While I was Baja, traversing the entire Peninsula, my path crossed with a Malcolm Smith charity ride a few times. For those of you who don’t know, Malcom Smith is a racing legend - he’s a 6 time Baja 1000 winner and a veteran of the Paris Dakar, Mint 400, Roof of Africa Rallye. He’s also well known for his role in On Any Sunday, a classic movie from the early 70’s that featured him along such stars as Steve McQueen.
Each year, Malcom does a big charity ride down in Baja to raise money for children’s charities. I just happened to be down at the same time, riding many of the same roads. Our paths crossed a number of times, but I got this great picture in Porta San Francisquito. It was a real pleasure meeting a living legend and I found his charity work inspirational. A lot of people don’t take the time or initiative to give back - Malcom does.
This weekend brought some nice weather and my first chance to run one of my favorite paths, from the East Village over the Williamsburg Bridge to McCarren Park and back.
The bridge has both the North and South paths open and was full of people enjoying the sunny day. As usual everyone stays on the North path (pictured), which I think is due to the entrance on the Brooklyn side for the South entrance being hidden.
Running through Williamsburg for the first time in 4 months, I had a chance to see the incredible construction going on and the progress that has happened in 4 months. Kent Ave has become a full on construction zone, where in the next year thousands of people will live. Is a always strange to think that a few years ago I would run there without seeing a soul.
One soul that I did see on the corner of Kent & N.12th asked me for directions, which unfortunately I could not help them with. My question to other runners, when you are out there do you stop if people ask you for directions or do you wave them off? I know everyone thinks they would stop, but would you? Do you?
For all the shenanigans the Dukes of Flatbush do in our day to day lives, we do try to give back to charity when we can. Members of this club have run for Team for Kids and Fred’s Team, raising $10,000 over the past few years.
On that note I wanted to alert all of our readers about another charitable event coming up in the next few months. The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center Rock & Run on the River. Here is a description of the event from the event organizers of this run/walk event, so far all of you aspiring runners and walkers here is your chance to make a difference.
Come and share the excitement and inspiration of Rock & Run on the River - a 5K run/walk along the beautiful Hudson River that celebrates life beyond cancer and raises awareness and support for Memorial Sloan-Kettering’s Cancer Survivorship Initiative.
Date: Sunday, June 8, 2008
Time: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Registration opens at 7:00 AM)
Where: Hudson River Park’s Pier 84 (12th Ave. and 44th St.), New York City
I just flew back from Baja last night. I’m staying by the beach in Santa Monica, recuperating, and thinking about the 1,230 off-road motorcycle trip I just took from Ensenada to Cab San Lucas. We did 1,230 miles in 6 days, averaging 37 MPH. We drove down the entire Baja Peninsula, cris-crossing from coast to coast and back in a single day. It was amazing how varied the landscape would be in a given day - as you reduced or gained altitude, as you approached or went away from the Ocean, neared big mineral deposits. Alien and beautiful country. Major stops included Enseneda, San Quintin, Bahia De Los Angeles, San Ignacio, San Juanico, Loreto, La Paz, Todos Santos and finally, Cabo San Lucas. Along the way I managed to slip by cows, horses, donkeys, snakes, fly swarms, rabbits and coyotes. Made it to Cabo in one piece, but I’m pretty beat up - swollen hands with large blisters, bruised shoulder, knees and shins. Sore all over. I have new respect for the sport and particularly the Baja Peninsula. I’ll write a bunch of posts this coming week that talk about the memorable moments - way too much for one post. But yes, it is done. Done and done.
As many of you have read here multiple times, I never run with music and really believe nobody running outdoors should run with music. It throws off your balance, keeps you from focusing on your stride and is technically illegal in most local racing events.
Now to step off my preachers box and explain why this new product from Nike makes me happy, which is strange since I really do not like most Nike running gear.
The Nike + Sportband is the first product that allows runners to use the Nike + system without having to use their Ipod Nano at the same time . So this means you can use all the cool Nike systems without having to listen to music while you run.
Below is the info from Nike and their marketing wizards:
Nike+ SportBand allows runners to see their distance, pace, time and calories burned when they run, in addition to gaining access to all of the features and tools on nikeplus.com. Designed for runners who choose not to run with music and for those times when you can’t use music, the Nike+ SportBand provides all the benefits of Nike+ technology, but opens up the Nike+ experience to a broader audience of runners. Runners who enjoy that extra motivation, or who are music fans, can continue to hear their run details through an iPod nano system.
DOFB
