"shouting fire: stories from the edge of free speech" documentary review

last night i watched "shouting fire: stories from the edge of free speech," a documentary that premiered at the sundance film festival last year. while the premise - our civil liberties have been under assault since 9/11 - is facile, vapid, and rote, don't pass up the film. our first amendment rights have been under assault continually from the birth of the republic: check out the alien and sedition act that opened the 19th century, or the criminal prosecutions of those who spoke out against the first world war, or the clamp-down on vietnam war protesters. what makes "shouting fire" well-worth watching is the important history lessons it brings to life.

politics aside, it has an obvious leftist bias, everyone must fight for his freedom of expression - or risk losing it through indifference. the irony here is the documentary unintentionally highlights the evils of political correctness. anytime someone has her right to speak curtailed - regardless of the undoubtedly pure motives of the censor - we all lose (it may only be a matter of time before the wheel eventually turns to your out-dated view of the world). "silence is the enemy," to borrow a line from the new green day album.

the high point of liz garbus' documentary is the interview she does with her father, first amendment attorney martin garbus (interspersed throughout the film). his comments on (and the archival footage of) the pentagon papers case, alone, bring to life a seminal moment in first amendment jurisprudence. his eyewitness account of how the documents found their way into print, followed by his recount of the question and answer at the supreme court at oral argument (on whether to restrain further publication) was riveting. this segment was reason enough to watch the film!

the familiar complaints from the left (to support the premise of the post 9/11 apocalypse) played out with vignettes of the persecution of ward churchill, the lost principal-ship of debbie almontaser, and the wholesale arrest of protesters at the 2004 republican convention in nyc. while these are legitimate grievances, the brief is just as easily made in a non-partisan way. that approach, given political speech is most often the target of suppression, would have made this film an even more powerful viewing experience.

50 years ago today, supreme court held new york law barring film of "lady chatterley's lover" unconstitutional

on june 29, 1959, the supreme court held in kingsley international pictures corp. v. regents, that a new york state law that granted the board of education the power to issue licenses to, among other things, exhibit films - was unconstitutional. in this little cited decision, the supreme court extended core first amendment protections to films.

the court reversed the new york state board of regents decision that concluded the 1955 french film ("l'amant de lady chatterley"), while not obscene, "alluringly presents adultery as acceptable behavior." this was the same year that the u.s. postmaster general seized copies of the grove press edition of the book as obscene. that seizure was overturned by a new york district court judge.

in kingsley, justice stewart wrote for the court that "sexual morality" was an entirely different concept (and protected speech) than concepts of obscenity or pornography (neither of which is protected speech). justice stewart noted that the new york state law sought to regulate advocacy of opinion and expression - core first amendment guarantees.

in a coincidence, tonight hbo airs "shouting fire: stories from the edge of free speech" - check it out!

and if lady chatterley and her travails are more your cup of tea, check out charles rembar's classic, "the end of obscenity: the trials of lady chatterley, tropic of cancer, and fanny hill" - a book i'm constantly tempted to get down from my bookshelf and reread.

2009 norwalk summer series 5 miler: race report

the second race of the 2009 norwalk summer series, the 5 miler, is in the books. on the sunny morning more than 160 runners finished the hilly loop that began and ended at the cranbury elementary school. that number might even have been greater, but the fairfield half marathon was the next morning so saturday may have been a rest day for a few runners that would have otherwise run the 5 miler (but it didn't stop some runners from doing both races).

while i didn't have a particular time goal in mind, i wanted to finish in under 34 minutes. a sub-6:50 pace would hit that target. this was my 5th summer series 5 miler and i was familiar with the hilly, loop course. last year i ran a personal worst of 37:32 for the race. that was more than 5 minutes slower than my personal best for the course! i didn't want to (and didn't think i would) repeat that experience today!

the first mile went by in 6:42 - right on target. i missed the split for mile 2 (which was probably at the first water stop) and reached mile 3 in exactly 20 minutes (13:18 for the last 2 miles). this was still on target, but i felt myself slow down in mile 4, which took 7:03. mile 5 was a carbon copy of mile 4 - i was unable to pick up my pace, and it took another 7:03 to run. my 34:06 finish was a 6:50 pace, just a bit too slow to finish under 34 minutes.

the disappointment didn't last long. post-race perks included watermelon, great bagels, and ice cream (the good humor toasted almond brought me back to my own elementary school days). there were also massages available. post-race socializing (emmy, rob, kate, don, roy, amy, don, jim, marty, sherry, anton, joe, evan, brian, sean, ikuko, and jeanette - is just a partial list of the amazing cast of characters) and the awards ceremony rounded out the morning.

race three, the 7 miler, is in two weeks.

but the big "must run" race next weekend is the putnam county classic!! emmy and her co-race director, lee, have worked for months to put together an awesome event - don't miss it!!

here are my race photos.

2009 norwalk summer series 5 miler: race photos and results

race number two in the norwalk summer series is in the books. great weather contributed to what may have been a record turn-out this sunny and dry morning! finished the hilly 5 miler in 34:06, a 6:50 pace. it was a slightly disappointing finish because i had no kick in the last mile and couldn't bring squeak in under 34 minutes.

here is my race report and a link to the race results.

here are some race photos:


pre-race: john, amy, sean, and ikuko


pre-race: emmy, "do i really have to race today?"


pre-race: rob, "okay, i'll lace up for the race."


post-race: emmy and rob, "did we just race?"


john, finishing.

john, done!

amy and sherry.

sean, finishing.

don and jim.

marty, collecting race tags.

amy, sherry, and brian.

post race perk: ice cream!

john and amy.

john

rob, emmy, and john.

anton and kate.

don announcing awards (brian called up).

jim, anton, and joe (amy, rob, and john in background).

me :D

summer solstice 15k trail run: race report

race report is probably a bit of a stretch to describe the road trip rob, emmy, and i took wednesday night to run the summer solstice 15k trail run in new paltz. our plan had been to meet up with our friend myriam at the gilded otter and drive over to the minnewaska state park together. little did we know when we started off on our driving adventure that we'd finally arrive, after traffic jams and rain squalls, 40+ minutes after the race started! of our group, myriam was the only one who actually got to run the race!

but i've gotten ahead of myself. after emmy picked me up we, drove up i-684 to meet rob at the bedford exit. after all was said and done (thanks to heavy traffic and rain) we didn't leave from bedford until 5:15 - well behind schedule. emmy had called myriam to keep her apprised of our glacial progress (but on the positive side, they hadn't gotten any of the heavy rains we had driven through up in new paltz). a few miles up (before i-84) we were again stopped in bumper to bumper traffic.

so we exited the highway and took back roads to reach i-84. except for more rain showers, we had good driving conditions from that point. sadly, helga, rob's gps device, calculated our arrival time to be well after the start. in a reversal of our road trip to nipmuck (we arrived significantly ahead of helga's forecast), we arrived long after that dreary eta! in fact, within a half dozen miles of the park we were jolted to attention by a deer that jumped out of the woods and in front of our car! luckily, there was no damage aside from our seriously elevated heart beats and blood pressures!

once we reached the race staging area we sheepishly explained our woeful travails to the race director (who just happened to be soaked to the bone because a flash downpour arrived minutes before they started the race)! she gave us some quick course directions and told us to run the trail anyway - just get back before 9:00 o'clock when the park gates are locked up. it was roughly 7:15 when we set off and i was more concerned about finishing in 1:15 - before sunset - since we had no headlamps to guide us on the trail after dark!

from the brief description i had read about the course, i knew the first 3 miles would be a straight climb up to the ridge line. the next couple of miles would follow the ridge line and then a nice long, winding downhill, for the second half of the course. even following the sudden rain shower, it was incredibly humid - fog limited what would have been incredibly panoramic views from the summit. still, i took my camera along and managed to snap a bunch of great pictures as we climb up the first half.

the second half was a bit more stressful for me because we were pushed up against the quickly approaching twilight. even thought we easily ran a negative split (hard to write that for what was essentially a training run for us) once we began the descent, it seemed to to take forever to complete the course! amazingly, in the middle of the last mile we caught up to a race walker and her husband. despite my worries, we finished up in 1:18:14 - well before sunset (and with plenty of time to exit the park before the gates were locked).

myriam had already left by the time we returned to the staging area. they were half-way through the awards ceremony as we approached. emmy and rob each had a small piece of birthday cake (i saved my post-race calories for the gilded otter) before we made our way back to the car. we exited the park with hardly any time to spare - the gate was already partially closed (to block incoming traffic).

even with our re-hydration pit-stop at the gilded otter for one beer each (in 22 ounce glasses) we made the return trip home in half the time it took to drive up to new paltz!!

next year we will definitely be back (albeit with plans to start the road trip much, much earlier than we did this year).



here are my race (training run) pictures.

the gilded otter brewing company, new paltz

after rob, emmy, and i ran the summer solstice 15k course, we rehydrated at the gilded otter brewing company in new paltz. this was my second time at this great brewpub - last summer we stopped here after the allen ginsberg photo exhibit "beat and beyond" at the suny new paltz. while we only had time for "one" beer - they were 22 ounce glasses :D

the dusseldorf altbeir i tried was my second choice because no dunkelwiess was available (a dark wheat beer that i first tried at the evans brewing company this winter). the resourceful bartender, however, made an approximate substitute when he mixed the dusselforf in a tasting glass with heffenwiez! that was incredibly cool of him to do! rob had the rail trail pale ale and emmy went with their seasonal hefeweizen.

emmy and rob

our beers: rail trail pale ale, hefeweizen, dusseldorf altbeir

summer solstice 15k trail run: race photos and resultsr

last night rob, emmy, and i took a road trip up to new paltz for the summer solstice 15k trail run in minnewaska state park. well because of traffic and repeated rain squalls along the way, we arrived 40+ minutes after the start of the race!

the rd graciously suggested we run the race anyway - and since we were already there, ran the course! despite the late start, we weren't the last finishers! afterwards, we rehydrated at the gilded otter :D

here is my race (training run) report.

here are the race results.

here are some photos i took:

sean penn + jon krakauer on sundance channel "iconoclasts"

last weekend i watched the "sean penn + jon krakauer" episode of "iconoclasts." it was actually a rebroadcast of the first episode of season three (now in its 4th season) of the sundance channel original series, "iconoclasts." the episode retraced christopher mccandless' tragic journey into the alaskan wilderness - which was documented in krakauer's book, "into the wild," and then made into a quasi-documentary film by penn.

jon krakauer originally wrote up the mccandless story in an article for "outside" magazine. he expanded the article into a well-researched and documented account of mccandless' story in the book "into the wild." sean penn not only read the book, he read it twice in the same night - and immediately wanted to film the story. between that initial impulse and the first camera shot of the filming took a more than a couple of years - and is told in the opening part of the iconoclast episode.

penn and krakauer journey by car, train, helicopter and foot along the same road traveled by mccandless. in one hilarious vignette, we see the improbable "carding" of sean penn when he purchased a bottle kaluha (to mix white russians and make a toast to mccandless when they reach the bus)! penn's celebrity also sneaks in when he's greeted by fans at the hotel, as they checked in. but the only off-key element of the entire film is the ice-climbing coda tacked on at the conclusion?

and that isn't a rhetorical question! but for a huge fan of the book, and penn's film adaption (which i reviewed last year), that was a small tangent, well-worth enduring. seeing these two, and their thoughtful discussion about the merits of chris mccandless and his tragic journey made me want to reread the book (and rent the dvd again) - which i may do.

sundance channel is rebroadcasting the episode again tonight (6/24 at 8:00). try to catch it. if not, here is a short clip:

rowayton father's day fun run: race report

not only was the rowayton father's day fun run a surprise addition to my race calendar, it was a complete surprise - in and of itself - until the afternoon before! an email from clubct mentioned it among the remaining june races and i couldn't believe my good fortune. sunday was looking like a non-race day: closed out of the father's day race in central park, mt. greylock trail half marathon too far away, branford 5 miler, again too far away for me to drive. but i did hope to drive over the tappan zee bridge and run the pearl river elk's father's day 4 miler. lo and behold, a great race to run in rowayton!

great race or not, it was absolutely lousy weather to start the morning! rain outside the window when i woke up, and more rain for the entire drive to rowayton via i-95. and if to underline the inauspicious start, when i got off exit 12, a sign posted just off the ramp announced that the southbound entrance was closed for construction! luckily, i didn't have to worry about that until the drive home! but things improved dramatically from there - first, the rain stopped. second, and more importantly, i didn't get lost on the short drive to the community center :D

gail was co-race director for the event. as i registered for the race, i was surprised to see john - who had also learned of the race from yesterday's email. then we saw another familiar face, darcy. but except for john and darcy, i didn't recognize anyone else in the small field. there were two races - the short course was one loop of the 2.2 mile course, and the long course was 4.4 miles (2 loops). the course was familiar because it was also the start and finish of the accelerate your life 5k (and incorporated the southern portion of the norwalk summer series 5 miler?).

just before the start, gail's co-director, erica, announced that because of the high (oppressive, also a good word choice here) humidity, anyone running the long course could drop down to the short course after the first loop. after my first loop, i almost toyed with that option! while the course is hilly (and especially scenic as it goes by the water), i was drenched in sweat within a half mile of the start. it's hardly much of an exaggeration to say it felt like running underwater! it took me 14:39 to complete the first 2.2 mile loop.

i ignored the urge to stop there, and continued on for the second loop. i slowed down a little the second time around, for a positive split of 14:49 and a 29:28 finish. i was pleasantly surprised to have maintained a 6:42 pace over the distance! i finished 7th overall and, 2nd in my age group. in a twist, instead of trophies or medals, we won tee shirts (which sported the above race logo).
john won his age group in the 2.2 miler, and darcy was the first woman finisher in the 4.4 miler!

what a great start to a wet and dreary father's day!

here are my race photos.

2009 greenburgh one mile fun run: race report

the 2009 edition of the greenburgh mile was my sixth time at this race in the last seven years! i've run all of them with katie - which alone, makes each one especially memorable for me. in the earlier years, i ran back after the first heat and ran side by side with katie as she did her mile. those races are, hands down, my favorite.

the race itself is as basic as it gets: a one mile straightaway parallel to the metronorth tracks, with the finish line at the hartsdale train station. the event has its own built-in plan for a warm-up - a brisk walk, jog, or run to the start line one mile south! as a sop to the humidity (but thankfully, no rain), katie and i warmed up with a walk instead of jog.

in a surprise, andy (the rd and owner of westchester road runner) let pat start the race with the horn and he started the timing clock. then they drove the lead vehicle ahead of the runners down to the finish. the first wave included the competitive runners (adults and teens alike), while the second wave featured parents running with baby strollers and the race walkers.

in the past years quarter-mile splits marked the course. this time around there were no markers. for the most part, after what was probably the first quarter mile, the pack stretched out into its approximate finish order. i didn't pass, nor was i passed, after settling into the 6th place in the string of runners ahead of me. my 6:02 was a big improvement from my 6:26 finish (a huge personal worst) in 2008, but well off my average times for this event.

afterwards, the results were tabulated (and opportunity seized by pat and katie to visit the adjoining farmers market and get some cupcakes) and awards were presented. katie's 8:39 finish took first place in her age group. i collected a bronze medal for the second place finish in my age group. a good time was had by all :D

here are my race photos.

rowayton father's day fun run, 4.4 miles: race photos and results

just back from the rowayton father's day fun run (a choice between 2.2 or 4.4 miles). ran the 4.4 course in 29:28, a 6:42 pace, and came in 7th overall, 2nd in my ag. john won his ag in the 2.2 miler, and darcy was the first woman in the 4.4 miler!

her is my race report.

here are the results from clubct.

here are my race photos:


gail


jim


"warning"


john and me.




darcy


gail, erica, and jim.

happy father's day 2009!

wow, a father's day card featuring a pair of running shoes - on a rainy day! tough one to lace up and get out there for a run - or toe the line at a race!

and, to make matters even more dreary, today is the first day of summer! what better way to celebrate the arrival summer solstice than under gray wet skies!?

hopefully, it'll dry up enough later today to get out in the yard and have a bbq : D

regardless of the weather (and/or menu) have a great father's day out there - new and old dads alike ;D

2009 greenburgh one mile fun run: race photos and results

just back from the greenburgh mile. i was 6th overall, but my 6:02 was only good enough for second place in my age group! while not breaking six minutes was a disappointment, it was an improvement from the 2008 edition of the race. katie, with an 8:39, won her age group!

here is my race report.



















here are photos from the 2008 race.

"empty phantoms: interviews and encounters with jack kerouac" book review

i followed up the "original scroll" version of "on the road" with "empty phantoms: interviews and encounters with jack kerouac" - also edited by paul maher, jr. (the fourth book on kerouac of his that i've read - a record of sorts). if maher's "american journey" was a prequel of sorts (the raw material of his road stories), and the "original scroll" the unadulterated masterpiece, then "empty phantoms" completes the trilogy as the tragic sequel to kerouac's post-road life. it served to highlight the love-hate relationship i have with kerouac and his incredible body of work. via the interviews and reporting one can literally see kerouac travel down the horrible road of suicide by alcoholism. and it aint pretty.

"empty phantoms" isn't for the casual kerouac fan. it's a collection of material (almost all post-"on the road") that reports on kerouac (both his work and (many) escapades). the material can be found elsewhere and most will be familiar to kerouac fans. the transcript of his appearance on william f. buckley's "firing line" is there, his "reading" with steve allen is there, and the "famous" interview with "paris review" is included. some other fascinating material includes the translated (from the french) appearance kerouac made on the radio canada program - and, almost as an afterthought, the military/medical records from kerouac's incredibly short 1943 stay the navy's basic training program.

but the material i enjoyed the most came from two long excerpts of john cellon holmes' work ("gone in october: last reflections on jack kerouac") - he was a very close friend of kerouac's since their days together as struggling writers in the late 1940's, the "pertinax" columns in the lowell sun written by his future sister-in-law, mary sampas, that detailed kerouac's triumphic return to lowell (and the non-stop parties that ensued), and al aronowitz's great article (well-researched and annotated by kerouac himself), "st. jack," published in the new york post. this material all came from people who knew jack the man, not the cardboard cut-out beatnick the media had morphed him into.

the lowest point is the (or i should say, the meanest, snarkiest, obnoxious) interview with ben hect which literally drips with his condescension at the notion that he should stoop so low as to interview the "king of the beat" - a title used pejoratively in this context (and one which kerouac despised). i will admit to having listened to this interview a few times - and it comes off even worse (if that is possible) when heard rather than read. there are a few snarky pieces, but the rest of the interview and newspaper pieces are middle of the road.

the sad part of this stuff - the mental and physical deterioration of jack kerouac from alcoholism. his answers to mid-60's interviews become increasingly outlandish, borderline incoherent, and vulgar. yet at the same time, he seems to be fully conscious of the downward spiral he's caught in - and unable (or unwilling) to pull himself out of. it's like watching the train wreck unfold before you - and it's impossible to avert your eyes to the approaching disaster.

it's a very tough (in the sad and depressing sense) book for kerouac fans. "empty phantoms" is an important collection of material that captures the world kerouac lived and died in. for kerouac scholars, it's a must read.

world lung foundation running team group run in central park

last night the world lung foundation running team kicked off its first group training run in central park. the threat of rain may have reduced the turnout, but not the fun! steve, jen, yvette, jorge, emmy and i met at engineers gate at 6:30 for the 4 mile run. steve, jen, emmy, and i ran the middle loop (up to the 102nd street transverse, down west drive, across the 72nd street transverse, and back to the engineers gate). then we jogged over to johnny foxes on 80th and second avenue, met up with yvette and jorge, and rehydrated!

our group run was the first of four planned events in the training cycle for the nyc half marathon in august. if you want to run the nyc half this year, consider running it on behalf of the world lung foundation. if you're already registered for, and running, the nyc half, consider joining the world lung foundation team. all donations raised by the team will be used to fight childhood asthma. last year, our 20 person nyc half team raised over $40,000 - and all the funds were used to buy inhalers for children in kenya.

to find out more about the wlf team, check out our nyc half page.
and, check out the wlf running team's page on facebook!

our next scheduled group run, a 6 miler in central park, will be run in conjunction with the nyrr nyc marathon long training run #1, on july 12. join us!

here are some pictures from our second group training run.
here are some pictures form our third group training run.

suffolk county community college 50k: race report

after a nice sunny day on saturday - and no clue about the impending weather change, i woke up sunday morning to the awful sound of rain outside my window! the prospect of running the suffolk county community college 50k in these conditions was demoralizing! the drive down to selden, where the race would finish on the campus of suffolk community college (one of its three locations), was equally dispiriting. emmy and i drove through pocket after pocket of rain showers, and arrived just as it quieted to a light drizzle.

there was still plenty of time for the rain to "go away" since a yellow school bus ride to the riverhead campus of the college was up next. on that final leg of the trip, to the start in riverhead, the rain eventually stopped (and was replaced humidity). despite the dreary grey skies, humidity and wet conditions, i was pretty upbeat. i love point to point courses and, if the weather held out, it looked to be a great event. there was a relatively large field for the event, just about 80 participants! my only time goal was a sub-4:30 finish.

i started off wearing my windbreaker (which i had taken with me for the bus ride), and wore a water belt (which would remain unused), and packed my ipod. within a half mile of the start, my windbreaker was wrapped around my waist. i ran with about half a dozen runners that included phil, byron and the eventual woman's winner. up ahead, and quickly pulling away was rudy, and behind him was a pair of college kids. by mile 3, byron took off to catch rudy. by mile 5, after we had turned off the long stretch of route 51, i fell off the pace and lost most of the pack.

there were no mile markers on the course, but since most aid stations were roughly 3 miles apart, i gauged my pace roughly aid station by aid station. the more important factor, however, was the course direction arrows marked on the ground. they were plentiful during the first half. but, unfortunately, during the last third of the course, they became scarce. luckily, the few out there were always present at critical junctions - namely most major road crossings.

at the 4th aid station, just after 9 miles - and before the first major road crossing (route 111: captain daniel roe highway) - it began to rain again! after i crossed the highway, i stopped to put on my windbreaker and ran the next mile or so in that flash rain squall. after the second major highway crossing (the long island expressway), i took off the windbreaker and would no longer need it. the upside of this rain was that it took away the humidity! the next few miles were perfect, weather-wise.

i reached the 6th aid station (which was just past mile 15; according to a runner w/a gps it was 15.3 miles) in just over 2 hours (2:01:54). that pace (at practically the half-way mark) would bring me in well under my goal of 4 and a half hours. during the preceding hour i had passed one runner and caught up to another. just after that aid station i fished out my ipod and started listening to phil lesh and friends (jones beach, summer 2007). i started with "sugar magnolia" and headed for the next aid station, somewhere in mile 18.

it took 28:14 for me to reach it, running at what was probably a sub 8:30 pace for the 3+ miles. the next stretch, to aid station 8 at just past the 21st mile, included some dramatics - both mental and physical. on the physical side, i ignored the flashing red lights, stopped traffic - and barriers - to rush across a set of train tracks. the train was far enough away that it didn't worry me - but definitely don't try that stunt at home (i'm a professional)! on the mental side, i had entered into the land of sparsely populated course markings. this one little thing would gnaw at me for the remainder to the race!

i reached the 8th aid station at 21 miles in 24:46:43 - i had dropped my pace down to the low 8's for that stretch. at this station a runner was on his cell phone asking a friend to pick him up. i was glad that the race had now shorten to just 10 miles. my pacing was thrown off a bit when the next aid station arrived at mile 23 (instead of the expected 24). it only took 19:54 to reach it (well short of 3 miles). it also ushered in the biggest climb of the race, tucked away in mile 24. that stretch was one of the low points of my race!

i needed a solid 30:06 to reach the next aid station (#10), which was also marathon mark (26.2 miles). my 3:44:55 marathon split worked out to an 8:35 pace. i had 45 minutes to run the final 5 (4.9 actually) miles and finish under 4:30 - very doable. to increase that likelihood, i switched from phil lesh and friends to a slightly more driving sound - green day! and, little did i know it, but there was just one more bit of drama lurking on this final stretch of the course!

as i made the right turn on to horseblock road, a bunch of teenagers on bikes were taking power aid bottles from the unmanned aid station! off came the headphones and i started lecturing (hectoring, better word choice given my anger) them about stealing stuff. they were hardly moved, and just rode (slinked) away on their bikes. the unintended consequence of that little tet a tet was an unplanned adrenaline rush. coupled with green day's "know your enemy" blasting on my ipod, i practically sprinted to the finish line!

i ran that last 4.9 mile stretch in 39:20 - an 8:02 pace. i finished in 4:24:15, an 8:30 pace, seventh place overall. after chit-chatting w/rudy for a while (he came in second, behind byron, and phil was third) i changed into dry clothes and took pictures of my friends finishing - and at the bbq! the grey, wet skies that had started off the day had been replaced by sunshine! a great end to the race!



here are my race photos.

ex-ny giant plaxico burress expects to play in 2009 season while he awaits trial on gun charges!

wow, yesterday the proceedings for plaxico burress' gun possession charges were continued until september 23, 2009 - well after the start of the 2009 football season. his attorney, benjamin brafman, then observed that it was "inconceivable" that burress would actually be tried on the charges before 2010 (thus making him available to play the 2009 season).

wow, once again! i say that because not only have the jets expressed interest in signing plaxico - the outstanding gun charges notwithstanding - but so too have a few other teams! plaxico's agent, drew rosenbaum, stated (on twitter!) that he hopes to have a deal in place (with an as yet unnamed team) in place before training camps start!

as to reinforce the surrealistic normalcy of all this talk of playing football again - despite the possibility that the nfl take disciplinary action, regardless of the delay in the criminal proceeding - brafman pointed out that it's a victimless crime. he ignored the obvious, that the sheer act of carrying an unlicensed, and loaded, weapon (aside from having it discharge in said club!) is the crime. it's treated as a crime, with mandatory jail time, to discourage the conduct - and, hopefully, prevent any victims as a result.

it saddens me that any nfl team would be so desperate for a wide receiver that it would consider hiring him before the resolution of the judicial process - and any potential disciplinary action that the league might impose (before or after that resolution).

2009 norwalk summer series 3 miler: race report

it was great to get back to the norwalk summer series this weekend. these are some of my favorite races, and were a staple of my summer race calendar. but in recent years i had to miss many of them because of conflicts with the ultras that seemed to take over my schedule! the last time i ran the 3 miler was in 2006 (18:38). what made the return to the summers series kick-off even more special was having katie run it as well (that too was a last minute switch from the her plan to run the "cook your buns" 3 miler the night before)!

when we got there, i saw john and kate (who had run "cook your buns" the night before), emmy (the birthday girl), don (the race director) and a lot more friends: dawn, rob, roy, evan, ikuko, sean, sherry, jeanette, brian, rob i., monica, luis, just to name a few! most were surprised to see katie there for the race! up until the last minute i thought about running the race with her. but i opted to run the race and then double back and run the last mile with her. her goal was to finish under 30 minutes and my goal was a sub-20 finish.

once the race was underway, it wasn't too far into the first mile before i remembered how hilly the course was! luckily, it was only a 3 mile race! my first mile was too fast at 6:15, and i knew it couldn't maintain that pace. but then i slowed down too much for the second, with a 6:39, for a two mile split of 12:54. i picked it up for the last one, and ran a 6:29 to finish in 19:23, a 6:28 pace. i turned right around, made a quick stop to grab my camera from the car, and went to find katie.

she had passed the 2 mile mark, with about 3/4 of mile left to go when i reached her. she was looking good so i ran a bit in front to take some pictures of her on the course. she crossed the finish in 29:58 - just under her 30 minute target! woo hoo! afterwards, we socialized while don compiled and posted the race results. she came in first in her age group! now if i can only get her to run the second, 5 mile, race in the series :D

here are my race photos.

2009 cook your buns 3 miler: race report

the "cook your buns" 3 miler at tod's point in greenwich is one of my favorite family friendly races - and i had planned to run it w/katie. but, in a reversal from last year, katie decided to skip "cook your buns" and run the norwalk summer series 3 miler the next morning. it rained on and off during the day, which didn't bode well for race night conditions. amazingly, the sun broke through the grey skies around 4 o'clock and we had great weather for the race.

i ran an easy 3 miles before i got in the car for the drive to greenwich. at the parking booth i asked where the relocated start was - and he said just follow the 300(!) cars in front of you, then you can't miss it. the late breaking sunshine contributed to a record turnout. i had to park about a quarter mile from the start because of the crowd. after i picked up my race number and shirt, i saw kate and tom (who had just done the chase corp. challenge in central park the night before). and we were soon joined by john,

minutes later, emmy arrived debating whether she would or would not run the race tonight. she had run earlier in the day, had her camera w/her to take pictures, and wanted to save herself for the norwalk 3 miler the next morning. amazingly - and this is a rare occurrence - emmy sat out a race. she tried that once before at a cook your buns a couple of years ago - and jumped in the race at the last second and ran it w/camera in hand! this time she jogged a little and took pictures as we transitioned from the road to the beach portion of the course.

the start was a bit confusing. we lined up behind the banner - only to discover the race would take off in a perpendicular direction. i found myself at the back of the pack as we took off across the field. it took some zig-zagging, but i managed to thread my way through the crowd. it took me a solid 7:34 to run that first mile. mile two, way less crowded, took a more realistic 6:49 to run. in what turned out to be a short last mile, i finished up w/a 6:01 (half of which run on the sandy shore) and crossed the finish in 20:23.

i went straight from the chute to the food line! i had two burgers and some watermelon on my plate before i even cracked open a bottle of water to rehydrate! i had already eaten one burger and the watermelon before emmy snapped the above photo. afterwards, at a much more relaxed and civilized pace, john, his wife, kate, tom, emmy and i sat at a picnic table to eat (and mickey surprised us w/a couple of coronas from his nearby cooler!).

as always, a great event :D

here are my race photos.

suffolk county community college 50k: race photos and results

just back from the suffolk county community college 50k. emmy and i down to suffolk county for the point to point race (which involved a trip from the finish to the start via yellow school buses). i finished in 4:24:15, seventh place overall. emmy finished in 4:56, 4th overall woman.

here is my race report.

i'll add a link to results once they are posted.

here are my race photos:


richie and emmy


finish line


emmy and grant, finishing


emmy, done!




phil and me




frank



grant, phil and sal (extreme right)

richie, handing out awards

my favorite food - watermelon!


grant and i traded hats for this one :D

and here are a few more photos from suffolk community college.

2009 norwalk summer series 3 miler: race photos and results

just back from the first race of the 2009 norwalk summer series. ran the 3 miler in 19:23. katie finished her first race of the year in just under 30 minutes!

here is my race report.

here are the official results from lightfoot runners.

here are my race photos:


pre-race: katie and kate


pre-race: dawn and me.


pre-race: roy and me


rob, cheering katie on!


katie, turning into the finish.


katie, finishing just under 30 minutes!


post-race


rob and roy.


brian, making plans for a race tomorrow :D


emmy, the birthday girl :D


roy and evan


anton

sherry and emmy (john and rob in background)

don, announcing the race results.

and this great one from roy: kate, rob - and me w/my gilligan hat :D

and check out kate's great pictures!

2009 cook your buns 3 miler: race photos and results

just back from the 2009 cook your buns 3 miler. turned out to be a great night to run! we got the first sunlight in what seemed like weeks (but its only been a few days of grey rainy skies). i ran a easy 20:22 - and then made a beeline straight for the burgers...

here is my race report.

here are the results from threads and treads.

here are some race photos:


tom and kate


emmy


emmy and kate


post-race


post-race: john and kate

check out kate's great pictures!

"monks: the transatlantic feedback" documentary review

"monks: the transatlantic feedback" is a recent, but obscure documentary, of an even more obscure short-live mid-1960's band, "the monks." it had a short release late last fall, which i was unable to catch. but in march a dvd of this 2006 german documentary was released and now it's a click away via netflixs. if you're into rock history, punk rock, garage bands, alternative music, the 1960's, and way too much more to list... check this one out.

for 30 years "the monks" were all but forgotten. a group of 5 ex-army soldiers who arrived in germany as enlisted men in 1961, came together as a cover band, the "five torquays," and then became the avante-garde "monks" after they left the service. the monks were billed as the "anti-beatles" and were essentially proto-punk band - with both lyrics and sound far ahead of the times. they played together for only a couple of years before they returned home to ordinary lives in 1967.

the documentary is ostensibly in german, with english subtitles. but the extensive interviews with the 5 band members are all conducted in english (with german subtitles). the filmmakers make extensive use of archival photos (both of the band - and the times, including elvis kicking off his service, kennedy in berlin, and the kennedy assassination) and videos. the present day interviews were inter cut with the archival footage for an almost running commentary.

the band and its incredible story was pulled out of the dust-bin of rock history by the incredible research efforts of the filmmakers. then, in connection with assembling the documentary, fast-forward thirty-two years later, and in 1999 the former band members were brought back together for a reunion in new york. a bit older and rustier, they even performed a couple of concerts. some band members even sported shaved heads - tonsure style - to recapture the original vibe. check them out in their prime:



their lyrics - in contrast to the beatles' "i want to hold your hand" and other pop bands - included lines like this: "i hate you with a passion, baby, but call me!"

make time to watch this fantastic time capsule!

jack kerouac "on the road: the original scoll" book review

i finally had a chance to sit down and read jack kerouac's "on the road" in its original unadulterated form ("on the road: the original scroll"). the fiftieth anniverary edition (2007) sat on the bookshelf for well over a year. in the meantime i read "jack kerouac's american journey: the real life odyssey of 'on the road'" as a refresher on the actual road trips. it was worth the wait because the original scroll version equalled the novel it was "fictionalized" into. i would never suggest that anyone should bypass "on the road" in favor of the scroll, but i will say that for any serious fan of kerouac, the scroll is an essential supplement to the novel.

the legend that kerouac knocked off the book in a three week benzedrine fueled marathon eating and sleeping in front of his typewriter - is just that, a myth. kerouac did spend three straight weeks in april, 1952, typing the manuscript that is now affectionately referred to, with almost biblical reverence, as the "scroll." the "scroll" was actually a series of taped together sheets of paper - and, without diminishing the myth, was retyped into a conventional manuscript by kerouac himself after he dramatically unrolled it for the effect it had on his shocked agent.

but it was not a spontaneous outpouring of prose. keroauc spent the time assembling (on a high of constant cups of coffee) the thousands of words and pre-written scenes that populated his work notebooks and looseleaf treatments into one continuous non-ficition retelling of the road trips he took with neal cassidy in the years from 1947 until 1950. in one sense, when truman capote tossed off what he thought was the ultimate insult to keroauc, "you don't write, you type write," he was correct. kerouac had already written on the road - and the assembly and transcription became the myth of spontaneous prose!

while the sheer physicality of the scroll is impressive, the actual text kerouac typed out stands on its on. i was lucky enough to see the scroll when it was exhibited at the new york public library last year - an imposing relic of the myth (and well worth going to see if the exhibit goes back on the road - can't help that one). but reading the narrative with the original names, original places, unadorned by the subsequently grafted literary flourishes (shame on you jack - "first thought, best thought") is a jarring juxtaposition.

on one level the differences between the scroll and novel are practically insignificant (pseudonyms and altered place names). yet as a behind the scene glimpse at the emergence of a mature kerouac voice - light years beyond the gray flannel writer of "the town and city" - it's a priceless document of the writer developing his craft. to venture off on a beatific synoptic tangent, it's almost as startling as reading the gospel of mark - and then witnessing the retelling via the gospels of matthew and luke. the same narrative, but unique perspectives.

too bad there isn't a proto-"huck finn" to compare with final version of twain's masterpiece. with "on the road," the transformation from autobiography to autobiographical fiction is more than a change in names and places. the scroll contains kerouac's direct alterations, insertions and cuts to transition from the narrative to a fictionalized account. then there are his pure "literary embellishments." the most jarring, to create the literary road novel is this little pretension: "what did they call such young people in goethe's germany?"

reading the scroll, which itself wasn't kerouac's first draft - but the sum of various starts and stops with different versions of the narrative that he finally assembled in that one document is an eye-opening experience. the booked also included four essays to introduce the road trips and development of the scroll. i read the essays after i finished the scroll because i didn't want them to influence my first take on the material.

don't pass up the chance to read the undiluted version of "on the road."



next up on my beat reading list: "empty phantoms: interviews and encounters with jack kerouac," paul maher, jr., editor.

doctor bob dylan - awarded an honorary doctor of music degree by princeton, 39 year ago today

it was 39 years ago today, june 9, 1970, that bob dylan accepted an honorary doctor of music degree from princeton university. the degree was the first, of only two (he accepted a second honorary doctor of music 34 years later, from the university of st. andrews in scotland), that dylan has agreed to accept during his career thus far.

"day of the locust" was written by dylan in the wake of his less than enjoyable experience of actually collecting the honorary degree. while dylan has written about it in "chronicles," various biographers have collected anecdotes associated with the honor. it took the combined efforts of his wife, sara, and david crosby to convince him to attend the ceremony (he skipped the dinner on behalf of the honorees the preceding evening).

clinton heylin's "behind the shades" quotes crosby's recollections of the time - including their smoking a final joint before the drive over the university (in a limo that crosby had hired - which apparently turned dylan off the moment he stepped into it) - and the pre-ceremony argument when dylan was told he'd need to wear a cap and gown on stage to receive the degree. dylan initially refused - but was, again, convinced by sara and crosby to go along with the program.

the last lines in "day of the locust" summed up his take on the experience:

"i put down my robe, picked up my diploma
took hold of my sweetheart and away we did drive
straight for the hills, the black hills of dakota
sure was glad to get out of there alive."

also, the line: "the man standin' next to me, his head was exploding/ well, I was prayin' the pieces wouldn't fall on me." was a direct reference to crosby, who was suffering the effects of the killer weed he had smoked :p

the title is taken from the swarm of cicadas the droned on and serenaded dylan and the participants during the ceremonies

2009 nipmuck trail marathon: race report

the 2009 nipmuck trail marathon is in the books - my third, and fastest. but given our late start, it almost didn't happen! the plan was to meet emmy at 5:40, pick up rob at 5:50, and get on the road by 6 - to reach ashford in plenty of time for the start. a small mix-up changed things in a big way. i was on the merritt side of greenwich waiting for emmy - only to discover at 5:50, that she was on the i-95 side! as she drove to get me, she called rob to meet us at the stamford exit (instead of us meeting him at his house).

we were a solid 20 minutes late getting on the road after that mix-up. to make it more stressful, "helga," rob's gps device calculated our arrival time as 8:13 - for the 8:00 start! that was hardly good news to kick off the trip. but the announcement barely dented emmy's determination. she a insisted, despite the gps calculation, that we'd arrive in ashford at 7:40, with plenty of time to spare. amazingly, not only was emmy right - but she insisted on a rest stop along the way!

we've had a couple of near misses - a few nyrr races where we literally ran from the car straight to the starting corrals, and two years ago, we barely made the start of sybil on time! but aside from the stress of watching the clock - and speedometer - we were no worse for the wear when we got to ashford. in fact, the race didn't start on time because dave's pre-race briefing included musical entertainment (which was hilarious). the extended pre-race briefing probably pushed the start back 10 minutes.

for the race itself, i once again went into it with a sub-5 hour target in mind. my 0nly plan was to run first out and back in two hours and the second, north-bound, leg in three hours. for each of the two preceding years that five hour target proved unrealistic (in 2008 i ran a 5:36 and then, in 2007, i ran a 5:22). this year i wore my lightweight new balance 840s - instead of my new balance 908s (this had nothing to do with the memory of my 908s self destructing during the 2008 race) - and would regret that choice at the end of the first leg.

that first leg went according to plan, 53 minutes. i had fallen in with a group of runners that included mark, clint and bruce. i was 14 minutes ahead of 2007 start. the 840s felt great, and that "too good to be true" feeling hadn't caught up to me yet. i was surprised a the absence of mud - and water at the turnaround. in a fitting tribute to that momentary sigh of relief as i crossed the "dry" bank, my left leg fell into a sink hole up to mid shin! that snapped me back to attention.

on the inbound leg i slowed down a bit, taking 58 minutes to run it. i completed the first leg in 1:51 - roughly 11 minutes ahead of my 2007 time for this section. it was here that i started to doubt the wisdom of wearing the 840s. i as started out on the second leg, easily the tougher half of the race, i pushed those doubts out of my head. i had 3 hours to run the two seven mile legs of this section, 1:30 each. very doable.

once i made the first climb, i was momentarily lost - unable to find the next blue blaze. after i retraced my steps, i got back on the trail. soon a few runners caught up w/me - one of whom, joe, had his running shoe sucked off his foot by the mud! as i picked my way along the northern route, the rocky terrain exacted its toll. i was truly sorry for not wearing the 908's - i felt every rock, big or small with the 840s. i had run the stone cat trail marathon with the 840s (and had no problems), so this was truly an unpleasant surprise.

for the second half of the outbound leg i ran with jim. that portion went by quickly - and it was great to have someone to talk jam bands and craft beer with as the miles went by! after climbing down the giant size stairs, i reached the turnaround in 1:27, for a cumulative 3:18. if i could just keep it together, a sub-5 hour finish was very doable. in fact, jim was speculating about going for a 4:30 (that goal, i told him, he'd have to reach without me)! we stuck together until returning to the road portion, then i went on ahead.

the remaining inbound leg was uneventful. i managed to maintain an even split, 1:28 for the return trip. easily the toughest part has to be the last mile, marked in 10th of a mile splits along the trees. on a trail of switch backs that seemingly climbs upward without end until the last 10th of a mile, it was mental (if not, physical) torture. i passed a few runners walking it - and was passed myself by a couple of runners sprinting to the finish! when all was said and done, i finished in 4:46:13 - and couldn't get those running shoes off fast enough :P

here are my 2009 race photos.

2009 nipmuck trail marathon: race photos and results

just back from the nipmuck trail marathon. it's been a long day - left the house at 5:15 am and came home at 5:15 pm. ran the marathon in 4:46:13 - the only bad decision of the day was to wear my lightweight trail shoes (new balance 840) instead of my old standby, the new balance 908's. other than that, it was a great day!

here is my race report.

here are the race results.

here are my race pictures.


me and jim.




mark, clint, and bruce.


emmy, finishing.


carrie and emmy.

emmy and rob.

emmy, elaine, and barbara.

me, david (rd), and emmy.

emmy and rob, as we head home!

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check out this video of dave's unique pre-race briefing :D

check out scott's great report (and more coverage of dave's pre-race briefing).

happy birthday dean martin, 92 years old in heaven today

dean martin was born 92 years ago today, june 7, 1917 - and died on christmas day, 1995, at the age of 78. i am a huge fan of dean martin - both of his years with jerry lewis and then his solo career after their breakup. his music has long been a staple of my ipod playlist (favorite martin song, "ain't that a kick in the head").

check out this great slide show with photos of dean, to the soundtrack of "ain't that a kick in the head." for frank sinatra and rat pat fans, that's the song dean sings at the sahara during the original "ocean's eleven" film.



happy birthday in heaven, dean!

from the archives: 2007 nipmuck trail marathon

with all the rain we've had over the past two days, it seemed that tomorrow's nipmuck trail marathon might have more in common with the very wet 2007 edition of the race (a waterlogged glimpse of us at the finish that year (bekkie, joe, emmy, and me) in the above photo. here is my 2007 race report - which was my first time at the race, and my introduction to the term "nipmuck mud" :D

but even dry conditions have their own perils, as my second time on the course proved: in 2008 my trail shoes self-destructed on the outbound leg of the second part of the course!
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Nipmuck Trail Marathon
Ashford, CT
Sunday, June 3, 2007

I was up at 4:30, out the door by 5, and met up with Emmy at 5:30 for the drive to the race. We made good time at that early hour and arrived just before 7:30, for the 8:00 start. A sign that read “big girly man race” directed us to take a right at the T intersection to reach the start. But it was the red sticker, “high fall risk” adorning our bibs that got the most laughs! At the pre-race briefing the race director reiterated all the potential gloomy scenarios that could befall us - and he used cut out cars, paper people and squeeze bottle ink to show what would happen to the unlucky runner who crossed I-74 without paying attention to traffic!

After that bit of cautious entertainment the race began without a hitch. The course is two separate out and backs. The first leg runs south, 6.2 miles, to a turnaround and we retrace the trail to the start. The second leg heads north, 7 miles, to the turnaround, then we retrace the trail to finish where we started. Mathematically inclined will quickly calculate the distance equals 26.4 miles - but what’s an extra 2/10ths of a mile among runners? I heard, repeatedly, that the first leg was the easier of the two. The second leg contained most of the climbs, and would be more difficult.

In addition to Emmy, our friends Bekkie and Joe were there. Emmy’s friend Barbara was also there. In somewhat of a surprise, Kate’s friends Jill and Joe jumped into the race at the last minute - both of whom just ran the Vermont City Marathon last week (Emmy also ran Vermont). For some unexplained reason, which would come back to haunt me - I ran without my hat. While filling my water bottles and putting on sun screen I had the hat on. As I was about to close the car door and head to the start, I just nonchalantly tossed it in the back seat and didn’t think anything more about it.

As luck had it, a few miles into the race it began to rain. First, just a light drizzle - but then it picked up until it was a decent rainfall. In the first mile I was stuck behind a long line of runners on the single track. I wasn’t going fast, and had no intention of passing until the trail opened up a bit. The rain began when I finally passed them and started running fast (a relative term). I caught up to a pair of runners that were making good time and fell in behind them. As the rain got stronger, my glasses kept getting wetter and foggier. Every couple of minutes I wiped away the moisture. I just hoped the rain would pass quickly.

Since I was behind some runners I focused on my foot placement - and less on the blue blazes. But soon my glasses reached that point of total saturation that nothing short of a dry towel could fix and I had to slow down considerably to pick my way along the trail. Just halfway through the first leg and I was seriously wet and unhappy. But these conditions are never permanent. The rain let up a mile before the turnaround, my glasses started doing their thing again - namely letting me see - and I was back in business!

At this point the lead runners started whipping past me on their return leg. As we neared the turnaround, one of them said, “careful, you’re coming up to the mud pits!” “We’ve already sloshed through plenty of mud - what could he be warning us about” I thought? Then, as if on cue, we hit a patch of thick sticky mud. “Here it is,” I said to the runners behind me. One veteran in our little line shouted back, “that ain’t it - when we get there you’ll know it!” We had just finished a stretch of trail on a ridge alongside the river and had angled left, away from the, only to now start back toward the water.

As we emerged from the bushes, literally lining the banks of the river was a long muddy stretch of mud - there was no mistaking that this was the mud pit! It was broken up by a wooden bridge - and just beyond it - perhaps the only inch of dry land and/or rock in the area - stood the race director! It was a narrow, one-person bridge that had to handle two-way traffic! The turnaround was just beyond this torturous stretch of mud and water. All I kept repeating to myself was “Thank God it’s not raining now!” I needed every ounce of vision to avoid falling into the river. Not that I could have gotten any wetter - I was already completely soaked.

I crossed safety and reached the aid station in 1:13:05. A lot slower than I had hoped, but intact! On the return trip, assuming the rain held off, I had to pick up the pace. As I made way back out of the mud pit and back to the trail, I said hi to Emmy who was just approaching the mud pit. It was the same spot that Bekkie and Joe had seen me when I neared the mud pits. The major shock was down the road when I saw Jill and Joe sitting off the trail, back to back - with Joe obviously in serious pain! They said help was on the way - and as I approached the road crossing, the race officials were on the way to help Joe. I learn after the race that he was taken to the hospital with either a sprained or broken ankle.

It started to drizzle again just as I completed the first leg. The inbound portion took me 1:08:23. I said hi to Bekkie and Joe, who were about to head out on the second leg. I picked up five minutes on the return trip - but at this rate, more rain would make a sub-5 hour finish unrealistic. I had some orange slices at the first aid station, but now I switched to watermelon and pretzels. I didn’t linger because I wanted to capitalize on whatever dry weather we would get. So I crossed the road, with a fistful of pretzels, and took off on the second leg of the race.

This portion began with a decent uphill climb. A half mile or so from the trail head I caught up to a string of runners that included Bekkie and Joe. I fell in behind them and, while we weren’t going fast, we were moving forward at a decent pace. At one point, just before we crossed a small wooden bridge, one of Bekkie’s friends turned her ankle. That was pretty scary and she was clearly in some pain. But while it slowed her down, she still kept moving forward! Then, once again, the rains came and I started the same routine of wiping my glasses every few minutes. But this leg wasn’t as technical as the first and I found it much easier to get good foot placement.

I completed the outbound leg in 1:40:08 - for a time of 4:01:37. If we ran the inbound leg in 1:30, there was a shot at a sub-5:30 finish. At this point I was running with Bekkie and Joe. So the three of us set off on an ambitious target of a sub-5:30. It was doable - but right at the edge of doable! We ran back at a “conversational” pace. Which I enjoyed tremendously because Joe (a two time finisher of Vermont) shared his Vermont 100 stories with me as we made our way to the finish. Coincidentally, Emmy ran the second leg with her friend Barbara (a seven time finisher of Vermont) and they also talked about Vermont. If logistics work out, Emmy will come up and pace me for the last 50k in July.

Thankfully the inbound stretch was rain free. Bekkie spotted the one mile to go marker at 5:21 - which gave us 9 minutes to squeeze in under 5:30. Joe was determined to do it - and I was game too - but there were at least to decent climbs in that last mile. It was fun - and stressful - watching those 10th of a mile markers click by as we sped along. But try as we did, it took us 15 minutes to get that last mile in the books. We ran down the hill and finished in two second intervals; 5:36:26, 5:36:28, and 5:36:30 - a veritable nail biter, Bekkie first, Joe second, and me to round it out! My split for the inbound was 1:34:51 - five minutes faster than the outbound portion.

All kidding aside, Nipmuck was a blast! I can’t remember the last time I had that much fun getting so wet, muddy and dirty in the woods! We waited for Emmy to finish - she came in just after we did in 5:52 - also smiling and happy! She had someone take a picture of the four of us - each soaked to the bone and legs covered in mud - but her camera was waterlogged and the picture came out with us covered in a ghostly haze. I had two hot dogs and a grape soda - but what I really wanted was a hot cup of coffee (which had to wait until the drive home). We all got little tree stumps with blue blazes as finishers awards. A quaint touch, to an otherwise rugged day.
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here are some photos from the 2008 nipmuck trail marathon.
here is my race report from the 2008 nipmuck trail marathon.

dave matthews band "big whiskey and the groogrux king" review

i haven't been this into the dave matthew (jam) band in years! "big whiskey and the groogrux king," the group's seventh studio album, was released on tuesday. but the songs were previewed live, in a broadcast of their beacon theatre concert monday night! the dmb put on a great show, and it contributed to my decision to buy the album the next morning. an excellent marketing strategy - the concert broadcast was followed up with a week-long series of dmb specials on the fuse channel (including the the 4 part "making of" the album documentary).

the "making of" documentary, "scenes from big whiskey" was included in the deluxe (cd/dvd) edition of "big whiskey." i haven't sat down to watch it yet, but i've been listening to the album on and off all week (on top of the concert monday night). the album's title and artwork have an interesting story to tell. during the sessions for "big whiskey" the band lost one of its founding members, leroi moore, when he died in an off-road driving accident on his farm last august. his nickname, grux, suddenly found its way into to title.

not only did the band give over the title in honor of their band mate, but matthews himself drew the cover art! he transformed the memory of his friend into an image of moore (or more accurately, his head) as a mardi gras float. the album kicks off with a short instrumental (sax driven, of course) entitled "grux" - in his honor. but enough about moore, the album isn't a eulogy; it's not a long draw out dirge. instead, while paying their respects, the surviving members honor his memory by playing some good solid music!

i found selection incredibly eclectic - but it rocked. "funny how it is" took me back 20+ years to, occasional grateful dead keyboardist, bruce hornsy and the range's "the way it is!" while i doubt there was any conscious similarity, the two songs struck familiar chords and images. another association that struck me, "squirm" (easily my favorite track on the album) could have come right off the mid-90's jimmy page/robert plant collaboration, "no quarter" - the near eastern influences that punctuate the brooding lyrics are dead on.

other songs that work; "why i am," "spaceman," "seven,"and "alligator" - all rock. the banjo driven "alligator" had its own special intro monday night. dave started it with bit about how his daughter stella asked him, "daddy, when are you going to write a song about me?" she asked that innocent question because of how many times the word "grace" found its way into her dad's songs (which is the name of her sister)! in another "banjo" coincidence, the muscian that filled in for moore, jeff coffin (seriously), arrived from bela fleck's flecktones!

here's the full track list:

grux
shake me like a monkey
funny the way it is
lying in the hands of god
why i am
dive in
spaceman
squirm
alligator pie
seven
time bomb
baby blue
you & me

it was definitely worth the wait since 2005's "stand up" - check it out!

2009 nyc marathon will have a record 40,000+ starting field!

yesterday, june 3, was the inaugural national running day. i started off with a pre-work 6 mile run and ended the day watching the comedy "run fatboy run" on cable. in between those two points, the new york road runners conducted its annual marathon lottery to fill the remaining slots for the 2009 edition of the nyc marathon.

when all the excitement and dust settled, the nyrr announced the expected starting field of more than 40,000 runners will make the 2009 nyc marathon the largest in the history of the race. in addition, 2009 was the second straight year that the race exceeded 100,000 applications for slots in the field!

i'm in, and 2009 will my 8th consecutive nyc marathon!! hope to see many of you there!!

today is the inaugural national running day!

today, june 3, is national running day!

"National Running Day is a national initiative whereby many of the major organizations within the running industry are joining forces in an unprecedented unified effort to nationally and locally promote running as a healthy, easy, and accessible form of exercise. The inaugural National Running Day will be Wednesday, June 3."

any bit of running (and, yes, walking) qualifies as participation :D to keep all running options open, the organizers suggest wearing sneakers (running shoes) to work - carpe diem! even better, try to run with a group - and use the opportunity to socialize!

whatever your style, get in some miles today! in a change of pace, i ran before work today - six easy miles.

dave matthews band at the beacon theatre broadcast live on fuse last night

in an extremely cool promotion for the release of their newest album, "big wiskey and the groogrux king" today, the dave matthews band played a special "kick-off" concert at the beacon theatre last night. the very cool part of the promotion was the live broadcast of the show on the fuse channel! old material, new material, they rocked - and seemed to be having some serious fun on stage together.



aside from the unpleasant memories associated with my last trip to the beacon, when i caught a bob weir and ratdog show - and the "no smoking" policy was ignored with impunity as a**hole after a**hole lit up cigarette after cigarette - it was great to see the live show (and not have to smell it).

the performance was so good that i'll pick up the new album today at j&r music. if the live concert wasn't enough for dmb fans, fuse continues the dmb fanfest with the 4 part documentary "the road to big whiskey" over the remainder of this week.
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here's the setlist from the show:

funny the way it is, alligator pie, spaceman, corn bread, seven, out of my hands, why i am, dreaming tree, you might die trying, everyday, sister, so damn lucky, squirm, anyone seen the bridge, too much (fake), ants marching, #41, time bomb, two step, rye whiskey a, don’t drink the water, grey street

check out my review of "big whiskey and the groogrux king"

it was 42 years ago today... the beatles released "sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band"

on june 1, 1967, the beatles released the "sgt. pepper's lonely heart's club band" album. among its countless accolades, it is considered the first "concept" rock album - weaving together a string of songs focused on a particular theme. while commonplace today, when the beatles released "sgt. pepper's" it was a revolutionary concept.

not only was the themed album concept a departure from their earlier work, the music itself - with its elaborate production, variety of instruments, and studio sound effects - was a major change in direction for the group. "sgt. pepper's" was the first album released by the beatles following the group's decision to stop touring and focus on recording music in the studio (this album had a whopping 120+ day studio gestation period).

the album also saw the introduction of indian influences following george harrison's return from studying the sitar with ravi shankar. harrison's "within you without you" was the most notable display indian influence (the sitar) on the album. but he incorporated indian instruments and influences in a few other songs (including "lucy in the sky with diamonds") as well.

40+ years removed from its release, "sgt. pepper's lonely hearts club band" is consistently ranked as one to the greatest albums of all time.

celebrate its anniversary - listen to a few tracks today :D