We Did It!

Saturday - Marathon Eve.
One last meal of pasta. At this point I had been eating pasta for the past 3 days mixed with the right balance of protein and fat. Either way, I’m done with the pasta. The dinner took place at the marathon eve pasta dinner at Tavern on the Green. This is always hectic but I’m amazed at how organized they are in managing to feed over 15,000 runners. The dinner is great tradition, and I think it really adds to the marathon experience. Plus, you get a sneak peek at the marathon finish line where the 43,000 runners will pass through the next day. Three other runners along with friends and family joined me for the dinner.

Staten Island
Once we finished our meal, we were shuttled over to Staten Island. We stayed the night at the Hilton Garden Inn on Staten Island that was short drive to start line. Well, a short drive with no traffic. After checking in we had about an hour before we had to meet back downstairs to meet some of the other team members and take part in a Maasai ceremony.

The Ceremony
What took place was part of a traditional Maasai ceremony that the Maasai perform before becoming a warrior. In our case this was a ceremony for us to become warriors before the run. Samson the president of the trust, Sunte and Parashi entered the room dressed in their Shukka’s, beautiful Maasai jewelry (more than I had seen them wear before) and adorned with red paint down the side of their faces. I knew these guys were warriors but now they really looked liked warriors. Each came in and began applying the same face paint to each of the runners.

After applying the paint to each one of the runners Samson stood before us and described the ceremony that we were about to take part in. He explained that traditionally, the Maasai would have to go out and kill a lion to become a warrior but that is no longer practiced. Before beginning, Samson had to make an unfortunate announcement that he would not be able to run with us tomorrow. He had visited a doctor in the city that confirmed he had a stress fracture in one of his legs due to over training. It was a sad moment for the team but he said he would run with us in spirit.

The ceremony began with Samson, Paraishi and Sunte leading us in a series of chants and some singing. We were instructed to call back with our own chants. At one point, we all knelt down in a circle around Sunte as Samson walked around to each of us with a clay carafe with palm fronds extending out from it. The carafe was filled with milk and water, and as he chanted, he lightly splashed us with the milk in and water. Parashi followed behind him with some oil, which he rubbed on our foreheads. The oil symbolized the fat from a sheep they would normally slaughter during the traditional ceremony. The ceremony preceded with more chanting, and at one point all the runners getting in a line in a warrior-like stance with shield in one hand and spear in the other and letting out a series of grunting noises followed by a charge.

The ceremony ended with very heartfelt words from Samson, Parashi, Sunte, Luca and Edward. Samson expressed his sincere gratitude for all the hard work done by all the runners to help raise money and awareness for the Maasai community. Luca followed by expressing his gratitude and mentioned the growing list of key accomplishments of the trust that would not be possible without the help of others.

Feeling energized, empowered and ready to run, we all left that room as Maasai warriors ready to take on the city streets in the morning.

Race Day
The crowds were amazing, louder than I remembered. There were even more bands playing along the way. From marching bands to indie rock bands in Williamsburg to hip hop in the Bronx and Harlem, seeing, feeling and hearing the different cultures from each borough was incredible. All cheering for a bunch of runners!

I’m not sure if it is because I became a Maasai warrior in that hotel conference room the night before, the cheers and support of the crowd, or deeper reasons but I ran faster and harder than I’ve ever run in my life. There were groups at a few cheering stations that erupted as I went by at mile 8, 18, 23 and 25. The cheers and words of encouragement really do make a big difference. The miles early on seemed to fly by with ease.

I was really surprised when I came up on Parashi. He started ahead of me and had slowed to a walk at around mile 14. I slowed up beside him to see if he was okay and he said his lower leg was hurting. He told me to keep going. I asked if he wanted to run with me, which he tried, but in a few strides said he needed to take it easy. I made sure he was okay and with a smile on his face told me to go, go, go. I felt bad moving on without him but I took his words of encouragement and ran on. I’m glad to hear he finished and finished well.

I felt great until about mile 20 and my calves started to cramp. I had to stop and stretch a couple of times but kept going. I pushed hard through the final hills in the park where I was greeted with a loud roar from a group of friends and coworkers that helped push me up one of the final hills to finish line. I arrived to the words of the announcer saying something like “ It looks like one of our Maasai Warriors is approaching the finish line” that gave me chills.

Finishing in 3:09:33 is fast enough to qualify for Boston in April, which supposedly is the marathon of marathons. So I guess I’m going to do all this again soon (I’m not sure it will be as exciting though). Afterwards, I met up with friends and family at PJ Clarks for a well-deserved burger and a beer. It was a great time of celebration with friends, family and other runners after the race.

It felt great to complete the marathon for the Masaai, the team and all the people that support the cause. This will be memorable experience for the rest of my life and has definitely inspired me to pursue more fundraising efforts in the future (again, though they might not be as exciting as this one).

It is day four and most of the pain has subsided, but I know from past experience that the pain from the marathon does not end at the finish line. It stays with you for a few days. Maybe so you don’t forget the exciting and wonderful thing you just accomplished.

Thanks for all the help and support. I especially would like to thank my parents who flew all the way up from Georgia to support me. Dad, thanks for inspiring me to run these crazy races. Also a big thanks to all the groups at each of the cheering stations. The marathon committee in the office. We would not have been as successful without all your help and commitment. Thank you so much to all my friends and family that donated. I’d also like to thank Erika Matthias who set up this blog and helped me share the stories along the way. I hope to keep the blog going and share more stories about races, training, traveling and all the experiences I have in the city. Check back for more updates and photos.

and there you have it...

We have marathonned!
From the sidelines:

Brian performed phenomenally. He will post soon about his amazing experience and personal-best time, though I believe tonight's agenda was "icing and stretching." He was the first of all the Maasai Marathon team to cross the finish line, and we are all very proud.

The experience of cheering the runners on in Central Park in the last stretch was phenomenal itself. Wheelchair racers, runners of every imaginable nationality, intense halloween costumes, the sick and delirious, and men with bloody nipples frightfully staining their jerseys were just a few of the experiences that made the hours of yelling colorful and bearable.

Brian had four teams of support along the route: Fort Greene in Brooklyn (mile 14); 92nd and 1st in upper Manhattan, 92nd and 5th (mile 18), and our team at Central Park East around 74th (mile 24). We were able to follow his pacing and progress through text-message updates and on the internet with our phones, as well.

As we knew Brian was approaching, Team Mile 24 became quite anxious, looking for him... and looking... and looking...we almost missed him! He was nearly past us before a heroic yell came forth from one of our legion, and then we erupted. We were completely exhausted after that sixty seconds of emotional wailing, and panicked at the thought that we nearly missed him. It was then that we realized we despised the white jersey a little bit, whose generic color made picking out the MWCT runners quite difficult. Though finding runners within the horde is probably challenging regardless, it remained difficult to find the crew the entire afternoon, and we only were able to identify probably a third of the MWCT runners. There were definitely a few we were looking for and were quite sad to miss out on (Luca, Sunte- :( we so desperately wanted to yell for you! ).

Seeing the beleaguered troops dragging up the hill (we were mid-hill, the running looked painful at that point), you couldn't help wanting to encourage them, all tens of thousands of them... so we took to identifying people who either looked like they really needed support to keep them moving (or just those who clearly had their name displayed), and then gave them all we had. It was a good time, though completely exhausting after what ended up being four hours. We learned that Italians respond really well to having "Italia!" called out, the French like "Allez la France" maybe half the time, and Brazil responds pretty well, as do the Scandinavias, whereas Deutschland only really responded well at most, a third of the time (not an official study, just an observation under these circumstances). A couple of our team members are considering starting a business, "Say My Name," that strategically plants cheering sections for weary athletes to deliver needed support.

We were really pumped to see Parashi run through, but way later than he should have- his calves were killing him. The problem with taking mega-fast Kenyan runners from their environs in the Maasai wildlands and plopping them on the asphalt of Manhattan is the potential for shock. The asphalt was so unforgiving in comparison to what they normally run on that they switched from their Michelin Thousand Miler sandals to Puma running shoes, and their feet weren't accustomed to them. Samson's stress fracture prevented him from running. Hope this doesn't sour their experience here in the states at all.

The crew, all of them, were very honorable today, battling it out on with the pavement. And as of today the Maasai Marathon effort has raised well over seven hundred thousand dollars, now pushing eight hundred (can we make it more? Donate HERE). But Brian is the hero, first of the MWCT team to cross the finish line and represent us all. Yay! Continue to follow him, he's going places....

thousandmilers are rebounding

Well, the fundraiser went beautifully, and was a lot of fun. We raised over $2500 for the MWCT. Edward and the Maasai showed up, and Edward and Brian spoke, and everyone was joyous. Raffling was exciting and the food and drink was lovely. Thanks to our sponsors, especially the Ainsworth for having us.


The dudes in the photo are all runners, including Brian himself, Edward Norton, and the Maasai: Samson, Parishi, and Sunte. Luca, in the middle, runs things for the MWCT in Kenya. Greg Sauter, far left, is an AECOM team member with us. Many thanks to Steve Guyer, who did the event photography, which can be seen here:

http://www.steveguyer.com/maasaimarathon/

We have all recovered from our hangovers/event burnout, now, and are super excited to go out and support Brian on Sunday... just a couple days away!!! We'll be in a few locations over the city, in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. I think tomorrow we may get together and make posters to wave around in his honor while huddling together in the morning of our post-Halloween daze... better not make this Halloween too much of a wild one.

MWCT Fundraiser Today!

Attention Bleeding Hearts, Lushes and Celebrity Gawkers, alike...

The Fundraiser is today at the Ainsworth here in the Flatiron, and it's going to be a good one... with appearances by the Maasai themselves, Edward Norton, and some others, plus the open bar, your $40 contribution to the MWTC will be well worth it. Show up by 6:30 for the opening ceremonies led by Brian, and look out for the special guests.

Purchase tickets at the door, or here.

About the Thousandmilers

We told you all about Brian Field, our bold and gracious runner, a couple months ago. Here's the rest of us.

Brian Goldberg
(Un)Official Starter and Official Photographer for Weekly Training Runs; Coordinator of the AECOM Marathon Initiative; Neutral-Clad Warrior of Peace and Consensus; fan of asphalt inlay

Brian serves as the (Un)Official Starter of the Weekly Training Runs, counting all the participants and announcing when it is time for us to start running. Seconds before announcing the start, Brian takes the photo of the training run team and share it with the thousandmilers blog.

Brian also helps coordinate the overall AECOM Maasai Marathon effort, liaising among the Maasai Trust, AECOM runners and the AECOM Marathon Committee. He has led AECOM’s pro-bono planning assistance for the Maasai Trust, including facilitating a two-day strategic planning workshop; producing a marketing and business plan for the Trust’s ecotourism lodge, Campi ya Kanzi (www.maasai.com); collaborating with Google to prepare a baseline mapping framework and working with Yale to explore carbon finance payments.

Shaun O'Rourke
Team Captain, Organizer, Mystery Man

Shaun doesn't like to write bios. But he does like Vermont, and time off.

Erika Matthias
MasterBlogger, Mutineer; Grey Sky Enthusiast

Hailing from Seattle, a year of New York City living has Erika straddling the East/West Coast divide. An idealist at heart, she finds herself baffled at the high presence of A-type personalities here, and the low (though increasing) presence of recycling receptacles in the NYC public realm, while also finding herself in love with good bagels and the refreshing openness of the New Yorker spirit. A landscape architect and environmental educator, she is passionate about creating places that inspire and connect people to the places they inhabit.

When she is not covering marathon/Maasai-related events here, drafting construction details or revising Public Design Commission submissions, Erika enjoys writing, laughing, arguing, and taking photos. She lives in the East Village, USA. Her personal blog can be found at mindseye-ea.blogspot.com.

Alejandra Marambio
Chilean Cheerleader; Cross-cultural Diplomat; not a fan of lines or profiteering

Alejandra is a landscape designer with a background in architecture focused on responding to environmental, cultural, and historic contexts. She has a particular interest in promoting landscape design in developing countries (notably, Chile!!!). Alejandra spent her formative years in New York City and moved with her family back to their native Chile at the age of ten. She recently transferred from our San Francisco office to return to New York roots.

Alejandra has been focusing her energy in the effort toward fundraising, notably using her Chilean connections to reach out and help support Brian and the trust. In the actual training she serves more as more of an observer (due to a knee problem) but takes to channeling her positive energies for morale and riding her bike in support.

Jenny Hamann
Girl Friday, Cheerleader, Boilermaker; Most Colorful Attire

Jenny, a landscape designer, has been at EDAW for almost two years. A sprinter by nature, she cannot imagine ever having the desire to run a marathon. Her experience running is strictly on track and never running more than 400 meters. Even so, she still enjoys joining the team on training runs to help achieve our thousand miles.

Jenny's role in the thousandmilers effort is often to channel her social nature toward fundraising and looking for way to increase participation across our global offices. Some little known facts about Jenny are as follows:

-Huge college football fan. (team, Boilermakers; conference, Big Ten, although she also loves SEC games)
-Jenny also has about 60 pairs of shoes, many of them sneakers with flair.
-Lesser-known fact: loves musical biographical movies. Favorite likely the 1998 made-for-TV movie “The Temptations”

Laurel Hunter
Gracious Green Taskmaster; Compost-Worshipping Sun Goddess; costuming

Laurel is an amateur worm farmer and urban gardener who lives in Brooklyn, NY. A southern Californian transplant, Laurel enjoys fresh produce, sunshine, and the beach. She also likes to travel, read, photograph, sketch, build, cook, eat, smell, run, laugh, plant and talk. Touch is her favorite sense. She is a free-spirited person stuck in the body of a compulsive German Scot.

At EDAW, Laurel is on the resorts team and has been involved in the Parking Day and Green Roof charrettes, the Green Team + Sustainability Core Group, the CAD committee, and the Design Core Group. Most recently, Laurel chaired NYC’s LEED study group, producing 15 new LEED AP's in the NYC office. Which to anyone who doesn't think about building stuff like we do all day, means Laurel helped cheer on 15 people to become more knowledgeable and capable of creating environtmentally-friendly, energy-efficient buildings and landscapes.

Laurel keeps the thousandmilers in check, keeping track of the miles we run, our calendar, and fundraising data, and coordinating our running outfits. She will serve a crucial cheering section hostess in Brooklyn on marathon day.

In The Wings
these people have helped us immensely so I'll tell you a little about them.

Katti Yamashita
Fundraising Liason; Shaman; "Knows People"

Katti is really pregnant. She recently injured her rib coughing too hard. Though these things cannot and should not be ignored (in that order, respectively), Katti runs the administration of our office and serves in aiding our fundraising efforts, generously offering her resourcefulness, savoir faire, mad cuisine skills, and industry connections.

Anthony Blanco
AV Club; Wants to Take Your Picture; English, not just British

Anthony does our motion pictures, and is making a star of Brian in the process. To make a living, he is in charge of video for AECOM and does graphic design. He has helped direct movies and has worked with important people. He has two small children. He finds pirates fascinating.

Karen Appel
Fundraising Warrior; Queen of Compliance; Protector of Marshes

Karen juggles two hats at our firm; quality assurance and control for the office, and restoring the natural systems of the Northeast. No small feat. Karen was raised and lives in New Jersey but often travels around the country saving the environment and making sure everyone has crossed their T's and dotted their I's on official documents. She has helped us in coordinating fundraising for the marathon effort.

The Big Event!!!

Join us at The Ainsworth Tuesday, October 27th 6:30-10PM (122 W. 26th St. between 6th and 7th ave.) to celebrate “A Night for the Maasai”. it's going to be a great time with lots of great prizes being raffled off. Sam Adams provided us up with plenty of beer along with some great wine from Pasanella and sons. So pass this along to all your friends and make sure you buy your tickets in advance. I hope you all can make it.

Please RSVP at the link below for advance discount tickets! Tickets will also be available at the door. View the invitation below for the full details. http://forthemaasai.eventbrite.com/

Maasai in NYC

The three Maasai Warrior's are in the city. Read about some of their experiences so far on Edward's twitter page. I can't wait to meet these guys.

Edward Norton on the Marathon and The Cause

MWCT recues lost young elephant

Read this amazing story about a recent elephant rescue on the Kuku Ranch. If you haven't had a chance to make a donation yet please do. Any amount will make a huge difference. Your donations will go directly to the MWCT so they can continue to make incredible efforts such as this. Thanks to all who have already donated!!

http://maasaitrust.wildlifedirect.org/2009/10/14/mwct-rescues-lost-young-elephant/

It's all downhill from here

This past Sunday signified an important milestone in my training. It was the last of three long runs( 20 miles or more) and will be the start of the long awaited taper down to the marathon. Below is a chart from Hal Higdon that I have been following to train for this marathon. I'm on week 16.

I started off my long run this past Sunday in Staten Island with 6000 other runners in the Staten island half marathon. It was nice to be running with so many people and also served as a practice run for the marathon. I think it is good Idea to get out there and run a race leading up to marathon to get used to having so many people around you.

The route was out and back along the water that had excellent views of Manhattan. I was bit surprised by the hills but it was good to get some in. The halfway point of the run took us under the
Verrazano bridge where I know I will be returning in three short weeks.

I finished the half, resisted the temptation to stop with the others and kept going to do the course again. I ran out past mile 4 and turned around to finish the day at 21 miles. All and all it was a great run.

as seen on the subway

Here it comes...! Marathon ad in the Metro this morning

This spectacular photo was taken this on the R train as it was pulling into the 28th street stop. Which isn't easy, with an iphone, while trying to hold onto the pole and not fall over while trying to avoid creeping out the people sitting in front of the sign and brushing elbows with you.

The Google Android goes for a run

Thanks to Google we have been given the opportunity to test out the Android powered Google G1 Smartphone. I’ll be taking the G1 with me on some of my training runs and will be using the application "My Tracks" to track my runs and upload the information to Google Maps. I took it out and tested it for the first time on our weekly team run in central park. Matt Seybert and Jenny Hamann joined me on the run.

The Android mapped our route while recording very useful information about our run including pace, elevation, and distance. More information about our run was uploaded and saved in Google Docs. With the built in camera I stopped and took a photo looking out over the reservoir. The blue pin on the map indicates where the photo was taken. In addition to using it on training runs we also hope to see how the Android powered phone can benefit the projects we work on. I'd like to thank Karin Tuxen at Google for giving us the opportunity to test out the Anroid powered phone.



View The Resevoir Run in a larger map

If you would like to hear more about the capabilities of "My Tracks" click on the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBmjJrgUGdE

Company Press

Check out the article written in our company newsletter about the cause and AECOM’s involvement with the MWCT. It also introduces the three PDD(Planning Design + Development) runners including myself and Brian Goldberg. Brian has been leading AECOM’s pro-bono project work with the MWCT and has been working to promote the fundraising efforts for the MWCT. He has been a crucial part of keeping the marathon team organized and aiding runner’s fundraising efforts. http://www.exemplaryenvironments.com/volumeI_issue3/people.aspx

Photo Shoot

I have finally gotten around to posting some of the photos of Brian's photoshoot with Edward (Norton) and some of the other Maasai Marathon runners on our Flickr page. They were taken in August for use to promote the effort.

If you like athletic glamour shots, or would like to revel in some Edward Norton glory, check out the flickr uploads. We just ask that you donate to the Maasai Marathon effort via Brian's account in direct correlation to the amount of excitement you derive from the shots. ;)



go, brian go!!! look, he's winning! he's winning!!!!!

New York, a small city?

Well Not exactly. Not in terms of the people that live or the density and the scale of the buildings that tower above the city streets. But from a runners point of view. A runner training for a marathon and needs to plan out a 20 mile training run. So what does a 20 run look in Manhattan. The loop in red is what I call the double out in back. I leave my apartment at the South St. Seaport head north to 34th along the east river and then back down around battery park and then up the Hudson and turn around at 72nd. I try to avoid out in backs when possible but sometimes they are most convenient. Also the run is along the water the entire time so there is a nice freshness in the air compared to the interior of the city. The route in blue is also a 20 mile run but a loop. I have never attempted this route before but will check it out for my next long run.

I completed the red route this past Sunday and decided to throw in an extra mile at the end to test my limits to make it 21. Felt good. Well good for someone that just ran 21 miles.

bfield

still truckin'

Looming deadlines and busy schedules have preoccupied the team as of late. Nonetheless, a tireless crew of Brian, Gentry, Laurel, and Tony powered around the Central Park bridle trail in the delicious fall weather for a training run last week while the rest of us remained chained to our desks. Way to go, team.

(PARK)ing Day 2009

Our PARKing permit fell through for our spot, so the day turned into more of a field trip around the city to other PARKing Day installations. Which was actually a blessing as we spent less time worrying about the event and also got in more team training miles. We brought a handout and spread the word about the Maasai Marathon.

A large group of us (EDAW- and ERA- New Yorkers) made a loop of a couple miles around Chelsea and the Union Square neighborhood on a lovely late-summer Friday afternoon. Following are photos from the event.


Urban Orienteering


subsection of the team (erika, jenny, brian, laurel, alejandra, kumar, fred)


terry and the wishing tree


laurie-anne, wishing


matt and shaun are slightly dubious of "Bubble Park'd;" jenny dives right in, with brian supporting.


chilling in Chelsea


bottled vs. tap water blind taste test at the New School (alejandra, erika, gentry)

working on our flexibility

This week's team training run was pleasantly warm with a decent turnout. Though we did misplace Sean Cheng. That was a small bummer. Our numbers are growing for the training runs, but Central Park hasn't yet reached its maximum occupancy.

The color this week was green. we averaged about fifty percent of the team appropriately attired. two of us countered with red for a festive christmas effect.

next week: represent your alma mater!

Predicament

I’m in Las Vegas, NV for one of my best bud’s bachelor party(Louie Northern). It falls right in line with a 20-mile training run, the longest run yet. I decide to take it easy the night before and go for it.

Friday, September 14th, 10:00am. The sun was screaming through a sliver in the hotel room curtain. Groggy I slip on my running shoes and go through my routine making sure I don’t forget anything. I check the outside temperature on my phone. It currently reads 95 with a high of 101. Having not run in this kind of heat before I don’t know what to expect so I make sure I have some cash, ID, debit card, powergels, sunglasses, and lather on plenty of sunscreen. I strap on a Garmin GPS watch and head out. Slipping past the slots, craps tables and dodging some early morning partiers I slip out the front door into the desert.

Trying to make a 20-mile on the Las Vegas strip was challenging but entertaining to say the least. First I headed south towards the airport. Within the first 2 miles I feel my mouth start to dry out from the intense dry heat. I quickly pull into a convenience store and grab a bottle of water to carry with me. I head on. I pass the Luxor, MGM grand, The Bellagio, all the wonders of the Vegas strip! Then the airport. “Only 4 miles!!” I keep going the sidewalk disappears and I’m now running on crushed rock and sand. I start to wonder what it’s like in Kenya for the Maasai to train in their “Michelin Thousand Milers” and the intense heat they run in.

I run five miles out and really start to notice the heat beating down on my head. I come across a commercial area with some stores and jog through the parking lot hopeing to find a hat. After some searching I came across a perfect white Nike running hat. With the sun off my face I already notice a difference and think about Dean Karnazes (http://www.ultramarathonman.com/flash/) and his ultra marathons through Death Valley in his all white running suit.

I make my way back through the strip to old Vegas followed by a loop back to the hotel. 3 ½ hours, five bottles of water, 3 Gatorades and 3 powergels later. The odometer on the Garmin hits 20.01 mi. I’ve done it. This was the most difficult run I have ever done and quite possibly harder than the marathon will be. Now it is time to let loose and celebrate the bachelor.

PARKing Day, this Friday

Every year, our office participates in PARKing Day, a design and activism event aimed at taking back underused urban spaces for the public through the simple act of taking a parking space and making it a people space for a day.

This year, EDAW AECOM is tying in our effort for the marathon by centering our park design around the Maasailand landscape in a comparison to the classic western landscape ideal of lawn and lush gardens. We're aiming to raise awareness about water and resource conservation, and segue into our fundraising while relaxing and enjoying some fresh (well, fresh-like, for what the streets of midtown Manhattan are worth) air and cameraderie.

PARK(ing) day takes place in many cities every year. Whether you're in New York (click here for locations throughout the city), or another participating city, check it out. It's a fun event, even if only to pass by and see what people came up with for their space. We'll be on W 27th Street between Broadway and 6th Avenue on Friday, September 19th during business hours.

Also, if anyone has anything like, oh, say a hut with a thatched roof lying around, or a big roll of sod, please, by all means, get ahold of us. We're rallying our resources right now.

Stay tuned for follow-up photos after the event, as well.

Press Junket

The Maasai Marathon effort is ramping up publicity! Edward's putting out the word: he talked to CNN about training and the cause, in this article, and put a plug in for the cause in an MTV interview.

Sept 8th Training Run

Lady in Red

Jenny:

After the holiday weekend a small team of 4 gathered to go on a run. In an effort to create some team solidarity after last week’s mishaps, it was suggested we all wear red shirts. All four members showed up within the new 15 min late window; only one soldier arrived in red. Lady red did happen to attract a few mosquitoes. The team members not wearing red seem to be without bug bites.


The correlation may not be scientific, but it is likely to reinforce Jenny's distaste for the color.

Drought in Kenya

You may be aware that there's a serious drought in Kenya, set to likely be the worst in history.

Though it should be noted that the Maasailand is not the most harshly affected region, the drought does have an effect on the area, and the efforts by the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust (MWCT) help cushion the effect of crises in hard times by helping support sustainable systems that will help maintain the integrity of the Maasailand for the future (read below).

With regard to the drought crisis in specific, more extensive immediate relief efforts are needed than are being mobilized at this point. Read more about it in the New York Times: " Lush Land Dries Up, Withering Kenya's Hopes".

With regard to the effect of the drought on Maasailand, Edward points out:

If you look at the map in the Times of the area affected by the drought it very definitely includes Maasailand. The drought in the Chyulu Hills region is currently the worst in the memory of any living Maasai. There are women in the community who were born in the '20's who cannot recall a drought more severe than this one.

The papers are focusing on the north because that area is true desert and therefore even more desperate. But actually the place that wildlife is being most threatened in large numbers is the Amboseli-Chyulu-Tsavo ecosystem.

One of the very interesting things emerging in MWCT's area of work is that the community is suffering less because of its partnership with MWCT. Bad times like these prove that having sources of sustainable revenue apart from cattle and goats is key to getting through such times. The revenues from tourism (though reduced) are providing a very important lifeline and the employment and services provided by the Trust are one of the few mitigating forces in the area right now. In addition, these events drive home the need for sustainable use of landscapes. Many of the senior leaders in the community have affirmed to MWCT that they now see why overgrazing is an issue they need to grapple with, because it has depleted the grass reserves that are needed in a drought.

In short, I think our runners can without hesitation answer that these circumstances are exactly why better land management and ecosystem planning is so important. Supporting this work is definitely having a direct role in softening the devastation of droughts like these.

stay tuned for upcoming fashion statement

We're in the process of designing a logo for the Maasai Marathon effort. We're brainstorming ideas, and soon we'll have something to splash all over tee shirts and who-knows-what-else to use to raise funds and awareness for the cause. Yippee! Stay tuned.

1971

So I stopped by the New York road runners office the other day. It was the first time I had visited their office on E. 89th St. and they had all these great photos on the wall from previous marathons along with this really cool race flyer. It was for the second annual NYC marathon held on September 19, 1971. Some interesting things I noticed from the flyer was the entry fee was only $2 compared to $171 today. Also the entire race took place in Central park that consisted of one 2.2 mile loop followed by four 6.1 loops. I think the route is a lot more interesting today that takes runner through all five boroughs. In 1971, 245 people started the race compared to the 38,832 that started last year. As you can see the NYC has come a long way in and it’s fascinating to think about the history involved with the race and to think on Nov. 1st we will be a part of it.

running with a goal in sight, rather than away from wildlife

I like to joke that I only run when chased. (I believe it is painfully clear that Brian is not the author of this post at this point, but in case you have wondered, Brian's posts will be in green and say "brian" at the foot.)

My preferred ways of enjoying the fresh air usually lie somewhere along the lines of reclining in the grass, hiking mountains, or from underneath the awnings of european-ey cafes.

But here we are, faced with a cause worthy enough to make me be unable to justify sloth-like inclinations. The Maasai Wilderness is an incredibly unique place; whether we've been there yet or not, the ecological and human communities that make up the Maasai are irreplicable and must be conserved and supported for the future. Freestyle scuba-diving from Battery Park to raise money? Hand-dredge Turtle Pond in Central Park to preserve hippo habitat in Africa? Pig-latin spelling bee in Brooklyn for new schools in Kenya? Sign me up.

The thousandmilers have been excited about and working toward this effort since early July, and today is a wonderful day because we are finally able to roll out the Maasai Marathon website and start rallying seriously with the awareness- and fund-raising effort.

And quite the effort it is! With a headliner like Edward Norton leading the marathon team, and David Blaine literally bringing some magic to the mix, we may even garner the support of celeb-swooners who might not normally be strongly inclined to support the cause. And we have a whole herd of runners, all with their own niches- if you're into finance tycoons, we've got those for you to swoon over, too! Check out the lineup if you're curious (admire all the runners your heart fancies, but please, show Brian love with your dollars!)

The best part of the running lineup is the three Maasai running with us- flown out all the way from Africa, they train in pretty much the opposite environment as us- open sky, no pavement, dry heat. (Although I will add that there are literal herds of ipod-equipped runners along the bridle path in Central Park.) We are so excited to meet them and have them run with us.

So please:
1) check out the Maasai Marathon site and learn about the cause
2) give a few dollars to show your love for Brian, the thousandmilers, and Africa
3) keep comin' back; and watch our Amazon fund-raising meter chug along!

pencil us in

We've begun to fill up our dance card- between training runs, event preparation, and fundraising efforts, we can see November 1st coming up quite quickly! Here's a preview of our Google calendar as it starts to fill, and you can always link to it from the sidebar on the right (down a bit, under "key links").

Sept 1 Training Run, Sharks v. Jets

Point-Counterpoint.

Goldberg:
2 months to race day! The weekly training fun run hits the bridle path in Central Park. The cool and dry weather is a welcome change from the august heat and humidity.

Problems arise! On today's run, 6 members en-route to the park from the office must be stuck in the subway- but darkness is approaching so this 4-man crew gets their run on.

Jenny:
A group of 6 runners and walkers embark a journey through the New York City subways. The journey to Central Park was long, riddled with transfers, delays, and stopped subway cars. The frustrated group, with no means of communications while trapped underground, had hopes that the teammates awaiting their arrival would be understanding and possibly still be waiting since they knew the group was en route. Upon being freed from the underground entrapment, they arrived in the park late with high hopes. The fearless group of 6 came upon the meeting spot only to see no one waiting for them.

As disheartening as this was, the group of 6 pressed on to run and walk their share of miles for the day with a positive attitude. Thanks to both groups it looks like the miles for the week will top 40. The late runners apologize for their tardiness and hope that one particular runner from the “punctual group” will stop giving them a hard time.

going strong

It's balmy and oftentimes muggy in NYC right now, with highs in the upper eighties, and humid. I'm not sure what's more miserable in humid heat- hours of running, or ten minutes waiting on the subway platform. Maybe being from Georgia, Brian is conditioned for it, but this west-coast native squirms in the humidity. And yet the training must go on... Brian's pretty much running every day, alternating shorter and longer runs, and last weekend he had a 17-mile (yes, read it, seventeen) training run. Whew!

We're still doing regular team training runs for support and for fun, we've had three rounds thus far. As the days become shorter, the evenings are more bearable, and a loop of a few miles isn't so bad. So I hear.

Hello! and Team training run recap

Hello!

I will be posting updates along the way to the marathon but wanted to start it off by giving a brief recap of our 2nd team training run in Central Park this past Tuesday. Once a week colleagues, friends and other runners will join me for a team training run.

It sure was a hot one on Tuesday but we had a pretty good turnout and the park was filled with lots of other runners, walkers and cyclists. There was a group of 6 of us that met at 72nd st. and ran an out and back on the bridle path to the ball fields north of the reservoir. We had a colleague that was playing in a softball game so we took a minute to stop and heckle him for a bit before running back down to 72nd st. The total distance ended up being a little over 4 miles.

I had to get a few extra miles in so I left from the office on 27th and ran to the meeting spot on 72nd and ran back afterwards. I ran up Broadway which was a bit of an adventure but made for a very interesting run. It took some dodging and weaving through Times Square but i made it through without having to stop too much. They have "greened out" an entire lane(wider in some spots) all the way from Herald square (34th st.) to Columbus circle( 60th st) that made for a surprisingly pleasant run.

All in all another great team run. Lots of fun and it was great having the group to run with .

brian field. the runner.

we've made a video that will definitely move you to support Brian:



...frankly, now I'm pretty sure I want to be Brian.

Go team, go!

...and we're up and running!

i'ko' !

Welcome to the Thousand Milers blog, the rallying point for our New York City Marathon effort to raise support and awareness about the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. We are a team of activists rallying behind Brian and other marathoners, including some Maasai themselves.

The Thousand Milers' name originates from name for the shoes, crafted from the rubber of expired Michelin tires, which Maasai runners train in. In training for this marathon, Brian and the team will run over a thousand miles, and in our team training runs in Central Park, we'll join them in spirit and name.



Here, and through events and activities we're planning in the next few months to raise support for the Trust, we channel our creative energies for a good cause. The Thousand Milers are united by a common workplace and a shared commitment to livable and sustainable environments. Teaming up with others for the NYC Marathon (stay tuned for more information about our other marathoning team-mates), we look forward to seeing our efforts realize into ecosystem preservation and better access to education and health care resources for this unique community.

To keep supporting the effort and find out how you can be more involved as the marathon gets closer, please check back here. We'll be posting what we're up to regularly, and will be adding links, events, and more information. In addition to the regular posts, the links on the right to photos, video, our calendar, and Maasai Trust efforts provide more information (and entertainment). Soon we'll also have more information on how a little bit of donated money can go a long way in this cause, and we'll show you an easy route to do so.

The next few months look like they're going to be a lot of fun; stay in touch to support a great cause with us!

ŋasa'k,

the Thousand Milers

photo courtesy Shauna Robertson

about brian

runner bio

Why do I endure the grueling 26.2 miles? I like the history and culture that surrounds the marathon; I enjoy the enthusiasm everyone brings to the event, and the stories of other runners. Most of all I enjoy the challenge of the run. It helps me focus, stay healthy, and allows me to aim for new goals each time I run.

I discovered a passion for long-distance running about 15 years ago and was inspired by my dad who is a marathoner and ran two ING New York City Marathons himself. I set out to try this daunting task myself by running the ING New York City Marathon in 2006 and the Philadelphia Marathon in 2008. I’m excited to be running this year knowing that I will not only be doing my personal best, but will be raising awareness and support for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.

I have lived and worked in New York City for four years as a landscape designer for The Central Park Conservancy and now for AECOM. It will be an exceptional rush, running through the very boroughs where the projects I have worked on are being built to improve our experience of the urban environment.

I will be rallying support among colleagues, family and friends to engage in fundraising events, training runs, and weekly blog updates leading up to the Marathon on November 1st. I’m excited about the opportunity to be a part of a diverse worldwide event such as the ING New York City Marathon and use it to generate support for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust.

hello world

We are commencing the setup for our New York City Marathon fundraising team blog for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. Please check back soon!