I’m not sure when it started. Maybe it was COVID. Maybe it is a post-Biden-era thing. People are drunk on chaos. The media knows it, and it gives the people what they want. The weather in NYC this winter has exemplified the phenomenon. Yeah, we had a couple of snowstorms in NYC… like we used to all of the time. Except now for some reason, instead of “better get your shovels out, hehe” the talking heads are shouting “be afraid! Be very, very afraid to go outside in the snow.”Continue reading
Tag Archives: NYC
No. 16
Left: The Author at 5th Ave. and 109 (courtesy: M. Goodman Private Collection) | Right: Photo of NYT 2025 Marathon Section
The New York City Marathon is a pretty special race. This is my extremely biased opinion, but I’m not the only person who would tell you this. I have a couple of friends who have run upwards of 80 marathons (a piece) around the globe who echo this sentiment. One could literally write an entire book about the experiences and observations that transpire from running the NYC Marathon; everything from achieving entry to the race, through waking up months later and wondering if it was all a dream. Alas, apparently no one really reads books anymore. No one really reads blogs anymore, either. But I’ll continue to publish this nonsense anyway. Let’s go-Continue reading
Catch You on the Flipside, My G
Delighted Commuters Comfortably Waiting on the Small Portion of the Union Sq. Platform that is Not Encumbered by Construction Barricades.
The G Train in an interesting animal. While it can be said that each NYC Subway line has it’s own personality, The G is unique in the fact that it is the only line in the MTA that does not go through Manhattan. It runs the length of western Kings County and terminates just north of Newtown Creek in Long Island City. Before I became to rely on it, I used to joke that the G Train didn’t actually go anywhere.Continue reading
Learning From the Newbs
The Author, After Completing Some January BK Miles
With January, comes new year’s resolutions. I applaud all humans who have chosen a fitness goal to tackle in 2024. True to the cliche, the gyms were full to the brim for the first week of January (as determined by the very unscientific method of my personal observations). I typically only use the gym to change and shower, since my preferred workout is a lunchtime run of the Central Park Drive loop (which incidentally had been my M.O. long before this article was published, and I can tell you that it is not as nearly as much of a power move as they try to make it seem).Continue reading
2023 NYC Marathon
Marathon Sunday is probably my favorite day in NYC. I have written about this plenty of times before, but I’ll say it again; The way that the city comes together on Marathon Sunday to support all of the runners, is like nothing else I have ever experienced.Continue reading
Number 12
On 59th St. around mile 25.5 [Photo: Anwar Ragep]
Last Sunday I ran my 12th marathon. It was a big deal for me, personally, for a number of reasons. It was my first post-injury race. I had family come into town and run it with me. It was NYC’s first big event like this in the post-covid era. I hadn’t run a marathon in 5 years. For the past 14 weeks I have thought about this race every single day. When I was laying in bed Saturday night before the race, I felt so excited to go run. I really put in the time and effort to train for this thing. Even though I still have some lingering congestion from the super-cold that appears to be going around the city right now, I knew that I was recovered enough that it would not be a factor.
Rounding the corner from West CP Drive onto 59th St. [Photo: Anwar Ragep]
This was 50th iteration of the NYC Marathon. But because of covid related travel restrictions for foreign citizens entering the country, international participants were largely absent this year. In an effort to pad the gap, NYRR offered automatic entry to members of all of the local clubs. As a result, my brother-in-law was able to score a bib. My sister actually also got entry, but ended up having to defer because of a stress fracture that she suffered during training. She made the trip out to NYC anyway and joined the cheering crew, along with Britt and our friend Anwar, who provided most of these great photos!
Post race with Britt, and Britt with the sign she made [Photos: Anwar Ragep]
Race day started out awesome. My brother-in-law Jessie and I arrived in the start village nice and early. It was chilly, but not miserably so, especially once the sun came up. I was super fired up by the time the gun went off. My first few miles were way too fast. But I was able to rein it in by the time I hit mile 10 or so. Ultimately energy was not an issue, but pain sure was. starting around mile 16 I started to get a familiar burning/stabbing sensation where my IT band wraps around the outside of my right knee. It got bad enough that I needed to stop and stretch it out a handful of times. It slowed me down a lot, but honestly I’m glad that I didn’t try to just push through it.
[photo: Anwar Ragep]
My finish time goal was to do 3:45 or better. The last time I did this race was six years ago and I did a 3:43, so it seemed like a reasonable goal. By the time I made it to Central Park I looked at my watch, saw that I was in the low 3:20s and realized that if I really kicked I might be able to get close to 3:35ish. Starting around Mile 25 I gave it all I had, and really kicked hard when I saw the sign saying I was only 800 meters from the finish. I ended up finishing just under 3:36, which I am very pleased about. Not only was it my PR for the course, but it was only about 10 mins off my best marathon time, ever!
With Jessie enjoying some victory beers after the race. [Photo: Brittany Maschal private collection]
One cool thing that the New York Times does after every New York Marathon, is devote an entire section to the marathon, the Monday after the race. It includes the name of each finisher with their finish time and overall place. They also run a handful of photos from the race, including the one below of the runners in the start queue on the Verrazano Bridge in Staten Island. Upon closer inspection, I spotted my brother-in-law (highlighted below right). So cool!
I’m so grateful for all of the people who have supported me during my surgery recovery and training process, especially Britt. Sunday was a very special day for me and I will remember it my whole life.
Beyond the Streets NYC
Hadn’t shot anything for Snob in a while. When I saw that “Beyond the Streets” was coming to my neighborhood, I raised my hand. I was able to get in the Thursday before it opened to the public, and it was mostly empty. There is a lot of good stuff from some of my favorite contemporary artists, many of them local. I would highly recommend checking it out, if you are into this sort of thing (or even if you are just dying to see what it looks like inside of that gorgeous new building at 25 Kent). Here are a few of the snaps.
Faile
The shark is by RISK. It is nicely juxtaposed with a tribute to the late great NEKST.
RISK
CR Styek III
Parla
Futura 2000
Bill Barminski
KATSU
Craig Costello
Bill Barminski
Takashi Murakami
Futura 2000
KAWS ‘Gone’ at Skarstedt
KAWS is currently showing at Skarstedt. Here are some very lazy un-color-corrected photos of the exhibit. We popped in the day after it opened, but I haven’t had time to write this up until now. Definitely worth checking out, and still open until Dec 19. Wear your loudest Off-White piece to fit in. Supreme x The North Face will do in a pinch. Learn more here.
Union Garage X Roland Sands
Because apparently Jake.news is all moto all of the time these days…. Here is a cool little vid that a local Brooklyn shop, Union Garage, made during a recent group ride. The ride was partially to promote their pop-up with Roland Sands Design, and partially an excuse to get a bunch of riders together for a chill Saturday morning cruise. We started from the shop in Red Hook and rode out to the Rockaways by way of Bennett Field (see above aerial shot from their drone). The ride finished a few blocks from my house at Root Studios Brooklyn, where the Brooklyn Invitational was underway. You can see me flashing deuces at the 1:40 mark of the vid. The rest of the footage is also pretty good, hehe. I met some great people and had a really enjoyable time despite the iffy weather. Peep the vid below-
Union Garage X Roland Sands Design Shop Ride from Union Garage on Vimeo.
August 2018 Playlist
Some August jams-