WEEK OF NOVEMBER 26 - DECEMBER 02, 2002

• CPTC BEST 5 MILE TIMES [12/02/2002]  Today's release is for the 5 mile distance, which is significant because it is the NYRR Club Championships distance.
   
  Did we mention that these historical records will be updated continuously from now on as new results come in?  So it is that Bethany Aquilina has just joined the women's marathon list at 61st place with her 3:17:45 in Philadelphia a week ago.  This is one piece of work that we don't mind at all.  Just let the good times roll ...
    

• CREATING A SEASON [12/02/2002]  As we head towards the end of the year, the last NYRR scoring race will take place on December 15th.  The road race season is basically year-around, with one race per month and that championship competition is indeed a test of endurance about which team shows up every race to compete.  For individuals, this can be grinding to race all year from short to long distances.  Eventually, this becomes worse than a job, where you can at least get some scheduled vacation days.  This link goes to an article by George Wisniewski that appeared in an ancient club flyer.  What he said back then is equally applicable today.    
   
  The 2003 NYRR scoring races are listed on our home page, so you can design your own season around it.  Please note that the new schedule contains an off-season between the last race of 2002 on December 15th and the first race of 2003 on February 22nd.
   

• NOVEMBER WEB ACCESS STATISTICS [12/02/2002]  Every month, we say that it was the best month for us so far.  This November was no different, as we were propelled by the two big events (NYC Marathon and the 30th Anniversary Party), although the last four days of the month (Thanksgiving) always drags us down.  The milestone is that we just exceeded our monthly allotment of 10 gigabytes of bandwidth, this in spite of our precaution to cut down on the size of this journal page (i.e. it used to carry the full month but it is now no more than 10 days).
   

• THE ASHES #3 [12/02/2002]  The third Test took place in Perth, the capital of Western Australia.  England won the toss again and elected to bat.  Quickly, they were all out for 185 runs with the star being the Australian fast pace bowler Brett Lee bouncing 95 mph balls on the fastest pitch in the world with the famous Fremantle Doctor wind behind his back.  In reply, on the same pitch under the same conditions, Australia compiled 459 runs, with the tail end of the batting order contributing more than 100 runs.  Facing a massive deficit, England collapsed again in their second innings to 223-8 (note: one player was absent/injured) to lose by an innings and 48 runs all in under 3 days.  In the first test in Brisbane, Australia won by 384 runs.  In the second test in Adelaide, Australia won by 51 runs and an inning.  For this five-match series, the result after the first three matches is: Australia 3, England 0.  Therefore, Australia has retained the Ashes for the eighth time in a row.  The series now move to the two major cities --- Melbourne and Sydney --- where the only suspense is if Australia will sweep the series 5-0 for the second time in history.
   
  Surprisingly, the press has been quite kind.  For example, our hometown newspaper (Sydney Morning Herald) was a model of restraint: "There is no fun to be had in driving staves into a corpse."
    

• GRAND CENTRAL STATION [12/02/2002]  On our Amazon.com affiliate program, the most recent purchase is a copy of By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept by Elizabeth Smart (who is, incidentally, Canadian).  We are glad that there is an old-timer around who knows that extraordinary book (as opposed to the Bridget Jones-type of rubbish that passes for literature these days).  
   
  We tried to search on the web for contemporary discussions of that book, and found the synopsis of an article in  the journal Liberation and Theology titled Extreme Faith in Elizabeth Smart and Luce Irigaray: "This article reflects upon Elizabeth Smart's prose work By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept.  This text is frequently condemned because it places the author's sexual passion in opposition to the tragic events of the Second World War and proclaims that the passion overwhelms the pain; 'love is as strong as death`. It is argued that rather than constructing a romantic retreat from the horrors of war Smart is making a radical response to the conflict. She places the trope of the desiring and fertile female body in powerful opposition to the disembodied ethical and spiritual systems which are implicated in the crises of her times. Furthermore, similar devices are frequently, if unreflectively, used by feminist academics who, following Luce Irigaray, employ the female morphology to oppose the violence of our own times."  
   
  Oh yes, in Psalm 137: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. .. and so it is that we remember a time when we could enjoy reading without having to worry about post-feminist deconstructivist ideology.
   

• DECEMBER PROJECTS [12/01/2002]  Here are our scheduled projects:
   
  - We will complete the CPTC best of times lists. So far, we have published lists for the marathon, 400m, 800m, 1500m, mile, 5K and 4 miles.  We will be publishing the 5 miles, 10K, 10 miles and half marathon distances over the next few days.  These lists were selected on the basis of the depth and completeness of the historical records, which is why we don't have the bests over seven miles or 12K, for example.  After all those lists are published, we will publish the ten most ridiculous questions that people asked us about those lists.
   
  - We know that we did away with the fun awards many years ago because they wasted too much time at the annual party.  Here on the website, we have no qualms about wasting people's time.  So we will be issuing a number of CPTC web awards to some very special people (and it could be you!).
   
  - After the last NYRR scoring race of the year, Alan Ruben will provide you with his annual excellent Excel spreadsheet of our scorers in the different divisions.  And there will be some very proud folks (yes, that will include Jerome O'Shaughnessy!).
   
  - Out of the thousands of photos taken this year, we will chose our ten favorite photos.  So will you make the final cut ... ? 
    
  - We will close out the year with a list of this year's individual road race winners.  The total stands at 37 wins from 19 people right now, so it looks as if we will fall short of last year's all-time high figure of 50 (reached on the last weekend of the year with Josh Feldman winning a 20K in snowy St Louis).
   

• LUCY!  [12/01/2002]  Lucy Osatomwen Abidemi Osayi is two weeks old and doing great in Lagos, Nigeria.
    

• MAC SEASON OPENER [12/01/2002]  Speaking of the indoor track season, the first meet will be on Friday the thirteenth.  As is common, the MAC program will begin with some odd distances (1500m, 300m, 1000m, 600m) as opposed to the championship distances later in the season.  This is a good meet to gauge your present conditioning and to see how much work you have ahead of you to get to where you want to be.
    

• PARTY PICS [11/30/2002]  At least this Thanksgiving was not a total waste as we found the time to finally finish the processing of the 30th Anniversary party photos.  Our general lack of enthusiasm hitherto was that we knew that the photos did not come out due to the dim lighting.  But what can we do?  Please note as well that the script now has the presentation slides inserted as thumbnails, so you can now re-live (more or less) the multimedia experience of the proceedings.  Yes, we did procure the services of a professional multimedia company to prepare those slides.  No, we didn't pay them a cent.
    

• TIME TRIALS [11/30/2002]  From Neville Modlin: "My name is Neville Modlin and I am the chairman of a runners' organisation called Running for a Purpose, based in South Africa.  As a hobby, I collect time trial results from clubs around the world and would greatly appreciate it if you could e-mail me your club's time trial results, whether on a weekly or monthly basis. I compare runners' times over a certain distance, normally 8km, from clubs around the world.  Results at www.rfap-sa.com."  If your hobby is running time trials, please submit your results to Neville by all means.  (Note: Frank Handelman once said, "I don't race without a number on" but he freely admits that this was his excuse for being beat at team workouts ...")
     

• OUR NEIGHBORS [11/29/2002]  In the latest US-Canadian flap over the inopportune remark by a senior Canadian aide, the New York Times quotes a history professor: "I can't remember a single American president in my lifetime whom educated Canadians didn't think was a bumpkin."  But he continues to add that Canadians "see Americans as friends and believe the norm in our relationship should be good relations."  Whatever ... just as long as they don't shut down the Canada-to-Central Park runners' pipeline ...
   

• A RUNNER, NOT A JOGGER [11/29/2002]  This New York Newsday story is about Terri (née Edelman) Sonenclar, a longtime member of the Central Park Track Club.
   

• FAIRNESS [11/29/2002]  Somewhere on this website there is a list of Central Park Track Club men who have run under 3 hours in marathons.  What is so good about 3 hours?  How is it that you make the list if you run 2:59:59 but not 3:00:00?  The answer is that we have to choose a threshold and that choice is arbitrary.  As it so happens, we chose a nice round number.  In 1992, Mike Batista ran exactly 3:00:00 at the New York City Marathon.  When coach George Wisniewski heard of the time, he raised his hands up and looked up to the heavens, saying "Ah, yes!  There is justice in this world!"  We cannot explain that remark on this website for fear of losing our family-friendly rating.  In any case, Mike is on the list with a 2:33:55 at the 1983 Boston Marathon (and a 2:33:58 at the 1983 New York City Marathon).
   

• RULE CHANGE [11/28/2002]  For the year 2003, the NYRR Club Council open women's scoring will be based upon the top 4 women instead of the top 3 in the past.  In 2004, it be based upon 5 women.  Any rule change will bring about a disequilibrium, as it will be advantageous to some but not to others.  A rule change is seldom done to favor any particular team.  Instead, in this case, this must surely be the tension between competing impulses.  On one hand, having too few scorers per team makes this championship series resemble more like individual competitions than team efforts.  On the other hand, requiring too many scorers per team may mean that some teams cannot even field the minimum number in some races.  The increase in the number of scorers is an indication that the clubs have more depth these days.
   
  A reader asked us to assess the net impact of this rule change on own our women's open team.  This year, under the present system of 3 scorers per team, we are leading after 10 races by 23 points, with one double points race left (30 points to the winner).  For those ten races, Margaret Angell led the team in five and Alayne Adams in four.  Unquestionably, we relied heavily on these two individuals for this year's success.  But when we looked at the totality of all scorers, we have this list of eleven names (with their number of scoring races): Alayne Adams (8), Ali Rosenthal (6), Margaret Angell (5), Lauren Eckhart (4), Stephanie Gould (4), Kate Crowley (2), Sonja Ellmann (1), Stefani Jackenthal (1), Audrey Kingsley (1), Yumi Ogita (1) and Margaret Schotte (1).  Potentially, we can also have our 2001 scorers Stacy Creamer, Shelley Farmer and Shula Sarner back with us next year.  And we have so far not yet felt the desperation to beg Charlotte Cutler to jump into a road race yet.  And somewhere in our regular workouts, there are at least half a dozen women that we can name who will score for us soon enough.  All in all, we believe that the expansion to four scorers will play to our team depth.
   
  For the 2002 races with three scorers, here are the positions of our fourth runner (noting that we did not make any provisions for needing the fourth runner back then):
  Snowflake: 4-12-22-37
  Brooklyn Half: 3-6-8-16
  Skaggs-Walsh 5K: 2-4-11-20
  Women's Half: 4-9-16-25 (note: it should have been 4-5-9-16 but for that missing team code on the application form)
  FRNY Gay & Lesbian Pride Run: 3-4-10-13
  Fred Lebow Cross Country 5K: 1-2-5-16
  Staten Island Half Marathon: 1-6-14-20
  A quick recount shows that in two of these races, we would have moved down one place, but we would not be displaced from the overall leader position.
   
  At this point, we offer our standard lecture about the non-importance of winning (which is very different from the importance of not winning).  The heart-and-soul of this team --- Alayne Adams and Margaret Angell --- were already here in 2000 and 2001 when we were fourth and third respectively.  But we were every bit as ebullient and carefree then as now.  There are more than 100 teams in the local area in which one and only one team will win that championship each year.  If winning is everything, then this must be a depressing sport for the majority of the participants.  Get real and have some fun, okay?
   
  Speaking of fun and excitement, our greatest thrill this year at the races has been to see someone completely unexpected fly by to score for us just when we were getting nervous about the turnout.  How about more of that next year?
    

• GETTING REAL ABOUT RUNNING [11/27/2002]  Running Times magazine has excerpted a number of stories from Gordon Bakoulis' book.  Somewhere in there, you will find Peter Gambaccini's tale.
   

• CPTC ALL TIME BEST 4 MILERS [11/27/2002]  Today's release is the four mile distance.  This is not a frequently raced distance at the national or international level, but we included it here because of the large number of times recorded in Central Park.  This park is designed easily for the four mile race and the ten mile race.  Very simply, the four mile race is one 'inner loop' taking the 72nd and 102nd Street transverse (note: the actual distance is 4.0439 miles, so you have to start a few meters in front of the finish line), and there is little or no question about 'short' or 'long' courses.  By comparison, too many of us have ran that 3.35 mile '5K' in the park.
   
  So far in our series of all-time bests, we have attempted to note some of the outstanding times achieved by people before or after their tenure in our club.  Four-mile times are hard to come by, but the closest thing are the Corporate Challenge 3.5 Milers.  We know that Frank Handelman won that race in 16:58, and that may be the fastest ever CPTC time.  The fastest non-CPTC time belongs to Frank McConville at 16:03.  The biggest winning margin in the Corporate Challenge belongs to Tom Phillips, who used to win the CEO division by something like 10 minutes --- that is, until they instituted the infamous 'Tom Phillips' rule to restrict the CEO competition to those corporations which meet minimum revenue requirements.
    

• TUESDAY ROAD WORKOUT REPORT [11/27/2002]  It is tough to report on a workout when we were nowhere near.  This morning, we woke up with a sharp pain in the foot.  Since we haven't been running for a while, this is definitely not a overusage injury (ha!).  What comes around comes around, and so we have to take the advice that we gave to Margaret Angell: "Do no running, rest your foot, drink a lot of milk and cry your eyes out!"
   
  We remind you that there is no official workout on Thursday evening.
   

• 2003 NYRR CLUB COUNCIL SCORING RACES [11/27/2002]  You can find the entire lists for men and women on our home page.  Historically, any schedule will be subjected to some amount of whining by someone somewhere sometime.  Obviously, we must list ourselves as among the worst offenders (e.g. complaining about the Club Championships being held in August, making mothers run half marathons on Mother's Day, etc), all the more so because we have built the tallest soapbox equipped with megaphones.  This current schedule is a revamped one after rounds of consultation on the rules and specific races.  And, in spite of what you believe our reputation to be, we will not criticise it and we will just tell you this: "Deal with it!"  There is no such thing as the perfect schedule that will please everyone everywhere all of the time. 
   
  The main points about this schedule are the following:

• Introducing Grand Prix format. 12 races will be designated as points races. Each team chooses to run 10 out of 12 or chooses to elect their 10 top finishes out of the races, up to 12, they run as a team.

• The 12 races will vary in distances. Each team must choose at least 3 races of distances shorter than 10K and 3 races of distances longer than 10K.

• Two double points races. The Club/Team Championships in August and the December points race. TBD as set forth below under "2003 Calendar" (N.B.: It was decided that the Joe Kleinerman 10K will be the December points race).

• The number of runners scoring in women's open division will increase. To four per team in 2003 and five per team in 2004 in the cases of weekly races.

• Official NYRR divisions: Open Men (5 score, 10 at Club/Team Championships, 3 at NYCM), Open Women (2003: 4 score, 5 at Club/Team Championships and NY Mini, 3 at NYCM; 2004 5 score at all Women's events other than 3 at NYCM), Masters Men (3 over 40 score, 5 at Club/Team Championships), Masters Women (3 over 40 score), Veterans Men (3 over 50 score), Veterans Women (3 over 50 score). The Men's Schedule referred to below refers to all Men's Team. The Women's Schedule to all Women's Team.

• Men's and Women's Open Divisions will be divided into the "A" and "B" divisions. "A" being the more competitive divisions. Criteria as to eligibility for "A" and "B" divisions to be established prior to the January Club/Team meeting. General idea, "A" division encourages competition among strongest teams. The "B" division is a means of encouraging participation and competition among developing teams. Each year, the winner of the "B" division will graduate to the "A" division for the following year. The team finishing with the least amount of points in the "A" division will have the option to participate in the "B" division the following year.

• Awards. Club/Team awards will no longer be awarded at all NYRR races. The Open winning male and female teams will be listed in results only. Rather awards will only be distributed for those 12 designated points races for Men and Women. Annual awards at NYRR Club Night will be awarded 5 deep in the "A" division and 2 deep in the "B" division.

• Results. Listed in order of finish of each team participating (by Wednesday following the race) broken down by Open Men, Open Women, Masters Men, Masters Women, Veteran Men and Veteran Women.

• NYRR Prize Money races. Majority of prize money races will coincide with designated points races.

• Volunteerism. NYRR strongly encourages each Team/Club participating in the series to volunteer 10 team members or friends or family thereof to assist with the conduct of any one of over 25 races to be designated by NYRR including the 12 designated points races. Many teams already provide invaluable help. We'd like to engage the others.

That last point bears more attention from us.  The club teams are the ones who are the core of the NYRR and who have the most interest in seeing races operate smoothly.  The NYRR race operations depend heavily on volunteers, and it is our obligation to give something back.

• USATF NATIONAL MASTERS XC 5K [11/27/2002]  Jim Aneshansley pointed out we had previously missed the result of new member Jim Sutton, who was second M70-74 in this race.  Jim is also a national indoor/outdoor track champion during the year 2002.  P.S.  We have event photos from Sylvie Kimché.
     

• JFK 50 MILER REPORT [11/27/2002]  CPTC member Bob Schulz ran the 40th annual JFK 50 mile race in Boonsboro, MD last weekend running 8:44:24 and finishing 104 of 862 finishers. It rained the day before so I wore Gore-Tex Montrail Hurricanes but the course had drained pretty well. About the first 3 miles are on a well paved road that climbs up some 510 feet in elevation to meet the Appalachian Trail. The next 13.0 miles follow this rolling and sometimes very rocky section (a woman in front of me tripped big time, fell, did a perfect somersault and popped back up hardly missing a step) of the famous North-South footpath. At approximately 15 miles the course goes down a series of steep "switchbacks" and connects with the C&O Canal towpath. The Canal section of the JFK is 26.2 miles (a chance to set a marathon p.r. after a 16 mile warm-up) of almost totally flat unpaved dirt surface. The JFK route leaves the C&O Canal towpath at Dam #4 and proceeds to follow gently rolling paved roads the last 8.3 miles to the finish. This is a very runnable 50 mile trail race. Lots of first timers, I recommend it for anyone who wants to try an ultra off the roads.  Finishers get a medal with a big JFK profile on it.
   

• CPTC ALL TIME BEST 5000m [11/26/2002]  Today's release covers the 5000m times.  One more time, we remind people that these times were achieved while these people were members of the Central Park Track Club.  Therefore, we do not include Toby Tanser's 13:48, Frank McConville's 13:54.85 listed in the Running Enclave Hall of Fame, or Devon Martin-Sargent's all-time Columbia University best of 17:49 at Van Cortlandt Park.
   

• PETER McARDLE CROSS COUNTRY 15K HISTORY [11/26/2002]  As we wait for the this year's results to be posted, we flash back to ten years ago when this race served as the national masters 15K cross country championship race.  
   
  The Central Park Track Club masters women won this race with this team of five
  Suzanne Rohr, 1:08:35
  Roslyn Schloss, 1:11:15
  Irene Jackson, 1:15:01
  Betty Marolla, 1;15:56
  Jessie-Lea Hayes, 1:16:14
  We were told that Suzanne Rohr was spotted in this year's race.
   
  The Central Park Track Club masters men finished second in the nation with a roster that reads like a Who's Who of CPTC
  Rick Pieschel, 54:59
  Rick Shaver, 56:48
  Dan Gonzalez, 57:40
  Mike Batista, 59:50
  Donald Wisniewski, 1:00:33
  Dan Hamner, 1:00:52
  Sid Howard, 1:00:52
  Alan Turner, 1:01:55
  Phil Vasquez, 1:02:02
  Fritz Mueller, 1:03:06
  Jack Brennan, 1:03:45
  Roland Soong, 1:04:43
  Guenter Erich, 1:06:56
  Bob Laufer, 1:07:47
   
  P.S.  After we published this race, much of the reader interest seems to be directed towards the 12th runner.  That attention is very much misdirected.  Here are the really interesting stories.  First, Rick Pieschel finished third overall in this race, which was won by master legend Al Swenson.  That year, Rick was the dominant local master.  By the way, Rich is Canadian (of course).  Second, who is Donald Wisniewski?  That would be the brother of our coach George Wisniewski and a ringer who was imported into this race.  Third, was there a duel to the death between Dan Hamner and Sid Howard?  Of course, those two will assure you that they are chummies.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 19 - NOVEMBER 25, 2002

• POLAR HEART RATE MONITORS  [11/25/2002] Jonathan Cane (City Coach) offers special CPTC discount rates.  Click on the link to see the discount prices for various products.  He is willing deliver the items to the Armory track every week.
   

• CPTC ALL TIME BEST 1500m [11/24/2002]  Today's release covers the metric mile.  As we noted for the British mile, this list has five Colgate Games female names, including Tracy Hightower and Robin Villa who do not have documented mile times.
    
  These lists were compiled by Alan Ruben (for the marathon) and Stuart Calderwood (for all other distances).  The success of this project is obviously limited by the availability of historical records.  So far several other people have pointed out errors that we have corrected.  In fact, after we are done with publishing the best of times, we should probably publish the list of most anal-retentive, obsessive-compulsive people on the team.  That, of course, is a compliment to them.  In the meantime, they will have to be content with simply being praised with, "Oh, you are good enough to be a copy editor!"  That, of course, is the highest form of compliment.
   

• INDOOR TRACK REMINDER [11/25/2002]  The sprinters/middle-distance runners have already started their indoor workouts at the Armory, and the road runners will follow in December.  If you have not signed up yet, you can still do so.  You must be a fully paid-up member of CPTC, and you should send a check payable to 'The Armory Foundation' along with a passport size photo to Devon Martin-Sargent, 190 Columbus Avenue #3C, New York, NY 10023, of $150 for the late session (8pm) or $250 for the early session (630pm)  ASAP.  Your photo ID may not be ready immediately, so you will have to check when it is available.  If you have any questions please contact Devon Martin-Sargent at 212-474-1764 or dsargent@cravath.com.  
   
  Also, please note that a check AND a photo are required.  Some people have sent it a checks without a photo, and this is just going to hold up the preparation of the photo ID.
   
  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.
    

• LAUNDRY HELP [11/25/2002]  From Charles Allard Jr. :"A question to the members in general. Actually a request (more like an order) from my wife. What does everyone use to get the smells out of running clothes? Washing works some what, but the scent remains. Or so my wife tells me as I think my sweats smell Downy fresh. Is there a special washing liquid or solution anyone has found works? From my experience there are some team members who have never confronted this question. My guess is they strip naked before entering their homes and stash the clothes under a bush. Others, the women mainly, seem to have the problem (if it ever was one and I not saying it is) under control."
   

• NUMBERS GAME PART 2 [11/25/2002]  Another email from the Japanese television program (see item below on 11/21/2002): "When do people run during weekdays, given that they have to work?"
   
  Well, there are three types of working runners (or running workers):
  Type 1:  You wake up at 6am, you go out to run, you come back, shower, eat breakfast and go to work.  This way, you have the whole evening for yourself.
  Type 2:  You are the type who is totally incapable of function in the morning.  You can't even even talk until you have your three cups of strong coffee.  So you get up as late as possible and you set off to work immediately, usually late.  You come back in the evening and you do your run.  One drawback is daylight.  In the summer, it is still bright outside after 8pm.  In the winter, the sun goes down by 5pm and you will have to run in the dark.  But anything is better than getting up in the morning.
  Type 3:  You get up at normal times and you go to work.  In the middle of the day, you go out for a run.  You come back and shower in your gym.
   
  Personally, we are of Type 2.  Since we see very few people running around in the late evening, we assume that most regular runners are Type 1.  More power to them!
   

• CPTC ALL TIME BEST MILE [11/24/2002]  Today's release covers the British mile.  It would be fair to say that that the year 2002 has been a good year for the women, with five of the top ten times.  This is simply a statement of the resurgence of the middle-distance program.  All five were already on the team before 2002, the talent was always visibly present, and it was a matter of providing the program structure for them to shine.  Specifically, in 2002, they had a team goal of the distance medley relays to work together on.  The best news is that all of them are capable of much better performances, and we look forward to all of them improving this year.
   
  Once again, we remind people that to be included here, a time must have been run while the athlete was a member of the Central Park Track Club.  Thus, for the mile, we cannot include Graydon Pihlaja's 3:59, Toby Tanser 4:02, George Wisniewski's 4:02, Tony Ruiz's 4:10 or Devon Martin-Sargent's 4:37.
   
  It should also be pointed out that the mile results are confounded with the 1500m results, which will be published shortly.  The primary venue for the previous generation of women was the Colgate Games 1500m and this is what we will see. Today, we are lucky to have many more 1500m/mile races.
   

• PETER McARDLE CROSS COUNTRY 15K [11/24/2002]  Among the people who raced, Kevin Arlyck and Stuart Calderwood were 2nd and 5th overall.  Kevan Huston and Bill Haskins took it somewhat easy.  Other runners include Michael Rosenthal, Phil Vazquez, Robin Roberts and Suzanne Rohr.  Stacy Creamer, Kieran McShane Calderwood and Frank Morton were cheering.  This was not a ChampionChip race, so the hand-tabulated results may take a few days before posting.
   

• INDOOR TRACK & FIELD SCHEDULE 2002-2003 [11/24/2002]  Yes, we now have the schedule around which you should plan  your calendar (with your coach).
    

• Q&A [11/24/2002]  For our item on the Weekend Riding Program (see below), we published a list of multisport athletes on the Central Park Track Club.
   
  Question: "I had no idea Alan Ruben is a multisport athlete."
  Answer: "In the very last footnote of the Alan Ruben page, there is a report on the Alan Ruben-Gordon Bakoulis team in the Spring Couples Relay, in which Gordon ran while Alan biked.  The result may have been disastrous, but the fact remains that he has raced on a bike once upon a time."
   

• USELESS INFORMATION CENTER [11/24/2002]  Not everybody could attend the 30th Anniversary Party.  John Prather had the excuse that he lives in Phoenix (AZ), and so he sent this message to us: "Congratulations on the well-deserved acclaim from the club.  I love the website for all it encompasses, whether your acerbic restaurant reviews or your nationalistic diatribes.  I learn something new -- and typically useless -- at least once a week.  I laugh often.  And I'm a member of the club because of it, and you.  Thanks."  
   
  This got us curious enough to ask how many 'useless' things were published this week.  So we conducted a quick review and here are the highlights:
   
  - a 1973 University of Pennsylvania jacket is estimated to be worth several hundred dollars today
  - the women's bathroom door at the Armory has no sign
  - Gordon Bakoulis made more money than her husband Alan Ruben at the New York City Marathon
  - a virtual tour of Noel Comess' kitchen
  - a lost earring at the 30th Anniversary Party 
  - someone else knows the password to the website 
  - the combination lock on the information booth in front of the Daniel Webster statue has six digits
  - last year, they served more than 400 cups of beer to the runners in front of the Manayuk movie theater at mile 19 of the Philadelphia Marathon (ooops!  sorry, we were not supposed to tell you that!)
   
  In all cases, the information is useless to most people, but may be extremely useful to a select few under the right circumstances.  So if you live in Phoenix, the door sign at the Armory means nothing; but if you are the guy who just walked through that door to face a dozen screaming women, that is the critical information that you wish you had.
   

• THE ASHES #2 [11/24/2002]  In the second cricket test match held in Adelaide, England went down by an inning and 51 runs.  English captain Nasser Hussain learned from his mistake at the first test match in Brisbane and elected to bat first this time.  On the new pitch, England scored a healthy 342 runs, with 177 coming from Michael Vaughan.  But the problem was that the English bowlers were ineffective against the Australian batsmen.  In their first inning, Australia compiled a mammoth 552-9 with solid performances through the order.  When England came back on to bat, they lost three wickets immediately in the failing light of the evening.  On the next day, they collapsed to 159 all out just before the heavy rains came.  Since the test match was scheduled for one more day, the rains would have to be of biblical proportions for England to get an undeserved draw with rain delays.
   
  The Guardian report: "It may be drought-ridden, but this country feels like a land of milk and honey. The sun has kissed the wonderfully picturesque Adelaide Oval for three days; in the marquees the crab chowder and the Chardonnay have slipped down nicely - so I'm told. The cricket has been a pleasing backdrop for a 'civilised' society at leisure. Yet the Poms can still feel imprisoned here.

  There is no escape. The Australians can rejoice in the excellence of their cricket team as if it mirrors their country. At one moment they crave acknowledgement. 'Let's face it; we're bloody good and you're not.' Admit that - and it's hard not to - and you might be labelled a typically defeatist Pom. Where do you turn?

  There follows the inevitable 'Jeez, I hope you guys can put up a good show in Perth/Melbourne/Sydney. We could do with a good game' and the gloom deepens. From the relative detachment of the press box I feel trapped as another English collapse commences to nobody's amazement. Goodness knows what the players feel."
    

• CPTC ALL TIME BEST 800m [11/23/2002]  Today's release is for the 800m distance.  Once again, we remind you that these are CPTC times, and not necessarily their lifetime bests.  For example, Graydon Pihlaja is listed with a 1:59.9 here, but that would have been his halfway split when he ran a 3:59 mile at the University of Oregon.  Devon Martin  still holds second-place all-time Columbia University indoor 800m at 2:14.41.  And of course we all know that Kim Mannen was a 2:15 high school half-miler.
   
  Please note these lists are still volatile at the moment, as the corrections pour in.  Here is an example: Yumi Ogita has jumped into 5th place on the NYC Marathon list with a 2:54:34, because we just remembered that she was known as Yumi Tomoda in 1993.
   
  Compared to our previously released lists, the women's 800m list stands out for having most of the entries being dated in the second millennium.  This does not necessarily resolve the issue of intergenerational differences in speed.  The principal obstacle is the absence of detailed records.  For example, at this moment, we are looking at an old undated mimeographed newsletter, which states: "Our Masters women took the title at the Women On The Run 5 Miler in Westfield, NJ --- a race that featured such luminaries as Olympian Julie Isphording -- and was awarded an invitation to the TAC 10K Nationals in Syracuse."  Who was on that team?  What were their times?  We are clueless.  But we firmly believe that this historical project is worthwhile because it bridges some of the past intergenerational gaps and lays down a solid foundation for our future.
   

• CPTC BEST KITCHEN [11/23/2002]  While we are on this binge of publishing the best of CPTC something-or-the-other, we might as well as show the biggest (and best equipped) kitchen among CPTC people.  Noel Comess' kitchen was used for preparing the food for the 30th Anniversary Party.  In this picture, the KP staff of Shelley Farmer, Jim Aneshansley, Sandra Scibelli, Aubin Sullivan and Ross Galitsky sit around to peel potatoes (metaphorically speaking).  In the next picture, Kim Mannen sprinkles pepper.  Considering that the party was for more than 200 people, there were a lot of potatoes to peel and pepper to sprinkle.
   

• CPTC ALL TIME BEST 400m [11/22/2002]  Over the next few weeks, we will be releasing the best CPTC times over various distances.  To get these lists, Stuart Calderwood has had to read through all the printed newsletters as well as read the race results on the website.  This is actually a lot of work for one person, in addition to our comparatively minor work of converting into web format.  So we have decided to distribute the workload over time by publishing one event at a time.  We begin with the quartermile today.  These lists are the sum total of what the available historical records show.  If you know of any errors or omissions, please let us know and we will correct them.  
   
  Again, we emphasize that these are the times that the people ran while they were CPTC members, and they may have gone faster before or since.  For example, Helene Sisti is listed here in 8th place at 1:05:03, when her 400m intermediate hurdles time was 1:04.36 at Brown University.  And Lee Shearer ran 56:77 at the 1995 National Scholastic Outdoor Championships as a Bronxville high school student.  Speaking of high school runners, Boys & Girls High's Brian Denman has a permanent lock on the Armory 440 yd record at 49.0 seconds (March 3, 1978 was the exact day), before proceeding to run 44.7 and qualify for the US Olympics team.
   

• LOST & FOUND DEPARTMENT [11/22/2002]  After the 30th Anniversary Party, the DJ found a white pearl and gold non pierced ear ring.  Please contact Richard Kixmiller if this is yours.
   

• WEEKEND RIDING PROGRAM [11/22/2002]  In addition to the sprinters/middle distance/road runners workouts, we have now added the weekend riding program onto our list of workouts.  These bike rides are organized by Olivier Baillet and Ross Galitsky for everyone, whether they are Central Park Track Club members or not.  Like our other workouts, the details will be distributed by email and also posted on the website beforehand.  These rides should interest multisport athletes (see the list of our people below), as well as injured runners, shy wannabee du/triathletes, and the plain curious.
   
  Within the Central Park Track Club, the following people have been 'flagged' as multisport athletes:  Peter Allen, Margaret Angell, Bola Awofeso, Olivier Baillet, Alan Bautista, Ramon Bermo, Nicole Billman, Jay Borok, Stuart Calderwood, Jonathan Cane, J.P. Cheuvront, Noel Comess, Stacy Creamer, David d'Adamo, Bill Dunlop, Randy Ehrlich, Lauren Eckhart, Shelley Farmer, Jan Farnung-Krause, Sean Fitzpatrick, Joe Frazetta, Josh Friedman, Anna Fyodorova, Scott Gac, Ross Galitsky, Stephanie Gould, Joe Gravier, Sarah Gross, Otto Hoering, Gordon Holmes, Stefani Jackthenal, Bill Komaroff, Jesse Lansner, Marty Levine, John Megaw, Laura Miller, Kevin Motsch, Zeb Nelessen, Matt Newman, Andreas Nolte, Jerome O'Shaughnessy, Guillermo Rojas, Ali Rosenthal, Alan Ruben, Margaret Schotte, Sandra Scibelli, Abe Sherman, David Smith, Aubin Sullivan, Bob Summers, Toby Tanser, Vincent Trinquesse, Michael Trunkes, Scott Willett.  That makes 54 people.  P.S.  We understand that Craig Chilton is readying to plunge in any minute now ...
   .  That makes 54 people.  P.S.  We understand that Craig Chilton is readying to plunge in any minute now ...
   

• GRAFFITI ARTIST [11/22/2002]  The various projects for the 30th Anniversary party requires collaboration among various people, whereupon it was necessary to pass along certain access privileges in order to facilitate communication of photographs and other materials.  Now we know that it is dangerous to hand over paint spray cans to juveniles because they are likely to use them to deface other people's properties.  So it is that we discover late this night that the very lovely front page cover photo of Ali Rosenthal and Margaret Angell has been replaced in an unspeakable act of vandalism in the middle of the night by a person who said to us, "You can trust me ..."
    

• SELF-EVALUATION [11/22/2002]  We were just asked yesterday about what we thought of the 30th anniversary booklet.  Our response was that we could not give a fair opinion since we are still totally wrapped in the operational and execution aspects of the project.  But we promised to provide a detached and objective evaluation in the future, say, about ten years from now.  To show you what we mean, consider the middle-page story about the website (the headline is www.centralparktc.org) and the first three paragraphs.  We personally began the process by writing the third paragraph, in deliberately matter-of-factedly tone:

Today, the customs, habits and communication means of the Central Park Track Club community have been radically transformed by the Internet.  News is no longer transmitted solely by word-of-mouth or the periodically printed newsletters.  Instead, race results, events, announcements and other reports are available in near real-time mode.  Many news members also found us through this website.

And then we collected a number of quotes from various people about the website in the following.  That was the extent of our personal contribution, and the sole purpose was to document for posterity that the Internet appeared somewhere in the middle of our third decade and caused a socio-economic-cultural revolution.  When we opened up the printed booklet, we found the page led off with a new quote from the inevitable Kevin Arlyck:

"Long before I ever showed up at the Daniel Webster statue at 7:00 on a Thursday night, I had a pretty good idea of what would happen there.  For one, I knew that there was really no need to arrive before 7:15, because Coach Tony would talk for a while.  When I got there I would be greeted enthusiastically by someone named Audrey or Stacy or Ramon.  I was prepared to be thoroughly humiliated by old guys called Alan and Stuart, though with some serious training I might be lucky enough to follow a certain Alayne around the park for an hour.  And I could certainly rest assured any gaffe, misstep or faux pas would be duly recorded for future use by the Club's secretive agent.  Of course, I learned all this, and much more than I ever wanted to, through the website."

That was unexpected, but certainly a nice touch.  Then immediately afterwards an unnamed scribe contributed the opening text:

The website is a study in contradictions.  It is devoted to the sport of running, but is really about life.  It is fundamentally nonexistent, a collection of 1s and 0s, yet it is the most tangible articulation of the Club's identity.  It dutifully provides an (over)abundance of names, dates, and split times, but still expresses the poetic beauty of our collective Orange soul.  It is local and parochial, locked in an unalterable orbit around Central Park, while simultaneously ranging across the globe.  It is acerbic, critical and opinionated; it is also tender, compassionate, and supportive.  Most of all, it is very much the soapbox, brainchild and labor of love of one man, but encompasses the passions, triumphs, and hopes of us all.  We are the website, and it is us.

Dear reader, did you think that we can read this in any normal unemotional way ... ?

• NUMBERS GAME [11/21/2002]  It is the privilege of this club to be associated with Central Park, the most famous metropolitan park in the world (Digression: You ask, What about Hyde Park?  Well, what did you expect from ugly Americans who think that the United Kingdom is in the Middle East?).  This also means that we have to field the occasional question about the park itself.  The following question just came in from Japan: "We are working on a television program about New York City and I want to know what is the number of people jogging in the Central Park."

  Ordinarily, we would have offered the standard response "Sorry, we can't help you because we are runners, not joggers ..."  But in this case, they have absolutely reached the right person to explain to them the near impossibility of coming up with this number because the spatio-temporal dimensions of the required number are ill-defined (note: Ah, you could see that one coming from a mile away, right?).
   
  For the temporal dimension, it is necessary to specified a time period in which the number is applied.  Is this the number of joggers within the confines of Central Park at 11:31:28pm, Thursday, November 21, 2002?  Or is it the average number of joggers averaged over every second of the year 2002?  The above are examples of average measures.  A different approach would be based upon cumulative measures, such as the number of people who jog inside Central Park during a typical day, or the number of joggers during a typical weekend (Saturday and Sunday), or the number of joggers during a whole week, or the number of joggers during a whole year.  The longer the time period, the larger the cumulative number of unique joggers will be.  There is no right or wrong measure, but a clear choice has to be made.
   
  Once you specify the appropriate measure for a suitable time period (e.g. the number of people who jog inside Central Park during a typical weekend), you have to worry about the spatial factors involved in coming up with the count.  You cannot just stand at East 90th Street all weekend and count the number of runners going past, because you will be missing Nathan Klejman doing his 10x(northern hill loop) workout since he will not go pass East 90th Street.  Now you might think that all you have to do is to position, say, 150 different people at strategic points in the park to cover all the paths.  Unfortunately, most of them will see Audrey Kingsley doing her 4x(6 mile loop) long run and give you a count of 400 joggers for that one runner.  
   
  Therefore, this is not an easy number to estimate.  As for the commonly cited figures such as 250,000 or 500,000 total weekend visitors to Central Park, your guess would have been just as good as theirs.  In the end, this is all hyperbole.
    
  Gordon Holmes: "If you just want to know how many joggers use the Park on a given day, a more accurate method than positioning many people at various points around the loops would be to station a person at all entrances / exits only, and count all those going in (you can also count those exiting as a check). This method assumes that (a) no joggers reside permanently in the park; (ii) joggers are recognizable by their attire, and do not enter the Park in Street clothes, only to change into jogging clothes once inside; (iii) joggers use only the proper entrances and exits; (iv) joggers do not exit and re-enter the Park mid-run; and (v) joggers run no more than once a day.  I think all these are acceptable approximations, but I am not a scientist.  I think this method is actually feasible, although it would take a significant number of alert people with nothing better to do to man the gates. I propose [name of group suppressed in the interest of world peace]."
   
  Roland Soong: "As a matter of fact, I had spent several month of my life working on a project that monitored people's movements between rooms inside a home.  My method was simple --- I set up infrared detectors about six inches above ground level.  Such devices can easily be purchased at Radio Shack as burglar alarm system components.  Therefore, we can easily set up infrared detectors at the park entrances.  Unfortunately, the method did not work back then in households with pets!  Similarly, it would not work now here due to the dogwalkers, the cyclists, the bums, etc.  Back then, to validate my method, I also installed video cameras in the same households, using time-lapsed recordings (e.g. one frame every second) that were played back at high speeds.  This means that your standard 6-hour VHS tape can capture several weeks' worth of data.  In this case, it would be a simple matter to install the videocameras and get counts from the tapes.  But at this point, your interest must surely no longer be in the countring methodology as such; rather, you would dearly like to know what my job was back then.  But if I tell you, I'll have to kill you ..."
   

• BEST OF THEIR OTHER TIMES [11/21/2002]  Some of the feedback of the Best of Times lists were: "Why wasn't this done years ago?" and "I had no idea that so-and-so did that!"  Whatever else, these lists have bridged some of the generational gaps amongst us.  
   
  The technical restriction to that listing is that these are the times that were achieved while these people were members of the Central Park Track Club.  It is considered extreme poor taste and judgment to appropriate their times while they were running for other clubs, especially for our direct competitors.  This leaves open the question, "What are the fastest marathon times of any Central Park Track Club member, with or not with us?"  Our current belief is that Toby Tanser has the fastest male time of 2:16:07 in Brazil in 1997 and Diana Nelson-Fitzpatrick has the fastest female time of 2:37:32 at the California  International Marathon in 1993.  In the case of Toby, he had probably never even heard of us when he ran that race.  In the case of Diana, she had already moved out to San Francisco where she competed for the Impala racing team coached by her husband Tim.  Since this casts a much wider net than the times within the club, we don't think that we are in a position to compile a list for everybody. 
   
  Coming up soon will be the list of best CPTC times at other distances.
    

• THURSDAY ROAD WORKOUT REPORT [11/21/2002]  Tonight, the attendance rolled back up to forty-nine people at the start of the workout, as more marathoners such as Glenn Carnes, Alayne Adams, Ali Rosenthal and company came back for their first workout.  There was a hint of a drizzle at the start of the workout.  But anyone who has watched the radar pictures at the weather websites would not be surprised to see the rain turn heavier midway through the workout.  But it was nothing like that Tuesday last week.  At a moment like this, we remember that our sprinters and middle-distance runners would be enjoying the warmth of the Armory Track & Field Facility tonight.  However, they were without coach Brian Denman, who is celebrating his wedding anniversary.  Congratulations, Brian!
   
  Combination lock  In the middle of the pre-workout speech, a man came up and said, "Maybe you guys could start to work out the combination on the lock of the information booth right in front of the Daniel Webster statue?"  Let's see ... this is a 6-digit combination and we have to try from 000000 to 999999.  But since we expect to be around for the next thirty years, we are sure that we will test out all the possible combinations eventually.
   
  Happiness  Given our recent success at attracting so many new members, a frequently heard complaint is, "Who are these people here?  How come I don't know any of them?"  Well, happiness is when we watch the "A" team pass us and we could only recognize three of the six people.  
   
  Twins  It was raining after the workout, so why is it that people prefer to stand in the rain and talk?  In this case, one conversant is pedestrian Stephen Marsalese, who is the recent father of twins.  That is plenty to talk about, rain or no rain.
   
  Message to Paul Bendich:  Your orange jacket is in the safe hands of the Lost & Found Department, otherwise known as Coach Tony Ruiz.  Generally speaking, if people do have to leave stuff around, they should keep them under deep concealment.  Tonight, some stranger was rummaging through the bushes before our coach took over the belongings. 
   
  Party pics update:  There are still around one hundred digital photos to sort through, including the awards.  We are severely handicapped by the quality of those photos, largely due to our fault for not having point out to our camera persons that our cameras actually have working flashlights.  Without those flashlights, many of the photos came out dark and grainy, and we will probably need some major PhotoShop miracles to salvage them.  Meanwhile, at the workout, we were bartering some unpublished and very incriminating photos for undefined favors, and business was brisk.  
    

• BEST OF TIMES UPDATES [11/21/2002]  Strategically, it was wise to release our compilations and ask for input afterwards.  This project would have been dead in the water had we tried to contact people to submit their times.  Instead we have published some inaccuracies that incentivizes them to send in additions and corrections.  This one comes from Erik Schmitz: "I want to give you some more information on a sub-3-hour man from .CPTC.  My father Michael Schmitz is on your list only twice (2:37 Boston and 2:46 New York).

  Here are the other four times.
  - 1978 Boston 2:34:51
  - 1976 New York 2:41:19
  - 1976 Yonkers 2:54:18
  - 1976 Earth Day 2:55:18

  Just want to give my old man the credit that he deserves."
    

• THE TIMES THEY ARE ACHANGIN' [11/21/2002]  
   
  From David Barrett: "I enjoyed your online summary of the CPTC banquet, and it got me to thinking about how the team once had 10 runners averaging under 25:30 for 5 miles.

  A quick review of races this year shows that only a handful of runners on the whole NYRR circuit go under 25:30, and most of these are professional runners (Mwangi, Ondieki, Kabiso, etc.).

  Does New York simply have slower runners than it did 10 years ago, or did CPTC simply have a monopoly on all of the area's talent then? A certain running website frequently runs threads about how amateur runners are slower today than they used to be in the early 80's, but I have yet to see any hard data on this subject. I see Toby suggesting this morning that the courses back then were too short. You could test this hypothesis by seeing what sort of track times used to be run, seeing if they justify the road times. Even aside from this comparison, it would be interesting to see what a representative sample of road race times from the '80s or '70s looks like.

  Keep up the great writing, which is appreciated by us independent runners, too!"
   
  This may be an imponderable subject since there can be no definitive scientific proof as such.  But then that would never stop us from having our say, would it?  We do not believe that it is the case that running talent has diminished.  We do not think that equipment, nutrition or training methods have fallen by the wayside.  So we lean towards the issue of motivation.
   
  Here, we are talking about New York City.  People gravitate towards this city rarely to become great runners, but more often for other reasons (such as professional opportunities, the social scene and the cultural life).  Running is the third priority, after family and profession.  A serious runner would more likely head towards places like Boulder (CO) or Albuquerque (NM).  Thus, one of our top runners (an academic All-American runner) writes on his webpage, "I became a serious long-distance runner, a focus that kept me from having too much fun through much of high school and college ..."  He still runs today, but it is with a different perspective than before.
   
  Our current generation of runners have email addresses from places such as Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Salomon Brothers, Merrill Lynch, CIBC, KPMG Peat Marrick, Cravath, Columbia University and so on.  Although technology is said to have increased worker productivity tremendously in the past several decades, professionals have paradoxically found themselves working even longer hours.  A one-hundred-mile week is not compatible with a one-hundred-hour work week.
    
  Just today, we read these words of Olympic medallist Kim Gallagher in her New York Times obituary: "I needed to run for all the wrong reasons.  I needed to run to keep my shoe contract.  I needed to run to pay my bills.  I learned a huge lesson.  When I ran in the 1984 Olympics, I was going to be a star.  I was going to make so much money, and I did.  But it doesn't last if you're not devoted to what you're doing.  I was not devoted to my running, and it showed.  I don't get a great joy from running or training or going out and doing all the work.  Running is not something I love, but I like excelling at things that I am good at."
   
  Our runners today may have a better perspective of why they run, in the context of all their other priorities.  This is no longer a question of rushing out to do 100-mile weeks because they got excited when they saw Frank Shorter win the 1972 Olympic marathon.  And they may be happier at that.
   
  David Barrett reacted: "I suspect that if there were more rewards to be had from extraordinary distance running (money? fame?), then more New Yorkers would find the time and put in the training. The city's newspaper of record provides no coverage of local running except for the marathon.  With all but a few elite American distance runners earning less than even the lowest paid Manhattan professionals, the motivation to run 25:00 for 5 has to come entirely from within.

  The trend you note -- the increase in working hours -- has to be one of the most pernicious effects of our times.  Could it be because, unlike factories, professional firms cannot efficiently transfer work to a second or third shift? I have never had a 100 hour week OR a 100 mile week, but I would choose the latter in a second. If only I could sleep the necessary 12 hours a night to recover from it!"
   

• NYC MARATHON AWARDS FOR NYRR MEMBERS [11/20/2002]   The following Central Park Track Club members won prize money after meeting the NYRR membership and race requirements:
   
  Alayne Adams, 3rd place NYRR open woman, US$ 3,000
  Alan Ruben, 1st place NYRR master man, US $500 (added to US$1,000 from spouse Gordon Bakoulis for 5th place NYRR open woman)
  Peter Allen, 3rd place NYRR master man, US $150
  Yumi Ogita, 5th place NYRR master woman, US $150 (promoted to third place prize money when Alayne Adams and Gordon Bakoulis received open money)
   
  Central Park Track Club open men (Alan Ruben, Kevan Huston, Craig Chilton), 2nd place, $500
  Central Park Track Club open women (Alayne Adams, Ali Rosenthal, Audrey Kingsley), 2nd place, $500
   
  Team participation awards, Central Park Track Club (40 runners under 4 hours), $500
   

• THE ARMORY TRACK: DIRECTIONS & RULES [11/20/2002]  Travel directions are given in this Armory page.  By subway, it is the A, #1 or #9 train to 168th Street and then walk one block west.  The Armory also has a rules page, but we will publish it here as well to make sure that you read them.
   

  1. NO GUM, FOOD OR BEVERAGES ALLOWED INSIDE OF TRACK AREA.
  2. NO SPIKES OR PLASTIC BOTTOMS ALLOWED IN PRACTICE.
  3. NO SPITTING ALLOWED ON TRACK FLOOR.
  4. THOSE RUNNING AT 32 SECOND OR SLOWER 200-METER PACE, USE LANE 2. LANE 3 IS FOR PASSING ONLY.
  5. THOSE RUNNING FASTER THAN 32 SECOND 200- METER PACE, USE LANE 4. LANE 5 IS FOR PASSING ONLY.
  6. RUN IN SINGLE FILE IN GROUPS OF 8 OR LESS.
  7. LANE 1 IS NOT TO BE USED IN PRACTICE.
  8. NO COATS, BOOKS OR OTHER GEAR ALLOWED ON MATS
      

• NOAH PERLIS PREVIEWS THE ARMORY [11/20/2002]  
    
  I scouted out the Armory last night in advance of the first session this Thursday and have the following to report. (Yes, there are giants in the land, but we can conquer and dwell with milk and honey).
   
  There are quite a few cosmetic changes and practical considerations to be aware of. The cosmetic changes will be obvious, with new hallway flooring, glass walls to the track floor entrance, elimination of the center staircases, and other items. The most important items to note are as follows.
   
  1. The interior sprint straightaway has change directions, so that the start is where the high jump pit is at the near end of the track as you enter. This is a major change that will get some getting used to, and I had a near collision incident even though there were very few runners there. I saw the change, was told about the change, but then later crossed the infield looking toward the old start. My error caused a sprinter to break stride and just as easily could have caused a collision. There are no cordons to protect the lanes from the outside. Since a major re-orienting is mentally required, I caution everyone to try to avoid, and at least be extra careful if crossing the infield. This will take some getting used to.
   
  2. The Front Runners have changed their group schedule from 6:30 session to the 8 PM session. On Tuesdays this will cause an already over-crowded and dangerous session to be even more so. I cannot see how the Armory staff can control the flow of an expanding Tuesday 8 PM session safely with all the traffic expected, especially with speed intervals. We were relatively lucky last year with only a few minor incidents, but I think extra vigilance is in order, especially with new runners who will be unaware of safety and track etiquette concerns.
   
  3. The LCD Large Screen. There is now a large screen at the far end of the trace in the center which was turned on to show running events and also had for a while the Armory logo spinning above a field of water, as if it were a commercial. I found this distracting and hard to avoid for the novelty of it. I would like to see it not turned on during workouts, as I normally have enough to worry about with oxygen deprivation and lactic acid build-up, and the need to concentrate on what is going on around me. The logo spinning was hypnotic. What will you think when you experience it?
   
  4. The Women's bathroom on the track floor has been redesigned with a modesty wall in front and the water fountains have been moved to the end of the same side of the hallway. It appears there are now two separate entrances and one side is clearly marked as "women" from the outside of their entrance door. I assumed the other side was for men and there is no sign outside the door, but there is a sign on the door that still says women. I am not sure what it is supposed to be, so I would caution all men to continue to use the downstairs bathroom or at least proceed with great caution until it is clarified.
   
  5. My first entrance to the track was to see a regular male runner sprawled out in the middle of the entrance area being sick to his stomach. He refused help and said this was normal for him early in the season. I hope this is not an omen for the season.
   
  6. I ended up the evening counseling 2 runners on how to stretch and massage their cramped calves. Everyone sprinting should be reminded that early in the indoor season there is an adjustment period required to re-train the calves to take the turns when running on your toes. If you run too hard on the curves you will be a candidate for calf cramps, spasms, or strains. I would urge moderation at first, minimizing the use of running on the toes initially, and using the outside lanes as much as possible to minimize the stress of the sharp turns.
   
  Run healthy, run fast, run long and prosper, and let's all look forward to a successful and safe indoor season.
   

• EDWIN FAJARDO [11/20/2002]  The following information is supplied by Jonathan Zuckerman: While jogging in Central Park, Edwin Fajardo collapsed and was sent to the Lenox Hill hospital.  His condition was diagnosed as aneuryism.   He underwent surgery and is now recovering.  Jonathan went to visit Edwin on Wednesday at Lenox Hills Hospital on 77th St.  Edwin is out of intensive care, and is in room 725.  He was alert and in very good spirits.  Other than a little puffiness around the eyes and
  a little hair missing on the side of his head he looks about the same as alway.  Please spread the word about Edwin as he mentioned that he would like visitors.
   

• THE SQUASH RECIPE [11/20/2002]  From Stacy Creamer: "Might you please publish the recipe for the squash at the 30th Anniversary Pary? It was out-of-this-world delicious--enough to make me want to learn how to cook. Might come in handy now that we have Kieran. At least I have a few years to practice before solid food becomes a regular thing."
    
  From Noel Comess:
   
  Ingredients:
  2 lbs pumpkin or butternut or hubbard squash
  olive oil
  2 or 3 large cloves of garlic finely sliced
  ½ cup red wine vinegar
  ½ cup sugar
  carraway seeds
  cinnamon
  cayenne
  lemon juice
  lemon zest
   
  Procedure:
  1>Skin and seed squash.  Cut into 1/3" thick slices.
  2>Brown on both sides until tender, with salt and pepper
  3>Sprinkle cooked slices with garlic, carraway, cayenne + zest
  4>Deglaze pan with vingar, sugar and cook down until the sauce thickens
  5>Pour over squash and serve at room temperature
    

• HISTORICAL PENN RELAYS MOMENT [11/20/2002]  Noah Perlis sent us this once-lost-but-now-found photo:
   
  Photographer: Stuart Calderwood
  Camera Supplied By: Noah Perlis
  Developing and Printing: Noah Perlis/Duane Reade
   
  Meet: 2001 Penn Relays
  Event: W40+ 4x400m relay
  Team: Central Park Track Club (Skipper Clark, Stacy Creamer, Denise Whittaker-Crain, Sue Krogstad-Hill), 4:50:08, 1st place gold medal
   
  
    

• METRO SPORTS NEW YORK KEEPER [11/20/2002]  Jeremy Shweder: Every year around this time, we at MetroSports New York Magazine begin compiling our 2003 event calendar.  We call it the Keeper Issue, and it's a free and complete listing of all the races, clubs, organizations, group rides, health clubs and basically any sport-related activity that we can find. The issue comes out in February, and it lists the events for the entire year.  Compiling all this information isn't easy, and we need your help.  The easiest way to get listed is to go to our website at http://www.metrosportsny.com  and click on the headline that says "Submit Your Event Info for the Keeper Issue."
   

• BEST OF TIMES [11/19/2002]  As part of the historical project for the 30th anniversary, we have constructed a list of best marathon times by Central Park Track Club members.  In time, we hope to cover the other distances as well.  Our data  since 1997 are fairly complete, but the pre-website records are somewhat spotty.  So we are asking for you to provide us with any additions or corrections.
   
  We note that these times were achieved while these people were members of the Central Park Track Club.  Therefore, the illustrious pre-CPTC times of Alayne Adams (2:48:56, Boston 1996), Sally Strauss (2:46:12, Stockholm 1983), Frank McConville (2:22:05, New York City 1987) and others are not included.
   

• PHILADELPHIA MARATHON SUPPORT TEAM [11/19/2002]  Jonathan Federman: "For anyone doing the Philly Marathon this Sunday, I will be at the 19 & 21 mile mark with a large group.  If you have any drinks or goo, I will gladly hand them out.  Contact me at jonfed@aol.com.  Also tell any friends looking for a good spot to spectate that we will be in front of the Manayunk movie theater."
   

• TUESDAY NIGHT ROAD WORKOUT REPORT [11/19/2002]  On our way home around 530pm, it was drizzling a bit and we were looking forward to another miserable night.  As it turned out, the drizzle stopped, the clouds cleared, the moon came out, the winds died out and it became a lovely evening to run around the reservoir.  
   
  Forty-one people were at the start of the workout, which went out in reverse order for a change ("A" first and "D" last).  The coach actually did not really want any workouts between the year-end party and Thanksgiving week, but he did note that the people present looked 'hungry', which is always a good sign.  The workout itself was three laps around the reservoir, with essentially a warm-up 1,000m, some 400m's in between and a full mile at the end.  Obviously, if you went out too fast (and those were not the words used by the coach as the actual words would have caused us to lose our family-friendly rating), then that last mile would not be easy.
   
  Kevin Motsch wanted to know whatever happened to that 1973 vintage University of Pennsylvania red jacket that we wore last week because he was sure that it would be worth a few hundred dollars today.  Hmmm ... how about a 1987 Prospect Park Turkey Trot baseball shirt?  Any offers?
   
  Workout schedules
  For Brian Denman's sprinters and Devon Martin-Sargent's middle-distance runners , you will start at the Armory on Thursday (11/21) at 630pm.  Your photo ID can be picked up at the front desk on your way in.  From then until next April, you will meet at the Armory on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
   
  For Tony Ruiz's long-distance runners, there will be road workouts this Thursday and next Tuesday.   On the Tuesday of December 3rd, you will move into the Armory too for the 800pm session.  You must send a check payable to 'The Armory Foundation' along with a passport size photo to Devon Martin-Sargent, 190 Columbus Avenue #3C, New York, NY 10023, of $150 to be received by November 22nd.  The long distance runners will continue to meet every Thursday inside Central Park by the Daniel Webster statue at 7pm.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 12 - NOVEMBER 18, 2002

• CREDIT REPORT [11/18/2002]  The 30th Anniversary Party took place successfully through the efforts of many fine people.  As directed by a central intelligence named Alan Ruben, these individuals executed specialized tasks and were largely isolated from each other.  As we worked through hell, we can only imagine what others are faring.  In our first photo posting, we identified the marathon posters as having been compiled by Stuart Calderwood.  Being appalled by that error, Stuart quickly sent in a correction.  We publish that note in full, because it also shines some light on our other stars:

I have to deny the credit that you've given me on the website for the marathon lists: Alan did ALL of the research on that project. All I did was proofread them and fix some errors. Could you please make this change on the picture of me hanging a poster?

I did compose the all-time top-ten lists at the shorter distances (at Alan's request), and I thought they looked pretty good at their enlarged 11" x 17" size until I saw the poster-sized marathon lists. Alan had gotten Noel Comess to print them up at his bakery in Queens, where I went myself to make the fixes and then RE-print the posters. This was on Saturday, of course, and you'd have been amazed at Noel's coolness under pressure. As he directed Kim Mannen., Jerome S., and Joseph Kozusko in food preparation (amidst the hubbub of his VAST bakery's operation--200 employees!), he was able to come into his office now and then and supervise me as I tried to learn Excel on the spot. Then Noel drove off with Joe, Kim, and the food in his delivery truck, leaving me to finish up, close his office, and drive his car to the banquet! I begged Jerome to stay with me; I was overwhelmed by the responsibility.

Jerome and I touched up the new versions of the marathon charts: there had been two listings apiece for several people, others missing, etc., and I'd felt obliged to add the tilde to Quinones, the umlaut to Konig, and the accent aigu to Kimche -- talk about diacritical diversity! We ran out to Noel's car in the rain, and then I drove the stick-shift Volkswagen (first clutch-pedal use in a while) over the 59th Street bridge and through downtown Manhattan in a storm.

So, whereas I did spend a lot of time with the lists, I wasn't involved in their compilation, and therefore I also deny responsibility for the truly ghastly omission of Eden Weiss from the sub-three-hour list. (If you had to be sure to include ONE PERSON...)

[Note: For the very few people who don't know the marathon history of Eden Weiss, you don't have to email him at edenran257@aol.com to find out his personal marathon record.]

All of our volunteers have other lives (family and professional) that are more important.  We could have spent the money to sub-contract the entire party to a group of professionals.  But we don't.  We elected to do this party ourselves, with considerable personal time expenditure and psychological stress.  This was our moment to show our teammates how much we cared, and they in turn can see how well we do (even though, as Tom Phillips so poetically pointed out, "there are some who can't run for sh*t!").  We are so glad that this occurs only once a year.

• SEEING STARS [11/18/2002]  A perennial question: "What does the asterisk behind the name in the race results mean?"  This means that the person did not register in the race under CPTC (Central Park Track Club) when they could have.  There are any number of reasons: negligence, lousy handwriting, data entry error, etc.  It can happened to the best of us, as with Sid Howard this past Sunday.  Our newest member George Robertson has received two asterisks in a row.  For the New York City Marathon, his excuse was that he had entered the race far too early, in fact way before he had even heard of us, to put down CPTC.  Fair enough.  For this week's race, his excuse was that he arrived too late and he forgot to put down the team in the rush.  He has promised to always pre-register under CPTC from now on.  It really isn't so hard.  You practice this often until it becomes a habit ... and then you promptly forget it when you get old ...
    

• RAEBAY [11/18/2002]  One of the people we saw at the 30th anniversary party was Rae Baymiller.  For old times' sake, we have brought back the story about when she first began serious running.  How about going from her first track workout with the Central Park Track Club in May 1993 to take silver medals at the USATF Masters National Track & Field Championships at 800m and 1500m in August of the same year!?  Our workouts must do wonders.  This story might seem commonplace at the first reading, but it becomes more significant in light of her latter accomplishments.  As a reminder, she will be at the Urban Athletics store this Saturday (see the news item at the top of the page).
   

• THE ICEMAN RUNNETH [11/18/2002]  The frequent visitor to this website will no doubt recall the extended discussion of the Canadian point of view about the differences between biathlon (snow skis and rifles) and duathlons (run and bike).  We hate to disillusion you, but we have documented evidence that a 'real' duathlon consists of run and bike, but all on snow!  Yes, those Swedes are even more extreme than Canadians ...
   

• NYRR CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS [11/18/2002]  We somehow forgot that this race was chip-scored, so we did not even look for the results until early this morning.  For once, we lost our near-real-time delivery status.  But then we had no expectations for a large turnout on the morning after our big party.  In fact, we had twenty-six runners in this race.  Most significantly, there were 955 finishers on this windy and rainy day.  Alas, this was a 2003 New York City Marathon qualifying race and it goes to show you what people would do to get into that big race (well, if you stayed in bed today, you might have to run the 60K at the end of the month --- pick your poison!).
   

• SPANNING THE GLOBE [11/17/2002]  Your belief that we scan through races results everywhere in the world all the time is seriously mistaken.  In this week's race results, we have two triathlon races by Adam Manewell, one in Guatemala and the other in Cancún.  The truth be told --