Recap of USATF 5K Championship in Syracuse, NY on October 5th-Women's Races

October 15, 2014. There were incredible performances by the women who ran the roads in Syracuse.

All Lined Up and Ready to Roll!

Sabra Harvey, 65, and Jan Holmquist, 70,  broke American 5K age group records in scintillating times, and newly minted Masters runner, Jen Rhines, came 'within a dime' of  breaking Colleen De Reuck's overall master's 5K road race record for women. She took the overall Masters title by more than a minute over a sterling field and set three Syracuse course records [overall masters, W40, and single-age record for age 40] in the process.

Jen Rhines, winning her first USATF Masters title at 5K in Syracuse, NY Oct. 5 2014

Overall [and W40].  The overall masters competition was overshadowed by the appearance of three-time Olympian and still very competitive Open Elite road runner, Jen Rhines [BAA/Boston], and her quest for the record. Even though she did not get the record she was seeking, her 15:58 was within ten seconds of the record and fast enough for a dominant win. Sonja Friend-Uhl [Brentwood, TN]

Sonja Friend-Uhl, a few seconds after crossing the finish line to capture 2nd in the Masters Race

took 2nd place by a good margin in 17:40 but the race for the third spot on the podium was a doozy, with three women finishing within 8 seconds of one another. Holly Ortlund [Decatur, GA] got the third place in a time of 18:08, with Michelle LaFleur [Savannah, GA] and Robyn Holland [Winston Salem, NC] finishing in 4th and 5th, both with a time of 18:16. How's that for racing!

Michelle LaFleur, winning out for 4th place  Masters over Robyn Holland

W45. The Keystone State dominated this division, taking all three places. Leslie Hoey

Leslie Hoey, taking 1st in the W45 division.

[Downingtown, PA] led the way with an 18:54, followed by Linda Hawke [Malvern, PA] in 19:45,

Linda Hawke, capturing 2nd in the W45 division.

and Peggy Conlon [Chester Springs, PA] in 3rd in 20:21.

W50. Marisa Sutera-Strange [Pleasant Valley, NY], Doreen McCoubrie [Malvern, PA] and Julie Hankin [Malvern, PA] came in 1-2-3 for the Athena Track Club, with the top two
 

Marisa Sutera-Strange, first across the line in the W50 contest

Doreen McCoubrie with another impressive performance on the roads

 cracking the 19 minute barrier in 18:32 and 18:49.

W55. Nancy Stewart [Atlanta, GA], Joan Miller [Chestnut Hill, MA] and Ena Weinstein [Baldwin, GA] contested this division, with Stewart getting the victory and a new single-age Syracuse FoR record in 19:38. Miller and Weinstein followed with times of 21:01 and 21:29

Ena Weinstein makes the podium with this finish in the W55 age group at the national championship

respectively.

W60. The Genesee Valley Harriers took 2nd and 3rd in this division to storm to the F60+ team championship. Coreen Steinbach [Pompey, NY] took first, however, in a fast 21:38. Sharon Moore [Rochester, NY] and Cindy Ingalls [Pittsford, NY] from GVH followed Steinbach across the line in 22:41 and 23:58 respectively to join her on the podium.

W65. Sabra Harvey [Houston, TX] won this division handily, setting a new American F65 record of 20:27 in the process, breaking the old record by 49 seconds. And, of course, this also gives her the age group and single age records for the Syracuse FoR race course. This adds to her US record collection as she is also the current holder of the W60 8K mark [32:43] and has a record pending certification for the W65 10K [42:37]. Second and third went to Susan Gustafson [Hingham, MA] and Lynda McGuire [Scottsville, NY] in 24:17 and 25:49 respectively.

W70. Jan Holmquist [Burlington, MA] sped along the Syracuse race course, smashing the American 5K record for this group by over a minute, in a time of 22:16. Like Harvey, she is also now the holder of the Syracuse FoR course records for age group and single age. Ruth Thelen and Sue Gardinier joined Holmquist on the podium with Thelen nipping Gardinier 27:39 to 27:56.

W75. The decorated runner from the state of Colorado, Libby James [Fort Collins, CO],

Libby James, taking another national age group first place, at the 2014 USATF 5K Championships

came within 24 seconds of her W75 American record, set two years ago. Her time of 24:00 flat gave her the victory in this group with Madeline Bost [Randolph, NJ] taking second.

W80. Anny Stockman and  Edna Hyer had quite a battle in this division but Stockman pulled away over the course of the race to win with a sizable victory margin, 35:46 to 38:16.

Team Races.

W40+. Atlanta Track Club [Sonja Friend-Uhl, Holly Ortlund, Nancy Stewart] won the division handily in a time of 55:26. Genesee Valley Harriers [Melissa Senall, Erika Duthiers, Audra Naujokas-Knapp] edged the Athena Track Club [Leslie Hoey, Linda Hawke, Peggy Conlon] by a mere ten seconds, in 58:50, to take the second spot.

W50+. The Athena TC [Marisa Sutera-Strange, Doreen McCoubrie, Julie Hankin] took this one going away, winning by almost 6 minutes in a time of 57:54. Athen TC-B [Mary Swan, Betsy Stewart, Coreen Steinbach] had a tight race with the GVH [Beth Deciantis, Carol Bischoff, Colleen Magnussen] but won out for the 2nd spot on the podium  63:49 to 64:38.

W60+. The GVH [Sharon Moore, Cindy Ingalls, Carolyn Smith-Hanna] took this one easily in a time of 70:42, defeating the Liberty Athletic Club [Jan Holmquist, Susan Gustafson, Lenore Webber] and the Syracuse Chargers [Suzanne Leone, Ruth Ripley, Connie Ciccone] who clocked 73:09 and 74:14 for 2nd and 3rd.

W70+. The Playmakers Elite/New Balance team [Ruth Thelen, Ellen Nitz, Janet Wallen] from Michigan ran away from the Checkers AC Christa Meier, Fran Rowe, Edna Hyer] in 88:17 to win by 20 minutes.

Weather Outlook for USATF 5K Cross Country Championship November 8 in Carmel, IN.

October 14 2014.

This is for runners who are coming to Indianapolis for the USATF 5K XC in Carmel, IN. (a suburb of Indianapolis) and are wondering about weather for the day of the race. 

      I went to Weather Underground and looked up November 8 and traced it back through to the turn of the millennium (2000). The average temperature range listed was 38F to 56F. With races scheduled from 10 am to noon that means mid 40’s to low 50’s, ideal for a crisp cool cross country run. 

     Of course you don’t necessarily get average. In looking back over the past 13 years about the coolest you’re likely to get at race time seems to be mid to upper 30’s and the warmest in the low to mid 60’s, both tolerable although not ideal. 

     What about rain? Possible, of course, but over the past 13 years there were only two years that had measurable rain and, as it happened, in both cases the rain fell at other times of the day, in one case in the wee hours of the morning 3:30 am to 5:45 am and in the other in late afternoon, 4 pm to 5:30 pm. There are no guarantees ever with the weather but no reason to worry about it more than normal. Check the 5-day forecast once we get into November.

Recap of USATF 5K Championship at the Syracuse Festival of Races-Men's Teams

October 10, 2014. It was a beautiful day in Syracuse on October 5th for some stirring team races-crisp and clear. The individual men's competition was recapped yesterday. Today the focus is on the Men's Teams. In USATF National Championship Road Races like this one, the competition is determined by the cumulative time of the first three finishers on each team. Every second counts and the pressure is on. Unlike the five-year age groups for individuals, the teams are organized on the basis of ten year groups. So 40+ refers to teams made up of individuals between the ages of 40 and 49.

Ten different clubs entered runners in one or more age divisions; two clubs (Genesee Valley Harriers and Clifton Roadrunners) had both A and B teams in at least one division. The Syracuse Chargers Track Club entered a team in the 40+, 50+, 60+, and 80+; no other team entered in more than 3 divisions (Atlanta Track Club and GVH). Two of the teams established new 3-man team bests for the Syracuse FoR Course; more detail after the age division recaps.

M40+. Atlanta TC ran away with this division as their top 2 runners [Chad Newton, Kristian Blaich] finished in the top 5 overall and their third runner [Matthew Whitis] was second in the M45 group. Their overall winning time was 47:47 for a sub-16 minute average.The second and third place teams both had all three runners under 17:00 with the Garmin Runners [Brian Crowley, Mark Zamek, Mark Williams] finding their way to the second place position on the podium by running just a little bit faster than the Willow Street Athletic Club team [Robert Irwin, John Stadtlander, Volker Burkowski] at every position.Garmin clocked 49:38 to Willow Street's 50:30.

Atlanta Track Club's victorious 40+ Team [Blaich, Newton, Whitis, Wilcox]; Lein (USATF)

M50+. This was the most tightly contested age division. It was a tight battle for 1st between Playmakers Elite/New Balance and the Genesee Valley Harriers with the Playmakers prevailing in 50:54 for a sub17 minute average. Ruben Henderson, Jr. led the way for the Playmakers, closely followd by Daniel Dixon, Jr. and Ron Zywicki. The GVH (Alan Evans, Charlie Andrews, David Bischoff) was pressing for first but also had to be careful not to lose second place to the swift Atlanta TC team. In the end, GVH  outkicked the Atlanta TC (Ken Youngers, Nathan Skipper, Jeffery Dundas) for the second spot on the podium, 51:31 to 52:18.

Playmakers Elite/New Balance's victorious 50+ team [Dixon, Henderson, Zywicki, Lambrecht]; Lein (USATF)

M60+.  In another well contested division, Ann Arbor Track Club led the way, defeating the Shore Athletic Club by just over a minute. Led by Lloyd Hansen's 18:46, all three Ann Arbor runners came in under 19:40, with Terry McCluskey and John Tarkowski finishing second and third for them. Reno Stirrat who finished in 18:33 was joined by Emmanuel Brody and Harold Nolan, resulting in an overall clocking of 58:46. The Atlanta TC was led by Tom McCormack's scintillating 16:58 but Hansen graciously pointed out to me that Atlanta was hampered by the absence of Kirk Larson, recovering from surgery. An additional factor was that Jerry Learned was slowed by a strained hamstring injury that cropped up a few days before the race and added almost four minutes to his time from last year. But the race is to the swift on a given day at a given time. We race against those who show up and are fit on the day with the fastest finishers crowned. So hat's off to Ann Arbor and Shore and Atlanta.

Ann Arbor TC's victorious 60+ team [Tarkowski, Hansen, Hayes, Manz, McCluskey]; Lein (USATF)

M70+. Doug Goodhue, still under 20:00 at age 72,  led the Ann Arbor TC to victory with the able help of Monte Piliawsky and Wally Herala, both of whom cracked 24 minutes. Their overall time of 66:02 was more than 3 minutes ahead of Shore AC and constitutes a course best (see below). Przemyslaw Nowicki led the way for Shore, with Roland Cormier and John Nowatkowski  not far behind. Clifton Rodrunners (Craig Wunderly, William Ash, James Leitz)  claimed the third place on the podium.

Ann Arbor Track Club's Victorious and Record-setting M70+ Team [Goodhue, Farah, Piliawsky, Herrala]

M80+. The Syracuse Chargers TC claimed the victory in the oldest division contested this year in Syracuse. Not only did they win it, but they too established a course best as Wally McRae, Fritz Schlereth and David Rider came across the line in 96:35.

Wally McRae of the Syracuse Chargers Track Club's record-setting 80+ team, with Don Lein (USATF) enjoying and joining in the humor of the assembled Masters runners

Course Records for Teams. The Syracuse Festival of Races does not post master's team bests for their course. This is in part, no doubt, due to the different way of scoring over the years. Even during the USATF years, 2008-2014, the 40+ and 50+ teams were changed from scoring by the cumulative times of the top 5 runners to the cumulative times of the top 3 runners. For my purposes I decide to include the earlier 5-man team results in the competition for best USATF master's team times [2008-2014] by refiguring their times by only counting the top 3 runners. This way there is direct comparability of teams across the 7 year USATF history with Syracuse. Based on this approach, the records for each division coming into 2014 were:
_______________________________________________________________________________
M40+: COMPEX RACING [Pete Magill, Christian Cushing-Murray, Gray Mahvera] 45:32 2009

M50+: ATLANTA TC [Gary Droze, Ken Youngers, Jeffery Dundas] 50:34 2011

M60+: ATLANTA TC [Kirk Larson, Mike Wien, Jerry Learned] 56:50  2012

M70+: NEW ENGLAND 65+ RUNNING CLUB [Bill Spencer, John Pelton, Jerry LeVasseur]  
                                                                                                             67:01  2010

M80+: SYRACUSE CHARGERS TC [Wally McRae, Fritz Schlereth, David Rider] 96:52 2013

Syracuse FoR course bests for 3-man USATF Masters Men's Teams, as compiled by Paul Carlin
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The 40+, 50+, and 60+ records are all safe for another year. And the M40+ time of COMPEX with an average of 15:11 per runner seems safe for some time to come unless there is a determined onslaught by an elite team. No other team has come within 90 seconds of it so far. Playmakers was only 20 seconds off of the 50+ best so that seems potentially attainable. And while Ann Arbor was almost a minute off of the best this year, they were only 40 seconds away last year. Perhaps next year will be the year this one falls too.

Ann Arbor soared to M70+ victory this year and in the process, they swamped the course best for that division by almost a full minute. Doug Goodhue, Monte Piliawsky, Wally Herrala, John Farah and Jon Desenberg made up the record setting team, with the first three listed scoring the times that are counted for the record. The new course best is 66:02.
Congratulations to Ann Arbor TC on this record-setting achievement!

The Syracuse Chargers Track Club surged to victory again this year with the trio of Wally McRae, Fritz Schlereth, and  David Rider lowering the record they established last year by 17 seconds. they had able support in Sheldon Kall who was on hand to help secure the championship medal if any of the first three had faltered. The new course best is  96:35.
Congratulations to the Syracuse Chargers TC on their record-setting team time!

Recap of USATF Masters 5K Championship at the Syracuse Festival of Races-Men's Race

October 9 2014. On a gorgeous, crisp, sunny fall day in Syracuse, records fell and championships were won. And this despite a noticeable headwind for the runners as they turned 180 degrees right before the halfway point and headed back toward the finish line. Three days ago I reported on the national records that fell on Sunday, October 5. Today's report focuses primarily on the races and the championships but I will have a few words on the national age group record and, for the first time, summarize the individual age records at the Syracuse Festival of Races. Dave Oja, Race Director, is unusual in maintaining such a complete list of individual age records and promoting them on his results page. [See: http://www.festivalofraces.com/results.html]

Ready for the start of the Men's Race

Let's look at the individual winners first and then the teams tomorrow.

Overall Individual. It was expected to be a barn burner of a race but as it turned out, it was Greg Mitchell who burned the barn. Mitchell flew in from McMinnville, Oregon and took home the overall Master's victory by over a half minute and nearly broke the 15 minute barrier, finishing in 15:03. Second through 5th proved to be as tight as expected; those four runners were only separated by ten seconds. Chad Newton of Pisgah Forest, NC and the Atlanta Track Club, nailed down second in 15:40, followed closely by Scott Weeks of Groton, NY [15:43], Craig Greenslit of Berthoud, Colorado [15:44], and Kristian Blaich of Decatur, Georgia and the Atlanta TC [15:50].

Individual Age Group. M40. As usual this went the way of the overall competition as only Blaich was from the next higher age group.
 

Greg Mitchell, crossing the finish line to win the overall National Masters 5K Road Championship

M45. As one might suspect, Kristian Blaich ran away with this one, winning the group by nearly a half minute. Then Matthew Whitis (from Tucker, GA and the Atlanta TC) won a hard-fought battle  for 2nd by only 4 seconds. Whitis apparently had just a little more left in the tank for the end of the race than did Brian Crowley (Hillsborough NJ and Garmin Runners ).

Kristian Blaich, in red, 5th Masters runner in overall and first in M45 age group/

M50. Last year Kevin Miller from Kansas made the trek east and won this age group by over a half minute. This year it was Mark Zamek (Lavellette, NJ) who canme in from a neighboring state to take the top spot in 16:27. Home state runner, Alan Evans, of the Genesee Valley Harriers took a close race for second  in 16:44, beating Reuben Henderson (Playmakers Elite/New Balance) by a mere 4 seconds in  a very competitive sector of the race.

M55. Along with the competition for the podium, this race held interest because Brian Pilcher, the Masters Long Distance Runner of the Year in 2013, was back to compete after losing several months to an injury. Pilcher showed that he is part of the way back by finishing 4th in 17:27, over a minute slower than last year when he was in top form. The top three slots were taken by Ken Youngers (Tucker, GA and Atlanta TC) in 16:49, Derrick Staley (Ballston Lake, NY) in 17:01, and Charlie Andrews (Rochester, NY and Genesee Valley Harriers) in 17:10. Not only did Youngers win the

Ken Youngers, capturing the M55 title and breaking the Age 68 Course Record

group, at age 68, he broke Dale Campbell's single age record for the course by 35 seconds. This was also significant in that the single age course records up through age 58 are now all under 17 minutes. If Youngers  shows up next year and continues to run under 17:00 then all of the individual ages up through 60 will be sub-17. That would bring a big smile to race director, Dave Oja's countenance.

M60. This age group had the most outstanding performance, a record-breaking time that was also the top age-graded score. The fleet Irish expatriate from the hills of East Tenessee, Tom McCormack, won the group and smashed 17 minutes in the process. With a time of 16:58, the hero of Jonesborough, TN, running for the Atlanta TC, broke Jim O'Neill's American record of 17 minutes, established 28 years earlier in Carlsbad, CA. Many speedy runners, in the interim, have made the pilgrimage to Carlsbad and to Syracuse, hoping to beat the record, and it has finally been accomplished. The careful reader will note that in passing from O'Neill to McCormack, the record still sits with the sons of Ireland. And it extends the sub-17 age group record up another notch. It is now true that every Masters age group record from M40 through M60 is sub-17. It is now up to others to extend the record. Youngers and Pilcher will be 60 in two years time and will join McCormack in this age group. The 2016 edition should be a race for the ages!

Tom McCormack smashes the American M60 Record at the Syracuse Festival of Races

The first four runners in this group all came in under 19:00 (and 7 under 20) so there was plenty of speed apart from McCormack. Joseph Reda, II, from DeForest, Wisconsin and Reno Stirrat of Rockaway, NJ had quite a battle with Reda in front by 14 seconds at the tape in a time of 18:19.

M65. Lloyd Hansen, the former Ford Exec who fought off heart disease with his running, took the age group prize by over a half minute. Running for his Ann Arbor Track Club, although currently training out of Salt Lake City, UT, Hansen won the group in 18:46, an excellent time. Ann Arbor took the top two spots, as their long time affiliate from the Buckeye state next door, Terry McCluskey [Vienna, OH.], clocked a very credible 19:22. Gary Patton, the track specialist from Rock Rapids, IA was not far behind in 19:38. This group was not quite as competitive as last year because of injuries.Roger Price and Jerry Learned ran, though injured, but were not able to match their sub-20 minute times of 2013. They should both be back in form by next year and battling for a spot on the podium.

M70. This was another race with special interest as Doug Goodhue, the silver bullet from Milford, MI, running for the Ann Arbor TC. and Jan Frisby, the long strider from Grand Junction, CO were to do battle. Frisby was coming back from a foot injury that had laid him up for over a year. Unfortunately the foot has not completely healed; Frisby was unable to match the kinds of times he was putting up a couple of years ago. Goodhue won handily in 19:43, his second straight sub-20 performance in the M70 group. The single-age course  record for 73 year olds is in his sights for next

Doug Goodhue, capturing his second successive sub-20 minute M70 title

year. Frisby did not go away empty handed from this race though. In addition to taking second-place, he, like Youngers and McCormack, took down the single age course record. And, in this case, took the course record time for 70 year olds by a full minute, lowering it to 20:22. Milton Schumacher of North Scituate, RI, took 3rd with a fine time of 21:05.

Jan Frisby, in one of his sub-19 minute performances a few years back.

M75. John Elliott of Columbia, MD continued to defy the years, winning with a time of 23:32. In the process, he beat the 76 year old's course record by more than half a minute. James Leitz of Bayonne, NJ took 2nd in 24:45, and Wade Stockman of Rennselaer, NY finished off his stint in the M75 group with a third place finish. With any luck he'll be competing for a 2nd or even a 1st place medal next year.


M80. John Harper, Jr. of Seal Beach, CA made it all the way across the country and went home with the first place medal in 26:38. A few minutes later, Jon Desenberg from Ann Arbor, MI, came across second min 29:59 [sub-30-yahoo!], with local favorite, Wally Hayes, from Manlius, NY close behind in third in 30:39. In so doing, Hayes smashed the course record for 82-year old's by more than a minute and a half.

M85. Willis Moses, Mister Reliable at age 88, came back again to win his specialty in 34:17. If Moses can come back again next year, he will surely establish a new course record for 89 year old's because there is none currently listed. Another achievement to look forward to in 2015.

That wraps up this first recap. Next post will be men's teams and then by the weekend, women's individual races and women's teams.

Remember to register for the November 8th USATF 5K Cross Country Championships to be held in Carmel, IN (a suburb of Indianapolis). I hope to see you there.

Hoosier Hospitality for elite Masters athletes- Contact: <Andy.Martin@ExclamationServicesUSA.com> or by phone: 317 531 6403

Register for the event: 
http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2014/USA-Masters-5-km-Cross-Country-Championships/Athlete-Info/Entry-Info.aspx

A Close Miss on Overall Masters Record But Age Group Records Fall at Syracuse

October 6 2014. On a beautiful, crisp fall day yesterday in Syracuse, Jennifer Rhines, 3 -time Olympian who grew up in the area, made a valiant attempt at the American Masters Record at 5K. It was a close miss as Rhines blazed the course, winning the Masters race in 15:58. But, in the end, that served to highlight how strong the current record of 15:48 is, set by another 3-time Olympian,

Jennifer Rhines, winning the Women's 2014 USATF Masters 5K Championship [photo-Paul Carlin]

Colleeen DeReuck, ten years ago in Albany, NY. Although the overall Masters record for American women did not fall, the Syracuse Festival of Races and its race director, Dave Oja, put on another terrific show, as three American age-group records fell, including one that has been resistant to challenge for more than 25 years.  Jim O'Neill's June 1986 record of 17:00 for men ages 60-64 was beaten by Tom McCormack, of Jonesborough, TN, in a time of 16:58. Sabra Harvey, of Houston, TX, smashed the women's ages 65-69 record by the better part of a minute, with a time of 20:27. Margaret Betz's record had stood for more than a decade. The final record-breaking success belonged to Jan Holmquist who beat Marie-Louise Michelsohn's two year old ages 70-74 record for women by over a minute! The new record will stand next to Holmquist's name at 22:16. Spectators witnessed incredible performances on a great road racing day at the USATF National 5K Road Championships at the Syracuse Festival of Races.

For complete official results see:
http://www.leonetiming.com/2014/Festival14.htm

Tom McCormack, breaking the US 5K Record for Men 60-64 [photo: Paul Carlin]

More coverage to come in future posts, including a summary of single age course records broken.

Next National Championship 5K Race: USATF 5K Cross Country championship in Carmel, IN. (suburb of Indianapolis). And remember Hoosier Hospitality, if you are an elite Masters runner with a world class (age grade 90%) performance in the last 18 months, contact the race director, Andy Martin [Andy.Martin@ExclamationServicesUSA.com] and he will arrange for a host family to pick you up at the airport and host you for the duration of the championship (room, board, and local transportation). Please let all of your elite athlete friends know about this opportunity and come to race in Indianapolis.

Preview 4 of USATF Masters 5K Championships--Women's Teams

October 1 2014. Four days until race time. Most teams should have entered by now but there is still time to enter so some teams may still be finalizing their rosters. This preview is based on information posted on the USATF 'Status of Entries' page through 10 pm October 01 2014. Just a reminder that in USATF road races, team placement is determined by the total time of the three fastest runners on each team as they cross the finish line.

Women 40+.  This division was captured by the Willow Street AC out of New York with a team time of 1:40 for an average of 18:19 per runner. The Willow Street team of Emily Bryans, Lori Kingsley, and Anne Benson defeated the Athena Track Club (Marisa Sutera-Strange, Linda Hawke, Julie Rankin) by 1:40 with the Genesee Valley Harriers (Audra Naujokas-Knapp, Rebecca Duberty, Martha McLaughlin) only 20 seconds back in third. In 2013 the Atlanta Track Club showed up and their top three of Sonja Friend-Uhl, Nancy Mack, and Lesley Chaplin running 54:53 to defeat Bryans, Kingsley and  of Willow Street by a mere 24 seconds. The race for third was not a s tight as the year before with the GVH a full 4 minutes back in 2013, not their day.

So what can we look for in 2014? The Atlanta Track Club is already entered but only Friend-Uhl of last year's winning trio, is back. Their likely top 2 of Friend-Uhl and

Sonja Friend-Uhl, capturing one of her many Florida road running titles in 2010 [http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports-marathon-running-bike/files/2010/09/fl-Memorial-Day-Classic-5K-0601e.jpg]

Ortlund appear as strong or stronger than last year's first two. But unless Chaplin or Mack enter this week, it appears ATC's 3rd runner will be pressed to break 20, which means they are potentially vulnerable should Willow Street enter with their usual strong team. Atlanta should still break 57 minutes however and might get in under 56. Two other teams with three entrants already entered are the Athena Track Club, back after a one year absence, and the Genesee Valley Harriers. Athena's composition is different because Sutera-Strange has moved up to the W50+ division. Hawke is back,

Linda Hawke (center), winner of the 33rd Radnor Run in 2010 [http://images.townnews.com/mainlinemedianews.com/content/articles/2010/11/04/sports/doc4cd17f8d9f0348373479821.jpg]

however, joined by Peggy Conlon and Leslie Hoey. It appears that Hoey might have a shot at breaking 18 minutes. If Hawke can come close to the 18:40 she ran two years ago, that gives Athena  a great foundation. Conlon, their third runner as of today, appears capable of breaking 20 minutes but not 19. So Athena  can be right there with Atlanta. GVH  is back with the same top 3 from last year. That should not be enough strength to challenge Atlanta and Athena but is enough for the podium as long as Willow Street is not a last minute entry. It should be a terrific battle for the top two positions.


Women 50+. In this division the story is similar.with Willow Street (Beth Stalker, Nancy Briskie, and Karen Provencher) finishing 2nd to the Athena Track Club (Doreen McCoubrie, Lorraine Jasper, Cheryl Bellaire) in 2012 only to come back and win it in 2013 when Athena did not enter. Athena won pretty handily in 2012 with a 2:49 gap over Willow Street, finishing in 59:03 for a 19:41 average. Genesee Valley Harriers (Lisa Butler, Anna Fox, Darlene Saeva) finished another 3 and a half minutes back in 3rd. Times were slower last year when Athena stayed away. Willow Street, led again by Stalker, won in 63:02 (a 21:01 average) with Genesee Valley, paced again by Butler and Fox, just over a minute back in 2nd.

What about this year? Athena Track Club is back and appears to be stronger. as Marisa Sutera-Strange moved up from the 40+ division to join McCoubrie at the front

Marisa Sutera-Strange, after winning the 2009 Duchess County Classic 5K [http://cmsimg.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=BK&Date=20120913&Category=SPORTS06&ArtNo=309130027&Ref=AR&MaxW=300&Border=0&Players-Dutchess-County-Classic-s-Iron-Woman]

of Athena's W50+ pack. If Sutera-Strange can come close to matching the 18:17 she ran in 2012 and McCoubrie can match her 18:23 run in 2012, Hankin would only need to run around 20 (which seems well within her

Doreen McCoubrie, waiting for the start of the 2006 More Marathon, in which she finished 2nd [http://www.marathonguide.com/news/exclusives/images/More2006/IMGP2277_small.jpg]

reach) for the team to put up a pretty formidable sub-60 time. GVH is back but with considerable turnover; none of their top 3 return. Carol Bischoff, who ran a 42:09 in the 10K championships at Dedham this year appears to be their top runner and should be down around 20 minutes. But it does
not look as if anyone else on GVH is likely to get under 21 minutes and may not come in under 22. So a 64 or 65 minute team timer seems a reasonable projection, not fast enough to challenge Athena but maybe enough for the podium. Even if Willow Street  should pass this year, there are two new challengers. One is the Atlanta Track Club (Dianna Hinton, Nancy Stewart, Ena Weinstein) which appears strong enough to break 65 as a team and maybe even 64 but more that that would be asking much unless there is to be an added entrant. Weinstein and Hinton should lead the way for Atlanta which should give GVH a strong run for their money. The Liberty AC will bring in a  team from Massachusetts and Shore AC a team from NJ that will try to put pressure on the front runners. If Willow Street  enters the kind of teams they have in the past, they should be able to battle Athena for the win, with Atlanta and GVH hoping to push up into the top 3. Without Willow Street, it looks like Athena should take the prize, with Atlanta TC and GVH in a real tussle for second.

Women 60+. In 2012 Liberty AC had a dominant win over Playmakers Elite/New Balance out of Michigan in 2nd place. Liberty cranked out a 1:09:14 with Playmakers Elite over 11 minutes back. The following year Liberty and Playmakers Elite were in a much tighter contest with less than 2 minutes separation between them. However Genesee Valley stole their thunder by bringing in a team (Belinda O'Brien, Carolyn Smith-Hanna, Cindy Ingalls) that ran 1:09:47 to the 1:11:44 of Liberty AC (Jan Holmquist, Susan Gustafson, Lenore Webber) and the 1:13:21 of Playmaker Elite (Deborah Feltz, Jean Bolley, Lynn Driver).

This year GVH is back with their 2nd through 4th runners. O'Brien is gone but two runners have moved up from the 50+ team. If Sharon Moore, Smith-Hanna, and Ingalls can match their times from last year they could well be under 1:11 but it would 

Carolyn Smith-Hanna, winning one of her many national championships [http://www.innovative-edge-sports.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/Carolyn_Smith_Hanna.gif]

be a stretch to get under 1:10. The Liberty AC is entered but so far only their 2nd and 3rd runners from last year are entered. If their 3rd runner is Holmquist, they could give GVH a real battle for 1st. Feltz is back to lead Playmakers Elite but neither their 2nd nor 3rd runners from last year are entered yet. Unless that changes, it seems unlikely

that the Playmakers Elite will beat a time of 1:13 and 1:14 or higher may be a better prediction. Right now it looks like GVH is set to repeat their 2013 win. But if Holmquist enters for Liberty AC, it should be a real humdinger of a team race.

Women 70+. In 2012 the Syracuse Chargers (Sue Gardinier, Yvonne Tasker-Rothenberg, Carol Rider) ran 1:22:28 to take the title by 20 minutes over the Checkers AC also out of NY. The following year Syracuse was not entered but Playmakers Elite (Ellen Nitz, Janet Wallen, Shirley Larsen) showed up  to run a 1:31:59 and again take the title by more than 20 minutes from Checkers AC.

Helen Botti, running for the Checkers AC[http://www.festivalofraces.com/images/Helen%20Botti%20head%20shot,%20by%20Dustin%20Angell.jpg]

In 2014 there appears to be substantially more competition. Checkers AC is back to try for (at least) their third consecutive 2nd place finish. Christa Maier has joined Helen Botti, Edna Hyer, and Fran Rowe on the Checkers team and should help them get their team time back under 1:50 but breaking 1:40 still seems out of reach.  Playmakers Elite is back with the same 3 runners and should be favored for the win as low 1:30's seems very attainable for them. But Syracuse Track Club does have two of the three runners needed for a team already entered, Gardinier and Rider from the 2012 championship team. If they get a good third place runner in, like Tasker-Rothenberg from the 2012 squad, they should win handily.And, indeed, the third runner could be several minutes slower than and it might still be enough to claim the first place medal. I will go out on a limb and predict that Syracuse will get their third runner entered and will take the team title followed by Playmakers Elite, forcing Checkers down to third place.

It looks like lots of great team races on Sunday. Now we just have to hope that the weather gods cooperate. After a couple of weeks of consistently sunny weather the forecast now calls for rain on Saturday but not Sunday. Let's hope the forecast stays that way and hope that any rain on Saturday is light enough that there are no deep puddles on the course. It'll be great to see how things turen out this year!

Training Tip-Injury & Unexpectedly Slow Recovery Dampens My Fall Race Plans

October 1 2014. Training tips--What not to do. It has been a discouraging August and September. Not so good for running but probably good for humility. No risk of getting 'full of yourself' when you cannot run any faster than a weekend jogger...  :(  ... As earlier posts indicated I have an upper hamstring/glutes issue with my right leg. And, of course, have no one to blame but myself. One hears the mantra, pay attention to your body but I had not fully internalized that lesson. I first felt some tightness there on July 26th but pretty much ignored it. After all, I had to finish my prep and then run in Joan Benoit Samuelson's Beach to Beacon 10K Race on August 2nd. And the Elites Director had been kind enough to offer me

That's me there in the second or third row behind the speediest of the speedy.

a Masters Elite entry so I did not want to disappoint. In the event, it apparently was okay. I was a little worried and didn't feel at my best but went ahead and ran a very credible 40:39. The day after the race we did a long day's drive in the car to get home (12 hours), not very smart of me, and I was quite stiff. I probably should have taken some time off and rested but didn't. I had decided I should run in a local race, the Personal Best 5.0 miler that next Saturday, August 9th. It attracts a lot of serious runners from the Indy area whom I only run into occasionally now that I am running nationally and it is just a nice race overall.

The next day, August 4th, I just had an easy 4 mile run but my training log has a note that I was feeling some pain or tightness in the upper hamstring/glutes area. The next day I had a planned speed session on the track--220 yd intervals BUT whenever I tried to run a 220 under 50 seconds, I could not, so ran the planned workout but just 12 slower intervals + enough easy running to make up to almost 5 miles total. [What was I thinking? Was I invulnerable?] The next day I took a couple of ibuprofen to reduce inflammation and fit in a 6 mile tempo, covering the last mile and a half at sub 7 minute per mile pace. Then I did a mild taper toward the race on Saturday. . Again I ignored any tightness and continued with the training and ran on Saturday, August 9th and again although not at my best, ran a fine time, almost a minute faster than I had run the year before, 32:24 for an 88.02%

One Hundred Yards of Personal Best 5.0 Mile Race done, 8700 yards to go! [photo by Brad Haberman]

age grade, within my normal/good range. The next day I ran an easy 7 miles and on Monday, August 11th, I had an interval workout planned. At this point I was looking ahead to the USATF 1 Mile Championship in Flint MI on the 22nd of August. I was able to run it this time, 5 sub-90 440's plus 2 sub-40 220's plus a final 440 in 81.5, I thought I was ready to roll. In fact I was ready to roll over. The next day was an easy 4 miles but had a lot of pain. The day after that, I had to schedule another easy day but still only ran about 5 miles of a 6 mile workout and at a much slower pace. I decided to take Thursday through Sunday off to give myself a little rest and try again on Monday. Listening to my body finally, but too late. I ran  a short, slow workout & tried a couple of surges unsuccessfully. Then took the next day off. Then a short, slow workout on the 20th of August, tried surges-no luck.

I realized my trainers had 500+ miles so decided to switch and got advice from Thom Burleson of Athletic Annex on what to get. Bought new Nike Zoom Elites and tried both with and without heel lifts--Seemed to help but not enough. From the 21st of August to the 26th I would try a day of running and a day of rest but the pain was always there; it did not matter which shoes I wore. Then I took 6 days off and tried another run--easy 3.5 miles but the dull background pain was there-no surges. Off again on again continued for the next week. Finally on Sept 7 I decided that full rest was needed with just swimming, walking

Swimming Laps in a Pool Like this Helps

and stretching with an occasional day of trying to run if there had seemed to be progress. I had hoped this would be done well before the end of September so I could run in the USATF 5K road championship race in Syracuse but it was not to be. Here I am on October 1st and still not able to take a 2 mile walk without background pain, much less run without pain.

So that's the scoop. I did not 'listen to my body' even after it grabbed me by the lapels and said, "Listen up, buddy, we're sending a sharp pain to your glutes! Then will you take it a little easier?" But I didn't and have now paid the price. I am left wondering how much damage I did to my muscles. Right now I want to enjoy training again. I can't really resume running as part of my training until there is no background pain when I run. I definitely feel like the pain is more manageable and most hours of the day everything is fine. But when I put even a fairly mild stress on my system, like walking a couple of miles, there is dull pain. I keep hoping the next day will bring an end to it but so far no. Swimming laps always seems to help (although defintely not my favorite training) and walking in parks helps maintain my spirit and keep up some aerobics. Watching my diet has kept my weight stationary. So I'm ready to go--just need to get this pain stopped. I had to give up the 5K Championship Race. Now I am starting to worry about the 15K Championship on Oct 26 in Tulsa and the 5K cross country championship in Carmel IN on the 8th of November. We'll see. If I can resume normal training, I will let you know with a new post.