1997 Holiday 20K Run

PRE-GAME RITUALS

• Photo 1: Edwin Fajardo flexes his muscles while Sam Li can only shake his head in disbelief.
• Photo 2: Ricardo Granados warms up his troublesome hamstring, an injury that he had never experienced before. From the way he ran during the race, it was probably not serious.
• Photo 3: Alan Ruben does his umpteenth race of the year, and closes his truly remarkabe year with one of his best overall efforts (2nd place overall!). See how the other competitors bow and pay homage to him?
• Photo 4: Doug Kabbash is so well-camouflaged that no one could guess that he is a Central Park Track Club member. See, no orange anywhere! That cost him a few photo opportunities during the race.
• Photo 5: Rasheed Azim, Alan Ruben and Ricardo Granados toe the starting line, while setting their watches. These days, the only split that you can trust is the one on your own watch!

W72nd Street Transverse (~4 Mile Mark)

• Photo 6: Alan Ruben is just behind the race leader and is being shadowed by a couple of other runners.
• Photo 7: Ricardo Granados runs with his signature arm carry motion.
• Photo 8: Rasheed Azim is willing to practise group running until he gets bored. But he is different in a significant way from his two companions. How so? Rasheed has no race bib! He is not even in this race, even though he is putting in a solid effort.
• Photo 9: Sam Li is about 20 meters ahead of his teammate Edwin Fajardo, who has not come into the picture yet.
• Photo 10: Edwin Fajardo is being exhorted (by the photographer) to catch up with his teammate Sam Li, in words that are not necessarily kind.

E75th Street (~5.5 Mile Mark), bottom of Cat Hill

• Photo 11: Alan Ruben has dropped his shadow now with a strong surge.
• Photo 12: Ricardo Granados braces for the hill just around the corner.
• Photo 13: Rasheed Azim has acquired a shadow of his own.
• Photo 14: Heeding the exhortations, Edwin Fajardo has caught up with Sam Li. Please note that these two characters are perfectly coordinated: white long-sleeve shirts, black tights and, most improbably, the same white/orange team singlets. When asked about this, Edwin quipped a quick answer that he thought was cute --- until he realized who was among the listeners. Just for this once, we will not print his quip in consideration of his young age. Besides, it would have cost us our 'suitable-for-family-reading' rating!
• Photo 15: Five more miles later, Edwin and Sam were still running contentedly shoulder to shoulder. The photographer was tempted to tell them that they were running fifth and sixth for the team and that only one of them would get a medal!