I wasn’t supposed to make it to last night’s workout, as a mere two hours before 7PM I thought the odds of me making it to the Daniel Webster Statue were as close to zero as one can get. But for some reason, the workout somehow draws you in. There’s really no use fighting it.
Thursday turned out to be reunion day in Central Park, as one of the founding fathers of the club, Fritz Mueller, decided to drop by and say hello. Fritz, sporting a classic 1987 Shelter Island 10K race shirt, looked to be in great shape. For those of you who don’t know, Fritz ranks third on the CPTC list of best marathon times, running a sub 2:21 Boston as a masters runner in 1978. Sid Howard talked about his early days with the club, and how Fritz welcomed Sid to the Band of Orange Runners. Sid went on to say how Fritz is his running inspiration, and how he got Sid to participate in the original Wednesday night CPTC workouts, which consisted of a 17 mile run to the GWB and back. Yes, times have changed!
Yesterday also marked the return of Brad Weiss and Thom Little, who both took some well deserved time off after valiant runs in Boston. The spring marathon season is nearly over, and the warm weather has finally arrived.
The announcements, which included a CPTC rendition of Happy Birthday to guest of honor Fritz, were thankfully short, as everyone mentally prepared for tonight’s workout. The workout would be the last tough practice before the Healthy Kidney 10K, and consisted of a tough 1 mile interval book-ended by fast paced reservoir loops. With over four miles of hard running ahead, the mood quickly turned serious as the 44 runners headed out.
To prevent crowding on the reservoir, the A group departed first. However, with lots of runners out on the warm night, congestion could only be minimized, not eliminated. During the final reservoir loop, a New Yorker yelled at us, ‘hey, the reservoir is not a racetrack’. Immediately, you could see the rage in Alan Ruben s face, as he yelled back ‘oh yes it is’, and immediately ran in a faster gear. And since the workout called for a faster pace on the second loop, well, it was almost as if Tony purposely told the unknown runner to yell at us.
As the workout ended, everyone seemed pleased with the results, as most of the groups stayed in a tight pack throughout the entire run. As we jogged back to the statue, people started talking about past race stories. Dave Dorsey talked about his struggles in the Derry 16 Mile Road Race, an event known for freezing cold temperatures and backbreaking hills. Then, newcomer Tanya Luthi talked about how a competitor a few steps ahead of her answered a cell phone call right in the middle of a race. Fortunately, Tanya found the energy and motivation to quickly pass the cell phone adversary. And on that note, the workout ended, as everyone hurried home to see Bulls blow an insurmountable lead against the Pistons in round 2 of the NBA playoffs.