Marathon Sunday, From a Runner's Diary

Early morning, a quiet moment on the way to Staten Island to the marathon starting line

---- A Note from the Publisher ----

The New York Marathon is an amazing event that attracts over 300 million viewers in 125 countries around the world as well as the more than 2 million spectators who line streets and bridges to cheer on runners of all ages. The oldest participant this year was 88 years old!

We are delighted this month to feature articles by Postcard readers. Jerry Petrasek lives in LA. We began corresponding after he emailed to tell me "I Love Postcards from New York." When I discovered he actually ran in the New York Marathon, I asked him to write about his experience. He said he had never written anything before. I said;"Just write what you have described to me." Here's his story in three parts.

********************************************


Dear Postcards from New York Reader,

My marathon running began as pure compulsion. The year was 1985; I had just entered therapy as a three pack a day smoker. The notion of a chemical imbalance in the brain was unknown. I lived life with passion, which I still do. I love people who live each day as though there might not be another. My therapist made me feel smoking was wrong; he simply said "there will no smoking during my sessions."

My life started to change. I wanted to be a better Jerry. I joined a ski fitness class at the Hollywood Y, I didn't ski at the time but that was my only choice, aerobics had not been discovered. My smoking quickly began to decline. How could I improve my life if I continued to smoke; suddenly smoking and running did not make sense.

Little by little running took over my life, I admit in part because I am compulsive. I went from being a three pack a day smoker to a gym rat. Some of the people in the ski fitness were avid runners. Each Sunday morning they would run three miles up a steep hill in Griffith Park and back down. I had been someone who stayed up at night on weekends until 2am and slept most of the day. Now I was in bed by 10pm on Saturday night and out of bed at 6am the next morning to run.

I now entered my next stage. I had been a compulsive movie watcher, living life through movies. It soon became clear I would have to choose between movies or devoting most of my free time to running. I chose running. The next step was doing 10ks.

Los Angeles was to have their first marathon in March of 1986. I knew that I would have to run the marathon or I would feel I had let myself down. Training for marathons normally start three to six months before the event. It was January. Despite the short time I would have to train, I decided to run the marathon. I believed I could do it; I was now an avid runner.

I found training brochures at Cedars Sinai Hospital and started training and made minor changes to my diet. Three months later, I ran the marathon, finished in five hours and twenty minutes. I ran every step. I did not walk one step.

The following month I heard about the New York Marathon. This was "the big one" where runners are chosen by lottery. I decided to submit an entry. A letter from the New York Runners Club arrived in May. Anxious and terrified, I decided to open such an important letter I should be sitting with a cup of coffee near by. I did the ritual and I opened the letter. To my surprise and delight, I was going to New York!

New York was bigger than life. It was a mythical city that I had only dreamed about, having spent my life to the age of eighteen in a town of five hundred farmers in Southern Oregon where I didn't belong. New York was the myth that I had seen over and over again in the movies which had been my escape.

I followed the training guide and ran each day. Every day I would increase the distance I ran. It soon became apparent I would not be able to run the correct distant during the day due to work so I rearranged my schedule so I could run at night. Soon I was running one hour every evening in areas I would not have gone into during the day. I was possessed.

Finally, I had my last day of training in Los Angeles by running a half marathon.

To be continued...

Jerry Petrasek
For Postcards from New York

Photo by Joseph Knight

© Copyright 2007 The Cable Group

Hats off to Claire Danes in Pygmalion!

Claire makes her Broadway Debut

Dear Postcards from New York Reader,

"I love Claire Danes," exclaimed my niece Jaime with delighted glee as an ear to ear smile lit up her beautiful face when I told her, her birthday gift was an evening at the theatre.

Her excitement mirrored my own when I first saw ads for George Bernard Shaw's classic "Pygmalion" featuring Dane's handsome head shot. Claire Danes coming to Broadway! I had to see her.

Her guileless innocent face first captured my attention in Romeo and Juliet directed by Baz Luhrmann. Oblivious to the clash and clamor of party preparations criss-crossing around her, she effortlessly navigated between her emotional overwrought mother and hysterical nanny. She won me over. I am a fan for life.

Any play by Shaw is demanding, as it is difficult to "preach" his ideals while keeping an audience entertained and awake, so I was doubly impressed by her desire to stretch command of her craft by appearing in one of his best known works for her Broadway Debut. Hat's off to Claire.

Dane's working class Liza is more true to Shaw's character than the street urchin turned aristocrat in the musical, My Fair Lady. When she goes toe to toe in a successful dual of wits with Henry Higgins in his mother's drawing room, there is no chance that this young lady, with newly awakened confidence, would eagerly bring Higgins his slippers as in the Hollywood "happily ever after" final scene. Yet hers is not a feminist declaration.

Jefferson Mays' Higgins gives the play a facelift and brings it right into the 21st century; Immediately recognizable, he is an arrogant, petulant, naughty teen-ager (though at least in his late thirties) who stubbornly refuses to grow up. Mrs. Higgins (Helen Carey), Liza's dad Alfred (Jay O Sander's) and Colonel Pickering (Boyd Gaines) with their quick repartee and elegant costumes engage and amuse.

My only question. In the final scene, where Liza finds refuge at the home of Henry's mother, she enters in a rather drab morning dress, appropriate enough for receiving visitors in the drawing room; She then announces she must leave to get ready to attend her father's wedding, however she returns in the same dress with only the addition of gloves and purse. After the many elegant costumes in this production, why did David Grindlay(director), and Jonathan Fensom(costume-set designer), choose to end the play with Liza in that dress?

An attractive walking suit or long flowing coat would have completed the picture more appropriately, especially since Mrs. Higgins is elegantly decked out with an elaborate hat as the finishing touch; She looks like she is going to a wedding. Liza's final confrontation with Higgins would have had more impact if she were handsomely attired.

"Pygmalion" is on Broadway only for a limited engagement. Mark your calendar now to see it by December 16th at the American Airlines Theatre. Here's hoping Claire will soon make a return visit. I would love to see her as Ibsen's Nora in "A Dolls House" or Strindberg's "Miss Julie."

Jacqueline Cable
For Postcards from New York


P.S. The theatre entrance is on 42nd Street; however, when you leave, exit on the 43rd Street side of the Orchestra level and you will come out near the back-stage door. Wait a bit and the stars will exit. Then do what Jaime and I did, ask them to autograph your Playbill.

Stay tuned for what many of you have been asking for, Restaurant recommendations in the Theater District.

Address to Remember: The American Airlines Theatre, West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10011. 212-719-1300, http://www.roundabouttheatre.org/.

Directions: At Times Square.

Photo by Kelly Jeffers

©Copyright 2007 The Cable Group

Autumn Splendor - The Foliage Report

Their job done!

---- A Note from the Publisher ---

If you only received the title of last weeks story, The Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria, please visit us at http://www.postcardsfromnewyork.com/ to see the entire article. We apologize for the FeedBurner posting mishap.

****************************************


Dear Postcards from New York Reader,

This time of year always reminds me of a "Johnny Walker" ad some years ago "When the trees have done their job even they turn to Red."

The last vestige of summer gone with last week's heat wave, the cooler weather signals the approaching holiday season, harvest time, Halloween pumpkins, and Thanksgiving.

October and November can race by in a flash, unless you live in the suburbs or near Central Park where nature's physical changes are ever-present. In this city, it is possible to miss out on Autumn's special beauty altogether; Don't let that happen this year.

Plan now to spend a weekend in the country. The Catskills and Poconos are not far away if upstate New York, Vermont and New Hampshire would require more time and planning than your schedule allows.

Closer to home, take a leisurely drive along the Hudson River Parkway; marvel at the Palisades awash with colors or experience Autumn's silent music along the Saw Mill River Parkway, The Taconic or US Highway (7) in Connecticut.

You will find a foliage map here of nearby forest and woodland areas to alert you to the peak time to experience nature at its most dramatic moment before it begins to hibernate for the long winter.

Autumn more than any other season keeps us in touch with the cycle of life. Somehow as the trees change they ignite our inner spirit.

If, despite all your efforts, life gets in the way and a weekend or day in the country is out of the question; the New York Botanical Garden is only a 20 minute train ride from Grand Central Station. Go; enjoy a walk in the more than 50 acres of natural forest for an hour or two.

Just don't miss out, whatever you do, on this season's spectacle of Autumn colors.

Jacqueline Cable

For Postcards from New York

Photo courtesy of the New York Botanical Garden

©Copyright 2007 The Cable Group