some pictures from pat's trip to san francisco - guest photos

pat just sent me a some great photos of her first full day in san francisco. here are a few of pat's trip to coit tower and its incredible views. she followed up that climb with a walk over to fishermans wharf. i'll post a few more of her travel photos over the next few days.

here are pictures from pat's second day in san francisco.

puffy's tavern and sushi at zutto: a few pictures

last night i spent a few hours with a couple of my oldest friends, danny and jose, at a puffy's tavern in tribeca. i couldn't possible overstate the number of hours we spent hanging out in that bar during the early 80s!

afterwards, we didn't have far to walk (next door, literally) for dinner at zuttos. given the stark change in venue, we traded in our beers and bourbon for sake :D

here are some pictures (mainly taken by jose, and his high powered camera):

august 2009 race schedule

i just put together my tentative race schedule for august, the highlight of which is the nyc half marathon. and the month kicks off with the last wlf group training run leading up to the nyc half marathon.

this weekend, assuming i can summon up the courage to swim a half mile, will do the trrc biathlon! the biathlon is the only "new" event on the schedule. but the schedule is still tentative because we haven't confirmed or finalized a team for a return trip to the catskill mountain relay the following week.

in addition to the nyc half, anther nyrr event on the august schedule is the team championship race. august also includes the final norwalk summer series race, the 11 miler. the separate, but scored, norwalk half marathon, concludes the series next month. i've pencilled in a pair of westport summer series races at the end of the month (but may only run one of them).

finally, in a midweek change of pace... will head back to rockland lake to do the self-transcendence marathon - on a tuesday!

8/1 - wlf running team group run #3
8/2 - trrc biathlon
8/8 - nyrr team championships, 5m
8/9 - 100k catskill mountain road relay
8/15 - norwalk summer series 11 miler
8/16 - nyc half marathon
8/22 - westport summer series 8.4 miler
8/25 - self-transcendence marathon
8/29 - westport summer series 9.3 miler

if you're at any of these events, be sure to say hi!

35 years after her death, judge rules will of jack kerouac's mother is a fake!

40 years after jack kerouac died, and 35 years following the death of his mother gabrielle keroauc, a florida judge has ruled that her will was a forgery! the litigation was commenced in 1994, by jan kerouac, jack kerouac's only child (and who jack refused to acknowledge as his child for practically his entire life). sadly, jan kerouac died 2 years later, in 1996. but the will contest was continued by paul blake, jack kerouac's nephew.

when kerouac died in 1969, he left his entire estate to his mother. when she passed away 5 years later, her will purportedly left the entire estate to jack's third wife, stella stampas. jan kerouac was jack's daughter by his second wife, joan haverty (and to whom he was married at the time he wrote "on the road").

last friday, judge greer ruled that gabrielle kerouac would not have been physically able to sign a will on february 13, 1973, and "that which appears on the will dated that date is not her signature." the consequence of this ruling is not immediately clear (and since the decision can be appealed, may not be the final word on the legitimacy of the will).

if the decision is upheld, what happens to kerouac's estate will depend on a variety of issues - not the least of which is whether gabrielle kerouac had executed an earlier will, when she did have capacity, that could subsequently be admitted to probate.

it will be interesting to see how the case now unfolds in the wake of this important decision

2009 escarpment trail run 30k: race report

the escarpment trail run has been on top of my list of "unfinished business" since the 2006 edition - when i ran the course with relatively zero trail experience (and easily made every trail running mistake i can catalog - including not having wore trail shoes). with the passage of time and, presumably, the experience gained from many trail miles logged since that summer of 2006, i'd have a fair shot at finishing faster the second time around. remarkably, with (or, despite) all those hard lessons learned - i managed to finish 23 minutes slower on the return visit.

now, once again, escarpment will occupy that infamous spot on top of my "unfinished business" list (which it only shares with the umstead 100 mile endurance run... but that's another story). it means that i'll be back for a 3rd run (and, unintentionally, inch my way toward that 100 mile shirt - earned after 6 finishes - yikes!). there are a few mitigating factors to consider. the one that stands out as the season's biggest questionable call was running the norwalk summers series 9 miler the day before.

okay, enough moans, groans, and whines. instead of heading up the day before, emmy and i drove to windham race morning. she picked me up at 6:30 and we had an easy trip. we arrived at the trail head just before the buses did! on the downside, driving to the start meant we'd need a ride back to the car after the race. pre-race crowd was filled with so many familiar faces - and i ran into john and doug right off in the parking lot.

john tore thru the course and notched a sub 4 hour finish (after pacing 30 miles in vermont the previous week). doug worked the finish line (after having knocked off the 100k in vermont). doug had some stone arrogant bastards in his trunk, but there were none left by the time i rolled into the campground. luckily, ian and jim spotted me a "vacationland" to rehydrate with at the finish. what a great moniker for a post-race beverage - but i get ahead of myself (ignore that ridiculous pun).

before dick vincent finished the attendance and started the race, i managed to say hi to kim, todd, ken, and barbara. it had rained straight through the night making trail conditions wet and extremely muddy. it was almost silly to avoid the puddles as we crossed the foot bridge and began our assent of windham! it took 1:07 to reach the peak (a 3.3 mile climb). that conservative start (almost 20 minutes slower than 2006) set the tone for my day.

i carried a full fluid belt, with four small water bottles, and a fanny pack with my camera and some expresso gu. despite the wet, muddy conditions - humidity was the byword of the day. i was constantly drinking - and sweating it back out again. thankfully, at most aid stations the volunteers let us refill our bottles. coming down into the second aid station, i was pleasantly surprised to see it manned by members of the wolfpit running club!

after the climb up windham, the next two peaks (burnt knob and acra) seemed eminently reasonable - especially with blackhead looming in the horizon. i happily forged my way through the muddy slop at what i thought was a conservative pace. i reached the base of blackhead in relatively good condition. but half-way up the 1,200 foot assent, which quickly became hand over hand rock climbing, i suddenly found myself exhausted and started to wonder how i'd deal with the last two peaks if i felt this way now!

at the top of blackhead, i had half a pb & j sandwich and immediately set off, thinking - somewhat insanely in retrospect - that i could recover the descent! i had conveniently forgotten, or blocked out, that the descent to dutchers notch was the most intimidating part of the course. to worsen matters, my calves started to cramp up! a couple of nasty butt slides later, a fluid bottle of gatorade, and expresso gu, i was temporarily back in business. when i reached the base of stoppel, the first thing i begged for was an s cap!

s cap ingested, and a couple of peanut butter crackers for good measure, i set off on the 1,200 foot climb to stoppel point. as a result of the extra fluid, food, and the s cap, this climb seemed much more manageable that blackhead did. i reached the peak in fine spirits, and stopped to take a picture of the plane wreckage. i also somehow left one of my fluid bottles at the aid station (finishing with one fewer than i started with). but at that point i didn't care - only 4 miles to go.

again, i conveniently forgot 2006 - and the last 2.5 miles of boulder hopping! but i had gotten a second wind by this point. i was running (jogging) as much as possible. i really paid the price here for the 9 miler because i had no leg pick-up whatsoever. even so, i was more than pleased with my forward progress. it began to rain just before the final aid station, so the boulder hopping stretch got a bit iffy in the rain. luckily, the only injury of note was a scrapped up pinky finger when i jammed it against a rock.

i hooked up with a middle school teacher from rockland during the last mile or so - and we, in turn hooked up with a husband wife team in the last mile. the four of us pretty much crossed the finish line one after another. i said hi to doug, who was calling out finish times (5:40:20 for me), and was met by ian and todd as i headed into the campground. while i was done, there would be a bit more excitement around the corner as we waited for emmy.

emmy told me before the race that she planned power hike much of the course and take some pictures along the way. when 6+ hours came and went, i asked doug if i had somehow missed her finish? no she hadn't. another 15 minutes passed and, then, we told by a course official that she had missed a time cut-off at mile 12.9! that, in turn, began a separate adventure for emmy - just exiting the course involved a 3 mile hike (on which she was accompanied by the aid station volunteers).

if that wasn't enough for one day (but not race-related), on drive home we encountered delays on the taconic state parkway - and eventually learned that both the north and south bound lanes had been shut down. tragically, eight people had died (4 of them children) in a head on collision when one driver mistakenly drove against traffic on the northbound side)! not something that will easily be forgotten!



check out the 2009 escarpment photos.

2009 escarpment trail run 30k: race photos and results

yesterday i did the escarpment trail run for the second time. 2006 was a long time ago - long enough to forget how grueling a roller coaster ride up and down 6 mountains in 18.7 miles can be (even without the muddy conditions we had)! i finished in 5:43:20 (23 minutes slower than my earlier performance). despite the muddy, wet conditions, it was a great time!

here is my race report. link to the results once they're posted.

here are my race photos:




emmy

ian and me

buses, unloading runner cargo :D

doug and john

kim

dick vincent

wolfpit mans an aid station!

frank and frank

infamous wreckage landmark

done!

the "money" shot :D

post race: todd and ian

post-race: ken and me

post-race: todd and family :D

barbara

patrick

emmy and john

great plates and bumper stickers!

emmy, ian, and jim

from the archives: emmy's 2006 escarpment trail run 30k race report - guest post

emmy wrote up a great race report when we ran the escarpment trail run back in 2006. it was originally published in the hi-tek newsletter - and since we're heading back to the catskills for this grueling trail run this morning, thought it would be fun to post it here.

enjoy...

(and here are some race photos)
______________________________________________

I survived my first long trail race yesterday... the July 30 Escarpment 30K trail run (yes, 18.7 - actually - miles of rocky, root-strewn, muddy, slippery, ledge-like trails running up and down 6 Catskill mountain peaks). Oh, and it was 90 degrees in the shade (and most of the trails were shaded), so I wore a fuel belt for the first time. It was a day of firsts for this road racer… (and Frank - we entered together, and yes, even with our endurance base, we were both nervous).

I have many trail running friends (like Rick, Carol and Nick) who have said that it is truly an accomplishment JUST TO FINISH the Escarpment trail run. We were told by the race director that we could severely injure ourselves, fall off a cliff, or even get lost further into the Catskill mountains. The 150 runners in the race (no awards; just the glory of finishing) have to qualify by finishing an ultra, marathon or ultra trail race in a certain time (a road marathon is nothing compared to this!). The trail starts in Windham, NY and ends at North Point - along the way is the most challenging, unrunnable terrain imaginable - it is crazy to even think about 'running' the Escarpment trail, yet the winners do finish in sub-3 hours! They even run up the climbs! and fly down the unrunnable last 2 miles of ledges.

We lined up at the trail head to Windham Peak, and I was told, as a rule of thumb, that one adds 1:30 to a marathon time to predict a finish (well, I finished more than 2 hours after my time!). The first part of the course was up Windham High Peak. It took me 57 minutes to power-hike up the mountain, and we had only gone 3 miles into the 18.7 - although I felt good (I had been pounding the water on Saturday), I was cursing my decision the day before to race a 5K at Shea Stadium (when I got to the top of the first peak, Saturday seemed like a million years ago). We were offered water and gatorade from volunteers who had hiked up, and then everyone continued down the mountain - the rocks and roots were slick from the Sat. rain (it rained all night) and I was terrified of falling.

I hopelessly watched 10 other women pass me like I was standing still-as I type
this now, I realize that they were had experience 'free falling' over rocks and were wearing appropriate trail shoes (I stupidly wore my supportive Nike training shoes - I chickened out on wearing my new-ish trail shoes as was afraid of blisters) - one man told me to keep my nose over my toes! and just 'go for it'. After another climb up Burndt Knob - 3,180 feet!(I found the climbs easy – was able to run up parts and passed alot of the big men and women! who passed me on the down hills).

I found myself all alone (until i tried to relieve my bladder on the side of the trail - then ironically someone passed by) until the 6.2 mile aid station - this was a gift from God, as my friend Rick had backpacked in (he does this every year) food and drink - he offered many words of encouragement (like the fact that i wasn't last)but he did warn me about the biggest climb ahead - Blackhead Mountain - 1 mile of a climb up 3,940 feet. He said 'when you get to the base of Blackhead, you'll know' - and I did, as many well-wishers and volunteers were at the bottom.

I loved the climb up Blackhead, as I felt great scampering up (we had to climb up vertical ledges at the top and pull ourselves up trees) - I passed at least 10 men who were 'breathing dangerously hard (at least my lung power got me some help in the race)- the top of the climb was lined with balloons and cheering volunteers (including kids - mountain goats). Only 18.7 more miles to go! We were offered candy, all kids of snacks... the peanut butter and jelly sandwich was the best I ever tasted - oh and the view was spectacular!! 2 men asked me to take their photo and I figured it wouldn't put a damper on my slow race time!!

The runners had to pass through the next climb in 4:15 to stay in the race (Dutcher's Notch, another big climb to 12.2 miles) and I hit that aid station in 3:38 - thank goodness I wasn't going to be sent off the trail head! The sun started to beat down, although the trail was shaded, and the ground dried a bit. I became more confident about 'jogging' over the rocks, roots and stumps - I had stubbed my big toe and yelled in pain for all to hear every time I tripped on a rock...at the next climb up to Stoppel Point, I had been on my feet for 4:30 - more than any ultra - and my legs were beginning to tire - it was harder and harder to navigate the relentless rocks and ledges (instead of jumping, I crawled over) - we did see the infamous wreckage of a private airplane that crashed - that was spooky.

Finally, an aid station volunteer told me that we 'only' had 4 miles - that 4 miles took me over an hour to complete! We had to go along big flat rocks and cliffs and jump down big ledges - again, the view was spectacular. The last 2 miles seemed to take forever - we had to follow the blue flags and had to again get through steep, rocky, ledges. I looked at my watch and I had been climbing, jogging, or crawling for 5 and ½ hours! A volunteer then yelled that we were 100 yards from the finish - truly, I though I would never see the light at the end of the trail tunnel - but there it was - a finish line.

My brother and sister-in law (and Frank who had just finished) were waiting for me. Oh, and to add insult to injury, in the last downhill climb, the women's winner had hiked back to cheer us on - hadn't she had enough climbing for the day? Didn't she know she had to back down the darn trail?? I was hot, sweaty, bug bitten, and exhausted but so elated to finish in one piece. Diet coke never tasted so good, as did the pasta salad and bagels and peanut butter. After a quick campground shower, we were on our way...oh, and the most exhausting thing was having to focus on the trail the entire time - to take one's eyes off the ground could be fatal!

I realize now that with some downhill running training (maybe I'll never be fearless) and some decent shoes (like the new Merrills), maybe I can take an hour off my time...but then, I should just be proud of myself for power-hiking the 6 climbs and the 18.7 miles. Taconic RR member Nick finished in 4:11, Frank in 5:20 (he also slipped down the downhills with the wet conditions and had to be extremely careful going down - he had tootsie rolls in his race-ready shorts and every time he tried to unwrap one he fell!). Obviously, the real mountain goats (like the winners) can shave hours off their times by flying down - but then again, maybe it's good to be slow - at least I survived.

p.s. a volunteer cheerfully told me at the finish that since I came in under 6 hours I could get into the 'race' next year - as if it was the best news we'd heard all day ...

from the archives: 2006 escarpment trail run 30k photos

since the 2009 edition of the escarpment trail run is tomorrow, thought i'd post a few pictures from the 2006 race. the above photo was taken by emmy's brother todd, at the end of our long excursion on the escarpment trail!

and here is emmy's great race report!


trail encounters


trail encounters



on the trail...

on the trail...

on the trail...

on the trail...


directions...

pre-race: todd, emmy, and me.

pre-race

pre-race

pre-race: me, emmy, and todd

pre-race: todd and i, talking strategy...

2009 norwalk summer series 9 miler: race photos and results

what a great morning for a run! ran the norwalk summer series 9 miler in 1:10:52, as something of a recovery run. will write up a race report tomorrow.

here are the official results.

here are some race photos:


dawn (orange hat) at registration


yukuko (roy and sean in background)


kate, emmy, and darcy


jeanette


kate and rob




kate, luis, and don (checking results)


dorrie and rob (roy in background)


rob, roy, and anton


don and emmy


lindsey, don, emmy, dorrie, rob, roy, and anton


joe


evan and his kids


tom


dorrie, roy, and yukuko


kate and emmy


darcy and tom


amy, dorrie, emmy, and kate


amy, kate, emmy, and rob


don


marty and amy


saying our good-byes


amy, dorrie, and rob

marty appel, "munson: the life and death of a yankee captain" book review

haven't had this much fun reading a book about the yankees since last year's "the greatest game: the yankees, the red sox, and the playoff of '78" by richard bradley. in between these two good books was the grim kiss and tell, "the yankee years" by joe torre, which left a bitter aftertaste when i was done. since thurman munson is my all-time favorite yankee, and since i read marty appel's "autobiography" of munson more than 30 years ago, this was a much anticipated summer read for me. i grew up watching munson play from the mid to late 70's, with the highlight being the 1978 season.

it's not often an author gets a "do-over" when covering a subject (especially when he did it well the first time). with 2009 as the 3oth anniversary of munson's plane crash, the timing of book is fitting. i wasn't sure there would be much new material - anything worthwhile that hasn't already been said or written about during that time span. but a combination of the deeper look at munson's unhappy family life during growing up, and a more exhaustive review of the events that led up to the crash and the post-crash reactions of the yankees, the book is definitely worth reading (for thurman junkies or yankee fans in general).

one thing the book did is it put to rest any lingering hope i may have harbored that munson should be in the hall of fame. emotion always blinded me to his borderline qualifications. the bottom line is he just didn't play long enough to generate the bona fides needed for induction. people argue what could have been (but munson's declining physical condition made his continued role as catcher sketchy at best), but the hall of fame is for what players have done. many a hall of fame career is prematurely derailed by injury. munson's tragic death was an extreme expression of that very sad fact.

check out this interview with marty appel on ny baseball digest.

"munson: the life and death of a yankee captain" is a must read for yankee fans (of all generations).

katie kicks off another summer at camp :D

it hardly seems possible that another year has flown by so quickly. it seems like we made this exact road trip, down to the same hotel, only yesterday to drop katie off at camp! this marks her 5th year at wico - an even more remarkable passage of time!

she hasn't even been gone 24 hours, and i already miss her...

john dillinger, public enemy number one, gunned down by fbi 75 years ago today

on july 22, 1934, john dillinger - then public enemy number one on the fbi's "wanted" list - was gunned down outside the biograph theatre in chicago when he attempted to resist arrest. dillinger was a ruthless, cold-blooded killer who robbed banks. his illegal exploits were romanticized - along with similar depression era criminals - then and now (most recently in the just released movie, "public enemies," which stars johnny depp as dillinger).

here is the new york times coverage of his death in 1934. the fbi were tipped off that dillinger would be at the movies that night ("manhattan melodrama") and waited for him outside the theatre. a "lady in red" - their informant - identified him as they exited the theatre. when the fbi attempted to arrest him, dillinger reached for his gun and was shot to death. two bystanders were accidentally shot.

so ended the life an infamous killer.

2009 vermont 100 mile endurance run: race report

this was my third consecutive time at the vermont 100 mile endurance run. in 2007, with emmy pacing me, i finished the tough, grueling course. it was my first hundred mile race! in 2oo8, i dropped at camp ten bear, mile 48. it was my first dnf at a race of any distance. now, in 2009, with rob pacing me, i bounced back and finished it once again! this year was especially memorable (i hesitate to employ the word "fun" until i can again walk normally) because after 26+ hours of leap frogging each other, emmy and i crossed the finish line together!

but, i get ahead of myself. on thursday night, as a result of my habitual procrastination, i found myself scrambling to put together drop bags. katie not only helped pack, but labeled them as well. all together there were three drop bags, for four aid stations: stage road at mile 30, camp ten bear (twice) at miles 48 and 70, and bill's at mile 88. at the pre-race briefing i would add a change of clothes to include in hugo's mile 20 drop bag at pretty house. this was way more gear than i'd actually need but, given the rainy forecast, i wanted plenty of dry clothes.

at the pre-race briefing, it was a reunion of sorts with so many familar faces: nick, john, yuki (running her first hundred), hiro, christine, joe, tammy, scott, mark, lydia, admas, and anthony to name just a few. also met for the first time jamie, bob, and yuki (who had just run western states). b.u.s friend ira had to pull out at the last minute because of medical reasons. that, in turn, resulted in his pacer, nick, running with emmy instead! the weather forecast for race day, as related to the assembled crowd by zeke was very bleak - kicking off with thunderstorms in the morning and tapering to just plain rain for most of the day.

while it rained throughout the night, and briefly during the first hour of the race, thankfully it was dry from then on! instead of rain, we had to contend with early morning humidity and lots of mud and muck on the trails. my plan was to run the race from aid station to aid station - and periodically change into dry socks, shirts, and hats along the way. i wore a fuel belt with 2 small water bottles, and a fanny pack that included my camera, along with sundry items (such as glide and gu).

i started off with a small handheld flashlight instead of a headlamp. by 5 a.m. it was light enough to run without it. the first (unmanned) station was at 7 miles, which we reached in just over 1:20 - drenched from a combination of rain and humidity. during the stretch up to pretty house at mile 20, i ran on and off with emmy, yuki, and yuki. at pretty house i had tucked some dry clothes into hugo's drop bag (actually a plastic box) and switched into dry clothes. joe and john were there, along with carrie's family (w/her children as crew)!

the next stretch, leading up to stage road at mile 30, included a climb up to mountain meadow - some of the most beautiful vistas of the entire course. again, at stage road i took the time to switch into dry clothes (especially socks). hiro was there, but had missed yuki's arrival since she had zoomed in earlier than expected. anthony was there waiting to meet up with bob. exiting stage road, said hi to john once again. then came the climb up suicide six! i had spent too much time (15-20 minutes) at stage road, but was recharged for the next leg.

as happens in many of my longer races, i usually hit a down patch in the late 30's. this race was no different, and i found myself falling into a mental rut for a 3-4 mile stretch. between lincoln covered bridge (the second covered bridge on the course) at mile 39.2 and barr house at 41.2 was an unrelenting uphill road climb! along this stretch we witnessed a horse receiving first aid (iv solution) from an ems team, and a runner puking pretty badly at the unmanned aid station at the barr house! in between, emmy not only spotted a tiny orange salamander on the road, but insisted on "rescuing" it! as i watched in amazement, 3 other runners joined in to move it off the road!!

the high point of mile 41.4 was notching another decade mark on the road to finish. as expected, by the early 40's i had gotten my second wind and made it into camp ten bear in good spirits. my mood was boosted even further when katie ran the last quarter mile down the road with me to the weigh-in! at check-in, my weight was a remarkably high 177 - almost 12 pounds more than what weighed on thursday!! i thought the number was totally off, but it was what it was! after 10:36 hours on the road, i weighed in at 172 - a 5 pound drop! i changed into dry clothes once again, but passed on the food pat and katie had brought. once again i stayed way too long (20-25 minutes) in the aid station!

emmy and i left camp ten bear together. in the understatement of the race, she remembered an easy 3 mile stretch coming up. what neither of us knew (and didn't realize until nick told us later that night) was that agony hill (a brutally challenging 1 mile uphill on rocks and mud) had been inserted as part of the course modifications! what a rude awakening that turned out to be! but just after mile 51, pinky's aid station, i fell into another mental rut. this time my legs started to ache. i made it to tracer brook and took some advil. with a 3 mile uphill road climb ahead, the advil had plenty of time to kick in during the power walk!

by prospect hill, mile 60.2, i was in good enough shape to run again - and managed to run margaritaville. my mild disappointment at not finding real live margaritas was wiped out with real live cheeseburgers! hiro was at this aid station, waiting for yuki and yuki. they, along with emmy, were right behind me. emmy and i ran the next stretch, to brown's school house at mile 65 together. the grateful dead motif was uplifting - and i learned for the first time that mountain dew had more caffeine than coke! i was in serious need of a caffeine by that time.

we had out our flashlights for the five mile stretch back to camp ten bear, but made it back before dark. out of brown school house, i met up with shane - who had been at city hall with me last november, when marshall ulrich finished his run across the united states! then, on yet another long muddy stretch, doug - who was running the 100k - caught up and passed us. when i got to ten bear i expected to just meet up with rob - but was blown away to see katie there! at my weight in i had gained a pound to 173, and once again couldn't eat the food pat and katie had brought me. i went for the coffee instead - and changed into a long-sleeve shirt, and grabbed my headlamp.

again, too much time at the aid station (20+ minutes), before the 4 of us (nick, emmy, rob, and me) set out for the final 30 miles! we had a muddy, ugly climb out of ten bear - and encountered atv's on the course, not once but twice, on the stretch heading into west winds, mile 77. i hit my lowest point in the race just after 80 miles (the high of notching another decade mark didn't last long). fatigue and exhaustion had overtaken me - and i couldn't stay awake. i was literally fighting the urge to fall asleep standing up. i could have curled up into a ball and slept right on the road.

somehow rob kept me going and the three of them practically dragged me thru the five miles from cow shed to bill's at mile 88! this stretch mirrored the difficulty i had in 2007. at bill's i got another second wind - and was surprised to meet trail pixie in person! she was going to pace a friend to the finish. i changed my clothes for the last time, and off we went - with nick in the lead. while i had just gone thru the toughest mental patch, the toughest physical climb was the uphill climb to keating's at mile 92 once we left the meadow.

the final 8 miles were a mix of pain (blisters on the soles of both my feet) and pure determination to just get this thing over with. i don't know what possessed me, but somehow managed to run most of the last 5 miles. in the last mile - as we climbed up to the radio tower, emmy and i decided to cross the finish line together, the perfect way to end that long roller coaster ride up and down the hills of vermont. we finished in 26:15:14!

after a shower and couple hours sleep, we all regrouped for the post-race festivities. i must have said this was my last - positively last - trip to vermont a hundred times during the race. now, with the blisters healing and swollen feet recovering, 2010 doesn't seem too unreasonable :D

check out emmy's race report.
check out tammy's race report.

2009 vermont endurance run: some post-race photos

after the finish, rob and i went back to my hotel room to shower and catch a couple of hours sleep before the post-race festivities. walking was a very painful activity for me by that point, but it didn't stop me from having a great time!

here are some of the pictures.


rob and john


hugo


emmy and rob


joe, christine, and emmy


christine and doug


during the awards ceremony


me


me


me, emmy and plaques :D


hugo and me


tammy and me

emmy, tammy, and me

joe

here are some race photos.

here are some pre-race photos.

2009 vermont 100 mile endurance run: race photos and results

quick post of some pictures from the vermont 100. heading over to the post-race festivities and awards ceremony... more pictures this afternoon!

i finished in 26:15:14 - together with emmy!

here is my race report. here are the results.


me and hugo


me and pat


on the road


yuki, yuki, and emmy


yuki, yuki, and me (snychronized stretches) ;D


emmy and carrie


joe and john


emmy, leading a pack along a mountain ridge


emmy, insisting i stop goofing off!


anthony and emmy


yuki and emmy



pat and katie meet me at camp ten bear



emmy and me at camp ten bear



the things you run across on the trail ;D


with joe at tracer brook


more mountains


heading down the road to marguaritaville


me


emmy and hiro at marguaritaville


at ten bear


getting ready for the last 30 miles!



at ten bear


at bill's: less than 12 miles to the finish!


done!!

here are my post-race pictures.
and some pre-race pictures.

2009 vermont 100 mile endurance run: some pre-race photos

friday afternoon was the check-in for the vermont 100 mile endurance run (which included a weigh-in and medical check). that was followed by the pre-race briefing and dinner (which we skipped). but the best part of friday was socializing w/old friends.

the race kicks off at 4:00 a.m. this morning!

here are my race photos.

here are my post-race photos.

blast from the past: here are some 2008 pre-race photos.

from the archives: 2007 vermont 100 mile endurance run race report

we're heading to up to vermont today for check-in and the pre-race briefing. the 21st edition of the vermont 100 miler kicks off tomorrow morning at 4 a.m. - bright and early. last year i dnf'ed at 48 miles - it wasn't pretty. the year before i finished in 28:30 - all smiles! this time around will be a tie-breaker, of sorts.

here is my 2007 race report (from my pre-blog days), originally published on runners world and coolrunning on-line forums.
__________________________________________

Vermont 100 Mile Endurance Run
West Windsor Vermont
Saturday, July 21, 2007

I ran my first 100 miler this weekend! What an experience it was covering that much distance. Prior to this weekend, my longest race had been 50 miles (JFK). In training for Vermont, my farthest run had been 40 miles (Highlands Sky Trail Run). The short version of this race report is simple: it took me 28 hours and 30 minutes to finish. But the details are much more fun and interesting.

It took about four and a half hours to drive to West Windsor, Vermont, on Friday afternoon. My wife, Pat, and my daughter, Katie, and I stayed in Springfield, a 40-minute drive from the race. We drove straight to the race site for the check-in and mandatory race meeting at 4 p.m. for runners, crew and pacers. I had no crew, but my friend Emmy was my pacer. At the medical check-in, I weighed in at 169 pounds. There were 3 points on the course that runners would be weighed and a significant drop in weight could result in getting pulled off the course.

I had drop bags planned for 3 aid stations at mile 47.2 (Camp Ten Bear), mile 70.1 (Camp Ten Bear) and mile 88.6 (Bill's). After the race meeting, I switched my plan to run in road shoes and, instead, took my trail shoes out of a drop bag and decided to wear them at the start. That turned out to be a good decision because there was more mud on the course than I anticipated. Still, as would become evident, without the benefit of a crew, I should have spent more time planning out the content and disposition of my drop bags along the course.

We had planned on having dinner at the site. But the long dinner line was probably the only low of the weekend. Dinner was slated to start at 5:30 and by the time we got there the line stretched entirely around the tent. We stood in the same spot, without moving an inch, for 20 minutes. Since we were all hungry, and still had to check into the hotel, we decided to skip what seemed to be an excruciatingly long wait and make due on our own. That decision had an unpleasant consequence on my race the next morning because I didn’t eat until almost 8. My dinner consisted of a McDonalds Quarter Pounder with cheese, two regular cheeseburgers and two large fries, capped off with an ice cream sundae. Hunger can lead to bad decisions.

I was in bed and sound asleep by ten. Then up at 2 a.m. to get ready for the race. Unfortunately, my fast food dinner got up with me and was still sitting in my stomach as we drove to the race. In another poor decision, I neglected to take my headlamp with me to the start. I had put it in a drop bag because I wouldn’t have anyone to give it to once it got light enough to see without it. Bad idea. Well, Pat saved the day by liberating my daughter’s mini flashlight from the car. Katie told me it was okay to toss it once I didn’t need it anymore. I didn’t have the heart to get rid of it, so I carried it on my belt until Camp Ten Bear.

The race started without much fanfare, save the ringing of a cow bell. We left Silver Hill Meadow and, according to the race director, had an “extra” two miles added at the start, to make up for the short course they had discovered had been used in the previous years! The aid stations were all at the same places, but the mileage markers were different to reflect the new measurements. Densmore Hill, aid station one, was 7 miles from the start. I would run the bulk of that distance in the dark and was constantly giving silent thanks to Pat and Katie for that flashlight.

It took me 1:19:44 to run the 7 miles, way too fast. Most of that time was spent wondering about my physical condition. I felt still felt bloated from all the food the night before, and had no appetite whatsoever. I drank water in an effort to settle my stomach, but that was it. The first aid station was unmanned. The table holding the water and Heed was littered with discarded flashlights. I didn’t stop at that one, but a few minutes later I pulled off the road into a field for the first of 4 such sidetrips during the first 20 miles to deal with digestive issues - ugh. The second aid station, Dunham Hill, was kind enough to have a porta-john, where I stocked up on some toilet paper in anticipation of the next few miles.

The only major drawback this seemed to cause was a disruption in my nutrition plans. I had no stomach for anything but water. I didn’t have any solid food until mile 21.1, aid station 5, “Pretty House.” It was also the first location for crew access. On either side of the food station/drop bags/porta-john were rows of parked cars and cheering supporters. I filled up on potatoes, watermelon and took my first drinks of Heed. This was all in an effort to get in the calories I should have been consuming for the previous 10 miles.

Luckily, within a couple more miles all the digestive problems were gone. I just focused on getting in the miles. It seemed one hill after another kept getting tossed at us. For a loop course that boasts a 14,000 feet elevation gain, I couldn’t figure out where the equivalent elevation decline was hiding. It all seemed up to me. And the one of the steepest climbs was lurking just beyond the sixth aid station, Stage Road, at mile 30.1. Stage Road was also a crew access point so there were plenty of cheering supporters lining the way in and out of it. My appetite had returned with a vengeance because I was suddenly in the mood to wolf down pb & j sandwiches.

Just after Stage Road we encountered the climb at “Suicide Six.” It kicked off the 3.8 mile stretch to the next aid station with a wet grassy hill that kept getting steeper with each step up. I have no idea what the “Six” refers to, but dealing with one of those climbs was good enough. It took me 1:07:13 to cover those 3.8 miles. I was walking all the uphills but they had become so numerous that some of them had to be selectively run (or jogged) if this wasn’t going to turn into a marathon walk! I focused my attention on getting to Camp Ten Bear at mile 47.2 where I hoped to see Pat and also had my first drop bag.

It took me 10 and a half hours to reach Camp Ten Bear and I was still on pace for a sub-24 hour finish. I hoped to finish in 24 hours, but I wanted to just finish, first and foremost. While Pat wasn’t there - her plan to drop Katie off at summer camp that morning had changed a bit - my friend Nick was there. I was weighed in and, at 167, had lost only 2 pounds from my starting weight. In fact, my only physical ailment was a pair of swollen hands - for which I had absolutely no explanation! They stayed swollen for practically the entire race. I also took the opportunity to switch into a dry shirt and hat and took the bag of “Nori Maki Arare” (rice crackers wrapped in seaweed) that Katie had gotten for me as a special treat.

The next leg of the course was basically a 23-mile loop that returned us back to Camp Ten Bear at mile 70.1, which was where we met up with our pacers. I basically pushed on, from aid station to aid station, logging the miles. But I could feel the fatigue beginning to creep up on me. I reached mile 51, aid station Pinky’s in 11:38:03 - which marked the longest distance I’d ever covered in a race. That made me smile and gave me a nice little mental boost. But just up ahead, after aid station Tracer Brook, at mile 57, was a sprawling 2-mile climb, a short dip, followed by another mile uphill! That 3.2 mile stretch took me 1:00:49 of serious power walking. The only nice thing about reaching the unmanned aid station at the top of that climb was having reached 60.2 miles.

But just around the corner was my biggest surprise of the day. I hadn’t seen Emmy at either the 21 or 30 mile crew points, and I hadn’t seen Pat at Camp Ten Bear, so I was a little disappointed at having gone almost 16 hours and 60+ miles without seeing them. But that was totally erased when they were both waiting for me at mile 62.1, “Margaritaville!” Wow! Seeing them was an awesome mental boost for me. I also asked Pat if she could get my sweatshirt from Silver Hill Meadow over to Camp Ten Bear because I realized it would probably be chillier than expected during the night. But unfortunately, I forgot to ask her for the extra flashlight she had in our car. That would become an issue for me in a couple of hours. Emmy told me that just up the road, aid station “Brown School House” was decked out in a Grateful Dead motif! I was stoked!

As I approached mile 65.1, I could see the “Steal Your Face” banner and heard Jerry Garcia singing “Dear Prudence.” What a cool group of volunteers! I razzed them a little by mentioning the song selection wasn’t the Grateful Dead, but rather the Jerry Garcia Band. “What are you going to play next? Ratdog? Phil Lesh and Friends” They got a real kick from finding a fellow Deadhead out on the course! In fact, they offered me venison, which is what they were having for dinner! It blew my mind after having eaten so much pb &j during the day! Wow! These last few miles had really been a long, strange trip.

But since I had fallen off my pace, anxiety had started to creep into my psyche. I didn’t think I would make it back to Camp Ten Bear - and my headlamp - before dark. That’s when I realized I had forgotten to ask Pat for that flashlight. It was 5 miles from Brown School House to Camp Ten Bear. After about 2 miles of walking, it was now around 8:15 and I was worried enough (scared is probably a better adjective under the circumstances) to break into an all-out run. I just kept running into the darkening sky until I spotted the volunteers spread out on the road into Ten Bear, then the headlights of the cars down at the camp! Phew! That was a close call.

Once there, I was weighed again - still at 167 - and collapsed into a lawn chair. It was the first time I had sat down in 19 hours! Emmy was there and got me some coffee and handed me the turkey sandwich Pat had gotten for me. Between sips of coffee and bits of sandwich, I searched my drop bag for a dry shirt - which wasn’t there! Neither were the spare batteries for my headlamp. My long-sleeved shirt and extra batteries were in the drop bag at mile 88.6 (Bill’s). Ugh. There were fresh batteries in my headlamp, but the spares were for emergencies. So Katie’s flashlight to the rescue! I hooked it back on to my fuel belt like a long lost friend!

To compound my difficulties, once I put on a dry singlet, my wet, sweaty, tech shirt that I had been wearing earlier, and my sweatshirt, I immediately got the chills! It was a pretty ridiculous sight, actually. Then Emmy gave me her windbreaker, which I wore over the shirts and under the sweatshirt! Unfortunately, I didn’t pack a wool cap - ugh. This was an inauspicious start to the final 30 miles. And I still had one more curve ball to deal with: when I got up from that lawn chair - aside from the teeth chattering and chills - my legs had stiffened up. So I ambled about to get my circulation going again, and made a pit-stop at the porta-john before we went into that dark night. I was so happy that Emmy there. I don’t know if I could have dragged myself back out onto the trail after that series of misadventures without her.

We basically walked the first few miles since I had burned up so much energy running 3 miles into Ten Bear, and having a turkey sandwich in need of digestion sitting in my stomach. It was 4.6 miles until the next aid station at 74.7 miles, Seabrook. Along the way we picked up an unwanted (in my mind) running companion in the form of a black lab. We had met the owner as he drove his pick-up truck up and down the road looking for the dog. As luck would have it, once he drove away we came upon the dog! He was friendly enough, running in and out of our headlamp beams. When another pair of runners overtook us, he decided they were going more his speed and took off after them! We found him again, this time on a leash, at Seabrook, where Emmy gave the volunteers his story and they made plans to reunite him with his owner!

We quickly set off for the next aid station, Spirit of 76, at mile 77- or as Zeke, the director of that station, would say, located at mile 76.9999. It was a great place. I don’t know where they found it, but I had a can of Trader Joe’s Triple Expresso! Zeke was a friend of Emmy’s and he was kind enough to give her spare batteries for her headlamp. She had fresh batteries in her headlamp as well, but had forgotten to put spares in her fanny pack. Once we left Spirit of 76 I got hit with another case of the chills, so it was rough going for a while. At this point I was really annoyed with myself for having put so much important stuff (such as a long-sleeved shirt and my buff) in my last drop bag - which was still 11.6 miles away!

While reaching the next aid station at mile 81, Goodman’s, was uneventful and we reached yet another decade marker, most of the miles in the mid-80's would be difficult for me. At first it was simply fatigue, as I fell into a patch of slower and slower walking, coupled with heavier and heavier eyelids. Emmy was did everything in her power to keep me awake, when all I wanted was to curl up in ball and fall asleep. At one point, even the shadows from my headlamp started playing tricks on me. Maybe I was sleepwalking because I suddenly thought the edge of the light, with my head pointed down, was a fence or some sort of barrier that I was just about to crash into. It startled me so much that I snapped to attention and resumed my march forward with renewed intensity.

That only got me to mile 83.6, Cow Shed, where I sat down for a few minutes and had some coffee and beef broth. It was still another 5 miles to the next aid station - and my final drop bag. The first mile out was touch and go, but miraculously I managed to find enough energy to start running again! We had a pleasant stretch along a stretch of roads along some pine trees - and suddenly it smelled like Christmas! We eventually reached Bill’s at mile 88.6 and I had my final weigh-in. I was at 166 and felt fine. But as I sat down and changed into dry clothes Emmy had mentioned to the medical personal that I was having trouble staying awake. So they insisted I take in some sugar and eat some food.

I wasn’t very happy with this development. I did drink a coke and have some coffee with sugar. But I didn’t want to eat. Somehow they presented me with a breakfast sandwich - egg, cheese, bacon on an English muffin. Wow, I was happy again - that was the best thing I’d eaten all day! It really did the trick. After we left that warm and toasty barn I got hit with the chills, despite the dry and warmer clothes I had just put on. But after a slow start with that breakfast sandwich in my stomach, we started running again! There was a huge climb, which we walked, before reaching Keating’s aid station at mile 92. I was elated because I suddenly realized there were four hours left to finish up the remaining 8 miles!

But that celebratory mood was premature. We ran the most of the next two miles, but once again there were more hills to contend with. It took 1:01:31 to cover 3.5 miles - a good portion of which we ran. There was a 2.2 mile stretch to an unmanned aid station at mile 97.7 - and that took 44 minutes. These were hilly miles! But the final 2.3 miles turned out to be the worst of the bunch. It took 55:23 to cover 2.3(!!) miles. It took every ounce of determination to keep going. Emmy must have tried every trick in the book to keep me motivated. Somehow – I’m still not sure how - I managed to drag myself across the finish line. I don’t know if I was smiling when I crossed it, but I was relieved, and very happy.

paul mccartney on david letterman show at the ed sullivan theatre!

last night paul mccartney returned to the ed sullivan theatre to appear on the david letterman show. while it wasn't his first time back since the beatles' iconic appearance on the ed sullivan show in 1964 (he had been back there once before for an mtv related appearance), it lost none that homecoming like quality.

after a top ten list "what's bruce willis doing this summer" - read by willis himself - paul sat down next to david and they briefly went down memory lane (the beatles very early days). while this was interesting - instead of two segments on the "couch" - the second one would have been better spent playing more music!

in a scene remarkably reminiscent of the beatles' last public performance on the apple studios roof - mccartney performed on the theatre's marquee! but, sadly, he only did 2 songs: "get back" (which the beatles did, in fact, perform on that rooftop oh so many years ago) and a new song, "sing the changes" (off his new "fireman" series album, "electric arguments"). he left us wanting more...

check out more great photos from the cbs gallery.

"harold and maude" movie review

last night i watched "harold and maude," a black comedy tied with "the rocky horror picture show" as my all-time favorite cult film. i've seen this movie at least a half dozen times and it's as fresh now, as it was the first time. like all great cult films, it should open with mixed to negative reviews, find it's way to the midnight movie circuit, and slowly get re-discovered by all the critics who panned or dismissed it the first time around. when "harold and maude" opened in late 1971 it was critical and box-office flop. yet now, almost 40 years later, it's a classic!

on it's most basic level it's a seriously bizarre love story between a morbid 19 year old boy and a 79 year old woman. bud cort, who plays harold, spends a good deal of the movie committing suicide (primarily for the benefit of his mother). he does this mainly to witness his mother's increasingly exasperated reactions (freudians should have field day with this motif). harold "killed himself" 8 different ways during the 90+ minute film. with all that preoccupation over planning his own demise, it's a wonder he actually met maude at all!

that magic moment occurs at, appropriately enough, a funeral - which harold attended in his newly purchased (from a used car lot) and refurbished hearse! when he isn't trying to kill himself, harold passes the time attending the funerals of complete strangers. so too, it seems, does maude. ruth gordon plays the free spirited 79 year old maude like a free spirit outlaw. she it the total opposite of the withdrawn harold. in that vein, it's almost impossible to believe she belongs at anyones funeral - much less those of strangers. but, here it worked.

any scene with maude behind the wheel of a car is side-splitting hilarious. my favorite part is when maude drives (with harold in the passenger seat) a pick-up truck with a tree in need of planting on board. it's stolen, the tree is stolen, the shovel is borrowed. maude breaks every speed and traffic law at hand. the motorcycle cop that corrals them (played by an uncredited tom skerrit) his equally hilarious as the straight man to maude's answers. first she drives away, then she leads him on an unlikely chase, and finally - leaving the audience incredulous - maude "escapes" on his motorcycle, with harold on back holding on to the shovel (which they intend to return)!

my favorite of harold's suicide scenes (most of which are hilarious) is with his third blind date, sunshine. his mother had arranged a series of three dates via a computer dating service (the first two also witnessed harold's suicide efforts). this date was especially fun since (as an actress herself) she though harold was "acting" when he committed harakiri. she in turn recites juliet's farewell and (thinking the knife was a prop), stabs herself. as a result of the malfunctioning prop knife, we're led to believe she actually died. the scene is remarkable, if only, for harold's astonished expression at having the tables turned on him.

there are many dark laughs in this film. but the bittersweet ending - when harold wants to marry ruth and discovers she had taken poison that would kill her at the end of her 80th birthday party (80 is long enough to live, she tells him) - seemed perfectly fitting. his reaction to her death, with his 8th suicide, is likewise fitting. we're left (with echoes of the finale of "quadrophenia," no less), with harold playing ruth's banjo at the edge of the cliff. has harold finally learned, and decided, to live life after all?

rent this film - it's a must see.

2009 norwalk summer series 7 miler: race report

saturday was the third race in the norwalk summer series, the 7 miler. the first two, the 3 miler and 5 miler, were single loop courses. the 7 mile course had (and the remaining 3 will have) an out and back run to a double loop. the double loop of beach in the 7 miler was a replay of the double loop we ran at the rowayton father's day fun run last month. interestingly, while the course was accurately measured, the markers were off - and that led to a bit of post-race speculation that we may have run more than the advertised 7 miles (but i get ahead of myself).

when i arrived at the high school i was pleasantly surprised to run into my old friend art, who i haven't seen at a race since last summer?! it was great catching up with him - and, as usual, my other friends (roy, john, kate, emmy, rob, anton...). but i was a bit distracted that morning because immediately after the race i had to drive home, collect katie and her gear, then drive her to field hockey camp (in storrs, ct) in time for the noon check-in. the round trip camp drop-off took almost 5 hours of driving time.

as for the race itself, i wanted to run the 7 miler in 48 minutes, a 6:50 pace. as late as 6 miles into the race i was still on track for that goal. but my race imploded in the final mile and i missed that target by a wide margin. my first mile, 6:38 and second, 6:05, gave me a 2 mile split of 12:43. i'm not sure if mile two was short, but the pace seemed a bit fast. the next mile took 6:41 and i reached the 3 mile split at 19:24, a 6:28 pace. from that point on, the final 4 miles became something of a struggle.

i reached 4 miles in 26:29 - in my slowest mile, 7:05, so far. mile 5, in 6:57, was marginally faster, and my 5 mile split was 33:36 - still well under my 6:50 target. but mile 6 took me 7:30 - and wasn't easy. my 40:46 split was still on pace for a 48 minute finish. i wouldn't be pretty, but i was sure i could gut out the last mile in 7 minute (or even 7:30). but that wouldn't happen. my legs died and it took 8:37 to finish that last mile. runners passed me like i was standing still!

my 49:33 finish (a 7:05 pace) was a minute and a half slower than my goal - and all that time was lost in the very last mile. it was a major bummer - and one of the rare times this year that i just couldn't shake off a lackluster performance. most of the runners were convinced the course was long. that was topic one of post-race conversation and don got a lot of questions (grief) over it. but the actual distance was irrelevant to me - as i was passed repeatedly in the last mile. whatever the distance, everyone ran the same course!

disappointed as i was, i still socialized a bit and took a couple of pictures before hopping in my car for the drive home. and we did get katie up to her camp in plenty of time for check-in and first day orientation!

as a coda to the course distance back and forth, jim took the time to remeasure route! here is the result (which don emailed to us yesterday):

"Guys - I certified it at 7.0 last year before the race. Just to make sure it was run as measured I re-rode it Sunday afternoon, and it came up the same, w/in 2 ft. The mile marks were way off, however. 1 was a bit long then each subsequent mile was short, 6 being almost 200m before its correct placement, which made every one's last mile seem long, thus throwing the whole course distance into doubt (this did give me some good grist for an article I'm writing, however)."

here are my race photos.

"public enemies" movie review

i finally had a chance to watch "public enemies" this weekend. maybe my expectations were too high going in, but i was underwhelmed with this film. that's a tough one liner to write since i'm a big fan of both johnny depp and christian bale. on the postive side, bale more than redeemed himself as melvin pervis - as contrasted with his practically dialed-in performance of john conner in terminator salvation. in terminator salvation, bale's performance was upstaged by his co-star, sam worthington. in similar style, bale was much more fun to watch on screen as purvis, than depp was in the title role!

bale's performance had strange echoes of his "american pyscho" persona! i watched transfixed as an apparently mild mannered g-man fronted for a maniacally determined lawman out to exterminate public enemies (regardless of his place on the most wanted pecking order). from the initial nod to modern investigative techniques available to the fbi (a proto war room that would decades later morph into the ubiquitous instantaneous tracking of jason bourne via satellites and supercomputers) - to the more heavy handed insistence that j. edgar hoover approve his request to import the "big guns" from texas.

that was the literal capitulation - following the cold blooded execution of an inexperienced g-man - of hoover's cerebral, detached wish (daydream) that sheer brain power would capture dillinger and his gang. moreover, even when they captured him, they couldn't hold him. they couldn't even keep him in shackles - another excellent bit of symbolism found its way on screen as his lawyer demanded that dillinger be freed of the shackles as he sat in court for the a hearing to move him to a more secure state prison. that small courtroom victory set the stage for depp's second houdini-style escape from a prison.

the cinematography was a mixed bag - a lot of sepia, grey and muted colors set the grim tone (even in the presumably sunny florida and arizona shots). but the skillful use of color was almost outdone by the incessantly annoying handheld shots. once, twice, even three times - then get yee a tripod and save the audience's eyesight. in addition, the movie ran too long. a gratuitous scene when depp/dillinger, just before his final moments on earth, walked into a chicago police station and ambled about the dillinger 'war room' was a surreal fantasy.

was that tacked on to further glorify the dillinger mystique? another, equally ludicrous moment - beware, spoiler alert - had one of the g-men who gunned down dillinger go visit his girlfriend in jail. he went there at dillinger's request, to tell her his last words words, "bye bye blackbird" - what unadulterated drivel. as if that last utterance could somehow convert the film into a chick flick by playing up the romantic in him?! please! one last cavil, it was true that dillinger went to see "manhattan melodrama" at the biograph - but in showing us clips of the film while he sat in the theatre, they were out of sequence!

bottom line, while it was enjoyable, i'd wait for the dvd on this one.

world lung foundation running team 2nd group run in central park

this morning the world lung foundation running team did its 2nd training run in central park, our road to the new york city half marathon next month. the number of runners that joined us on this group run doubled, to eight, from our first group run 3 weeks ago. the weather was perfect (although it rained last night and the clouds lingered until just before we got our group under way at 8:30). half of the group finished the 6 mile loop of central park in just under one hour, the other half took just over an hour. we capped off the morning with some post-run socializing at a nearby coffee shop.













here are some pictures from our third group training run.

waveny park summer xc series 2 person relay: race report

thursday was my first waveny summer xc series couples relay without katie as a partner. the race was postponed from its regular tuesday night date because of a nasty weather forecast. on the rescheduled date katie was in brooklyn, for a visit to her grandmother. so my new partner for the relay turned out to be emmy! her original partner, francoise, couldn't make the new date (along with our friend john). but, in a surprise, kate was there to run her first waveny relay!

the course is one mile loop that runs along soccer and baseball fields, tennis courts, and returns to the start/finish via a short out and back in front of the waiting (and cheering) teammates. it's a fun course. each runner does a mile and trades off to his partner, who runs the next mile and, in turn, trades back to her partner until 6 loops (miles) are completed. in the past, when katie and i ran it together, there was little chance of coming in first in our combined age group.

with emmy as a partner, there was a good chance we could win our age group - if we ran fast! emmy had complained of a sore foot before the race (and i wasn't really in race-ready state of mind myself). since she would run first, i would take my lead from her first mile. if decided to run fast (under 7), i'd race it. she blew through the first mile, sore foot and all, in 6:37 - so it was race mode!

here are our splits (run to my mental soundtrack of the talking heads, "life during wartime" lyrics: "this ain't not party, this ain't no disco - this ain't fooling around...."):

6:37
6:33 13:10
6:35 19:45
6:35 26:20
6:38 32:58
6:30 39:28

6:35 combined pace

we won our age group - and the very nifty race tee shirts in the above picture! but the best part of the night was easily the post-race sam adams rob brought (and sushi emmy had).

here are my race photos.

2009 norwalk summer series 7 miler: race photos and results

the third race in the norwalk summer series, the 7 miler, is in the books. i ran a 49:33, but couldn't stick around for the post-race festivities. we have to drive katie up to field hockey camp today.

here is my race report.

here are the race results.

here are some race photos (more to come):

waveny park summer xc series 2 person relay: photos and results

last night was the rescheduled two-person at waveny park. since my original partner, katie, was at her grandmother's house, emmy graciously stepped up and ran with me. and with a combined 39:28 (unofficial) for the 6 miles, we won our age group!

here is my short race report.

here are the relay results.

here are some race photos:

roy and rob


kate


emmy


bob


ronnie, and marty (finishing)


kate, finishing


kate, done


roy and jim


roy, luis, and kate


roy, rob, and emmy, rehydrating :D


jim, announcing awards


george and kate


ronnie and me


emmy, me, and our "prizes"

grateful dead played its last concert at soldier field, chicago, 14 years ago today

on july 9, 1995, the grateful dead played what would become its last concert, at soldier field, in chicago. one month later, jerry garcia would be dead. over the years, the surviving band members occassionally reunited as "the other ones" and "the dead." after a three year hiatus, they just completed a tour last spring.

in between those reunion tours, we still have plenty of "dead" music with phil and friends, bobby and ratdog, and mickey and bill playing as the rhythm devils! and, last year, it was announce that a jerry garcia biopic (based his early years from the biography "dark star") is in development.

fans have made a big deal about jerry singing "so many roads" that final night. but what stands out for me is the three(!) phil lesh tunes played that night. "box of rain" finds itself in plenty of setlists - and is a phil standard. but to see them play "childhood's end" and "unbroken chain" as well, all on the same night, is amazing!

here is the setlist from soldier field:

first set:

touch of grey
little red rooster
lazy river road
when i paint my masterpiece
childhood's end
cumberland blues
promised land

second set:

shakedown street
samson & delilah
so many roads
samba in the rain
corrina >
drums & space >
unbroken chain
sugar magnolia

encores:

black muddy river
box of rain

listen to the entire show at live music archive.

jonah raskin's "american scream: allen ginsberg's howl and the making of the beat generation"

jonah raskin's "american scream: allen ginsberg's howl and the making of the beat generation," is one of those good books that's undone by its ridiculously long title. chopping off "and the making of the beat generation" would have balanced the slim volume's physicality with the more precise description of the book, a primer on the genesis of "howl." as a big fan of allen ginsberg, there is, thankfully, very little (despite the subtitle's proclamation) on "the making of the beat generation" - and plenty on ginsberg's masterpiece.

what raskin does, and does well, is mine the ginsberg archives and constructs a detailed history of the threads and impulses that ultimately seat ginberg in front of his typewriter, where he lets loose and pours out the first part of "howl." in the process, raskin put to rest the popular misconception that ginsberg's masterpiece was one long sudden outburst of prosody that magically flowed onto the blank page.

"american scream" is similar to paul mahler's "jack kerouac's american journey: the real life odyssy of "on the road" (a book that also suffers from a too long subtitle), which documents the kerouac road trips that become the material for his novel. in "the original scroll" version of on the road," kerouac fans can read the unadulterated text and in "howl: original draft facsimile, transcript, and variant versions, fully annotated by author...." (breaking all records for the longest subtitle in history) can see the evolution of the poem. fans of ginsberg already know how much work he put into the drafting - and his continually redrafting for years afterwards - of his epic poem.

one of the best parts of the book is raskin's description of kerouac and ginsberg in the tiny san francisco cottage as allen worked on revising and editing the poem. kerouac repeatedly insists on no revisions to original text and ginsberg, total self-confident, shrugged off the endless entreaties and made the changes he thought necessary. while ginsberg had labored mightily to incorporate kerouac's "first though, best thought" mantra in his outlook - ginsberg emerged with his own voice, his own mastery of technique, and created his masterpiece.

while the interactions with kerouac are interesting, the real gems are the historical artifacts that raskin unearthed from the archives - not the least of which were high school and college essays that ginsberg wrote. i was less impressed with the brief comments raskin got from ginsberg's psychiatrist. allen himself repeated credited dr. hicks as the one person who gave him explicit "permission," said it was okay - in so many words - to be openly gay!

the last chapter briefly covered the obscenity trial - that did as much (if not more than) allen's copious efforts at self-promotion to launch the poem into the nation's attention. that trial itself was significant as one more battle in a long line of literary censorship cases from the decade that spanned the mid-50's to mid-60's. the howl prosecution case, in the larger context of the first amendment, was amply covered in, "howl on trial: the battle for free expression."

if you're a fan of allen ginsberg (or the beats in general), "american scream" is well-worth reading. check it out.

ron lamothe's "the call of the wild"- the other chris mccandless documentary

"the call of the wild," title of the familiar jack london novel, is also the title of independent filmmaker ron lamothe's documentary on the tragic life of chris mccandless. yes, the same chris mccandless immortalized in the jon krakauer book "into the wild" and senn penn's docudrama of the same name. i caught lamothe's documentary last night on pbs - and it was fascinating for a couple of reason (not the least of which is it's relative obscurity in the shadow of penn's film).

after watching the "sean penn + jon krakauer" iconclast program last month, my interest in mccandless was reawakened - to the point of putting the book back on my reading list. last year i watched "into the wild" with mixed emotions - my feelings about him and his actions had changed in the dozen years since i had first read the book (thanks in no small part the intervention of fatherhood). amazingly, my now ambivalent feelings toward mccandless were perfectly mirrored in the lamothe documentary.

lamothe, who was a contemporary of mccandless, had the "idea" of his documentary gestate for a dozen years (with his own life story directly impacting his view of the material across the years). interesting, he shot the documentary at the same time penn filmed the hollywood version. the "interaction" between the vastly different filmmakers was captured, in part, during "the call of the wild" - and the hollywood crowd came off, predictably, as obnoxious and bullying - to the extent of barring folks for even talking to lamonthe at times!

regardless, lamothe's documentary is as much about ron lamothe as it is about chris mccandless. and lamonthe's persistence paid serious dividends in the facts he uncovered along the way. some of which were - or should have been - known by penn and krakauer yet never publicized. the most startling fact it the cut and dry determination that mccandless starved to death (not poisoned by mistakenly eating the wrong berries).

lamothe unearthed a couple of other fascinating details: apparently chris mccandless had identification cards and $300 stored in his knapsack (not that either the cards or money would have gotten him out of the wilderness), which weren't found by the police when the his body was discovered; and, that mccandless may have been involved in some minor vandalism of two nearby cabins (possible in a desperate search for food?).

none of the additional facts significantly changes the storyline (or mythology, for some). but the film is well-worth watching as a visual meditation on someone who trys to process the meaning of the chris mccandless story as it impacted his own life. while i wouldn't skip the book (essential reading), or sean penn film (riveting), "the call of the wild" is well-worth the trouble to track down as a supplement to the "conventional wisdom."

2009 putnam county classic: race report

the 2009 edition of taconic putnam county classic was another outstanding event in its illustrious 33 year history. the race directors (emmy and lee), volunteers, sponsors, spectators, record field of runners, some of the best weather of the summer, and post-race refreshments and activities (including a kids run), all combined for a great 4th of july kick-off! this was my 3rd time running this hilly 8 mile loop of lake mahopac. weather-wise, the conditions were a far cry from the high humidity and rain we had in 2008.

before the race found myself in the "race kitchen" along with other volunteers prepping food for the post-race activities. i cut-up watermelons, pam cut-up bananas, and others took care of the bagels. we had at least a dozen trays of sliced watermelon loaded into the fridge - and to add spice and contrast to the mix, chips and salsa! pam then manned a water station at mile 3, and art (who also cut up watermelon) did some duty at traffic control on the course.

after the food prep, i switched my attention to the ham radio operators from pearl (putnam emergency and amateur repeater league). for the second year in row alex and his colleagues from pearl established a communications net that followed the runners on course and was linked to the ems personal stationed at the high school. once again they would be an invaluable part of the race day team (as a runner would need medical attention later that morning).

and no race, for me at least, would be complete without some pre-race socialization! i hung out with eliot, ilana, greg, michael (my neighbor and former wtc teammate), gregg (another former wtc teammate), and said a quick hi to julie as she left registration. then, in what was a huge pre-race surprise, i spotted don, as emmy and i reviewed the course map with alex! amazingly, i didn't see rob until we were off on the first mile of the race. i didn't see francoise until the race was over!

lee got the runners out to the start and made the pre-race announcements. one particular announcement that got some laughs came from emmy when she said "we're not starting the race until everyone is out of the bathroom!" that unintentionally gave me a minute to run back to the car and ditch my camera! i lined up with greg - and when he asked me what my time goal was for the race, i momentarily drew a blank. "an hour" i guess was my reply.

in all that pre-race rushing around, up to and including lining up for the start - i had practically forgotten there was a race to run! i figured a 7:30 pace should be doable. within 30 seconds of the start i spotted rob and said hi. i missed the mile marker for the first mile - but when i hit the 2 mile split in 13:46 i realized i had gone out a bit too fast. a sub-7 pace was unrealistic today, and it was time to dial it back.

just after mile 2, i saw emmy out on south lake boulevard handling traffic control (i'd also see bob and art out on the course doing traffic control as well). my pace slowed to 7:31 (a bit too slow now, it seemed) for a split of 21:17 at 3 miles. pam cheered us on at the water station - plus, anthony (and one of his beautiful daughters) and wayne were there too!

after mile 4 (7:34) the course looped around the northern part of lake mahopac. i was instantly hit with deja vu - and not from the prior putnam county classic races. last spring the sybil ludington 50k course was revised and we ran the northern portion, instead of looping around the south end of lake mahopac. one difference, where a stretch of mile 7 was unpaved dirt for the 50k, this time around it was covered with smooth asphalt.

the north lake boulevard stretch (miles 5, 6, and 7) can be described (charitably) as rolling hills. the most interesting contour, however, is the sharp downhill following the climb in mile 6! it's an eye-opening descent - and may even be tougher (at least for me) than the uphill! my splits for these miles were pretty consistent: 7:29, 7:33, and 7:22 - for a 7 mile split of 51:16. right on target for the sub-one hour finish.

emmy was once again on south lake boulevard directing traffic as we made the final turn back to the high school. with 3/4 of a mile left to run, i sped it up a little. one reason was that i had just retaken the lead from a cptc runner who had passed me a mile or so earlier. the second was emmy had just cheered on rob and urged him to catch me! i yelled back to him to hurry up and catch me! i ran the last mile in 6:45 flat - and finished just steps ahead of the cptc runner, in 58:01. a little competition goes a long way :D

afterwards, rob and i had some great captain lawrence brown ale with eliot to rehydrate with, as we cheered on the runners that finished. eliot had a growler of it, on ice, nestled in the trunk of his car! over at the field we meet up w/ilana, pam, micheal, don, and francoise for a bit more socializing. in a twist, instead of watermelon, i ate nothing but chips and salsa. probably the consequence of rehydrating with beer! then it was time for lee, emmy, and tom to present the awards.

i hitched a ride home with rob - and made it back in time to catch the tail end of our neighborhood fourth of july celebration at davis park. katie and her fellow girl scouts had manned the refreshment booth. then she did the 3 legged race and egg toss. afterwards, we went home an watched joey chestnut win his 3rd consecutive nathan's hot dog eating contest!!

check out my race photos.

joey chestnut wins his 3rd straight nathan's hot dog eating contest!!

yesterday joey chestnut defended his championship title by winning his 3rd straight nathan's hot dog eating contest!! last year it took a sudden death eat-off victory to defend his title when he and takeru kobayashi finished tied in regulation time.

the 2009 edition of this 4th of july coney island classic was marginally less suspenseful - there was no tie finish. but chestnut capped his victory by setting a new a world record with the 68 hot dogs he consumed in 13 minutes! kobayashi again finished second (64 hot dogs). the women's champion, sonya thomas, ate 41 hot dogs - and she too set a new women's record in the process!

i watched hour long live coverage on espn at noon - which, in turn, had followed a busy early morning at the putnam county classic in mahopac and a late morning at our own davis park 4th of july festivities. unfortunately, after all that excitement, the last thing i wanted to do was eat a hot dog - haha.

2009 putnam county classic: race photos and results

what a great morning to run a race! the perfect weather was a big change from the high humidity and rain from the 2008 edition of the putnam county classic. i finished the 8 mile course in 58:00, a 7:15 pace.

here is my race report.

here are the race results.

here are my race pictures:


me, eliot, and ilana


"pearl"


gregg


me and greg


greg, ilana, me, eliot (holding his son), and emmy


don and emmy


lee


me, rob, and eliot (and cap't lawrence)!


don, finishing!


finish line


anthony, his daugher, and wayne


don, francoise, emmy, and michael


emmy, tom, and lee


ilana and pam


francoise and rob


francoise


bob, pam, and ilana

check out emmy's race photos.

happy fourth of july!!

happy fourth of july!!

jim morrison died in paris of heroin overdose, 38 years ago today

on july 3, 1971, jim morrison was found dead in the bathtub of his paris apartment. while no autopsy was performed, the anecdotal evidence suggested that morrison died of a heroin overdose. and so closed the doors to his very brief, but intense, life on earth - he was only 27 years old! amazingly, the doors continued to perform and record without him, as a trio, until the band finally called it quits in 1973.

my interest in jim morrison and the doors peaked in high school, when that iconic image (the head shot of which is the above photo) of morrison, arms outstretched, was postered to my bedroom door. thereafter my fascination with would periodically reemerge: reading the now classic biography, "no one gets out of here alive," watching val kilmer play him in "the doors" and, most recently, watching two original band members in concert!

last year i caught "riders on the storm" with ray manzarek and robby kreiger, play at the fillmore here in nyc. their front man was a dead ringer for morrison, and so too were their covers of the doors classics. great memories!

so take a minute and listen to some doors music today - in honor of a wild child who broke on thru to the other side - way too soon.

r.i.p. jim morrison

ernest hemingway took his own life 48 years ago today

on july 2, 1961, ernest hemingway, one of america's greatest writers, committed suicided by a shotgun blast to his head - he was 3 weeks shy of his 62nd birthday. hemingway as a central character of the lost generation of writes (american expatriates in the 1920's), precursors to the beats. jack kerouac was a fan of, and influenced by hemingway's work.

while i was never a huge fan of hemingway, i count two of his works among my favorite books: the novel, "the sun also rises" and the posthumously published memoir, "a moveable feast." both focus on expatriate americans in europe (principally france and spain) during the 1920's. they are, along with henry miller's treatment of americans in paris the following decade (in his "tropic" novels), some of the best writings on the literary bohemians of that era.

"a movable feast," is memoir well-worth reading as a primer on hemingway - despite the controversy that surrounded its posthumous publication (or rather compilation, by his 4th and final wife), and its revised republication by his grandson almost 3o years later! hemingway had written the material well before his death - but specifically instructed his editors that he didn't want it published (and it didn't have an ending). in spite of his protests, it's some of his best writing - and we're all much richer with it published.

that said, it's probably time to reread it :D

july 2009 race schedule

i just put together my running plan for july and, except for the wlf group run #2 (in conjunction with nyrr long training run #1), all the races are old friends - in one way or another.

the highlight of the month will be a return to the escarpment trail run on the heels of the vermont 100 miler. that combination should be interesting!

the month kicks off with the putnam county classic, a race emmy and her co-race director, lee, have been working on for months. it's going to be a great time - try not to miss it!

that week is also includes my favorite father-daughter race, the 2-person relay at the waveny park summer xc series! 2009 will be the third year that katie and i team up for this xc relay (each person runs a mile, trades off with the her partner, until each has run 3 mile).

the month also includes the second wlf running team group run in central park. we up the mileage to 6, and will do an entire loop of the part (in conjunction with all the runners participating in the nyrr long training run #1). if you want to run (or are running) the nyc half marathon next month - consider running it on behalf of the world lung foundation!!

finally, july includes the 3rd and 4th races in the norwalk summer series. these too are great events - and if you're within shouting distance of norwalk, don't miss them!

7/4 - putnam county classic, 8m
7/7 - waveny park summer xc series, 2-person relay
7/11 - norwalk summer series 7 miler
7/12 - wlf group training run #2
7/18 - vermont 100 mile endurance run
7/25 - norwalk summer series 9 miler
7/26 - escarpment trail run, 30k

update: as a result of nasty weather forecast, the waveny 2-person relay was rescheduled for 7/9. katie couldn't partner with me on the new date. instead, emmy did - and we won our age group!