New York Running Club

Author: Jake

Our new running club had it’s first club points race, last weekend. Our friend Zach Tolbert came out and shot the race for us. It was perfect weather and a lot of fun. Becca was totally on the ball, with getting our jerseys made and delivered before the race.

It was a bit chilly, before the race, but the sun was out, and it was perfect temperature, for running. Our team did very well. Additionally, we had a mystery person sign up as an NYRC affiliate, who beat everyone else on the team, by almost a minute. Jessica (whoever you are) if that is your way of trying out, you passed. Hahaha.

Latest chapter of the Nike+ saga and Bon Voyage

Author: Jake

Yes yes. How many times have I thrown up photos like this one before? Right? As I mentioned earlier this week, my Nike Plus sportband died on me, again. This is the third time it has happened. My cousin Liz suggested that I just abandon the sportband and go with the Garmin. I am almost to that point. I probably would have done just that, if it weren’t for the ever smooth and adept Nike customer service team. That, and the super cool staff at the running store in my building. I called Nike, who quickly trouble shot my watch with me and determined that it was a dud. They suggested that I try returning it where I bought it, before  sending it back to Nike. So I called Urban Athletics, who told me they would trade it straight across, for a new one. So, here we go. Sportband number 4 (pictured above). Treat me right, baby.

Switching gears completely, Reagan and I will be flying out west tomorrow. We have not been to the land of Deseret (yes that is Deseret, not desert), also know as the beehive state, since 2008 for my sister’s wedding. Since that time, one nephew and two nieces have joined the family. We have not met any of them yet. So, we have been anticipating this visit for quite a while.

Reagan and I were having a lot of anxiety about being able to go, because of Piper’s condition. But, it seems like she is on a pretty good plane, at the moment. God willing, things will continue that way, at least until we can return. Additionally, some of our amazing friends have agreed to take care of our car. Our lovely friends, the Alaska/Hofstra missies will be keeping an eye on our pad for us.

We will be taking a notebook computer with us (mostly so Reagan can play the cake building game). But I’m not sure how much posting we will get done over the next week. So, if it tends to be sparse, that is the reason.

First race of 2010 plus friends visiting

Author: Jake

Saturday was the first race of 2010 for me. It was a good one to start out the year with, since the weather was beautiful and it was for a good cause (run for Haiti). It was also pretty cool, because it was the first race that our new team “New York Running Club” was listed correctly on the roster/results.

I tried to charge my Nike+ sportband the night before, only to find that it was malfunctioning, again. The display looked like some sort of alien language. Reagan was kind enough to let me borrow hers, since she was sitting this one out. I will be sending it back on Monday Grrrr. The Central Park Races are normally capped at 5000 runners. But since it was for a charity (I guess), they doubled the cap and let 10,000 participants run. It was crrraaazyy. I wasn’t expecting such a crowd, so I showed up at the 9th hour and barely made it starting grid before the gun. As a result, I was way in the back and had no real chance of making it through the pack enough to get a good time. It was ok, though. My friend Mike ran with me, and we just had a relaxing race, and chatted the whole time. It also made me totally pumped for the upcoming running season and nice weather. Woo hoo!

Our Alaska/Hofstra friends also came to visit us, this weekend. Reagan and I pretty much just tagged a long with them through the village to various thrift stores, before hitting Broadway, in SoHo (pretty much Reagan’s dream day). It was a pretty good time, even for me.

We also saw this guy, playing in Washington Square Park. It is the same dude who drags that busted old piano down to the 4th St. A platform in the Subway on the weekends. Pretty awesome.

If this doesn’t motivate me, nothing will

Author: Jake

I have been so freaking bad at running, lately. I haven’t done any running in almost a month. True, Piper has been sick, and I have been sick. But, even when I didn’t have an excuse, I have been extremely bad at keeping with a routine, for this entire winter. Hopefully that will all change, now. Monday, I registered Reagan and myself for this year’s New York City Marathon, in November. We gained automatic entry through the 9+1 program. I have to admit, that the motivation meter was going up a little, just being on the NYRR site, putting in my info.

In addition to running the NYC Marathon, this year. we have also started a club. When I say “we,” I should say Becca. She did almost all of the work. It should be really good for getting in some group runs. Nothing like a little healthy competition, for a pick-me-up. BTW, if you want to be in the club, and are not already on the email list, hit me up. Since we were able to Recruit Carl, I’m pretty sure that we will have the club points championship pretty much in the bag. But, if you would like to be a part of Carl’s entourage, we are currently still recruiting. As of Monday, our name is now officially showing up on the “affiliations” drop down, on the NYRR registration screen. At least it is, if you are registering for the Marathon .

This may sound totally dumb, but, after having so much fun shooting last year’s race, I’m kind of bummed that I can do it again this year. I’m a nerd, I know.

Go NYRC!

Ramble on

Author: Jake

For the title, I was going to use “this n’ that,” again. But, I already used that earlier this week. “Ramble on” works better anyway, because it kind of invokes the Led Zeppelin song. Here is le scoop:

• Piper wasn’t feeling too hot earlier this week. Apparently she had a minor case of pneumonia. Luckily it wasn’t serious enough for a trip back to the ICU. According to reports from her nurses, she has been doing a lot better, since she started antibiotics. I’m glad that Reagan will be able to hang out with her tomorrow.
• Reagan and I redesigned her Blob, this week. I always love it when I can trick Reagan into collaborating on a nerdy project with me. It almost always goes the same way. She gives me all of the directions, then generally gets bored during the nuts and bolts of doing the actual coding and testing. She gets frustrated, says never mind, and leaves the room. Hahaha.
• It is supposed to snow again in the morning. Apparently it was snowing last year on Jan 8, as well.
• When Reagan’s Parents came to visit, they brought me some new reading material. The book that I chose to start this week is called “The Great Bridge.” It is another one of David McCullough’s compilations of historical facts. This one is about the Brooklyn Bridge and the father/son team who conceived and built it. So far, I’m really enjoying it. BTW, me starting a new book is the only thing that the photo above (shot in a RJ bookstore last Nov.) has to do with anything in this post. That last sentence was a mouthful. It does seem kind of fitting that I happened to photograph the “history” section of the bookstore, though. It’s like I saw the future, and knew that I was going to need a photo of history books. Hahahah. Ok, it’s not really like that at all.
• I plan to do some running in the evening, for the first time since early December. Ughhhhh. I have really just let things slip much too far. But I built a new playlist to get me motivated. In fact it is uploading to de J-pod as I am typing these words. It will also be a nice way to break up the day, since I’m predicting a pretty late night at work.
• Reagan and I are taking a trip to VT for snowboarding, next weekend. It will be nice after having been relegated to the gently sloping icy confines of Mountain Creek all season, last year.
• I may be getting booked to shoot a very exciting (to me) photo gig, coming in Feb. I’m hoping that it pans out.

Busy Weekend

Author: Jake

Reagan and I have been working all year long to gain guaranteed entry to next year’s New York City Marathon. We have been doing the NYRR 9+1 program. We have had all of our races (plus a few extra) finished for quite some time now. But when we got online to sign up to volunteer, everything was booked except for the last two races of the year. Good thing that we didn’t procrastinate any longer than we did.

Reagan and I woke up at 5:30 on Saturday, so that we could be in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, by 7:30. It was a gorgeous day. The temperature was in the low 20’s but it didn’t feel that cold, because we were bathing in sunlight. The photo above is of Reagan dancing to Madonna’s “Holiday,” which was playing through the PA. So, it is official now. We will be running in Nov. 2010. We also had that chance to talk to another volunteer, who was near us, who has run NYC and Chicago for like the last 15 years straight. He said that they are spread almost perfectly apart. We have wanted to run Chi town for a while now. We are debating possibly doing both of them next year.

In Piper news, the date that she is scheduled to move back to NJ, has now been pushed from Tuesday to Thursday. We took advantage and had a super long and fun visit with her today. She is a clapping and smiling fool, these days. It is really fun to goof around with her and watch her smile and make little squeaks, like she is trying to laugh.

Reagan told me that on Friday, she was clapping Piper’s hands together, and when she stopped Piper kept clapping by herself. I couldn’t wait to see it for myself. To my amazement, I had her bouncing on my knee, clapping her hands, and she totally kept going, when I took my hands away. I was busting up laughing. One of the cutest things I have seen. It is especially cute the way she turns around and looks at me for approval afterward. We took some video today, that I’m hoping to get posted at some point. Anyway, I have rambled too long. Below, is a shot of Piper being so patient while Reagan works on her hair.

Here for a few more shots.

2009 New York City Marathon

Author: Jake

This year was the 40th New York City Marathon. It was such an awesome race, for so many reasons, including the fact that an American won the mens’ race for the first time, since 1982. For me, though, it was especially cool, because I was able to photograph it from the photo bridge at the finish line. It is a borderline spiritual experience to watch these athletes come through. It was so heartbreaking to see Paula break down in tears, after falling back into fourth place at the end of the race, when she lead, practically the entire way.

^—-Paula and Grete embracing.

Here is a shot of the TV crews that were next to me.

Many mo’ photos over here.

the queens half marathon

Author: Reagan

this was the strangest race i have ever run in my life. a race with more than 10,000 runners, and we ran the whole thing in complete silence alone. so weird! even though i had a totally bad attitude and had to be talked into staying, i’m glad i did. because it will be a fun story to tell my kids. btw my dad has a similar story from the marine corps marathon. it was the first one ever and it sounds to have been equally disorganized. i’m not sure i’ll be running the queens half again.

ps now brace yourselves. queens seems to have a strangely enormous amount of WILD EXOTIC BIRDS nesting everywhere. parrots! parrots with enormous nests that have like 25 birds living in them. and they are squawking like crazy and flying around. weirdest thing ever. i would love to hear more about this if anyone reading knows more. please explain.

NYC Half-Marathon

Author: Jake

I was up bright and early this morning, to get to Central Park in time to get some shots of the NYC Half-Marathon, which started at 7 AM. It is a good thing that it started so early, too, since it was such an extremely warm day. After shooting the start, I booked it down to Battery Park City, to the finish line (which happened to be right outside of my work). Tola won today for the men. It was really exciting. But the real story, was Paula Radcliffe winning for the women. It isn’t some big news that she won, or anything. She has won 8 of the 10 major marathons that she has started, including the NYC Marathon, 3 times!! She has been nursing a foot injury, and this is her first race of the year, with a late entry at the middle of last week. It was really cool to see her in person, and shake her hand.

It has been really tough, to keep myself from running, while my knee recovers. But sometimes it is really cool, just to show up and be amazed by how great these athletes are.

Here is a report on the race, and a lot more photos.

Shaping up

Author: Jake

Reagan and I are going camping with some friends, weekend after next. We are totally excited about it. We are going to this place near Bear Mountain, which also happens to have some climbing nearby. Ok, it doesn’t just happen to. My friend Col and I looked for about 2 hours on-line, one afternoon, to find a place not too far away, that we could camp and climb. So, in the spirit of not being totally embarrassed of my diminished climbing abilities, I accepted an offer from Col, Aubrey and Leslie to join them for a bouldering session in Ft. Tryon Park last night. It was a lot of fun. Aubrey had to bail a little bit early because of rowdy kids, and Reagan couldn’t make it because of a hair apt. Leslie and Col were both exhibiting some serious skills. Here are a couple of shots of them.

As pathetic as I was, I still had a lot of fun. I definitely have not used those forearm or back muscles for way too long.

Speaking of getting in shape, I have my first physical therapy session today, for my knee. I will be going to the orthopedic Dr. tomorrow for x-rays and such. I don’t have any races for the entire month of August. So I’m hoping that they can whip me into shape in time for our next race on September 12th (then a half marathon on the 20th). I’m going a bit stir crazy, not being able to run for more than a hand full of miles at a time.

Finally, a funny story about this morning: I parted my hair and combed it over to the side this morning. I don’t know. I just thought I would switch it up, a bit. When I came out of the bathroom, Reagan said “Hey, you look like Don Draper!” I was like “yeeahhh, baby.” I continued getting ready, and was contemplating buying a gray flannel 3 piece suit, when Reagan came walking down the hall and asked if she looked like Don Draper too. I turned around and she had slicked all of the hair on the top of her head over to one side. Hahahahahah. Nice.