weekend, with only chores to fill the time. So we call up our old roommate, Shame (not his real name), because he's usually around for the weekend, and he invitites us to come over and play Civilization: The Board Game on Saturday. We've always liked the Civilization computer games, so we figure this could be fun, and what else are we going to do on a rainy afternoon? Of course, when we get there today the other guys who were supposed to come over aren't there, and it's just us and Shame and his brother and a girl the brother went to high school with and nobody's really that interested in playing Civ. But they are up for poker.

We've been playing poker with these guys for a while. It used to be dealer's choice, and we'd all try to outdo each other in picking a more bizarre, complicated game, usually something with a bunch of wild cards and passing cards and eight or ten rounds of betting. Then we chucked all that and started playing No-Limit Texas Hold 'Em, tournament style, just like they play in the World Series of Poker. Of course this isn't a $10,000 buy-in at Binion's; rather a $10 or $20 game sitting on the floor around somebody's coffee table, but the idea is still the same. A quick primer on Hold 'Em, for those readers who aren't among the 135 million poker players on this planet: Each player antes and is dealt two cards, face down, and there is a round of betting. To guarantee that some betting takes place, the player to the left of the dealer is the "small blind" and the next player is the "big blind." These two players are forced to bet before even seeing their cards, with the big blind twice the value of the small. Any other player who wants to stay in has to bet as much as the big blind. Then, three cards are flipped over (called "the flop"), and there's another round of betting. One more card is flipped ("the turn" or "fourth street") and another round of betting ensues. A final card is flipped ("the river" or "fifth street") and a last round of betting occurs. Each player then makes the best five-card hand he can out of his two cards and the five community cards that have just been dealt, and the top hand wins.

Today we each buy in for $10. You want the wagers to be enough that it's worth playing for, but not so much that anybody will mind losing it. The $10 is probably a little low, since we can drop that on one drink at one of the fancier bars in Manhattan, but we take things seriously regardless of how small the pot is. We're playing tight, and so is Shame, 'cause that's our style. The brother's playing reckless, as usual, and the girl's playing stupid, as she just learned the game an hour ago. Playing stupid never works well, and being reckless is only good when you also get lucky, but the cards aren't breaking his way tonight and pretty soon they're both out and it's us and Shame, and we're on the short stack (fewer chips). But this is No-Limit, so leads can fluctuate quickly, and we grab a big pot to take a small lead, and then it's whittled away in a couple of small pots, and there are way too many hands where one of us just throws it in before the flop. And then we're about $5 lower than Shame and it's our deal, and we've got the Ace of Clubs and Queen of Hearts.

Shame goes first, and he calls the blind. If he had anything good he would have raised us, so we just call him, as we don't want to force him out yet before we've gotten some real money out of him. The flop comes Ace of Hearts, King of Hearts and Jack of Hearts. So we've go the high pair (aces), and A, K, Q, J of hearts, giving us a good chance at a straight, flush, or straght flush. Shame bets first and he adds $5 to the buck-fifty currently in the pot. He didn't start with much, so we're figuring him for a face card, and probably a heart, so he's betting on the middle pair or a flush draw, and he's trying to force us out before we get a better hand. Of course we've got a better pair and a better flush draw, so we quickly call and go all in with our last $10. If he had any sense he'd drop now, but he calls. All our money is in the pot, which means there can't be any more betting, so we each show our hands and he's got the 9 and 5 of Hearts, giving him the flush already. What the hell was he doing staying in with that cheap hand? Now we're wishing that we'd forced him out before the flop, but at least there's two cards left, and if one of them's a Heart we've got a better flush. The turn come up Ace of Diamonds, and now we've got three Aces. Now we need another Ace (for four Aces), or a King, Queen or Jack (for a full house), or any heart (for a better flush than he has). We get none of the above, but rather a low spade, no good to anyone, and the game's over. Since we finished second we get our $10 backs. Break even again; we might as well just play Monopoly.
NYC Triathlon Modification [8/08/2003] Due to unexpected heavy rain, the swim portion of this Sunday's NYC Triathlon has been cancelled. Water quality tests have proven the heavy rain has caused the Hudson River to be unsafe. The race has been changed to a duathlon, featuring a 5k run, followed by the originally planned 40k bike, and final 10k run. To accomodate these changes, the start time for age group athletes has been moved to 6:30a.m. We smam in the Hudson once during heavy rain, and the water was disgusting. Be glad that you won't have to duplicate that experience.
Thursday Night Road Workout Report [8/08/2003] Hot and humid, but still 47 people showed up. It would have been 48, but Andrea Haver had to pick up a giant mascot costume, and made it only at the end of the workout. The middle distance workout page encouraged some of the track runners to join us, which explains the rare appearances by Frank Handelman and Harry Lichtenstein. Sarah Rivlin was there for her last workout before moving back to Princeton, NJ, but she promised to join the team if she moves back to NYC. Of course, compared to Florida, Ohio, England and Hong Kong, Princeton isn't at all far from Central Park.

Only a few announcements this week; just reminders about the Club Team Championships and the team softball game, both next Saturday. Everyone should run in this. Even if you don't score any points, you you could push some other teams runner back a spot, and help the team out that way. Or you can show up and cheer people on. Audrey Kingsley recited the workout, and cautioned against starting out too fast when you'll need to save some energy for the last mile.. Then, for no discernible reason, Tony Ruiz repeated the workout, although it took him twice as long. For those who missed both rendtions, we'll summarize the basics here: Warm up, 1 mile at 10 mile pace, recover, 2 miles at 10k pace, recover, 1 mile at 5 mile pace. We didn't do any of it, since we raced again Wednesday (after skipping the Tuesday track workout — which did take place after all — we felt obligated to run the Summer Speed series), so we stuck to our own light jog for recovery. We noticed that a number of people who did run the workout either omitted the last mile, or ran it slower than their earlier intervals. Tsk, tsk; that's just what Audrey and Tony had warned them not to do.
Mystery Runner [8/08/2003] I noticed the following result in the first heat of the 800m:

4 Metcalf, Tate M35 Central Park TC 2:07.72q

But wait! Who is Tate Metcalf? I talked to Devon today and she mentioned another CPTC person in the 800, and couldn't figure out who he was. Is it possible that even Devon, our middle distance coach, doesn't know a top 800 meter runner on CPTC? Could he have joined the club in the last week?

A search of the CPTC website can't find him mentioned anywhere. But a search of the world wide web finds him very quickly. He's a track coach at Mountain View high school and member of the Central OREGON Track Club.

Obviously a typo, but it shows that even in Oregon, the Central Park Track Club is better known than the Central Oregon Track Club.

— Frank Morton
Around the World Update #4 [8/08/2003] We are now in our 7th week of travel, i.e. in the second half of our Latin American trip. We are now in Belem and we will take the boat tomorrow to travel the Amazon, before reaching Bolivia.

Holiday at the beach ended around 10 days ago with Jericoacoara and the real adventure has started. Things have gotten much more difficult: bus schedules are purely indicative, tourism offices are useless, travel guidebooks are often too evasive (or wrong), food is strange, people are poorer and less educated. Tourists are rare around here...

Jericoacoara
Jericoacoara is one of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil. There, the young and riches from Fortaleza, the closest big city, mix with backpackers from all over the world, attracted by the beauty of the site. Apart from windsurfing and partying, the main activity consists of sunset watching. By 5:30 PM, hundreds of young people climb the highest dune in silence, almost religiously, and only break the silence by clapping their hands when the sun goes down, to applaud the splendor. Then everybody runs down the dunes, surfs it or rolls down and scatter in the village bars. La, tout n'est qu'ordre et beaute, luxe, calme et volupte, as Beaudelaire said. A very special place, a place where we know we'll come back some time, se Deus quiser.

Jericoacoara to Barreirinhas
(just for fun, to give you an idea of the transportation means)

July 28: Jericoacoara-Camucim: a magnificent 2:30 buggy trip through dunes, lagunes and mangroves, with a couple of boat traverses. Then, a 5-hour wait in Camucim, to take a bus to Parnaiba, a 2:30 trip on a terrible road.

July 29: Parnaiba-Tutoia: 4:00 trip again on a terrible road, followed by a 1:30 trip on a 4-wheel drive truck through dunes and villages, to reach the lost village of Paulinas Neves.

July 30: 2:30 truck trip starting at 6 AM from Paulinas Neves to our destination, Barreirinhas.

A truck trip is an adventure in itself. First, either you wake up at 6:30 AM to take a truck scheduled for 8 AM and you take off at 11:30 AM, or you hurry your breakfast at 9 AM for another truck scheduled for 10 AM that actually leaves at 1 PM (we had both). Then, you travel packed like in a sardines can with people and food. These trucks are usually used as the only transportation means for food delivery, so expect to travel between eggs, ice, fish (the worst) and sodas. They invariably get stuck in sand at some time. They always go through water and you always get wet. A 2 hour trip takes 4 hours. Your butt is like marmelade after 10 minutes, the heat is unbearable, and... we find it funny!

The Lencois
From Barreirinhas one can reach the Lencois. The Lencois are white sand dunes that looks like sheets (lencois means sheets). In the middle of the sand there are blue and green lagoons with some patches of vegetation. The water and the dunes are moved by strong winds. Being there, isolated from everybody, is a special moment.

Around Barreirinhas there are different things to see and do, and we had some fun time staying at a minuscule fishermen village and eating at someone's place (the only 'restaurant'), taking a fisherman boat at 4:30 AM, and eating the best shrimps ever (yes, I know, food again).

Sao Luis
The city of Sao Luis was another stop in the Maranhao State. African influence is very strong as it was also a point of entry of slaves from Africa, and we found again capoeira, candomble and African food there. The historic part of the city is under renovation (and will remain so for a few more years at least) so it felt a little like a ghost city, as almost nobody lives there. Sao Luis is famous for all its festivals; unfortunately, we only saw a very short representation of one of them, the Bumba meu Boi.

Belem
Reaching Belem meant a lot to us, at it is the entry to the Amazon. This city is so different from Sao Luis. It is very lively and spacious; there are wide avenues lined with high trees, many nice squares; some of the docks were reconverted into trendy restaurants. All this reminded us of Buenos Aires.

However, Belem is charaterised by its Indian influence — in that sense very different from Buenos Aires. The market 'ver-o-peso' is a place where Indians sell, beyond exotic fruits and fish, powders extracted from roots, plants and other things, to cure any kind of deseases or problems. This is not a tourist attraction, but the remainder of the indigenous traditions and knowledge.

More on the Amazon next time. Finding an internet connection has become a challenge recently, so be patient!

— Anne Lavandon & Olivier Baillet
Beware of Hot Dog [8/07/2003] I take offense!! Hot Dog... The Movie is one of my guilty pleasures (bearing in mind that I have an M.A. in Radio-TV-Film and should theoretically have some degree of taste). It's a movie about two things: skiing and sex. It does both extremely well.

Plus, it features one of my all-time favorite lines. When the Japanese guy, who has spoken only Japanese the entire film, is told he will have a chance to win the trophy for his team in a "Chinese downhill," he responds, "Whatta f**k i' Chinese downhill?" Now I grant this is not as wonderful as my absolute fave, Mr. Stoller (Paul Dooley) proclaiming "I want American food, damn it. I want french fries!" But on the other hand, Breaking Away didn't have Shannon Tweed naked in a hot tub, either.

Just my two cents.

— John Prather

[Editor's Note: While we have no personal objections to the use of profanity, even at its most excessive (our favorite movie lines are from Blazing Saddles), we do not want this site to run afoul of any overly sensitive filtering software, thereby depriving children everywhere of the pearls of wisdom dispensed here. We trust that any minors who are reading this will, of course, have no idea what the word with the asterisks in the middle is, and have no plans to rush out and rent Hot Dog, or any of the other works in the Shannon Tweed oeuvre (which the great film critic Al Bundy once summarized as "Night Eyes 2, Night Eyes 3, and every fantasy I've had since I got Cinemax.")]
It's Not the Heat, It's the Humidity [8/07/2003] Well sometimes it is the heat. And a lot of the time it's both. Whatever it is that's making it feel so unpleasant running outdoors in the summer, Toby Tanser has some tips on how to adapt in his latest article for Metrosports, H3O: Heat, Humidity and How to Cope.
Club Championships and Softball Game [8/07/2003] The all-important Club Championships 5-mile race takes place in Central Park on Saturday, August 16th (Women 8:00 am, Men 8:30 am). Three of our teams (Women's Open, Men's Masters and Women's Maters) are currently in first place and this double-points race will go a long way in deciding whether we win these overall titles at the end of the year. This is the most competitive race on the NYRR schedule, and as a competitive running club we encourage all of our runners to participate.

Of course, we do like to be a social running club as well, so in the afternoon we have our traditional softball game at the Great Lawn, field #6, 2pm-6pm. Please bring along any gloves, bats and balls which you may have. Soft drinks will be provided.
Prospect Park 4-Miler [8/07/2003] Those of you not doing this Sunday's NYC Triathlon may want to head over to Brooklyn for the Prospect Park Track Club's 4 Mile race. We're happy to report that the organizers have designed a course the omits the large hill entirely.
Speed Demons [8/07/2003] It's bad enough that cars are even in the park, but now a survey by Transportation Alternatives shows that 90% of drivers in the park speed. In fact, 22% of the motorists exceed the 30 mph speed limit by at least 10 mph. Enough is enough. Get the cars out of the park already.
Revenge of the '80s [8/06/2003] We had to pick-up a couple of things at Best Buy yesterday. It took about 30 seconds to find the items we needed, and then 30 minutes to browse the DVD section before escaping without spending any additional money. (We're still not sure how we ended up buying twice as many DVD's in the last year as we had video tapes in the 10 years before we got a DVD player.) We almost succumbed, though, to a special offer: buy the new special editions of The Sure Thing and Valley Girl, and get one other '80s flick free. Luckily the free movies were far less tempting, featuring such "classics" as Hot Dog and Breakin'. Now, if they had offered Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo...
Did You See That? [8/06/2003] "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king," goes the old adage. Hail then, to Max McLeary, professional umpire in the independent Frontier League, who lost his right eye 25 years ago. That still leaves him with one eye more than the job seems to require.
10k Race [8/05/2003] A friend of Stacy Creamer is organizing the Simon's General Store 10K in Ancram, NY on October 5. All proceeds go to benefit the Ancram Preservation Group, Inc., a non-profit organization formed in 1994 to preserve the historic buildings in the Town of Ancram. This could be a great chance to run through the fall foliage in all its splendor.
Casting Calls [8/05/2003] Casting director Anna Zantiotis is looking for runners to be in a a Nike ad. If you are interested, contact her at 917.690.1866. Also, Maura Tight is trying to find straight male candidates for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. She says, “The shooting of Season Two aligns with the running of the NYC Marathon, so finding a male who is running his first marathon would make a great story.” You can contact her at:

Maura Tighe
Casting Director-The Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
142 Berkeley Street
Boston, MA 02116
617-424-6805
maura@tigheanddoyle.com

Tuesday Night Downtown Track Workout Report [8/05/2003] Oh, no. You can only fool us once. After the flooding two weeks ago, we knew better than to waste our time heading over to the flooded track. Not that we're sure it was flooded, but we figured it was a pretty safe bet that, whatever condition the track was in, we probably wouldn't want to run on it. Instead we went home, called up tech support again, and spent about an hour on the phone getting our DSL service to finally work, a mere two weeks after we first got the equipment for it. For reasons we don't quite understand, our modem stopped functioning properly once the line was set up for DSL service, so we've had no home internet access for the past 15 days. Since we have only sporadic access at work, this has made it rather difficult to keep this site current. But no longer!!! We've had high speed access for several hours now, and, after a little online gambling, some porn, a few msuic downloads, and all sorts of other on-line frivolity, we started addressing the numerous updates needed on this site, and quickly concluded that there was no way we were going to get through them all tonight. That means y'all'll have to wait another day or two for photos from the 150-mile relay and Olivier Baillet's Round-the-World Trip. In the meantime, we offer you the July access statistics, courtesy of our Hong Kong Correspondent.
Sunday Morning Uptown Track Workout Report [8/05/2003] Humidity, sun, heat, good thing it was only 10 AM, for a small middle distance group interval quickie of 800, 600, 400, 300, 200.

Welcome back to Charlotte Cutler from her 5 weeks of calf injury, and to Jessica Reifer from her 5 week knee injury and soccer season. With Kim Mannen and Devon Martin thrown in the mix, too bad there was no one else around to provide a competitive relay challenge for a change of pace workout (not counting the 4 men present whose average age almost equaled half their IQ).

On the Mars side of the equation, Frank McConville's timing was a tease as he gracefully strided between the alternating sides of the track for the respective 200 splits and the finishes for Mrs. (Kim) McConville and the rest of the group. Now if we could only get Kim to light his competitive fire....

David Pullman graced us with one of his last interval workouts before moving to Los Angeles this month, where he is pledged to continue our West Coast Annex-Team-In-Exile. Although he will have a 3000 mile commute for team workouts, perhaps we could grant him some excused absences in exchange for the issuance of a Pullman derivative bond on our future team medals.