The Friday Top Five

The Top Five Things I've Learned After Falling Off My Bike Going Over 20 M.P.H.

5) You're a Long way up! :  You don't really realize that you are atop a small pony on your saddle. Instead of legs that could carry a grown man down the side of the Grand Canyon, you are praying that your 23 cm tires can withstand that small pebble for a few more seconds on your way down a hill going 40 m.p.h. with nothing between you and your chiclets but five feet of air which you catapult through at a speed that can only be calculated by a high-tech NASA computer that has yet to be invented.

4) Road Rash Sucks: Holy Burning Flesh Batman!  I remember getting road rash as a child, but never to quite the degree that I received from my fall this week. Road rash can only be described as feeling like your skin is on fire for several days. Showering was dreadful all week. In fact—as gross as this sounds—I managed to avoid showering for a couple days following the crash. The first time I did, I thought that I would have rather have been subjected to listening to Lady Gaga for 12 straight hours (minus the apparatus to keep my eyes open like that scene in a Clockwork Orange. That was just weird.)
The good news? I was coaching my son's LL team just hours after the crash. The wifey came up to me and said "... you are so macho" and gave me a little wink. I thought... "hell yes... hell yes, I'm macho." I then cranked some Justin Beiber on my stereo when I got home.


3) Get Back Out There Right Away: When I was playing Little League as a kid (I am now coaching my son's Little League team—that is a WHOLE other post!) I got hit by a pitch right in the ribs. I did not think I could breath for what seemed like hours. My father made me get right back out there the next game and stand in the box. I am glad he did. It took a little bit of time before I felt truly comfortable hitting or catching a line drive hit 60 feet away, but I eventually managed to conquer those fears. I got right back on my bike the very next day and rode... slowly.


4) It's Okay To Be Scared: I have been a tad tentative on my rides this past week. You know... when the wind blows I am thinking, "Oh dear Lord, please don't let me fall off and break something." Nothing really hampers your season like breaking something.

There should be signs like this one warning
unassuming cyclists of unmarked potholes!

5) It Will Happen Again: Look, I am no moron. I do not welcome death. No one does, but we all cheat it. Everyday. I am smart enough to realize that it is not a matter of "if" I am going to take another spill, but "when." The best I can do is minimize the amount of damage I do to my body by making sure that my bike gets regular service (it is a good thing to check those brake lines and pads occasionally), and realize that going 45 m.p.h. down a hill when you have five children is just not necessary. Honestly, 35 m.p.h. is fine. Every once in a while I think about how fast 40 m.p.h. is on a bike and think about falling at THAT speed. That scares the hell out of me. I am still a bit tentative after the big fall, but I am sure that I will lose some of those inhibitions soon enough. I have been a lot more careful about looking well ahead of me for debris and unmarked potholes all week. The blood has almost stopped seeping from my knee.

THE KNEE: I may have finally had a bit of a revelation about my knee. The thing about an injury is that you really have to determine how the pain started developing. Post to follow.

Train Smart!

Hitting The Pavement...Literally!

It does not matter how careful any of us are. If you ride, sooner or later, you are going down. I have been really fortunate that in the five years I have spent riding road bikes, that I only went down twice. Both times were borderline catastrophic. The first time I went down was three years ago. I was getting my road bike out for the first ride of the season. I was psyched. I put on my tights, my new Louis Garneau fall jacket, and my helmet. I then put my shades on and was moving my bike out of our garage with one clip in when I hit my son's Razor scooter and was catapulted to the floor. In my attempt to make sure I did not scratch my brand new Trek Madone, I threw out my arm and dislocated my shoulder. On the way to the hospital in an ambulance, the EMT's asked me to describe my pain on a scale from 1 to 10. I felt like breaking out with my Spinal Tap reference and saying... "but my pain is an eleven." Then I remembered that anytime  I complain about pain, my wife is there to modestly remind me that she birthed five children. So, after a couple of seconds of thought, I literally said to the EMT's "Well, the pain is not as bad as childbirth."

There was a moment of silence. Then, the woman in the ambulance said "Yeah, we're going to go ahead and give you something for the pain."  They probably thought I was delusional. The other really funny thing I remember about that day was when they came to take my pulse inside my house. The woman taking my pulse said, "Wow, your heart rate is really low. Are you a runner?"  I looked at my wife and said "...well, I run, I mean someti...." My wife interrupted "Yes!  He runs... You run! My gosh Mark, how difficult a question is  that?" Ah, wifey!  I can see it now. Me on my deathbed slowly answering questions about if I ate my jell-o that day, to which my wife responds "My goodness, yes!  You had your jell-o you old fool. Remember?  You took your teeth out?"

Yesterday, I bit it hard. Real hard. I am here to tell you that I am lucky that I did not break a single bone, let alone die yesterday. I am not trying to sound overly-dramatic (although I have often been told that I have a real flair for Dynasty-like melodramatic stories.

I really can not say I know how it all went down, except for the fact that I went down. Hard. I was riding down a road that I am really familiar with. I was about five miles from my house. I had ridden on this road more times than I can count. I was on my Kestrel in the aero position and working a nice little steady clip back home... maybe 21, 22 m.p.h. All of a sudden, I was on the road sliding on my body. Within seconds there were a couple of cars pulled up beside me asking me if I were alright.

I sat there for a second and assessed the damage. It is amazing were your brain goes in stress. I looked down and said "Yup, I can move my legs, that's a good sign." All of a sudden I felt severe burns all over my body; my wrists, my knee, my elbow. I sat there in shock for a couple of seconds—maybe a minute. Oh, I completely shattered the glass on my second Garmin 310XT. The ironic part is that my HR monitor has been acting... "funny" and I just contacted Garmin. They are sending me a replacement 310XT. Of course, I will have to notify them that their watch probably withstood more impact than my wrist took. Miraculously, it still works!

I guess all things considered, my spill yesterday could have been much, much worse. I mean, I could have hit my head, or broke some bones. What the hell is going on with my season? First my knee, then this!

AND, I ripped my Trakkers kit. I am almost scared to ask, "Could it get any worse?" Don't answer this semi-rhetorical question.

Seriously, after emerging relatively unscathed by my impact with the pavement, I felt pretty badass, but I am no hurry to meet that fate again.

Friends, be careful out there! What I learned from yesterday is just because you have ridden a route a hundred times, that does not mean you can take a second off from focusing on everything ahead of you.

Be safe out there.

Rev3 Quassay Race Report

Is driving 7 hours through three states to run an Olympic triathlon worth it?

It is if it is Rev3 Quassay.

I met up with my Trakkers teammate Kelly and her husband—whose name is also Kelly— about two hours outside of Quassay for lunch at a diner on the way there. Kelly, er, female Kelly and I both had the pumpkin pancakes.

The race day expo was pretty cool. The Covert's and I decided that we would go out for a ride after heading to the Rev3 store and meeting and saying hi to some of our Trakkers teammates. We went back to the parking lot to prep for a ride. It was there that I realized that I forgot to bring my bike shoes. HOW DO I FORGET TO BRING MY BIKE SHOES??!! The funny part about that—if you can call it funny—is that I have an extra pair of shoes that I normally keep in my trunk, but for some reason, they were not in there.

Exasperated, this father of five ran back to the All3Sports store—wearing jeans on an eighty+ degree day—at the Expo and purchased a new pair of Louis Garneau tri shoes. Only problem was I had to put cleats on these puppies and make sure they were comfortable. I spent a good half an hour at Geneve Bicycle with my homeslice Chad getting my cleats squared away on my shoes. I brought my shoes over to Dave and his crew from Elite Bicycles in Philadelphia—the gang working support for the race.

Race Morning: I use to never be able to sleep before a race. That has all changed. I can sleep pretty comfortably the night before a race. I sometimes wake up a few times during the night for fear that I might sleep through my alarm. I set my alarm for 4:30, and requested an automated wakeup call from the hotel desk. As it turns out, I did not even really need one. It seems that my neighbors on the other side of my head board, through the thin wall of the hotel decided to wake up and have plenty of loud sex at 3:00 a.m. They continued their sex marathon for about an hour and a half. Needless to say, it was very difficult to sleep through the "Oh my God's," and "Yes... yes... yeses.," not to mention the insistent creaking of the bed. You would have thought that they were filming a sequel to Boogie Nights in that room.

I got my gear, went downstairs and enjoyed my race morning breakfast of granola, a handful of gel blocks, and Lemon Lime First Endurance drink. I got a ride in with the Kelly's in the morning. We all seemed pretty relaxed and ready to rock and roll. I think what kept me pretty even keel is the fact that I knew my knee was going to be a nuisance and not allow me to really push it on the run. I was not thinking about running fast, but rather, trying to minimize the pain I knew was coming.


THE SWIM: I got in the water about fifteen minutes before the swim start and swam about half way to the first marker. I felt pretty comfortable. Although, the morning of the race was the first time I tried on my new TYR Hurricane wetsuit. The lake that I usually swim in—Canandaigua—is not even open for swimming until Memorial Day. I felt pretty good the whole swim. It took me a little bit to get in a groove, but by the first buoy, I felt comfortable and relaxed. I felt like I probably could have pushed the swim a bit. The one down side was that my knee was hurting and I could not even manage a small kick. Who needs to kick?  Swim Time: 28:44:616

T1: I had a great spot in transition. Because I downgraded from the HIM to the Olympic, the transition queen ended up giving me a place right at the end of the bike racks in the middle aisle. NICE!  I ended up having a longer transition than I would have wanted—about 2:00. I think I spent too much time trying to get on my socks. I will go sockless the next race. (2:44)

THE BIKE: I absolutely love my bike. Have I mentioned this? I will say this about the Quassay course... it is hilly and challenging. My knee was a little sore from the start, and getting on the bike and pedaling did not help. I tried to put myself somewhere mentally to disconnect from the unpleasantness. I went out pretty conservatively—at least I thought so—which ended up being a mistake. I mean, in an Olympic distance triathlon, you pretty much have to put the pedal on the gas and go all out. I guess in the back of my head I was thinking, ".. hey, if you just don't go out real fast, maybe your knee will feel okay the entire race." FAIL. Bike split: 1:21:32/18.89 mph average.

T2: Yeah, did not even lace up my Avia's with speed laces. That was a mistake. It took me a little longer to tie my shoes, but I got out there. (2:07)

THE RUN: There first mile felt weird. The knee did not immediately hurt, so I was thankful for that, but it felt like I was still running on my bike clips. Transitioning to the run is always a weird feeling. Halfway through the first mile—mostly downhill—the knee started to hurt.... A LOT. My first 2 mile split I was running 7.46 min/miles, then I slowed way down to 9:19's the second half. This brought my run split for the 10k to 8:48. There was an enormous hill to climb at mile three. Between my knee and my run fitness suffering the last month, I could tell that I was not going to have the run I wanted. It was then that I immediately started thinking about cheeseburgers and cold beer.

POST RACE: Rev3 did an awesome job with the post-race goodies. There was a line to grab cheeseburger and hotdogs straight off the grill with all the fixins', macaroni, veggies, ice cream, drinks. I love watching some of these really fit women grab three cheeseburgers and pile up there plate and mow down everything.

My favorite part of the post race was sitting in the Recovery Pump tent. If I did not have to get up to go to the bathroom and had a beer in my hands, I think I would still be sitting in there. The pump was awesome. Here is a picture of teammate Kiersten enjoying some Recovery Pump therapy!

I made it to the pro meeting at 1:30, where Michael Lovato was MCing. The cool thing about Lovato is that he is a pro himself and he asked a lot of really good questions of the pros, as well as some that received more than a few chuckles from the audience. There, I ran into Magali Tisseyre. My boy EJ over at crankskins.com did a cool custom number on her frame. I managed to steal a picture with her. I wanted to steal a picture with Miranda Cafrae as well, but as you can  imagine, when you are the reigning Ironman world champion, there is a long line, and I did not feel like I wanted to to make her pretend that she was my best friend for one more picture. Although, I did not mind doing it with Magali:

Saturday night after the race, I met my Trakkers teammates and their significant others for some good eats at this place called Carlito's. I was so hungry the evening after the race that I ordered a giant antipasti plate AND my own personal pizza!

Here is a picture from our dinner at Carlito's. Chad's son is crashed on the lap of his wife Janet. Long day for the little man.

A BIG congratulations to all my Trakkers teammates for a fantastic race. Kelly ended up getting third in Athena (Woohoo!), and everyone had a terrific race. Looking forward to seeing many of you again at Cedar Point in September.

More soon. Stay tuned.

Quassay Jitters

Well, with Quassay just days away, I think it is officially time to start panicking. Do you ever feel prepared as you need to be?  I am excited to head out to Quassay and get my first race of the season under my belt and meet all of my Trakkers teammates for the very first time. I am disappointed that, despite not running for nearly two weeks now, my knee continues to be a nuisance. So, I have decided to race the Olympic instead of the HIM. I think I could probably go out there and do the HIM, but I am worried about my knee the rest of the season. I still have some pain on the left side of my patella on my right knee. Since beginning training for triathlons four seasons ago, this is my first injury. I now completely empathize with people that have some sort of chronic injury that keeps them from performing at their optimum level. Jitters are good though. At the very least, you put yourself out there and race as a litmus test to how you may expect to perform the rest of the season. I feel pretty confident. The one thing I can say about Coach Mary is that she knew exactly what to throw my way... and at the right time. I have really improved my swimming this off-season. I have to constantly remind myself that four short seasons ago, I could not do a hundred yards straight! If I meet people who are in need of motivation, I tell them that. Then I tell them that in three seasons I did my first Iron distance swim. This usually inspires people, or they look at me and wonder if I have a few screws missing. Clearly, we know the answer to that one.

Look, I am not going to lie and tell you that I am wicked fast in the water. My official "T-time" at the beginning of my training was 1:50/100. I'd say it is about 1:45 right now. Although, I know I can swim 1:35/100 (or faster), because I catch myself doing it on occasion. The trick is how the hell do I maintain my form and not become exhausted 1000 yards in?  Seriously... any help with this would be fantastic. I just wrote in my training log tonight and asked Coach Mary if she could check out my swim here soon. I was suppose to swim for her way back in December, or January, but alas... life happened and I simply could  not commit to a meeting. My hope is to continue to improve my stroke. I am swimming twice a week right now which does not feel like a lot, although when I am doing it, it feels like plenty! I am excited about the prospect of getting into the lake here soon. I usually swim in Canandaigua Lake—one of central New York's beautiful Finger Lakes. We have had an unusually cold and rainy spring this year. There is a triathlon next weekend on Keuka Lake. It is the first regional triathlon of the season. A lot of really great athletes come out and do this race to gauge where they are. I hope—for their sake—that the lake is not freezing. I have it on good counsel that Quassay is well south of central New York and that the swim will be awesome.

It seems like my bike fitness has improved during the offseason. The other thing I did was get on a new ride this season. My new Kestrel, along with my bike fit from Chad down at Geneva Bicycle Center has made an unbelievable difference. In fact, I had no idea just how uncomfortable I was on my last bike until I was completely dialed in on this ride. What a difference. The screenshot on the left is from a Zone 2 ride on Monday. I prefer biking with the wind. Why can't we just do that in triathlon? You know... just bike one way to T2, run to a finish, and take everyone back to the start with a kegerator on the back of a bus. Wait... what a brilliant idea!  "When I'm Race Director....."

Speaking of biking, that is the one thing that has gone completely right the last couple of weeks. I have been really good about getting out there and completing my rides. Last night, I did something that I have never done before. I went out for a little night ride. I put a running light around my waist, and I clipped two flashing red lights—one in front, and one behind me—on my kit before going out. It was a little nerve-racking at first. I quickly learned where to ride in my town that had good street light. I went out around 9:30 to ride for an hour. About a half hour into my ride, I see someone riding towards me with what can only be described as a light as bright as the sun. Okay, excuse the obvious hyperbole, but this light was so bright that I thought it was a motorcycle. All of a sudden, I see someone pass me on a mountain bike. Lo and behold, it's EJ from Team Crankskins.  He was kind enough to ride with me a while providing his "sun-like" radiance for me to motor in for a bit.

I completely tanked two swims last week. I was tired and dehydrated. It is a sad state when you feel like you were swimming better at the beginning of your training than you are five months into it. I think I have a little bit of post-semester funkiness on me right now. You see, after my semester was over and I pulled two evenings of all-nighters to get grades in, I clearly thought that I was ready to start my professional triathlon career full force. I am kidding of course, but I did think I would have a bit more free time. Not the case. Then, a couple of days later, out of the blue, I have a kick ass swim. I have discovered that hydration is still the key to a successful swim.

Alright, Quassay race report to come soon. Train Smart!

The Friday Top Five

Looks like I will be going for the Ragnar double bottle opener come October in Pennsylvania. Two Ragnar races in the same season. I am clearly psychotic, or I have a subconscious desire for self-flaggelation. 

Before leaving for the Ragnar Relay, I was having some minor knee discomfort. Like, I could not run without pain in my right knee. The pain was really localized to an area on the left side of my right patella. Running Ragnar was painful. The first couple of miles were always painful, but then the pain subsided—or my knee just became relatively numb—and I managed to grimace through it. On the way back from Ragnar, I was really concerned that no amount of physical therapy, or beer, were going to be able to remedy the pain in my knee. I could not even lift my leg up off the seat I was sitting on. So, I scheduled an appointment with the orthopedic on Tuesday.

Good news. He took x-rays and said my knee looks really healthy. Apparently the pain is a result of bursitis. Therapy: no running for a bit, ice and Aleve.

Looks like the gang is getting back together to race Ragnar Relay Pennsylvania in October.

Rev 3 Quassay is only weeks away. I am a little concerned about the water temperature being really cold. It has been rainy and  miserable throughout the whole northeast this spring. What gives? Last year, it was unusually warm during the month of May. I am very excited about meeting many of my Trakkers teammates for the first time. Plus, I think my nephews are going to be out there documenting again for me. If you missed the nephews the first time around, you'll want to check them out for sure. My nephew Nicholas is an electrical engineer, and Michael is a marketing guru, but when they are together, they can not pass kindergarten. Ah, brothers!

Real excited to put all my training together in a few weeks on my way towards Rev 3 Cedar Point where I will be racing the iron distance. I believe Coach Mary has me preparing really well and I have felt confident about all my training. I have noticed a pretty substantial difference in my workouts since my semester has ended. For me, training has more of psychological toll than physical. During the semester, my mind is occupied with the laundry list of things I need to get done, and it is sometimes difficult to just compartmentalize my workout. It has definitely gotten easier. I think the solution will always be getting my ass out of bed and training earlier. That way, I can focus on what I need to get done during the day, and not worry about how I am going to fit my workout in during the day. Am I the only one who feels this way?

Okay, onto the Friday Top Five. My five favorite 80's movies:


The Friday Top Five—80's Movies:

5) The Breakfast Club: The 1985 cult classic that immediately resonated with a vast majority of generation xers because of its ability to employ every possible high school stereotype: the jock, the head, athlete, the basket case, the brain, and the princess.  Honestly, I think that everyone who is currently in the late thirties or early forties has had to seen this movie at least once, if not multiple times. The Breakfast Club is a story about five high school students who—represent every possible cliche their is—have to spend a Saturday afternoon at their high school for detention. I will be the first to admit that I had almost an unhealthy hidden love affair with the red-headed angel of all those classic John Hughes films, actress Molly Ringwald, for most of my adolescent years. For years I could watch this film and recite every line almost verbatim. I was so nerdy. Like most adolescents, I was trying desperately to find myself. I would break down my high school persona as such:

40% Anothony Michael Hall's character
40% Emilio Estevez's character
20% John Bender's character

Admittedly, every once in a while I will get on IMDB (Internet Movie Data Base—for those of you living n another galaxy ) to see what Molly and Ally are up to. Why, oh why can I not see more of my two high school girlfriends?


4) Real Geniuses: I have said it before and I'll say it again. Never has there ever been a finer film made about nerdy engineering students developing a high-powered laser that can liquidate human targets from outer space. I have probably seen this film more than any other film on my list. I watch it a couple of times a year and never tire of it. If any of you are looking at ways to blow up a house using a laser and popcorn, you should check out this movie.

3) Sixteen Candles: Another one of my John Hughes favorites. Sixteen Candles is the classic story of Samantha Baker—played by my high school girlfriend Molly Ringwald (unbeknownst to her)—in which her family completely forgets her sixteenth birthday as they are completely consumed by wedding preparations the same weekend for their oldest daughter. It is your classic "nerd likes girl, parents forget birthday, sister gets married and snookered up on muscle relaxers, girl falls for jockey sensitive, wealthy type whose father owns a Rolls Royce who Anthony Michael Hall's  nerdy character—smitten for Ringwald—will use to have sex in with  jock's ex-girlfriend story."  But, there are some twists too. How can this movie possibly miss?

2) Caddyshack: There have been a lot of golf movies: The Legend of Baggar Vance, Tin Cup, Happy Gilmore, but for me, there will never be a better movie ever made about the sport than Caddyshack. I think the comedic timing of this movie makes it so funny. What's more, comedic legends Rodney Dangerfield, Chevy Chase, and Bill Murray star in the same film. I can not play a game of H-O-R-S-E with someone now without yelling "Noonan" as they are trying to sink a shot. Hysterically, my nine year old son—who has never seen the movie—will also yell out "noonan" as I am trying to sink a shot. I've created a monster.

1) This is Spinal Tap: I would seriously give this movie a 9 out of 11. If you do not know what I am talking about, then it is right time you get hip to the greatest rock film ever made. This is SPinal Tap takes a satirical and unbelievably accurate look at the heavy metal rock scene of the late 70's and early 80's. I have enough friends who lived this lifestyle who say that this hits a little too close to home. You know... spandex, completely self-absorbed personalities with unbelievably poor self-awareness. Everything that made heavy metal great.

Honorable Mentions: Back to the Future, E.T., Blues Brothers.  What are YOURS??!!


Okay, more soon. Train Smart!

Ragnar Relay Race Report And Coming Out Witness Protection

Running in my super cool Trakkers kit and wicked fast
Avia Quest Lite. 

Gang!

I'm back!!

Really!!!

I know what you're thinking "...sure we've heard this all before. He builds us up with the anticipation of these stellar blog posts—complete with his self-proclaimed witty humor, and over the top sarcasm—and just toys with our poor emotions as we are left stranded wondering if he is going to end up on the back of a milk carton, or need to be relocated to Sioux City, Iowa for a crime he witnessed at a high-profile Italian eatery."

Nope, neither of those. I have just had the busiest year of my life. I had been commuting an hour to work five, sometimes six days a week all year. Twice a week, I did not get home until after 9 p.m., and there were times that I was enjoying my dinner at midnight! Okay, enough of this 'woe is me' me type rhetoric, now on for the good stuff.

About eight months ago I saw one of those advertisements on Facebook that runs along the sidebar that read something about Ragnar Relay. I never pay attention to adds, or so I thought, but on this particular occasion I decided I would check it out. And so I did. Ragnar Relay is a running race series that has teams of up to twelve members compete in a relay that runs for—in our case—197 beautiful miles of New York state. And so, I thought to myself, "197 miles in a van with eleven other runners who are going to be tired, cranky, stinky, and hungry by the end of the experience.... what could possibly go wrong?" Coincidentally, the phrase "what could possibly go wrong?" became my mantra throughout the Ragnar experience. You see, with five children, I have the attitude that you just have to roll with some things in life otherwise you are going to be confined to a straightjacket wondering where it all went wrong. It was right there while reading the Ragnar message and what the race entailed that I decided that this all seemed completely crazy, and was therefore obligated to try to run this thing with eleven of my soon-to-be closest friends (whether they liked it or not). The first thing I did was post a message on The Facebook to four hundred or so of my closest friends asking who was "in?" What I soon realized is that most well-adjusted people with careers, families, and household projects are not easily eager to commit to something this undeniably stupid, er... insane, er... ambitious?   Needless to say, I got a couple of "hey, that sounds like a really cool thing. How far is it again?" messages. The usual suspects: Adam, Scott, and Manuel were way overextended with some other things to be able to commit to this race in early May. Then, I had a stroke of brilliance (yes, I am sometimes struck with the rare brilliant idea). I will ask my Trakkers teammate, Kelly C. and her husband to take part in this. Kelly did a 50 K earlier during the year.... she's crazy... she's likely to do this. Alas, Kelly at first said "yes" then regretfully had to decline because she had some boring wedding to attend... (just kidding Kelly). The first person who committed to doing the relay was the wifey. We have been looking into doing some unconventional races together for some time. More on that later. The next person who committed to doing with was my friend Sarah. Next was my friend Mike whom I work out with at my YMCA. Next came my friend Ryan, another young cat, who I know from the Y. Actually, I know almost half of the team because of my relationship with the YMCA. Below is a picture of the team complete with their official Ragnar nicknames, designated by team captain (me) based on my Ragnar experience with them.

From l to r: Danny "Talker" Vandonginator VanDongen, Terry "Pinky" Christo, Greg "Chef" Christo, Nicholas "Honey Badger" Grenses, "It's not Ryne, it's Ryan" Ryan "Camel" McClean, Mitch "Instigator" Mitchell, Mike "Squirrel" Texiera, Sharon "Sunshine" Mitchell, Me "Gimpy", Sarah "Stealth" Beyler, and Derek "Franchise" Lockhart

Oh, where is wifey?  Yeah, it's been a bit since the last blog post, eh? Wifey decided that on one spring like afternoon she would get on my son Luca's Ripstick (kind of like a skateboard, but with only two wheels) without helmet or elbow pads. Needless to say, this did not end well. After a trip to the hospital, an MRI to look for a concussion and several stitches to close her grapefruit-sized swollen elbow, it was back to the house. As if it could not get any worse, a few days after removing her stiches, her bursar sack ruptured and fluid flew out of elbow in the manner of bad special effects in a B movie. Sadly, wifey will have to wait for the next one. I was REALLY disappointed. I wanted to share this experience with her.

Here is our ex-Pentacostal church van. I am NOT kidding!

I almost did not think the race was actually going to happen for my team. With less than two weeks left to go before the race, we did not have hotel reservations, transportation, any idea of who was going to run what legs, what to bring, etc. Yup, this is just how I roll. What I soon learned is that everyone was up to their eyeballs with work, and like me, this is a group that does not panic, but merely says "okay... how are we going to make this happen?" In one meeting over a few beers a week before the race, we hashed out everything and I ordered the perfect van from a place called "Clover's Clunkers." The official Ragnar race "bible" suggests that teams of 12 have two passenger vans. Their theory/recommendation/take, is that with two vans, you could have your first six runners run while the other six sleep/rest/play crazy eights, etc. Somehow, I had this sneaking suspicion that a relay race that traverses over 197 miles that will last roughly anywhere from 25-DNF hours is not likely to have a lot of of downtime. The other thing is that, it really does not matter if you try to sleep during the day (at least for me), when it's nighttime and you are use to going to sleep at say, eleven p.m., or midnight, your body wants to crash. I knew that it would not matter that I was well rested. This is just a really drawn out way to basically tell you I was too cheap to go with a second passenger van, but instead ordered one 15-passenger van for the trip. When we sat down for those beers, we (the six members of the team that could make it (Mike, Terry, Greg, Mitch, Nick, and me) projected a fairly realistic pace time of about 9 minute miles. If we did this, we would finish the race in just under 30 hours. Unfortunately, our seed times were all based on some pretty optimistic 10k times. The Ragnar committee gave us a 10:00 a.m. starting time. The only problem was that the finish was only open until 5 o'clock. If we miscalculated and actually ended up running slower, incurred an unexpected injury, or our wonderful $60 a day 15-passenger van decided to suddenly not perform up to expectations (running and breaking on steep hills), we might be facing a poor time, or worse, a DNF, or worse yet, death at the hands of a Ford Ecoliner.

We stayed the night in Liberty, New York, just down the road from the famous sight of the 1969 Woodstock concert. In fact, the start of the relay was actually at the historic concert sight! I thought this sign was hysterical. Nothing is allowed onto the sight that actually made this a great experience in the first place. Okay one to the race...

It would take a manuscript the length of the Harry Potter series (which I finished by the way) to tell you about everyones legs, and all the crazy and amazing things we saw along the way. Let's just say that my team surely rose to the occasion and ran their proverbial asses off with a total time of 25:03:46. Not bad, right? That is a team pace of 7:38 over 197 miles. The amazing thing is I actually think that had circumstances been a bit different, we may actually have run it slightly faster. Unfortunately, I was "nursing," "coping," "bearing as much pain as I could possibly withstand" throughout the race. (More on the knee later).  So, taking one 15-passenger van meant being at the next exchange in time for the runner who was out there. Sometimes it was difficult. There were a couple of legs that were only 1.9 and 2.4 miles long. If you have someone running low 7:00 minute miles, you barely have time to drive to the next exchange, get your next runner out and cheer on the next exchange. We gobbled on stuff throughout the trip: peanut butter pretzels, banana muffins, a huge bag of granola (thanks to the large team of runners that stayed at the hotel with us who left it in conference room at breakfast time). We, uh... borrowed it.... forever. I had a peanut butter sandwich somewhere along the way, and a local fire house put together a spaghetti dinner or turkey wraps for dinner when we arrived at one of the exchanges at 7:30 on Friday. It cost $8.00 dollars. My cousin Danny and I had $12 dollars between us when we got to the exchange and some runner offered to make up the difference of the rest of our meal. Very cool. Whoever you were—thanks!

Our team had two Ragnar magazines that had detailed printouts of every leg of the race with their ratings: Easy/Moderate/Hard/ and Very Hard. Personally, I had one moderate, a hard, and then finished with a very hard run. It was a beautiful trail run. The first two miles were  straight uphill. I almost went the wrong way when I set out to run my last leg. I got to a point in the trail that looked like  a pool of mud and said.. "certainly I am not suppose to run through this." I was incorrect in my thinking. So, I ran back down and started to set off on a different trail when I heard my teammates yell, "No... Mark!  You were going the right way!!" Oops.

The one thing that I would warn people of who are considering running Ragnar New York is that you should be prepared to run hills—a lot of them! It was as if the race director went out and said, "...hey, where are the biggest hills to punish these people?"  Well, if pictures tell a thousand words, I guess I am in luck. I have been absent for a while, and I do not think words can really capture the essence of Ragnar race experience.

Here are some pictures from the race:

I called PETA shortly after taking this pic. 

The legend continues. 

I don't know why, but I just think of Bananrama, parachute pants,
Flashdance, and MC Hammer whenever I look at this picture. 

This is one fast viking!

Don't ask, don't tell. 

This takes guts... or underpants.... 

We would have faired pretty well in this category as well!

.. but well worth it!

Showing off her bootie for the camera, these runners
were rocking the 90's metal scene. 

I love this picture! A well deserved rest. 

This race has inspired me to want to try the Rev 3 Adventure Race Series next year. Okay, I hope I did some justice to this amazing race experience.

More soon!  Train Smart!

Mendon Ponds 15k Race Report And The Friday Top Five

Okay... I know what you're all thinking. Where the hell have I been?!


As some of my teammates still in college know, the end of the semester can be a real pinch. It is also an incredibly busy time for the professors. I mean, I have to think of a bunch of tedious, time-consuming assignments to make my student's lives hell. It's not easy. Trust me. 




I ran the Mendon Ponds 15k yesterday. I was a little concerned about the race. The week before last, I only put in two days of training. I had a pretty decent swim on Monday and then started my bike workout Tuesday evening at 9:00 p.m. Yup, I was riding until 10:30 p.m. Lovely. That was apparently just enough to send my immune system into a tailspin. I did zero running that week. Zero. By Sunday, I felt a little better and put in a nice ten mile run with Coach Mary and a few of her athletes. 


Mendon Ponds is hilly—really hilly. Luckily, I felt pretty decent. I was just so happy to be out there running with the sun shining that I barely noticed that I was putting in a pretty decent effort. I was happy with my 1:16:08 (8:10) pace. A ouple of times during the race I got a little lazy running down one of the big hills after working hard to get up that I allowed my foot to cross over and scrape my opposite ankle. It stung a little, but I really did not think anything of it until I looked down after the race and saw this:

Lovely, eh?

Who knew sneakers at high velocities could become a dangerous weapon?


Last night, I sat up writing this post and attempted to upload my Garmin data. Where are you Garmin data?!  Ugh. I have to call Garmin today and figure out where it went and why my watch suddenly stopped communicating with my computer. Curse you technology!


I know I missed last week. I will try to catch up this week with the Friday Top Five. 


The Friday Top Five: My Five Favorite Books

1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: This was a game changer for me on so many levels. I read this book again while finishing my dissertation and it reaffirmed the fact—for me—that I can argue a ham sandwich if I need to. I think this text should be passed out at birth for everyone to read before their eighteenth birthday. It discusses the classical/romantic divide, and subjectivity and objectivity in aesthetics. I feel so strongly that this is a book that everyone should read, that I have actually purchased copies of this text for friends and colleagues. 


The book resonates for me on a different level as well. About a year before my father passed, I lent him my copy of the book and asked him if he would read it. My father and I never really talked about books, music, or aesthetics. He had very little understanding of my world, and I had even less of his.  I am a composer and musician and my father was a tool maker. For years, we would have conversations about the sole common denominator between us: the New York Yankees. 


My father read the book, and as he was reading it, we had some of the most beautiful conversations that I will cherish for the rest of my life. 




2. Harold and the Purple Crayon: I read this book for the first time when I read it to my son Luca. Children are funny about books. They could read the same ones over and over and not get bored of them. Oddly, I never got tired of reading this book either. The book ends with Harold drawing his sheets over his bed (literally with his purple crayon), and then falling asleep. 


3. Born to Run: Oddly enough, I am a huge fan of the Springsteen album released back in 1975 by the same name. For me, Born to Run was important in in validating the important fact that humans are made to move. The author—Christopher McDougall—goes to great lengths discussing the historical and physiological evidence to prove that human beings are indeed running animals. McDougall somehow manages to write a concise narrative addressing the commodity factor of running shoe sales, anthropological study of the run, and an ongoing narrative about the Tarahumara Indians of the Sierra Madre's in Mexico. 


4. Morton Feldman Says: There have been a lot of important books relating to composers, the craft of composition, the discussion of aesthetics, form and process. I have read a lot of them. None of them were as profoundly important in shaping my philosophy of composition as this collection of interviews and essays with the American iconic composer, Morton Feldman. Perhaps some of his contemporaries—John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez (to name a few) enjoyed more validation as composers in their lifetime, but I find Feldman's philosophy on music to be the most refreshing and post-modern. He freely admitted that there were times when he looked back after finishing a work that he had no idea how he created it. He could not speak about the large-scale form, or the collection of pitches and timbre he used from the instruments. He worked solely by intuition. The important thing I took away from this is that I do not have to always answer how or why I create my art—it just is. 


5. The Little Engine that Could: A classic. There are still times when I am out there on a long run that I remember that book. It is a story told in many longer —and not as well-conceived narratives—about the power of the "human" spirit and the drive to continue in the face of insurmountable odds. 


Training is going pretty well. Coach Mary said that my swim test time improved, although I am hardly buying it. 


Okay, more soon. Train Smart!


"Winners are not those who never fail, but those who never quit."