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Week of November 29, 2005 - December 5, 2005

Photos
December 4, 2005

We'v posted the first set of photos from the NYC Marathon, specifically those we took in Brooklyn. Lots more to come from the Wall of Orange, the finish line, and the post-race party. Speaking of parties and photos: those of you who took photos at the Awards Dinner last night, please send them to us so we can post them. You know who you are, and, more importantly, we know who you are, too.

Hall of Famers
December 4, 2005

Frank Handelman gave the following speech at yesterday's awards dinner:

We all know we have great coaches, but did you know they had tremendous running careers in school?

When Tony Ruiz joined our team, he was about 20 years old, and was lightning fast. Do you know that Tony ran the 800m in 1:51 and the mile in 4:10?

And did you know that Devon Martin, our track and cross-country coach, ran the mile in 4:37 — not the 1500m; the mile — and qualified for the 1992 United States Olympic Trials in the 1500m?

Columbia University has just announced its inaugural inductees into the Columbia University Athletic Hall of Fame — 27 people representing over 150 years of history. They include Lou Gehrig, the Iron Horse of the Yankees; Sid Luckman, the Hall of Fame quarterback who led the Chicago Bears to their famous 73-0 win over the Washington Redskins in the 1940 NFL title game; and Cristina Teuscher, who won an Olympic gold medal in swimming for the United States.

And only two track and field and cross country athletes in that whole long history. One was Ben Johnson — no, not that Ben Johnson, but the Ben Johnson who ran for Columbia in the mid-1930s. And exactly one female track athlete — who competed for Columbia in the late 1980s, was All-Ivy League and All-East, and held the school cross-country record at Van Cortlandt Park for over 20 years — has been elected to the inaugural class of the Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame: our coach, my coach — Devon Martin.

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The Central Park Track Club is now 33 years old. We have had thousands of members, and literally hundreds over the years who have enjoyed the highest level of athletic success. We have also had many members who contributed immeasurably to the development, leadership and spirit of the team.

Among all these great runners and leaders, one person truly stands out. Imagine a college basketball team where one person was the starting point guard, the team manager, and president of the booster club. imagine such a person.

Since turning 60, he has set one world and five American records, won three world and seven American championships, and has twice been named masters age-group athlete of the year. And just yesterday he was elected to the United States Track and Field Masters Hall of Fame, the first CPTC member to be so honored. He is our starting point guard, my training partner, and my own particular role model — Sid Howard.

Correction: Devon Martin ran 4:15.96 for the 1500m, which is the equivalent of 4:36.18 for the mile.

New Pages
December 4, 2005

We received two requests for new pages today. A few people suggested a page where members could list all the injuries they've suffered from, along with their advice on how to overcome those injuries. And another person asked: "Is there a webpage for marriage proposals to Katy Masselam?" The first page sounds like a lot of work, but the second one we could do pretty easily if enough of you demand it.

2005 CPTC Award Winners
December 4, 2005

Congratulations to our 2005 award winners.

CPTC AWARDS
C (Consistency): Brad Weiss
P (Participation): Michael Rosenthal
T (Tenacity): Allison McCabe
C (Competitiveness): Tom Phillips

TRACK AWARDS
Most Improved Track & XC Performer: John Roberts
Best Sprinter: Kobie Fuller
Best Middle Distance: Amerigo Rossi
Best Master: Neil Fitzgerald
Track Performance of the Year: Jeff Williams
MVP Track & XC: Kate Irvin

ROAD AWARDS
Multi-Sports Athlete of the Year: Margaret Schotte
Ultra-Marathoner of the Year: Stefani Jackenthal
Rookie of the Year: Steven Monte
Most Improved Performer: Russell Pfeffer
Comeback of the Year: Jeff Wilson
Women’s Masters - Short Distance: Stacy Creamer
Women’s Masters - Long Distance: Yumi Ogita
Men’s Masters – Short Distance: Mike Trunkes
Men’s Masters – Long Distance: Stuart Calderwood
Women’s Open - Short Distance: Lauren Esposito
Women’s Open - Long Distance: Kathryn Masselam
Men’s Open – Short Distance: Joe Tumbarello
Men’s Open – Long Distance: Thomas McCarney
Performance of the Year: Andrea Haver
Most Valuable Performer: Alan Ruben

SPECIAL AWARDS
To Celebrate her induction into the Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame (Inaugural Class): Devon Martin
To Celebrate his Induction into the USATF Masters Hall of Fame: Sid Howard

Race Winner
December 2, 2005

Congratulations to Felice Kelly, who won the Eileen Shea Lupton Memorial Foundation 5K on Saturday. She comments: "Please note, my slow finish time is due to the fact that the race course was at least 5.2K." Since she beat the second-place woman by over three minutes, we think she didn't run slow enough, as she could have won the race while still conserving more energy for other races. Or at least for Saturday's party.

If Only Someone Had Taken Us Up On This Bet
December 2, 2005

Back in August we posted this:

$20 Says This Story Will Be Real Within Two Years
August 16, 2005

From The Onion: Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory

Last week, the Times Week in Review published excerpts from some textbooks published by Bob Jones Univeristy, including this one from "Physics for Christian Schools" :

Some people have developed the idea that higher mathematics and science have little to do with the Bible or Christian life. They think that because physics deals with scientific facts, or because it is not pervaded with evolutionary ideas, there is no need to study it from a Christian perspective. This kind of thinking ignores a number of important facts to the Christian: First, all secular science is pervaded by mechanistic, naturalistic and evolutionistic philosophy. Learning that the laws of mechanics as they pertain to a baseball in flight are just the natural consequences of the way matter came together denies the wisdom and power of our Creator God. ... Second, physics as taught in the schools of the world contradicts the processes that shaped the world we see today. Trying to believe both secular physics and the Bible leaves you in a state of confusion that will weaken your faith in God's Word.

Recap of the 2005 Outdoor and Indoor Seasons
December 2, 2005

Over 55 Lifetime PRs by 24 different people.....and more if you count all the XC and road races......

These are the Highlights of the 2005 Outdoor & Indoor Seasons only for the Middle Distance & Sprint Group (masters, submasters and open athletes). However, I've also included a few outstanding track performances from the distance crew (way to go Coach Tony!).

Outdoor Performances on the CPTC all-time lists:

400m
Yuri Nosenko
Sekou Dilday

800m
Jeff Williams
Kate Irvin
Amerigo Rossi
Allison McCabe
Yuri Nosenko

1500m
Kate Irvin
Andrea Haver
Allison McCabe
Atilla Sabahoglu
Filip Jagodzinski

Mile
Neil Fitzgerald

3k
Kate Irvin
Allison McCabe
Atilla Sabahoglu
Sean Fortune

5k
Andrea Haver
Kate Irvin

8k
Andrea Haver

LIFETIME PR:

John Affleck
4 mile 22:44

Leon Brown
800m 2:08.1

Glen Carnes
1500m 4:16.8 (dropping 7 seconds)
5k 16:46.5

Andrea Costella
mile 5:19 (dropping 16 seconds from last year)

Lauren Esposito
5k 18:16.38

Neil Fitzgerald
1500m 4:07.34 (dropping 21 seconds from the beginning of outdoors!)
mile 4:21.1 (dropping 13 seconds from last year's 5th Avenue mile)

Sean Fortune
800m 2:04.1
1500m 4:14.9
3k 8:57.7 (dropping 19 seconds)
5k 16:21.5 (dropping 23 seconds from last year)
4 mile 21:11

Joe Garland
mile 4:59.08

Andrea Haver
1500m 4:39.4 (dropping 6 seconds since college)
5k 16:56.88 (a PR by almost 1 minute)
8k 27:53.8 (dropping 1:30 minute from last year)

Kate Irvin
800m 2:10.9
1500m 4:26.91 (8 seconds off her college time)
mile 4:50.1 (dropping 8 seconds off her Indoor PR earlier this year)
3k 9:55.2 (16 seconds off her college time)
5k 17:46

Felice Kelly
1500m 5:18.4 (dropping 7 seconds from earlier in the season)
steeple 13:17.12

Scott Johnson
1500m 5:18.4

Allison McCabe
3k 10:16.8

Yuri Nosenko
400m 49.65
800m 1:54.82

Sue Pearsall
3.5mi 22:52

Chris Potter
800m 1:59.53

John Roberts
mile 4:22 (dropping 12 seconds since beginning of indoors)
5k 15:44 .75 (dropping 25 seconds since college)

Atilla S
1500m 4:01.52
5k 14:44.02 (dropping 12 seconds)
steeple 9:24.32 (dropping 19 seconds)

Brad Weiss
marathon 2:47.05 (dropping 10 minutes on NYC course)

Jeff Williams
800m 1:52.06

SEASON PR

John Affleck
800m 2:08

Alberta Anderson
400m 66.2

Anthony Baker
800m 2:45.67

Evan Bass Zeisel
200m 22.97

Joe Bolster
800m 2:18.6
1500m 4:48.2

Alston Brown
mile 4:46

Leon Brown
400m 55.3

Steve Burgess
800m 2:00.30

Jeremy Busch
800m 2:03.6

Stuart Calderwood
mile 4:50
5k 16:40
marathon 2:41

Andrea Costella
1500m 4:59.20

Stacy Creamer
mile 5:33

Sekou Dilday
400m 49.69

Frank Handelman
800m 2:23.42

Doug Hertler
400m 54.00
800m 2:07.03

Otto Hoering
mile 4:53

Sid Howard
800m 2:24.61 (dropping 7 seconds from the beginning of outdoors)
1500m 5:00.27 (dropping 5 seconds the beginning of outdoors)

Neil Fitzgerald
200m 24.50
800m 1:56.97 (dropping 9 seconds from the beginning of outdoors)

Kobie Fuller
200m 21.58
400m 48.02

John Gleason
1500m 5:13.2

Filip Jagodzinski
800m 1:55.60

Scott Johnson
1500m 5:24.6

Gladstone Jones
800m 1:59.93
mile 4:30

Ardian Krasniqi
200m 24.53
400m 53

Devon Martin
400m 63.9 (relay split from 2 watches -- 65.2 from Frank's)
800m 2:24.9 (dropping 7 seconds from the beginning of outdoors)

Allison McCabe
800m 2:18.16
mile 5:03.3
1500m 4:41.58

Tom McCarney
5k 16:04.00

Steve Monte
5k 17:23.79 (dropping 12 seconds from the prior month)
marathon 2:41.20

Chris Price
800m 2:08 (dropping 4 seconds from indoors)

Chris Potter
400m 53:8

Alan Ruben
5k 16:26

Amerigo Rossi
800m 1:52.88
1500m 3:51.78

John Roberts
3k 9:05.96

Mary Rosado
mile 6:30
steeple 10:23.60

Dan Seidel
5k 16:56

Mike Trunkes
5k 15:56.07 (dropping 45+ seconds from earlier in the year)
10k 32:57.85

Joe Tumbarello
5k 16:11.09

Jeff Williams
400m 48.4 relay split

EMPIRE STATE GAMES

GOLD MEDAL
1500m Glen Carnes (35-39)
1500m John Affleck (40-44)
5k Norman Goluskin (65-69)
10k Norman Goluskin (65-69)

MEET RECORD FOR 1500m at Empire State Games
Glen Carnes (35-39)
John Affleck (40-44)

USATF Club National Championship (Open)

400m
4th place Kobie Fuller

800m
4th place Kate Irvin
5th place Jeff Williams
7th place Allison McCabe

1500m
2nd place Kate Irvin
7th place Allison McCabe

Steeplechase
2nd place Lisa Sandoval
3rd place Felice Kelly
3rd place Atilla Sabahoglu
4th place Alberta Anderson
6th place Mary Rosado

5k
2nd place Atilla Sabahoglu
5th place Lauren Esposito

DMR
2nd place women
3rd place men

4 x 800m
2nd place women
3rd place men "A"
6th place men "B"

Sprint Medley
2nd place men (just missed 1st place and meet record by .61)
5th place women

4 x 400m
5th place women
8th place men

4 x 100m
4th place women
9th place men

USATF Masters Outdoor National Championship

GOLD MEDAL
800m Sid Howard (65-69)
1500m Sid Howard (65-69)

SILVER MEDAL
Steeple Mary Diver (50-54)

WORLD MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIP (Spain)

GOLD MEDAL
800m Neil Fitzgerald (35-39)

BRONZE MEDAL
Steeple Mary Rosado (50-54)

4th place
800m Chris Potter (40-44)
Sid Howard (65-69)
1500m Neil Fitzgerald (35-39)

5th place
1500m Sid Howard (65-69)

6th place
1500m Mary Rosado (65-59)

8th place
5k Mike Trunkes (45-49)

WORLD MASTERS GAMES (Canada)

GOLD MEDAL
800m Devon Martin (35-39)

SILVER MEDAL
1500m Devon Martin (35-39)

PENN RELAYS

Olympic Development Mile
8th place Kate Irvin
10th place Allison McCabe

Olympic Development 5k
8th place Andrea Haver

4 x 400m Relay
2nd Place 40+

4th Place 50+

RECAP OF INDOORS

Performances on the CPTC all-time lists:

400m
Micah Adriani
Kate Irvin

800m
Andrea Haver
Allison McCabe
Amerigo Rossi
Yuri Nosenko

Mile
Amerigo Rossi

3k
Sarah Rivlin

LIFETIME PR:

John Affleck
3k 9:40.6

Glen Carnes
800m 2:03.89 (dropping 5 seconds)
mile 4:33.93

Andrea Costella
mile 5:21.6 (dropping 14 seconds from last year)

Sean Fortune
mile 4:31.3

Andrea Haver
800m 2:18.2 (dropping 4 seconds)
mile 4:55.0 (Indoor PR)

Otto Hoering
mile 4:45

Kate Irvin
1200m 3:32.41
800m 2:15.48 (Indoor PR)
1500m 4:37.17 (Indoor PR)
mile 4:58.8 (Indoor PR)

Jesse Lansner
800m 2:11.44 (dropping 5 seconds)

Roger Lieberman
mile 5:50.9

Sue Pearsall
mile 5:45.2 (dropping 7 seconds from last year)

Chris
800m 2:00.74 (Indoor PR)
mile 4:36.35

John Roberts
mile 4:22.2 (dropping 12 seconds from beginning of indoors)

SEASON PR

Micah Adriani
400m 60.28

Jim Aneshansley
400m 75.2

John Affleck
800m 2:08.9 (best since high school)
mile 4:49.3

Brian Barry
800m 2:44.62

Anthony Baker
800m 2:37.35

Alan Bautista
400m 56.4

Joe Bolster
800m 2:16.67 (dropping 10 seconds from last year's indoors)

Alston Brown
400. 53.49

Leon Brown
200m 25.82

Steve Burgess
800m 2:02.1
mile 4:34.8

Jeremy Busch
800m 2:03.6

Stuart Calderwood
400m 62.09
2 mile 10:24

Stacy Creamer
800m 2:34.93
mile 5:36.0

Laura Ford
400m 67 (relay split)

Sean Fortune
800m 2:04.80 (relay split)

Wendi Glassman
mile 6:40.64 (dropping 22 seconds from the beginning of indoors)

Frank Handelman
800m 2:23.3

Sid Howard
800m 2:24.4

Kobie Fuller
400m 49.95 (relay split)

John Gleason
800m 2:32.41

Scott Johnson
1500m 5:24.6

Gladstone Jones
400m 52.62
800m 2:01.63

Felice Kelly
mile 5:42.0
3k 11:29.05

Ardian Krasniqi
200m 24.0 (relay split)
400m 53.58

Allison McCabe
800m 2:19.0 (relay split)
800m 2:19.35 (open) (dropping 7 seconds from the beginning of indoors)
1200m 3:42.47

Chris Neuhoff
800m 2:24.55

Yuri Nosenko
800m 1:57.47 (relay split)

Armando Oliveira
3k 9:31.05

Victor Osayi
400m 63.6

Chris Price
800m 2:12.9

Chris
400m 54:02

Sarah Rivlin
3000m 10:37.2

Amerigo Rossi
800m 1:52.88 (missed USA Nationals by 1 second)
mile 4:08.59 (missed USA Nationals by 2 seconds)

Mike Trunkes
mile 4:53.0

Colgate Games

6th Place Mary Rosado (racing against women 20 years younger!!!)

USATF Masters Indoor National Championship

GOLD MEDAL
800m Sid Howard (65-69)
mile Sid Howard (65-69)

SILVER MEDAL
800m Steve Burgess (45-49)
800m Chris Potter (40-44)
mile Steve Burgess (45-49)
4 x 400m relay Gladstone, Potter, Burgess, Alston

Placed in the top 3 at Masters Nationals, but couldn't take a medal b/c non-US citizen

1st Place
400m Alston Brown (55-59)
800m Alston Brown (55-59)

2nd Place
400m Gladstone Jones (40-45)

3rd Place
800m Gladstone Jones (40-45)

USA Indoor National (Open)

DMR Relay
1st Place Irvin, Adriani, McCabe, Haver

2nd Place Jagodzinski, Fuller, Nosenko, Rossi

Looking forward to 2006 indoors! Great job, everyone!

Close Enough For Government Work
December 1, 2005

For those looking for a little mental workout, Roland Soong has 11 questions from a Chinese civil service exam on his site. Fortunately for us, he's translated them into English. Unfortunately, they're still hard. We got answers (though not necessarily correct ones) for 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11. We can make guesses for 2 and 4, but they're pretty weak. Number 6 is going to drive us nuts for a while.

Yeah, We're the Only One Who Cares About This
December 1, 2005

We like Transportation Alternatives. They fight the good fight against pollution and gridlock and petty bureaucrats, and even organize a great bike ride around the city. But, really, they should learn how to use the word enjoin correctly before they put it in a photo caption.

Also Known As "The Steve Howe Rule"
December 1, 2005

From The Onion:

MLB Adopts New 'Four Strikes And You're Back In' Steroid Policy

Test
November 30, 2005

So we set up this new Amazon thing where supposedly a review pops up when you let the mouse linger on the link for about a second. But Amazon is still testing how efficient it is, so sometimes it will work and sometimes it won't, as a kind of random test to see whether more people click on the link when a review pops up. Anyway, either we didn't set up the page properly, or we're just really unlucky in getting the review. If any of you have seen a review pop up on the link in the below post, please let us know. And just so you'll have another link to try, we'll mention that we just finished "The March" by E. L. Doctorow, and we highly recommend it.

Nominees
November 29, 2005

The list of award nominees mistakenly omitted Gary McGraw in the "Triathlete of the Year" category. Speaking of awards, we were thinking of posting our predictions here, but then we read this New Yorker article (actually a review of "Expert Political Judgment: How Good Is It? How Can We Know?") which pointed out how worthless most predictions are. So we decided not to tarnish what's left of our reputation for knowing what we're talking about.

It'd Be Like Speed Chess, Only More Exciting
November 29, 2005

Speaking of hot women... After accidently picking up the Styles section and reading about attractive chess players, we decided to check out Alexandra Kosteniuk's website. Turns out that she's not only a top player (5th woman in the world) who likes to pose with oversized chess pieces. She's also a runner, who finished fifth at the Key Biscayne Lighthouse 5K, in 22:24. And that got us wondering why there aren't any chess/running competitions to go with the chessboxing we wrote about last month.

Maybe It's Because No Women Actually Read That Site
November 29, 2005

The freaks at Let's Run have finally come across a worthy topic: Finding the hottest female runners. Not suprisingly, an attempt to find the hottest males didn't attract as much interest.

Week of November 22, 2005 - November 28, 2005

Another Winner
November 28, 2005

Kate Irvin won the Rockland County Turkey Trot on thursday, setting a course record in the processs. Joe Golden (WTC) took a bunch of photos from the race, which you can see here. Just for fun, we're including one of them below.

New Awards Party Location
November 27, 2005

Our annual awards dinner and dance party will take place on Saturday, December 3rd, 6:30pm-Midnight at the Prince George Ballroom, 15 East 27th Street (between 5th Avenue and Madison Avenue). PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE IN VENUE FROM THE POSTCARD INVITE.

Award Nominees
November 27, 2005

Here are this year's CPTC award nominations. The winners will be announced and presented with their awards at the CPTC Holiday Party on Saturday, December 3rd

.ROAD AWARDS
Rookie of the Year: Blair Heinke, Felice Kelly, Steve Monte, Dan Siedel, Nick Thompson
Most Improved Performer: James McQuade, Andrea Ostrowski, Russell Pfeffer, Allan Piket, Brad Weiss
Comeback of the Year: Sylvie Kimche, Salih Talib, Mike Trunkes, Jeff Wilson
Men's Open Short Distance: Sean Fortune, Steve Monte, John Roberts, Toby Tanser, Joe Tumbarello
Men's Open Long Distance: Kevin Arlyck, Aaron Beim, Neil Brenner, Irek Korfini, Thomas McCarney
Men's Masters Short Distance: Sid Howard, Tom Phillips, Mike Rennock, Mike Trunkes
Men's Masters Long Distance: Peter Allen, Stuart Calderwood, Alan Ruben, Takeshi Yamazaki, Makoshi Yasuhiro
Women's Open Short Distance: Lauren Esposito, Andrea Haver, Kate Irvin, Allison McCabe, Amy Russell
Women's Open Long Distance: Andrea Costella, Blair Heinke, Stefani Jackenthal, Kathy King, Katy Masselam, Susan Strazza
Women's Masters Short Distance: Stacy Creamer, Mary Diver, Sylvie KimcheWomen's Masters Long Distance: Yumi Ogita, Jan Farnung-Krause, Mary Rosado

TRACK AWARDS
Most Improved Track & XC Performer: Glen Carnes, Andrea Costella, Sean Fortune, Felice Kelly, John Roberts, Mike Trunkes
Best Sprinter: Micah Adriani, Sekou Dilday, Kobie Fuller, Evan Zeisel
Best Middle Distance: Andrea Haver, Kate Irvin, Allison McCabe, Yuri Nosenko, Amerigo Rossi, Jeff Williams
Best Master: Alston Brown, Steve Burgess, Neil Fitzgerald, Sid Howard, Gladstone Jones, Chris Potter

MULTI-SPORTS AWARDS
Triathlete of the Year: Stacy Creamer, Anna Fyodorova, Ross Galitsky, Adam Manewell, Robert Neal, Margaret Schotte

Everybody's a Winner!
November 27, 2005

Well, maybe not everybody, but we do have three new race winners: John Affleck, Jim McQuade and Ken Shatzer. That's 24 for the year, for those of you counting at home.

Grand Prix
November 27, 2005

Thanks to finishing first in her age group four times, and second once, Karina Kononerko ended up with 85 points in the NYRR Half-Marathon Grand Prix, which was good for fifth place overall. Each of those points is also worth $2, so she gets a nice check out of it, too.

Apartment Wanted
November 27, 2005

Doug Lory is looking for an apartment or share on the Upper West Side (70's-90's), for around $850/month. If you know of anything, please email him at acting@douglory.com.

Armory Indoor Workouts 2005-2006
November 22, 2005

Tony’s distance group will move indoors at the Armory on Tuesday nights starting December 6 at 8:00 PM. The fee for the 8:00PM-9:30PM session is $250. Thursday night workouts will remain in Central Park throughout the winter.

(If you are running with Devon’s middle distance group you will be in the 6:30PM-8:00PM session; the fee is $325. Devon’s group has already moved indoors for both Tuesday and Thursday nights).

To register for the season, please go to this link to print out the contract: http://www.armorytrack.com/Training/adultcontract.pdf. Fill out the contract and mail it along with a check made payable to The Armory Foundation and either (1) a passport-sized photo or (2) a previous Armory I.D. card with your photo on it to:

The Armory Track & Field Center
P.O. Box 314
New York, NY 10032

or

Register in person at the Armory, Monday through Friday, between the hours of 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM at the Track & Field office on the Armory’s third floor. (The Armory is located at 216 Fort Washington Avenue, between 168 th and 169th Streets).

Please note: if you are mailing in your registration and hope to start on December 6, please get your paperwork in the mail by Tuesday, November 29.

President’s Note

The fees for use of The Armory have increased each year, and substantially so this year. We are not happy about this and have looked into alternatives, but The Armory remains the preferred venue for our members. If you wish to take part in the CPTC track workouts at The Armory throughout the winter but the full cost is prohibitive, please email Alan Ruben at aruben@montran.com for financial assistance. Anyone wishing to help fund this program directly can send a check to Central Park Track Club, c/o Richard Kixmiller, 14 East 96 th Street, Apt 14, New York, NY 10128.

Department of Corrections
Nocember 22, 2005

We usually skip the Business section, so we're grateful to David Maurice for bringing us, as he puts it, "proof that some New York Times reporters actually care about accuracy":

I've recently been tossing around some fancy allusions about travail - from "annus horribilis" to Dante - to underscore the idea that 2005 has been a particularly grueling year on the road.

Last week, for example, I said the security checkpoints at Orlando airport added a mezzanine level to Dante's "seven circles of hell." Now, that would have been clever had I actually got correct the number of circles that Dante conceived for the various kinds of sinners in hell (nine), one of which certainly has a spot to accommodate reporters who type faster than they think. Circle 5, where Dante puts the slothful, might be the place.

So, with Thanksgiving two days away, I'd like to thank all the readers who wrote polite e-mails pointing out the Dante goof. Also, thanks to those who have contacted me to take issue with the contention — made in a recent column — that 2005, at least in the air, was a particularly noteworthy annus horribilis.

There's lots more, if you, unlike us, are the sort of person who cares about whether 2005 was better or worse for air travel than 2000. Also, we suspect that vast majority of the people who work for the Times care about accuracy. That's why we're so hard on Alessandra Stanley, because we need to be able to count on the Times to be the authoritative voice it's supposed to be.

And speaking of our least favorite TV critic, Gawker reports (via TVNewser) another boo-boo in Stanley's column today. Gawker then polled their readers as to why Stanley makes so many mistakes, and the conclusion is that she's lazy.

Week of November 15, 2005 - November 21, 2005

Cross Country Nationals
Nocember 21, 2005

From Coach Devon:

CPTC women are 11th in the Nation!!!!

Katy, Sarah, Flo, Felice & Micah all ran FASTER on a 6k course than they did on any 5k cross country course this fall. Doesn't get any better than this!

Lauren & Kathy & Kristina basically ran the same on a 6k course as they did on a 5k course — another great accomplishment

Congrats to Kate for leading the team for the upteenth time. And congrats to Haver for helping secure the 11th place for the team and to Natalie for 1st CPTC race!

GREAT SEASON!!!!!

And here's a photo of the team, all in matching outfits, unlike our usual team photos:

And here are Coach Tony's thoughts:

CPTFC,

Wow, what an accomplishment! To be ranked 11th in the country is just phenomenal! You should all be proud of this effort. I can't tell you how much it means to be part of a women's team that has exceeded the high levels of our prior teams. And I really mean that, to have accomplished all that you have in track, x-country and the roads is superb! Unprecedented in our club history.

Dre, thanks for your leadership, you are a great champion. There aren't many like you. Kate, what can I say about you....well perhaps the best all-around woman athlete in club history. Katy and Lauren, you're blessed with tools that others only dream of, most of all that drive to win. Flo, wow, it has been a pleasure to see you develop into a star, instead of just a good road runner, although you're that too. KK, you are just getting a taste and what a way to get a taste, huh. Felice, well simply put, the most improved of this bunch. You have willed your way on to the 11th ranked x-country unit in the nation. Your desire and fire are infectious. Sid and I predicted this for you early on but that was only based on talent. You've made it happen. Quite impressive. Micah, I'm so impressed by your all-around ability as I shared with you before but now that I know, I expect even greater things from you. Sarah and Kristina, thank you both for joining this wonderful contingent and although I have not had the pleasure of getting to know you on a personal level, I know that you are both quite competitive and talented. Oh, and you're also smart since you've joined forces with this tremendous unit. I look forward to watching your growth also.

I want to finish by saying that you are all so lucky to have Devon Martin as not only a coach but as a source of inspiration. Her drive is unmatched, her organization, meticulous. Once in a while you get a Devon Martin, who inspires and cares for her athletes. I can say this because I've been around the sport at many different levels and believe me when I tell you that "YOU HAVE THE BEST" there is to offer. Having teamed with Devon has been one of my highlights as the coach of our team. And when I instruct athletes to run track, it is with great confidence and blessings that I send them. It has been an honor to work with Dev. I love you all so much and it warms my heart as the holiday season approaches to know that our women are kicking ass!

Peace,

Coach TR

PS - I must say that the picture is just stunning; the energy, the beauty, especially the beauty, the scenery helps but it's the smiles that capture the attention and imagination.

Here We Go Again
November 21, 2005

Alessandra Stanley screwed up an easy-to-check fact again. We can barely bring ourself to care any more.

Last JeansMarines Post
November 20, 2005

With JeansMarines now barred from next year's Marine Corps Marathon — they won't get guaranteed entries, but members of the group can still enter the race through the lottery — there isn't much more to say about them. One clarification, though, from Frank Morton:

People keep referring to this group as a one of the "charity" organizations. No where on their website is there any mention of raising money for charity. (And I don't think that they claim to do that). This is simply a "non-profit" organization that charges a lot of money to join and in their words, "tries to break even". So lumping them in with the groups that do raise money is not fair to those groups. Jeansmarines are going to try to enter other marathons and no longer will they encourage members to "finish at all costs". In the past, how their leader could claim that "finishing" the marathon without actually running the entire race is beyond me.

The distintion between "non-profit" and "charity" is important, though in this case Team in Training has also been accused of helping some of their runners take a shortcut. (And surely some of the 320+ runners who cut the course at the Marine Corps Marathon had no affiliation with any group, and just chose to cheat on their own.) JeansMarines also received guaranteed entries for their runners at the Marine Corps Marathon, a benefit that goes mostly to charities. So it's not too suprising that this incident has revived the debate about charity runners.

What we're more interested in is the issue of slower runners in general, and Joe Wojtas, running columinst for The Day in Connecticut, weighed in on that today:

This is just another example of people who run marathons without being ready.

In a rush to be able to say they “ran” a marathon, they skip the — at least — two years of training they should do to run respectably and enjoy the experience.

If you can't finish under seven hours (which is more than 16 minutes a mile), you just don't belong out there. I'll make exceptions for handicapped runners and the very old. But that's it. If you're in your 20s, 30s, 40s and early 50s and you can't finish in seven hours, it is time to start with 5Ks and work your way up. Like many things today, though, people want what they want right away and don't want to do the work.

We're not sure where we'd set the limit, but it would be faster than seven hours. At the very least, we'd expect runners to finish in under six hours, since Sarah Reinertsen managed to finish a marathon in 5:51:39 despite having just finished the first two legs of the Hawaii Ironman, and also having only one leg.

Party Payment
November 18, 2005

As an alternative to mailling a check for your awards dinner tickets, you can pay via PayPal. Simply transfer funs to cptc@courtines.net, with your name and the name of any guests in the memo field. The will work ONLY if your PayPal account is linked to a checking account. You cannot use a credit card to pay for your tickets.

Running Gag
November 18, 2005

Sports Pickle is rerunning their most popular articles this week. Number 16 is Nobody Told Man That Running a Marathon Could Make His Nipples Bleed and number 76 is Kenyan Policy of Placing All Schools 26.2 Miles from Villages Really Paying Off.

Marine Corps Marathon
November 18, 2005

Rick Nealis, race director of the Marine Corps Marathon, wrote a special editorial for Runner's World today. Excerpts, with emphasis added.

The Integrity of the Marathon

*Special Editorial*
by Rick Nealis, Race Director, Marine Corps Marathon

...

On October 30, 2005 the community goodwill that is the running community was tarnished as some participants in the MCM, about 325 runners were removed from the database as potential finishers. These cheaters were discovered through systematic research utilizing the ChampionChip timing mats and analyzing the data of runners pace time.

On a much more serious level that has come to light is the assistance provided by the organizers of Jean's Marines, who were a 2005 Marine Corps Marathon charity partner. The founder and coach of Jean's Marines assisted runners to circumvent a portion of the course thereby not completing the requisite 26.2-mile course. This organization will be banned from being a partner in 2006 for their lack of professionalism and unethical conduct.

Another charity partner, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team In Training, is being investigated for potential improprieties by one of their coaches on race day. The facts on that inquiry are still being researched.

...

Cheating at any level, even by those back in the pack, is not a "victim-less crime" as some might have you believe. We all suffer in some form or fashion. It shouldn't be our focus to zero in on the winners of awards but to focus on the entire field. Any cancer, and in our case any cheaters, need to be removed from our finishers files.

...

Jean's reaction:

Statement to our Members:

We are disappointed by the decision taken by the Marine Corps Marathon, but understand why it was made. We will continue planning our 2006 program, that which will begin in January. In light of this decision, we will begin discussions with other autumn marathons in Canada and the U.S so that we can offer our members the same quality of marathon experience they have enjoyed in years past.

Party Time!
November 17, 2005

The CPTC Awards Dinner will take place on Saturday, December 3rd from 6:30 pm - midnight at Top of the Times (255 W. 43rd Street, at 8th Avenue). Tickets are $40 in advance, and you can mail your check to:

CPTC
c/o Richard Kixmiller
14 East 96th Street
Apartment 14
New York, NY 10128

This is always the social event of the year, full of dinner and dancing, and the excitement of finding out who will win various awards (Sid Howard will probably get one), who will smuggle some hard liquor in (Jerome O'Shaughnessy's old job), who will be the wildest dancers (Stuart and Stacy do well, but Sarah Rivlin picked up points last year for her skill at the electric slide), and who will wear the shortest skirt (please, ladies, don't let John Affleck win this one again).

No Comment
November 17, 2005

From Roland:

If memory serves me correctly, the Central Park Track Club website was started sometime during 1996. Initially, I had set up a guestbook (which is equivalent to a general comment section for all visitors). One of the very entries was something like: "I would like to run in this year's New York City Marathon, but it is too late for me to enter. I am willing to pay $200 to anyone for their race number." I was mortified. Out went the guestbook.

Yes, I could have keep a watch on it all the time, but that is not a good way to spend my time.

Nor is it a good way for us to spend our time, so if we ever master the technology to include comments, you guys had better behave.

Oh, Behave!
November 17, 2005

The City Council has introduced new penalties for rowdy spectators at sporting events. This was inspired by Yankee fans throwing trash on the field in game 6 of last year's ALCS after A-Rod was called out for slapping the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove. Anyone trying that now will face up to a $1,000 fine and up to one year in jail. We'd prefer a law that lets the players — or other fans — beat the tar out of overly rowdy fans, but we'll settle for this. The real question, though, is why nobody in the City Council noticed that New York fans can be awful until last fall.

Brevity Is the Soul of Travesty
November 17, 2005

If you've ever thought Cliff's Notes were just too long, you can now get entire novels condensed into text messages from dot mobile, a British phone service.. For example, Paradise Lost is reduced to "Devl kikd outa hevn coz jelus of jesus&strts war.pd'off wiv god so corupts man(md by god) wiv apel.devl stays serpnt 4hole life&man ruind. Woe un2mnkind." And Romeo and Juliet becomes " FeudTween2hses--Montague&Capulet. RomeoM falls_<3w/_JulietC@mary Secretly Bt R kils J's Coz&isbanishd. J fakes Death. As Part of Plan2b-w/R Bt_leter Bt It Nvr Reachs Him. Evry1confuzd---bothLuvrs kil Emselves."

You can see more of these here, along with some pathetic explanations about the "learning opportunities afforded by text messaging." All we learned is that it's possible to summarize a work of great literature in a way that actually takes longer to read than the original, while stripping it of all the poetry, nuance and subtext that make it worth reading in the first place.

CPTC In the News
November 16, 2005

The Standard, which bills itself as "China's Business Newspaper," has a long article on "one of the most influential Hong Kong and mainland media figures," by which they mean our very own Roland Soong, author of the EastSouthWestNorth blog. There are too many superlatives in the article for us to list them all here, but, as most of you know, he deserves every one of them. For those who don't know Roland, he created this website, wrote every word of it before 2003, and set a standard here that we doubt will ever be matched. He also set the precedent we mentioned yesterday of not encouraging people to comment on the journal, which he continues on his current site:

A sensitive soul, he does not solicit comments due to crank e-mails he received when he established his first (non-news) Web site in 1996 for the Central Park Track Club in New York and shortly after the first version of ESWN debuted.

"I can't deal with it," he wincingly said of negative comments. "It's kind of like being a reporter. You worry about criticism."

He also explains why it's important to remain anonymous, even when your name is in the papers:

How many times has the EastSouthWestNorth blogger asked his readers to READ THE TEXT.  He puts out a document.  The document exists on its own.  He is asking the reader to read the document on its own terms.  He is also asking the reader not to think about the original author or the translator.  The document should be read in its own terms.  If the reader cannot forget about the author (or the translator), then this is AUTHORITARIANISM (in the sense that it is the author that matters rather than the substance of the work) and we all know that AUTHORITARIANISM is BAD.  Anonymity is therefore a way of forcing the reader to address and react to the text directly.  Unfortunately, some people still get hung up about the blogger instead of the text.  As I said, this is unfortunate.  Read the text: if you think it is stupid, then you reject it by all means; if you think it makes sense, then it was productive.  If you react instead to the author (or the translator) and ignore the text, then you are sadly missing the point.

Charity Runners and Cheating
November 16, 2005

From MarathonGuide.com:

The Deep, Dark Secret of Charity Marathoning Questioned
Charity organizations - Team In Training being the largest - have always generated controversy. On the plus side: money is generated for good causes, race organizers love the additional participation numbers and some marathons rely on these groups for the bulk of their registration; on the minus side: non-charity runners have seen courses swollen with charity walkers making passage for runners difficult, and some have questioned whether the charities' focus on finishing does much to further the running community and to create lifelong runners. Controversy has swollen recently, as one of the charities' deep dark secrets has generated press following the Marine Corps Marathon.

It has been a longtime practice, although not talked about often, for some charities to ensure that their runners "finish" a marathon and appear in the results - even if that means the runner doesn't complete the entire distance and gets a ride (or uses a pre-determined shortcut) to get to the finish line... Yes, that means some runners are not completing 26.2 miles, yet are receiving their medals and appearing in the "official" results. This is not hearsay and we've personally seen charities "bussing" runners up to ensure that they make it to the finish line before a course closes. That practice has either been unseen by race officials or else tacitly accepted by race organizers as part of the cost associated with getting charity runners. Note that the vast majority of charity runners who begin a marathon do finish the complete course, it is just that certain charities have adopted a practice of using non-running methods to ensure a participant gets to the finish line before a course cutoff time.

A week after the Marine Corps Marathon concluded, it was announced that the race director became aware of one of the charities participating in this practice, disqualified those runners who did not complete the entiere 26.2 mile course and is considering whether to ban the charity from the Marine Corps Marathon. This should be a wake up call to the charities to decide whether the goal of their programs is to ensure that runners make it to the finish line at all costs - or that their charity participants are actually able to complete a marathon within an alotted course cutoff time - and maybe it's okay if some of their participants can't make it. And this should be a wake up call to race organizers to develop their own policy on this issue and communicate it to any charity groups that are part of their event - better to give the charities a clear warning of what to expect so there can be no surprises.

Baseball's New Steroids Policy
November 16, 2005

Major League Baseball has finally gotten serious about steroids, and all it took was the threat of Congressional action against them. Which, come to think of it, is usually what it takes to get the sport's Grand Pooh-Bahs to do anything productive. Under the new policy, a first offense results in a 50-game suspension (up from 10 days), a second is 100 games, and a third is a lifetime ban, with the right to apply for reinstatement after two years. More importantly, the policy now covers amphetamines, the use of which has been rampant since before the 1969 season that Jim Bouton chronicled in "Ball Four." (Best. Baseball Book. Ever.) The penalty for popping "greenies" is not as harsh as that of steroid use, but it's sufficiently high that it should act as a deterrent.

Amazingly, in under a year baseball has gone from having one of the more laughable steroid policies in sports — only hockey, with no policy at all, was worse — to having the toughest standards outside of the Olympics. And now that this has been dealt with, we can go back to worrying about more important things. Like just how much the Mets are willing to overpay to get Billy Wagner.

Mmmmmm... Pizza
November 16, 2005

John Scherrer writes: "We all know why CPTC had the cred to make it onto Runner's World: it's all about the pizza review." That would be John's review of Giordano's, or, as RW put it, "where to find the best sausage pizza in...Chicago." Now if anyone else wants to submit more food advice, so we can get listed as Gourmet's Daily Bookmark (do they have such a thing?), we'd appreciate it. Also, go read John's blog, and post some complaints about how rarely he updates it these days.

Complaints Department
November 15, 2005

A reader who already knows our personal email address pointed out that it's hard to find an email link to us on this site. That's because we want our readers to put in a little effort before they can send us annoying mail. Since that hasn't stopped you all from writing to us all the time, we're giving up and putting our email address at the top of this page. Remember that everything you write to us is fair game to be quoted on this site unless you specifically ask otherwise.

Turkey Trots
November 15, 2005

The marathon's over, cross-country season is winding down, and indoor track races don't start for another two months. But the most important races of the year are right around the corner. Yes, it's time for Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trots (all on Thursday, November 24)! Start your holiday right, by giving thanks that you're not overweight and lazy like the average American. Then, after you've run, spend the rest of the day overeating and sitting on the couch watching football.

The best Turkey Trot, naturally, is the Prospect Park Track Club's 5-Miler, since they give out nice bags to every runner and home-baked pies to the top three men and women. Last year's third place man finished in 26:38 (5:19/mile), and the third woman crossed the line in 32:50 (6:34/mile). Anyone who can beat those times is officially invited to our Thanksgiving dinner. Provided you bring the pie, naturally.

If you can't be in New York City on Thanksgiving, there are other options. Those in Bergen County, NJ, can try the Dick Meighan Memorial Run, and people in Atlanta can run a whole damn marathon before digging into turkey and stuffing. (Note to Kate Irvin: if you're visiting your family in Atlanta, you can't run the marathon, because the coach will kill you.) Anywhere else in the country, check the special Turkey Trot page on Active.com for a race near you.

We Think It's Our Obsession With This Issue That Really Impressed Runner's World
November 15, 2005

Here we take the time to say something nice about Alessandra Stanley, and how does she repay us? By making another mistake on an easy-to-look-up fact; in this case, the origin of Condoleezza Rice's name. We wouldn't have noticed — a Stanley article on Oprah Winfrey is one of the more unpleasant things we can ever imagine finding in the Arts section — but Gawker brought it to our attention. (Not personally, though that would be cool.) They got it from Reference Tone, who's even more obsessed with documenting Stanley's failings than we are. At this point, we suspect the majority of Stanley's readers check out her articles only to look for her latest mistakes.

Marine Corps Marathon Cheating
November 15, 2005

Runner's World has a detailed article on the whole Marine Corps Marathon shortcut situation. There's not too much new in it, but it does focus more attention on the accusations regarding Team in Training than the Canadian stories did. (JeansMarines is a Canadian group, so the focus of our neighbors to the north is understandable.) It is interesting to learn just how big a problem cheating is at the Marine Corps Marathon, though this seems to be the first accusation of runners being guided towards shortcuts. We suspect TNT won't be hit with any serious penalties, since (1) they can blame everything on a never-to-be-identified "sweeper" who was seen advising runners to take a shortcut, and (2) they bring a lot more runners and a lot more publicity than Jean does.

Guess They're Not Evil Geniuses After All, Though Obviously They Are Still Evil
November 15, 2005

Do you have trouble remembering the difference between its ("belonging to it") and it's ("it is")? The folks at Starbucks came up with a solution: write the word as ITs, and hope that everyone just reads it the way they think is correct (in this case it should be its, but you all knew that already).

Week of November 8, 2005 - November 14, 2005

Runner's World Loves Us!
November 14, 2005

Today's Runner's World Daily Bookmark:

Central Park Track and Field Club: www.centralparktc.org
Not only can the Central Park Track and Field Club members get you into superior shape for your next race, but they can babysit your kids, update you on race results, and advise you on where to find the best sausage pizza in...Chicago. The club's website is so useful, thorough, and often-hysterical that you'll want to bookmark it no matter how far from Central Park you're running. The site includes a Photo Gallery and frequently-updated journal where runners share news from sources ranging from The New York Times and ESPN to The Onion. Trust us: It's love at first visit.

Normally we'd dismiss that praise with some nitpicky comment about the modification to the club's name — though Frank Morton notes "Craig Plummer will be happy about it, and maybe we can start recruiting some field event people so we can place higher in the USATF Club Championships next year!" — but, modest and shy as we are, we can still, on occasion, take a compliment. We can also take a screen shot of the RW page and post it all over the place, and even make business cards out of it.

In all seriousness, big thanks to whoever at Runner's World wrote that, and we apologize if we don't link to you guys often enough, but we're sure everyone knows to read your site already.

Commas Save Money
November 14, 2005

NBC reports that "A recent survey found Fortune 500 companies spending more than $3 billion a year retraining employees in basic English." At least one person blames computers for " dumbing down English." We blame computers for not loading the video of this report so we could get the full story. We'll try again tomorrow. in the meantime, the posters at Let's Run offer their usual sophisticated take on this story.

JeansMarines
November 14, 2005

We've read through most of the message boards on this issue, and there's not much worth checking out. We do recommend Rosie DiManno's column in the Toronto Star, if only for this one paragraph:

How startling it must have been to these ersatz marathoners that suddenly there were precise rules involved and that sport, inherently demanding, is not about accommodating the lowest common denominator and meaningless ribbons to everybody; that there is, despite our society's attempts to discourage the reality, a difference between winning and losing, between success and failure.

We're Setting the Bar Pretty Low Here
November 14, 2005

Normally we just criticize here, but when somebody does something good we like to acknowledge it. Even when that somebody is Alessandra Stanley, who started an article last Friday with this:

There are people, annoying ones, who claim they never watch television. What they mean is that they never watch anything except "Law & Order."

Yes, it's a trite generalization that adds nothing to the review itself — other than to suggest that hanging out with Maureen Dowd has rubbed off on her — but it's still the best line Stanley's had in years.

5 Dutch Days 5 Boroughs
November 14, 2005

From Wednesday to Saturday, it's 5 Dutch Days 5 Boroughs, "a five-day celebration of the continuous influence of Dutch arts and culture in New York City -- from the City's enterprising, multicultural origins as a Dutch colony to the pivotal role of contemporary Dutch artists and designers in today's international cultural scene." The grade-school-level website doesn't give us much confidence in the event, but it's another good reason to wear orange. And drink New Amsterdam beer.

Get On the Bus
November 14, 2005

From today's Metropolitan Diary:

Dear Diary:

After completing the marathon on Sunday, we desperately tried to hail a cab to our hotel, to no avail.

A kind woman instructed us to take the No. 104 bus. However, as we tried to board, a most unfriendly bus driver informed us that a Metro Card or change was required.

Unfortunately, we only had a $20 bill, which he flatly refused.

The other passengers began chanting, "Let them on, let them on!"

When that had no effect on the driver, the passengers began passing forward their Metro Cards and quarters until our fares were paid.

We offered our $20 to the passengers, but not one would accept it.

Then our hearts were further warmed as the rest of the bus began cheering and congratulating us for finishing the race.

New York, not only do you put on a first-rate marathon, but, as far as our group from Atlanta is concerned, your generosity and kindness also ranks No. 1. Thank you, New York!

Renee and Searle Videlefsky,
Mark Friedman and Sherwin Krug

We're confused. Was this bus driver (and the driver of Brad Weiss' bus) just being a jerk, or do marathon finishers no longer get free bus and subway rides for the day? Anybody know?

Welcome New Members
November 13, 2005

We don't even remember the last time we updated this list, but here are the new members from the last few months:

Seth Bender James Castellano   Justin Cisar Dan Doebele Alexandre Dutrifoy Jeff Dybas Blair Heinke Corey Henry

Miranda Holmes Matt Karlin Karina Kononenko   Steven Lazen Anita Looper Thomas McCarney Kevin McGuire John Morris

Yuri Nosenko Adam Ostrowski Cary Segall Margot Sheehan Jonathan Simon Nick Thompson Jessica Lynn Zall

Recruitment points go to:

Peter Allen Margaret Angell David & Lynn Blackstone   Neil Brenner (3) Jonathan Calvey Yves-Marc Courtines Terence Gerchberg (2)

Sid Howard (2)   Kate Irvin John Kerner Jim McQuade Devon Martin Zeb Nelessen

Andrea Ostrowski Russ Pfeffer Amerigo Rossi Tony Ruiz Margaret Schotte Brad Weiss

Full list of who's winning the points race to follow soon.

Marathons Are All About Having Fun
November 13, 2005

At least, so says Paul Tergat:

"Spectators watching at home think they see how much fun we're having in these major events, which are usually run on paved streets during the year's hottest days," said Tergat, who noted that variety and unpredictability made the indifferently maintained streets of Queens the most enjoyable to run on. "But it's nothing compared to actually being there, feeling the energy draining out of your body, the burn of the lactic acid building up in your muscle fibers, the cramps from hydrating too early or with water of the wrong temperature, the searing ache in your lungs as you fade into a total anaerobic state around mile 18. 'Runner's high' doesn't even come close."

Okay, that's from The Onion, so maybe it's not a direct quote, but wouldn't it be cool if it was?

No Shortcuts
November 13, 2005

Back when we used to run marathons, we were well aware of how easily a runner in New York City could slip from First Avenue over to Fifth Avenue, and cut out several miles of the race. Okay, you'd have to get through the hordes of spectators, but the layout of the course makes it pretty easy to turn the race into a 17-miler. It would be even easier to cut a few miles off a course like the Manhattan Half-Marathon. Yet we've never seen anyone take advantage of these opportunities. In fact, we can't even imagine why someone would want to cheat at a race, unless it's to win money or prizes, and those folks always get caught. But what does a midpack runner get out of claiming to finish a race he or she cheated at?

You'll have to ask some of the JeansMarines runners from the Marine Corps Marathon that question. A number of them cut across the National Mall, to trim about four miles off the course. (It's also been reported that some Team in Training runners took the same shortcut.) They were guided in this by the group's founder, Jean Marmoreo, who wanted to ensure that all her runners would make the 5:30 cut-off time at the 14th Street Bridge at mile 20, and the 7:00 limit for finishers. That's a 14:00/mile pace at the bridge, and a 16:00/mile pace for the finish.

Marathon director Rick Nealis has asked anyone who took a shortcut to return her medal, and is considering barring the group in the future. He also had a few things to say about the seriousness of the race:

This is an Olympic sport and people lose sight of that. It's not a touchy-feely, we're all going to feel good, Kumbaya.

You play by the rules. Here, we have a clear violation of people losing sight of the rules, and modifying the rules to make everybody feel good.

The man or woman who ran 26.2 miles, who worked out for six or nine months, they shouldn't have to feel that their medal is cheapened by the fact that somebody got the same medal for running 22.

Dr. Marmoreo doesn't seem to get this. While her husband and spokesman says "She knows what she did was wrong, but she did it for the best of all possible motives," Marmoreo sent this email to her runners earlier this week:

I know you are all marathoners. I know that for some of you the finish could and would be more than seven hours.

...

Even though this has been the bypass route utilized by Leukemia Team-in-Training for their slowest participants in order to let them finish their own race . . . and even though it's impossible to "cheat" when your chip time tells the tale of missing the total distance, there are people in the running community who feel some of our runners and walkers did not earn the medals we so proudly wore that Sunday evening.

I ask this with a heavy heart, believing that our best intentions of looking after each other, supporting our best efforts, and wanting success for every last one of us may have unfortunately, in some circles at least, compromised everything that we stand for.

Sorry, but if you run 22 miles, you're not a marathoner. And if you didn't run the whole race, you didn't earn your medal. The fact that other people also cheat, or that someone can go online and see that you misssed the half-marathon timing mat, doesn't change anything.

There's a longer debate to be had about the effect of charity runners and other ridiculously slow runners on marathons, but this is just about following the rules. Any runner that cheats in a race shouldn't get a medal. And any group that encourages its members to cheat shouldn't get to participate in the next race.

Meeting On the Run
November 13, 2005

One of the few upsides to our job is that is rarely involves tedious meetings. Of course, that means we can't get in on the new trend of having meetings while running or cycling. It would make getting our daily runs in so much easier.

Indoor Training
November 9, 2005

During the winter (December - April) Tuesday night workouts with Coach Tony Ruiz's distance group are held indoors. If you would like to attend these workouts please email your venue preference to aruben@montran.com by the end of this week.

The Armory (8pm-9:30pm) - cost $250 for the season, excellent banked mondo track, located in Manhattan at 168th Street and Fort Washington Avenue, one block from the 168th St subway on the A, C and 1 lines.

Pratt Institue (7pm-8:30pm) - cost $5-$8 per workout, adequate flat rubberized track in Gymnasium, located in Brooklyn, two blocks from the Clinton-Washington subway on the G line.

Another Post on Marathon PRs
November 9, 2005

Erin Conroy ran her first marathon on Sunday, so her time is also a PR. And the Nicholas Thompson on CPTC is the same one who ran the Delaware Marathon last year. The Global Surveillance System has still got it!

Marathon Photo
November 9, 2005

Stuart Alexander, at kilometer 7 of the Marathon des Yvelines (Oct 23, 2005)

A Different Take on Typos
November 9, 2005

From Toby's site:

It always amazes me that people bother to complain if a typo appears on this page.. Y’know after five years you’d think… but in the blogsworld of the traveling foot and the jippity fingers does anyone think bloggos are proofread? Man, it‘s a wonder…

We're more amazed when people don't complain about any typos on this site, rare though it may be for any mistake of ours to go uncommented on. Not that we object, mind you, since we feel that anyone who reads a blog without complaining about something to the writer is missing the entire point of the internet. And as long as you're all obsessed with our typos, you'll never notice the subliminal messages that will one day convince you to give us all your money.

Steroids
November 9, 2005

Rafael Palmiero issued his first statement about testing postiive for steroids. He admits that stanozolol was found in his system, but still blames it on a vitamin B12 shot, and says "I have never intentionally taken steroids." In a completely unscientific poll, fewer than 20% of ESPN.com readers believe him.

ESPN also has an in-depth look at the history of steroids in baseball. It's not pretty.

Multisport Competition
November 9, 2005

Tired of the standard swim/bike/run style of racing, but still want to do something that combines various sports? There's always the drinkathalon this Sunday. Show your skill in bank shuffleboard, bar billiards, Beirut (not to be confused with beer pong) and darts. Or you could remember that you're not in college any more, and shouldn't act like you're hanging out at a frat party. No disrespect intended towards darts and (real) billiards, obviously. But nyone who has honed his skill at bouncing a ping pong ball into a cup of beer should really keep that fact to himself. And certainly the New York Times should not write about it.

Still More Marathon PRs
November 8, 2005

Frank Morton points out that David Epstein and Evan Zeisel both ran PRs, since this is the first marathon for each of them. It's also their last marathon, if Coach Devon has any say in the matter, since they're needed back on the track for shorter races.

We Confuse the Two All the Time
November 8, 2005

From Overheard in New York:

Woman: Either he's a jogger or he's homeless.

--Union Square

Alito
November 8, 2005

We haven't heard anything about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito being a grammar nerd, but David Levinson Wilk offers a different reason to support him: Alito works well for crossword puzzles.

I mean, "Alito"? It's a fantastic name for crosswords — a mere five letters long but brimming with regularly used consonants and vowels (and how generously alternating they are!). Alito, if confirmed, might find himself as the next Eero Saarinen (for years, the hottest architect on the crossword scene) or the next Ernie Els (the hottest crossword golfer, although Michelle Wie is creeping up on him).

Not that Wilk is firm in his support:

Would I want either of these folks on the Supreme Court? Hardly. I'm way left of liberal. It's difficult for me to even type the word "fantastic" so soon after typing "Alito."

But as a crossword constructor, I see a silver lining in having an Alito as an associate justice.

Of course, having an Alito as a rejected nominee works just as well for crossword puzzles. Just look at how popular Adlai Stevenson is, cruciverbally speaking.

We'd Definitely Buy This
November 8, 2005

From The Onion:

Nike Introduces New Cross-Relaxer

Week of November 1, 2005 - November 7, 2005

More Marathon PRs
November 7, 2005

Nicholas Thompson reports a PR of on Sunday. We think it's an improvement of 13:55 off his 7th place finish in May's Delaware Marathon, though it's possible that was a different Nicholas Thompson. Joseph Kennedy ran a PR by 13:47 over his time in Philadelphia last year.

Weather ... Or Not?
November 6, 2005

While you're busy recovering from the marathon, you might want to check out Weather ... Or Not? on A&E, Monday night at 8:00 pm. The website describes the show as follows:

Weather...or Not? Hurricanes. Tsunami's, earthquakes, mudslides, weeks of rain ... lately the question on everyone's mind is: what's with the weather? From Yakuza weather-terrorists to Government conspiracies, the apocalypse and Military weather programs, meet the people behind some of the most interesting theories and explore how outrageous, or implausible — or even downright believable — their ideas are.

While that sounds like it could be pretty bad, part of the show was produced by our friend Kathleen Toner, and we trust her to create interesting programs. Alas, even though she's a runner, we don't think the show will address why it's always so hot on the day of the marathon.

NYC Marathon
Nocember 6, 2005

For the fourth year in a row — and probaly the 20th time overall — the first CPTC member to finish the NYC Marathon was Alan Ruben, who also won his age group. He was one of 17 CPTC men to finish under 3:00, which is almost twice as many as last year. There were also a number of PRs, including Steven Monte (8:32), Michael Wells (8:24), Brad Weiss (3:59), Bill Komaroff (2:48), and Jeff Wilson (2:16). We're probably missing a number of others, so if this was a PR for you, please let us know.

On the women's side, Yumi Ogita led the team, followed by Susan Strazza, who finished just two minutes slower than she did in Chicago Marathon last month. Remember kids, running two marathons in one month is best left to the experts. Don't try this at home!

Also, we know a bunch of you were out there with cameras, so please send your photos in to webmaster@centralparktc.org. Sue Pearsal has posted hers on her website, but without captions, so you'll have to look through them carefully.

Bad Girls
November 6, 2005

The CPTC women dominated the Bad Boy Cross-Country race, easily winning the 5K race, and with it a yet-to-be-determined amount of money (the check's in the mail). The team was led by Katy Masselam and Lauren Esposito in 7th and 8th place, followed by Sarah Alaei, Andrea Costella and Felice Kelly in 13th, 14th and 15th. They also won the MAC Championship being held within the race, with Katy and Lauren taking 1st and 2nd in that competition.

Before the women could race, the men had to trudge up Cemetary Hill in th 8K version of the race. CPTC finished third — and second in the MAC Championship — led by John Roberts, Mike Trunkes, Gladstone Jones, Dan Seidel, and Joe Tumbarello. We believe their check is in the mail, too.

NYC Marathon
November 3, 2005

Once again, the forecast calls for the temperature to be way too high for Sunday's NYC Marathon. This means our runners will need all the cheering they can get, so please join the Wall of Orange at 89th Street and the East Drive of Central Park, starting at about 11:30 am. Also, come to Brooklyn for the Mini Wall of Orange on Lafayette Avenue, just after the men's and women's courses merge at Mile 8, starting at about 10:00 am. Or find your own spot along the course, and wear your team jacket, shirt, hat or singlet so your teammates can spot you. And be sure to come to the post-race party at The Parlour ( East 86th Street between Broadway and West End) from 2:30 to 6:30. And bring your cameras. Last year we had a paltry 240 photos from the marathon. Surely we can do better this time!

If you're wondering who to cheer for, here's the list of CPTC runners we got off of the official marathon site.

Radio
November 3, 2005

Paul Tergat and Jen Rhines will be on WNYC's Leonard Lopate Show on Friday at noon. Tune in at 93.9 FM, 820 AM, or at the website.

Why Alessandra Stanley Still Has a Job
November 3, 2005

After watching The Colbert Report, Gawker suggests this theory:

For the longest time, we didn’t quite understand why the Times continued to let Alessandra Stanley write about television. She has paid her dues as a foreign correspondent, sure. She’s been at the paper for years, fine. But, apparently, she suffers from a congenital inability to get anything about television — names, dates, facts — correct. So why, we wondered, did they allow her to continue? Then we saw last night’s Colbert Report, on which host Stephen Colbert made this commentary:

Now, before we start, there is something else I need to talk about, this correction in yesterday’s New York Times. Let’s go full frame with this.

You see, the Times mistakenly reported that in the first episode of this show, “The Colbert Report,” THE WORD was “trustiness.” It was, in fact, “truthiness.”

Trustiness? That’s not even a word!

Doesn’t surprise me one bit the “New York Times” hasn’t heard of truthiness.

I’ll tell you one thing, somebody better go to jail for 85 days over this.

You know what, New York Times? Apology not accepted.

So let’s go straight to THE WORD, which tonight is something even the New York Times can’t possibly get wrong. Cat. C-A-T, cat.

I’ll give the guys over at the “Times” a second to write it down.

And suddenly it made sense. Every minute the TV comedians spend mocking Stanley is, inherently, a minute they can’t spend mocking Judith Miller or Arthur Sulzberger or Plamegate or Bill Keller or WMD or anything else engulfing the paper.

And, for folks on 43rd Street, those few Judy-free moments must be a blessing.

We suspect this isn't the case, since the Times could just get rid of Times Select, and everyone would go back to mocking David Brooks, Maureen Dowd, Tom Friedman, and whoever those other Op-Ed columnists are. Our pet theory is that Stanley has embarassing photos of somebody important at the Times. Or else union rules make firing her too difficult, so they put her in charge of television, where she can't do too much damage.

Mary Wittenberg
November 3, 2005

The Daily News spends a day with Mary Wittenberg. She's planning to go for a run Sunday morning before overseeing the marathon.

Fundraiser
November 3, 2005

A reminder of an event we mentioned last month:

Party & Fundraiser for Athletics Projects in Kenya, Uganda & Tanzania. At the beautiful Banchet Flower shop & gallery space at 809 Washington Street, between Gansevoort & Horatio Streets, in New York City.

Friday, November 4, 2005, 7-11PM

The event will occur two days before the running of the 36 th ING NYC Marathon. We expect several of the elite Kenyan athletes racing on the Sunday to attend, along with Kenyan and other Olympic champions. Please spread the word and I look forward to seeing you at the party & celebrating the spirit of the NYC Marathon weekend.

For more information please contact Karl Keirstead at 917-912-0024 or at karlkeirstead@yahoo.com. Suggested minimum donation of $70.

New Arrival
November 2, 2005

Michaela and Glen Carnes are thrilled to announce that they became the happy parents of Matthew Raymond Carnes (their first child) on November 1st. Matthew weighed in at 7 lbs, 11 3/4 oz and both Matthew and Michaela are doing well.

Spectacular!
November 2, 2005

The Radio City Music Hall Orchestra has gone on strike, and may have been joined by the Rockettes. This strike comes on the eve of the first performances of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, and if you think that November 3 is a little early to be starting a Christmas Show, welcome to the club. It's even worse for us, since we have to exit and enter the subway right next to Radio City Music Hall, and force our way through crowds of tourists who refuse to share the sidewalk. So, here's our holiday wish for a long strike, and an easy walk to work. Or, at least until those nitwits who act like they've never seen a tree before start crowding the area around Rockefeller Center.

Big in Japan
November 2, 2005

Yumi Ogita and Takeshi (Casey) Yamazaki appeared in the October 28 issue of YomiTime, a weekly Japanese community newspaper in New York. The article is about their running life and the New York City Marathon. If you read Japanese, click on the image below for the full-sized article. And then tell us what it says.

Niketown Event
November 2, 2005

Thursday night at Niketown (6 East 57th), come experience the Runners' Lab from 8:30 to 10:30 pm. RSVP to les.page@nike.com, technically by Wednesday, but they'll probably let you email today. Click the image below to see the full-size announcement.

Post-Marathon Party
November 1, 2005

Our traditional post-marathon party will be held downstairs at The Parlour, West 86th Street between Broadway and West End Avenue, from 2:30 pm to 6:30 pm. This is always a fun event both for our marathoners and our spectators. Family and friends are welcome. Members who want to guarantee positive coverage on the site for the next year can take this opportunity to bribe the webmaster with beer.

Photos
November 1, 2005

A reader suggested that we not make any announcement when we post photos, and just see if you guys can find them on your own. We're thinking about it, but for now we'll let you know that photos of the women at Club Championships are posted. Try not to crash the server as you all go look at them at once.

Literally
November 1, 2005

Jesse Sheidlower — author of The F-Word, the best language book ever— isn't as bothered as we are about people using the word literally to mean figuratively. We remain pissed off about people doing that, and also take issue with Sheidlower's closing paragraph:

The one sensible criticism that can be made about the intensive use of literally is that it can often lead to confusing or silly-sounding results. In this case, the answer is simple: Don't write silly-soundingly. Some usage books even bother to make this point about literally. Then again, most usage advice could be reduced to one simple instruction: "Be clear." But that would be the end of a publishing category.

Reduce usage guides to "Be clear"? Then how can we prove our moral superiority by explaining all the minor rules of punctuation?

Tuesday Night Uptown Track Workout Report
November 1, 2005

This fall has seen an unusual upsurge in attendance at the middle distance workouts (autumn is usually the quietest time) and Tuesday night we had about 20 runners enjoying a perfect evening at Columbia's track. Well, not so much enjoying as struggling through a bunch of different workouts expertly calibrated by Coach Devon to improve performance and maximize pain. Joe T and Russ led the assortment of runners doing miler intervals, cranking out 5:10ish times. Brad resisted the temptation to run hard just five days before his big race.

Among other runners, we were glad to see Chris Potter back from an ankle injury, and it feels like we get a new, fast female runner every week; this week's is named Caryn. Really, all the groups tonight were quite impressive. Sadly, though, no one said anything outrageous or objectionable. Too tired, we suppose.

Marathon Course
November 1, 2005

Ever wonder what the NYC Marathon course would look like without 2,000,000 people blocking your view? This article gives a nice idea of what's behind the spectators.

Letters
November 1, 2005

In addition to using this page to complain about everything we read, watch and listen to, we are also the type of crank who writes endless letters to newspapers, magazines, websites, radio shows, and the voices in our head. We have a defense for our behavior, though: it's genetic. Our relatives just happen to do better at getting their letters published, either because they have more interesting things to say, or because they don't write their letters in crayon. Here's the letter Uncle Dan had printed in the Times today:

To the Editor:

Re "Time for the Vice President to Explain Himself" (column, Oct. 30):

In the wake of the indictment of I. Lewis Libby Jr., Nicholas D. Kristof admonishes Democrats to "wipe the smiles off their faces."

Sorry, Mr. Kristof, but I've been walking around with a mournful scowl for five years of Clear Skies, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and W.M.D. fabrications.

It is certainly not what Mr. Kristof refers to as the "humiliation for the entire country" that makes me gleeful. That regrettable humiliation occurred before this and reached new lows at Abu Ghraib.

My smile comes from the anticipation that truths may now start to be told, and that from that, change can happen.

Thanks for continuing to take the vice president to task, but please allow us this moment. It's just the smile of hope.

Dan Lansner
New York, Oct. 30, 2005