NYC New Years Triathlon 213-2014 edition

To the amazement of most of my friends, I am once again starting off the year with a jerry-rigged triathlon: The Midnight Run in Central Park, a bike ride to Coney Island the following morning, topped off with a dip in the Atlantic with the Coney Island Polar Bears. Cold, yes, but fun.

Here are the details:

Run: The Midnight Run has gotten a little expensive, like everything else New York Road Runners does these days, but it's the only game in town. You can sign up online until Sunday at midnight, or on the day of at the event in person. Costumes, fireworks and running: What more could you ask for? If you miss the sign-up and decide to run bandit, this is the one case where I won't disapprove - the race is not timed or scored. Just leave enough "champagne" at the water stop for the rest of us. Even if it's really sparkling cider. Let me know in advance if you plan on coming, but otherwise I'll try to be at the northern entrance to the baggage area at 11:45.

Bike: Let's assemble at the Central Park Bandshell (or "transition") at 10:00 a.m. on the First. If you plan on coming, let me know so I can wait for you if you're running late. Remember to bring a towel and dry clothes. You don't want to be biking (or riding the subway) in wet clothes.

Swim: Take a dip with the Coney Island Polar Bears.  If you've never done this, it should definitely be on your list of things to do while you live in New York. More fun than Times Square, fewer tourists, and just a happy, party atmosphere, helped no doubt by the folks who never stopped drinking from the night before. The logistics have gotten a bit more complicated in recent years. They ask you to donate to Camp Sunshine (think sleep-away camp for very sick children, a good cause). You can donate here, and if you are looking to support anyone one donor "team" in particular, consider teaming up with my friend Capri.  If you donate/register before midnight, you get to go to the front of the line, as they have started letting people into the water in waves, or at least that's how they're trying to organize people. Last year there were long lines.

See you at midnight! Or a little before.

Out with 2012, in with 2013

It's taken nearly twelve months, but I am finally getting around to writing a "race report" for the 2012/2013 NYC New Years Triathlon. I remember as if it was yesterday. No, wait, I don't. I looked at the notes I wrote closer to the date, and I can sort of make heads or tails of them, though at first they looked like some kind of secret code:

swag nearly picked up
roger rees
bicycle lanes
flat - two bikes
swim - hannah
good luck with that
chickens, bunny, cow
sparkling cider
better apples

So, let's use them as a framework.

swag nearly picked up: I believe this is a reference to one of the freebies that I noticed lots of the other runners had, but that I did not. I have a theory that there is very little that people won't do in exchange for a free t-shirt. The corollary to this is that, if you promise someone a free t-shirt, and then fail to deliver, that person will resent it for the rest of his or her natural life. In this case, the swag in question was a glow-in-the-dark armband/iPod holder. Everyone else seemed to have one except me. Not sure if they hadn't arrived when I picked up my t-shirt and hat, but all the same, it triggered a "what are they getting that I'm not" response. After the race, I saw one on the ground that someone had dropped. I started to walk over to pick it up, but someone else got there first, so I pretended I was walking in that direction, but for some other purpose. I also reminded myself that this was a bit of equipment that I would never, ever need, and that I don't like wearing arm-bands.

Can I also make a bid to keep people using the term "swag", an acronym for "stuff we all get", and not "schwag", which is, well, just wrong. Thanks.

roger rees: We had a celebrity in the house. Actor Roger Rees, whom I first saw on Broadway about thirty years ago in an epic adaptation of Nicholas Nickleby, was standing along the course. He lives (or at least used to) on Central Park West, so this wasn't too surprising.

bicycle lanes: I think the point I wanted to make here was that I managed to ride almost the entire way on bicycle lanes. One of the few nice things I can say about the Bloomberg administration is that the bicycle lanes have grown into a fully-formed network, allowing cyclists to go from one end of the city to the other with a little bit more security than before. Let's hope that the next mayor doesn't foul this up. I have low expectations.

flat- two bikes: Nope, no idea what I meant with this. Maybe that the course was pretty flat?

swim- hannah: Probably a reference to my friend Hannah Borgeson, an avid swimmer and fixture of the local open water swimming community. You can read her blog (and you should read her blog) here: http://40pools.wordpress.com/

good luck with that: Since I was riding alone, and since I was running a little late, and since I was really cold, I decided to take the subway part of the way to Coney Island. Frankly, I don't really enjoy the ride down Ocean Parkway - too many bad drivers at too many intersections, and the paving of the bike path - the oldest in the country! - is really poor. At the subway station, I bumped into a former colleague of mine from work. She was headed in the opposite direction, but as we waited for our trains, we had a nice catch up. I told her about my plans for the day, and her reaction was "good luck with that". Indeed.

chickens, bunny, cow: One of the best things about the Midnight Run is that many, many people show up in costume. This year I noticed more than one chicken, a bunny, and a cow. People also show up in costume for the Polar Bear Dip, but the costumes tend to be a bit more revealing. Which makes sense, in a way.

sparkling cider: as the photo below shows, they have removed one of my favorite signs from the Midnight Run. Instead of "Water" it read "Champagne", although we all knew it was really sparking cider. This year, they have given up the ruse and just posted "Sparkling Cider." Weak.

better apples: Again, no idea. Perhaps I was grumpy that the apples you get at the end of the NYRR events are Red Delicious, the lamest of all apples?

Happy New Year!

And now, the pictures, and a little video:

Rocking last year's hat

The Emerald Nuts mascot was once again in attendance.

The Countdown:

The Sparkling Cider sign I mentioned above

Posing with some Canadian friends. The towel around my neck isn't really keeping me that warm.

Cool and dry

Looks like the weather is going to cooperate this year, so time to set up some meeting times and places.

Run: I'll be at the north end of the baggage drop-off until 11:50 pm.
Bike: I'll be at the band shell in Central Park until 10:15 a.m.
Swim: I'll be at the bottom of the ramp of the pavilion (the southeast corner) on the beach side until 12:45.

If you're thinking of coming along, let me know in advance so I can keep an eye out for you.

Start the year with a triathlon. You know you want to.

I'm cribbing from last year's post. And why not? The details are all pretty much the same. But this year will be even better! Not quite sure why, but I can't see why not. Unless the weather fails us. We'll see closer to the time.

If Christmas is eight days away, then New Years must be only fifteen days from now, if I'm doing my math right. That means that you can make plans to join me for some - or all - of this year's NYC New Years Triathlon. And how do you do that?

Run
Join me at the New York Road Runners Club Emerald Nuts Midnight Run. If you've never been in Central Park at midnight, this is your chance. Will it be cold? Probably, but so is Times Square, but you'll encounter fewer tourists and have a better view of the fireworks.

Bike
The following morning, join me in Central Park for a leisurely bike ride to Coney Island. The route is mostly in parks and along greenways, and there's not a whole lot of traffic on the morning of New Year's Day. Let's try to meet at the band shell (we can call it the T1 Transition Area, if that makes you more comfortable as a triathlete. Or should it be T2?). Say, 10:00 a.m.? That way we can take our time getting to the ocean.

Swim

Jump in the Atlantic with the Coney Island Polar Bears. This is one of those things that plenty of New Yorkers have heard about but never done. Quit putting it off - this is one of the happiest places to be on January 1. The crowd is rowdy - clearly some folks never stopped drinking after the night before - but friendly. Run in to the water, run back out, and in addition to getting your heart rate up, you'll have something to impress your friends with when you get back home.

And for triathlon purists, I know that the order is backwards. But so what? It's not like it's a USAT sanctioned event, and no one is keeping score.

If you're thinking of joining me, drop me a line so I'll know to look out for you.

2011-2012 Recap

This will be the year that will be remembered as the time the triathlon went national. Sort of.

To start at the beginning, in early December (2011, I'm catching up here) the New York Road Runners Club sent out an e-mail to everyone signed up for the Midnight Run in Central Park, asking if they had any good stories. I wrote back with a summary of triathlon. A few days later, I got an e-mail from their PR department asking if they could have a producer from CNN contact me. Sure, why not? The producer called me, and after making sure that I was not a crazy person - or, given what I was planning on doing, at least not too crazy to appear on television - and asked if I'd like to be interviewed on camera shortly before the new year at the start of the race.

We arranged to meet near the bandshell about forty minutes before the race started, no easy feat, as there are approximately six thousand lively costumed people milling around, with loud music and flashing lights. Eventually we found each other, and the producer introduced me to the correspondent who was going to conduct the interview. We had a quick chat and then waited for the producers of CNN's New Years Eve show in Times Square to let us know when we would be going live. For the past several years, the show has been hosted by the unlikely pair of Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffiths. We waited. And we waited some more. The producer had a phone to his ear and was nodding. "OK, we can wait. (pause) She did what? (pause). And is she going to get dressed? (pause, then, to us) "Apparently Kathy Griffiths took off all her clothes, so we might have to wait a little longer."

The clock was ticking, and I knew we had to get the interview done in time for everyone to cut back to Times Square. Eventually we got the all clear, but we were told that we would have closer to thirty seconds rather than the three minutes we had prepared. Here's what it looked like: (thanks, illegal YouTube uploader!)

So, I managed to get the story across pretty quickly, and while it wasn't pretty, I was impressed with how the reporter managed to squeeze the tale into a much quicker package.

Since I hadn't been sure that I would make it on TV, I didn't tell too many people to watch for me. A few did (thanks, Mom!), and a hand full of others caught me by accident. After all, who watches CNN for the ball drop? One of my colleagues at work, an older gentleman, later told me that he was in New Orleans at the time, one time zone behind, and had the TV on in his hotel room as he and his girlfriend  prepared for the evening. He was floored to see someone he knew on TV. So floored that the next time he saw me he called his girlfriend and put me on the phone to prove that, indeed, I had been the one that he had seen. So floored that every single time I see him - about twice a month - he brings up my TV stardom. Even almost a year later. It's getting a little awkward.

And what of the race? As usual, it started with fireworks:

 The run wasn't too cold, and it once again featured the "champagne" stop instead of a water stop at mile 2 (sham-pagne? sparkling cider, to be clear).

The bike ride the following morning was a solitary affair, which is to say that despite my national TV coverage, no one chose to join me the next day. It took about two hours to get there, as you can see by my bike computer.

The swim was, as usual, happy chaos. My friend Capri, one of the leaders of the Coney Island Polar Bears, took this video. Over the summer, I showed the video to a friend, hoping to convince her of the virtues of taking part next year, and her comment was that it sounded a bit like a horror film with crowds fleeing a monster. She's not 100% wrong. But, really, we were enjoying ourselves, I swear. Look at all the smiling people:

Including one happy triathlete:

It looks like the weather is going to cooperate this year. Hooray for us! Now, for the important details, like "where are we going to meet?" 

For the run, unless I get waylaid by the media (more on that below), I'm going to suggest the north end of the baggage drop-off. This map should help, a bit. Be warned: this whole part of the park is happy chaos as midnight approaches, noisy, dark and confusing. Drop me a note in the comments if you want my contact information, as I'll have my cellphone with me. If you don't know what I look like, well, just look at the handy pictures on the blog.

For the bike, we'll meet at the Central Park band-shell, which will look strikingly different from the night before. Let's say 10:00 a.m.? This should give us plenty of time to take a leisurely ride to Coney Island. Bring a helmet and a lock.

For the swim, if you haven't already met up with us in the park or en route, let's try for 12:50 p.m. on the beach side of the pavilion where all the hoopla is taking place. There are restrooms and lots of noise at this pavilion, but on the beach side, it can be a little calmer, as most of the craziness is taking place closer to the water.

As for the media, CNN has taken an interest in my little project, and they may be interviewing me at about 11:30 on Saturday night, giving valuable filler so that Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin don't have to make awkward banter on air, which means that I should be done well before the race starts. However, this is live television we're talking about here, and that means either the schedule could get moved around or I could get pre-empted by important footage of an adorable kitten dressed up in a costume for New Years Eve (aww!). Stay tuned.

Time to ring in the New Year with yet another NYC New Years Triathlon

If Christmas is eight days away, then New Years must be only fifteen days from now, if I'm doing my math right. That means that you can make plans to join me for some - or all - of this year's NYC New Years Triathlon. And how do you do that?

Run
Join me at the New York Road Runners Club Emerald Nuts Midnight Run. If you've never been in Central Park at midnight, this is your chance. Will it be cold? Probably, but so is Times Square, but you'll encounter fewer tourists and have a better view of the fireworks.

Bike
The following morning, join me in Central Park for a leisurely bike ride to Coney Island. The route is mostly in parks and along greenways, and there's not a whole lot of traffic on the morning of New Year's Day.


Swim

Jump in the Atlantic with the Coney Island Polar Bears. This is one of those things that plenty of New Yorkers have heard about but never done. Quit putting it off - this is one of the happiest places to be on January 1. The crowd is rowdy - clearly some folks never stopped drinking after the night before - but friendly. Run in to the water, run back out, and in addition to getting your heart rate up, you'll have something to impress your friends with when you get back home.

And for triathlon purists, I know that the order is backwards. But so what? It's not like it's a USAT sanctioned event, and no one is keeping score.