Occupation: Marathon runner, coach, author ('Train Hard, Win Easy, The Kenyan Way'), Founder of shoe4africa program which donates used sneakers to young African runners.
Hobbies/Interests: Playing the guitar, especially flamenco. Writing, cruising around on a motorcycle or a bike. Downhill skiing. Greek, Roman and African history. Film making, web design and building. Taking on new, exciting projects. Travel, and hitch hiking. Converse with good friends, love to cook, love to eat.
Favorite Movies: I saw Gallipolli when I was 12, struck a chord that I can remember today. 'Talk to Her/Pedro Almodovar', 'Happenstance', 'Farewell my Concubine' and 'Bread and Tulips' are some I can think of. I tend to like sad movies, I don't remember ever going to see an action movie, or a horror movie. Usually if I take a gamble on a film, I go 'French' as for some reason the standard over there is amazing.
Favorite TV Shows: My parents never had a TV much to my annoyance. I swore at the age of 18 I would have a TV in every room. Did not happen. I don't watch TV. A simple reason, for instance with American TV, is why would I want to spend 15 minutes of every hour watching someone's commercials - that is my time. I prefer to go to the movies once in a while and see something I am excited to watch.
Favorite Music: Ay, a hard one. For the moods, I have always admired Leonard Cohen - amazing lyricist that just hits. Ditto Bob Dylan, to paraphrase him - I will have listened to him from the cradle to the grave. Django R., Paco De L., a German musician called Karunesh who is on the Buddha Bar tapes, I love those CDs. The Rolling Stones & The Beatles have unforgettable anthems. I mean having no TV in the house and a father who was a musician meant that music was the entertainment of each night. We had two pianos and a church organ in our house, guitars, a sittar, banjo, mandolins...you name it we had it, even bagpipes.
Inspirations/Childhood Heroes: An old Indian man who had been a young aide to Gandhi - he was called Major Rama Shandra. He came to stay with us with forty Indians and a magician. He spent a lot of time with us over one summer and left a deep impression.
Childhood Dream: To sweep streets, I loved dust.
First Job: I grew up in a philosophy center and theater - so I was childhood labor. First 'good income' was when I discovered a 13-year-old could buy a brewing kit, make wine and sell it to my school mates. It nearly got me expelled, but luckily a relative had been smoking pot with the teacher who caught me... a long story, but the start of my entrepreneurship!
First Car: A rust bucket Alfa Romeo. I would say my first motorcycle at the age of 12 and my parent's teeth nearly fell out. They told me to return it, but instead I hid it. Eventually they got used to the idea - we had a lot of private roads where I could practice. But I learned to ride when I went to pick the thing up and had to get it home. I think I crunched a few gears and burnt out a few plates of the clutch on the way home - a trip that included my first ever solo road accident that was 100% not my fault but as I had nearly gone over a cliff the week before when a friend of mine, who was sadly a heroin addict, fell asleep at the wheel, this little scrape did not deter my love of the road.
Favorite Meal: Carrots and potatoes, boiled.
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: Rum 'n Raisin or pistachio.
Pre-Race Feeling/Mindset: Sadly, after brain surgery, I realized I had lost it. The pre-race feeling was to be excited and hungry on the starting line. This I had in the 1990's. When I started to line up thinking, What am I doing here?, I knew it was time to pack in running. I did not and the feeling never returned.
Greatest Career Moment: I had great lungs - max vo2 above Lance Armstrong & Paul Tergat - but the world's worst running economy - the more important factor - so I ran with limited facilities. I came into running, aged 22 as a heavy smoker, and had an absolute ball meeting and living with some amazing people. So I can say the greatest moment was the moment I stubbed out that final Marlboro and stepped out into the street to begin jogging.
Most Painful Moment: Running two miles with the right side of my skull smashed in from the blows of a baseball bat. (Where? What happened?) I was in Zanzibar, refusing to part with my running shoes. They stole them, hence shoe4africa, and left me on the beach half dead!
Last Book Read: An Icelandic book from the one and only Nobel-prize winner from that country Halldor Laxness. Entertaining, but not memorable, hence I can't even remember the title.
Last Vacation: Saint Maarten and Tel Aviv in June.
Funny Running Memory: In Finland there was a race that was sponsored by a new supermarket. So the idea was that the lead runner of this 20 km race would be diverted from the road and have to run through the supermarket when the store opened - to coincide with the 10 o'clock opening. I was way ahead of the course record so had to run through a pitch black supermarket. I did try to grab a packet of Fig Newtons on the run as I was hungry and luckily saw a red, illuminated EXIT sign.
A funny - bit not funny - moment came in Iceland. I was leading a race of about 3,000 and there was no pace car, so I was guessing where to go, with all the runners running behind me. I presumed I was going the right way as I guessed one follower must know and all were following! This way I tried to keep the pack near me. Well I came to a fork, so I chose the left turn. Bad mistake! It was a cul de sac! There was no way I could stop. At the bottom of the cul de sac, a man tended to his garden. I will never forget his expression as I ran through his garden with a stream of runners coming after me!
I have too many of these, but a funny New York City moment...I was running the Wall Street Rat Race. In the instructions it read, To be eligible for the prizes you must wear business attire. Prizes for the first three and the most original costume. Well, not owning a suit at that time I wore a Bergen County Orange Prison uniform and held a briefcase that read 'Insider Trader.' The gun goes off, I am leading the race by quite a stretch and going past the city's holding cells. Because the streets were winding the two police Harley's were behind me instead of leading the race. As I ran down the street two huge guys called out to me, Quick, hide down here, the cops are coming! I have about 900 of these but will stop now!
Embarrassing Running Memory: My first NYRR race in Central Park. It was called 'Dress for Success' on Halloween. I presumed it was fancy dress. So I turned up in a red wig, a women's leopard skin cat suit and met 6,000 runners in shorts and a singlet. I made a fast getaway in that race.
Favorite Runners To Watch: I am not really a spectator, but the most amazing runners I have ever seen are also ones that I have been lucky enough to run with. For the women Paula Radcliffe. It sounds corny but I think she is so empowering that when you see her run, how she runs, it really does take your breath away. For the men, it has to either Moses Masai or Martin Lel - so smooth, so full of grace, they just look perfect at what they do whatever the tempo (or) situation.
Favorite Athletes To Watch: I guess I like to see not the grand slam winner, or the TV star, but the hard worker. I was lucky, I won my first race, and running came very easily to me. I trained very hard and put a lot of effort into my running but the results came. What about my friend who could not walk from one lamp post to the next, whose body has more diseases that I can name? And every time I meet her she is suffering from something new. On Sunday she walked her 20th New York City Marathon - in a time of 13 hours. She blows me away when I think of what she does, given her God-given limitations.
People Qualities Most Admired: Punctuality. Everyone's time is precious. If I tell a friend I am coming to meet them at a certain point and coming with a celebrity friend, then I know they will be there on time. If I come alone and they are late it tells you something, if it happens three times... But life happens. Like yesterday I went to pick up Paula and Gary and I was twenty minutes late as the car service was stuck in gridlock with fire engines, so it happens, but I still hate it. Discipline, determination, and desire are three qualities I like. And, the opposite to a two-faced person.
Favorite Marathon(s): Hmmm. Difficult to pin this one! For views I would say the one I ran in Peru - I think it is called the Huancayo Marathon. We ran along the top of the Andes and they roasted a pig on the starting line. For a great fast course I would say Berlin. For a majestic finish I would say the Stockholm Marathon and the 1912 Olympic Stadium. But for the whole caboodle, it has to be New York!
Check out Toby's superb site:
www.tanser.org and maybe donate a pair of used sneakers to a very noble cause.
