NEW YORK CITY MARATHON

November 4, 2001

Gordon Bakoulis

Brian Clas

BRIAN CLAS: I start pretty well. I was running with a lead group of Americans. Felt good through the halfway point. And basically got to the 59th Street Bridge in good form and coming off the 59th Street Bridge, started cramping up pretty severely. That's where I lost the lead group and needless to say, it was a struggle for the last 10 miles for me. Just tried to make it home.

BRIAN CLAS: I live in Manhattan on the Upper West Side.

BRIAN CLAS: I grew up in Upstate New York.

BRIAN CLAS: A town called Endicott. In other words, Binghamton.

BRIAN CLAS: On the Upper West Side.

BRIAN CLAS: I am a full-time runner right now.

BRIAN CLAS: I used to work for the Aaron Diamond Research Center, Rockefeller University and I do medical research and I look to get involved in that again now that the Marathon is over.

BRIAN CLAS: Support was wonderful. The fans were, you know, just very, very, supportive along the entire course, especially when you have New York A.C. on your jersey. There's a lot of "Go U.S.A." but there was also a lot of "Go New York" and that was very special. I'd say it got me through the last six miles.

BRIAN CLAS: Really?

BRIAN CLAS: No.

BRIAN CLAS: I didn't know that. Like I said, I felt strong and I really did go into the race feeling like I wanted to be in that elite group of Americans and, you know, things didn't work out for me today, but you know, I did my best.

GORDON BAKOULIS: This is my sixth. The sixth one that I have finished.

GORDON BAKOULIS: I thought they were bigger and louder than ever. I was amazed, especially in Manhattan. Maybe it was just all those little waiving hands, I don't know who gave the big hands out and the big clacker things, it just seemed like a lot of support, especially coming up Fifth Avenue or down Fifth Avenue, rather into the park.

GORDON BAKOULIS: Yes, I live on the Upper West Side. 18 years.

GORDON BAKOULIS: Free-lance writer and editor. So I do what you do. I am really over there.

GORDON BAKOULIS: Yeah it was significant. I guess I am a little nostalgic for the old course because so many of my old friends used to watch it 23 miles just from the top of that hill. They were -- they rolled with the punches and they were just watching along Fifth Avenue between like 102nd and 90th. A lot of the people that I knew were there including my kids so that was a really special part of the course for me. It was uphill and I was really, really struggling to catch a group of about 4, 5 American women who were ahead of me at that point and so that was a part of the race where I was just really working hard and focusing on the race itself, but at the same time it was great to see my family right along there.

BRIAN CLAS: The course did not feel any easier for me because you still had to claim the same elevation. You just did it with a gradual incline rather than a short steep hill and turn. Maybe it was a little faster because you had a few turns, but I definitely knew that I was going up 'til from 102nd to 90th. The course records are amazing because I think (inaudible) little longer than ideal. I really am impressed with both of those records today.

BRIAN CLAS: No, they were pretty close, but you like (inaudible).

BRIAN CLAS: Yeah, I passed Joan Samuelson at 24 miles and obviously she's a master. I passed another masters runner early on maybe about seven or eight miles after 40 -- she's not an American. I really don't know --