06.30.05
Posted in Presidents Corner at 9:02 am by Russ
Yesterday, I again ran with Ivonne Mosquera of the ATC. Ivonne had a goal of “breaking 8:00 minutes” (pace) for the five mile race. Last year we ran together in something like 8:02 per mile, and we certainly wanted to beat that. (A less discussed goal, was winning her division. Ivonne came in second last year and really wanted to win this year, but we were careful not to jinx ourselves.)
So, with these goals in mind, “Team Ivonne” set out. Besides Ivonne, the team consisted of Marie, Erica and me. Marie’s job was to hold Ivonne’s tether and guide her through the race avoiding other runners, orange cones, storm grates, and any other obstacle. Erica was in charge of water stops and keeping Ivonne’s mind off of the fact that she was “racing”. (We had decided that it was just a run, no pressure.) And, my job was to monitor our pace, read the course, and make mid race (er, I mean mid run) adjustments as necessary. At the opening gun Marie jumped out to a fast start and Ivonne followed suit. Within a quarter of a mile I spoke up and let them know that they were running a bit under “8’s” and inquired as to Ivonne’s comfort with the pace. (I actually knew that we were running well under 8’s, but I did not want to alarm her too much.) Ivonne seemed comfortable with the pace so we continued. We hit mile one in 7:24.
Since most people in competitive races jump out a bit fast, I thought that she would back off a bit in mile two. She did. She ran 7:25. I again questioned her comfort and she seemed fine. I told her that she had better be, because I was going to require her to run a negative split!
In mile three she slowed down a bit at the water stop to make sure she got a good drink. It was a really hot day. Even with the slow down, she ran 7:31. Mile four was up cat hill and she fell apart. She ran 7:38! I starting thinking: forget 8’s, she is going to break 7:30 pace.
Once we made it to the Engineer’s Gate, we all knew that she had some gas left in the tank. We picked up the pace and started reeling in runners in the last half mile. She completed mile five in 7:10. Her overall pace: 7:25! She had crushed her PR and her goal.
And she won her division…but remember…it wasn’t a race.
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06.25.05
Posted in Presidents Corner at 1:17 pm by Russ
As Dorothy said, “There is no place like home.” After three weeks away, 16 different flights, four countries, and eight different locations I was ready to come home. Upon arriving home we found that we could barely get into our apartment due to the stacks of boxes (wedding presents) in our “foyer” and we had a stack of mail over a foot high, really.
So, what did we do. We dropped our bags, stripped off the clothes we had been traveling in for the past 30 hours and …(no we didn’t do that…the honeymoon is over)…we went for a run in the park. What a great way to get back into our NY life. We were really tired, but we managed a small loop of the bridle path and a loop of the reservoir. Five Kilometers of easy running was just what the doctor ordered. It was a great way to loosen up after all that time sitting on planes and jeeps and taxis and busses.
We certainly had a wonderful time on our trip, but it was great to be home in the park yesterday.
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04.11.05
Posted in Race Experiences at 2:01 pm by admin
The day started with one of our cars defying the laws of physics and taking an Exit that left everyone in the other two cars with whiplash, then there was some muddy running thrown in there, then some nudity, and it ended with Adam falling asleep at the Brunch table. What a day! At times I questioned my sanity but was lucky enough to have Team Spartacus teammate, Wendi, cussing the Race Directors for making this such a dangerous race. Hearing her colorful commentary throughout the race kept the smiles coming. I feel like we all started at our regular race pace, Wendi and I at an estimated 8:30ish pace, but quickly found that this was a different kind of race. Like Russ, my heart was pumpin’ but it felt like I wasn’t moving very much. Each step fell in either cold water or leg-gulping mud, and it soon felt like I had 15 pound weights on each leg. Once we settled into our regular pace of “running”, walking, crawling, pulling, cursing, and “running” again, we had a lot of fun. Wendi and I pushed and pulled each other over the smallest of hills and biggest of puddles. Size was no matter in this race, the smallest obstacle was 10 times tougher thanks to the cold, wet pants and muddy socks and sneaks. I was definitely a fan of the chest-high river crossing, though I think my internal organs all felt the cold and gave out little squeals. I think the shock to my heart and lungs actually allowed me to run slightly faster in the last quarter mile. I’m proud to say that Wendi and I passed a team of Marines at around Mile 1.5, they looked too beat to continue, though they did. And, we managed to have a Three-Dog finish with Muna, Wendi, and myself crossing the finish line back-to-back-to-back (though I think some bloody mud-muncher snuck himself somewhere in there). It was definitely an awesome race and I’m totally looking forward to doing it again next year. Thanks to Wendi for dragging me into this race and dragging me up the hills, and a very special thanks to our Number 1 Rez Dog Cheering Photographer, Kristen (you have to run this next year)!
_________________ Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride…
Christian
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11.08.04
Posted in Race Experiences at 2:03 pm by admin
Well, that was one f*cking miserable experience.
The morning didn’t start on a great note thanks to the East Siders’ bus shenanigans, but I’ll leave it to my fellow West Siders (Astro, perhaps?) to tell the story. The bottom line is that we got to Staten Island pretty late, and I barely had time to make it through the port-a-potty line and check my bag in before I had to head off to my corral.
10.10 AM, the start horn goes and we move slowly to the start line. It took us more than 12 minutes to officially start, but once we did, the lower section of the bridge was not too crowded and I felt pretty good. I gradually picked up pace, and felt like I could keep going forever. Thinking that I would lose a few minutes hydrating/port-a-pottying/saying hello to my friends on the way, I stayed well ahead of my 4.15 finish time ING pace leader.
At about mile 5, I felt a few twinges of cramping in my feet. Immediately, I knew that I should have not listened to Dr. Hamner’s advice to wear his prescribed shoes for the marathon despite not having done a long run in them, and stuck to my old clunky Reeboks, in which I ran the 20-miler with the 9.30 pace group (and Astro!) without cramping. Maybe it was more Astro than the Reeboks I was missing, but there was nothing I could do about either at that point.
At mile 6, the cramps started radiating to my calves, and I started to slow down and stretch every half mile or so. The cramps only intensified as the course got more crowded when the different start colors merged and we wound through the narrow Brooklyn streets, making it harder to run at a consistent pace. The hydration situation did not help, as there were rarely any stations in Brooklyn and Queens that had water/Gatorade already poured as I went by. So each station required a 10-20 second stop, and the running almost came to a halt following each station as runners slowed down to pick up their drinks and proceeded to walk across the width of the entire street while sipping their refreshments. Not good for cramps or rhythmic running. Too much energy was spent weaving around people.
At one point, we were making a turn, a guy stepped on the back of my foot and my shoe came off. I also came to a grinding halt a few more times with people crossing the street in front of me with strollers or when I couldn’t overtake a walker because of crowd density. Not good for cramps, rhythmic running, or, by this point, my increasing state of agitation.
I made it to the Queensborough Bridge after a few stops to stretch. It was very disheartening to be overtaken by literally hundreds of people each time I stopped, many of whom I’d passed earlier in the course. I also didn’t know how I was going to make it across the bridge, let alone to Tavern on the Green.
Going over the bridge, it felt good to be shielded from the sun but it was really hard to run with what felt like hurricane winds blowing across the bridge. The cramps were getting worse, so at that point I had to start taking stretching and walking breaks instead of just stretching breaks. I found myself being passed by a colleague from work at the end of the bridge.
My friends Hyung-Don and Hilary were cheering me on at 64th and 1st. I had planned on taking one of my breaks with them, but they were so happy to see me (with their video camera in tow) that I kept going, not only to not disappoint them, but also (let’s face it, more importantly) to avoid having my collapse memorialized for eternity. I managed a couple more blocks before I collapsed in front of a motherly figure.
The next planned stop was to see my friends Tarmi and MC on 94th-95th & 1st, but although I slowed down and scanned the crowd for them, I couldn’t find them. Later I found out that they thought they saw me, and a woman overhearing them talking to each other (and who’d seen my name on my shirt) told them I’d just passed by. Given that I couldn’t locate the friends whose location I did know about, I didn’t expect to see any of my friends who would be waiting for me at undisclosed locations, and I was right.
Next stop was TRD, a mile away. I was dying to get there, but at around 107th St., I didn’t think I could go on. Then for some reason I looked up, and lo and behold, there was Laura in front of me. I started yelling out to her and when she finally heard me, she stopped and reached out to me with her hand. She calmed me down and ran hand-in-hand with me until we reached the TRD table.
At the TRD table, I got nourishment and encouragement from the team, most notably El-Presidente, who told me that I should walk a couple of miles and let the nourishment make its way into my system before jogging the rest. So I set off walking, and half a mile later I managed to start running again (and by running, I mean just barely breaking into a jog).
My next target was my friend Greg at 84th St., and it was going to be a LONG almost 5 miles from the TRD table to 84th St. Doing the walk/stretch/jog thing, I kept going (for those who care about these details, I finally got the chance to stop at a port-a-potty in the Bronx without too long a line), all the while contemplating just walking the rest of the course as the cramping had intensified in my abdomen, quads and hamstrings, and both the miles and number of breaks I was taking got progressively longer.
Then out of the blue, at about 95th & 5th, I heard Tarmi, who had walked over from 1st Ave., shouting my name. There she was, with my goody bag (which at that point, wasn’t really of that much use to me –the Advil would not kick in in time). She helped me stretch out and ran with me for a mile or so. When we passed Greg and his camera, I actually felt okay about not stopping, and not only because the moment would have been recorded for posterity.
After Tarmi went off so she could get to the spot she would be meeting me after the race, I contemplated walking again. But soon enough, I saw JGo making his way home, we exchanged a couple of words (neither of which I remember), and that gave me a fresh incentive to keep running. And so I did, and almost made it to the finish line in one fell swoop. Net time – about 4.52, more than 37 minutes slower than I would have liked.
I crawled out of the Park, met Tarmi again, put on the warm jacket she was carrying for me, and she walked me home. All I wanted at that point was to jump into a hot shower and stretch, but first I had to wait about 10 minutes because I’d lost my key and the doorman had to find me the spare one I keep with the super. Next up after the shower and talking to my mother was spilling my guts out here, so pardon the verbosity. As you can imagine I’m pretty emotional, although writing this thing has been calming.
So much for the first NY marathon being the best. There was a lot of blubbering after the first hour, and I think that my first marathon may well be my last.
BUT (finally!)– No matter how much I did not enjoy the experience, I could not have made it through the entire 26.2 miles had it not been for TRD (special thanks to Russ and Laura today), my friends (specially Tarmi) who supported me before and during the run, and the great people of NYC who lifted my spirits when I was really down and encouraged me to get through those painstakingly slow and laborious miles (thanks to Christel here for strongly recommending that I put my name on my shirt).
Muna
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09.12.04
Posted in Race Experiences at 8:14 pm by admin
Was a little disappointed in the dog turnout at this race. But disappointment aside I will tell the story. Start time posted 9AM Actual start 10:20 Course posted: one circle around Cubbon park Actual course was in Cubbon park for about 200 yards. Distance: posted course was about 3K. Actual course was 5K. Participants: supposed to be around 5000, not that many but maybe 3000. I started out with intentions of winning this race so I made sure to start on the front. They decided that for the start they would stretch a ribbon across and then cut it. all the camera men of course want pictures of cutting the ribbon. and then the ribbon gets cut and everybody has to run through the ribbon a big lady with a scissors and a dozen cameramen. But we were off. I decided to run at the front and try to kill everyone off early. We had a police escort, while escorts would normally run out in front and clear a path, the cops in the jeep decide that it was more intersting to drive alongside me. This went along very well for about 1/2 a mile till we got to the first intersection. Traffic of course was not stopped and I immedeately lost the escort in the traffic. fortunately I train in traffic everyday so I was cool with leading the way. Was not sure where the actual course was supposed to turn but they had the local girls military school students pointing the way. However because I was about 100 yards in the lead and I had lost my escort the sign girls weren’t ready when I showed up. Managed to find my way without serious delay. The toughest part of the race was the five kids that decided to ride their bikes. They would ride to get ahead of me and then they would stop as soon as they got past me. they nearly toppled me a couple times. Around the 3Kish mark this punk kid about 17 pulls up on my shoulder and decides he is going to ride me in. So I back off the pace so I can try to stay with the guy in the end but it was not to be he blew me out of the water in the last K. Ended up finishing second. To give you some idea of the spectacular competition the both of us also beat everybody that ran the short version of the course that finished in the same place. Unofficial time 20:14 (there was no official time)
Rob
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03.01.05
Posted in Presidents Corner at 8:16 pm by Russ
Just a quick posting to say hello to all my TRD friends. Julie and I are having a great time down in Chile. We have gotten in a couple of runs so far.
The first one was in Santiago. We ran on a dirt path along a concrete “river” right in the middle of town. It was hot (about 85 degrees) and humid. And there were lots of obstacles like food carts, stray dogs, pedestrians, and, of course, open, unmarked, unfilled ditches where they were burying some pipes. There was a real steeple chase feel to the run.
Our second run was along the Pacific coast. There was a great path that went between the houses on the hillsides and the huge rocks and surf below. The only problem was the trail was too short. We reached the end and had to turn around before we really wanted to.
Today we are in Vina del Mar, a really cool coastal town with a nice beach, an old pier, and plenty of local culture. As an engagement present, Julie´s parents are treating us to two night´s stay in a really nice hotel right on the water. We hope to find a nice running route outside, but, if not, the top floor of the hotel has their pool, gym and spa. The windows are from the ceiling to the floor and the treadmills look out over the Pacific. I hate treadmills, but I think I can deal with these.
I miss you guys and look forward to returning to running in the park. I just hope that Spring comes to NYC by next week.
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01.30.05
Posted in Presidents Corner at 8:17 pm by Russ
Many of you may remember a post back in December where my big brother, Don, declared me OOC (out of commission). My response, of course, was “I’m no mamby pamby, I’ll be back out there in no time.”
Well, “no time”, turned into six weeks. I am still not sure exactly what all damage I did down there, but of the many ankle sprains I have had over the years, this one is by far the worst. There is still a decent amount of stiffness and a strange throbbing that is hard to describe.
Though the ankle is clearly not fully healed, is does appear to be very run worthy. Yesterday, (TRD Saturday Morning Run) I completed my first full loop of the park since the 10K on December 12. This morning I met Diablo Dog and hammered out another six miles. And, when Martin called this evening to invite me out for a run, I just couldn’t turn him down. I had to try my first “two a day” in ages. He was running a full loop with Jgo and Diablo. That was a bit much for me, but I managed a brisk four miles, including Harlem Hill.
So, maybe I am a bit more of a mamby pamby than I thought. Or, maybe, it was just the holidays and all the extra food and drink that comes along with them (I gained 10 pounds in a month). Or, it could be that at age 39.3334, I just don’t recover the way that I used to. Whatever the reason, I guess it really doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I am back out doing what I love, which is running with you guys.
See ya Sunday at the Gridiron Classic 5K. (Yes, I’ll be racing…sort of.)
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08.02.05
Posted in Race Experiences at 10:49 am by Russ
One year after signing up and 6 months of training finally ended on Friday, July 21st. My mom flew in from LA and drove the five hours up to Lake Placid with me two days before the race. The whole city was completely decked out with welcoming the race. Every storefront had a banner saying “welcome ironman” or something of the sort and even churches had special services inviting people to come pray for the athletes at certain times. It felt like a city about to host the Olympics.
Even though I had registered for this race a long time ago I only bothered to look for a place to stay recently to find every single hotel within an hour sold out. It all worked out for the best cause my mom and I ended up staying in this huge house close to the race start. An ironman training group in NYC called Tri-Life had rented the house and had about 10 of their members staying there. I was one of a few others who in the house along with a pro from New Zealand who was competing in her 12th ironman.
Saturday morning was race packet pick up. We weighed in, received five different bags to stash our gear, and racked our bikes. Afterward I just relaxed in the house talking to everyone about their training and race strategies. Got a good laugh out of one guy who almost bled to death after shaving his legs. Then I had an early dinner of pasta, waited for what seemed an eternity, and then everyone went to sleep by 8.
I woke up several times during the night but finally at 4 my alarm went off and I jumped out of bed, went downstairs to the kitchen where everyone had congregated and was eating their various breakfast foods. I had my breakfast of 1000 calories – 2 bagels with peanut butter and 2 bananas. Everyone was super excited. Even more waiting and then we carpooled down to the swim start.
Per ironman regulations the swim would be a mass start. We were to swim a rectangular loop, get out of the water, run across a timing mat and then repeat the loop. Easy enough. The female pros were sent off with a half hour head start. The rest of us were then shepherded into the water. After a few minutes of treading water the cannon went off and 2000 people started swimming. For a while it was absolute madness with people kicking, flailing, and grabbing at my legs. After making the first turn around a buoy the crowd calmed and I was able to maintain an easy pace. Then we had to get out, run about 20 yards and then get back in. That was a bit strange as I’m used to immediately peeling off my wetsuit as I get to dry land. This double loop turned out to be a sadistic theme which was repeated twice later in the day. Not much to say about the second loop but this time I looked down and saw a bunch of divers in scuba gear about 10 feet under water who were just staring up. Now that was really strange. Never seen that in a race before.
Got out and was attacked by “wetsuit strippers” who seized me and pulled my wetsuit off. That was a tad frightening and I don’t know how much time that saved. Then I carried my wetsuit to the transition area. Everyone else ran the quarter mile but I figured I’d be doing enough running later. Took some time to put on band-aids and sunscreen and made sure I had rubbed the sunscreen in. I figured its one thing to have a long transition but another thing to have pictures showing up with sunscreen showing. Then I walked over to the bike rack. Someone got my bike for me as I was struggling to stash 6 power bars in my jersey. They kept falling out so I removed my race belt, put them in slowly and finally was ready to go. I told the volunteer that this would be my slowest transition ever but he said that was ok. Then got my helmet and gloves and sunglasses on, walked my bike out to the mount area, clipped in and coasted off.
The bike was a double 56 mile loop, super hilly course. Here’s the elevation map, ugh:
I felt strong during the first loop. I hit 38 mph going down that first major downhill and pedaled steadily up the first few hills. Got to enjoy the beautiful scenery of mountains and clear skies. Cars who mistakenly drove into the race and got trapped in traffic weren’t upset. The drivers just honked and cheered on as they were parked. I stuck to my nutrition plan of eating 2000 calories via 6 power bars. Got a bottle of Gatorade and a water bottle at every station and drank enough that I had to duck into the bushes every hour and a half or so. Warm Gatorade tastes downright disgusting after a couple of bottles but I forced myself to keep downing it regardless. Then I tried to eat bananas. Peeling a banana while biking takes skill took me a few tries to get it right.
Finished the first loop just under my half-iron pace. On the second loop the hills appeared much steeper and I started feeling tired, but I managed to hang on. Around mile 90 things just seemed unbelievably hard. I had noticed in all my century training rides to Harriman Park up to Bear Mountain and back by 9W that my ability to bike hills disappears after a few hours on the bike. I never had to worry about that then because the last 15 miles or so coming back from Nyack are on a steady downhill where I end up just flying. This course was quite the opposite and ended with a long steady climb. I was just miserable at the end. This is the worst I felt all day. Every small hill felt like Everest. At times I looked down at my computer and was crawling along at under 5 mph. I didn’t know how I was going to move afterward, let alone run a marathon. I think last 10 miles took me over an hour. But sure enough I finished on pure willpower. My second loop ended up taking me 45 minutes longer than my first.
Got off the bike handed it to a volunteer who racked it for me and then walked slowly through this transition. I had a gu pack and some water, changed my shoes, peeled off my gloves, and took off for the run as the first pro woman was finishing the course.
Just as I crossed the timing mat onto the run I head “Riyad from New York city has now started the run” from some announcer guy. Pronounced perfectly! Then as I started running I heard more people shouting “Go Riyad! Go Riyad!”. I looked around. Who the hell said that? Who was that? Oh that’s right my name’s on my race number. This continued throughout the course. The run was a double out and back loop which probably wouldn’t be ideal for a regular marathon but was the perfect format for a race like this with only a few participants spread out over the entire distance. Usually starting to run after biking for this long is just agony but this time I was so happy to be off the bike I felt pretty good. Started with a steep downhill through downtown running just as planned – at about 9:30s. I felt great! I was thinking this is so cool I’m going to run a sub 4:30 marathon. Saw other people walking and felt bad for them but that’s ok cause I’m going to run this whole thing. Who knows, maybe I’ll pick up the pace in a few miles? And I kept feeling that way for the first 8 miles and then before fatigue slowly engulfed me and I had to slow down. Luckily I had no joint pain like I had when I ran the NYC marathon and when it just hurt to run. Just fatigue. Finished the first loop and kept the slow pace into halfway of the second loop at about mile 18. Then I was really getting tired. I saw a few people being taken off the course in little golf carts with blankets wrapped around them and thought that it would be a major travesty if that happened to me. So I looked at my watch and figured what pace I’d need to finish in 15 hours and stuck to that. Even though most athletes were off the course by then the support from the locals continued into the night. Every time someone shouted “go Riyad” or “looking good two sixty one [my bib number]!” I managed to pick up my pace just a bit.
About this time I ran into a couple of the tri-lifers who was staying the house with me. We had crossed paths on the bike and ended up running back and forth for the rest of the run. They were great for support, as were a few of their coaches who cheered for me as if I were one of their own.
The sun started to set around mile 20 and by mile 22 it was pitch dark. Street lights illuminated the course and there were giant flood lights at every aid station. We had been told to put reflective tape on our jerseys so we could be seen in the dark. As I was still on pace to break 15 hours and I took it easy and stopped at every aid station to eat whatever I could - coke, cookies, chicken broth, pretzels. Much better than the power bars and Gatorade I didn’t ever want to see again at that point. Then as I power walked up the last monster hill some random guy shouted out “Slow down you’re going to hurt someone.” That was good for a chuckle. Some small girl gave me a glow stick which I wrapped around my wrist. Mile 26 passed back around the same lake where the race had started in what seemed an eternity before. It seemed so serene and calm and peaceful in the night. As I entered the finish chute I heard the announcer shout “From New York City RYE-ADD!“ Aargh! First guy to pronounce my name wrong all day! But that was all forgotten as I saw the finish line and the finishing tape and the clock ticking away under 15 hours. Crossed the finish line in 14 hours 59 minutes and 35 seconds!
Ok I know this isn’t the best picture but I bought it anyway. The finisher video shows that I didn’t look like this for longer than the a second.
Since people are most prone to collapsing right after crossing the finish line there were specially designated volunteers known as “catchers” there to escort each finisher. Some nice high school girl steadied me after I got my medal and finisher shirt and bag and asked me if I needed any food or water or medical assistance or a massage. I felt ok so I declined. Just happy to have finished! I felt much better than the picture tells. Oh my finishing video is available online here:
http://liveupdate.ironmanlive.com/ppv/athlete.php?rid=56&bib=261
It turned out that of the 1977 people who started 93% finished by the midnight cut off. 400 had to visit the medical tent after the race but only 10 were sent to the hospital – all who were out by the next day. The winning time was just under 9 hours with an amazing 3 hour 4 minute marathon split. The pro who was staying with us finished 9th among her division and qualified for Hawaii. All of the tri-lifers save one woman who had a panic attack in the swim finished and even she wasn’t too upset. Registration for next year’s event opened the day after the race and promptly filled in 10 hours without me, so unfortunately, I will not be doing this race next year.
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08.24.05
Posted in Race Experiences at 6:54 am by Russ
Bob’s First Triathlon by Christian (with help from Kristen and Jesse)
In late November of 2004, my housemate Bob decided he wanted to do a triathlon. With no experience in running, biking, or swimming, aside from what he did as a child, he set a high goal and went for it.
Eventually, a few of us stepped up to join him in the West Point Triathlon. The boys of Team Pooch (Bob, Bill, and me, Christian) and an old friend from HS, Adam, were going to compete in our first triathlon in the summer of 2005. As it turned out, Bill missed the deadline for registering, I didn’t learn to swim the distance, and Adam never got on a bike. That left Bob.
Bob was the sole representative in our big endeavor to conquer this triathlon thing. Bob and I headed upstate to his hometown of Central Square, NY last week to help train him. His house is conveniently located right on the banks of a river, so we got to swim a lot. His weakness in the whole thing was the swimming. So, I got into a row boat with a whistle and a stopwatch, as he swam his way up and down stream. We threw in some bike rides and runs, but really focused on making his swimming strong. Against all suggestions and advice, Bob decided early on that he was going to side-stroke his way to victory. So that’s what he practiced, a lot.
Finally, Triathlon weekend came around. Kristen (nycRN), Bob’s friend Jesse, Bob and I, packed into Julie’s car (thanks cricket!) and drove up to West Point yesterday afternoon. We did all the pre-race stuff (packet pickup, pasta dinner) and headed back to our tiny, kinda stinky, motel room. There, FX was playing an appropriate pre-race movie, Triple X, starring Vin Diesel. Bob went to sleep with visions of explosions dancing in his head.
This morning, wake-up time was 5:30am. Bob ate peanut butter and a banana, and we went out to the race location. As he set himself up, Jesse and Kristen admired the view (many young cadets and not-so-young triathletes showing off their builds as they slipped in and out of clothing) while I admired the trees and the lake. Finally, the waves of people got into the water . . . and off went Bob in the third wave.
As he headed out across the lake, I saw what may have been my fate had I decided to participate without the necessary swimming skills. There on the course ropes was a man, clinging, waiting to be rescued by a lifeguard. As Bob passed him I realized that his sidestroke was keeping him even with some of the freestyle swimmers. In fact, Bob kept up with his wave the whole way through and even passed some folks in the earlier waves. As he came out of the water, he smiled.
His transition to the bike took about three minutes and he was off. 16 miles and a lot of crazy hills later, Bob came speeding to his dismount. As he ran to complete his 5k run, he called out, “I’ve got no legs.” “You don’t need legs,” I called back, and off he was. He charged up the first hill as if it was nothing and disappeared around the bend. When he came around in his last mile he looked strong and even managed to reel someone in at the end. Without legs, sweating, and exhausted, Bob crossed the finish line in 1h47m. He quickly went for the snapple and ice pops and plopped himself down on a boulder. Done. Bob was now a triathlete.
The journey was a long one, but the improvement shows. He’s lost over 15 pounds. He has gone from running 11+min/mile to a steady 9:00 pace (or faster), he’s gone from cycling two loops of Central Park in 55 minutes to 40 minutes, and he’s gone from side-stroking a half a mile in 25 minutes to coming in at 19 minutes today!
But, Bob’s incredible journey doesn’t end here. Tired and overheated, he decided to wade in the lake before heading home. As he sat there chatting with Jesse and me, a fish came and bit him. Yes, a fish bit Bob. Who knew that fish liked giving people purple nurples? So, on top of completing his first triathlon, we of Team Bob would like to credit him with discovering a new species of fish, the Nippy Fish.
Congratulations to Bob on his great accomplishments!
Thanks to Jesse and Kristen for being support crew! And, as always, thanks to all the Dogs!
* Pictures will be posted soon, and I’m sure Bob will check in as soon as he wakes up from his three-day nap.
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Posted in Presidents Corner at 3:20 pm by Russ
What a great weekend for The Reservoir Dogs. We had 28 members participate in the Club Championships. That is about half of our total “active” membership. Quite a showing if you ask me.
The men’s team came in eighth place in Divison B. And with that score moved up to 10th in the Overall Standings for 2005. Our women did very well too. They have it a bit harder as there is only one division for the women. They have to compete directly against all of the super huge, super fast teams. Overall, the TRD women are in 16th (out of 44) place in the 2005 standings. And are just a couple of strong showings away from moving up substantially. There are three races left in the year (Grete’s Half, NYC Marathon, and the Joe K 10K), it would be great if we could field two teams for each of these remaining races.
Okay, the real truth is that we don’t really care about all that, do we? The most important thing is that we all had a great time and the picnic was a success. I am sure that we had the best picnic of any of the clubs - even those super fast ones. Thanks to everyone who brought food and drink, especially those who went to the extra effort to make stuff - like the brownies (I had at least three of those). And, of course, another special thanks to those Harriers who brought cake and cookies. They were great.
Now on to other business. As many of you know, we have just purchased a new supply of our TRD red training shirts. We have Large, Medium, Small, XS, and a new size, Women’s Small. The new WS is smaller than the XS that many of you ladie dogs are currently wearing. We have about 40 new shirts at a total cost to the club of $1,000. As a point of reference, we have roughly 50 paid members this year - 50 x $20 = $1,000. So, basically, we need to sell the shirts to replenish the club “bank account”. So, if you are interested in a new TRD shirt, please contact me. Put another way, the more shirts we sell, the better the Holiday Party will be.
Speaking of the Holiday Party. It is time to start thinking about where, what and when. Virginia plans our formal TRD dinners, but the Holiday Party takes some extra planning and I don’t want to burden Va with all the work. Last year Muna did a great job finding a spot for us and we had a great party. I am not sure if she has the time to take the task on this year, but even so, I am sure that she would like some help. If you would like to volunteer to be on the Holiday Party planning team this year, please send a email or PM to me.
Other items of interest. Each year we have a pasta dinner the Friday before the NYC marathon. We have it on Friday so that those members who want to go the the official NYC marathon pasta party or have other plans with family can still do that on Saturday night. I know that the marathon is still a while off, but since we have a number of new members, I wanted to let you all know.
Lastly. I have decided to start rotating “Last Thursdays” from East to West. Odd months will be held on the East Side. (I think Odd and East go together, don’t you?) And even months will find the event held in the West. This week we will meet at PD O’Hurley’s on 72nd and Broadway. Future locations TBD. See you guys there.
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