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.