Zombies in Milton
Aren’t you the least bit curious…
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Hamptons Marathon - Results
"Tim and I. If you don't know who is who, our names are on our shirts”
This past Saturday, September 27, Patti’s uncle Tim and I ran the Hamptons Marathon in East Hampton, NY. This was Tim’s 7th marathon, my second. Summary of the week and the race.
Base Camp
Tim and Deb, Patti’s aunt and uncle, flew out from Minnesota on Thursday, I picked them up at JFK, and we headed to my wife’s parent’s house in Hampton Bays. The in-laws house was Base Camp for all of us. I worked from their home on Thur and Friday, and Patti came down with the kids on Thursday night. In all, we had 6 adults and 3 kids all staying with Jim and Pat. They were great hosts, as usual.
The Course
Thursday afternoon we drove the course, which was really pretty...
PS. Read Tim's blog entry here
Thursday afternoon we drove the course, which was really pretty. It had rolling hills on narrow roads through the woods, went along the beach, and across some really beautiful areas of the east end of Long Island. For those who have never been to the east end, Long Island is a beautiful place. East Hampton and Bridgehampton are two of the most exclusive places to live in the country.
The course wasn’t flat though. Not terrible hills, but a lot of gently rolling hills that went up and down gradually over the 26 miles. It also had a patch for a couple of miles that was a dirt road, which will mean something when I describe the weather.
Pre-Race
Friday we picked up our packets, I took some calls, and we had an early pasta dinner that could have fed another 12 people. Pat, Patti’s mom, is a wonderful cook and made our pre-game meal really nice. I got to bed early, and was ready.
Saturday morning Jim drove us the 45 minutes to the race staging area. The rest of the family would head out later to cheer us on.
Weather
The weather, oh, the terrible weather. Ugh. There was a Nor’easter heading to our area during the week and it hit Thursday night. So for the day and a half leading up to the race, we had heavy winds, a ton of rain, and overall pretty miserable weather. Unfortunately it did not pass by the time the marathon was to take place.
The rain stopped late Friday night and was not raining early Saturday morning. But the humidity was 95% and with the race starting at 8AM, the rain of course started again at 7:30AM. When the starting gun went off at 8, I was soaked by 8:10. The rain stopped around 8:30, and over the next 5 hours we went from light drizzle, to heavy drizzle, to torrential downpour where you could not see more than a few hundred yards, to cold driving rain off the water that felt like it was hitting me head on coming sideways. At mile 16, I changed my socks and got a new hat, and they were soaked within a mile. Overall, the weather could not have been worse. Tim said it didn’t bother him, but I wouldn’t have stood in that weather to watch a football game, let alone run for 5 hours.
The rain didn’t kill me as much as the humidity. When it is dry, I run well. When it is humid, I do not. It’s that simple.
And that dirt road, it was mud.
The Race
To put this marathon in perspective, there were roughly 300 people who ran the full marathon. Last year, at the Marine Corp Marathon, there were roughly 30,000 who signed up, and I think 25,000 ran it. With the Hamptons Marathon, there were probably a couple of hundred spectators. With the Marine Corp Marathon, there were probably over 100,000. So when Tim and I got to the starting area, it was small and very manageable, not overwhelming to me like the MCM in DC.
The streets the race was on were fairly narrow, with not a lot of long straight stretches, which was kind of nice. When you are on a long straight road with nothing on either side, it seems so long. When the road twists and turns, I can’t see how far the next mile marker is so it seems less daunting.
Tim and I crossed the halfway point, mile 13.1, at the same time. We met up around mile 12 and did the half at 2 hours 15 minutes. But shortly after, things turned bad for me. I had a tough training schedule this summer since I traveled every week leading up to the race. I wasn’t able to get my long runs in as much as I would like to have, and I started to feel it around mile 14. By mile 16 I was in trouble. I knew I would not be able to run the entire race, but knew I could finish if I stopped and walked, which I did. Tim ran the entire thing and finished in his second best time ever, at 4:41. Since I walked and even when running went fairly slow, I finished in over 5 hours at 5:07. But hey, I finished.
Our Support Group
Patti, her parents, and Deb, with our three kids, made up our great cheering section. They were at a point in the race where we saw them at mile 9 and then again at mile 16. They held signs and met us for a quick high-five. At the 16 mile point, I changed socks and a hat, and Tim changed his shirt. Since it rained pretty much the entire time, our family did a great job at sticking with it. They had ponchos, but it was pretty miserable, and they were troopers.
When I saw them at the finish line, in the POURING rain, it was wonderful. The kids were really great. Nice to have them.
Team Garry
I forgot what mile point it was, but it was early in the race, around mile 4, I saw a guy about my age and height/build, running with a shirt that had his name on it, Gary. When I ran last year, and again this year, Patti screen printed “Dave” on my shirt, so I knew what he was doing. What I didn’t know was that Gary was a celebrity. I turned a corner with him a few feet in front of me, and at the bottom of a hill was a large black SUV with tinted windows, and about 8 people who piled out and put up a professionally made sign that said “Team Gary”. They cheered and cheered, it was like Obama was running and Biden was driving the Suburban.
So later on, about a mile up, they were there again. Screaming and cheering Gary on. They got in their truck and raced ahead of him.
Around mile 15 I ran with Gary for a few hundred feet. We chatted, both of us pretty miserable, and he pulled away. Well, the next time I came across his support team, they saw my name on my shirt and gave me the same treatment they gave to Gary. I was Obama Junior.
That started a great time between me and his support team. After a while, I started yelling at them that I was going to catch Gary, which I eventually did. Then I heard them cheering for him to catch me. And every time they drove by me, they yelled out the window more support. I honestly think that, even with my awful finish time, this group of people got me through the last 10 miles or so. Some of the nicest people you could come across during a race who treated me like Gary. I told them I would buy each one of them a beer for helping me out, which unfortunately I did not do after the race. Speaking of, when I finished, I hugged everyone, Tim, who came back and ran the last couple of hundred yard with me, took pictures with our medals, and then I went to look for Gary and the black SUV. If I could not buy them a beer right then, I wanted to shake every person’s hand.
When looking at the race results, I found out his name is Gary Cooper, from East Hampton. I’ll find him someway to buy that beer.
After the Race
After the race we went back to the cars, changed into dry clothes, and headed home. Had a nice afternoon recuperating, and had local pizza for dinner. At first I was disappointed with my time, but at the end of the day I finished with my head held high. I spent some quality time with my friend Tim, and got to do something that most people have never done, finish a marathon. When I finished the Marine Corp Marathon last year in 4:48, I didn’t want to run for a month and felt like taking it easy for a while. But after the race this past Saturday, it was completely different. I can’t wait to get back out there, start to train harder, get to the point where I can do 13 miles like its nothing, train for 26, and run another marathon. I need to prove to myself that with proper training, I can run a respectable time.
As for Tim, he is doing a half in January, and will probably do another full next spring. That will make 3 marathons for him in about an 8 month period. Pretty impressive.
Overall
The thing about this race that was different than last year, was I had much more fun. In the back of the pack, especially the last 10 miles, I made some friends. Team of the Miserable, I called it. Since my name was on my shirt, everyone said hello to me. Gary’s crew made me well known to everyone around me. And I had one woman even say she was sticking with me since it seemed like I knew what I was doing. The last 45 minutes I stayed with a lady in her 40s who has three kids, and we talked the entire time. She kept my head up and made me realize that running is part fitness, part mental, and part social. People who run things like this are generally good people, even if they are as slow as me. And while I might not have made my mark on running history, at least I finished and have another metal to keep in my drawer.
Next year, it’s another marathon, and this time I’ll be ready.
Some pictures…
"Mile 9”
First spot Tim and I saw our cheering team. Kids were holding signs.
"I was pretty beat, and still had 10 more miles”
This was the same spot as mile 9, but now its mile 16, after a few miles of running into cold wind and driving rain from the ocean.
"Team Marathon”
Everyone who was out for the marathon, including Patti’s parents, Patti’s aunt and uncle, and our kids.
"DONE!!”
See the rain? It was like that off and on for the entire race. But it kept things cool, I guess, and wet.
"Another couple of feet, another couple of feet…”
Me finishing up.
"The kids having something to eat”
Our cheering group were great, because the weather wasn’t nice. The kids did well. This is them with Patti’s father Jim.
"Uncle Tim”
This is Tim at the mile 9 viewing spot. He has run 7 marathons, and will do 3 in 8 months.
"A couple of winners”
Tim and I at the end. I’m the one with the ‘Dave’ shirt, and Tim is wearing the black and white hat.
PS. Read Tim's blog entry here
September 27, 2008
Marathon weekend
My Aunt Deb and Uncle Tim flew out this weekend so that Uncle Tim could run the East Hampton Marathon with David. It was a beautiful day....100 % humidity, torrential rain, and about 70 degrees. Not great running weather...to say the least.
The boys braved the elements and did a great job. They both finished with all limbs intact and no bodily fluids leaking. None that shouldn't be.
While we were waiting for the boys to pass us (the kids were great waiting, BTW. Amazing, I know.) the kids were cheering for the other runners. Here is a sample of their cheers:
Ethan: "Go! Go! Go runners!"
Emerson: "Yeah!"
Emily: "Go!!! Keep up with the others!!!!"
She's not competitive, not at all.
Great job guys. xoxo
September 22, 2008
Hamptons Marathon
In a few days I am going to run my second marathon. Last year I ran the Marine Corp marathon in DC, and this Saturday, Sept 27, I am going to run the Hamptons Marathon, a new one on the east end of Long Island. I tried to get into the NY Marathon, a really popular one, but it’s a lottery and I did not get selected. So the Hamptons it is.
Patti’s uncle Tim is flying out from Minnesota to run it as well, although he is a professional marathon runner while I am just a beginner. He already did one this year in Duluth, MN.
I think I am ready. I had a good tune up run this past Saturday, logging about 20 miles in just over 3 hours. I felt good, and was able to do 7 the following morning. As long as I don’t hurt myself, get a cold, or some other freak injury, I should be fine.
Why do I do this? Good question. Mostly to keep my weight down, plus mental health of being alone for long stretches while running. I don’t know, actually, because I could just eat better to keep the weight down and sit in a dark room if I want to be alone. Now that I think about, why DO I do this? Its killer on my body, time consuming, it HURTS, its not really fun at all, ESPECIALLY when it gets up around 20 miles, and then I have at least ANOTHER FREAKIN HOUR to run before I can stop. All for a dumb metal and a t-shirt that is often ugly and fits bad. Oh, the bagels and bananas are great but SO IS SLEEPING LATE ON SUNDAY MORNING. Good grief what is my problem.
Anyway, wish Tim and I luck on Saturday.
Josh Groban at the Emmy's
Not sure if I find this funny, embarrassing, entertaining or disturbing.
September 19, 2008
Little Gordan Ramsay
For those who like Hell's Kitchen...
part one
part two
part three
Hilton Hotel
I stay at Hilton often, about once or twice a week, and I just got off the phone with them about two stays in August that they billed me for when I was not there (NY Hilton). And you know what? They just put me on "notice" for cancelling too often. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT?? A hotel chain that I CHOOSE to stay at over 50 times a year just said they are making a note in my Hilton Honors profile about MY activity. Well, HILTON, I am making a note on YOUR activity.
A-holes. I guess they want me to take my 330 dollar a night EVERY WEEK business elsewhere.
Note to Hilton: DO...NOT...mess with me on this, I am tired of traveling and bitter about airlines, hotels and rental cars, hate restaurants and airport food, and sitting in traffic, grumpy about missing my kids activities and ignorning stuff I need to do around my house. Now is NOT the time to push back when I have to cancel a room and ask for a refund when YOU charge me.
September 16, 2008
Pink Floyd's Rick Wright
As some of you know…actually, most of the two people who read this have no idea…I love Pink Floyd. My eldest sister, who would probably deny this, brought Pink Floyd The Wall home when I was in fourth grade and after listening, I was hooked. Pink Floyd is my favorite band, at the least they are top 3, and earlier this week one of the founding members died. Rick Wright was the keyboardist who also sang and wrote songs. For the few who follow the band, they have had a rough go of it, with a falling out between the two leading members, David Gilmour and Roger Waters. Rick had his own issues with Roger. Band stuff I guess.
I’ve seen the group in concert probably half a dozen times (seeing Roger Waters solo another 5). Great group, named after U.S. bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council.
Anyway, Rick Wright died after a short bought of cancer. Sad for anyone, sadder for Pink Floyd fans.
Quick write up here.
John Ashton
So how does one go about getting an autographed picture of John Ashton? Is that too much to ask for? His web site sucks with no 'contact' info and there is nothing on Facebook.
September 15, 2008
I have no idea...
Why I like this song so much.
Studio version of the song with lyrics...
Lehman, Merrill, AIG, Fannie, Freddie, Dave
I am in NY sitting in a hotel room and I can't turn away from CNBC. Lehman, around 650 billion in assets, filed bankruptcy for the only time in its 150 year history. As some of you know I cover the financial services industry for my company, and today, and this week, could go down in history as the turning point in our economy, unfortunately not in a good way. I am fascinated by what's going on, and I have a bad feeling that this will get worse before it gets better.
Turn on CNBC, trust me, the Money Honey (who I met years ago when I was a young buck working for a consulting company on the floor of the stock exchange) is doing a great job.
Thought I'd share.
September 10, 2008
Patti's Book Club
My wife belongs to a book club here in town. Every month, the ladies in the book club (why aren’t there any men?) get together at someone’s house. Tonight it was our house so right now I am holed up in the basement while her “book club” meeting is going on. I am writing this in a whisper kind of tone so they don't detect me down here. Kind of like a bunker.
A few minutes ago I went up to the second floor and Emily was still awake. She is 6 and her bedroom is right above the living room. I sat down next to her.
Me: “It’s kind of loud”
Emily: “Yeah, and they are all talking at the same time”
Then I realized that in the two times I have been home during book club, I don’t think I’ve ever heard them talk about a book. They might be, but with the dozen or so women all talking what seems like at the same time, they could be plotting a takeover of the state government and I would never know because I can’t understand anything. I went out tonight and got home during the meeting, but last time I was home from the beginning and it goes something like this.
Ladies arrive around 8. Each one brings a bottle of wine. They munch on food Patti puts out in the dining room and kitchen. Conversation is very eclectic. Nothing mentioned about a book.
With each passing glass of wine, conversation gets louder and more laughter. All ladies treat me, a foreigner in their band, like family. Very nice. I quietly drop from view and hope they don’t take offense.
After about an hour of standing around talking, they proceed into the living room and sit down in a circle kind of format. If this were a Discovery Channel show, there would be a camera set up in a blind to capture the members of the group as they establish their positions and discuss the “book”.
The next couple of hours are rare periods of quiet single person talking with mostly loud chatter and even more laughter. The Discovery Channel film crew would have a hard time figuring out what the conversations were about. When I got home tonight from a meeting for parents of first time swim team members, I walked in and said hello. One comment, a single harmless comment by me about swimming teams increasing because of the Olympics, resulted in 4 different conversations going on among the ladies at the same time about what I have no idea. Fascinating and something someone should write a thesis about.
At some point the ladies realize their kids will still get up the following morning so they all say goodbye, leave their unopened bottles of wine, and depart. They are all very nice and engaging and educated enough to devote time to reading a book and making a meeting once a month.
I am not saying they don’t actually talk about a book, but in the rare times I have been here, even from my post in the basement, I don’t think I have ever heard a thing about a character or plot or metaphors.
Anyway, I am going to hide down here for another 30 minutes then venture up to bed. I might go out the back door, climb up the gutter and go in through the second floor window to avoid this group of fun loving book fans.
PS. Barack Obama might be a great speaker, but he is terrible at delivering a punch line. He thought he was being funny with Lipstick on a Pig, and it went over like a fart in church.
PSS. What could I do with my guy friends in town that is similar to a book club. I was thinking about a TV show club, where we get together and discuss a show we all agreed to watch. Or a movie club, where we agreed to rent a movie and watch it before the meeting, then discuss. But both are kind of weak. So then I thought about a news topic club, where each month we discuss something that is relevant in the world. Instead of one topic, we each take a turn throwing something out there and we discuss.
Dave: Should we back Georgia even though Russia is fast becoming a global super power, or forget about a tiny country that means nothing if they didn’t have a gas pipeline.
We discuss and argue for 20 minutes.
Mark: What do you think about Sarah Palin?
We discuss, throw out some adolescent jokes, turn that into a broader political discussion.
If I thought it would work, I would do that in a second and call it the Madmen of Milton, or Milton Men’s Club, or something similarly catching. The men in this town are all pretty educated and most have an opinion, so this would be an excuse to get together once a month, drink beer or scotch, have a cigar, and speak out about a topic.
Satellite Internet Access to the World's Poor
I read an article yesterday, several in fact, about a plan to deploy satellites to provide high speed internet access to the parts of the world that do not have access (i.e. poor and developing countries, emerging markets, etc). Basically there are 3 billion poor souls in this world who do not have a FaceBook account and can't get up to the minute box scores for the Red Sox.
You can read articles here, here, here and here.
Now that I think about it, those poor souls in Africa can't even read about how their lives are going to change, because they can't click on Forbes.com.
So the basics of the story are as follows...
Rich and powerful corporations around the globe (Google and HSBC) have put their "weight behind a plan to provide cheap, high-speed web access via satellite to millions in Africa and other emerging markets."
They are creating a company called O3b Networks, which stands for the "other 3 billion" people who do not have access. Those unsuspecting victims of internet fraud and endless amount of blogs and porn, beware, its coming.
High-falutin and filthy rich countries like the US of A and most of Great Britain have light speed fast internet access from fiber optic lines and cables that were dug deep in the ground and run across the atlantic in the 90s. But other areas, like parts of the middle east, Africa, South America and the North Pole do not have anything because the cost benefit didn’t make sense to dig trenches there.
So to bridge the information gap between me, sitting in my basement in Milton working and surfing the net, to a family starving on dirty puddle water and grain from Unicef, people smarter than me want to put a bunch of satellites into a low orbit and beam down moveon.org.
The project will cost 800 billion dollars and about a grand has been raised so far. Ok, this is in fact not true. It will cost 650 million and 65 million has been raise. Which apparently is enough to start the project.
Man, I would love to put an addition on my house with only about 10% of the money in my bank.
Anyway, I wonder if, instead of internet access, these people could use something else, like, say, I don’t know, just shooting in the dark here, but maybe…food. Yeah, food. Or water. Some water would be nice. Don’t get me wrong, I love internet access, I can watch the Yankees play while sitting in a hotel in Lynchburg VA. But I have my other necessities taken care of, like a house, clothes, medicine and Advil, Starbucks coffee, 6 televisions, a zip line, prickly pear margaritas and new long distance running shoes every 6 months. But something tells me the people who do not have internet access, not all, just some, need other things first.
So to be fair, most, or at least a lot, of the 3 billion who do not have access to www.underarockandhiding.com probably want it, and have the basics of life already in hand. Some people here in the US can’t get access, so they figure something out, and they are probably not waiting on a UN truck to bring MREs.
But this goes back to my rant about the 100 dollar laptop. I wonder if there are more humanitarian ways to spend the 650 million Lindens than to give a villager in a remote Costa Rican village the ability to upload videos to youtube.
But that’s just me, what do I know.
Totally Looks Like
How do I come across sites like this you ask? Good question.
More ways to spend time doing nothing on the web
September 05, 2008
Hurricane Hanna
Hurricane Hanna is projected to come up the coast and head a few miles south of where I live. Two weeks ago I was treated to TS Fay while on vacation in Orlando, and now its Hurricane Hanna. Not sure the last time a hurricane hit this far north. 1985 or 1986 I think. Gloria? Not sure.
September 04, 2008
Find That Boogie Body
I want to FIND that boogie body. Boom chicka boom.
All I can say is "wow".
September 02, 2008
Emily started first grade
Emily is in the pink hat and holding the pink backpack
My little girl started first grade last week. She went two days, then had the long Labor Day weekend, and went back this morning. Kind of strange for Patti and I. For my wife, the thing that made it real was the fact that Emily could buy her own lunch. Up until now, Patti made her lunch, which gave us some control over what she ate, important to us. For me, after I saw her line up and walk into the building this morning (they had a meet and greet with the principal), it was tough watching her enter the first of many years of being under the control of someone else. In kgarden, she was full time but it was still kgarden. From this point forward, she will progressively get into more important grades, with her future being in the hands of others. Her ultimate success will be decided within the four walls of our home, and not a school, but her teachers and classmates have a large impact on it. From now on, her education will shift from her mother and I to someone we briefly met at a PTO function.
For some reason I don't think I will mind with the boys. They are boys. But with Emily, she is special, she is smart, outgoing, attentive, hardworking, wonderful and everything I could have hoped for in a daughter. Public school in Milton is top tier, but she is still in a big school, in a big class, eating in a cafeteria with other grades, not being able to walk her to the room like we did in the past. watching her walk into this black hole called Tucker Elementary School.
Anyway, I will be fine, just thought I'd share.