Corpus Roadrunners Newsletter

Transcription

1 Newsletter Date March April 2009 Corpus Roadrunners Newsletter Beach to Bay Relay Inside this issue: Meet our Members Cathy Carmany Meet our Members David Patterson Myrtle Beach Marathon Race Report Marathons and other adventures Poem 6 New races 6 Boston Finishers The Beach to Bay Relay Marathon is an annual six person relay running event held in Corpus Christi, Texas on the third Saturday in May. The race begins promptly at 7:00 am at Nueces County Park on the beach just south of Bob Hall Pier adjacent to Gulf Beach Access Road 6. The Beach to Bay Relay Marathon is a 26.2 point-to-point relay route beginning on North Padre Island, winding through Naval Air Station Corpus Christi and ending at Cole Park along Corpus Christi s scenic downtown. The course is divided into six legs of approximately 4.4 miles. The first leg is run on the beach and the remaining legs are run of pavement. Registration reached a new all time high with 1951 (that s 11,706 runners) teams registered to date In order to put on a race of this caliber here are some facts that few people would know: (now you do!) Just a few items that are needed: shirts, 50,000 pins, 2000 bibs, 50,000 cups, 3000 volunteers, 100 s of hours of preparation, and last but not the least significant 200 port-a-johns. Beach to Bay Relay th running May 16, Thank You to all the teams that volunteered to run in honor of a HURRICANE. Everyone without exception that volunteered to wear the name of one of the Hurricanes (a Corpus Christi unit based in Tikrit, Iraq.) said that it would be a privilege to do so. I am over whelmed by the loyalty of the Corpus Christi running community and their support of our troops. Doug McBee has been working to get B2B t-shirts to them in time for their mini-b2b, being held May 16. 1

2 Page 2 Corpus Roadrunners Newsletter March April 2009 Cathy Carmany Meet Our Members Age: 51 Occupation: Self Employed - Legal Service Business owner Family: I have three children. My son Tucker Pierson and his wife Lindsay live in San Diego CA; my daughter Ashley Ley and her husband Preston live here in Corpus Christi and my daughter Widney Pierson is a sophomore at the University of Texas in Austin. Cathy Carmany The friendships I have made through running, cycling and swimming are invaluable to me and are people I treasure Native of: I was born in Colorado and spent my childhood there and in New Mexico. I came to Texas to attend college at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas and have been here ever since. Years running: Around 30 + years. I started running in college and have continued through all my adult life. I began running because: The guy I was dating ran and encouraged me to run with him. Current weekly mileage: It is minimal at the present time; miles per week. I injured my hamstring muscles training for a Half Ironman in October and have been letting them heal the past few months. The power of rest is good and it is encouraging to feel healing and strength return! Favorite place(s) to run: Any time I travel I like to run new areas. The golden Gate Park in San Francisco is a favorite, trail running in Colorado is exhilirating and the sunrise over our beautiful bay while running down Ocean Drive always makes me thankful for the beauty God has given me to see. Favorite racing distance(s) I like the 10K distance. I like the feel of being able to get into a steady rhythm with some distance. Pre-race preparation: If I am preparing to run a marathon I pay close attention to nutrition the week before, eating foods that are dense in nutrients. If it is a race I have done before, I like to visualize the course and try to recall any points that have given me problems in the past, like hills, or areas of fatigue so I can mentally prepare myself for those places. Staying relaxed, and trying for a good night's sleep the few days before help me feel ready too. I also like to have everything totally laid out and ready the night before so I don't have to think about anything the morning of the race except getting there. My running/training philosophy is: Physical exercise is an extremely important part of my life on a day to day basis. I love the sense of well being and the way problems and stress are reduced with a good work-out. It is also very social, and I do a large portion of my work-outs with groups or friends. If I have a race I am working toward, I focus on getting ready for it with good training. If my race is off in the distance (there is always one out there) I spend more time at lower intensity workouts without as much distance. My racing philosophy is: Train well and do my best on race day. If I do well, I love the feeling of elation and satisfaction of the achievement. If the race doesn't go well I try to be thankful and happy that God gave me the ability and desire to just be out there participating. PRs: I'm sure I've had some good races of different distances "back in the day" but more that PR's I focus on my sense of doing my best. The best marathon I've had is: 4:11. Other than running, my interests are: Athletically, I love triathlons, so I also really enjoy the time I spend cycling and swimming. I'm very involved with different activities and groups at my church and Bible study. I have two dogs that are such joys in my life! I always have a book going and am somewhat of a movie buff. Spending time with friends is very important to me. I love to cook (and eat!!!) and being out doors, gardening in my yard or doing other projects around the house is satisfying. Life is too short for everything I enjoy and still want to do! One other thing that CCRR members would like to know about me: The friendships I have made through running, cycling and swimming are invaluable to me and are people I treasure. 2

3 Corpus Roadrunners Newsletter March April 2009 Page 3 David Patterson Meet Our Members Age: 58 Occupation: Retired --working part time 45 hours a week Family: Wife, two sons, two great daughter inlaws, two grand children, and two dogs Native of: Steamboat Springs Colorado Years running: Off and on since junior high-- 45 years I began running because:. Started again in 1990 oldest son was in CC meet at West Guth I was yelling at him to try harder he stopped in mid course and told me when I started running again I could yell (encouragement at him) started running again the next day Current weekly mileage: 20 mile a week walking Favorite place(s) to run: Love to walk West Guth brings back memories. My running/training philosophy is: Would love to run if I could PRs: 9:45 pace for a 7.5 mile leg walking Portland to Coast 2006 One other thing that CCRR members would like to know about me: I have walked the Portland to Coast relay (127) miles the last 10 years with a average pace of approx. 11:15/mile for the last ten years with average mileage 24 miles for the day The place you will normally find David is behind a table volunteering at a race or a fun run. David is one of the essential cogs that make the club and it s activities run smoothly. 3

4 By Dick Poremba Myrtle Beach Marathon Valentines Day 2009 Finally #50! Well after an 8 year sabbatical from running any distance even close to a marathon, I realized, if I were to ever finish a fiftieth (50) Marathon, I was running out of time and excuses not to. My last marathons were in Boston in 2001 and I don t really know why I put #50 off so long, but finding excuses was fairly easy. Some of those excuses included work; deciding I wanted to be a biker again; giving up long runs over 10 miles, not only for Lent but the entire year; and quite honestly training for and running another marathon just wasn t that important to me. I mean what s the difference between running 49 and 50 marathons, although we as Americans seem to prefer round numbers! But with such a long sabbatical from marathons and more importantly long runs, there s always the possibility of not even finishing the marathon, walking some portion or if I did finish, would it be my slowest marathon? So, why did I pick the Myrtle Beach Marathon? Well for several reasons. My Mom, Sister, Brother-in-law, and several of my favorite cousins all live in South Carolina. In the last year, I also made a commitment to visit my Mom, who turned 88 in June, at least two times a year. Lastly, Myrtle Beach, has a somewhat similar terrain to Corpus Christi, basically flat with only a few non dramatic elevation changes. Overall, it seemed like a good option for #50. So first I needed to decide on a training plan, and the positive was that I, at least, considered myself to be a marathon veteran!! I was confident that I could put together a training regiment that would get me to a reasonable goal. To me, that started with going back to what resulted in my best marathon times. I then make adjustments for Mother Time and for having little or no fast twitch muscle fibers..you know the ones that are suppose to make you faster! From a training perspective, this equated to a combination of increasing my long runs and starting some speed work.one mile repeats! With this in mind, my plan was to gradually increase my long runs each week until I reached 14 miles. Once I got to 14 miles, I planned to start the one mile repeats starting at 2 and increasing from 2 to 12 miles. I planned to alternate these each week by either increasing my long runs by 2 miles or increasing my one mile repeats by 2 miles. Now that was the PLAN! I must admit even the first weekend of 2; one mile repeats weren t easy it had been such a long time since I had done them!!! As planned, I was successful in increasing my long runs to 12 miles and in October, while visiting my Mother in Myrtle Beach, I ran 14 miles with my brother-in-law. From there my long runs increased completing 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 and finally a 23 mile run two weeks before the marathon. With such a long sabbatical, I felt that a combination of 20+ mile runs and speed work would be important for me to both finish the marathon and hopefully finish respectively. Incidentally, for you mileage chow hounds, my highest weekly mileage was never over 45 miles and considerably less on the non long run weeks. Overall, I felt pretty good about my long run training. Now the one-mile repeats were a different story!! These repeats have always been a challenge for me..even in my younger marathon days. Over the years, I have completed the 12 one mile repeats, but there were also those marathons where I have somehow wiggled out of completing 12. In my experience, long runs have always been a piece of cake compared to the 1 mile repeats. In fact, this time around I only made it to 8 one mile repeat. I had decided to justify alternatives for this distasteful practice. In December, I ran the American Bank Half as my 10 mile repeats and in January, I ran the Austin 3m Half Marathon as my 12 mile repeats. I knew both were really probably poor substitutes for 10 or 12 one mile repeats but it s always easier to sell yourself on the easier alternative, at least from my experience. Besides, I did well in my age group at both the American Bank, in which I was 1 st and the 3M in which I was 3 rd. The Myrtle Beach Marathon game day finally came. The temperature was in the low 50 s, rain and steadily increasing winds, but it could have been much worst. Overall, it was ok, no complaints. Everything was going fine until my Garmin, for unknown reasons, froze up at 1 hour and 3 minutes leaving me without my usual bearings. I was left relying on the course mileage markers and time clocks at every other mile. This was hard to adjust to since I usually relied on the Garmin to try to keep me on pace. I passed the half marathon marker at 1:45 and change. At around 16 miles my right IT ban started acting up as it had on my long training runs. As I ed John McAlister, John it was my 50th marathon and also my slowest but one I'll always remember...for the first 18 miles there were four feet on the pavement, but I'm sure the last 8 miles there were only two...he was carrying me...thanks for thinking of me...god Bless...Dick The race was extremely well organized.it s definitely a marathon everyone should put on their list.it was better than a good experience, it was a great experience and Myrtle Beach is a great place to visit this time of the year off season prices! The outcome..well, although I finished 4 th in my age group, and my 50 th did end up as being my slowest marathon for whatever reason 3 hours 34 minutes..i still felt great about it. Although this could be my last marathon, who knows I did qualify for Boston. If I run it in 2010, it would be an opportunity to run my 8 th Boston Marathon in 4 decades the 80 s, 90 s, 2000 s and Either way, it has been a great experience to have had the opportunity to run and complete 50 marathons. Many thanks to CCRR and the Aqua Java group for all your support. 4

5 Marathons and Other Adventures Don Winkley s European Adventure Results: 3/1/09 Barcelona 3:56:32, 3/8/09 Ferrara Italy 3:59:15, 3/15/09 Brescia Italy 3:57:50, 3/22/09 Rome 3:58:26, 3/29/09 Bratislava Slovenia 3:56:49, 4/5/09 Paris 4:16:42 Somehow my success in the first five is diminished by my crash and burn in Paris. Sub 4 s were really hard in all cases as I had run 4:04 in Houston and 4:01 in New Orleans. Every one of my 5 sub 4 s were run with really even splits, perhaps due to chasing the 4 hr balloons or sometimes paced on my own. My splits for each 5 k were right on the money at 28 min per 5 k with no variation start to finish. Only exception being Paris where with 8k to go any hope of another sub 4 hr was over and that waddle to the finish so painful. At 71 years old I have simply outlived them. When there was a 70+ age group I usually placed 1st or 2nd. Somehow this no longer gives me any pleasure as I race against myself and my ability on that day. My next goal is to finish Comrades in South Africa and can t wait for this challenge. The Prickly Pear was my second 50k this season with a time of 6:15:51, and my last long race until the fall. I didn't enjoy it as much as Sunmart but it was a nice and challenging course. I may say that because of the 85 degree temp., compared to Sunmarts high temp. in the mid 50s. I'm so glad I was able to do Sunmart, since there is no more Sunmart. I don't know if I will ever run the Prickly Pear again unless I know that the high temp. will be below 60. I also think they need to have more aid stations and save some beer and food for the crazy people running the 50k. One of the best things about running some of these out of town races, is seeing fellow runners like Donna Lawson who ran the 10 miler and came in 2nd in her age group and Tamay Tipton who ran her first 50k. Way to go! - Charlie Ozuna Big Island International Marathon; Hilo, H - Kamiar Kouzekanani Sunday, March 22, 2009 The Hawaiian Islands consist of Ni ihau (forbidden island), Kaua i (Garden Isle), O ahu (known for Waikiki beaches), Moloka i (known for Moloka s bread), Lana i (known for Manele Bay), Maui (Valley Isle), Kaho olawe (used to be a Navy firing range), and Hawai i (the Big Island). Hawai i became the 50 th state on March 19, Hilo, the second largest city in the state (Honolulu is the largest), is located beneath Mauna Kea, the tallest peak in the Big Island. Its population is about 42,000. It is the southernmost as well as the wettest city (average annual rainfall is approximately 128 inches at the airport) in the United States. It is also vulnerable to tsunamis. Hawaiian Volcanoes National Park, 29 miles west of Hilo, and Waipio Valley, about 40 miles north of Hilo, are must-see places. I flew into Hilo on Thursday afternoon and stayed in the host hotel, Hilo Hawaiian. At 4:30 AM, busses began transporting the runners to the start line. Temperature was in the 70s. We had access to a community center. The race started at 6:00 AM. Although there was a net drop of 500 feet between miles zero and 10, there were several hills within the first 8 miles, which was also the most scenic part of the route (waterfalls, exotic trees/plants, narrow bridges). From mile 10 to the finish was basically flat. We ran a large number of miles on slanted road shoulders which made the footing less than desirable. From shortly after miles 17 to shortly after miles 24 was out and back with our backs to the traffic, and I am one of those who does not like to run with his back to the traffic. Fortunately, there were not too many cars on the road. There were ample water/sports drinks stations. Wet sponges after mile 18 were very much appreciated. There was hardly any crowd support but race volunteers were cheerful. There were on and off rain showers, followed by in and out sunshine, which made it immensely humid. There were more than enough recovery food items and drinks at the finish. Each finisher received a short-sleeved cotton T-shirt, medallion, and a bag of coffee. The run was not chip-timed, but individualized race time reports were available a few minutes after crossing the finish line. High humidity made this a very challenging marathon. There were 192 marathon finishers (120 males, 72 females) in the average time of 4:38:28. The winning times were 2:50:21 (overall male). 3:23:56 (overall female), 3:00:08 (masters male), and 3:38:39 (masters female). There was also a half marathon and a 5K. My good friends, Al and Sandy Cumming, completed their quests to run marathons in all 50 states and D.C. My goal was to run with Sandy. We ran the half in 2:03:38 (9:26 pace), talked a lot, and had a good time. By mile 17, I didn t think we could have done better than 4:10. I began to fade between miles 18 and 19. I asked Sandy not to slow down for me. Up to mile 22, I was fairly close to her. By mile 23, I had run out of fuel. I refused to walk and jogged to the finish. Sandy had finished in 4:11:11 (9:35 pace) and won her age-group. I crossed the finish line in 4:16:54 (9:48 pace). Al finished in 4:31:34 (10:21 pace). We were three exhausted, yet happy, marathoners and agreed that humidity was the overall winner! I felt dizzy for several hours after the run. For me, it started as a pleasant running experience and ended as something quite humbling indeed! This was state #45. RI & DE in May are next. - Kami 5

6 Another inspired poem from our resident running Poem-meister Hello Hilo Here we go Hope I don t fall Into a volcano Ok so there s no lava But there are several hills But nothing too tough For a man of my skills The scenery is pretty Exotic trees and plants I wish I could take a picture But obviously I can t I guess the Big Island Doesn t have high regards for streets But what they do have really high Is the humidity and the heat They gave me a bag of coffee In my goodie bag which was nice But if you run a marathon in Hawaii I ll give you some advice Make different travel arrangements That s what I would do And run that other Hawaiian Marathon You know, the one that s on Oahu :-) - Rich Martucci We had some new races added to our calendar this year. I hope you were able to support and enjoy the newest venues or will be able to support our new race directors: March 28 Hit the Road Jack 5K was run as a fund raiser for Team Fox, a charity for Parkinson s research. The name was derived in honor of Jack Cross, Christy Cross s husband who had this disease and passed away. The start finish was a Brewster s Street. March 28 Pony Express 5K put on by the Kingsville Pony Express Running Club to benefit improvements on the Kleberg County Parks and Recreation. The start finish was at Dick Kleberg Park. This race also included a kids 1 mile fun run. April 4 Orange Grove Little League Home Run 5K. This race start finish was at the baseball fields in Orange Grove. April 11 Lieutenant Stuart Alexander Memorial 5K run/walk. Donations were taken and given to the Coastal Bend Police Officers Association in honor of Lieutenant Alexander who was killed in the line of duty this year. An upcoming race is: May 30 Fire Corps 5K in Ingleside. The proceeds from this race will go to help support the Ingleside Fire Corps Activities, First Responder, a scholarship fund for HIS students, Special Needs Outreach program, and the Community Emergency Response Training. Be sure to check our Races/Fun Runs page on the CorpusRoadRunners website. New races are being added each month. 6

7 One Happy Boston Marathon Finisher Our own Roswitha Goossens-Winter Congratulations to our 5 local runners that ran the Boston Marathon April 20, 2009 Roswitha Goossens Time: 3:58:18 Frank Flores Time: 3:55:52 Clay Brieger Time: 3:43:51 Catherine Kelsey Time: 3:47:59 John McAllister Time: 3:18:46 7