Category Archives: Running

 

November 8th, 2010

New York City Marathon (Some thoughts and photos)–Updated for Zoe Koplowitz

Bear with me as I deviate from the law, as I did the other day, at least until the end where I hit you with the answer to this lawyer-marathoner trivia question: Who is the most important lawyer in the country to run a marathon?

Now on to the race…

Want to know one of the best parts of running the New York City Marathon? For one day you get to compete, head-to-head, against the very best in the world. Same race track. Same weather conditions.

Needless to say, I got crushed. But this a sport where, if you get crushed by the best in the world, strangers approach you on the street to offer congratulations. And you’ll feel good about it.  So long as you don’t think about the muscle soreness.

Will I ever get to play against the best baseball players in the world, in a real game? Will I play in the National Football League? NBA? NHL? Nope, nope, nope and nope.

But the NYC Marathon is both open to the public and draws the best in the world.  They get over 100,000 applicants, and yesterday over 45,000 people ran. Most get in (or lose out) based on a pure lottery system.

And the wonder of it all is that the crowds are out there cheering for the middle of the pack runners. Sweet.

We had crisp, cold weather in the 40s. That’s as good as it gets. Huge crowds. A gazillion signs. And me determined not just to run the event, but to race it as hard as I could. Today, I feel the effects of pushing myself hard, particularly in the closing miles.

My son seems to have a good eye as a photographer. Or he got lucky.

To all who came out to cheer or volunteer for the single greatest sporting event on the planet, this runner thanks you.

And the answer to the trivia question: Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 1980 in a time of 3:11. Thomas, it seems, had some pretty good wheels back in the day. From the linked ABC news article:

He wrote that he began to see it as a metaphor for his life: “You paid the price and suffered or you didn’t.” He wrote that when he ran the race, he hit “the wall,” and believed his legs would give way. He whispered over and over to himself, ‘never quit, never quit, never quit’ and barely made it to a water stop staffed by a young Marine.

“God, this is hard,” Thomas told him.

“That’s what you asked for,” the Marine replied, without a trace of sympathy.

Updated: Zoe Koplowitz has now finished the marathon, 35 hours, 27 minutes after it started. She came in dead last. Again. In 22 marathons, she always comes in dead last. She runs with multiple sclerosis. Using crutches. Accompanied by Guardian Angels through the night. Something to think about the next time you face a challenge. Of any kind.

Some other NYC Marathon links/photos:

20 Funny Costumes From the NYC Marathon

NYC Marathon Conquered

NYC Marathon 2010: Faces at the Finish

New York Road Runners Slide Show

NY Post video story on YouTube

Marathon Inspirational Video

Marathon Course Video

She Got Her Gold. More Important, She Earned Her Gold

Time lapse photography of the runners streaming over the Verrazano (YouTube video)

 

November 5th, 2010

The Long Blue Line (26.2 Miles of It)

Tick tock. Tickety tock.

The moment is drawing near. New York is buzzing with thousands of runners pouring in as they prepare to run this Sunday in one of the greatest pieces of urban theatre on the planet: The New York City Marathon.

They started painting the line — a 26.2 mile long blue line stretching from Staten Island to Brooklyn to Queens to Manhattan to the Bronx and back to Manhattan — on Wednesday.

About 43,000 runners — an army on foot — will make the journey (map). If past performance is any indicator of the future, about 97% will cross the finish line in Central Park.

Want to know what’s it’s like inside the race? My Blawg Review #134 was themed on this race and can give you a sense of what it’s like to be inside of this 26.2 mile long block party.

But I confess that it’s difficult to communicate the excitement of racing through the melting pot of Brooklyn, with people jammed cheek to jowl on 4th Avenue screaming in a hundred languages at us middle-of-the-pack runners; childrens’ arms stretched to the street to slap the hands of those passing.

Or the thrill of coming down off the 59th Street Bridge into Manhattan, with its dramatic sweeping turn into the canyon of First Avenue, electric with noise. The best in the world have been known to get so juiced at the sight that they push too hard and consume the energy stores needed for later.

Or the tight, twisting confines of the closing miles in Central Park, with people exhorting you on when your brain tells you to stop.

Yeah, it’s pretty awesome. A crowd estimated at 2.5 million people. Bands galore. Even the cops and firemen cheer. It’s that kind of day.

It’s now 40 hours till they fire the canon. Tick tock. Tickety tock.

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Related:

 

September 28th, 2010

Trial Tactics and Race Planning

I looked in my RSS feed and saw 4,000 unread posts. Yeah, I know that’s a lot.  If the blogosphere thinks I fell off the face of the earth because my posts are a bit less frequent lately, I assure you that those in my community know otherwise.

For this Sunday is the Paine to Pain Trail Half Marathon, which I founded and for which I’m the Race Director. And as we come down the home stretch in planning, I find myself sorting through a thousand details and talking with a thousand people to get those details nailed down.

In other words, it resembles, to some extent, planning for a trial. Trial lawyers love to talk about tactics and fancy cross-exams, and who hasn’t fantasized about the perfect summation?

But in reality, a trial is the culmination of a thousand different details dealing with subpoenas, medical and employment records, documents, diagrams and demonstrative evidence, difficult evidentiary matters, lists, lists and more lists, and the godawful misery of trying to work around the schedules of the experts.

And lists and details are what I also deal with regarding the race.  I have hundreds of people showing up from 12 states, and I need my finishers medals, shirts, sponsor stuff, food, water, timers, medical personnel, 100 volunteers, and 13 miles of little flags laid through the woods, all in the right place at the right time. Details, details, details.

They ought to give a class in law school called “event planning.” It would have a thousand different applications both in law and life.

When I wrote about this race two weeks ago, I noted that:

I’ve met a lot of people. Not the meet as in I’m-following-you-on-Twitter meet, but as in hundreds of  real people in my own community knowing me as a person.  I didn’t create the race as a form of networking, of course, but when people get involved in community events it is a natural by-product.

So on Sunday, I’ll have followers. This will be in the literal sense to the extent I can move my feet faster than they can move theirs, and in the figurative sense to the extent I’m showing them a new trail system.

I won’t get a single new Twitter follower as a result of this race. But I do hope to have hundreds of exhausted and happy faces at the finish line who have become new friends and acquaintances.

 

September 13th, 2010

Turkewitz in the News…

OK, this has nothing at all to do with personal injury law. It has to do with running. (But if you look, you can find a social media tie-in at the end.)

For those that don’t know, I’m the founder and race director for a 1/2 marathon trail race in Westchester County. I wrote about this two years ago as we prepared for the inaugural event.

And yesterday The Journal News did a feature story about our 3rd edition of the race (Paine to Pain half-marathon a local gem).

This was the lede:

Trail runners are by nature a different breed. They’re not your ordinary marathon runners.

“There’s a difference between being a runner and trail runner,” Mamaroneck resident Nina Steinberg said. “Trail running is a lot of ups and downs. We’re proud of coming home splashed with mud and dirt. We’re a funny group. We wear our dirt as a badge.”

I’m quoted extensively regarding the work done to create the event, starting in 2002.

So in putting on this race, I’ve met a lot of people. Not the meet as in I’m-following-you-on-Twitter meet, but as in hundreds of  real people in my own community knowing me as a person.  I didn’t create the race as a form of networking, of course, but when people get involved in community events it is a natural by-product.

And that may be some food for thought as people go gaga over all those new “followers” they have on Twitter.

UPDATE: Some reviews of the race are at the Paine To Pain blog.

 

April 15th, 2010

Good Luck Boston Marathoners

We interrupt this law blog to bring you a special report. Here now, coming to you live from his desktop…

To those running the 114th edition of the Boston Marathon this coming Monday, I wish you good luck and cool temperatures.

For those of you that don’t know, it is the oldest annual marathon in the world and the only one other than the Olympic Trials that has qualifying times to gain admittance. It is, in the minds of many, the Holy Grail of long distance running.

But I not only wish you luck, but hope that you’ll have as good a time as I did last year during this 26.2 mile long party. My recap from last year, to get you in the proper mood:

Boston Marathon (Drinking Beer, Kissing Wellesley Women and Abstract Journeys)

For those who are running, or seeking inspiration for a future attempt, a few extra links:

  • Martin Duffy: The End of an Unintended 40-Year Boston Streak:

    …Life is a little like the Boston Marathon. It is an allegory from bucolic Hopkinton through Natick, Wellesley and Newton to the City on the Hill, Boston. And in the beginning, you get lulled by its ease. From Hopkinton Green, the course opens downhill. It starts easy — maybe way too easy. And so you overdo and thrill in the fast miles. The hills and the challenges are down the road and way in the future…

  • The Allure of the BQ: Why the Boston Marathon Keeps Me Running:

    …I get asked from time to time what makes Boston such a pinnacle for runners. My answer is simple: it’s a pinnacle because it’s hard. There’s no lottery, and you can’t simply just sign-up for the race. You need to earn your way there, and that is exactly what I’m determined to do…

  • Boston Preview: Updates:

    Since last week, there have been several significant changes to the Boston elite start list…

  • Last-Minute Advice for Boston Marathoners:

    Nothing but strength and determination will help Boston Marathon hopefuls get over Heartbreak Hill on April 19. But this roundup of tips from runners who’ve braved the the famous marathon may provide some last-minute ideas that will help your overall race-day strategy..