January Runner of the Month: Dante Pilkington

Dante joined NBR in December/November of 2018. “I had just moved to Greenpoint and was coming off eating-sh*t at my second New York Marathon. I find track work alone to be absolutely abysmal. I'm a dog, I need a rabbit to chase in order to get faster. I came down to McCarren to chase some fast people and determined to break 3 hours.” (He did, five months later.)                                            

Pre-COVID, Dante ran with the Morning Doves, Tigerwolves, and Hellcats, and the NBR Men's LC. “Nowadays, it is my distinct honor and privilege to be the North Brooklyn Runners Community Outreach Coordinator. I'm new to the position and to the organizational side of NBR, so I'm taking things slow and figuring out what I want the role to be.”

What do you do when you're not running? I’m a TV producer. For the past three years, I did docuseries & reality TV for MGM. But this summer, I quit my desk job to self-isolate while I renovate my late-grandparents' olive farm in Italy and write a novel. Now I'm doing short-term & commercial gigs in the city and editing the book for publication. But my real side hustle is food journalism, I’m one of the founding members of Digest Mag, a magazine for eaters, by eaters. Pick up a copy: digest-mag.com

I’m a big believer in service to my community. A lifelong Brooklynite, I love where I’m from like I love an old friend. I’m on the board of Brooklyn Kindergarten Society, which provides kindergarten and pre-school programs, as well as afterschool care to working families in the highest-needs areas of Brooklyn. I’m a "Shopper" for Heights and Hills, which is an organization my grandma helped start in the early 70’s. Once or twice a week I grocery shop and deliver groceries to homebound people in Brooklyn. Whenever I can, I also work in food pantries in the areas hardest hit by the pandemic: Bronx, Queens, and East New York.

My non-running related hobbies include-- touring cycling, gardening, water coloring, hosting dinner parties, and I forage, press, and ferment my own wild apple cider. 

How did you get into running? I was a varsity wrestler in high school. When I had to run to make weight I was always naturally speedy. In my sophomore/junior year, I hit a real rebellious phase. I got really into drugs. I was suspended a bunch. I got kicked of school. At my next school, they didn't have wrestling, so I took up running. I had a great coach, Peter Prince, who didn't care what I did off the track as long as I gave him 100% ON the track. And it worked. Everything good that has happened in my life since, I owe in part to running.

Favorite race distance: The marathon. To run a marathon perfectly -- balancing on that knife’s edge of hitting your goal pace without blowing up for the whole 26.2 -- is like touching the face of god. I weep like a baby after. You don't get that feeling after running a speedy 5k. You just don't. 

Best running memory: Breaking the five-minute mile for the first time. Red Hook track. A beautiful spring day in 2011. I was seventeen. That was the first time I was moved to tears by running. 

Favorite running route in NYC: A big loop of the East River. Running up to Randall’s Island on the Brooklyn side and then all the way down the East Side to Catherine Street and back to Brooklyn over the Manhattan Bridge. Descending into Brooklyn on the Manhattan Bridge after a long run is my favorite; that's where I got my first runners high 10+ years ago. 

Any running-related superstitions? I have to run my marathons wearing the same outfit, down to the accessories, and fuel the exact same way I did on all my long runs. For example, I used my phone instead of a running watch for all my long runs, while training for a marathon, so I had to race the marathon holding my phone. 

 What has running taught you or changed about you? I guess time management and self-care are the most important things running has taught me. You have to be really organized to train for marathons and work full time. And you can't be draining ice-cold dry gin martinis and nibbling on someone's neck ‘til two in the morning before a long run or a track workout. Also, self-care: running taught me I cannot be present for other people if I am not present for myself-- that's why I run first thing in the morning. 

Favorite post-race food: I usually house an entire pizza.

Favorite song to run to make you want to run: Princess Nokia's "Tom Boy"

Favorite running social media account: I fantasize about creating a meme account making fun of adult-club-running in NYC. Mostly making fun of BTC, OSR, and Take the Bridge. I mean, c'mon, all those black and white photos of skinny dudes with tats running down wet cobble-stoned streets-- an untapped wellspring of humor... Stay tuned.

What do you think is the worst part about being a runner? We chase a futile and fleeting perfection. We are always fighting to outdo ourselves while running on borrowed time-- which is beautiful, but also a very brutal reality. To be able to run fast and without serious injury into middle age is, for most people, an actual miracle. I should start squirreling money away now for a fifteen-thousand-dollar racing bike and those Power Ranger outfits, so when my knees finally throw in the towel, I can be like those 50-year-old dudes on the West Side Highway ruining everyone else's day on their way to the Palisades. That's definitely my 2050 look, for sure.

Best advice for running newbies: The act of running is only 50% of being a runner. 30-40% of it is strength and conditioning and stretching to buttress the support muscles in your body so your body does not crumple like a ball of tin foil the minute you start laying down serious mileage. 

At least a half dozen times a year someone comes up to me and says "I started running and immediately hurt my knee, ankle, foot, back, etc." Do they do a vinyasa flow at least once or twice a week? Do they plank? Squat? Lunge? Foam roll? No. Nine times out of ten, they hit the park, pronating like a peking duck, twisting their hips like Sam Cooke, and hungover AF. Shaking. My. Damn. Head. 

Current running goal? Sub 2:45 next Boston. 

Any other fun running facts about you? If I've had an especially good race, I like to get a giant cigar like Michael Jordan and get about ten puffs in before I am thoroughly disgusted.