Personally endorsed by the man himself: "Great home page!" (4/16/98)
(see also his Personal Web Page)

WNBC NEWS COVERAGE  (October 5, 2000)

On October 5, WNBC (Channel 4, New York City) broadcast a segment about runner Gordon Bakoulis who is preparing for the New York City Marathon next month.  We are quite familiar with her illustrious running career (multiple New York Runner of the Year awards, two top-10 New York City Marathon finishes, three-time US Olympic Marathon Trial qualifier, running the Central Park Track Club guys into the ground during workouts, etc), but we were obviously very interested in what the program reveals about her family (more specifically, her husband Alan Ruben).

Gordon Bakoulis and Sammy Ruben

The Ruben-Bakoulis residence

The Ruben-Bakoulis residence

One of the major contributions of this program is that you get a peek inside the famous Ruben-Bakoulis residence.  You know that every time that they run a race, we snicker about where they would put their inevitable trophies (see Famous Saying #895).  These photos show that this was not mere hyperbole.  Dusting those trophies is not a trivial task.

Framed photograph of Alan Ruben running down First Avenue in the New York Marathon

Gordon Bakoulis winning  a twosome 10K with Alan Ruben waiting at the finish line.

Running has been an important part in Gordon's life, and it was also how she met her husband Alan Ruben.  Here is what she has to say about Alan's running (click on .wav file).  In case you haven't memorized the statistics, Gordon has a marathon PR of 2:33 and Alan has a marathon PR of 2:29.

ALAN RUBEN'S GUIDE FOR THE 21 MILE MARK
AT THE BOSTON MARATHON

This legendary guide is now available for the first time for general readership.

• Stacy Creamer saw this list and asked Alan, "Where is the corresponding guide for the women?" The reply: "But it is the same one!" (Loser!)

SMALL WORLD

• All of us dutifully watch the program Road Race of the Month on ESPN, being one of the few (and irregularly scheduled) running programs around. So we were watching the coverage of the 1997 Philadelphia Distance Run. Late in the race, two American women charged from 7th/8th place to challenge for the lead. Here is the photo of Lynn Nelson (eventual third place finisher), and Libbie Hickman (eventual second place finisher), being pursued by ... none other than Alan Ruben!

• Michael Sheren thought that he could get away from these same old tired faces by moving to Europe. So there he was relaxing in a small cafe in Florence, Italy. There was a television set in the place, and when he looked up at it, he saw the footage of ... none other than Alan Ruben running with the lead women in the 1997 New York City Marathon. No place on earth is remote enough!

• A little bird on the wire told us the following story: "Gordon Bakoulis (Alan Ruben's wife) and Mike Garland were spotted suspiciously coming out of a movie theater together sometime last week. They hid under the cover of 'just having run into each other' in the theater, but you can imagine Alan Ruben's surprise as he waited innocently for her outside the theater!" Who is the source of this story? Alan, being a Brit, would have kept a stiff upper lip; Gordon is too dignified for this childish stuff; so the story most likely came from Mike, being the first (and only?) time that he went one up on Alan. (4/8/98)
  
  Mike's response came in an e-mail titled 'Irresponsible Journalism' with a single word: "Deny." We are not sure just what he is denying ... (4/14/98)

• "Speaking of living in a small world, I was watching a sports program on RAI (the Italian channel) last Sunday (Okay, I confess, those Italian guys on the team are a bad influence on me!). This was a special program about various Italians who almost became heroes/heroines in their sports. So I watched (for the umpteenth time) Roberto Baggio missed the spot kick in the shoot-out to lose the World Cup. Then the program cut to Franca Fiacconi, third-place female finisher in the 1997 NYC Marathon. Franca was first shown jogging around her home town, and then she was shown racing in New York City ... right next to Alan Ruben! Get that man off my television screen!" (note from Roland Soong, 4/5/98)

• "At the last road workout, Alan Ruben told me to check out the Running & Racing program on ESPN the next Monday at 1:30am.  So I drank many, many cups of coffee and stayed up until that hour.  (Yeah, I know about VCRs; I even own one, but I have to figure out what that blinking light is first ...)  Yes, it was all worth my while when I saw this scene." (note from Roland Soong, 6/30/98).

• When we opened our copy of the September/October 1998 New York Runner, we found on page 15 a photo of a sunglass-clad Alan Ruben toeing the starting line.

• "When we received our November 1998 package of race applications, we went through the races and there it was --- under the Kurt Steiner 50K listing, the race record is held by one Alan Rubin (sic) in 3:25:91 (sic) (1993)."  (note from Roland Soong, 10/14/98)
  
  At the workout after the 1998 race, Alan asked us what the winning time was.   When we told him that the race was won in 3:31, he said: "Good!  I was afraid that I would have to go back and do this again if someone else took that record."
   
• Just when we thought that Channel 11 had blown their mission in the 1998 New York City Marathon coverage by missing Alan Ruben, someone pointed out that Alan appeared in the background of the post-race interview of the race winner John Kagwe.  In this first photo, we see Alan crossing the finish line with raised arms at the right hand side of the frame.  In this second photo, Alan has moved to center stage, where he belongs. (11/10/98)
   
• In the July/August 1999 issue of New York Running, Peter Gambaccini wrote this paragraph:
  
  Notorious for back-to-back endeavors like a 60K one week and a one-mile the next, the Central Park Track Club's Alan Ruben is reasonably indestructible and finds he doesn't have to make choices.  "The main focus is always the marathon, and that just so happens to be my strength as well.  The good thing about training for the marathon is that racing at just about any distance --- even the 5K, because it translates into more leg speed --- is going to help you."
  For Ruben, "the easiest race to run is the half-marathon.  You can settle into it, you don't have to go flat out from the start, and yet it's not so long that it tears you down."
   
• When we got an application form for the Bank of Butterfield International Race Weekend (January 14 to 16, 2000), we found ourselves looking at Alan Ruben running towards us (click hot spot to enlarge).  When we showed it to Alan, he looked at it and said, "That was for the 10K."  (For the record, Alan ran the 10K on Saturday and the marathon on Sunday during the Interational Race Weekend of 1999.)  Yes, not only does the guy remember his splits, but he also memorizes his running gear for each race. (9/7/99)

Q & A

Alan Ruben was the NYRRC's 1998 Runner of the Year in the Male 40-44 category.  All winners were asked four questions about themselves.

A YEAR IN THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALAN RUBEN

This is what Alan Ruben did to become the New York Road Runners Club's Runner of the Year in the Male 40-44 category in 1998.

Note: This table was prepared by us and therefore cannot be claimed to be complete and exhaustive, since the man does not disclose everything to us.  After he looked at the table, he said, "Not bad.  The only race that you missed was the one that I ran on New Year's Day in London."

ANOTHER YEAR IN THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ALAN RUBEN

Gillian Horowitz & Alan Ruben
Female & Male 40-44 Runners of the Year

This is what Alan Ruben did to become the New York Road Runners Club's Runner of the Year in the Male 40-44 category in 1999.

WATCHING JOEY GROW

As interesting as it is to watch Alan Ruben run (teammate Tom Hartshorne once said, "Alan, you run like a duck!" but that 'duck' ran a fast 4:39 in his debut mile), we think that we much prefer watching his son  Joey Ruben grow.  This is absolutely the happiest child that we have ever met ... (6/7/99)

WHAT DID I SAY?

At the 1998 Lamisil Twosome 10K, the steady Alan Ruben passed his fast-starting teammate Carmine Petracca around the half-way mark.   As shown on ESPN's Running & Racing program, (see Photo) Alan was observed to say something to Carmine as he went by.  Here are ten things he might have said:

• "I know it may sound condescending, but you are looking great. (snicker)"
• "Aren't you glad that the tv camera is here to record this moment?"
• "The good news is that the race is half over.  The bad news is that you have another half to go."
• "If you remove those dark shades, you might be able to see where you are going."
• "England is going to beat Italy in the World Cup!"
• "If it makes you feel better, Gordon will be coming along soon to say hello too ..."
• "Rule Britannia!"
• "As the team rep, I should point out that you are not wearing team uniform!   Just as well that you don't embarrass us on national tv ..."
• "Don't worry --- they award medals for the top 15 finishers and you are safe so far ..."
• "Have a nice day!"

Question: "Listen, have you ever asked Alan himself what he actually said?"
Answer: "No.  Why?  Whatever it was, it is bound to be less interesting than our speculations."

Too many people have the impression that Alan Ruben is the dignified British gentleman who keeps a stiff upper lip. Let us erase that illusion once and for all with a reprint of the following character-assassinating article that Alan wrote for the June 1995 Central Park Track Club Newsletter.

SPRING COUPLES RELAY

Allen Ditches Wife for Glory by Alan Ruben

The Spring Couples Relay, as some of you may know, is for most people a chance to compete together with their significant other in a low-key fun event. The relay starts at the Boathouse by the Central Park Lake with one partner cycling two full loops around the park, followed by the other partner running two-and-a-half miles, and finishes with both partners in a boat, rowing around the lake.

The starting gun goes off and Peter is cycling like a man possessed.

For many years, Peter Allen had dutifully competed in this relay with his devoted wife, Rhonda. Peter is so competitive that he would spend much of his time after the Boston Marathon training on a rowing machine to get in shape for this race. This, plus the fact that Peter is a strong cyclist, had enabled the Allens to claim one or two age-group awards over the years.

Unfortunately, like a drug addict needing a bigger and bigger fix, age-group awards just wouldn't cut it anymore.

Peter finishes the cycling leg in sixth place, about 3 minutes behind the leader.

Psychologists have traced the sad moral decline of Peter Allen to last year's event, where, under the pretext that his wife was 8 months pregnant, he drafted a teammate who could run at least as well as his wife --- Yumi Ogita. Rhonda's and Yumi's abilities are so closely matched that they have both run marathons within two hours of each other.

In the most exciting finish for years, Peter Allen and Yumi Ogita were beaten for 2nd place by mere inches. While this creditable performance would, for most people, have been cause for quiet satisfaction, for Peter winning became an obsession he could not rid himself of.

Peter is now handing over to Gordon Bakoulis, who has won many NYRRC Female Runner of the Year awards and who would win the prestigious 10-Mile Philadelphia Broad Street Run in 55:18 the very next day. Halfway through the run, Gordon has effortlessly moved into first place. By the start of the rowing leg, they have a lead of two minutes. Peter's rowing machine training pays off and they maintain their lead to the finish.

Finally, Peter has the victory that he has so longed for. But at what cost, Peter, what cost?

Editor's Note: In the 1996 Spring Couples Relay, Gordon Bakoulis ditched her partner Peter Allen for her newly acquired husband Alan Ruben. We will not speculate on the role that the above piece of tabloid journalism played in her decision-making process. But the Bakoulis-Ruben team was significantly slowed down by Alan's first (and possibly last) bike race of his life and finished in 18th place. Meanwhile, Peter Allen teamed up with Hank Berkowitz's wife Brooke Sessions and finished 11th overall and 1st combined age group. Finally, in 1998, Gordon Bakoulis and Alan Ruben teamed up in the one true sport that they can both do well --- running --- and became the overall female and male winners respectively in the Lamisil Twosome 10K race, thereby also becoming the first-place twosome as well. What can we say? What can we say about the significance of family values in these morality tales?

Related links: JOSEPH DEMOS RUBEN and SAMUEL JOHN RUBEN