TFK Video

Here's a video I edited together from footage shot by documentary filmmaker Christian Regnaudot, myself, Eugene Koenig, Coach Adam and my ex-girlfriend Be. It was used as a promotional tool to get people interested in joining the team, and a lot of people seemed to enjoy it. Anyway, take a look, it does a good job of summarizing what the program is about.

Click here to watch video:
TFk Video

I am a fan of DVD's and director's commentaries, so I will explain all the shots for those people who have seen the video numerous times and were wondering what they were looking at:

The first scene is of Laurie Adelman who was on Team for Kids last year, right after finishing the race. Laurie's net time was 3:37:40, which qualified her for the Boston Marathon, a great achievement.

The Music

The song is "To Win Just Once" by a great Irish rock band called The Saw Doctors. They are very popular over in Ireland and have a small but fiercely loyal cult following here in the States. I was going to type a big explanation of the band, but the Internet, God bless its little heart, did it for me, so here it is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Saw_Doctors

I got permission to use the song from the manager back in November for a video I edited from footage Coach Adam and I shot at the 23 mile run. We showed it at the pasta dinner the night before the marathon and the song inspired people while the images reminded people of their accomplishment at the 23 miler (if you can run 23 miles, you can run 26.2, trust me on that one).

When we did the promotional video you have just watched (watch it now if you haven't), I felt we needed permission again, so I simply went to a few of their concerts in the spring of 2006 and approached the composers themselves. I spoke to Leo at a show in New Haven, CT and he said, "Brilliant!" and spoke to Davy at a show at the Irving Plaza here in New York and he said, "Great, as long as it's for charity, no problem!" They are very accessible, down to earth guys, as is the entire band, and we all appreciate their generosity in letting us use the amazing song.

If you enjoy their work here is a link to their website, the song can be found on the CD "To Sing a Powerful Song" which is sort of a greatest hits collection, and the two live albums, "Live on New Year's Day" and "Live from Galway".

http://www.sawdoctors.com

The Kids

I went to two events featuring the kids running after the marathon, one was a slightly over 1 mile cross country race held in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, and the other was an indoor Jamboree held at the Track & Field Armory in the Coogan's Bluff area of Manhattan.

At the outdoor event there were two separate races, the girls ran first and then the boys. So you see shots of the boys finishing, and the "Braveheart" shot as I call it of all the girls running across the field at the camera.

Eugene Koenig went with me to the indoor event, and I interviewed some kids and coaches while he shot. So the shots of the red-headed kid stepping down off the podium prematurely, and the kids running around the track, and the 100 yard dash and the very excited girl collecting the blue ribbon, are all from that race. Many Team for Kids members were there that day handing out ribbons (Dave Edwards, KC Cohen, Oscar Sloterbeck), and helping out in other vital ways (Nancy Shanley, Jennifer Arozamena, Frank Brown) and I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody.

The sign thanking TFK was made by children from P.S. 140 in the Bronx, whose running program has been supported by Running Partners for two years now, with the funds we raise. I got a chance to talk to Alan Day, the coach of the running team there, and he also expressed great appreciation for our efforts. He told me the kids get a lot out of the program and particulary look forward to events like the Jamboree put on by the New York Road Runners Foundation. He mentioned one kid in particular who really improved in school after joining the running program.

The Team for Kids Marathon Training Program

The next part of the video showed various scenes from our training program:

- Coach Adam speaking on the bullhorn at our 23 mile run, the longest one we do, 3 weeks before the marathon

- Coach Danielle checking people off on the list at one of our practices

- Coach Dave timing some runners as they finish up at the Engineer's Gate at 90th Street and 5th Avenue, where we meet for a lot of our runs. You can see Cliff Sperber, the Executive Director of the NYRR Foundation, as one of the runners who passes Dave.

- Nancy Shanley and Beverly Gayle finishing their 23 mile run

- Amy Dold & Sonia Song, two members of my pace group finishing the 23 mile run. As you can see, Craig and I were no where in sight, as we had stopped to go to the bathroom at about the 13 mile mark and tried in vain to catch up with the two speedy women for the next 7 miles. Here is a tip for you runners out there: don't try catching up to your pace group if you spend two minutes in the bathroom after running 13 miles with 10 miles to go. We sped up and caught them at mile 20, and then died a slow and painful death the last 3 miles.

Another interesting thing about this scene is I always tend to put Amy Dold and dogs in all the videos I make, so when I found this footage while sorting through Christian's tapes I was understandably delighted to find a scene with both Amy Dold and a dog in the same shot (note the Boxer playing soccer with the little boys on the left side of the screen).

- Next shot also at the 23 mile run, of Coach Alem exhorting us on before the run (this was probably at 6:45 a.m.).

- Volunteer Anthony Chang, who graciously let me borrow his bicycle for the NYC Triathlon last month, and Coach Erica, over on the east side of Manhattan, the best attended of the water / Gatorade stops during our 23 mile run. Shout out to Suzanne Guziec for going to the market and buying more Gatorade with her own money after supplies ran out.

- Jenny Arden joking around trying to explain her name to Amin Jai, one of the support staff of the team. This section of the orignal footage with sound is funny to watch because apparently Amin was really tired as it was early in the morning. So here he was having trouble with the name Jennifer Arden, and then he walks up to a guy I know who is named Jakob Hirzel, from Switzerland, and yes, hilarity did ensue:

AMIN: What's your name?

JACK: Jakob Hirzel

AMIN: Ummmm....

JACK: [Laughs, takes clipboard, writes his own name down]

AMIN: Boy am I tired....

Marathon Day

One of the nice perks we get as Team for Kids members is special buses to the start of the race. Everybody must take a bus to the start and the NYRR provides that service, for an extra fee, but typically you don't know anyone on it with you and you have a long & lonely ride to the start. On the TFK buses you get to sit with your teammates who you have bonded with over the last several months, and it was very enjoyable. So there is a shot of Coach Pete talking to my buddy Craig on the ride to Staten Island, and then a shot taken out the window of the entrance to the starting area. Then a shot of Pat Padden, the 2nd fastest man from Concord, Massachusetts, in Brooklyn during the early stages of the race, probably between miles 3 and 5.

- Then you see a shot of a group of my friends and pace group members, Farrah Buchanan, Russ Artman, Sonia Song & Amy Dold. We had run together for the first 16 miles of the race, but I had fell back about a minute at that point (this was shot by my ex-girlfriend at the 18 mile mark).

- A shot of the Team for Kids logo plastered on a light pole with some bright green streamers.

- My friends Farrah and Moffat hugging at the finish, their times being around 3:49.

- 2 brothers from Utah, each doing their first marathon. Things are going to get mushy here, but here is why I threw these guys in there. Autumn Backman's mother reported seeing an inspiring sight of somebody running back after crossing the finish line to run along side a fallen friend, which she had photographed. Autumn posted the message to see if any one would be interested in the photo, and Tasi Young posted this reply:

"I’m seriously in tears remembering this moment.

I pulled something in my knee right around mile 22 and the pain went up into my hip. I went from a good race pace to a hobble/hop. My brother encouraged me but I just couldn’t keep up with him and at mile 25 I couldn’t see him any more. I was frustrated and in a lot of pain. I just kept thinking the finish line would never come and I knew when I did cross I would be late and alone. It was all I could do to stiffen up my upper lip and not let emotion take over.

Then of course I see my brother running back for me. I know it sounds cheesy but at that moment everything seemed to change. We started this together almost a year ago and now we would cross the finish line together on our first marathon. The pain and dejection evaporated and was replaced with joy and love for my brother, the race, and the cause. I couldn’t couldn’t hide my smile.

T.J. grabbed my arm and pulled me out of my hobble and we finished with our hands in the sky.




My brother is my best friend, he is a year my senior, and we would have never run this race without his zeal for life and determination to do great things. This moment is a great representation of his care and love; there have been many times in our life where he could have left me behind, but he has always come back for me.

Thanks bro!"

- Ok, and we're back. Sorry about that. :-( Dawn West with my close friend Beth St. James to the left and in back of her with Jeff Hunt from Tampa, Florida.

- Marla "Flash" Weinstein and my buddy Nathan Miller showing off their medals.

- A guy whose name I don't know, but if you dye your hair green, you're getting some airtime!

- Lauren Wibmer flashing a brilliant smile. At least one guy told me he joined the team on the off chance that he might meet her, so that was a good pick by me.

And finally my racing partner down the stretch of many a training run, Alan Gardner, and his victory dance. At practices, he would always catch up to me and pretend to be a commentator of a race, "It's Bannister, it's Prefontaine, Bannister, Prefontaine, neck and neck." He was Ban and I was Pre and he always won the sprint to the end, as he has a top speed greatly in excess of mine. At the end of the marathon I actually caught sight of him on Central Park South, with less than 0.4 miles to go, and contemplated trying to race him to the end one final time. But I knew I would break 4 hours if I didn't try anything stupid so for once during my "Tin Cup"-like running career I exercised some self restraint and did the smart thing and let him go. He wound up crossing the finish line 14 seconds ahead of me. :-(

Ok so that's it, hope you enjoyed it, if you'd like to donate follow the directions over on the right side of the page. You might as well do it now, because I have a lot more sappy stuff to hit you with over the next 3 months. ;-)