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Hello, Rebels,
It is your general back from my sabbatical. The tropics were
beautiful and yes, I did run while I was away! I had to burn off the
calories from all of those umbrella drinks while getting ready for the big
race on Sunday.
Congratulations to all of the marathoners from last weekend and
Monday! You are truly an inspiring bunch. Sheer Bliss weathering the winds in MD (girl, I know how
you felt with the 30 mph winds, not fun). Herko proving that the Bruce Hubbard marathon training program
does work and BBQ helping her through. (Wow- Bruce has a training course and program named after him.
He must be a celebrity!)
Coach and RayChris conquering Heartbreak Hill. I am only sorry that I was not there to cheer you
all on in person (well, maybe not too sorry, Aruba was beautiful.)
Welcome to Craig! This is a fun group. Our motto, "Eat Crap, Run
Well" should tell you what our priorities are. In reality, this is a very
motivating and supportive group. If you have a running goal you want to
accomplish, everyone will help see you through that goal. I hope to
meet/see you on Thursday...
2005 Ocean City Marathon: Megaphone's commentary
CONGRATS RAYCHRIS AND COACH DAVE ON CONQUERING THE BM
(Boston Marathon)! Nice quotes RayChris about the BM
in the NewsUrinal. Too bad your mug wasn't in there
instead of [others]. I looked for you on
tv, but shockingly OLN didn't give much time to those
not in the top 5 (i.e., EVERYONE). Can't wait to hear
about it on Thurs.
Although the Ocean City Marathon (OCM) significantly
paled in comparison, Cathy K. (Sheer Bliss) is to
be commended for her efforts under quite extreme
conditions. As previously mentioned, the wind was
exceptionally strong, blowing the runners to the side,
especially between 13 and 17 when the race was
literally on the island/beach of Assateague. The wind
was constant thruout, but the miniscule mile markers
were not. That is, the course was not completely
marked, and the runners were misled at the outset such
that they had to do a small loop at the end with the
finish in sight for about a mile.
The course was primarily on regular roads not closed
to traffic, so yours truly, of course, took over some
volunteering duties when there was a dearth of
volunteers at key traffic areas (felt like CR). Franny
T. jumped in on his bike and just escorted the
leader the whole way. Szymanski ran the accompanying
5k (finishing 3rd!)and then joined me in supporting
the runners at various spots along the course. Wearing
my neon orange volunteering jacket, many people
thought I was a race official. (The orange jacket was
not so helpful when trying to be subtle while voiding
in the woods). One nice thing was I/we were able
support Bliss at a number of spots along the course,
accompanying her at various times. Franny biked
alongside her for probably the last 7-8 miles.
Dan
2005 New Jersey Marathon: Sunday at the Shore
At the New Jersey Marathon in Sandy Hook, N.J., Tony BBQ accompanied Herko, completing the course in 4:24:57
Tony writes:
Yes, B and I did finish together yesterday. It was a well organized marathon on a flat course. We also where very fortunate to have good weather considering how windy it was the day before and how hot is was 1 mile inland.
B did not have any stomach issues this time but stared to feel a little fatigued around mile 18. We walked through all the water stops in the last 6 miles and finished feeling good about the whole experience.
We''ll be taking it easy for a couple of weeks but on May 1 we start training for the Twin Cities Marathon.
2005 Boston Marathon: Heartbreak Hill under a hot sun
Coach Dave writes:
For the third year in a row the Boston Marathon featured temperatures warmer than ideal. Although not as warm as
last year(83 degrees at the start), the 70+ at the start was similar to 2003 and very deceptive. The not-outright-hot
temperature combined with low humidity and a breeze fooled everyone into feeling they could run close to their goal
pace. This strategy worked fine for the first half of the run, but, inevitably, most of the runners succumbed to
the effects of getting warm and somewhat dehydrated. By the last miles all but the most well trained were
struggled to summon up the energy to finish.
Incredibly, 13,000 of the 20,405 registrants were first-timers. Of these registrants, 18,319 started the race
and 17,549 finished. So, for anyone doubting their ability because of a slow time, remember that you got past
two hurdles. Over 2,000 could not start for some reason, most probably being injuries, and 770 who started
could not finish.
For the full recap of Ray's race (including plenty of photos), click here.
Meanwhile, K-Drive was conquering shorter distances...
Coach Dave writes:
Having just set a new PR in winning the Think First 5K on Thursday in 20:07, K-Drive apparently
discovered that running faster makes you faster yet. On Saturday, she was first female overall again at the
Visionary Peace 5K in Baltimore. She knocked an incredible 37 seconds off her time to run a 19:30 PR.
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