According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, COVID officially ended on May 11, 2023. Yet the aftermath of the physical and psychological effects may continue to have adverse repercussions on society well into the future. We do not know exactly how the consequences of the pandemic will manifest in the long term even though society appears to be normalized now. In a press release by the American Psychological Association website, “…a superficial characterization of day-to-day life being more normal is obscuring theposttraumatic effects that have altered our mental and physical health.”
On a personal level, I noticed a dramatic psychological change among some of the preschool students who I currently teach this year. This change has been a big concern of mine due to the extreme behavior that these children have been exhibiting and how it has been negatively affecting the overall climate and well-being of my classroom. Let me explain.
Before the pandemic, some of my students would cry at the start of each school year. Based on my observations while they were crying, their tears would be due to them being pulled away from their parents for the first time in their lives and thrust into a room full of strangers whom they did not know. None of these children had behavior issues and within a few weeks, they would grow accustomed to their new environment and enjoy coming to school.
This year as I entered the seventh month of teaching my current class of preschoolers, five children are still emotionally distressed since beginning school in September. Three of these students cry for their mothers daily. These three exhibit the most challenging behavior where my staff and I have to focus most of our energy each day to provide proper emotional support and redirection for them.
There is an unusual pattern as to why they cry that impelled me to connect it to the pandemic. It is the same pattern that I have observed countless times this year. As their teacher, when I give them directions and limits, the same directions and limits that I give any of my students to run an effective classroom, these children cannot accept them. Instead, they begin bawling while repeatedly shouting out, “Mommy, Mommy!”. Now, seven months into the school year, these three children are still crying for their mothers when I require them to abide by the class rules.
In the 23 years that I have taught preschool, I never had a student who cried simply because I asked them to follow rules. This year, three children have been doing that daily. These children account for 20% of my students, which is statistically significant considering that the percentage has always been zero.
Based on these observations, I developed a theory that explains their behavior. As a teacher of a 4k preschool class, the students who enter my class each September need to be four years old. Four years ago, the pandemic began and the world suddenly lived in terror not knowing who would come out alive as tens of thousands of people got sick and died from COVID-19. As news entered our households that continuously informed us as to how deadly this virus was, families everywhere did what they could to protect their children. They followed all protocols and kept their children indoors at all times. While their spouses may have gone to work throughout the pandemic, many of the mothers stayed home with their children and remained by their side 24 hours a day. These same children who were at the time only toddlers, were being deprived of social environments where they would learn to interact with peers while practicing learning their limits. This may have also created an intense psychological dependency on the mother where she would wait on all of their needs and desires out of fear that she would lose them to COVID. The child became so emotionally dependent on the mother that this dependency may have become chronic. In psychological terms, it became a syndrome that may continue to affect them by manifesting into other negative behaviors as they grow into adulthood. This Pandemic-Induced Dependency Syndrome (PIDS) is a term that I am coining here to represent the phenomenon. Since these children will be entering Kindergarten in September, I am very concerned about how much PIDS will continue to affect them as they mature.
This year, about 75% of my time and energy has been spent attending to these three children’s emotional needs. I have two teacher assistants and we have become a tag team where we each take turns helping these children. Through trial and error, we have utilized a few strategies that help them when they cry and act out. What has helped is when we acknowledge that they miss their mother. We make pretend phone calls to their mothers in front of them and that helps calm them. We also hold their hands, take them for walks through the school, have meaningful conversations with them, give them jobs to do, encourage them to visit the classroom cozy corner and play with them using activities connected to their specific interests. All of these things have worked to calm them down and create a semblance of peace in the classroom, but these are only short-term solutions that likely will not solve their long-term anxiety.
This article is intended to be an introduction to my theory of PIDS and offers short-term strategies for the teacher on how to help those who are affected. Regardless, there may be other unfathomable effects of the pandemic on the youngest members of society that may be long-lasting and should be investigated. As society continues to become more normalized, we need to focus our attention on the abnormal behaviors that may be associated with the pandemic. Observing this population of children through a comprehensive study might help.
I joined the Staten Island Athletic Club in 2008 just before Mark became the club President. At the time, we were both friendly, but not friends. I regarded Mark as a fast runner compared to my much slower pace and the difference in our abilities made me feel like I was not worthy enough to run with him. One day I was looking for a partner to run the High Rock Challenge with, an adventure race that required teams of two to compete together. I casually mentioned my request to Mark thinking that he would refer someone of my ability that I could be evenly matched up with. Mark surprised me by immediately saying, “I’ll do it with you!”. Seeing how quickly he offered to team up with me was the beginning of my understanding of the kind of fun and spontaneous person that Mark was.
Our team name was the “Damn Dirty Apes” which paid homage to our mutual love for the Planet of the Apes. And boy, did we get dirty! The following year, our team name was “Stupid is as Stupid Does”, this time an homage to Forrest Gump. During the race, we quoted famous lines from the movie and while we were running, we acted like the characters Lieutenant Dan and Forrest Gump. We competed again the following year as “Mild Mannered Men”. We each started the race dressed as two awkward Clark Kents in three-piece suits, large glasses and all. As soon as the start gun went off, we began to undress and throw our suits onto the ground to reveal our real identities as two supermen with the letter “S” emblazoned on our shirts. During that event, Mark and I both regressed to our childhood and assumed the role of Superman by ‘saving’ a pair of female runners who had lost their way along the course. “We’ll save you! Just follow us!” was something we probably said at the time. Year after year, Mark and I would participate in this event and have the time of our lives emulating various characters from film and TV.
Realizing how sociable and creative Mark was, I began to encourage him to join me in the world of background acting. I knew that his weakness was women, so I would share with him photos taken of me from film sets dressed in period clothes sandwiched between two adoring female fans. At the time, he was still working in the corporate world, but when that ended, he signed up to be a film extra. Working his first gig, he instantly fell in love with it. Mark was a natural in front of the camera and got many juicy background roles including a cardinal, a high-ranking German ambassador to the UN, a gambler, a police officer, a doctor, and a zombie. Mark had many friends from background acting since he was funny, gracious, and very easy to talk to. Mark could make friends instantly with anyone who was within earshot of him.
Mark and I had the pleasure of working together as background actors in two different film productions. One was Masters of Sex, and no, the show wasn’t about men who physically conquered women. We portrayed doctors at a black tie event and were both dressed to the nines in tuxedoes. Boy, what an upgrade from that sweaty runner look! The other was The Knick which took place in the year 1900. Mark portrayed a low-class Irish tenement dweller while I was an Irish subway worker who survived a dynamite explosion…. but barely! With a bloodied and scarred face and a fake bone protruding from my neck, Mark wryly exclaimed, “Josh, you look pretty blown up there buddy!
Mark was one of those friends who was both spontaneous and readily available for all situations. When I was very depressed. Mark took a bus from Staten Island and spent time with me in Brooklyn to help cheer me up. I’ll never forget that moment.
Mark and I began writing a book together years ago that we never finished. It’s about a man’s relationship to a woman, but with a superhero theme. The working title: Mild Mannered Men. It was going to illustrate how a man can be the best version of himself in a world where respect for women by the opposite sex is often lacking. From my time writing with Mark, he was an excellent writer who was able to paint an elaborate picture using a pen.
We once recorded a rap song with the sound and style of Biggie Smalls. Mark wrote the lyrics that he dedicated to SIAC. We performed it live dressed as white rappers at the High Rock Challenge with large chains and race medals hanging from our necks. Boy, did we have balls!
For a few years, I dabbled in filmmaking and Mark was always available when I needed someone to assist me. I once asked him to be the cinematographer for a music video about a father who lost his daughter due to a misunderstanding. The video starred my daughter and me and I needed Mark to help me film the scenes. Mark had just run many miles that morning in the snow and was physically knocked out. After his run, he graciously mustered the energy to film us performing in the snowy woods of the Staten Island Greenbelt. He captured all of the scenes and facial expressions beautifully which made this project extra special for my daughter and me. I view this video from time to time. Its message is forgiveness, something that we all need to practice more in our lives.
This music video was lovingly filmed by Mark Vogt
I was once asked to film a promo for a fundraiser that required someone to play a zombie. The zombie had to clack three empty beer bottles together like that famous bottle-clacking scene from The Warriors. Mark was totally game to portray the zombie who would later get his comeuppance by a sword-wielding child played by my daughter Emma. Before we filmed, I had to buy three ice-cold bottles of beer from the local store so that we could use them for the scene. Knowing that he was a dedicated beer drinker, I told Mark that I needed help emptying the bottles and if he could help me with that job. Boy, what laughs we both had as we savored those beers together!
Mark started as a runner who I knew but became a lot more to me as our friendship blossomed and grew due to our common interests. Our favorite phrase, ‘carpe diem’, inspired us to take chances and do adventurous and crazy things together, and at times, we were two men who became inseparable. As Mark would say, “Not that there’s anything wrong with that!”.
Mark was a poet, an actor, a writer, a photographer, a rap artist, and a filmmaker. Most importantly, he was a committed friend who was a role model for how I should live my life by living his own life to the fullest.
Mark, myself, and Lisa Cueva ‘rapping’ together after completing the 2014 High Rock Challenge. Mark and I pre-recorded the audio with Diane Klayman as the female singer, then lip-sang to our own words at the event. Notice the large chains and finisher medals around our necks. Video credit goes to Andy Cross. I am so grateful that Andy took this precious footage of us engaged in something that was way beyond our comfort zone.
Click on the button below to hear the complete audio track featuring the voices of Mark Vogt, Josh Pesin, and Diane Klayman. The melody was written by Biggie Smalls and the lyrics were rewritten by Mark Vogt.
In the promo for a fundraiser below, Mark agreed to star as the zombie who gets his comeuppance in the end by my daughter Emma. I thank Matt Lebow for asking me to create this promo.
When she was in high school, my daughter created a unique art project where she made a graphic map of the people in her life with descriptions of what each of them meant to her. For my description, she wrote, “He’s such a dad”. At first, I was baffled by what she meant, but upon reflection, I realized that it meant that I was everything that a father should be. This made me think about the various acting projects that I was involved in through the years and how I often ended up playing a father in a number of them due to me appearing as the stereotypical dad. As someone who strives to be the best dad that I can be, I was proud to be typecast as a father figure. The following are several film projects that I’ve been in where I played various degrees of ‘dadness’.
Father’s Day Acting Class (2009) – A comedic approach to fatherhood about an acting class tailored to dads who need to convincingly feign delight at the crappy gift that their child just gave them for Father’s Day. Look for my daughter Emma featured at the 1:35 mark.
Maggie (2012) – A dramatic film short produced by an NYU film student for their Sights & Sounds Directing class. This was a dramatic one showing a father’s loss of his child. It was filmed on a snowy day in the dead of winter.
AT&T Commercial (2012) – Catch me portraying the Dad with my real son Hunter at the 26-second mark. Did I appear to be truly concerned about my son’s ‘broken’ arm, or was it just acting?
Miracle Drug (2012) – This music video was filmed by an NYU student as a requirement for his Tisch summer program assignment. It was one of the most heart-wrenching ‘Dad’ films that I’ve worked on.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2013) – I portrayed a father to this young man in a scene in the theatrical production. Throughout filming, he called me ‘Dad’ and I had to remind myself that he was my son that day.
Let Her Go (2014) – After portraying the ‘Dad’ in the Miracle Drug music video, I wanted to create something entirely on my own featuring me and my own daughter Emma. I loved Passenger’s Let Her Go and I wanted to use that touching song for a music video. After a fresh snowfall in the Staten Island Greenbelt, I knew that I had to take advantage of the snowy backdrop that would make a father’s temporary loss of his daughter even more dramatic. My friend, runner, and fellow actor Mark Vogt filmed most of the scenes.
Edge of Eighteen (2018) – When my daughter was a little girl, I knew that one day she would grow up to become a woman. The song, ‘Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon’ kept on playing in my head through the years as she grew. I told myself back then that when she reached adulthood, I would use that song to show her transition from a child to an adult. The inevitability of her becoming a woman emotionally affected me and filming a music video about this transition helped me artistically cope with this change. The beginning scenes where I was featured in were filmed by my brother Aaron.
It’s been fun portraying a father to both fake kids and my real kids. I look forward to working in more productions where I can portray a dad. And when I’m old and grey, I may graduate into playing the stereotypical granddad.
This is not my car, but rather a representation of how hopeless I felt when my car was stuck on a hill in the middle of a snowstorm at night with two teenagers under my charge.
Two weeks ago, my son and I and another student who attends his college were caught in a harrowing situation. I was driving up a steep hill toward his college in the middle of a snowstorm (yes, I still question that decision). As we passed just inches away from a car that had just crashed into a roadside barrier due to the weather, I was determined to make it up a hill that seemed to go on forever. Suddenly, as the incline grew even steeper, my car would not go any further and the wheels started skidding in the freshly-fallen snow. My car was now stuck on a steep hill in the middle of a snowstorm at night. I tried to turn it around, which I did, but then two of the wheels on the passenger side got stuck in a drainage ditch at the edge of the road. I reasoned that driving half of the car in the ditch would prevent it from flying out of control down the hill, so I tried to drive the car down the hill with the wheels following along the length of the ditch. My car then got dangerously close to the car that had already crashed. I knew that I had to get myself out of that situation. I asked the boys to leave the car and stay on a safe part of the road, for if something terrible happened while I was driving, I would be the only casualty. I then pumped the gas and the car started flying up the hill in the ditch backward, but would not leave the ditch. The snow was so slippery that the rotating tires on my car were literally burning rubber. I tried desperately several times to get the car out of the ditch, but to no avail. I then noticed yet another car speed out of control going down the hill. That car then got stuck on the opposite side of the road. The driver came out of his car and did not know what to do. As the driver, my son, and the boy all looked at me sitting in the driver’s seat of my car, I knew that it was time for me to prove myself and to somehow get out of this mess. I kept on pumping more gas and burning more rubber as I desperately turned the steering wheel with hopes of freeing the two wheels that were stuck in the ditch. Finally, through my persistence, the car freed itself from the ditch. But now, it was sitting on a steep snow-covered hill and on the verge of sliding down the incline. Being a skier, I decided that my best maneuver would be to treat my car like a pair of skis. To ski down a very steep hill, I learned to ski perpendicular to the slope while descending it in small increments. I can control the speed of descent this way. I turned the wheels so that they would be perpendicular to the hill, then I applied my foot to the gas with just enough pressure to push the car forward for a few inches as the crunching snow slowed the car down each time. I had to repeat this procedure many times and each time I did that, the car slowly slid down the hill in a zigzag pattern. Finally, I approached the other car that had crashed. With only a few inches of clearance, I was able to miraculously maneuver my car around the other vehicle. After that, I had only 100 or so more yards to get my car to the bottom of the hill and onto a flat road. I asked the boys to direct me to the bottom of the hill as I continued “skiing” in a zigzag pattern with my car. Finally, I made it to the bottom of the hill without incident and then the boys jumped back into the car.
As we drove back to the hotel together in disbelief and with high emotions after what we had just been through, multiple feelings entered my mind; feelings of relief and accomplishment knowing that my quick-witted decisions and persistence helped to avert something very bad from happening.
Over dinner that night, my teenage son told me something that became the epitome of me as a parent; “Dad, I was amazed by what you did”. Just for that one moment, at least to him, I knew that I was the coolest dad in the world.
One of the reasons why I summarize my life at the end of each year is because the tedious parts of life often get in the way of enjoying the moments that truly matter. These moments can often be forgotten if not reflected upon, and if I don’t write them down, I’ll probably forget them. By sharing them through this blog, I get to relive those memories and share them with others. I spent all of 2023 working several jobs outside of my full-time teaching job (my son is in a very expensive college). It was stressful, but I still was able to punctuate my busy work schedule with memorable and enjoyable activities that helped me deal with the stress.
On New Year’s Day, I planned to relax and not do the polar plunge at Coney Island. As I was drinking my coffee, I noticed that my daughter was heading out to do the plunge with her friends. I changed my mind at a moment’s notice and decided to join her.
I joined my friend Matt Lebow and the Staten Island Mountain Biking group to do some mountain biking at Wolfe’s Pond Park in Staten Island. After the ride, I offered to volunteer to help clean up the trails. Matt asked me if I’d like to lead a group of high school volunteers during the cleanup. They had a great experience in doing something for their community while enjoying nature all around them.
In February, I was asked by running historian Gary Corbitt (son of famed ultra-runner and NYRR co-founder Ted Corbitt) to conduct a new interview with Bill Welsh (I had previously interviewed Welsh in 2019 to talk about his life). Welsh was a legendary coach and runner known throughout the Staten Island running community who this year was approaching his 93rd birthday. During his prime running years, Welsh trained and competed against many who were an important part of local running history throughout the Tristate area. Gary specifically wanted me to pick Welsh’s brain to reflect on those runners who were an important part of that history. My interview with Bill on Gotta Run With Will can be found here. At over an hour long, it was one of the longest interviews in the history of the series. Unfortunately, Bill Welsh had passed away later in the year. I wrote a heartwarming story about my time spent with Bill. It was published in the Staten Island Advance and can be viewed here.
Photos below from left: Me with Bill in his home, Bill and I having a Zoom session with Gary Corbitt preparing for the show, Bill and I during the interview on Gotta Run With Will. I’d like to thank Will Sanchez for producing this episode.
In March, I was asked by my Ugandan friend, teacher, and fellow runner Mukasa Edwards if I could help him fundraise to purchase a 10,000-gallon plastic water tank for his village. His community was facing a very serious drought and Mukasa would have to walk very far to get drinking water for his village. The water tank would solve the problem by collecting rain from the roof of their schoolhouse. After a few weeks, we raised enough money to purchase the tank. The tank is now full of rainwater and being used by all the people in Mukasa’s village.
I donated a pint of blood. It would be the first of three visits of doing so in 2023. I’d like to give credit to Michael Schnall and Ryan Knütsen for being role models in this area. I used to faint when I would have blood drawn during doctor visits. I am proud that I have come this far in being able to voluntarily donate my blood to help others without fainting.
In April and May, my son continued to show his dedication to running. He ran a 10k in April and came in second place overall and only 13 seconds behind the first place finisher. In May, he ran a half marathon with a very impressive time of 1:17:09 (5:53 pace).
Photos from left: My son leading at the start of the 10k, him encouraging another runner at the finish line of a half marathon.
I had donated an old robot called the Hero Jr. that I had for the past 30 years to the Museum of Failure. It was tough getting rid of something so interesting that I had owned for so many years, but I felt that giving it to the museum would benefit so many more people.
In June, I joined my fellow improv performers from Avant Prov at the 2023 Figment Festival at Snug Harbor, Staten Island. We engaged the public with our representation as members of the Slightly Silly Party. The purpose of this “political” party as created by Rob Reese was to poke fun at the political world and to replace the seriousness of it with fun and silliness. Engaging the public with rubber chickens and kazoos while marching in a ridiculous parade was a part of the fun.
Pictured below: Rodney Umble, unknown, Laura Petit, Me, Rob Reese, unknown, Douglas Cala, and Erin Krom. Crouching with the big googly eyes is Crystal Marie.
Before Father’s Day approached, my son had asked me what I’d like to do. My answer was easy; go on an overnight hike along the Appalachian Trail. I was able to enjoy my time with my kids while engaging in something that each of us liked to do. One of my goals was to wake up the next morning and use my portable stove to serve hot coffee to everyone. Goal accomplished!
Below is a photo of us on the top of Anthony’s Nose, a well-known mountain-top destination in the Bear Mountain area.
After a few failed attempts through the years, my friend Jacky Lee had finally completed the Great New York 100-Mile Exposition. With a 30-hour time limit, she completed it just in time in 29 hours, 36 minutes. And she wasn’t in last place; there were several other runners behind her.
In July, while I was running along the Promenade in Brooklyn, I came across a deer that had swum across the Narrows and into Brooklyn. Law enforcement and Parks officials were trying to figure out what to do with it.
I led a group of runners as we ran a path in Mill Basin, Brooklyn that when completed and uploaded to our Strava accounts, resembled a rainbow. I called this the Rainbow Run in support of the LGBTQ community.
I randomly found a funny video on social media showing an African-American child who is having a meltdown because he insists to his mother that he is Mexican because he eats quesadillas. She reminds him that he is not Mexican which drives him crazy. In response, I wrote the following (see below), which roughly translates as “More or less 25 pounds of my body is Mexican because I like to eat burritos”. This comment has garnered more than 1,500 ‘likes’ and has entertained many among the Mexican-American community. I want to thank Nena Coss for sharing the original post.
My daughter got invited to a 10-day artist residency in the woods of Vermont. During that time, she slept in a tent and created art with other artists, musicians, and dancers without the distractions of social media or electronic devices.
My daughter was featured in an ad campaign for the YMCA. It was great seeing her image on their social media and reading in her own words why she loves her lifeguarding job. I loved the photo of her as well. It shows her as someone who is proud and confident.
In August, I wanted to use two foldable kayaks that I had purchased during the heat of the pandemic. My daughter and I paddled out from the beach at Kaiser Park in Coney Island. We kayaked part of New York Harbor and even boarded the partially-sunken Yellow Submarine in Coney Island Creek.
I had the chance to briefly meet Joe Tudisco. In a small world story, Joe was an assistant football coach for the Sheepshead Sharks football team throughout the ’80s and ’90s. Once he retired, he became an actor. First, he was a background actor with non-speaking roles and then became a featured actor with lines. He has played principal roles in such hit series as The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire and has been in films such as The Post. As it turns out, I am an alumnus of Sheepshead Bay High School, a background actor, and I live only a mile away from Joe.
Through the money I have raised from the recycled running shoe program, I have been able to help Kenyan elite runner Job Kiprono Langat with various expenses related to the races he runs. He was so grateful that he had shirts made for him and a fellow runner with my full name on them.
Through a popular casting website, I submitted to be the subject of a series of photos that would be taken by talented photographer Argun Tekant. Before shooting, Argun specifically wanted me to create a character type that I could portray in all of his photos. I chose to portray a film director since I have dabbled in directing before and I found it to be a very interesting experience. Below is one of my favorites out of many great photos he took.
In October, my daughter Emma E Pesin, her cousin Emma G Pesin, and my brother Aaron displayed their artwork at Artmageddon, a free event for artists that promotes itself as “NYC’s biggest free art and music festival”. It was so exciting to be immersed in a Brooklyn community full of creative types who either sold art or supported other artists.
I volunteered to be a part of a Halloween party for Prime Produce, an artist collective in the Hells Kitchen area of Manhattan. I was put in charge of giving creative eulogies written in a mad libs format by friends of the “deceased”. It may sound macabre, but it was a lot of fun as their friends cracked up laughing during the ridiculous eulogies that I gave.
In November, I participated in the Great Gobbler 6-Hour Bike Race. While I was very nervous about engaging in an event that I had little experience with, it turned out to be an exciting experience for me. You can read more about it here.
I met Ying Tan who was running as a Republican candidate for city council that would have represented a neighborhood near where I live. I discovered her on a Facebook post where she shared a video of her participating in the Italian custom of preparing and preserving homemade tomato sauce. I saw her working with an older Italian lady and Ying described the entire sauce-making process in detail. I thought that this was a great example of how the Italian-American and Chinese-American communities can learn how to get along by learning about each other’s customs. Seeing this video really impressed me enough to make me want to meet Ying in person. Even though I am a registered Democrat, I believe it’s important to work together with those who may not share similar political beliefs in order to better serve the community.
Due to me interviewing Bill Welsh several months ago, I was personally invited by Gary Corbitt to the “Running for Civil Rights: The New York Pioneer Club 1936–1976” event at the NY Historical Society. Will Sanchez had put together a special sign highlighting 28 runners who were important figures to New York’s running scene over the past few decades. Bill Welsh was one of the runners who was featured on that sign.
Photos from left: Me next to a handcycle competitor in the Great Gobbler race, me with Ying Tan at a party held for the community, Will Sanchez and I posing with his sign.
In December, I attended a film screening for Dumb Money, the true story of how the Game Stop company went from a penny stock during the pandemic and kept on rising in price to make lots of people rich due to one social media influencer who wholeheartedly believed in the stock. It was great to see a Q&A afterward with the stars of the film, Paul Dano and America Ferrara.
One of the things that I’ve been learning to value more in life are the friends that I have made through the years. Stan Levine is one of those friends. We had a great rapport when we were teenagers going to Sheepshead Bay High School back in the ’80s. It was great seeing Stan again and having coffee together in the Brooklyn neighborhood where he works. In 2024, it will be the 40th anniversary of our high school graduation. Stan, did you have to remind me of that?!
Through my friend Will Sanchez of Gotta Run With Will fame, I was introduced to Isabel Eliashev. Isabel was once one of the fastest female runners in New York City back in the 1990s. She was also one of the first female members of the New York Pioneers Club, a running club that predates the New York Road Runners Club. From Will and Isabel, I learned that the NYPC was one of the first inclusive running clubs that welcomed all runners regardless of race, gender, or religion. Soon after meeting Isabel, she came to my preschool class as a special guest. She did fun activities with the children including running laps around the classroom. Isabel is a school principal from Georgia who recently created a Pioneer Club for young runners in her community. What an inspiration!
As a lifelong runner for 42 years, I had a lot of trepidation about signing up for The Great Gobbler 6-Hour Bike Race, an inaugural event that was held at Freshkills Park, Staten Island, on November 19, 2023. I felt like an imposter who was posing as a mountain biker. However, the lure of a new challenge was just too strong to appeal to the sleeping badass in me and many great things about this event made me want to join the Dark Side and jump into the ring.
When I arrived at the event area via the newly completed North Park section of Freshkills Park, I entered a very welcoming world of mountain bikers, volunteers, and VIPs who were responsible for making the event happen. There was a strong atmosphere of camaraderie, which calmed my nerves. I needed my nerves calmed. Besides not having much mountain bike experience, I had to use my old Cannondale bike, which dates back 33 years to 1990. This mountain bike was old school; there were no shocks whatsoever, so whatever bumps I hit along the race course, my own body had to absorb the shock. My other mountain bike, a 15-year-old GIANT, had a shock absorption system, but that bike was not functional at the moment. I did not let this stop me from participating. My 33-year-old emerald green Cannondale became my dependable Millennium Falcon for this event.
Fitting my bike with the bib number
Since I was scared shitless participating in a sport that I believed I was ill-prepared for, I used a few strategies to help me lessen the fear. Being that each loop along the course was 8.75 miles, I set a realistic goal of riding one loop per hour for a total of 52.5 miles. I made a paper pace counter and attached it to the center of my bike handle so that I could focus on it throughout the race. Additionally, I approached this whole experience as a science experiment. I wanted to see how a lifelong runner who has run nine marathons, many half marathons, and thousands of miles would fare in a mountain bike race. The plus side was that runners are very goal-oriented and have a lot of perseverance in long-distance events. The minus side is that different leg muscles are used for each respective sport. Whereas runners predominantly use their calves, cyclists mostly use their quadriceps. Another minus for me was that my real cycling gloves were destroyed and I had to use construction gloves for this event. With no padding inside, this proved to be painful for my hands as the hours wore on.
The event had several waves depending on the type of bike one was using. First to go out were the adaptive handcycles, then the gravel bikes. The final wave, the mountain bike division (my wave), was next. After race director and event extraordinaire Matt Lebow shouted, “Get some!!!”, we were off and riding! A group of about 30 mountain bikers barreled out of the starting line officially beginning the race. I was somewhere in the middle. We went up a small hill, then down a much bigger one. Everyone sped down it to take advantage of gravity. At this moment, I decided that I would immediately take focus away from my competitors and spend the next six hours strictly working on my own goal of six laps. I slowed down to preserve my body for the next six hours so that I could achieve this goal.
Feelings of constant excitement and awe were going on in my mind as I traversed the hills and valleys of the first loop. There was the excitement of riding on top of what was once the site of the world’s largest landfill. Freshkills took 22 years to be reclaimed into an amazing world-class park sprawling with hills, valleys, marshes, and wildlife. I experienced the awe of reaching the top of these hills to discover breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline and the Bayonne Bridge.
The best description I can give for riding at Freshkills would be a roller coaster ride with many inclines, turns, and dropoffs, but in this case, the “tracks” that the roller coaster was riding on were completely natural. This was a roller coaster with spectacular views at the top, but where nature ruled.
I completed the first loop after passing over the timing strip at the start line with a time of 46:17, and I was stoked! I was killing my goal of one hour per loop. I had plenty of gas in my tank and I couldn’t wait to begin my second loop.
I completed my second loop with a time of 50:50; still way ahead of my pace goal. I originally planned to stop here for a rest break, but I was a man on a mission and my adrenaline level was high, so I continued onward to begin my third loop. A bunch of my friends who were resting on the sidelines started cheering for me. This was a big psychological boost and it made me feel more accepted into the mountain biking community at this point.
Throughout this race, a few other mountain bikers passed me, which was fine with me. I came across the one biker who was competing in the adaptive bike division. Sometimes, I passed her and sometimes she passed me. It was a great feeling to be a part of an event that included physically challenged cyclists. The mountain bike she used was specially made by an organization called the Mjolnir Project. Usually, these kinds of bikes can cost as much as $14,000. This organization uses 3D printing technology to bring the price down to $2,000.
I rode side-by-side with a participant from the adaptive bike division.
I completed my third loop with a time of 54:23! Still faster than pace. At this point, I realized that I had already burned so many calories and would continue to do so if I proceeded onto the fourth loop. I knew that I could not continue riding this way since my body was burning calories at a very fast rate and needed the energy to go on. I forced myself to stop and then wolfed down a few slices of pizza that were available for all the participants. I also ate an energy bar. In all, I must have taken a 15-18-minute break, but it was well worth it solely for the calorie loading.
After finishing my fourth loop, my finish time was 1:12:34, which was fine with me since I needed that extra time previously for the food break. Again, I rode by my still cheering friends which energized me to begin loop number five.
Loop number five was completed in 1:05:25. It was one of my slowest loops without a food break, but so what, I’m still within my goal of completing six loops by the six-hour mark. My tiredness was definitely beginning to show.
I was so tired that I just had to stop and catch my breath after crossing the timing strip for my fifth loop. I rested near my friends who had long stopped competing due to the physical challenges of the course. I was so out of breath that I couldn’t speak. I was standing there cold with a listless stare. Corey Ferretti asked me if I was okay. Another friend, Dominic Lucente, saw the distressed look on my face and motioned to me that I should end the race right now. I struggled to eke out the words, “One more loop” while slowly holding up one finger in the air showing him that I needed to do just one more. He had this incredulous look on his face as if what I was about to attempt could not and should not be attempted. Bob Wisner came over to check on me, for I was standing motionless and with a blank stare on my face. I managed to muster a few words and ask Bob to get me a chocolate protein drink that was on a nearby table. That drink provided me with an extra dose of gas that I desperately needed to complete my sixth loop.
After I downed the protein drink in one breath, I was approaching the fifth hour of the event and ready to jump back onto my bike to complete my sixth and final loop. Boy, it was brutal, but I knew that the end was near which gave me the determination to get it done.
One hour and eight minutes later, I crossed the timing strip to register my sixth loop with less than three minutes before I hit the six-hour mark to end my race. My total elapsed time was 5:57:34 and my moving time was 5:35:38. According to these stats, I had spent a total of 22 minutes eating food and taking rest breaks. I had completed my 52.5 miles and had achieved my six-lap goal. Overall, I had come in 10th place out of 32 participants. I think the fact that I focused on a goal throughout the event helped me to do better than many other participants. If this race had an age-group category, I would have come in first or second place.
I want to give a special shout-out to race photographer Jose Mendez. His amazing photos helped to document a historic event while helping to promote Freshkills Park as a major biking destination well into the future.
Here I am after the race. I was completely drained of energy and full of body aches, but I was satisfied that I competed and that I was able to achieve my goal. The experiment worked.
A special thanks go out to Freshkills Park Program Coordinator Christopher Ricker and Race Director Matt Lebow. This was a perfect partnership at a perfect venue for an event such as this one. Also important to mention is race organizer Michael Schnall. Mark Vogt and Rob Lenza of Complete Race Solutions (completerace.com) timed the event.
This was my favorite photo of the event. It shows a group of ambitious bikers high up on a hill with the changing Fall colors in the background. And there’s race director Matt Lebow holding the mic about to shout out his words of encouragement to get this race started.
I don’t know all of these people, but I do know a number of them. I want to thank Dominic Lucente, Bob Wisner, Raoul Edwards, Paul Reynolds, and Corey Ferretti for cheering me on with each loop I completed. You guys helped push me to reach my goal, and I appreciate that.
Postcards that I had individually hand-written with a personal message to help get out the vote in October 2018. I mailed them to citizens across the Nation.
Years ago, a number of the staff members at the school where I work wanted to unionize. Knowing the power of having a union represent me and my fellow teachers, I volunteered my time to help spread the word to others at my job. I spent weeks knocking on doors with a union organizer and spoke to whoever was open to hear me. After many weeks of engaging in this outreach, there was just one more day left before it was time for all staff to vote on whether they wanted a union or not. That evening, I worked at union headquarters in Manhattan at a phone bank and called staff members at their homes to encourage them to vote the following day. One of the teachers was on a long-term absence from her job due to requiring time to recover from an illness. I spoke with her over the phone and told her that someone could pick her up from her home so that she could be driven to our school to place her vote, and then driven back to her home. She was thankful for this offer but then declined it by saying, “I’m just one person. My vote won’t matter”. I thanked her for her time, wished her well, and then ended my conversation with her.
The following day was the big day to vote at our school. Many staff members came downstairs to vote. When all votes were tallied and confirmed, the teacher assistants and other staff had won a union. However, the teachers at my school had lost having a union by one vote (due to different job titles and the rules associated with that, we had to have two separate unions, one for the teachers, and one for all other support staff).
When I found out that the teachers had lost having a union by only one vote, I immediately thought about that teacher whom I had spoken to over the phone just the night before and what she had said to me. You see, her vote did matter.
Years ago, when computers were less user-friendly, one had to know how to take various shortcuts when there was an issue with their computer. One of those shortcuts was Ctrl-Alt-Delete. Pressing these three keys together at the same time helped to reboot one’s computer when it froze or acted haywire. Once pressed together, the computer returned to its normal self.
Last week, something scary happened to me that made me want to reboot my life. After I arrived at work, I felt pain in my chest. The pain wouldn’t go away and I started to break out into a sweat. I immediately went down to my school Director’s office and asked her if I can sit down. She saw that I didn’t look well and asked me if she could call up an ambulance to which I agreed. The EMS workers attached me to an EKG machine and fortunately, their readings showed that my heart rate was good. Feeling worn out after a hectic weekend, I decided that it would be best to leave my job and go home to rest for the day.
My son, who fortunately had just received his driver’s license, drove me home. As I sat in the backseat of my car, I contemplated my life and what may have caused the chest pain. It turned out that the day before the incident, I had drunk three cups of coffee, way more than I was used to. This was to help get me and my family back home on a 5-hour trip from Vermont after driving 5 hours the day before to pick up my daughter from a 10-day art residency. It had to be the coffee that affected my heart. However, the trauma of having prolonged chest pain and entering an ambulance was a wake-up call for me to reevaluate everything I did in my life.
For the past dozen years or so, I’ve been living as if every day were my last. This may sound like an exciting way to live, but it can be exhausting and over time, physically and mentally damaging. To start making necessary changes, I reflected on everything that I’ve been doing in my life. I am currently working a full-time job and several part-time jobs to help support my son in college. I decided that instead of working a few part-time jobs in one day, I spread them out evenly throughout the week. I am now also reshuffling my busy schedule and canceling or postponing things when I have too much on my plate.
I also thought about the stressors in my life and figured out a game plan on how to deal with them. I decided that I wasn’t going to let others stress me out, for the toxicity coming from some individuals can literally increase my heart rate and affect my health. I also knew that I sometimes need to say “no” to others who may need my help or guidance, for I can only do so much.
Additionally, I spent time thinking about the things that I love to do in my life. I have to approach these things in a different way that will promote my well-being. If I feel that they will cause me stress, I will stop doing them or be a part of them in a much smaller way.
I have recently taken up hot yoga. Yoga is benefitting both my body and mind and is even helping me improve my running. It calms me down and makes me stay focused on the important things in my life.
Many people’s lives often get out of control as they live beyond their capabilities. This could send some of us to the hospital. We all have to reflect on what we do from time to time and reboot when necessary.
As parents, we all want to make sure that our children do their best in life. Sometimes we do a little too much and go overboard by unintentionally becoming helicopter parents out of fear that our children will fail without our help. I’m just as guilty as any other parent in that regard. There have been many situations where I have interrupted a conversation between an adult and my son or daughter by speaking on their behalf when my children were right there to engage in the conversation themselves. It’s as if I was their lawyer and my children were incapable of speaking for themselves.
A recent eye-opening event happened that helped me break out of the cycle of speaking on my son’s behalf and respecting what he had to say. He was hired to be a pacer for the Mile High Run Club in Manhattan. As he lead a small group of runners through Central Park with me as one of the runners in the group, another runner asked him, “What do I have to do to train for a half marathon?”. With my 42 years of running experience, I was about to insert myself into the conversation and open my big fat mouth to answer that question for him thinking that I was best to answer it. But something inside me told me to stay quiet and just let him answer the question himself. He was being paid to help other runners after all. And even though he’s only 19 years old, he had accumulated a lot of running knowledge within a short period of time as a runner. I’m glad I kept quiet, for he answered her question thoroughly while including the latest and most popular running theories on how to train properly. His answer was full of technical jargon that included such concepts as VO2 Max and tempo running. The runner that he answered seemed both satisfied and impressed with his response.
After listening in on his response, I had a big smile on my face for three reasons; 1) I couldn’t have provided an answer myself as comprehensive and thoughtful as his, 2) I am glad that I did not speak on his behalf, and 3) I am damn fucking proud of him for becoming the man that he now is.
I was recently inspired by my friend Irslan Ali who posted a video on social media discussing how we all need to get out of our comfort zone if we truly want to improve ourselves. It made me think about myself and my own desire for self-improvement.
Last year, I voluntarily engaged in several daunting endeavors all of which were new to me. I was fearful of each one of them since they required me to push the limits and redefine what I was capable of. I was determined though, for my need to grow by trying new things was greater than my fear of failing at them. I decided that with each one of them, I should have faith, take the bull by the horns, and make them happen no matter what the results might be.
As I undertook each endeavor, my fears and concerns quickly became replaced by thrills and excitement. They were new things that I was learning and the excitement of learning these new things overtook my emotions and released all fears. I felt like a small child learning how to walk or a teenager the moment he first learned how to drive a car.
At 55 years old, I realize that I should not get complacent with life and that I can still push myself to new limits to define what I am capable of in new ways. I am learning that living in my comfort zone restricts who I can be and makes me give up on the potential that I have inside of me. With this in mind, I am excited about the future and the opportunities that I have yet to experience.
Dancing in a pink tutu in front of a live audience was not what I signed up for going into 2022. This show was the result of learning how to do improv by attending more than a dozen Avant Prov workshops as taught by master instructor Rob Reese. Both the performers and the audience had a great time in the four shows that we performed in.
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