New Member Profile: Meet "Fast" Albert, Mystery Flyer

Albert Pedemonte

A Q&A with Co-Blog Manager Melissa

 

The Flyers has a new, talented teammate! 

Just last weekend, while The Blog Team was editing and formatting Francesco’s race report for the Brooklyn Half Marathon, the first-place 🏆 finisher for the men (and the team) caught our eye for a couple of reasons. First, his finish time was an astounding 1:18:26, a 5:59 minute mile; also, none of us (Dave, Francesco, nor myself) had ever heard of this fellow NY Flyer, Albert Pedemonte. So, after a little investigation, I found our mystery fast Flyer, and he graciously answered some questions for a brief interview.

 

Melissa: Hi, Albert! Nice to “meet” you. Congratulations on your incredible Brooklyn Half performance! Have you been running your entire life?

 

Albert: Hi! My background is in cycling, so running was always part of my off-season winter training.

 

Melissa: Oh, are you a professional cyclist?

 

Albert: I wish I was a pro-cyclist! No, cycling is my hobby and my passion. I wasn’t a “pro” but I used to race in some serious competitions at the regional and national levels, both road racing and mountain biking.

 

A cycloross race 2007

Melissa: Where are you from?

 

Albert: I am from a small town north of Barcelona. In Spain, cycling is very competitive, so you had to train hard if you didn’t want to get dropped.

 

Melissa: Wow! Ok, back to running.  You just run on the off-season of cycling and yet you are so speedy?

 

Turkey trot 2019

Albert: I guess I was kind of fast from day one because I was in good shape from cycling. In 2006, when I knew that I was moving to New York City, I thought that it would be cool to run the NYC Marathon. I did a couple of half marathons in Barcelona to get the qualifying time for guaranteed entry. 

 

Melissa: How did it go with the NYC Marathon?

 

Albert: I had two goals: Do it under three hours and beat Lance Armstrong. I achieved both! 

 

After the marathon, I stopped running and went back to cycling for a couple of years. Then I had my children: my son, Pol, and soon after, my daughter, Mia.

 

Then, for the next 10 years, I did some running and some cycling but no races and nothing regular.

 

Melissa: When did you start running more consistently?

 

Albert: At the end of 2018 is when I started running more regularly, and I registered for a NYRR10K race. I didn’t do as well as I was expecting and that motivated me to train more. Since then, I have been pretty consistent with my running.

 

Melissa: When you say consistent, how often do you run and what’s your mileage per week?

 

Albert: I average four or five days a week. I would like to do six, but there is always something that comes up, either working late or family obligations. I run the most when I’m training for a marathon, and I get up to 50 or 55 miles a week. When I’m not marathon training, I run 30 to 40 miles a week.

 

Melissa: Do you do any cross-training?

 

Albert: I don’t do any specific cross-training, but I do still cycle quite a bit in the summer. I also have a physical job. I am a cabinet maker, so I am pretty active all day. I guess that can count as cross-training.

 

Melissa: Do you have a favorite race distance? Any marathons coming up soon?

 

Albert: If I have to choose a distance, I will say half marathon. I can almost keep the same pace for a half as I run for a 10K. When I run a full marathon, my pace gets a lot slower.

 

I only did three marathons: NYC twice, 2006 and 2022; and last April, I ran the Jersey City Marathon where I had my PR 2:54:27. I will run NYC again this year (I need a NY Flyers singlet!), and I plan on running Boston in 2024. 🦄

 

Melissa: How did you find the NY Flyers?

 

Albert: I am a good friend of Adolfo Ferrando. We run together pretty often on weekends. He and his wife, Teresa, are very proud Flyers, so I am now too! 

 

Melissa: It was so nice chatting with you, Albert! Do you attend the Flyers group runs or events?

 

Albert: The Three Bridges is the only run that I did so far with the group when I was training for the NYC marathon. Hopefully, I can do some more soon and meet more Flyers, too.

 

 

Brooklyn Half Marathon Mystery solved! Be on the lookout for "Fast Albert!" Just don’t blink … you might miss him! 👀

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Running and Representing with the Flyers

MELIDA BARBOSA

Several years ago I was looking for a group of runners to share in the pain of completing long runs together. During races I spotted many runners wearing NY Flyers gear, and I knew one of my Hunter College classmates had run with the Flyers in the past, so I signed up for my first NY Flyers Three Bridges Run and that’s how it all started. 

Since that day I have gained a family! In all the years that I had been running I had never shared it with more than three friends. Sadly, all three of the women that I have run with consistently have moved out of NYC. The first was a childhood friend who relocated to Seattle, Washington 17 years ago, the second was a mommy friend who helped me survive the first few years of motherhood and who moved about 7 years ago, and lastly my dearest friend who was parenting teenagers at the same time as me moved almost a year ago. Since then the Flyers have helped me mourn the departure of my running buddies while creating new memories. 

RUNNING BUDDIES

QUEENS GIRL

WHY I RUN 

My “why” is simply to stay sane. When I started running two decades ago, my friend Claudia who lived just a couple of blocks away would ring my bell and say “let's go Mel.” I would begrudgingly throw on shorts and slide into my sneakers and run the streets of Woodside, Queens. In my twenties it was more for vanity than anything else but we got it done. 

PURE JOY! 😍

Fast forward to 2009 and I found myself completing 9 races with NYRR and decided I might as well volunteer and get guaranteed entry to the NYC Marathon. I ran my very first NYC Marathon in 2010 and it was magically painful. 

NYC MARATHON 2010

Since then I have run nine more NYC Marathons and I had the fortune of also running the Berlin Marathon in September this year -- where I ran a personal best marathon and achieved a Boston qualifying time for the 2024 Boston Marathon. Six weeks later I ran my 10th NYC Marathon where I finished just 20 seconds behind my Berlin finish time and set a new course record for myself for NYC 😊 An important contributor to these recent racing achievements was my participation in the Flyers Marathon Training Program (MTP) -- doing speedwork alongside Flyers friends including Jennifer Coyne, and receiving the advice and support of MTP Coach Amy Sitar proved integral to my progress and made marathon training extra fun! 🥳 🎉

FUN WITH FLYERS

All these years later I still run to keep sane. As a wife, mom of three and teacher, life pulls me in a million directions every day, and running helps keep me steady. I am now looking ahead to future marathons with the end goal of one day completing the Abbott World Marathon Majors. Next is Chicago in 2023 and Boston in 2024. Then Tokyo and London remain for me to complete all six of the World Marathon Majors!

 

REPRESENTATION MATTERS

What is representation and why does representation matter? As a Colombian woman living in the Borough of Queens here in NYC -- the most diverse place in the world -- diversity has always been a reality. However, as I got older and entered certain institutions I realized there were less people that looked like me than I expected. When I started running more regularly outside of my neighborhood and in organized settings this was definitely more apparent. Then in the wake of incidents including the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbury and Breonna Tayler, the running community began to more fervently discuss representation and its importance in helping build a community that embraces and uplifts diversity. 

This is around the time when some members of the Flyers started talking about starting a Diversity Inclusion and Belonging Committee. In June of 2020, the Flyers Executive Board announced that the club would:

 

• Examine and revise the club's Code of Conduct to express the club's anti-racist commitment, and require all members to sign and adhere to it.

• Form a Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging (DIB) Committee to explore a variety of tangible, sustainable ways to be better citizens of the running community, support Black runners and the larger Black community and be more welcoming of everyone.

In my short-lived experience with the Flyers I recognized that although welcoming, the group was in its majority white and male with white women a close second, and with relatively few Asians, Blacks and Latinos. Within the DIB Committee we discussed how we could begin working to make our organization more representative of the rest of the city. 

Based on the results of the 2021 American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau, the race and ethnicity makeup of NYC is as follows: White (not Hispanic or Latino) 31.9%, Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 28.9%, Black or African American 23.8%, and Asian 14.3%.  Surveys such as this one highlight that we have lots of work to do -- but we are optimistic that through continued efforts we will be able to reach our goal of having a membership that is truly representative of the great city we live in! 

As a component of the Flyers DIB initiatives, the club conducted a membership survey in 2021. Survey results and analyses are available at the following two links -- click HERE for the survey results and HERE for comments and analyses.

 

Various initiatives have emerged within the Flyers since the formation of the DIB Committee in June 2020 and a Flyers Town Hall Meeting in June 2021. The Flyers:

• Examined and revised the Flyers Code of Conduct. Click HERE to review the new Flyers Code.

• Appointed a BIPOC member to the Flyers Advisory Board. After leading the DIB Committee since its inception in 2020, I was pleased to accept the position.

• Began to seek to Increase the geographic diversity of the Flyers by conducting some runs throughout the five Boroughs, with the intention of increasing awareness of the club and its prominence in other areas of NYC.   

• Commemorated Juneteenth 2021 in partnership with Harlem Run by supporting the group's 5K run/walk BBQ where Flyers served as volunteers on the course to help keep the route safe and runners hydrated.

• Sponsored its first Queens Run on August 8, 2021, and a Staten Island Run in 2022 -- a 17-mile run spearheaded and led by Bradford Goz on Sept 3, 2022, and that included participating in a nested SITRAC-sponsored 5K race!

• Promoted in December 2021, with the help of the DIB Committee, the Extend Your Run Fam event in the Bronx with other running clubs.  Special thanks to the co-leaders -- Tim Decker and Bradford Goz who co-led this initiative with me.😊

• Promoted in April 2022 an annual Bronx Community College event that included a 10K, 5K run and a two mile walk to help raise money and promote health and fitness in the community. A great family event!

DIB Extend Your Run Fam Event

The DIB Committee has held monthly meetings for the past two years. We usually take a hiatus for the Summer months and return in the Fall. We meet monthly via Zoom, so if you would like to get involved -- OUR NEXT EVENT IS THE HARLEM HEROES RUN ON DECEMBER 11TH, COME JOIN US! -- you can email me directly at melida.barbosa@yahoo.com

 

-Melida Barbosa

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New Flyer Profile – Conversations with Carla

Carla M

 “You talk when you run?!” People always ask me after I tell them I run with a group of people for hours at a time. They are usually sorry they asked. That question requires me to explain my evolution as a runner, which obviously takes no shorter than 30 minutes if they are brave and ask clarifying questions in between. 

I was a horrible runner when I was a kid, or at least that is how I saw myself. Running was something I did in college as a form of exercise and I dreaded every minute of it. I ran the Steamtown Marathon in 2009. I trained alone with the encouragement of my family and friends. Then I took a decade off….. until 2019. That is when I learned about group running and the conversational pace. The rest is history. 

Team for Kids (me far left 😊)

I joined Team for Kids in June of 2019, the week that I knew I needed to start training if I wanted to run the NYC Marathon. I went to the first practice on Saturday dressed in all black with my earbuds securely in my ears. I walked into the Run Center and was engulfed in a sea of neon green with smiling people chatting around me and talking to me as if they knew me. Out went my ear buds and I am a talker so happily obliged in all conversation. 

NYC MARATHON EXPO 2019

When the run started I put my earbuds back in because how could I run without music? People started talking to me again so I took one earbud out and made sure they were on the side of my empty ear. Many weeks and hours later I was in neon green, running with a hydration belt and left my earbuds at home. I could tell you what people had for breakfast, what they did for work and what books people were reading. I took a photo to memorialize every run. I now was running at a conversational pace and haven’t looked back since. 

Conversational Pace is now something my friends and family joke about. I have taught some of them the beauty of it; many of my friends jumped in and ran with me during the 2020 Virtual NYC Marathon. They wouldn’t have been able to do that if they didn’t take my advice and learn of the beauty of conversational pace. 

Realizing how much I enjoyed group running led me to seek out another group to run with and keep me motivated on the cold dark winter nights. TFK Coach Dave K also ran with the Flyers so I wasn’t going to be totally alone and Kristen S – the Flyers other newest member – also said she would take the plunge and go to the Thursday run. 

First Flyers Run

I was nervous the first night. On my way to Columbus Circle, I was on the phone with my friend telling her about this new group and how I was nervous. She told me to text her when it was over to let her know how it was. When I got to Columbus Circle I learned they were trying out this new acronym – TNF for Thursday Night Fun. Everyone greeted me with a smile, there were announcements, introductions, a wonderful 5-mile lap and then an offer to go get a burger afterwards. Running, conversation and now FOOD! I am sold. On the way home, I texted my friend and said “I loved it!”

Thursday Night Fun!

The Flyers Thursday 6:30pm Group Run is now a fixture of my weekly routine. I tell stories about what my week has been like at school, we talk about Netflix’s latest shows and what races we are running next. I also joined Flyers Speed Pass on Tuesdays after rave reviews from the Thursday runners. I have met even more people and I now see myself as becoming a stronger runner in the process. 

Team for Kids and the Flyers have taught me that I am strong enough to run marathons, I can run up Cat Hill six times and I won’t collapse, and most importantly you can have fun while running!

-Carla M.

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Saved By Running

Jennifer Ann H

Why do you run? A question that I get almost on a weekly, if not daily, basis. I have been an athlete my whole life. I swam competitively for twelve years, and played field hockey and lacrosse from middle school through college.  Running was always a dreaded cross-training activity for me. "Coach wants us to run TWO MILES for a warm up?!" 

Once school, and therefore competitive sports, ended, reality set in. I needed to do something to keep moving and in shape.  There was running.  Just waiting for me. 

I started small, 5Ks mostly.  I joke with my runner friends now that I was too worried about exhausting all my energy before a 5K to do any sort of warmup.  My, how far I've come.

Really, though, my undying passion for running started when my dad passed away.  Losing a parent or loved one is hard for everyone. He had always been my rock, my biggest supporter. I completely lost my way, and became a person I didn't recognize after he passed.  Someone I wasn't proud of, making really bad life choices. 

Running saved me.  Runners hate hearing the question "what are you running from?" -- because for most, they aren't running from anything!  But I was.  I ran to escape reality, to avoid all of the problems and heartache and sorrow in my life.  

Eventually though, I started to realize, with hesitation, that I'm actually not bad at this running thing.  I had to make a change in my life.  I stopped using running as an escape from the negativity in my life.  Instead, I focused positive energy on the sport, and focused on running myself back to the person I knew, the daughter my father raised and would be proud of.

The 5Ks turned into 10Ks and half marathons.  I slowly got better, faster, stronger.  I'm by no means a top athlete or runner, but with each race my confidence grew.  

The next logical step, of course, was a full 26.2.  On March 9, 2015, I won the lottery. Not the Mega Millions or Powerball, but something way more valuable and priceless.  As I was seated in my orthopedist's office waiting to get a cortisone injection before the New York City Half Marathon, I got a notification on my phone that New York Road Runners charged my credit card for the marathon entry fee.  My life was forever changed. 

Ready to Run!

The marathon training process was literally the most amazing experience of my life.  I signed up for a 20 week training program with New York Road Runners to help me get ready for November 1st.  I followed the program to every last detail.  On August 30, 2015, the program called for me to run  twenty miles. A daunting task to complete on my own.  A seasoned running friend of mine told me about the New York Flyers Three Bridges Run.  I signed up, ran it, and loved every second.  

Flyers Running the Three Bridges Training Run

Thus began my relationship with the Flyers. I joined as a member before the second Three Bridges Run, and haven't looked back.  While somewhat of a newcomer to running, I have yet to meet a more passionate, welcoming group of people anywhere.  I'm convinced I could not have gotten through the rest of training without the Flyers.  To be able to run with and pursue the same goals as so many amazing members, while learning from the more seasoned runners, has proven to be invaluable.  

I come from New Jersey (Bergen County so really not THAT far) to run with the Flyers, but really I'd travel from further to run with this group.  What a great experience it's been, and how far I've come.  I crossed the finish line at the New York City Marathon at 3:52:52, something I couldn't have done without this amazing Group.  

Marathon Complete -- Time to Celebrate :)

My story is not special or unique. I'm just an average person who has dealt with some hardship in their life.  Thankfully, I found running.  

The New York City Marathon is over. Now what?!  For me, the next stop is the Phoenix Marathon in February 2016 (suggestion courtesy of the Future Former Flyers President Doug R) where I'm training in hopes to Boston Qualify for 2017.  Thank You, Flyers, for welcoming this Jersey girl with open arms.  Hope to see your friendly faces in Central Park, and may you all achieve your dreams and goals in the coming year.  

Happy running! 
-Jennifer Ann H

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To Be Yourself in a World That is Constantly Trying to Make You Something Else is the Greatest Accomplishment.

Beth D

At some point while training for Olympic distance triathlons I realized that training the swim and bike, for me, had become more work than enjoyment.  And since running had been my triathlon strength it seemed to make sense to switch over to long distance running and hang up my goggles and helmet for good.  Although I do not particularly “love” running I love the structure and focus that it brings to my life.  In addition to making my body stronger, training and racing usually carries itself over to feeling confident about life in general.  

That being said I have finished races where, after running an eleven-minute mile pace, I felt I could move mountains (or at least climb them) and also finished races at a sub seven-minute mile pace riddled with self doubt and insecurity.  At the end of the day whether it is a seven-minute mile, an eleven-minute one or a sixteen-minute -- it is still a mile.  

I knew from the triathlon world that the New York Flyers had a reputation for being warm, friendly and accepting of runners – regardless of pace – so when I was looking for a team that trained in Central Park in a supportive and friendly atmosphere I knew that the Flyers were going to accept me regardless of where I was in my running journey. 

That's Me, Far Left!

While still training for triathlons I was a part of the high intensity Full Throttle Endurance Triathlon Team at Chelsea Piers.  During my first Full Throttle Endurance (FTE) indoor “mock race,” after all of the other athletes had already crossed the finish line, showered and dressed and were well on their way to heading out the door and off to work, I was still counting laps on the track.  Because my coach prior to joining FTE had told me that doing well in endurance sports was all a reward for honesty and integrity I made sure I fully finished every single lap in the pool and the track even if it meant I finished dead last in the race.  It was just me -- the very last athlete to finish the race by more than fifteen minutes -- pounding out every last lap at the indoor track at Chelsea Piers while Head Coach Scott Berlinger stood at the side of the track with his stopwatch when he looked me coolly in the eyes and said “You better not be running this slow in the regular race.”

From that morning on I started to actually do the things that every other prior coach had told me to make me run faster.  And, this time – on this team, I actually started to do the things that this coach was saying to do to make me run faster.  Because we were running indoors on an indoor track and outside along the Hudson, FTE coaches said that when we did our long run on the weekends (“homework”) that we had to make sure to incorporate hills.  And also because other triathlete friends had showed me how much faster running trails makes you when you go back to concrete I started to alternate my long run in the dead of winter every week – hills, trails, hills, trails, hills and trails and more trails.  In attempt to become a faster runner I never repeated the same hill or the same trail in one month – including traveling as far as two hours away by bus in the dead of winter to ensure I stayed in my hill/trail rotation.  While in the city toward the middle/end of my long run I would frequently do as many as nine hill repeats on Harlem Hill because I wanted so badly to catch up to the super fit athletes on my triathlon team. 

Sometime at the beginning of the training season with this super fit team FTE coaches had said, “If you aren’t doing your long run –– it’s going to show.”  I still have a lot of self-discovery (including the possibility of eventually using a heart rate monitor or a Garmin) to do when it comes to becoming a fitter/faster/leaner runner, but for the time being I am happy with my goal of keeping up my streak of never having missed a long run during this long treacherous winter and I am hoping that by end of the 2015 season that it will show :) 

-Beth D.

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Running with Pork Chop

Lindsay M

For those of you on the run (pun intended), here’s a little about me: I’m originally from Toledo, Ohio, and have been living in NYC for the last three years. I live with my husband and my dog/side-kick, Pork Chop.  

After working for a large architecture firm for more than seven years, I left in March to start my own business. I now run Lindsay MacRae Interiors, LLC, a residential interior design business. I love it. I also love animals and hope to one day volunteer full-time for an animal rescue group.

Visiting an elephant sanctuary in Thailand!

For the full story:

My running career started in junior high school. My best friend convinced me to join the cross-country team with her. I never liked running and was an overweight pre-teen (with braces and huge glasses!). I still gave it a shot, but I struggled. I was teased by some high school boys. I quit the team and swore to NEVER. RUN. AGAIN. 

It’s OK! Things got better.

Years later, I studied architecture and interior design at the University of Cincinnati. One summer, I landed an internship at Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL. I loved working there and my internship turned into a seasonal job. As soon as I graduated, I left and moved to Orlando. That’s where I put my hard-earned college degree to use –– by working in a theme park (my parents were not amused) for nearly ten years. I had the amazing opportunity to perform in parades and shows and make magic for thousands of park guests on a daily basis. I will neither confirm nor deny which roles I played but I will say that I dressed up and lied to a lot of children. And yes, the summer heat was brutal!

Here’s one of my Disney pals

Loooong story short, I moved to NYC in 2011 for a guy who, luckily, is now my husband. We got engaged and wedding planning was coming along until my first dress fitting. It was awful. My dress didn’t fit. I hit a Weight Watchers plateau and I was getting married in less than three months. I knew it was time to start running. 

I put Pork Chop in a running harness, and off we went. At first I could not even run the 1.7 lower loop of Central Park. I instantly had cramps and couldn’t breathe. I was the slowest person in the park –– everyone passed me. Everyone. Poor Pork Chop wished his owner wasn’t so slow. I got some running tips from my brother and eventually I had run a full mile without stopping. I celebrated with a pair of Lululemon running pants. I basically continued running because of how good I felt in them.

A few months later the dress fit

Me 'n' Mickey

It was around that time that a lot of my Facebook friends started running Disney races. I had NEVER considering running a race, but if Mickey Mouse was hosting one then I was in. Period.

I started training for the WDW Half Marathon by signing up for a race in Central Park. It was a 4-mile run and I was afraid that I would be the last person to finish. I soon realized that races were super-fun and the energy of the other runners and high-fives from the crowds made me run much faster. I ended up finishing the race with a pace of 9:35. After that I was hooked – you know how it goes.

Ted Corbitt 15K - This was a cold race!

Last year I completed my 9+1 requirement for guaranteed entry into the 2014 NYC Marathon and am now training to run the NYC Marathon in November. I am excited and nervous. I decided to join a running club to help prepare for the marathon. Also, I needed a run buddy that wasn’t a 4-minute miler like Pork Chop.

Pork Chop training on his treadmill (he paid for it himself –– no, really)

I had my eye set on a couple of running clubs and was hoping to fit into one that had a dog in their logo or pink singlets. A friend suggested that I try the Flyers even though their color was red.

Yep, That's Me (With Some New NY Flyer Friends :)!
2nd From the Right, Helping Lead the 10 Minute Per Mile NYRR Pace Group

I went to a couple of Saturday runs and found that the Flyers were the friendliest bunch and had a lot to offer. I bought a Flyer singlet to get free beer on a third Thursday and figured it was time to officially join the club. I am happy to have found such a nice group to run with, and even raced in the Club Team Championships in my Flyers singlet in August, and then served as a pace leader for the Flyers at the NYRR Long-Training Run #2. 

-Lindsay M

Blogmaster's Note: As Lindsay mentioned, she's an interior designer, and if you're curious to read about that side of her life or are in need of some design help, you can click HERE to view her website.

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