I had a nice conversation with newly-wed Flyer couple Susan and David a couple of weeks ago. We chatted in a diner on Third Avenue just before the Spring Social. It was very nice to get to know them a little bit better. We explored not only their running personae, which you, their colleagues, will know something about already, but we explored some of their backgrounds and non-running activities. I hope you will enjoy getting to know them as much as I did.

The Editor

Growing up and going to school

[Susan, Let's start with you. Where did you grow up, and where did you go to school?]
was born on LI, and moved here when I was 12. We lived down in Battery Park City. I went to Columbia Prep, a small private high school on West 93rd street. [Isn’t that where we did deep water running with Doug Stern?] That’s it, that’s the pool. In high school I did no sports at all. I did everything but sports. But I occasionally did a little jogging around the reservoir – so when I got into running years later, the reservoir was familiar territory.

I have a sister who lives out in New Mexico. My family is very supportive of my running – they think it’s great.

I went to college at Barnard and then graduate school at Fordham and NYU. [I remember you went to law school and clerked for a Federal Judge.]  Yes, I clerked for Judge Chin in the Southern District of New York. It was around 2001. Interestingly, just this month he was confirmed by the Senate to serve as an appellate court judge – a wonderful position for an excellent jurist.

Now I work to help an Israeli university. I work for a domestic non-profit organization that exists for the purpose of raising money for the university. I help philanthropic people interested in supporting the university with different types of charitable gifts. It’s rewarding.

[David, are you a life-long New Yorker too?]
es, we are a New York couple. I was born and raised in Brooklyn and went to high school at South Shore High School in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn.

I went to college at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. I was a mathematical sciences and economics major. A lot of mathematical science majors go into actuarial work, but I moved in a different direction: during the summer between my junior and senior years I interned at NBC – I worked in the news division for a small group trying to see how to make some money off the news. So I set up a PC database for a project and discovered that that was what I wanted to do as a career.

Coming out of college I got a job working for a small HR consulting firm. We were calculating cost of living data for multi national companies to help them pay their expatriates overseas and I worked with a software package they sold to help administrators manage the calculations. I spent some time at KPMG, a large consulting firm – one of the Big 4 that are left. But now I’m back with a small software company in Chelsea. We produce software to manage the selling of ad space on web sites.

[Did you do sports in high school and college?]
Yes I did. I grew up playing soccer and fencing so I was sort of at the other end of the spectrum from Susan. My dad was a phys ed teacher for 37 years and refereed soccer and basketball, my brother played soccer and hockey goalie, and my sister swam and played some tennis. During the summer my dad would work at summer camps in the Catskills. When I was growing up he worked at a sports camp in Monticello. That’s where I learned to fence. I did some running there, but mostly I would spend my days in the fencing room and on the soccer field.

At college I was on the fencing team. I was a walk-on – literally. I was with my folks on a campus tour, and we finally found the fencing room - but it was empty and we were about to leave when the coach walked in. I introduced myself and told him I was interested in fencing and asked about joining the team. “Gee, we didn’t know you were coming.” He said. “I just wanted to apply on my own merits and see what happened.” I replied. “Well, that was pretty stupid of you,” he said. Not a great start for me on the team! However, I was on the team all 4 years and it was a great experience and provided me with life long memories and friends.

My coach required the members of the team to run a sub six minute mile. The fastest mile I had ever run in my life was probably 7 or 8 minutes. But there was a group of guys on the team that would run pretty consistent 1:30 quarters, so I worked with them and eventually we clocked in at between 5:55 and 6 minutes for the mile. [Susan] I never knew that!

Getting into Running and joining the Flyers

[Susan, tell how you got into running.]
got started running when I lived across street from 59th bridge and watched the runners going over the bridge during the marathon each year. Then, one year, during the marathon, I was in a neighborhood bar on First Avenue – watching football and drinking a Bloody Mary while thousands of runners went by the bar up First Avenue. I realized then that I could choose between a bar or a marathon – I chose the marathon for future years!

Then I met Lloyd Hoo in the Central Park sometime in 2000. My chiropractor, Marc Bochner, had been talking a lot about the Flyers. One day in Central Park there were a bunch of people in Flyer shirts. I started talking to one person and it turned out to be Lloyd. Within no time, Lloyd had me in contact with other Flyers and he was at my front door suggesting we go for runs!

[Weren't you involved with Francine’s 6:00 AM group?]
Yes, Lloyd recommended that I join them one day, so I did. I showed up by myself. I didn’t know anyone, and at that point I had never run with any one besides Lloyd. The group was doing a hill work out and I didn’t know anything about repeats or speedwork. On the first repeat I blazed up in front of everyone. Lisa Miller said “Oh we have a speedy one here”. Then on the next one I died. Lisa Miller said “you have to learn to pace yourself”. And that was the beginning of running with the Flyers and my intro to speed work. It was fun.

[And David, how did you start?]
was going to NY Sports and running on the tread mill before working out. Then during an annual bar crawl organized by me and my friends, a friend had just learned if you joined NYRR and did 9 races you got automatic entry into the next year's marathon. He asked if we were interested. A few of us took him up on the proposition and the next thing I knew we were freezing at the Al Gordon Snowflake run the following February to do our first race of 9. We did one of the long training run in August or September 2007 and met the Flyer pace leaders. I kept it in mind for 2008 when I would be training for the marathon because I figured I couldn’t do the long runs by myself.

In 2008 I kept checking the Flyer web site to see if there were any marathon training runs. I saw Glen was going to do a kick-off for the Flyers Marathon Training Program (MTP). I joined the Flyers and signed up for the kick-off and the rest is history.

So the quest that started with 5 interested people ended with 2 only of us actually running the 2008 marathon and me saying "Never agree to anything proposed on a pub crawl.”

[So it looks like you both started running in a bar - not bad!]

Yes, but even better than running the marathon, I met Susan along the way.

How you met each other

[Susan, how did you meet David?]
  had met Glen Wiener at a Flyer TGIF at the Central Park Boat House Café. [So, another bar! ] Glen told me he was launching this training program and he gave me the now famous red book. I was impressed by his plan. Soon after there was a long training run scheduled for Rockefeller State Park. I decided against doing the run, but I volunteered to provide a ride since I was heading upstate that day. And David was one of the riders that Glen put in my car, so that’s how we met – thanks to Glen!

Eleven months later we got engaged. It was a couple of hours after we finished running a destination race: the Napa-To-Sonoma 1/2 marathon. It was a fun race, a romantic engagement and an all-around great weekend! We were married in January of this year. For our honeymoon we just took a couple of days at a B&B in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

This year we both decided to take a break from big endurance events, and get our life settled, no marathons or Ironmen. Just picking and choosing races as we go – and having fun.

How your running has evolved

[So you got into triathlons in order to recover from an injury, but then you loved it and stuck with it.]
For me cross training is so much better than just running. And if during training something is not feeling right, maybe my knee is hurting, instead of running that day I’ll switch to swimming or cycling. I don’t skip working out, but just switch off to something else. So I satisfy my urge to continue training and I don’t feel I have missed a day.

At first I did shorter triathlons plus a marathon in the fall, and then eventually I entered longer triathlons and built up to the Ironman. I’ve finished 3 Ironmen in 5 years. I do a race and then take a year off. In comparison with just a marathon, I feel the triathlons are much better on my body. Somehow, my recovery from a triathlon seems much easier than recovery from a marathon.

[David, does Susan’s excitement motivate you to get into Triathlons?]
I’m a terrible swimmer. I am terrified to go into open water. Maybe a biathlon.

The best advice you ever got

[David] While getting ready for the 2008 marathon, I learned I was starting on the lower level of the Verezzano Bridge. I was told to not run near the edge but instead to run in the center to avoid any 'fluids' that might be coming down from the runners on the upper level.

It's all about mutual support

[David] The support is so important. I ran this year’s marathon and it was great to know Susan would be there when I came off the bridge and on Fifth Avenue. Having support during the race gives you a great lift and helps you keep going.

[Susan ] Athletics had become such an important part of my life in the last 10 years, I thought that dating someone or marrying someone who appreciated athletics would be so nice. And it is – it’s really nice.

The 3 best things we shared are (1) getting married; (2) watching David PR in his marathon (3) watching Susan PR in her Ironman.