Fifth Avenue Mile

The Donald J. Trump Fifth Avenue Mile

This annual event took place on a bright, sunny and warm day.

OPEN WOMEN'S RACE

Photo 1: The runner in the middle of the photo is Devon Sargent. Right behind her is Stacy Creamer. Devon finished in third place and won a trophy. Stacy finished in fourth place and won nothing, except for a PR by about 12 seconds.
Photo 2: This is the same Stacy Creamer, shown from behind. She is stepping on one of those famous New York City potholes. According to Stacy, she went out in 73 seconds for the first quarter (her previous fastest recorded quarter was 80 seconds) but was still behind many others. But with that strong start and a sustained effort, she would set PR's at 800m as well as 1500m.
Photo 3: Diane Leibowitz is our third runner.
Photo 4: Devon Sargent and Stacy Creamer pose for the photo. Devon said that she could hear Stacy coming up from behind near the end.
Photo 5: Stacy Creamer is shown here with teammate Peter Gambaccini.
Photo 6: Peter Gambaccini is also PRESS, and he is taking notes of post-race comments. He can count on Stacy Creamer to provide good quotes, such as the exhiliration of running down the major street of her home town, blah blah blah ...
Addendum: In the January/February 1999 issue of New York Running (page 77), Peter Gambacini wrote: And Stacy Creamer, a senior vice president of Penguin Putnam Publishing, who ran 5:31 for fourth in the open women's race, found it "so exhilarating to be running down Fifth Avenue. It's New York City, but it's still your hometown." To Creamer, "It was easier and went faster than I expected. I've always thought 5K was the shortest there was. I've learned there is space at the short end of the continuum."
Photo 60: Bola Awofeso speaks with Mary Beth Mulholland, who set out to run under 7:00 and finished in 6:58. Very close, isn't it?
Photo 7: Jud Santos speaks with Elizabeth Murray (of Witold's Runners), who finished second overall in this race and is holding her trophy.
Photo 8: Stacy Creamer chats with Elizabeth Murray, who is completely unaware that she is a legend on this web site.
Photo 9: Stacy Creamer and Stuart Calderwood then left to buy some lunch at a health food place, and fortunately realized that they had no money on them before they ordered.

OPEN MEN'S RACE

Photo 11: Stuart Calderwood runs shirtless in the middle of the photo. Trailing on the far right is Larry Glazer. Although Stuart is 40 years old, he chose to run the Open race instead of the Masters race.
Photo 12: After Stuart came a stampede of our guys, most of whom the photograher missed because they were out of uniform. Michele Tagliati is properly attired and easily identifiable by his expression of pain. (Michele's own observation: "The expression of pain is natural ... I don't make it up only for the web-site photographer! The truth is that any distance below 10 miles is very painful for my marathoner's instincts".)
Photo 13: Michele Tagliati and Tyronne Culpepper smile for the camera. Before the race, coach Tony Ruiz had told Tyronne to go out the first quarter in no faster than 68 seconds. Tyronne's actual time: 65 seconds, and after that it was a survival race to finish under 5 minutes.
Photo 14: Victor Osayi is the victor of the trash talk war between Tyronne Culpepper and himself, because his 4:48 was about 10 seconds faster.
Photo 15: Eric Aldrich's 4:43 was faster than Victor Osayi, but there is no war between Victor and him because Eric is such a gentleman.
Photo 16: Larry Glazer finished in 4:39, and would have been near 4:30 if only he could have held on for the last quarter better.
Photo 17: Alan Bautista and Jeff Kisseloff pose for the photo. Jeff's time was 4:57, virtually the same as last year. Alan's time was 5:06, compared to 4:59 last year. Yes, we will all blame Frank Schiro for that.
Photo 18: Jeff Kisseloff and his fiancée Marie pose for the photo. She seemed to have real photography gear.
Photo 19: Devon Sargent listens to John Sargent explaining his PR-setting performance. Of course, this is his debut in the mile event.

MASTER'S MILE

Photo 21: Alan Ruben is getting ready for the race. The hands peeling the orange belong to Frank Schiro, who then left the litter in the street. We have reported him to the police for violating the quality of life in New York City.
Photo 22: In the race, Tom Hartshorne is ahead of Alan Ruben with about 150m to go. Alan had passed Tom at around 1100m. At that point, Tom could hear the person coming up because of the loud sound and the rapid cadence. That person turned out to be Alan Ruben. Afterwards, he said, "Hey, Alan, you run like a duck!" This event was also significant for Tom because he beat the local topdog Paul Mascali (possibly a lifetime first?).
Photo 23: As if by design, Sid Howard made his move and weaved in between two competitors just as he approached our camera person. So all we caught was his backside.
Photo 24: Alan Ruben says, "Tomorrow is another day." Yes, that would be the Philadelphia Distance Run for him.
Photo 25: This is Sid Howard's last year in the 50-59 age group. Next year same time, he will be 60 years old and ready to kick some butt. His time today would have won the George Sheehan Mile for the 60-69 age group.

GROUPIES

Photo 51: Rafael Devalle and his friend Mindy Solkin (of Millrose) say hello. Mindy's own analysis: "As usual, I had my mouth open, but, of course, I must have been saying something very witty." Of course ...
Photo 52: Frank Schiro in his Spiderman shirt is our official critic. He speaks highly unfavorably about the efforts of these "Central Park Turtle Joggers" ...
Photo 53: Frank Schiro is recruiting Thomas Pennell to run track, as Julie Denney listens in amusement. Before we know it, Frank might be biking and swimming instead.
Photo 54: The definitive fashion statement comes from Thomas Pennell, in the orange team jacket, white hat and sunglasses.
Photo 55: Stacy Creamer speaks with Chicago Marathon-bound teammate Kim Mannen.
Photo 56: Here are Karel Matousek and Peter Gambaccini in a Spam t-shirt. Hmm, we have a sense of déjà vu but something is askew. Ah, yes, it was Karel who wore a Spam t-shirt at the 1997 club softball game.
Photo 57: Here is the official spotter for the club today --- Jud Santos equipped with binoculars. But what is exactly he spotting? Short skirts? Suzy Hamilton? Ivanka Trump?
Photo 58: Bola Awofeso (seen here with Julie Denney) drops by, sans his bike.
Photo 59: Frank Schiro and his friend Megan. The sign behind Frank says 1500m, but it is doubtful that he has ever run that far.
Photo 61: What would any event be without the presence of Audrey Kingsley (seen here with Julie Denney)?
Photo 62: Of course, none of this would be possible without the efforts of the officials. Here is a tribute to one of them, the person who recorded the runner numbers at 1500m. Wait! But it's the same Frank Schiro person, who obviously had to get his hands into everything.
Photo 63: The Donald, being the official sponsor of the race, poses with the winners of the elite races.