The Inside Loop by Tom Byrnes and friends February 2011

Thank you all for taking a time out from shovelling and clearing your car out from under the snow to read this. Hey,  there are priorities!

Isnt it great to learn that the 2011 PPTC Awards Party went  so well ! In the words of Richard Weaver, “a good time was had by all." More details and the award winners on the PPTC blog and in this newsletter. The party, the awards ceremony, none of this  happens without lots and lots of behind the scene time and energy. Muchas gracias to all those who devoted their time and energy to making this happen.                     

Louie Rios sighting on the inside loop the last day of January, just back from the Bermuda Marathon weekend .

Bobby Fisher reports that he went south for  the Miami Marathon weekend  late january, having walked the Half.

 

The latest word about  Christine Boutross ( from Christine Boutross) is that as   

 a certified Personal Trainer she's working for the New York Sports Club in Cobble Hill.

For the past 2010 year she's  been one of the top 100 trainers for Town Sports International

which includes New York Sports Club, Boston Sports Club, Philadelphia Sports Club

and Washington Sports Club.For the 2010 year she's  been ranked #47 out of over 2,200 trainers. This ranking

means that she 's  trained a certain amount of sessions. For this year she's trained 1344 sessions.

Her certifations as a trainer include ACE, National Academy of Sports Medicine, Cancer Exercise

Specialist, TRX Susupension Training, Kettlebell Instructor and Corrective Exercise  Specialist.

and she's curently  in the process of obtaining her boxing certification.Christine's also  a Holistic Health Coach who works with runners and triathletes who want to improve their performance through fitness and nutrition. Her  website is www.christineboutross.com

 

Thanks to PPTC vols who hooked up with USADA and their drug testing efforts at 2011's 104th annual Millrose games Friday nite January 28th at Madison Square Garden . Wayne Bailey, Doug Olney, Lynette Gonis, and Tom Byrnes.

 

  Sean Rice's Prospect Park Youth Runners were also on the Garden track at the Millrose games in the late afternoon's youth relay events . Don't have the names of the PPTC parents  who cheered on their  PPYR children but their voices cheering on  'da youts'  were certainly appreciated. Watch for the PPYR contingent  manning and womening  the Cherry Tree water stop !   

 

When the sun rose on February 2nd, the day's break heralded Groundhogs's day as well as the news of only a few more days left to train for PPTC's annual Cherry Tree 10 Mile and Relay XXX Race for the Hardcore . Almost weekly updates on the Cherry Tree will be appearing on the PPTC blog so check them  out! If you're in town, run 10, run on  a relay team , or volunteer!

 

And in the spirit of giving back and instead of throwing out your old, used,  or unwanted sneakers, after the Cherry Tree race, at Bishop Ford , PPTC's Harold and Gwelda  Fairweather are coordinating their donation and collection for forwarding for a whole new life in a whole new country , Belize!  So make room in your closets and  track down what's only been gathering dust.  If you haven't used 'em, lose 'em to Harold and Gwelda. The runners in Belize will certainly appreciate your help!

 

Mid month, the 15th to be exact, will also see the beginning of another 10 session speed workout with Tony Watson at the Park Slope Armory 's 200 meter indoor track. Be alert for emails and blog mention of the  up-coming registration. PPTC is on the track Tuesdays and Thursdays but check which workout nite is best for you.

 In an effort to increase PPTC presence at key Brooklyn, NYRR and other local races, Lynda Mules and Tom Tobin have stepped up to lead PPTC's  women's and men's teams in 2011.  Lynda and Tom are developing details for a PPTC team approach to racing that will further solidify PPTC as the dominant Brooklyn running club and a top club in the New York area. Hey, when we got it, we flaunt it!  PPTC runners in PPTC singlets at  the races  and on the medal stand is what we all want to see! 

 

Registration for 2011's NYC Five Boro Bike Tour opened February 1st.  If youre thinkling of this year's ride, register now!   Where else can you ride all five boroughs of NYC in one day - and with snacks and other cyclists? Although the ride is not until May 1st, this always sells out. Always. 

  Theres a limit to the number of riders and registration closes when the max  is  reached. See y'all there !

 

PPTC's sympathies and condolences to Kathleen and Richard Weaver on the death of Kathleen's  sister in late January.

 

The happiest and healthiest of Chinese new years, the Year of the Rabbit,  on February 3rd to PPTC's Chinese brothers and sisters. Anyone remember when PPTC would gather and go for a run and then hunker down at Mister Wonton' on 7th Ave. and Berkley Placef for a Saturday afternoon lunch?

 

Stay warm everyone. You may now resume your snow shovelling.

Some Stairy Statistics

A couple of weeks ago, the NY Road Runners Club sponsored the Empire State Building Run Up. (A belated thumbs up to Arther Gonzalez for his successful 18:36 ascent!). There was a little Blog conversation as to the best staircase to use to train for this event within the NYC Subway system. (Did you catch my pun?)

Today I went for a ride.

Smith and 9th Street is definitely the tallest subway station in NYC (It was built on over a drawbridge! What were they thinking?) From the Street to the platform there are 139 steps. The top section is 36 steps to either platform. You will not get in anybody's way if you are running up and taking the escalator down, and the air was fresh, but it is kinda run down. The view from the platform is legendary.

My next stop was the station at Lexington Ave. and E63rd St. It is known among commuters as a tough transfer. Here is a movie of someone running down There are 42 steps from the street, another 131 to the downtown platform and 36 more to the Queens bound platform. There might be a nice quantity of steps, but I would not recommend this for training. First, the stairs are spread out, meaning you have to cross the path of the people using the escalator to continue your run up the stairs. But the main reason not to run up these stairs is that it is usually a busy place.

The next stop on the F is Roosevelt Island. I have been there once before and knew it would be a great place to train for a stair climb. From the subway level to the "mezzanine" there are 24 steps. Then there are 135 in a straight line. You can easily run down the escalator and do this as much as you want without bothering anybody. The air was fresh, even though the whole thing was underground.

These two pictures are from the Roosevelt Island Station, the view from top and the bottom.

My next trip was to New Jersey, to count the stairs at the Exchange Place station on the PATH. On my way to Exchange Place, I started counting the stairs at WTC station. I stopped counting; this is not a place to run.

The signage at Exchange Place said it was 101 years old. To me it looked as new as the Roosevelt Island Station which is the newest in the NYC Subway system. There is only one set of stairs from the subway level to the street and there are 128 of them. Like Roosevelt Island, you can run up and speed down the escalator as much as you want without bothering anybody (except maybe during rush hour). I took two pictures. The first is the view from the top; you can see the Verrazano Bridge from New Jersey! I took the second from the bottom of the stairs after the PATH Police officer told me to put my camera away. (Don't tell)

So, if you are not allowed to take pictures in a PATH station, I don't know what the cops would say about running up the stairs. But it looks like fun!!

On Tuesday, I will take a run in Prospect Park. I will count the stairs on big hill.