Super-Paula and Super-Team

A month ago, when Mary Wittenberg shared the news that Paula Radcliffe would be running the marathon again this year, my first words were–well, they’re not words usually heard in polite company.

Let me be the first to assure you that this has nothing to do with my opinion of Paula herself. There aren’t enough superlatives in the dictionary to do justice to her awesomeness. I mean, 2:15??????? No, my little hissy-fit had to do with the fact that about 12 hours before receiving the news of Paula’s plans to run in NYC, our editorial team had sent the marathon program to the printer. It was full of exciting predictions about the wide-open women’s race and it had a photo of a male runner on the cover because there were just too many incredible women in the field to attempt to choose the incredible-est among them.

So…we spent the next few days working closely with our extraordinarily accommodating design team to scrap all that and start over, then worked with our printer (also in the ranks of the World’s Most Patient and Understanding) to adjust the printing schedule, then finally worked minute-by-minute with the unflappable Bryan Emerson of NYRR’s business development squad to guide the delayed shipment of 42,000 programs to our fulfillment house, which worked round-the-clock to insert the programs into the goody bags that all of you will receive at the expo when you pick up your race materials.

Thanks to a lot of hard work by EVERYONE, and a few prayers, and amazing communication, it all got done in time, and your beautiful program, with Paula in all her glory (and a flatter stomach than any woman, even a 2:15 marathoner, has a right to 10 months after giving birth) is there at the Javits Center, waiting for you. We hope you enjoy it.

With all the anxiety now in the past, I can sincerely say that I can’t wait to watch Paula storm off the starting line on Sunday. She, too, has an incredible team working with her, and it’s hard to imagine the effort that has gone into their preparations over the past few months. The payoff for her–and all of us–is going to be one heck of a race.

-Gordon

The Expo Opens Today

The ING New York City Marathon Health and Fitness Expo opens today.

Location: Jacob Javits Convention Center, Halls 3E, 11th Avenue at 35th Street, Manhattan.

Doors open at 10:00 a.m.

There’s more info, including a schedule of expo activities, here.

Stress Relief

As the Marathon gets closer, typically our stress levels go up. We all have our ways of dealing with those problems. Unfortunately, my main form of stress relief is not available right now. What is my main form of relaxation? The companionship of Scarlet and Belle, of course.

Scarlet and Belle are my dog friends (and family). I have had them both since they were puppies. They adopted me, if the truth be told, by following me home and never leaving (they know a sucker when they sniff one)!

Scarlet showed up in 1997.

Belle joined the gang in 1999 (she’s in there somewhere).

They are a constant source of enjoyment and responsibility. Not just for me but for all the guys at the warehouse, especially Carlos who enjoys walking them as much as I do. It’s very relaxing. The dogs come to work each day and provide breaks from the stress, hustle, and bustle.

Sadly, during the Marathon we are so busy that it isn’t safe to have the dogs around a busy warehouse. Lucky for the dogs that I have two good friends in Cambridge, Vicky and Joe, who graciously host the Grrrls visit to what I call the Harvard Extension Campus.

It’s a sticky wicket for me because this time of year. Scarlet and Belle are such a part of my everyday life. Our favorite thing to do is sit on the futon while Human reads a book and Canine 1 & 2 receive pets and belly rubs. Scarlet usually complains that she isn’t getting enough attention; Belle is always happy whatever the situation.

This is the hardest part of the Marathon for me.

Race Week is Off and Running!

Reporting here from Tavern on the Green as we begin our second press event of race week.

We had a nice kickoff yesterday with journalists from around New York City. We have a long list of highlights and “what’s new” this year. I started talking over an appetizer and was still talking when they cleared the entrée. The highlight of the lunch was spending time with the fountain of youth of running, Bill Rodgers. We can always count on Bill to light of the room with his energy. It gave me goose bumps to watch him watch the video clip of his first run in NYC, in the race that changed roadrunning forever, the 1976 New York City Marathon.

Got to run. Two all time favorites, tied together in our history, Ramaala and Tergat just walked in – we have been eagerly awaiting their arrival. I also want to say a quick hi to the women I relate to most – five of this year’s “marathon moms” – one from each borough, who will race in our “race within the race” the Foot Locker Five Borough Challenge. I am hoping to get some running tips from them.

I thought of all of our marathoners today while I ran in the rain – a good day for a taper – keep it short and sweet or take the day off as you focus on the big day ahead!

More soon, Mary

Race Day Weather

It’s looking good (fingers crossed). Check it out here.

It’s the Expo!

Some facts about the ING New York City Marathon Health and Fitness Expo:

1) It starts on Thursday.
2) All runners MUST attend to pick-up their race packet.
3) It’s fun.

Find out about the hours, activities, and who’s giving away freebies right here.

P.S. The expo is open to the public (and free) so even if you’re not running, don’t be shy. Stop in and say hello.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Go far away…go gently and lovingly water our environment (grass, trees, and crops). Go snow in the mountains to provide healthy, earth nourishing water all year round.

What? Never knew a Marine to write like this? Someday I’ll tell you all about mountain training and just how “GREEN” the Marine Corps can be…okay, I’ll shut up about that.

Unfortunately, today I am ruminating on the rain. Normally I love the rain, even cold dreary days like today. If you are in the country you get to experience the roar of nature. The city quiets down on days like this in strange and beautiful ways. It is really remarkable…unless there is a race, then the rain stinks.

Oh, I am well aware that some of you love running when it rains and I actually like it too; but I don’t like working, setting up races in the rain. It is not a pleasant experience.

Okay, I am being negative and I know it. Fortunately for NYRR we are blessed with very good weather most of the time. We had snow for the 2007 Men’s 8K Championships (we ended up postponing the race one day and shoveling the course); it dumped buckets of COLD APRIL rain on us for the 2006 Run for the Parks and was slightly lighter for Grete’s Great Gallup that year; still both were cold. What compounded the misery for the work crew at the RFTP was that the rain started when we arrived in the Park and ended as we were driving away after the race. 3000 of you came out to run. I was soaked to the bone the entire day.

So I stand here at the warehouse looking out the roll up door. The clank of finisher medals fills the air; we are unpacking and counting them to make sure you all get one on Sunday. The rain is falling. Semi-trucks from the produce market whip past trailing smoky spray off the streets.

What I hope for, what I want on Sunday is a clear sunny but crisp day (52-55 degrees). Little to no wind. I want to tiredly smile; a smug, self-satisfied look etched on my face as you all come through the finish area for your medals, heat sheets (Mylar), food bags and baggage. I want to bask in the knowledge that along with Mother Nature, I did my bit in helping you along.

-Shawn

Living Things

My sixth-grade son had his first big science test this week. The unit was Living Things, and he had to commit to memory the six kingdoms that make up all organisms. As I reviewed this material with him, I couldn’t help think about the fourth-floor refrigerator at 9 East 89th Street, wherein I am certain that all six kingdoms are represented: eubacteria, bacteria, protista, plantae, fungi (oh, yes), and probably even an animalia or two.

It’s just part of marathon week: Staff is at the office at all hours in the weeks leading up, they bring in food, have leftovers, then their work takes them to Tavern on the Green and Staten Island and the Queensboro Bridge and the last thing on their mind is the half-gallon of milk with a sell-by date of September 29.

Speaking of yucky, what awful weather we’re having this morning! I am glad that my work today has me indoors at 9 E. 89 (NYRR HQ) and at Tavern on the Green, where the week’s first news conference takes place this morning. Hats off, again, to the huge crew of staging area and start staff making everything wonderful in Fort Wadsworth. We’ll keep a shelf of the fridge cleared for you.

-Gordon

Can’t Sit Still

Throngs of runners–more than 6,400–saluted the official launch of race week by running five miles that culminated in crossing the famous marathon finish line, adjacent to Tavern on the Green, at the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff yesterday. Three hours after the majority of runners crossed the finish line, I was ascending the creaky stairs at NYRR–my second home–to write same-day online race coverage.

As many of our dear NYRR members know, our online race coverage is a rockstar bonanza that showcases NYRR races with professional athlete fields, such as the marathon, the NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE, the Continental Airlines Fifth Avenue Mile, and others, and local running team points races. Our online stories and photo galleries reveal how each race was won and what makes each event so darn special. In short, it is our digital love letter to our supporters.

The Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff coverage was a breeze; Jillian, the Curly Sue photo editor extraordinare, Patrick and Web Guy Ed, and myself–who morphs into a just-get-the-job-done-quickly-at-all-costs newshound–were on the case. It was this seasoned group of professionals who sat inside on an invitingly sunny and warm autumn Sunday to bring you the action from the roads in Central Park. It took us approximately two hours to produce the masterpiece.

Often, it is not that quick or easy. I can recall long days that stretched into nights where I’d sit, blurry eyed and racing against the clock to look up another race result and edit another photo caption. The Fifth Avenue Mile in September was a recent illustration of just how long race day can drag…I attended the races in the morning as a reporter, and went back to NYRR to write, edit, and manage the circus until well after 9:00 p.m. Marathon day will be much more of the same, but on a grander scale. Like so many of you, my day will begin around 4:30 a.m., and I will travel with the professional athletes to Fort Wadsworth, then will head to the finish for further assignments. I’ll wear the reporter/editor hat later that afternoon, and will be working well into the evening to craft and perfect our online marathon stories and photo galleries.

Runners, I know you’ll be achey and tired after the marathon, but please do check out the race day coverage on Monday. It’ll make us happy to know that you care.

-Handbook Maven

Tom’s Infinite Playlist

Leaving the office after another long day preparing for the Marathon, I find myself empty as I walk to the train station, my mind and body used up by the constant rush of trying to accomplish too many things all at once. If there were not something to calm my stressed and hyperactive brain, I don’t think I could go on.

For me, what’s always kept me sane and inspires me to carry on has been music. I’ve been a drummer since I was 14 (though less so in recent years) and music has always pulsed through me. Not just any music will do; being a musician means you have an opinion, but it’s always a mystery to me just what will spark my interest at one time. Something usually obsesses me and the weeks leading up to the Marathon have been no exception.

Here’s some of what I’m listening to on my train rides to/from the office:

Portishead – The Rip
Godspeed! You Black Emperor – Moya
Grachan Moncur III – The Coaster
Can – Moonshake
John Coltrane – Jupiter
Brian Eno – Mother Wale Eyeless
Stars of the Lid – The Evil that Never Arrived
Keith Jarrett – Prism
Radio Birdman – Die Like April
Miles Davis – Spanish Key

Working at my desk, I’m still wondering if my co-workers notice that my iPhone quietly plays “Bloom,” the Brian Eno & Peter Chilvers generative ambient music application most of the day. They better get used to it, as hearing its tiny chimes is what’s keeping me sane!

Let’s hear from others, runners and NYRR staffers, about the playlists that keep them going!

Tom – Race Scoring

Set Your Clocks Back on Saturday Night

Welcome to race week!

With just six days left until the ING New York City Marathon, it’s time to get excited.

But it’s also time to deal with some practical matters. Here’s an important one:

Daylight savings time ends at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 2. Don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour before you go to bed on Saturday night.

Worried you’ll forget? Just check back here or here and I’ll remind you again.

-Web Guy Ed

A Day in the Life of the Warehouse

You will see a recurring theme to warehouse related blogging. I won’t waste your time making you guess as I don’t have room for Socrates right now (I don’t even have time for a shave).

Our work doesn’t end with the starter’s gun (for weekly races that is Peter Ciaccia’s air horn; for the ING New York City Marathon it is a howitzer!).

If you ever see me you can ask me what it was like actually loading and firing a 155mm howitzer (I’ve done it once).

Where was I? Oh yea, work…Warehouse work doesn’t stop with the start of a race. It most certainly doesn’t stop when you finish the race (your work). We work long hard pre-dawn hours. We work long hard post-dusk hours. It is 3:00 PM on Sunday, the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff is long over, and it was a heck of a great day too. We are not yet done, getting closer but not yet done.

Our work day started at 3:00 AM. We set up the race. You ran the race. While you ran the race we loaded a truck with the bibs you will wear on November 2. The bibs that the registration team worked so hard to pack, sort, and prepare for you. We cleaned up after you and picked up the race equipment. We came back to the Bronx where the warehouse is located. We checked our email (work, not personal) and began unloading two trucks. We had to reload the Marathon race bibs, your bibs, on cargo pallets. We also had to load the small blue structure used by our television partners. We also added the media center equipment on that truck; which needs to arrive in Central Park at 6:00 AM Monday morning.

Oh, the generators need to be refilled and payroll must be completed.

That is our day in a nutshell.

-Warehouse

The Office

Ever wonder what it looks like behind the scenes of ING New York City Marathon?

It looks like this:

Next to last staff meeting before the big race.

Samo gives Sara directions to the store where he bought his shirt.

This is Rossini. From behind. Working hard.

And Britney. From the side. Also working hard.

There’s more, with captions, here.

-Web Guy Ed

We Work, You Run

It is 9:00 PM on Friday night and I have been working since 4:50 a.m. Not up since 4:50 a.m. BUT working since 4:50 a.m. I am still not done. I need to secure the finisher water for the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff in Central Park; I need to make sure generators are refueled so that the telephone and computer network people have power to work in the morning. I have to stop and get coffee for one of our security guards. Getting coffee for a security guard isn’t necessarily a Marathon related job but it is important. It’s co-worker welfare (the Marine in me calls this Troop Welfare).

Troop welfare and mission accomplishment are the twin engines that drive me, tirelessly and tiredly, relentlessly and probably at time recklessly; though never so much as to compromise safety. Safety relates directly to troop welfare. Am I talking in circles? Hell yes, but then I am tired.

Hold that train.

My job is to safely and quickly get the races set up in time for your (the runners) arrival. The goal is for seamless set up so that you don’t even notice it. It doesn’t happen without wrinkles, hitches, blow-ups, a few tears, laughter and a good dose of self-satisfaction. With all modesty I think we do it as good as anyone and better than most.

I am here, there, and everywhere long before you are awake…and again after you have finished the race. You won’t see me while you are running but if you look you will see evidence of my hard work; the water, Gatorade, course delineation, hay bales, heat sheets, finisher medals…blah blah, blah blah.

I am the Event Department Warehouse…I work, so YOU can run.

This is a snapshot of me after the 2008 NYC ½.

Watching the Race

If you’re running the ING New York City Marathon, you’ll want to remember to DVR/TiVo the race so you can watch it afterward.

But, in case you forget, NBCSports.com will have an archived stream of the race available afterward through Monday, November 3.

There are also several great ways to watch the race live on race day (for fans, of course). Just visit this page for all the information about TV and Internet broadcasts.

Weather or Not

Have you started obsessing about the weather?

I have, and I’m not even running the freakin’ marathon. Every year I try to hold off on checking the forecast until a week to go, but this year I just couldn’t resist taking a peek today, nine days out. For those of you possessing slightly more self-control than I do, I’ll refrain from sharing the forecast with you.

I guess I’m obsessing more than I usually do because we have just had WAY too many Perfect Marathon Days lately. You know, 48 degrees, clear, and calm—ideal conditions for setting a PR (and not too bad for hanging out in front of a bar on First Avenue, either). And the pessimist in me thinks that it’s just not possible that these perfect conditions can persist all the way through November 2. As I did my run this morning, I thought wow, I’m glad I don’t have to taper on a day like today!

But taper you must, and although this is not a Daily Tip reminding you to take your taper seriously, I will point you in the direction of the Daily Tips, which have been put together this year by my amazing colleague R Dubs and are chock-full of all sorts of pre-race advice on tapering and just about every other marathon-related topic.

Enjoy the weather, and don’t you dare look at the weather forecast until at least five minutes from now.

-Gordon

Sweepstakes Mania

If you’re like me, you love free stuff.

Especially free (green, hybrid) cars.

Well, this year, in conjunction with some of our great marathon sponsors, we’re running a couple of sweepstakes that make it easy to get your free on.

Just visit www.pickandrive.com and pick the top three finishers (among the men or women) in the ING New York City Marathon and you could win a 2008 Toyota Prius.

Or, if you prefer, you can enter our Marathon Sweepstakes for a chance to win a bunch of great prizes like framed photographs of historical New York City Marathon scenes offered by the New York Times or a one-year supply of Poland Spring bottled water.

You can even enter both sweepstakes.

Runners, family, friends, I encourage you take advantage of these opportunities. Someone is going to win. It might as well be you.

Athlete Alert vs. Athlete Tracker

Runners – there are three ways for your friends and family to keep track of your position on the course.

Fan Alert lets anyone register to receive e-mails tracking their favorite runner (or runners). This service is available now.

Athlete Alert lets you, the runner, put in multiple loved ones’ email addresses so they can receive updates as you pass the various splits along the course. This service is available now.

Athlete Tracker let’s anyone track your progress in their web browser. To access this service, just have them go to www.ingnycmarathon.org on race day.

Splits for all services will be reported at every 5K mark along the course as well as at the start, half-marathon mark (13.1 miles/21.1K), miles 16 through 26, and the finish. These services are free and are a great way for people to keep track of your pace and location.

26.2 Miles of Love

The world continues to function outside these walls. I have to continue to remind myself of that as birthdays, anniversaries, and daily activities, such as lunchtime and bedtime, slip by unnoticed. When I call my boyfriend, he says it before I do, “I’ll be home late tonight,” in that voice that he thinks sounds like me, but doesn’t.

Inside the office, and a bit frighteningly, inside our heads, the world is the marathon. And although it is fatiguing and tends to make us loopy on select evenings (in group offices filled with frenetic energy, I might add), it’s become a driving force in our lives—shall I dare say it’s in our souls?

Perhaps a bit melodramatic, I’m a sucker for this race—it was my first and so far only marathon—and I can’t get it out of my head. But isn’t that what proves it’s all worth it? When you’ve working so hard for something that it feels like you own it, you appreciate it more fully. I think tens of thousands of runners, who would practically give their first born to get in each year, agree. And who needs Rumpelstiltskin, when you’ve got the fortitude to finish 26.2 miles and the motivation to do it all again?

A cynical New Yorker, or so I like to think, I’m not supposed to get all wrapped up in sentiment—but this race gets me every year. From my first days of training in 2006—when I was just one of 37,000 stories—I knew this was something special. A certain piece of it wouldn’t have existed without me. And now, here I’m orchestrating it from the inside.

I like to think all of this puts me at an advantage; having been part of the massive flow of people that took to the five boroughs, experiencing the Fort Wadsworth start, each distinctive neighborhood, and the awe-inspiring finish area two years ago should make my job easier. On second thought, perhaps it draws just a moment’s focus away from my race-day assignments. Hey, we’re all human, but this year, as I daydream for just a minute about being a finisher myself, I’m admitting it.

-R Dubs.

Better Know a Pro: All Apologies Edition

First, an apology is in order.

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to bring you yesterday’s “Better Know a Pro;” I realize that many of you probably wasted valuable work hours repeatedly checking and re-checking this blog–wearing a hole in your mouse with fervent clicking of the “Browser Refresh” button–in the hopes that, mercifully, I would bring your moderately-easy trivia fix; distributing tantalizing clues, cultural insight, and nonstop hilarity like some digital Johnny Appleseed. But I also realize that you’re a hearty lot, and trust that in time you’ll come to terms with the fact that it just wasn’t meant to be.

That’s the reality of this time of year, I guess. The days are filled with meetings in our well-appointed conference room, impromptu huddles in spacious hallways, and conference calls with our staff and volunteers already setting up shop out at Fort Wadsworth, in Central Park, or points in-between. Yesterday was one such day, and there was just too much going on to compose the finely-crafted blog posts that you’ve come to expect from me.

That said, we offer our belated congratulations to one Jimmy Manning, who correctly guessed the mystery athlete within minutes of publication. We will be sending him an autographed photo (of the athlete, not ourselves) shortly:

Paul Tergat

I was accused of making the clues too easy for Tergat, but it’s hard to think of little undiscovered nuggets of trivia when you’re talking about one of the greatest and best-known athletes the sport has ever seen. Tergat, as you’ll recall, won the ING New York City Marathon 2005 in the most exciting finish in marathon history, out-leaning defending champion Hendrick Ramaala by 3/10s of one second. The former world record-holder returns to New York after a one-year absence (he was third in 2006) in tremendous shape: he finished second in the RTP Lisbon Half-Marathon a few weeks back in 1:01:34. If the 39 year-old Tergat manages to win in New York next weekend–a definite possiblity–he will be the oldest men’s champion in race history, breaking his own record set with his win three years ago.

On to today’s Mystery Athlete!

1. This athlete’s spouse has also seen success on the international running circuit.

2. This athlete has achieved world class status despite suffering from asthma.

3. This athlete once appeared on a TV game show that gained its name from the lyrics of a 1956 Cole Porter tune.

Good luck to all!

samo.