Morris Township Turkey Trot 5K

Doing the Purple Stride 5K on Nov. 11 made me feel better about doing short races while training for a marathon.  Substituting a 5K for my usual weekly speed work makes sense and helps keep things fun.

Yes, fun.  Something my mom always texts to me whenever I am stressed out and nervous about an upcoming race is "Remember, this is supposed to be FUN," a reminder that while I am focused on being competitive and fast and pushing my body to its limits, fun should not always be put on the back burner.

In addition, doing a spur-of-the-moment 5K - this time, the Morris Township Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day - takes the pressure off.  Instead of always trying to get a PR, it is possible to simply show up to a race and do the best that I can. With that weight off of my shoulders, there was no need to get thrown by the freakishly cold 17 degree temperature and the chilly 13 mph winds.  I just had to run my best race for that day.

The first mile was mostly flat, and in my effort to chase warmth, I knocked it out in 5:49.  But then there was Kitchell Road.

With an incline of about 150 feet in the span of around a third of a mile, Kitchell Road is an exercise in hill training and enough to put a huge damper on the race of all mere mortals.  Superhumans like the winner, William Mitchell, somehow destroyed the course in 16:13 (a 5:14 pace).  I, on the other hand, took 6:09 to get through the second mile, thanks to that killer hill.  So by the time I made it on to Spring Valley Road and then South Street to the finish, my turkey was cooked and my energy gobbled up, as I hit the third mile with a 6:02.

All things considered, averaging a 6:00 pace on a difficult course on what was pretty much the coldest Thanksgiving ever - in a race for which I did not even specifically train - felt darn good.  Coming in 17th place (out of 1,459 overall and 717 males), second of 306 masters (age 40 and up) and first in my age group of males age 40 to 44 was icing on the cake (gravy on the turkey?).

The mettle to meddle for a medal (Part IV)

I understand that when a race-timing company is charged with giving accurate results to thousands of runners at hundreds of races, errors are bound to happen from time to time.  But, seriously, this shit seems to keep happening to me.  Three times in the past, I had been completely looked over. On all those occasions, I had come in second place (SOCH 10K, Cheshire Home 5K and Samra 5K), but forgotten when they distributed awards, as if I was never there.

At the Purple Stride 5K on Nov. 11, I was excited to accept my third place medal among my friends.  They called out the top three winners and I was not one of them.

Confused, I checked the posted results sheet.  I was listed as being in fifth place, but with the fourth place name crossed out.  At first, I wondered if people had cheated, slipping into the race chute without having run it.  Then, I started wondering if I had it wrong.  Maybe there was another guy in front of me and I was concentrating so hard that I did not see him.

It was my long run day and I needed to run more miles, so I ran home from the race site.  During the whole run, I was playing it over and over in my head, wondering what had happened.  At some point, I started getting mad, composing in my head the strongly-worded email I was about to write to the race organizers and the timing company.  I looked at my splits when I got home and noticed that as I got more angry, my miles got faster.  I guess running angry makes you run quickly.

At home, I asked my wife, Gloria, who had been standing at the finish line the whole time, what she saw.  She said she only saw the first place winner (Andrew Ferretti), the second place finisher (Charles Griffin) and then me.  No one else in between.

The next day, I wrote the email to the Purple Stride organizer, Alex Rappoport, and the Best Race timing company (Bill@BestRace.com).  I explained the situation and even showed a screen shot of the extremely messy results page that was posted (that showed me as the 254th finisher and people finishing the race in a few seconds - clearly, their chips were registering results when crossing the start line, rather than the finish).

The next day, the results were revised online, but were (and are, as of this writing) still incorrect, showing me in fourth, with someone named Brian Cannona in second.  I do not know who this person is, but I searched the internet for any other race results with his name, and there were none.  One would think that someone in his 20s that can do a 5K at a pace of around 5:30 would have done other races.  But there is no such record.

So, I emailed Alex and Bill again and told them all of this.  

Alex wrote back to me, saying that they had looked into the problem, admitting that there was an error and agreeing that I was, indeed, the third place finisher.  My third place medal was promptly mailed to me and I received it a couple of days later.  That is someone who, despite merely being in the business of putting together a fundraising event, understands fairness and the importance of what we do in this sport.

Interestingly, Bill from Best Race was silent.  He never admitted to his company's mistake.  He never corrected the results online.  He never apologized to me for the error.  He never said a word.  That is someone who, despite being in charge of a company whose specific job is understand fairness and the importance of what we do in this sport, does not.  

In the end, though Alex made me feel better about the idea of participating in another Purple Stride event; Bill will make me think twice about running a race timed by Best Race.

Purple Stride 5K

On Nov. 11, I took a slight detour from my marathon training to support the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (or more specifically, my friend, Alana, who has a family member that suffered from the illness) at the Purple Stride 5K in my hometown of Parsippany, N.J.

The race was an out-and-back set in a corporate park area (Sylvan Way) on flat roadways with minimal turns. It was refreshing to run a race with no logistical worries.

It was also refreshing to run a 5K for the heck of it, instead of specifically training for it, gunning for a PR and putting pressure on myself to lay it all out there. Instead, I used it as my my speed training for the week - a hard effort, but not one that had any of the stress of hitting a specific goal.

It was a chilly morning in the 30s (F) and most of the guys at the front of the starting line (including me) were in shorts, so we were not too pleased that the race was a half-hour late in commencing. I understand that there are speeches to be made about the cause and all, but if they advertise a start time, they should adhere to it.

When it was finally underway, I quickly passed a bunch of guys whom I had assumed would easily stay ahead of me.  Within the first half-mile, I took my place in third.  The front runner, Andrew Ferretti, was extremely fast and far ahead, but Charles Griffin was close enough that passing him seemed possible.

I hit the first mile at 5:41, though I didn't know it at the time because I refused to look at my splits. I wanted to run as fast as I could without the possible disappointment of being slower than usual or the possible shock of running too fast.

By the time I got to the turnaround point at the halfway mark, I was losing some steam but still pushing hard and getting results, marking my second mile with a 5:51 (again, unbeknownst to me at the time). Now it was just a matter of getting through the last mile and finishing strong.

For a moment, I thought once again that I could close in on Charles, but that moment did not last long because I was fading.  Seeing my friends that were walking the course was a nice boost, but I was ready for this race to end soon.

It turned out that it would end too soon. With the finish line in sight, I finally looked at my GPS watch and saw that I had only gone 2.8 miles. The course was short.

Ah, well. I pushed hard into the finish in with a time on the clock of 16 and change, but more importantly, in this case, in third place.

My final pace was 5:51, which means my third mile would have been 6:01. Good thing this was not a longer race - losing 10 seconds per mile is rough.  Doing some math, I extrapolated that my finish time would have been around 18:11 - not bad for a race for which I did not formally train. 

Marathon XIX

After the Youngstown Marathon in June, I felt like I could do a quick turnaround to a July marathon.  I started eyeing the Mad Marathon in the Mad River Valley of Central Vermont.  Coming off of my hard effort in Youngstown, I could take in scenic rural Vermont and climb the tough hills at an easy pace, simply for the enjoyment of it all.

Unfortunately, that plan got destroyed when, in mid-June, during a routine eight-mile run, something pulled in my right leg.  I think it was my hamstring.  It hurt, so I took the next day off.  I tried to run again, but was in agony and took two more days off.  Tried again.  Pain.  Three days off...then four days...then five....six...

In all, with the exception of the trial runs, it took about seven weeks before I could run with any consistency (as in, two or more days in a row), so the rest of the summer was about building my strength back up.  It was also about having the opportunity to cheer for my wife, Gloria, as she ran the Run 4 North Caldwell 5K in early September, the Grace-in-Motion 10K in Fort Lee in late September, and Morristown's Superhero Halloween Half-Marathon in October.  I loved watching her kick butt this race season.

At some point, though, I need to train for something.  I am simply not good at maintenance running.  If I do not have a Hal Higdon workout chart on my fridge, with a race date at the end, I tend to feel lost.  So by the end of September, I gave myself a projected upcoming goal marathon, starting increasing the mileage, and followed Hal's Advanced I Marathon plan.  I knew what race I was aiming for, but did not register.  I just worked toward it.

At the end of October, despite various minor aches and pains (hey, I am 44 now - I accept that this is going to be the norm), I finally pulled the trigger and registered for what will be my 19th marathon, bringing my state total to 18 (I ran in New York twice) over the past 11 years.

My marathons have been (chronologically) in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, Rhode Island, Delaware, New York, Utah, Florida, Maryland, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Maine, Nevada, Texas and Ohio.  What will be my 18th state?  Stay tuned...

Phish in Albany - Oct. 17, 2018

I think I liked my seat in section 107 on Wednesday better than the floor ticket I had the previous night.

It also didn't hurt that this show did pretty much everything I love, with not one moment where I wished the band would have played something different or differently.

I'm not sure what the significance is, but it cannot be a coincidence that at the past three runs at the nearby Saratoga Performing Arts Center and now here in Albany, the great "Crowd Control" keeps showing up,  usually as an opener. I may not know what the connection is to that area of New York State, but boy do I love it.

After that the band was off and running with an incredible "Chalkdust Torture". Thanks to Zzyzyx's stats page, I know that is my most seen Phish song, but I am sure that this was the only one of the dozens I have seen that, after the second chorus, went like this: jam -> end-of-jam riff -> chorus -> jam -> chorus -> coda. It is a testament to Phish that they can continue to transform a 27-year-old song and keep things fresh and interesting.

As probably the biggest fan of the 'Round Room' ballads - "Anything But Me", "Friday" and "All of These Dreams" - I was thrilled to not only hear them perform the latter, but do it so beautifully that it almost brought me to tears. 

"Wolfman's Brother", "NICU", "Gumbo" and "Bathtub Gin" were all well-executed and featured some big, happy, major-key jams.  "I Didn't Know" included a vacuum-cleaner solo by Fishman (introduced as "Jezmund, the family berserker") and "Steam" was super-slinky and sexy.  

"Set Your Soul Free" started with a long, fun jam that got me thinking that it will be the centerpiece of this year's New Year's Eve show. "Birds of a Feather", "The Wedge" and "Wilson" were all fun, if not exceptional, but there were plenty of exceptional jams in "Mercury" (which, along with "Steam", makes a great case for the 3.0 era), a kick-ass "Light" and a set-ending "Slave to the Traffic Light". 

As an encore, the often disappointing "Julius" was at least swinging, if slow and decidedly not rocking; but when Trey calls an audible and whips out an impromptu "Rocky Top", you know that it is a sign that he had a great time and gave us a fantastic show.  It was a you-had-to-be-there encore at a show that otherwise will please the ears of those who only listen.

Phish in Albany - Oct. 16, 2018

The cancellation of this summer's Curveball festival was an incredible disappointment. It meant my summer tour was whittled down from five shows to two. It meant that my wife, Gloria, wouldn't get to experience her first Phish festival. It also meant that, with a grand total of six shows for the entire year, my attendance was at its lowest in eight years. Summer ended with a thud.

As a consolation, in addition to a full refund, all Curveball ticket holders received free webcasts of the three Labor Day weekend shows from Colorado. That gesture, along with some mighty fine playing, did a lot to alleviate the disappointment.

It also helped to know that fall tour was around the corner and that I'd be attending the first two shows, both at the Times Union Center in Albany (the Pepsi Arena the last time I was there, on Sept. 9, 2000, during the last month of the 1.0 era.

Tour openers can suffer from having to shake off the rust after not playing for a while (like this past summer) or be bursting with vibrant energy, well-rehearsed out of the gate (like summer 2014).  This one split it down the middle with a show that was fully dance-able, had some impressive jams and was well played, except for a couple of big flubs. Nothing outrageous in either direction, though.

Things got off to a funky start with "The Moma Dance" and "Tube", the latter including a standout jam. If I never hear "Theme From the Bottom" again, I will be fine, but this version's segue into "Free" made it worth my while.

Speaking of segues, the one from "Everything's Right" into "Cities" was marvelous. The former was especially notable for its dreamy jam with Page taking the lead on the Rhodes, followed by Mike dropping a bass bomb that led to Trey briefly doing his peaking thing before Page took over again, this time on the Hammond. 

"Halley's Comet" was fun, but the real left-field surprise was the 2.0-era rarity, the gorgeous "Army of One".

Though Page and Trey managed to badly bungle the beginning of "Walls of the Cave", the stellar jam more than made up for it. The song is still one of my favorite set closers.

The second set started like the first - with another double-dose funk throwdown, this time with a thick, meaty "Ghost" and a fun "No Man in No Man's Land". A segue into "Piper" kept things moving until, after 40 minutes of big dance-able grooves, things slowed down with "Twenty Years Later" which - surprise - ended up being the MVP jam of the night. It was noisy (in a good way) and completely trippy and psychedelic. The fact that I was in the GA floor section did not hurt, as the lighting rigs literally moved up and down and side to side, and enveloping me in all their glory. It was the kind of jam they usually do in "Split Open and Melt" these days (much to my chagrin), but working much better in this context.

On the flip side, I love "Show of Life" but stretching out the I-IV ending might have been better suited for "Mexican Cousin" or one of the other myriad I-IV songs in Trey's arsenal.

"2001" was a nice choice and I figured it would end the set as it began - with some funky grooves. But Trey wanted to rock, so he started "Character Zero", still using the chunky guitar tone from the "2001" jam that, in any other venue than an arena, would have been wildly inappropriate and noisy (in a bad way).

That, of course, did end the set and the icing on the cake was the "Harry Hood" encore that summed up the night in a nutshell - a few mistakes in the intro that were easily laughed off, a solid performance of the composed parts otherwise, and a jam was delightful, if not earth-shattering.

Phish in Camden - Aug. 8, 2018

At the end of this hot show, I texted to my friend, Marshall, “Damn! What a show.  I guess they had to bring it hard tonight so we forgive them for playing in Camden.”

Sorry, Camden, for making you the butt of the joke again. But hey, at least no one was shot in town on Wednesday (that I know of), and no one died at the show (that I know of) as someone had the previous night. There were some other strange health emergencies near me during the evening, but I will get to that.

The show was, indeed, a hot one, including some fine jamming in the first set, especially by Page who tore it up on "Undermind" and on the best, tightest "My Sweet One" I have heard in years. The opening combo of "The Moma Dance" and "Free" set the mood perfectly for a set that had no problems being equally funky and rocking. After "Undermind", the guy behind me said, "They're going to slow it down, now," and sure enough, they started "Theme From the Bottom", but despite its tempo, it was huge and powerful. "Steam" was great to hear, especially as it was a big improvement over the limp previous version (7/31/18, which was not as slinky in its groove). Oddly, the sexiest Phish song ever included a long tease of the decidedly unsexy "Apostrophe" by Frank Zappa. Contrast!

The set was perfect until Trey started “Train Song” at too fast a tempo and then had trouble keeping up with the pace he set. Then, during “Halley’s Comet”, the weirdness started happening around me.

I think “Halley’s” was good, but I was distracted by the guy next to me who passed out on his feet and crashed to the ground. A few of us helped him up, only for him to hit the dirt mere seconds later. Without any ability to brace himself, his head hit so hard that his glasses flew off his head.  This time we were much more concerned, so we flagged down someone from security to get some medical help.  Thankfully, we were in the very front of the lawn section so all we had to do was look over the rail and call for help.

Security got there quickly. They seemed to determine that he was at least half-lucid. He could answer their questions but his body did not seem to be cooperating. They had a tough time getting the guy up because he kept stiffening his body and clutching the rail.  After they finally got him vertical, with two security guys and me keeping him propped up, he kept insisting that he did not need medical attention.  An extremely patient medical professional came over and the caring way she reasoned with him finally got him to plop into a wheelchair and get carted away.

No sooner were they on their way that the girl next to me on the other side went flopping to the ground!  On the plus side, security was still in the area, so they immediately tended to her as she started convulsing a bit.  They got another medic to the scene and, soon enough, wheeled her away too.

Ironically, during all this nonsense, the band was playing “Everything’s Right”.  At least I had a lot more dancing room as I was finally able to focus on the Phish show again; and just in time, too, because it was another one of those amazing jams that peaks, drops down, and then peaks again.  It was gorgeous, until Trey decided to awkwardly crash back into the chorus of the song to end it.

The second set started with “Julius”. Since the song has no chance of reaching its fiery peaks from the days of yore, its placement in the front of the set - rather than its typical set-ending, near-set-ending or encore slot – works much better these days. It set a great mood as a set opener at the Forum earlier this tour, and nailed it again in Camden.  Prior to these, it had been two years since “Julius” started a set (thanks to phish.net for the stats).  I think it is time that this becomes the norm.

A one-two punch of big jams followed with “Carini” and “Set Your Soul Free”, with Fish steering the former by subtly shifting the rhythm around, keeping Trey on his toes to follow. The latter featured a happy, upbeat jam to match the tone of this new entry in Trey’s string of positivity songs. Sadly, “Wingsuit” failed to sustain the intensity as it went on too long while Trey tried to force a second climax into its eighth minute, when an ending at its natural climax in the fifth minute would have been perfect.

The problem was definitely not the slow tempo because “Waste” worked perfectly well a little later in the set.  And that was after a massive “Scents and Subtle Sounds” that included the intro section for the first time since 2015, in the very same geographical area (the Mann in Philadelphia), even though they played the song six times since then.  What is it about the Philly area that brings the intro? (Thanks again to phish.net for the stats). Even more odd, though, was the jam, which usually follows a I-IV jam in the style of “Simple” but went to much weirder and darker places this time.  I cannot say it was better than usual, but it was certainly interesting.

Speaking of dark jams that are more interesting than good, that brings us to “Split Open and Melt”, which has been consistently as such in the entirety of the 3.0 era.  Freaky, spacey jams are great in “Carini” and “Waves” and even “Sand”, but “Melt” is different.  Sure, it is probably because I have been a fan long enough to remember the rip-roaring “Melt” jams of the ‘90s.  Try as I may, I have always had a tough time enjoying the new versions for what they are.

This one, however, could be subtitled the “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the ‘Melt’” because something about the mixture of dark textures, hypnotic rhythms and insanely trippy lights caused me to finally let go and get fully immersed in its wonders.  This was easily the best “Melt” since the 1999 funk “Melt” in Holmdel.

With nothing left to do but bring the house down, Phish launched into “Character Zero”, taking the ending down for a little while for pauses to let the audience to its “woo” thing before kicking it back up to peak intensity for the big finish.  The encore of “Suzy Greenberg”, with Page yet again killing it in his piano solo, put the exclamation point on the night.

During set break, I saw a guy with a shirt that read, “I’D RATHER BE AT THE MANN”.  So would I, but I have to admit, despite the weird and sad things that happened in and around the venue, it ended up being a damn good couple of nights in Camden.