The Journal: The Live & Times of the Central Park Track Club

Margaret Schotte, Margaret Angell, Fritz Mueller, Toby Tanser, Sid Howard, Tony Ruiz, Ali Rosenthal, Alayne Adams, Alan Ruben
 The Central Park Track Club's 30th Anniversary Party and Awards Dinner 
Time: Saturday night, November 16th
 Place:  Saint Peter's Church at Citicorp Center (Lexington & 54th Street) 

( Invitations have been sent to all current and many former club members. If you have not received an invitation or are too lazy to look at it you can purchase tickets at $40 each by sending a check payable to Central Park Track Club, c/o Richard Kixmiller, 14 E 96th Street, Apt 14, NY 10128 by Nov 9th. This gala event will combine our annual awards with a celebration of our illustrious and rollicking history. And of course, great food and drink and dancing. Come and party with teammates new and old and experience all that is special about the CPTC.)

WEEK OF OCTOBER 29 - NOVEMBER 4, 2002

  • LOST AND NOT FOUND YET [11/04/02]  Sid Howard: "I left my Hind running suit at the Parlor yesterday. The suit color is black and blue."  Has anyone seen it?
     

  • NEW YORK CITY MARATHON REPORT II [11/04/02]
     
    Trans-Atlantic Audience  Steven Paddock: "The New York City Marathon website crashed when everyone got to 20 miles yesterday, so my marathon viewing was frustrating to say the least. I was tracking Alan, Kevan, Craig, Ali, Audrey, Kate, Alayne and Gordon all the way through on a painfully slow dial-up connection only to have it die on me with about 2 miles to go.  GO SWINDON athletes as well, Matt O'Dowd in with a debut 2.12.20 for 8th."  By the way, Steven will fly in all the way from Swindon to attend our 30th Anniversary Party --- howzat?
     
    Correction  The initial time reported for Kellie Quinones was incorrect.  She was the Queens representative in the Foot Locker Five Borough Challenge, and they were given around a 17 minute head start over the rest of the field.  Her final time was 3:24:59 and not the 3:07 originally published.  The odd thing was that the intermediate splits were correct so that it looked as if she had covered the last 10K in 30 minutes!  Although the final time was not as fast as she wanted, it was still a very exciting race for her. 
     
    Television Star II  John Prather: "During the obligatory Marla Runyan feature on NBC, there was a brief shot (unofficially timed at 0.734 seconds) of Stuart Calderwood running with Marla."
     
    New York Times Quotes  Each year, we scour the newspapers for quotes from our teammates before and after the race.  It is one thing for Runners' World publisher Claudia Malley to be interviewed about running apparel, and it is another thing for George Hirsch to reminisce about that very first five-borough New York City Marathon.  But Kate Crowley topped everyone by having her quote plastered across the top of page F3.
     

     
    Missing people  We had an list of 108 entrants and 72 finishers.  Some of those missing never made it to the starting line (e.g. Margaret Angell with a stress fracture on her foot).  Others made heroic attempts and had to stop (e.g. Jonathan Pillow with a torn calf muscle).  This marathon thing is a fine, sensitive thing whereupon months of preparation can go to waste in a flash.  But there will always be another marathon in another place at another time ...
     
    In looking at the results for the women, we recognized at least two unattached local (and non-Canadian) female runners in the 2 hour fifty-plus minutes range.  We had some prior correspondence with them with regard to their joining our club.  It would have been nice to have them on our team.  But with these things, they are the people who have to decide for themselves.  Still, we wish they could be with us. 
     
    The Big Hit  Historically, this is heaviest visitor traffic day of the year for us.  Within the last 24 hours we have something like 1,100 home page visits and that does not count multiple visits as with Gordon Holmes: "Thanks as always for displaying the photos and results so soon after the marathon. I have been having a very enjoyable and unproductive morning reliving the experience (minus the pain)."
     

  • NEW YORK CITY MARATHON REPORT [11/03/02]  The New York City Marathon is over.  It was a cold, sunny and breezy day.  Suffice to say that it could have been much worse.  There were seventy-two Central Park Track Club finishers in the race.  
     
    Our open men finished second to WSX, thus losing more ground in the fight for second place.  Our open women finished second to WS, but more importantly, we gained three points on MCNY in third place.  With one double-points race left, our women now lead by 24 points and need no worse than a seventh-place in the last race to clinch.  The masters women also put some more points between us and TRR in that fight for third place.
     
    As for the photos, our principal photographer made the classical mistake of leaving the LCD screen on and blew through two batteries before realizing his mistake.  Consequently, there may not be as many photos as we would have liked from our regular staff.  However, everybody and their mothers are taking pictures these days.  So please send your digital or printed photos to us for posting.
     
    ChampionChip Be Praised  We take special note of two people's times ---
    Stefani Jackenthal, 3:00:02 (chip time 2:59:59)
    Paul Sinclair, 3:00:05 (chip time 2:59:58)
     
    Who's keeping score?
    Men's open team: Alan Ruben (UK), Kevan Huston (Canada), Craig Chilton (Canada)
    First woman: Alayne Adams (Canada)
     
    Frequent Travel Mileage
    Highest accumulation goes to Kieran McShane Calderwood, seen in Brooklyn, First Avenue and Central Park
    At the 8-mile mark, we overheard this conversation: "Hey, I see someone in an orange jacket pushing a baby stroller all the way down at the end of the street right in the middle of the road where the runners will be coming through.  Let me guess ... it must be that Stuart Calderwood guy!"
     
    Television star
    Everybody who watched the start on television before coming out to the park told us, "I saw Alan Ruben on television!"
     
    The Preparations
    Kevan Huston: "For this is my first ever marathon, I had a plan about how to prepare myself for the physical aspects of the race.  But I did not realize that it was also such an emotional event."  (note: Kevan ran a strong 2:38:08 for his first marathon)
     

    Wall of Orange cheering squad
      

  • NYC 2012 [11/02/02]  New York City takes another step forward when the US Olympics Committee selected it ahead of San Francisco to bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics.  The US choice will go up against Moscow, Toronto, Budapest, Rome, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid./Seville in Spain, and Berlin.  Of course, one of the major factors has to be ... Vancouver, whose bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics could affect the outcome since it is unlikely that the Winter and Summer Olympics will be given to two North American countries.  The impact on New York City is not quite clear, especially when people start talking about a sports stadium on the west side of Manhattan.  What is known in the proposal is that the Central Park reservoir would have to be cleaned up for the triathlon events, and this is something that should happen anyway.  Minimally, something should be done about that fence that obstructs the view from the people.
      

  • 24 HOUR WEATHER FORECAST [11/02/02]
       

     

  • MORE MODELS OF INSPIRATION [11/02/02]  Yesterday, we showed you pictures of our female legends.  Today, we show you some male legends of the Central Park Track Club.  Just remember this --- you are on the same team as these world-beaters ...


Jack Brennan, Bob Meighan, George Wisniewski, Fritz Mueller, Stu Mittleman and John Kenney

  • OCTOBER WEB ACCESS STATISTICS [11/02/02]  We have just looked at what happened last month.  In very simple terms, things have just taken an explosive jump in October.  Compared to the preceding month (which has 30 days):
     
    -- Number of home page visits went up 10% to 12,593
    -- Number of page views went up 18% to 53,776
    -- Number of hits went up 23% to 384,002
    -- Bandwidth went up 17% to 9.6 gigabytes
     
    For this month, we actually did not have too much going on.  There was a relative dearth of photos (except for the Reach The Beach Relay).  The traffic appears to be quite even across the month.  This Journal page increased by 24% to 4,840 page views, but that accounts for only 10% of the total increase in page views.  We are puzzled by the lack of an obvious explanation.  In any case, we are bracing ourselves of the onslaught of the New York City Marathon, which has historically been the heaviest trafficking day of the year for us.  
     
    Incidentally, our contract with our web hosting service has these parameters: 100 megabytes of storage and 10 gigabytes of bandwidth each month.  Our current status is 560 megabytes (!!!) and 9.6 gigabytes respectively.  Pretty soon, we might be evicted ...
      

  • MODELS OF INSPIRATION  [11/01/02]  Some of our runners in this Sunday's race were not even born yet when Central Park Track Club runners first ran in the New York City Marathon.  The photo below shows some of those in the previous generations, and they were battling champions.  On this Sunday, you will go out and do them proud, and they will be proud of you too! 


Claudia Malley, Jane Kenney, Erica Merrill, Laurie Madson and Candace Strobach

  • NEW YORK CITY MARATHON BEST WISHES [11/01/02]  From Steven Paddock: "Best wishes to all CPTC runners in the NYCM from over the pond.  I am totally jealous that I am not there to experience the amazing atmosphere of the day.  If I can offer one piece of advice to people for the race, it is to not do what I did and go too hard early as it only leads to the humpbacked, limping being that I became inside the park last year.  If this does happen, however, remember to keep your dignity and at least keep a good face on you, as I am still living down the ugly mess I was a year later (from Victor Osayi and Tony Ruiz).  Good luck again, go get them!"
     

  • NEW YORK CITY MARATHON THINGS TO DO [11/01/02]
    We are the Central Park Track Club, our home base is Central Park and our home town is New York City.  This is the New York City Marathon, with the finish inside Central Park.  And if you type 'New York City Marathon' into Google.com, we will be on the first page.  This year, we will have more than 100 runners in the New York City Marathon.  That leaves more than three hundred of you who are not running, and you can all come out to cheer.  The temperature will be cold (in the 30's/40's), so it would be wise to overdress because you can always take off the additional clothing.

    CHEERING LOCATIONS:  There are two strategies.  One is to do what no one else does.  So it is that Stacy Creamer will stand in an isolated section in the Bronx to hand out flat Coke to runners.  The other is to stand together in that eminently visible orange color in a wall of orange.
     
    The traditional group gathering points are:
     
    Brooklyn Academy of Music (8th mile mark).  This is reachable by the 2, 3, 4, 5 and Q trains stopping at Atlantic Avenue.  This is also the point where the men and women merged together in the past.  This year, the thirty elite women will have an earlier start at 1035am.  The projected arrival time at BAM is 11:19 am for these elite woman.  The men will start at 11:10am and the leaders are projected to arrive at BAM at 11:50am.  The 7 minute milers will arrive at 12:06am, the 8 minute miles at 12:14am and the 9 minute milers at 12:22am.  At that point, you can take the 4-5 express train and go back to East 86th Street in Manhattan.
     
    East 88th Street (23.5 mile mark)   
    The race enters Central Park at the East 90th Street entrance.  Our assembly point will be several lampposts further down.  You can get to that spot by taking the entrance at East 85th Street, walk up the steps and go a few lampposts north.  Wear your orange color.  This is the point when the racers make the short turn into the park, they will have a few moments to orient themselves to the fact that they are in our home court and then this wall of orange people will be roaring at them!  
     
    The elite women are projected to reach this point at 12:45pm (which means that the BAM spectators may not have time to get back to see them) and the elite men will get there around 1:05pm.  The 6 minute milers (2:37 marathoners) will arrive around 1:30pm, the 7 minute milers (3:02 marathoners) around 1:55 pm, the 8 minute milers (3:28 marathoners) around 2:20pm and the 9 minute milers (3:54 marathoners) around 2:40pm.  


 2001 Wall of Orange, Central Park, East 88th Street

We have 108 entrants in this race (see the full listing on the journal entry for the date of October 21 further down this page).  Not everyone of them will be wearing orange (e.g. some of them may be running for charity fund-raising teams (e.g. Margaret Angell), and some don't even own any orange gear (Stefani Jackenthal)), so you should keep a sharp eye.  Being in a group means that someone should be able to recognize them.  We will be fielding very strong teams in the men open, men masters, women open and women masters teams.  
 
This New York City Marathon is a NYRR club championship scoring race.  The current standings of our various teams can be found in the journal entry of 10/28 further down this page.  In addition, there is also NYRR member team prize money to be claimed.  We expect to see our lead men to come in around the 2 hour 30 minute mark (or around 1:20pm), with our most likely leaders being Peter Allen, Craig Chilton, Kevan Huston, Isaya Okwiya, Jonathan Pillow, Alan Ruben and Michael Rymer.  Then we may have as many as half a dozen women coming in around 3 hours or faster: Alayne Adams, Margaret Angell, Stefani Jackenthal, Audrey Kingsley, Yumi Ogita and Ali Rosenthal.  Somewhere around the 3:15 mark, we will see Kellie Quinones who, as the Queens representative of the Foot Locker 5 Borough Challenge, may be accompanied by a television crew.  By the way, that television crew has been notified that Kellie's teammates will be waiting at East 88th Street wearing orange colors, so you should prepare a nice little speech for your television interview!  But above all, please remember that we are the hosts and all these runners are visiting our homes.  So let us cheer EVERY runner on, as we are sure Sid Howard will show you how to do it properly.

POST-MARATHON PARTY  There will be a gathering after this year's New York City Marathon to be held at The Parlour, W86th Street between Broadway and West End Avenue from 4pm to 7pm.  All our marathoners, spectators and friends are invited. Drinks and food will be available at a cash bar.  The race results and photos will be posted later that evening (in fact, through the night if we have to).

  • HALLOWEEN [10/31/02]  A reminder to everyone: no workouts tonight!  Years ago, we had a track workout when kids were throwing eggs at the runners.  We don't need this ...
     

  • BEATING KHALID [10/31/02]  To the list of people who have beaten Khalid Khannouchi, we can add Adam Manewell, Isaya Okwiya, Steven Paddock, Zeb Nelessen, Jesse Lansner, Craig Plummer and Patrick Cowden, all of whom 'beat' the world record holder in the North County News 5K.  Running in the middle of the pack may be Khalid's best contribution to popularizing the sport during these races.  But at the BIG races this year (London and Chicago), Khalid was THE MAN.
      

  • POLITICAL SEASON [10/31/02]  Our local spy tells us that Central Park Track Club legend Kenn Lowy has been seen obstructing commuters at the steps to subway stations throughout Brooklyn in his bid to run for the State Assembly under the Green Party banner.  Now, we can ask you a 'trivia question' about why Kenn is such a legend.  That would surely be torture, as most of you would not have a clue.  As it turns out, we have asked that question before in Trivia Quiz #1, Item #9 where the answer was that Kenn Lowy, using the pseudonym Wrinklemuzik, hit number one on the charts in Hamilton, Ontario in 1980 with the song "A Move to the Right."  Kenn was also one of our pioneer triathletes; unfortunately, triathlon also had the ultimate effect of drawing him over to swimming over running in recent years.  
     

  • SPOOFING [10/31/02]  The current class of computer email worms/viruses have the ability to 'spoof' the sender's address.  Some of you may have received email from us with attachments (with file extensions such as .exe, .scr, .pif, .vbs, etc).  Well, if we are going to send you any attachments, then the email's text message will be very clear about the nature of the subject (and it will be about Central Park Track Club business).  If you read subject titles such as 'Get a FREE gift!' or 'New bonus in your cash account', then it cannot conceivably from us.  Do not attempt to open the attachment.  Just delete that message.  This type of caution should apply to all of your incoming email.
      

  • CLUB MEMORIES [10/30/02]  There are a number of different projects that are being worked on by various people for the occasion of our 30th anniversary.  A long-term project that was always on our minds is now coming into the forefront because of the party.  That would be the conversion of the many photos and slides from the pre-Internet days into digital images.  They will make their debut at our party, and they will eventually be posted on the website.  Here is an sample (and how young and bright they look!):
     

    1982 Colgate Games 1500m, with Irene Jackson, Wendy Wisniewski and Yvonne Rosen
     

  • HALLOWEEN NIGHT - NO ROAD WORKOUT [10/29/02]  This Thursday is Halloween night.  As is our custom, we will not hold a road workout on Halloween night, because of potential trouble from trick-or-treatsters.  And please don't go out there for a night run by yourself either.
      

  • CPTC MARATHON BUS: This year, the Central Park Track Club will be chartering a bus to take our NYC Marathon Runners to the staging area in Staten Island. This bus will be free to our members. We will be boarding the bus from 5:45am to 6:15am at the SW corner of 72nd Street and 2nd Avenue (outside the Catholic Church). If you have not already reserved your place on this bus, there are still a few seats available but you MUST contact Margaret Angell at Magsangell@aol.com.
     

  • TUESDAY NIGHT TRACK WORKOUT [10/29/02]  By 530pm, cold rain was coming down in New Jersey, but it took a long time to reach Manhattan.  Since this was the first workout after daylight savings time was lifted, it definitely felt pitch dark on the way over to the track.  And because of the pending rain, it was also quite cold because of the wind and the proximity to the water body of East River.  However, the workout took place without the rain ever coming.  The turnout was light right before the marathon, in which we have over 100 people.  Back for her first workout was Margaret Angell, looking strong and ready.  It is raining now, but it is still five days away from Sunday.  According to Weather.com, it will be partially cloudy on Sunday, low of 33 degrees and high of 39 degrees.  Warm disposable clothing is therefore recommended so you won't freeze before the race starts.
     
    Making her lifetime debut as a timer was Sarah Gross.  In this business, there is only one golden rule --- "If you remember who the first and last persons in your group are, you don't have to remember anyone else.  All you have to do is start calling time out (loudly and clearly) when your first person comes around and you can pause after your last person goes by."
     
    After the workout, we had the  year-end dinner at Two Boots with thirteen people (no, we are not superstitious).  When we got out at 930pm, it was drizzling.  But of course Sid's Super Delivery Van took everybody to wherever they needed to go. 
     
    Trivia Quiz:  The following quiz was issued tonight, to which we obtained no response.  "Kevin Arlyck 'beat' Khalid Khannouchi at the Marine Corps 5K last Sunday.  This was the second American-record marathon record holder that Kevin has beaten this year.  Can you name the other?"  This quiz is a test of how well you know Central Park Track Club.  We knew the answer IMMEDIATELY.  What about you?
     
    Slap in the Face:  Q: "Alan, I hear you are a 2:30 marathon runner ..."  For the record, 2:29:54 is NOT 2:30.
     
    Jerome O'Shaughnessy ran a PR of 32:09 on Sunday, but he added: "It's always nice to get a PR but to overtake Sid Howard twice in a race and then to finish that close behind him was its own reward."
     
    Roger Liberman told us that he ran the Intracoastal Yacht Club/Police Officer Assistance Trust 5K in Sunny Isles, Florida.  As if we couldn't find it ourselves ... ?  Roger said that this was the first time that he got an age-group award.

WEEK OF OCTOBER 22 - OCTOBER 28, 2002

  • A TALE OF TWO NEWSPAPERS IN ONE CITY [10/28/02]  The event is the inaugural 5K race that accompanies the Marine Corps Marathon.  
     
    From the Washington Times: "In the accompanying inaugural 5K race, 16 men outran marathon world record-holder Khalid Khannouchi. He came to town to attend the expo for sponsor Clif Bar, and his wife/coach, Sandra, decided to enter the 5K. He ran for fun while she won in 21:10. "I nailed him at the start," Sandra said jokingly. "But I was looking over my shoulder at the end. I kept saying 'Please don't beat me.'"  We ask, "Who won the men's race?"
     
    From the Washington Post: "For once, Sandra Khannouchi of Ossining, N.Y., has bragging rights in her house. Khannouchi, 40, and the wife of world marathon record holder Khalid Khannouchi, was the top female finisher in the inaugural 5K race. She finished in 21 minutes 10 seconds -- nearly a minute ahead of her husband, who set the world marathon record of 2 hours 5 minutes 38 seconds at the London Marathon in April.  "Who's the world record holder?" Sandra Khannouchi said mockingly to her husband. "I set the course record." The Khannouchis were in town on behalf of one of Khalid's sponsors.  Kevin Arlyck, 30, of Brooklyn, N.Y., won the race in 17:16. Arlyck, who ran the race as something to do while he waited for his friend to finish the marathon, was the victim of mistaken identity near the finish line. As he approached, several spectators shouted, "Go Khalid." "At that point I wasn't going to stop and correct them," he said."  We got the answer: Kevin Arlyck.
     

  • JAMES FINALLY DID IT [10/28/02]  On his last and final opportunity, James finally did it.  From the Not Quite The NYC Marathon 5K results, we read: James Siegel 29:50 and Graeme Reid 32.09.  The barrage of excuses that is bound to come in will not be published here.
      

  • WHAT'S ON THE TUBE (IN CANADA) [10/28/02]  Our very noticeable attention deficit these past two weeks can be laid neatly at the feet of the Canadians.  We are presently drawing together a business proposal for Canada, and we needed to learn very quickly about the Canadian television market.  We don't mean Michael J. Fox, William Shatner or Neve Campbell.  Instead, the best book is something titled The American Trojan Horse : U.S. Television Confronts Canadian Economic and Cultural Nationalism.  Oh, yes, it's known as blaming the victim ...
      

  • RESEARCH GENIUS [10/28/02]  In the emailbox: "How in the world did you locate Jonathan Cane running in the Moakley's Run for Research this past Sunday, when the link goes to Moakley's Run for Rerearch and the finisher is named Jonathan Cana?"  As usual, there was no reply to this kind of email but we do seem to hear someone snickering ...
     

  • NYRR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS STATUS [10/28/02]  The current standings after the Staten Island Half Marathon are:
     
    Open Men: 3rd place, 2 points behind WSX and 44 points ahead of NYH.  For all practical purposes, third-place is sewn up (as long as we have either three finishers (and we have over 70 male entrants) in the New York City Marathon for 1 point or five finishers in the Joe Kleinerman 10K for two points).
    Masters Men:  1st place, 37 points ahead of JSRC.  For all practical purposes, this will be a 4-peat.
    Veteran Men:  14th place.  We are not competitive this year.
     
    Open Women:  1st place, 21 points ahead of MCNY
    Masters Women:  3rd place, 17 points behind GNY and 6 points ahead of TRR.  Can we hold on?  We expect to have a great NYC Marathon team this year.
    Veteran Women:  4th place, 26 points behind GNY.  And the New York City Marathon is not our strength this year.
     
    There are two more scoring races left: the New York City Marathon and the Joe Kleinerman 10K (which is a double points race).
     
    For scoring purposes, there are actually two different competitions in the New York City Marathon.  There is the scoring for the regular NYRR Club Championships, of course, subject to the usual rules.  And then there is the NYRR member division for prize money ($1000 for first place, $500 second, $250 third) in which the scorers must have been NYRR members for at least six months and also completed at least six fully scored NYRR races.  In our case, for example, Stefani Jackenthal can score in the NYRR Club Championships but not for the NYRR Member prize money since she does not have those six races.  This means that making your race decisions on the basis of the supposed number of teammates in front of you can be highly flawed (as it always is any time).
      

  • TIME WARP [10/27/02]  We woke up this morning and found out to our surprise that we gained an hour's time.  Ever since the Brazilians put us to work in the silo, we had no idea that the transition would occur this Saturday.  Now we should have known better, because we know that the New York City Marathon takes place next week (or does it?) and that there was no way that they would schedule on the morning when the clock gets set back (think of the number of people, local and international, who could show up late!).  In any case, this has the immediate effect that you had better pay attention to the workout announcement for Tuesday (either through the Coollist email or on the website that morning), as all previous pronouncements from us are obviously null and void.  Okay, now back to bed ...
     
    Wake-up message from Frank Morton: "For a mathematician, you are not very good at math.  If the NYC marathon were held today, if anything, many people would be 1 hour early, NOT one hour late. Let me explain: 11:10 AM + (-1 hour) = 10:10 AM.  Understand?  PS: How many e-mails did you get regarding this error?"  
      

  • BANDITRY [10/27/02]  This linked Washington Post article gives a deeper economic perspective about why race organizers do not permit people to trade race numbers.
     

  • THE MEMORY [10/26/02]  In the invitation to this year's 30 year anniversary party, there are the team photos of the classes of 1972 and 1992 at the top and bottom respectively.  By chance, we had preserved the 1992 invitational card, which contains this color photo.  The exact year of this photo is unknown, but it is probably later than 1972 since there are many more bodies here than the 14 persons in the 1972 photo.  However, based upon the hairstyle, this photo is closer to 1972 than it is to 2002.  Our best guess is 1982.  Within this photo, we can recognize with ease --- Jack Brennan in a light yellow shirt right in front of the CPTC banner, and Frank Handelman standing next to him.  The man in green kneeling to the left is none other than John Kenney.
     
     
     

  • WHAT TO DO ... [10/25/02]  During the Thursday road workout, Sandra Scibelli was heard to say: "I am so tired because I moved today.  It took all day, but I was able to complete the move because I had Sid Howard as my mover."
     

     

  • WHAT NOT TO DO ... [10/25/02]  This one is actually worse than going into the bushes in Central Park.  Upon information and belief, after the Thursday night workout, two team members were running down East 86th Street towards the river.  When they reached Madison Avenue, the light was against them.  So they took a peek at the oncoming car traffic, perceived a gap and dashed across the street ... straight into the arms of two burly law-abiding policemen who were waiting for the light to change before they would cross the street.  The moral of the lesson is --- when jaywalking, please check for cars AND cops (and don't forget about those bikes!). This has been a public service announcement from your favorite website.
     

  • COMPLAINT DEPARTMENT [10/25/02]  "You must sleeping on the job.  For the NYRR Kurt Steiner XC 5K photo album, you named Frank Schneiger, Armando Oliveira, Bill Dunlop, Irene Jackson-Schon, Sue Pearsall and Robin Roberts.  But you missed Frank Morton in the photo of female runner #4079."  Well, if you are so interested in nitpicking, how about identifying the owner of the left arm and leg of the teammate behind Bill Dunlop?  Let us know if you found out who it was (and without cheating by looking at the race results!).
     
    Complaint Department (again): "Typo again!  It should be 'Let us know if you find out ...'"  Not so fast.  That was a deliberate hint!  Why don't you solve the quiz and then you can ask yourself if the verb was appropriate?
     

  • NEW YORK CITY MARATHON PHOTOGRAPHER WANTED [10/24/02]  Our regular photographer Bola Awofeso will be running this year.  His camera is therefore available to anyone who wants to try this experience.  Being a Central Park Track Club photographer is an easy job --- there is no pressure whatsoever.  If you decide to take photos for us and nothing actually came out for whatever reasons, we'll just shrug our shoulders and say, "No biggie."  But the Sony Mavica digital camera is better at taking race photos than most other digital cameras because it has a 20x zoom lens with which you can focus on someone even if they are on the far side of the road.  Please let us (rolandsoong@centralparktc.org ) know if you are interested.  You will note that we will have multiple photographers out of the course, including people whom we don't even know about yet but who will send in their photos later.
     

  • THURSDAY ROAD WORKOUT [10/24/02]  Ten days before the New York City Marathon and fifty-six people showed up, some of whom are nervous wrecks and others are bemused observers.  Not included in the count are Ross Galitsky on his bike and Fasil Yilma running by on his own.  Fasil Yilma?  Now that is a name from the past, best known for doing only rollerblading for eighteen months due to a running injury and then just showing up to run Boston in 3:06.  How does it do it?  The simple explanation is --- he is Ethiopian!  Need we say more?
     
    Today, Ramon Bermo was formally presented to Adam Manewell: "Ramon, this is Adam.  He is a triathlete."  Ramon said, "There is no need to tell me that he is triathlete.  Our kind can recognize each other."  How so?  Tonight, Adam was perched on his bike ...  It would be more interesting to know how Ramon would react to: "Ramon, this is Adam.  He is Canadian."
     
    This is the pre-marathon workout that is given twice a year, 10 days before the Boston and the New York City Marathons.  The details are: "The first 3 miles should be at marathon effort pace. Head north on the west side and complete the northern hills, head south on the east side where you will receive your 3 mile split at E 102 st. The second 3 starts there and continues south on the east side and goes around the lower loop where you'll receive your 6 mile split at W 71 st. These 3 should be at half marathon effort pace. The final 3 or 10 depending on your mindset(10,10,10:) will continue north on the west side but this time you will go through the W 102 st. cut off and head south on the east side. You will finish the final 3 at E 86 st, around the bend, where the entry to the reservoir meets the road. Remember that if you plan to run 6:30 pace for the marathon you can run 6:40-6:45 pace. This is due to the fact that your effort takes into consideration that you have training shoes and your race face is not in effect. So don't panic if you are not 'hitting' race splits, leave that for THE RACE, when it counts."
     
    For this workout, it may be discouraging if you are obsessed with the micro-seconds on your splits.  This is a simulation of a marathon, but over a much shorter distance.  Normally, you would never do a nine-mile run or race with this script.  As you go through your first six miles, it should be relatively easy.  Heading into the final three miles, you are aware that you need to put in a slightly harder effort.  Yet, in your head, you know that you are not in a race situation.  What happens is that you may let the terrain deceive you into thinking that you are going faster than you actually are.  Imagine going from West 102nd Street through the cutoff to the finishing point --- it is mostly uphill.  At the end of a race, you would have absolutely attacked this mile.  But here you merely put in an effort that feels harder than that in the first six miles.  The final effect is that the split time for the last three miles might seem disappointing.  Not to worry --- this workout has always has that odd outcome.  In some years, the nine-mile workout consisted of a lower five mile loop and a four mile loop (ending at the Bethesda Fountain), and the outcome was still the same because of that long upper westside uphill mile.  And please re-read last two sentences in the workout description.  
     
    Trivia quiz: Who is this?  "This will be my first road workout in several months.  I have to be careful since I am tired of these endless stress fractures.  Plus, I know I would be written up in the workout report if I am seen charging out in front."  Hint:  Seen charging in front of the "C" group during the workout ...
     
    Special award: To the Canadian triathlete who said, "Please note that I am running easy tonight.  But this time, I am just dropping down one (and only one) group, so there is no need to write me up like you did the last time for dropping down two groups."  But that was not the reason that he gets the award of the night.  Instead, the nomination comes from Yves-Marc Courtines, who said, "Tonight's nine mile run is the longest run I've done since the marathon two years ago.  Without David Smith pushing me tonight, I would have just dawdled along."  Special mention goes to Harry Morales, for unknowingly acting as the rabbit for David and Yves-Marc.
     
    Warning: Generally speaking, the idea about a workout is to run with your teammates.  But if in the middle of the workout, the person running next to you makes a sharp turn into the bushes, you are NOT supposed to follow him/her.  We repeat, you are NOT supposed to follow.  Once upon a time, our three Columbia University nursing students received a group award at the annual club awards party for having done exactly that during a workout.  The award was not exactly a trophy and your guess that it was a roll of toilet paper would not be too far off.
     
    Further down this page, we have listed our New York City Marathon entrants.  Some of the known cancellations have been removed already, but that does not mean the 108 remaining people will all be at the starting line the Sunday after next.  Even with the best intentions and the best of plans, one can get sidelined by a stress fracture, or some back spasms, or a broken kneecap, or even just bending over to pick up a box.  Ah, yes, let's find a pub and cry out eyes out ...
       

  • CINDY PUSHES TOBY [10/24/02]  On page 14 of Wednesday's New York Post:
     

      

     

  • CPTC NEEDS YOU [10/24/02]  As part of the plans for our upcoming 30th Anniversary Party (Saturday, November 16th) we are producing a brochure covering our 30 year history. We need someone with computer skills who will be able to take the text of this document (Word file) and produce an attractive booklet. This work would have to be done in the next couple of weeks. If you think you can help, please email Alan Ruben at alan@montran.com or call 212-222-7216 (eve) or 212-519-1372 (day).
       
    Also, we are looking for volunteers to help with the numerous tasks (such as set-up, decorations, clearing up and food preparation) which will be necessary in order to put on a truly special 30th Anniversary Party. If you are willing to help, please email Sarah Gross at SGross@Marakon.com or call 212-683-7026 (eve) or 212-377-5117 (day).
     
  • 350,000 [10/23/02]  We reached 300,000 home page visits for the website on June 25, 2002 and then the next 50,000 occurred on October 23, 2002 in less than 4 months' time.  This projects to an annualized rate of 150,000 home page visits.  Not bad, eh?  Eh?
      
  • NEW PHOTOS ADDED [10/23/02]  
    - One more photo has been added to the Reach The Beach relay with all team members in front of the starting line.
    - One more photo of Kim Mannen at the World Masters Games.  You get to see what the Aussies are charging for $10 per photo print.
    - The Kurt Steiner XC 5K results are not posted yet, but NYRR already has some photos from which we can deduce that our participants include Frank Schneiger, Armando Oliveira, Bill Dunlop, Sue Pearsall and Robin Roberts.
     
  • FINAL TUESDAY TRACK WORKOUT [10/23/02]  Since next Tuesday will be the distance group's final track workout at East River Park, Sid Howard proposes that we have a year-end meal at Two Boots (Avenue A and East 4th Street) after the workout.  Everybody is welcome.
     
  • TUESDAY TRACK WORKOUT REPORT [10/22/02]  Your regular workout reporter was kept in the office until 8pm, so he is clueless about any workout.  The weather seems cool and dry today, but it was really pitch dark by the time he got out of his office.  Next week's workout will the distance group's last outdoor track workout of the year.  Thereafter, the distance group goes into Central Park on the roads during the month of November and then to the Armory from December on.  The following Armory track message is repeated for your benefit:
The road group led by Tony Ruiz will be starting indoor workouts each Tuesday at 8:00pm throughout the winter on December 3rd. The middle-distance group led by Devon Martin-Sargent and the sprinters led by Brian Denman will be starting indoor workouts each Tuesday and Thursday at 6:30pm throughout the winter on November 19th. These workouts will be held at the world-record setting venue of The Armory at 168th Street and Fort Washington Avenue.

In order to participate in these workouts you must be a fully paid-up member of CPTC, and send a check payable to 'The Armory Foundation' along with a passport size photo to Devon Sargent, 190 Columbus Avenue #3C, New York, NY 10023, of $150 to be received by November 22nd for the road group or $250 to be received by November 7th for the middle-distance group and sprinters. If you have any questions please contact Devon Martin-Sargent at 212-474-1764 or dsargent@cravath.com .

The club recognizes that these fees for use of the indoor track may be difficult for some of our members to afford.  Therefore we will be setting up a fund to allow the club to make loans or grants to such members.  If you wish to contribute to this fund, please send checks payable to 'Central Park Track Club' to Alan Ruben, 801 West End Avenue, Apt 5E, NY 10025. If you would like to avail yourselves of such funds please contact Alan Ruben at 212-222-7216 (home), 212-519-1372 (work) or alan@montran.com or Devon Martin-Sargent at 212-474-1764 or dsargent@cravath.com.

Complaint Department:   "Ah, once again, I see that foreigners are in charge of the club; to wit, 'the post-marathon party will be held at The Parlour'."  Yes, indeed, we wonder what the Parlor Moms would say ...

Not only did we miss the workout, but there was really not much else going on today.  But it is a commitment by this website to provide some fresh new content on a daily basis, and so we will link you to a couple of outside stories.

(1)  This story, Athletics: A Pace Odyssey, appeared in the Sunday Herald in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Other than Graeme Reid, it is doubtful that anyone of you visit this website regularly.  But this is an interesting story about Paula Radcliffe at the Chicago Marathon, together with some historical perspectives.

(2)  You know that we complain about not being able to process our large email volume effectively.  Of all the junk mail that come in, easily the most recognizable are the Nigerian 419 scams.  This story, The Nigerian Nightmare, is a light introduction to the industry that is among one of the top five largest ones in Nigeria.  The 419 scams have produced a cultural industry, in which specimens of the letters are being collected (see, for example, www.419fraud.com ).  Where are the semiotic analyses?  (Note:  Any prospective Ph.D. candidate who is inspired by this suggestion owes us an acknowledgement ...)

Frankly, this report is no different from the usual workout report, in that it has everything but the workout itself ...

WEEK OF OCTOBER 15 - OCTOBER 21, 2002

  • WORLD MASTERS GAMES PHOTOS [10/21/02]  Although we would like to say that they contain sex, violence, rock 'n roll and drugs, that is not true.  But we can say that they contain pretty women, pain and gold.
     
    Devon Sargent
      
  • NEW YORK CITY MARATHON WATCH LIST [10/21/02]  According to the entrants' database, we have these runners:

RUNNER #

LAST NAME
FIRST NAME
AGE
CITY
F98 ADAMS ALAYNE  F41 NEW YORK
312 ALLEN PETER M42 MORRISTOWN
34863 ALSIP AMY F28 NEW YORK
F213 ANGELL MARGARET  F26 NEW YORK
4251 AWOFESO ADEBOLA  M41 NEW YORK
1330 BAILLET OLIVIER M31 NEW YORK
667 BERMO RAMON  M35 NEW YORK
11055 BERNTZEN JARL M36 NEW YORK
6043 BOROK JAY M39 NEW YORK
4710 BOYER BLAIR V M43 NEW YORK
5756 CARNES GLEN M35 NEW YORK
403 CHILTON CRAIG  M35 NEW YORK
43351 COHEN SHARONA  F27 BROOKLYN
150 COMESS NOEL M44 NEW YORK
2459 COWDEN PATRICK M45 NEW YORK
F633 CREAMER STACY F43 NEW YORK
F358 CROWLEY KATE F23 NEW YORK
2385 CULPEPPER TYRONNE M39 NEW YORK
F1023 ECHEVERRI ANA F32 NEW YORK
F156 ELMALEH MAUREEN  F40 NEW YORK
17026 ERICH GUENTER  M69 PEQUANNOCK
F220 FARMER SHELLEY F32 NEW YORK
2494 FINE RICHARD M30 NEW YORK
15295 FLANAGAN BRIAN M56 NEW YORK
8629 FRAZETTA JOSEPH M39 NEW YORK
5866 FREEMAN KENT M39 NEW YORK
F766 FYODOROVA ANNA F21 BROOKLYN
1593 GRANADOS RICARDO M44 NEW YORK
4008 GRAVIER JOSEPH M32 NEW YORK
F669 GROSS SARAH F45 NEW YORK
6247 HAGIN GREG M40 NEW YORK
26316 HAIG ROBERT M55 NEW YORK
11535 HARTENFELS HOLGER M41 KOELN
914 HOLLANDER RICHARD M39 NEW YORK
13478 HOLMES* GORDON M33 DUBLIN
10781 HOLMGREN JOSEPH M28 BROOKLYN
5178 HOMSHER PETER  M35 WEEHAWKEN
1206 HOWARD DAVID M30 NEW YORK
387 HUSTON KEVAN M30 NEW YORK
F294 JACKENTHAL STEFANI F36 NEW YORK
5014 JOLY GUILLAUME M34 NEW YORK
37385 JONES DALE M54 NEW YORK
F1709 KAICHER ELIZABETH F27 NEW YORK
1415 KING LARRY M41 NEW YORK
F301 KINGSLEY AUDREY  F33 NEW YORK
F126 KIZAWA ETSUKO F33 NEW YORK
1058 KOMAROFF WILLIAM M36 NEW YORK
10172 KONIG MICHAEL M56 NEW YORK
5043 LANSNER JESSE M26 NEW YORK
14034 LEVINE MARTIN  M42 BRIARCLIFF
16042 LIMA LUIS M43 BROOKLYN
4122 MANGOLD ALEXANDER  M29 NEW YORK
2247 MAYORKAS ANTHONY M33 NEW YORK
5017 MCQUADE JAMES H M33 NEW YORK
F435 MILOSKI DARLENE  F34 NEW YORK
34080 MINIEKA MARY F44 NEW YORK
41078 MITCHELL THOMAS M49 BRICK
2376 MODICA CHELE M30 NEW YORK
10057 MOJICA JR RAUL M48 NEW YORK
1492 MONTERO JESUS M34 NEW YORK
2701 MUNK ANTHONY M42 TORONTO
2915 NEWMAN ADAM  M41 NEW YORK
2449 NICHOLSON ROLAND M53 NEW YORK
3084 O'CONNOR DEREK  M34 NEW YORK
4029 O'SHAUGHNESSY JEROME M48 NEW YORK
F336 OGITA YUMI F41 NEW YORK
1142 OKWIYA ISAYA M32 CHARLESTON
1332 OSAYI VICTOR M45 NEW YORK
494 PENA LUIS M40 NEW YORK
4172 PETERHANSL ALEXANDER M32 NEW YORK
601 PILLOW JONATHAN  M27 NEW YORK
4032 PLUMMER CRAIG M43 NEW YORK
1838 PRICE CHRISTOPHER M24 NEW YORK
F128 QUINONES KELLIE F41 EAST ELMHURST
771 REID GRAEME M41 NEW YORK
1081 ROSEN JAMES M32 NEW YORK
F325 ROSENTHAL ALISON  F26 NEW YORK
9017 ROSENTHAL MICHAEL  M39 NEW YORK
110 RUBEN ALAN S M45 NEW YORK
539 RYMER MICHAEL  M27 NEW YORK
147 SCHAAF WILLIAM M29 NEW YORK
2056 SCHMITZ ERIK M M31 NEW YORK
2733 SCHULZ ROBERT E M45 NEW YORK
F1525 SCIBELLI SANDRA F35 NEW YORK
3062 SHAVER RICK M50 NEW YORK
27273 SHEVLIN KATHARINE F26 NEW YORK
1164 SIEGEL JAMES M37 NEW YORK
2265 SIEGELL MICHAEL M37 WILMINGTON
2689 SINCLAIR PAUL M27 NEW YORK
3207 SMITH PETER  M35 NEW YORK
4212 SOMMERSTEIN PAUL  M33 NEW YORK
10471 STAFFORD CARLOS M57 NEW YORK
1915 STARK CHARLES M46 NEW YORK
919 STREETER GORDON M34 NEW YORK
1075 TAGLIATI MICHELE M42 NEW YORK
34040 TRABER HEATHER F36 NEW YORK
6073 TRILLI FRED M56 BROOKLYN
3541 TRINQUESSE VINCENT M38 MONTCLAIR
896 TUMBARELLO JOSEPH M28 BROOKLYN
29063 VARNISH ELECTA F41 NEW YORK
650 VASQUEZ PHIL M50 NEW YORK
3127 WEILBAKER JON M44 NEW YORK
8711 WEISS BRAD M28 NEW YORK
3917 WINFIELD KEN M31 FOSTER CITY
8049 YAMAZAKI CASEY M40 NEW YORK
25790 ZUCKERMAN JONATHAN M45 SCARSDALE

That makes a grand total of 108.  While not all those listed will actually run, this is still a large number relative to prior years.
 
The race numbers represent the corrals for runners, based upon the predicted finish times.  So our lowest numbered, highest ranked runner is Alayne Adams (F98), whose 2:51 in her last marathon would put her among the top female masters.  Our highest ranked male runner is Alan Ruben (110).

  • POST-NYC MARATHON PARTY [10/21/02]  Continuing our annual tradition, there will be a gathering after this years' New York City Marathon to be held at The Parlour, W86th Street between Broadway and West End Avenue from 4pm to 7pm. All our marathoners, spectators and friends are invited. Drinks and food will be available at a cash bar.