When Your Marathon Plans Don't Quite Turn Out the Way You'd Hoped

 I got to do a NY Times story on those who do not finish the marathon--the dreaded D.N.F.--including what caused them to come up short, and how they reacted to this grave setback. 

It is a surprisingly low number of people that don't finish. Just 263 people out of almost 16,000 did not finish the Boston Marathon last month, while 380 out of over 25,000 did not finish New York. At other marathons, including Hartford and Rehoboth Beach, the numbers are a bit higher. 

Paradoxically, it is the seasoned marathoners who are more likely to pull out early. “If they’re not going to win a race or place, they may stop and that’s it,” said Kathleen Titus, the race director of the Philadelphia Marathon. “They’ll save their legs for another race they can compete in and win prize money."

Several sources spoke of the despair they feel after pulling out--sitting on the curb, crying, not quite sure how they'll get home. “The first thing that comes through your mind is all the time you spent training,” said Maria Luisa Cesca, who once sustained a hamstring injury during the Jacksonville Marathon. “You were doing so well, so many mornings with 4:30 a.m. runs before the kids get up.”

Yet everyone I spoke to gave it another go, and finished. 

Hiking With a Purpose? That's Disc Golf

I wrote a story about disc golf, which involves hurling a frisbee, or frisbee-type disc, at a basket set up a few hundred feet away, counting the throws it takes to get it in the basket, then doing it again on the next hole. 

There are two disc-golf courses in Westchester County (NY) and, as one participant who'd road tripped that day told me, zero in New York City. 

Disc golfers, many more who have come from ultimate frisbee than golf, told me they find it relaxing. More than one described disc golf as a hike with a purpose.

“It’s exercise, it’s meditation, it’s sport,” Peter Messing said. “I like the competition and all the guys are really cool. Everybody’s calm.”

I even took the pix for the story!

Westchester as NYC's Sixth Borough

Does Westchester County have any legit claim to being the proverbial sixth borough of New York City?

Some residents in the 9-1-4 think so. 

I did a story for Westchester Magazine on a few businesses, including Boro6 Wine Bar and Captain Lawrence Brewing, which does a Sixth Borough pilsner, playing off the sixth borough premise.

Not everyone sees Westchester as the sixth borough. Pat Kiernan, NY1 anchor, said, "Nice try. There's no sixth borough."

Prince of Darkness, King of Horror

I got to do a fun story on how Stephen King not only sells truckloads of books, but he's a massive figure in television as well. 

The Stand just came out on CBS All Access, though I'd written and published the story months before. 

A couple shows adapted from King novels got cancelled after my story came out, including The Outsider on HBO and Castle Rock on Hulu. But another came back to life--Mr. Mercedes, which did not get past three seasons on Audience Network, but has shifted to streaming network Peacock. 

Many, many others came before, including Under the Dome on CBS and Amazon, and 11/22/63 on Hulu. 

Epix has a series based on a King yarn

coming up called Chapelwaite. Epix president Michael Wright said, “Stephen King is literally one of our generation’s greatest storytellers. His books are so wonderfully rooted in great characters and great storytelling.”

Covering Two Stories of a Lifetime

Journalists had what were essentially two stories of a generation to cover this summer, between the pandemic and the protests stemming from George Floyd's killing. 

I spoke with reporters from CNN, Fox News, CBS News, NBC News and other outlets about how they were holding up, and what they learned while covering these two mammoth stories. 

“I feel like we lurched from one story of a lifetime to another,” said Scott Gordon, a reporter at KXAS Dallas-Fort Worth with 35 years in the game. “I’ve covered a lot of big stories in my time, but I’ve never seen anything like this. The sheer magnitude of what’s going on keeps me going. I want to be there to document the history that’s unfolding.”

Florida Man Stars in TV Show

 I have a fun cover story on why so many TV shows are set in Florida, and how Florida gives a show a certain sensibility, usually a weird, anything-can-happen one. 

The story is called 'State of Shock.' Shows set in Florida include On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Florida Girls, Floribama Shore and Claws. 

Claws creator Eliot Laurence said he always had Florida in mind for the setting. “There’s insanity everywhere, but there’s something about the Floridian version,”
he said. Claws is set in Florida due to “my love of weirdness and my attraction to the state of Florida being the weirdest place,”
he added. 

Those in Mount Pleasant Can Now Watch 'Mount Pleasant'

There was a popular TV show over in England called Mount Pleasant.

I live in a town in New York called Mount Pleasant. 

And so I did a story about the show, and the town, for our local Westchester County paper.

A network wanted the show, but did not like the title. And so producer Sophie Clarke-Jervoise had to come up with a new one.

In the middle of the meeting, she looked around the office. There was a poster of a building in the Islington neighborhood of London, the Mount Pleasant Mail Centre. Owned by Royal Mail, it is where vast quantities of postage get sorted.

“I said, what about Mount Pleasant?” Clarke-Jervoise said.

There were smiles and nods, and the show had a title.

It was the Journal News' top story about Mount Pleasant for several days, until the Mount Pleasant town pool closed due to lifeguards having covid. 

The Mount Pleasant on the show is a tight community. 

Clarke-Jervoise describes the Mount Pleasant in "Mount Pleasant" as “a very close community” where everyone is involved, for better or worse, in everyone else’s business. “Everyone has keys to each other’s house — they look out for each other,” said Clarke-Jervoise. “There’s a real sense of community.”

U.S. viewers can watch Mount Pleasant on streaming service Acorn TV.