A Mitzvah

 Updating for October 2025

I have two things to add, first the are you Jewish boys have include me in to the concept of Jewish exceptionalism. The concept of "the chosen people" really discussed me more than ever. I confronted a couple of them on the fact that they're only interested in interacting with Jewish people and they said that people who are in Jewish have their own seven commandments.  The 7th one is completely about homophobia. They also wouldn't say them in an audible kind of way because it wasn't on their agenda.But I really don't want to be part of a religion that decides that because you're born ofcertain parents you're different or better than people that were born of different parents.

But the main thing I've picked up on the fact that being uneducated is something that these kids are proud of. When I told him I don't believe in God they confront me with the fact that the big bang theory can't exist because something cannot come from nothing. I asked a couple of the kids how old they were and they both happened to be 17. Then I asked them what a molecule was. Neither one of them know.Then I told them how can they say the Big Bang Theory can't exist if they don't know the basics of chemistry and physics. They told me that everything they need to know was in the Torah.   There you go......

...........................

The beginning of fall is a busy season for these missionaries.  I avoid them during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because for whatever reason they don't carry money on that holiday. They are allowed to ask me to listen to a horn but they're not allowed to pay me. But on Sukkot they want me to shake a stick and some sort of dried up melon while saying some prayers. Since I didn't have to put any leather straps on my head I only asked for $5 and they were quick to agree. The cool thing was that last week I was not alone during this encounter I was hanging out with some friends waiting to go for a workout. 

So it's time to update this a significant amount. Since I originally wrote this 12 years ago I probablycollected about a hundred bucks off the "'Are you Jewish?' boys" they're pretty quick to give me twenty bucks if I put on the tafillen and repeat whatever words they told me to say or read off a card. the truly pathetic thing is that it's so obvious that I really don't care what I say it is just meaningless words to me and I AM just doing it for the money. They don't care as long as the son of a Jewish woman does the ritual. my obvious insincerity is irrelevant.

................................................................................................  Janurary 2010 

A couple of days ago I was changing trains in Times Square. There is always a lot going on down there, bands, art, various religious/charity looking for a handout or a sole.  So it was not surprising that a man dress in traditional Hasidim clothing ask me "Are you Jewish?"    It was about 1pm and I had plenty of time before I had to pick up the kids.  So I decided to engage.

I tried to guide the conversation towards the subject of  free will and humanity, but that was useless.  It was like talking to a dining room table.  I knew this man had one and only one agenda, that was to get me to use tefillin.

That subject came up quick.  He asked me if I want to put them on.  I said sure, if you give me $20.  He instantly agreed.  After a very short and polite discussion about the timing of payment.  I performed the ritual, right there in the Times Square Subway Station.

We then had a short conversation about our personal religious histories.  He gave me $20 and shook my hand.

"Congratulations, you did a mitzvah."
"No, the mitzvah will be when I donate this money to help end the suffering in Haiti."
"Are there Jews in Haiti?"

Oy Vey

So if yo want to do a mitzvah you can help someone in need or support one of the organizations below.

The American Red Cross

or

I personal know the people involved at Heartline Ministries, it is not about religious rituals.  It is about helping those who need the most help.

I think I owe the blogosphere another more blog

It's been a while since I posted and I've been writing this in my head for a while. But ever since I got kicked out of AdSense for killing the bird that was laying the golden eggs I haven't felt that inspired to post. But I wasn't really making that much anyway so here goes

i have actually had an amazing spring and summer. I could say it's been amazing because I got to run an a marathon in Brighten England with my son, and a half marathon in Reykjavik Iceland with my daughter. Honestly you can Google pictures of Brighton and London and Iceland much better than me showing you pictures. But I will show you some highlights.

To the left we see the entrance to a tunnel that goes under a road that gets you to the beach in Brighton. Not an entrance to the Q train at Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. Also a picture of my son smarking with the actual Rosetta Stone behind him. And a picture of each of us goofing around in front of Stonehenge.

And oh yeah we did run a marathon when we were in England. Here we are finishing last.

Also got to give a shout out to my son. He accepted a job to accompany me to England and run a marathon with me. Then after we bought the plane tickets he got accepted to graduate school at Brooklyn College. Night school. That meant he had to take two remote classes in the middle of the night from England. Well done, Nicholas!

And I just realized that I've been to Europe twice this year. After going to England in April I went to Iceland in August. I went there to run a half marathon with my daughter Sabrina and we did tons of touristy stuff with her brand new fiance (YEAH), Julia. 

Upper left hand corner of the picture shows Sabrina and Julia enjoying Icelandic breakfast with jet lag like rock stars. And then to the right is the two of them at 12:30 a.m. with the northern lights behind them and then me and Sabrina with The Northern Lights behind us. (By the way if we would have turned our head 90° from looking at the northern lights we would have seen the sun peaking out from the horizon at 12:30 a.m.) On the bottom we see them in front of a glacier in front of a waterfall and in front of the crevice that separates the North American played from the European plate. Below is a short video of a geyser.  (Again use your Google to find lots of great pictures of Iceland)

I could sell Iceland as a vacation to everyone I know. Glaciers and geysers and waterfalls and northern lights and the crevice that separates North America from Europe. Reykjavik is also a completely new city. It's like the anti Disney World of places to visit. Things are natural and beautiful but it takes a little work to get there and the weather is not going to be great. But again google to look at some great pictures. But then you wouldn't see what I did so because you're not me.

I also just got back from a long weekend conference to Denver Colorado with the GBS Foundation. I did get to do some touristy things while I was there. On my first morning I woke up on Eastern Standard Time and just ran around Denver. I was really pleased to find a creek that had a pair of trails on either side of it. One was recycling and another was for pedestrians and they seem to go under all the roads in town.I went out for 45 minutes and then ran back and I felt great. I pre-registered for a 5K in Suburban Denver. It was called the Nun Run. I really assumed it was just a fundraiser for the archdiocese or something. I assumed I can take an Uber to the start and then I would walk over to the bagel table say hi to people and finagle myself a ride back to the hotel. That was a bad assumption. This was not a fundraiser for the Archdiocese, it was a religious event....Lots of prayer at the start. The run of show included a mass and confessional. And they were people that to finish line area encouraging people to sign a petition to end children sex change mutilation surgery. Needless to say I didn't stop and ask anyone for a ride back to the hotel. Back at the hotel I realized I got a text from a friend who wanted around Denver on Thursday and told me that I should go to the arts district and enjoy some galleries and some tacos made by people who knew how to make tacos. I was glad I took that walk.

I have to wrap up this blog post. I'll do it by talking about a couple of things I learned this year and some of the highlights.

One of the things I noticed about Iceland was that there has been an incredible amount of growth and construction over the past couple of decades. Included in this is a lot of American franchise stores opening up. There was a lot of Kentucky Fried Chicken, subway Hero shops, and Sbarro Pizza (often in the same building).  One morning while waiting for the tour bus to pick us up I actually was craving a bacon egg and cheese and at the pizza place they had a bacon egg and cheese pizza. I thought it might be reminiscent of the breakfast pizza that they serve at table 87. I was wrong and I should have known I was wrong. That abomination on a pizza plate was an insult to every Italian-American who ever made pizza as well as everyone who I've ever operated a Bodega or a breakfast card and made an egg sandwich. 

Have to Sabrina and I were a quarter mile into the half marathon it became apparent that we were the back of the pack. We were accompanied by two cyclists who made sure we found our way. At about mile 11 we passed one of these fast food halls. Our bike marshals didn't speak much English but when we passed this food hall I turned to them and apologized that America sent them our shit restaurants. They understood me clearly but responded by saying" at least we have something now". I felt that for telling her what she liked was shit to me

Along the pedestrian path by The Creek in Denver I took a picture of this sign. I took the picture because I was confused The path wasn't wide enough for anything but a golf cart to travel on. Only work vehicles would be on that path Why would they tell people no standing or stopping. Then I realized it was anti homelessness laws because they didn't want people sleeping under the bridges.  along the way I was passed by a jogger and I asked her how far the path went and she said it went for miles and stayed very beautiful but I should watch out because it's pretty creepy under the bridges.I responded that I was from Brooklyn and wasn't worried about any creepy under the bridges. She looked at me and said"I understand but you're a dude"

i think I grew from these two interactions. I simply learned that at sometimes I could keep my mouth shut. Don't always have to say the thing that I think is funny.

But I do have to go back and say why I think this has been a fantastic year for me.

• did I say I won the lottery and got accepted into the London Marathon for 2026. That's not the big deal. The big deal is that the first thing I did was that I called my son and told him I won and I wanted him to come back with me. The fact that he wanted to go back to England with me on Broad tears to my eyes because I thought he wanted to kill me after we came back from Brighton.
• My daughter told me that this was one of the greatest vacation she ever had in her life.I got to tell her that I hope it's the first of many.
• And I got to tell my future daughter-in-law that I was so happy to spend time with her. 

Don't worry, I won't forget. That's my left elbow in the picture

I had the impossible job of trying to keep my students calm. I gave up, and just helped them try to figure out how to get home.

The drug store on the corner quickly sold out of disposable cameras.

I found this photo on my desk in the middle of September 2001.

Image description:  about 10 people standing on University Place looking south.   In the distance only one Tower stands and it has a hole in it. Smoke billowing from the site of the other Tower. On the right side of the photograph an elbow sticking into the frame

Some things I saw on the subway (art is anal))

In no particular order there is some things that caught my eye while riding on the subway over the past few weeks. Well technically not in the subway There's a food court in the Columbus Circle Station. There's also some selling arts and crafty stuff. Am I far the first guy to know notice that "artisanal" is art is anal. I can't unsee it and my daughter went to school a block from that subway station and probably traveled through there twice a day. 

To counterbalance the wording at the arts and crafts store a couple of weeks ago I was riding a Coney Island bound F train and this guy was sitting across from me. I was pretty sneaky in taking the picture and deleted all the ones where his face showed but I thought this was kind of a perfect kind of scene.The weird ad behind him and the fact that he was on his way to the beach to go fishing.

And speaking of Coney Island F trains, i just love this new Subway ad for Nathan's. 

The Subway Nerds might say that the N and the Q also go to Coney Island nathan and that it's not just that F stands for Nathan's famous.

More on being an election day worker worker

We had another election on Tuesday. I worked 8 out of 9 days of early voting at Brooklyn Borough Hall and I was coordinator on election day at my local bowling place, there was a bit of extra confusion during this cycle because a lot of people thought they can vote in the primary when they weren't in a political party. It seems a lot of people registered to vote last fall so they can vote in the presidential election and didn't think it was important to register as part of a political party.Some of them thought they were independent and can vote in any primary and that doesn't work in New York state. They're not listed as independents It says the word blank where it has their political party and they may not vote in a primary. We had to explain that and some people were understandably angry.on election day I worked in an unacconditioned school gym and the outside air temperature was 105° . It was actually a little cool in the gym and we were able to perform our jobs Without dripping on the ballots and our equipment did not melt.

Working at my polling places We get to have some celebrities vote. Some people from the acting world and sometimes politicians. But I got the honor of having this interaction

a voter walked up to me and said"Hi I'm 101 years old and I'd like to vote", Certainly sir but I need to know your name...  He told me his name and I typed it into the pole pad. He confirmed his address and I looked and saw that he was born a week earlier in 1924. When he signed the pole pad his helper said that his signature is worth money and then we had the following conversation

he: Yes I won the Nobel Prize for medical research in 198*

me Thank you, because of medical research I am alive today

he That's why I'm voting.

By publishing this on probably already violating my confidentiality agreement with the board of elections. But whatever. With all the shit that's going on in the world right now we have to remember that we live in the greatest country in the world., because this gets to happen.

I made it to the big screen

Back in March the people that the New York City Roadrunners Club contacted me and asked me if I'd be willing to talk to some people who are making a movie about the people who finish at the very back of the pack in their big races. Sure.

A couple of days later on a really nice day they met me at the Achilles workout in Central Park. We plop down on a bench and they put a microphone on me and asked me a couple hours worth of questions. I told them I wasn't always the last guy that I used to be a mediocre marathon runner and finishing about four or five hours and now it takes me 9 or 10. "it might take me twice as long but now I have twice as much fun" when I remembered saying that I heard the director say to the sound guy "did you get that?" and I knew I was going to be in a movie.  Zoom in on the picture to the right and you could read what I actually said. They will recording I don't remember shit tend to embellish.

The day after the Central Park interview was the New York City half marathon. They told me they were interested in filming me during the race. Blah blah blah blah blah. They met me at ass o-clock 5:00 in the morning in front of my house and put a microphone on my son and I. They recorded us walking from my house all the way to the starting line and then kind of ambushed us three or four times along the course.

So last night they had a screening party. My son was my plus one because he was my plus one in the race.It was great that he was there because he acted as my guide more on that in a minute. But the screening event was at a fancy hotel in Manhattan ($1,200 a night!?) that had a movie theater in the basement and an actual red carpet. I realize when I got there that I had a handler. There was one staff member who was assigned to make sure I was in the right place at the right time. 

And I made it to the local news. Just a video of me moving my lips with no audio. followed by the classic pathetic comment by newscasters that they couldn't even....... . Maybe eventually the newscasters will watch the whole movie and realized that the whole point of it was to say that anyone can finish a marathon you just have to choose to do something very hard and suffer.

And they were fancy people at the screening. I turned around and saw Meb Keflezghi. I explained to Nicholas that I've only been a fan of one sports figure in my whole life and that was him. He turned around and looked at me and said he came to see you and a movie. Oh shit. Then without me knowing it Nicholas found my handler and arranged for me to meet Meb.

I told him that for the next two weeks I'm going to be telling everybody that he came to see a movie about me. And I will.

 

Anyway below is the trailer. The film is not available yet and when it is I will share it here. There's also going to be a screening party. Bring your tissues and your money. It's going to be a fundraiser for Achilles International. 

Making security theater a little less unsafe

First, and second and third and more than that...  It is terrible when someone finds that way onto the tracks that doesn't want to, either accidentally or on purpose. But building barriers on subway platforms is only microscopically going to reduce this from happening. Also they're success is unmeasurable. But people who benefit were enjoy fear-mongering are saying that the subway is dangerous and something must be done. So the MTA is installing permanent fences on the subway platform in the areas where the doors do not open on the subway cars. I feel this only makes people feel the subway is more dangerous because things are being done to to prevent a bad thing that very rarely happens. Whatever.

In articles about them they would describe as better than nothing. But since I am a disability writes activist fighting with the MTA or the time , I was given a tour of one of the first stations to have them installed. I actually said nothing would be better than these. They created unsafe condition for someone with a mobility impairment. I told the engineers that they were a trip hazard.I took a picture of how they're connected to the platform.The base of each barrier as a mounting bracket about three or four inches square and a bolt holding it into the ground on each corner. I told them someone like myself who drags their feet could trip over it or someone with a vision impairment who's walking close to it could also trip and fall right onto the platform. I snapped the picture on the left at the Clark Street station.

About 9 months later without any warning ( or a parent necessity) these barriers were installed at Grand Army Plaza. The subway station that I would refer to as my home station. I took a look at them and lo and behold! They redesigned the way they're mounted to the platform. The bolts are completely underneath the leg of the fence. They're still useless but slightly less of a trip hazard.

Now we just have to paint them bright yellow so my visually impaired friends are less likely to bump right into them.

This reminded me of the one time that I sent one email and made the government fix something. It reminded me that sometimes something could be made better but no one realized how easy it was to fix it. The second closest subway station to where I live is 7th Avenue for the B&Q train. I really need to hold on to the rail when I walk downstairs and I really need to hold it with my right hand.Have to finishing a marathon It's especially tough and I noticed the rail going down from Flatbush Avenue at that station was lower than the rest of the rails.I had to lean over to hold on to it securely. Every other hand rail on every other staircase seem to have some standard height that I was used to. I filled out the complaint form and a few weeks later I got a boilerplate email saying that the problem had been rectified. I really thought that was a bullshit response but then I went over to the subway station and I saw the old holes where the rail was and they lifted it a few inches and drilled it in a little higher. Also,Many of the other handrails on the other staircases in that station had been raised to the appropriate height They didn't just fix the one I complained about they fixed them all. 

If you read this far do me a favor....  Next time you feel like screaming at the sky because you don't like the clouds go figure out who actually gets stuff done. Call the governmental agency and politely tell them they have a problem. Don't think they're not listening.

Nothing can hurt me now

 

On today's date 25 years ago i finished a marathon in 3 hours 58 minutes and 4 seconds. Then I wrote this on the proto-internet of 2000. What I didn't put into that early blog post was that I really had no choice at that point but to finish that race and under 4 hours. The Sri Chinmoy running folk organize the marathon once a month on Randall's Island and I had tried to break for hours and their February race but walked off the course at mile 20. In March of 2000 my wife was 7 months pregnant with our twins i knew my life was about to change. I knew there wouldn't be so much opportunity to trainAnd I didn't really know what my life was going to be like but if I was going to break for hours I had to do it the end of March in 2000Cuz the kids were born the beginning of May.

I know my life was going to become a roller coaster when I became a parent.  if I was ever going to break 4 hours I had to do it on March 26th, 2000. Nine of us walked back 0.2 miles on a perfectly flat 1 mile course on Randall's Island. I was able to leave my hydration on a table and take a gulp every mile. I wanted to run 9 minute miles consistently and the race director is knew that. After I finish my first mile and 8:30 they told me I ran an 8:30 and had 30 seconds in the bank. Another 8:30 and I had a whole minute in the bank.  When I ran a 9:30 mile at mile 20 they told me it was okay I still had 10 minutes in the bank.At mile 25 they told me I still had 2 minutes in the bank.I ran that mile like an Olympian. I knew I had 2 minutes to spare. I finished in just over 3 hours and 58 minutes and I laid down on the grass.All the other eight participants were waiting at the finish line for me. They all finished before me but they waited for me. And the two people who had to organize the race were there and the race director handed me a trophy that said congratulations your fourth in your age group.
 

After I finished this race I looked up the qualifying standards for the Boston Marathon. If I could break 4 hours again after I turned 60 years old I would qualify. I decided to make that my super long-term goal. Just stay healthy for another 20 years And then trained hard again and break 4 hours. At the time staying healthy sounds it easy and training hard again as a 58-year-old was the hard part.I had no idea what would happen to me in 2014. Staying healthy was taken off the table. 

They were people who thought I'd never walk again Let alone run. They all wrong. But the paralysis from Guillain-Barre syndrome didn't all go away. I need ankle braces so I don't turn my ankle on every step or just fall on my face. But I did come back and finish the New York City marathon in 2017 and then a bunch more So many that I lost track of how many marathons I have finished and I thought this would be a good moment to count them.

26 New York City Marathons including the two virtual races, one in 2020 and the other in 2012 when no one called it that because the marathon was canceled because of Sandy

27. The SRI CHINMOY MARATHON

28. a loop of Manhattan before I had GBS when you join Runners it's called a Corbitt

29. a loop of Manhattan after I had GBS when you do it with walkers it's called The Great Saunter

30. the Jersey Shore marathon

31. the Long Island Marathon

32. the Bob Potts marathon twice

34. The Run for the Red

35. the Broadway Ultra Society 6-hour pajama run

36. the frozen flamingo ultra marathon

37. a 50k in Prospect Park before I had GBS

38. a 50k in Prospect Park after I had GBS

39. The Brooklyn Marathon

40. the Berlin Marathon

41. a fundraising marathon around the reservoir in Central Park

42. The Brighton (UK) Marathon

That's 42 and 14 of them happened since I had GBS. Next week I'm going to Brighten England to run a full marathon and I'm not counting it until I finish it.

Numbers aren't important but they are. No matter what happens to me I'm always the guy who spent 7 years trying to break 4 in the marathon and succeeded. So training for races where the finish line was literally beyond the horizon prepared me for Guillain-Barre syndrome. And having recovered from Guillain-Barré syndrome has been great preparation for all the marathons and ultras I've been running lately. 

I'm also the guy who literally crawled out of a hospital bed and has since finished 10 more fucking marathons. I also ran up the steps of the Empire State Building. I got to look at that building from the hospital window while they were doing experimental chemotherapy on me.

I joke that it takes me twice as long now but I get to have twice as much fun but it really hurts twice as much head for twice as long.

So to summarize. Fuck you GBS and fuck the under-cooked chicken you rode in on. 

Not a complete waste of time

In a few weeks I'm going to be traveling to the United Kingdom and running a marathon in Brighton. I thought it would be cute of me to wear a t-shirt that says Brighton Beach Brooklyn when I got there. I can easily go online and buy one. But I thought it would be a little bit more authentic to actually buy it in Brighton Beach. This morning I had to be in that end of Brooklyn so I walked the length of Brighton Beach Avenue and found a lot of stores that sell a lot of cheap crap, some stores that sell expensive crap but I didn't find any stores that were selling crap that was appropriate for tourists. I could have gone over to the boardwalk but I was getting cold. I'll go back another day.

But while waiting for the Q train to get me home I looked up and saw this.

Thank you Brighton 6th Street.

This is why we can't have nice things

 685 1st Ave