this weekend i got an email from ryan, of runyourcity, which announced the start of his on-line book club. "read along with other runners and have an in depth online discussion about various running books."
"ultramarathon man: confessions of an all-night runner" by dean karnazes is the first selection. the first 10 chapters will be discussed this week, followed by the second 10 chapters (and remainder) of the book, next week.
check out the discussion and, as ryan writes, "introduce yourself and voice your opinion and share a few stories of your own."
i'm in! but, just for the record, i've already read "ultramarathon man" twice - and planned on reading it once again before the vermont 100 next month :D
there are two "new" running books on my summer reading schedule: "my life on the run: the wit, wisdom, and insights of a road racing icon" by bart yasso, and "what i think about when i talk about running," by haruki murakami. but i'm getting ahead of myself...
last night capped off another connecticut "3 towns in 1 day" trifecta for me! last month, on mothers day, i ran was in norwalk for a race in the morning, then i stopped off in greenwich on the way home to support emmy's safe cycling bike ride and, that afternoon was in westport for dinner.
yesterday it was deja vu all over again! first the 5 miler in norwalk in the morning, then i stopped off in greenwich to see emmy's art exhibit and, last night, we went to morton's steakhouse in stamford for dinner. and, in even more of a coincidence, the dinner was with all the same family members (except for my mom) who were at the mothers day meal!
my brother-in-law, miguel, and sister-in-law, andrea. miguel is an engineer with united technologies - so if you're in the market for a jet engine, he's your man!
bruce, and my mother-in-law, joan. they just returned from europe (london, a cruise down the rhine, and home via milan)!
miguel, miggy, katie, and alexa!
the highlight of my decadence last night - a grand marnier souffle for dessert! and the prime reason i woke up this morning, stumbled out of bed, and dragged myself outside to run 10 soggy miles - to make a dent in burning off all those sweet calories!!
apologies to mussorgsky and elp, but it's the fitting title to the fantastic exhibit of emmy's paintings now on display at the cos cob library in greenwich! and, even greater news, the show was expected to close on monday, but its stay has been extended for a few more weeks!
after the norwalk summer series 5 miler this morning, emmy took rob and me on a guided tour of her paintings. these photos hardly do them justice. if possible, go see her artwork in person!
rob and emmy.
a wrap around view.
the wrap around view, continued.
portrait (oops, photograph) of the artist.
rob, emmy, and me.
rob and me.
me finishing.
rob finishing.
emmy finishing.
so, "how did we do," emmy wants to know?
don, emmy, and john.
emmy and gail.
brian and kate.
john!
sean!
emmy!
official results at hi-tek racing.
here is my race report for the 5 miler.
as i mentioned elsewhere, the norwalk summer series is my favorite group of races - challenging, but fair, courses and great pre- and post-race socializing. i first ran this 5 mile course back in 2004, and the complete series (5 races, plus the half marathon) two years in row (2005 and 2006). last summer, however, was the first time in 3 years i wasn't able to run one because of conflicts with other races or business travel. then, this year, i missed the 3 mile kick-off two weeks ago because it conflicted with yet another race. i was relieved to finally have a norwalk summer series race back on my race calendar!
these are my prior times on this course:
2004 - 34:34/6:55 pace
2005 - 32:57/6:36 pace
2006 - 32:36/6:30 pace
there was zero likelihood i'd run a sub-35 minute race today. but a 37:30 finish - a 7:30 pace - would be just fine.
instead of driving to norwalk, i met emmy in greenwich and we drove there together (because after the race she'd drive me to the cos cob library to see her art exhibit). somehow we got lost on the way there! when i recognized the course of the wilton halloween hustle, i thought it was time to call don (the race director) and get directions! he cleared things up immediately - it turned out the deli emmy had been looking for was now a bank! phew, after backtracking a bit, we found the "bank" and got to the race without further adventure.
there were so many familiar faces there: aside from don - marty, rob, john, kate, gail, dawn, brian and mark - just to name a few! don got the race off on time, but one person in particular (emmy) had to track down her inhaler and missed the official start by a minute or so. the tough part of this course is mile one - basically a straight uphill climb. then mile two is all recovery on the downhill, followed by 3 miles of rolling hills. it's a challenging course in decent weather. but today, with high heat and humidity, it was especially tough.
here are my splits:
7:21
6:57 14:48
7:40 21:58
7:48 29:46
7:45 37:31
7:31 pace
i was very pleased with my race! i was even happier to learn the course was long (measured to 5.11 miles)! a quick conversion results in a 7:19 pace over that distance - and a five mile "split" of 36:35! what a pleasant surprise! emmy, despite her late start, finished in 35 minutes, third place overall. rob finished up right behind me. john and kate finished together.
one highlight of don's races is the post-race food. after i caught my breath, i made a beeline for the ice cream truck and followed that up with some watermelon! the back to the car to grab my camera for some picture taking. in addition to emmy's 3rd place finish, john took 4th in his age group (award for first to fifth place). all in all, a great morning!
next up: putnam county classic (8 miles around lake mahopac) on the 4th of july!
check our the race photos.
check out emmy's race report and photos!
what a major blow to downtown bibliophiles! the front page of the new issue of "downtown express" reports that strand books will close its downtown annex on fulton street at the end of august. the one-two punch of long-term construction effecting the flow of street traffic to the store and a landlord seeking a 300% increase in rent spelled its doom!
while the main store in greenwich village, and kiosks that dot the city landscape, are unaffected, downtown residences will surely feel the loss this fall. the strand had maintained a downtown annex for 12 years. it was big news for those of us who trekked up to the village to browse "the 18 miles of books" when the strand announced its downtown "expansion." i remember the original location at the north side of the south street seaport.
the closest bookstore to my office is the borders at fulton street, across from trinity church. while convenient, it certainly has none of the deals found at a used book store, or the ambiance of the strand. what a lonely place that corner of fulton street will be come september.
last night pat and i went to beckett theatre and caught the one man show, "the bully pulpit: quality time with teddy roosevelt." in the interest of full disclosure, i'll mention at the outset teddy roosevelt is, by far, my favorite president. second, even though i'd wanted to see this production for months, thanks to procrastination on my part, this is the final week of performances (the show ends its run sunday)!
the bully pulpit was written and is performed by michael o. smith, a man with an uncanny (if eerie) resemblence to teddy roosevelt. while this is the first new york city appearance, he has toured around the county with the production since 2004. the evening unfolds in roosevelt's study at sagamore hill, his sprawling home in oyster bay, long island. the occasion is his 60th birthday in 1918 - the year before his death - and he leads the audience on a wide ranging tour of the highs and lows of his life.
the story line was intimately familiar to me. over the last 20 years or so i've read just about every book on teddy roosevelt published. in fact, my favorite biographies are edmund morris' two volumes (so far - as we await his third volume, the post-presidency years): "the rise of theodore roosevelt," and "theodore rex." as an aside, while i respect morris' skill as a writer and biographer, he is also the author of what i consider the worst book of all time, "dutch: a memoir of ronald reagan."
the performance, with a short 10 minute intermission, was almost two hours - and the time literally flew by. from his initial appearance, where smith shook hands with audience members as he made his way down to the stage, until his final salute farewell, he kept the audience engaged. throughout the show he shouted out questions, to which the audience shouted back replies. each successful answer was met with a gleeful shout, "give the lady (or gentleman) a silver dollar!" - until he admitted having exhausted his supply of silver dollars.
except for his remembrances of alice (his first wife), his poor treatment of their daughter (also named alice), and the death on his youngest son (quentin) in world war one, smith's performance was consistently upbeat. act one covered his life up to the assassination on president mckinley. following the intermission, act two picked up with start of his presidency. he spoke of his years in the white house (which he took credit for naming) in terms of family life - playing with his young sons, the antics of his oldest daughter alice, and how he entertained the ambassadors of france and germany - as in when they crossed a freezing potomac river in their birthday suits (while the french ambassador retained only his gloves)!
there was the brief coverage of his post-white house adventures (both the political, as a third party candidate, and the literal, on safari in africa and exploring the amazon). the performance ended after he received the telegram informing him of quentin's death. despite the sad note at the end, it was an otherwise upbeat finish.
after the new york run concludes, i hope smith has plans to stage "the bully pulpit" again. it is certainly worth experiencing history come to life - so to speak.
next up: another one-man show, we plan to see laurence fishburne in thurgood!
update: check out my book review of "lion in the white house: a life of theodore roosevelt," by aida d. donald.
today was the first run where my legs felt as if there was some life in them! after the slow mile in greenburgh and the poor performance in fairfield last weekend, i just wanted to rehydrate and get in some easy miles until my legs decided to recover. i ran 4 miles after the faifield half and they were just as much of a struggle as the race had been! the weekly mileage total only reached 40.8, roughly half the prior week's mileage of 79.2 miles.
sunday's post-race splits:
8:15
8:10 16:25
8:39 25:04
8:07 33:11
8:18 pace
monday is typically my rest day. but i decided to run another easy 4 miles:
8:22
8:11 16:33
8:20 24:53
7:52 32:45
8:11 pace (a struggle to log miles with dead legs).
tuesday an easy 6 miles:
8:27
8:03 16:30
7:46 24:16
7:46 32:02
8:25 40:27
8:01 48:28
8:05 pace (felt the effects of delayed onset muscle soreness).
wednesday an easy 6 miles:
8:09
7:56 16:05
7:30 23:35
7:45 31:19
8:25 39:44
8:05 47:49
7:58 pace (legs starting to come back to life - phew).
i had never heard of japanese author haruki murakami, but earlier this month i found a brief description of his upcoming book, "what i talk about when i talk about running." the book has already been released in japan, and the english translation is set for a late july release here in the united states. i immediately thought to myself, "oh, another book like 'strides: running through history with an unlikely athlete,' by ben cheever, a writer who happens to run."
since i enjoyed the cheever book earlier this year, i made a mental note to look for a copy of the murakami book later this summer. i'll read just about anything connected with runners and running. then, less than a week after learning about the forthcoming book, as a beneficiary of emmy's magazine recycling program, she gave me the most recent issue of the new yorker, "because it had an article about a runner in it." but, she warned me, "it might not be too interesting since it really didn't talk all that much about running."
when i took a look, it turned out to be the "life and letters" piece, by none other than haruki murakami, entitled: the running novelist: learning how to go the distance!" wow, coincidence or eerie forboding? either way, the piece was an interesting background on the man, his early career as a nightclub owner, eventual author, and converted daily runner (who then graduated to road races and marathons).
so from a mental note to be on the look-out for his book, i'm now on the pre-order list ;D
fyi: runners world was already on the scene with this interview of murakami back in 2005!
update: here is the link to my reveiw of haruki murakami's "what i talk about when i talk about running: a memoir."
i'm so happy to post my friend pam's race report from the fairfield half marathon. we were the only two members of our 9 person team who didn't get to run our legs of the "need for speed" relay 2 weeks ago! it seemed like the weather conditions which led to the cancellation of the relay some managed to follow us, albeit in a less severe version, to fairfield! but a little heat and humidity didn't stop us from finishing today :D
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Today I had the pleasure of running in a race that was so incredibly well managed - - - a refreshing change from two weeks ago when my wonderful team (Trying to Catch the Wind) attempted to finish the Need for Speed Relay. Every aspect of this race (the Fairfield ½ Marathon) was well managed - - - from easy check in, to very frequent water/GU2O stations (every 1.5 – 2 miles), numerous misting hoses along the course, several bands playing to cheer us on (although I could have done without the bagpipes J), many port-o-johns along the way, tons of water at the finish, an amazing display of food at the finish (pizza, bagels, yogurt, juice, watermelon, bananas, and so on) and the ultimate cool off zone (the Long Island Sound) right at the finish. I couldn’t have asked for more in the management of this race … Runner’s World magazine was right on in naming this race as Race of the Month for June, 2008.
All that said, what a HARD day it was. This was my third half marathon and I knew it wasn’t going to be a strong day very early on. By mile three I was already questioning whether I could finish, forget about setting a PR. I seriously was factoring in how disappointed I’d be in myself if I dropped out and walked back to my car. But, knowing that Emmy and Frank (and friends who live in Fairfield) were going to be at the finish helped me power on (along with lots of Shot Blocks, GU, etc.).
I think of this race as the race of the H's - - - hazy, hot, humid, hilly, hard, hydration, and so on. I finished the Gatorade in my waist belt by mile 3. Since I have never mastered drinking from a cup on the run, I was reduced to walking at the hydration stations so I can keep hydrated - - - not a good thing for cramping of the calves but I managed through it.
The hill starting around mile 4 was tremendous, the elevation map doesn’t do it justice. It seemed like it was never going to end. I kept looking for that long recovery down hill to start and it was some time before it hit. But, my husband taught me to power up the hills (he was a cross country runner in high school) so I kept that notion in mind and got through the hills, walking only at one which was right after a water station. By the end of this hill I was thinking “won’t it be nice just to finish, forget about a PR, forget about 2 hours, just FINISH!”
Once we got to about mile 8 the rest of the race was relatively flat with just a few short hills to get through and lots of down hill time (was able to make up some good time here). But, the one round about mile 10 was killer because the legs were quite tired at that point. Everyone really seemed to struggle up that hill.
Not only was the race well managed, but it was nicely attended by the people living in the area. There were plenty of small children smiling up at you as they waited for you to slap them five as you were running by. I even got tossed a Munchkin (and caught it!) by a cutie pie around mile 9.
So, my only constructive criticism is the last 1/10 of a mile was on a gravel road leading to the parking lot. I found that very tough on the tired feet.
In the end I finished just two minutes off my PR for a half marathon (1:56:43), something I was very happy with given how out of the “game” I was mentally and physically during the race. I really didn’t think I’d finish. I placed well too for me - - - in the top ¼ of women and women in my age group. But, the best part of the whole day - - - seeing my friend Joanna and her boys at the finish cheering me on and bumping into Frank and Emmy on the beach.
So, my hat is off to the Fairfield Fire Department for managing a race so well. I look forward to coming back and running it again next year.
john, me, bekkie, and joe.
me and joe.
emmy, cindy, and john.
bekkie, joe, emmy, and craig in forefront
(with members of silk city striders).
marty, john, and emmy.
rob, monica, marty, and emmy.
pam and emmy.
eric, emmy, and me.
craig and emmy.
me, mark, and gregg.
results for the half marathon.
results for the 5k.
the short version: my 1:48:28 finish today in the fairfield half marathon was the slowest half marathon time of the 28 i've run since 2001! this finish was even slower than my 1:46:07 at the 2006 disney half (which i ran conservatively because the full marathon was on deck for the very next day)! aside from that bit of bad news, the rest of the day was great time!
i've run this race twice before: in 2001, on the old course which included westport, i ran a 1:41:52 and in 2006, on the new course, sans westport, i ran 1:37:29. i prefer the old course since it went past my wife's old house - for a bit of nostalgia. my time goal for this edition was a sub-1:40, but given the heat and humidity at the start, it seemed a stretch.
before the start emmy and i met up with a lot of familiar faces (and a few new ones). on the to packet pick-up we ran into cindy and john. cindy would win the 5k, and john would win his age group in the 5k. joe was also there, a friend i haven't seen since he and i took our daughters to the bunny boogie 3 mile in darien last march! no daughters with us today. joe would take second in his age group in half.
on the way back to the car, i met craig (a/k/a hewentthataway) for the runners world forums! he was on the look out for my yellow mm singlet and i, his orange tech shirt. amazing we found each other in crowd! even more fortuitous, just outside the beach parking lot we ran into bekkie and joe, who were there with their fellow silk city striders. as we chit-chatted, john came by and minutes later, marty too. john and marty ran the 5k - and john took second in his age group!
at this rate it hardly seemed likely i'd ever get rid of the stuff i was carrying! but craig, emmy and i did make it to the parking lot! just before we headed over to the start, i ran into my friends gregg and mark! they were in the 5k, and mark would take first in his age group. on short jog to the start, i said hi to tom (also running the 5k). tom would take first, to john's second in their age group!
amazingly, after all the socializing, the race went off! i ran the first mile in 7:15 - way too fast in those hot and humid conditions. the second mile was still too fast in 7:29, and i could already feel the effects of the heat - not a very good sign. jim gerwick was at the mile 2 marker and, just into mile 3, mike (a/k/a torpedo) caught up to, and passed me. when i reached the first hill and decided to walk it, i readjustment my sights to a 1:45 finish. it was going to be one of those days.
while i didn't realize it at the time, even 1:45 was too optimistic. for the next few miles my pace bounced between 7 and 9 minute miles (where i was walking every hill i ran into - excuse the pun). in fact, joe caught up to me as i was walking a hill and said "this isn't an ultra! you can't be walking the hills!" to which i could only say, sheepishly, "it feels like an ultra to me!" by 10 miles, in 1:23:14, i was having trouble maintaining an 8:15 pace!
with only 5k left to go, i finished it up in 25:13 - with nothing left in the tank when i finally ran under the huge american flag and thru the chute! then another surprise, got to meet eric (a/k/a runwest) from runners world, who had run the 5k. i introduced him to emmy and john and the 4 of us head over to the dunkin donuts wagon for some iced coffees!
there was still more socializing to squeeze in, actually! i still hadn't seen kate, dawn, don or pam - all 4 of whom were running the half. i grabbed some pizza, then eric, emmy and i headed over to get our cameras and change into some dry clothes. i caught sight of kate as she was coming into the beach parking lot to finish! she looked strong. when i got back with my camera, she was nowhere to be seen. after emmy collected her trophy for winning her age group, we found pam on the beach! but no sight of dawn or don today.
on the way out, the biggest surprise, for me, was getting to see my old friend rob! it's no exaggeration to say i can't remember the last race we were at. i just missed seeing art, who had just left. but did get to say hi to monica again - who i had seen earlier as she cheered runners on to the finish on the straightaway back to the beach. in a fitting send off, the heavens opened up with a sun shower as we exited the beach.
my race splits:
7:17
7:26 14:43
8:51 23:35
7:49 31:24
9:34 40:58
7:49 48:47
9:18 58:05
7:27 1:05:32
7:59 1:13:31
9:43 1:23:14
8:20 1:31:34
8:04 1:39:38
8:49 1:48:27
8:18 pace
398 overall/1969 finishers
34th/124 m45-49
check out emmy's race report and photos!
check out craig's race report on runner world!
and here is race coverage from the connecticut post.
after the greenburgh one mile fun run this morning, emmy and in went to see the "beat and beyond: photographs by allen ginsberg" exhibit at the samuel dorsky museum of art at suny new paltz.
i'm a big fan of the beats, and ginsberg in particular. most of the photos on exhibit are very familiar images of the beat generation. the surprise comes from the realization ginsberg, himself, was the photographer!
a view of the corridor gallery housing the exhibit.
emmy and allen.
before we arrived at the museum, we stopped for lunch and a couple of beers at the gilded otter brewing company. the two specialities we tried from the beer menu were excellent:
new paltz crimson lager (sweet malt flavor with a delightful hop aroma and finish).
huguenot street american lager (a light body and delicate flavor, similar to domestic pilsner).
katie and trophy!
katie finishing.
me finishing.
katie and me, pre-race.
bob and katie.
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here is my race report.
