Clock Time, Chip Time and Sh.. time!

A little bit of a disclaimer before we get to the meat and potatoes part of this posting. The blog has definetely been on my mind lately but between a constant stream of (great) guests in our newly renovated appartment, some close up action at the US Open tennis championchips where the daughter of a good friend of mine reached the second round fo the main draw (after surviving 3 qualifing matches), and some reorganization in my office (my assistant Jackie is leaving and training a new assistant is not my forte), I seem to have hit a bit of "writer's block". But obviously, before you all think I have thrown in the towel as the coach of SLG, the post is going out tonight. It might not be as witty or as funny as I would like, but it seems that some of you are starved for some information about how other people are doing in their preparation for the Chicago marathon and since it is now LESS THAN 7 WEEKS AWAY, here I go without much further ado.

Before anybody is wondering who these 3 handsome guys are, I would like to introduce you to 75% of the Minnesota SLG chapter. The guy on the left is David Garcia who I met as a dental patient but ultimately we became running buddies. In the early summer of 2005, David moved to Minneapolis to be with partner, Grant Beggs (the other 25 % of the Minnesota chapter and maybe the photographer of this stud-studded picture?)

The guys with David are Steve Goldade and Larry Eberhard, also from Minneapolis, which my brother and I met last year on the Saturday before the marathon, when we went down to 72nd street to see the finish of the "Friendships" run. The friendship's run is a 4 mile race for foreign runners and their family members. So we struck up a conversation with Larry and Steve who were in NY to (what else?) run the marathon . One thing led to another and the next thing I know is that I hear myself say they are welcome to our famed post marathon party at SLG headquarters Sunday afternoon. Sure enough, they did show up and brought their wives and the rest is history. They were called the Minnesota terrorists for a while but there is just not enough room to go in a whole long explanation about that today. Anyway, the point of the story is that they finally hooked up with David and Grant to do a long run together and if that is not true SLG spirit I do not know what is!

The title of this posting refers to an occurance at the inaugural New York City half marathon, the first time a half marathon was run not just in the park but also in the streets of Manhattan after 7 miles in the park. We ran down 7th avenue towards Times Square and although the race took place in the early morning, it was quite a treat to see the billboards looming large in the distance as we approached 42nd street and to have all of Times Square traffick free, except for 10,000 runners. The race turned west on 42d street toward the West Side Highway and then downtown, ending at Rector street, right around the corner from Ground Zero. It was a collaboration between the New York Road Runners Club and Nike and apparently the race, which was limited to 10,000 entrants, was sold out in ONE DAY.
SLG was represented by Dora (who made a guest appearance from Belgium), Gil, Lief, Mike and Stefan. If anybody is interested in the full results, you can go check them out on the NYRRC website but one result needs a special comment.
As has been his habit throughout this year, Gil has been burning the road in half marathons, running the Long Island half under 1:35. He felt a bit less confident for this race since he hadn't really been training a whole lot for it but as usual, I saw the back of him for about 3 seconds at the start of the race and off he went. He clocked in at 1:38:37, and his chip time was 1:38:29. Unfortunately, he had a call from nature about 9 miles into the race and according to his watch, the BM cost him about 2 minutes and 30 seconds and maybe even a 3rd place in his age category. Even with this little interlude, he still came in 5th in his age category (out of 255 male finishers between 55 and 59) which is of course unbelievably impressive. Afterwards, while we were having our first alcoholic beverages at Markt around 11 a.m. that Sunday, Mike aptly explained that there was "Clock Time, Chip Time and Shit Time" for Gil !! Even Gil himself (big talker as he is) could not have said it better.
Anyway, Stefan made a little "SLG at the Half marathon collage" which is the picture that you see here and it also shows a preview of the Logo which is being designed by David : the ribbon attached to the G of SLG represents the tape at the finish line.


So slowly but surely, SLG is getting its official logo so that the merchandising can begin. Of course after the brunch in Markt with our dearest fans, there was a bit of a celebration at SLG headquarters that Sunday afternoon. Oh, one more thing. For those of you familiar with Holly, the red-haired bar tender at Markt, she also ran and although I would like to add some proof that she was there with us, the blog seems tired and refuses to upload more pictures and I am tired too. So, stay tuned for a pictures of us at Markt later but for now... I really want to get this posting out tonight. And I would love to have some reaction, comments, criticism (only positive of course, most of you know how thin skinned I am)...

Some quick updates of long training runs and other newsworthy things. Mike has 1 20 miler under his belt and ran 16 this past weekend. Gil and I did 16.5 last Saturday (to break that psychological barrier of less than 10 miles to go in a marathon). I got some news from the supercoach today saying that he is not logging as many miles as he usually does and that the running is nog going as fluidly as it used to be. Hopefully this posting will help him get his ass back in gear. I do hear that Erik is in the best shape of his running life and that he is definitely planning to kick butt, and he is doing this while he is putting in a new kitchen in his house and having overnight guests to make things a bit more exciting. Chaos anyone??? Anyway, what comes to mind here for everybody else is this great line : "BE AFRAID, BE VERY AFRAID" (of Erik that is). What is happening to Philippe, the shrink from Chicago. Things have been quiet on that front. More reasons to be afraid?
And for the case of full disclosure, here is my long training schedule for the last 6 weeks : 18 miles this coming Saturday, 20 mile training run with the NYRRC the Saturday afterwards, 17 miles on September 23rd, Grete's gallop (half marathon race with a couple of miles pasted on at the end or in the beginning on October 1st) and the 18 mile tune up (race from NYRRC but at training pace with a mile before and after) on October 9th. Which brings us to two weeks before the marathon at which point guiltfree not running can commence. Ahhhh..... the joy of tapering!!
By the way, Covergirl (or Liesbet Deleersnijder) is back in the US. She stopped by with her husband this past Sunday to drop of some suitcases but hopped back on a plane to San Francisco for a week of R&R before Yven starts his job in New York next week Monday. Although she will not run in Chicago, we are all very happy that they are back in town.
Meanwhile, Helena enters the last month of her pregnancy, she and Mark are expecting a brother for their 3 year old in the beginning of October. Meanwhile, Petra and Philippe have another "bun in the oven" but he/she should still be hiding at the post marathon party at their place. Happy miles everyone!! Lief