The 5K

we won, we won, we won! 

morning allllll!!! we did it! we ran around the goddamn rose bowl once. It was actually pretty fun. there were a few tough spots near the end but the motivation of matt filming me from his bike and a second camera crew tailing and leading us certainly helped get me across the finish line - I could see doing that run once a week with a friend or two, if you ever get to LA/Pasadena, the Rose Bowl loop is quite nice and scenic, with the late afternoon sun hitting the San Gabriel mountains in the background. It's a good one. 

We'll post a little mini doc on the "race" in a few weeks - Matt has an unedited single take version that we can post too for all those doubting thomases out there! 

9.11/ we could i possibly have to add to this terrible anniversary. 

well, I was there in New York,  you may know.  I was living in Brooklyn, just off Metropolitan Ave.  and that morning I happened to be running a little late - I had a dead end job in midtown and would normally be on the L Train by 8:50 but I slept in and was hustling it (I'm a pretty punctual person so this was odd) - I left my apartment, and the older man who lived next door was on his stoop, on his phone and  saying something about a plane hitting the world trade center. I think like just about everyone my mind immediately pictured a small plane, and I didn't think much of it. But I turned the corner onto Metropolitan Ave, which looked straight down onto the WTC, about 4 miles away,  and saw the massive billowing smoke. I called my friend James who was living just a few blocks away, and wasn't working that week and got his answering machine.  I was leaving a message, describing what I was seeing when I saw a massive fireball coming from the second tower. It was too far away to know what I was seeing, but on the machine you can tell I saw something absolutely terrifying.  My dad called to find out where I was and I told him I hadn't gotten on the subway yet and he said the news was saying it was a terrorist attack - He said 'don't get on the subway..."  he knew I worked pretty close to the UN building...  

I ran to james' apartment, and pounded on his door. Waking him up, I told him what was happening... We bolted to his roof to get a better picture of what was going on.  It hit james like a ton of bricks... James, an architect had a special feeling for the building... But we also both started thinking about the people inside of it... I couldn't picture how they could get that fire out... the fire was so high up...   we went downstairs to try and find some news - We put on the radio, as the TV signal was out...  I believe it was howard stern we turned on, who by now was just rebroadcasting a news channel... We heard them react as the first tower (technically the second tower to be hit)  collapse... We ran up to the roof to see - And yea - It was replaced by a giant, unbelievably plume of smoke/dust.  It was impossible to process... we ran back down to scoop up more news - it was a full on attack as there were reports of an explosion at the Pentagon. We felt vulnerable and under seige, immediately picturing Brooklyn as an island, with no real safe escape.  The second (first) tower fell and we raced back up to confirm with our eyes. Nothing in the skyline but apocalyptic smoke. 

At some point we went down the street to the local diner to eat something -  I remember sitting at this diner with the horrible news playing on the TV, a broadcaster saying that every single NYPD officer was now heading to the area - and laughing as I saw two cops sitting at the counter having their coffee and watching along with us. 

The following days, ran into each other - not a lot of sleep for the first few... we biked on down to the scene of the crime, or at least as close as we could get - I believe everything below 14th st. was closed for a few weeks...  we did our best to be good citizens and dropped off water and other donations in Union Square.   

I went back to work the next week. Life, albeit with the city still in full on disaster mode, and eerie MISSING posters stapled up all over - sorta returned to normal.   We all just assumed there would be another attack at some point, and I'd say it would be years before the thought didn't cross my mind while taking an elevator up more than a few stories. 

I've said it on the show before but I'm convinced that 9/11 and the choices we made in it's aftermath shaped us in such significant ways and did such long term corrosive damage to our country - it introduced nihilism, existential horror, mistrust in institutions and authority so deeply that we still swim in it today. 

It's a down day, may i suggest you go for a run? 

peace and love, T