2010 News
08/01/10 - Binder Destroys Skyline 50 Course Record
In 2009 I ran the Skyline 50k, my trail ultra and first ultra in California, as a way to get to know something about the ultra community here in northern California. Running 3:47:59, I finished second to Chikara Omine, a dominant force in the open division of the PA USATF trail series. While we both eclipsed the previous 20-29 age group course record, Chikara claimed the new record with a 3:40:06. I decided to return to Skyline in 2010 to get some more ultra experience and maybe take a shot at a rematch. I was very slow about signing up for the race, and I almost didn’t run it. On Sunday the week before the race I came down with a cold, the first I had gotten in over a year. Not wanting to try a 50k feeling sick, I shelved my race plans. Nevertheless, I started to feel better as the week progressed and had a few good runs. By Friday I was feeling a really strong itch to get out and compete, and I decided that if my sniffles were gone Saturday morning I would do the Sunday race. Thankfully, I woke healthy, and prepped for the race by doing a three mile run and a seven mile hike in Marin with some friends. I slept very soundly for a race night, and was ready to go on Sunday morning. At the course, I did the race day sign-up (pretty sweet for an ultra!) and strapped on my trusty Fuel Belt. At 7 am I toed the line and headed out with the lead pack, including Chikara, Jean Pommier, and Victor Ballesteros. Chikara set a good pace from the start, I followed him, and we came through 3 miles in about 19:35 with Jean not too far behind. One thing I found funny about this part of the race was the comparison between the printed course profile and how it felt to me. Looking at the course profile one would think that the first 2.5 miles are flat, when in reality they are seriously rolling. It is simply that these 100’ bumps bear no comparison to the 700’ climb awaiting in Redwood. Even though these were short climbs, we took them fairly easy, saving our strength for later challenges. Around mile 4 I rolled down a hill and dropped Chikara and Jean. They caught up to me as we headed up the gradual climb on the Grass Valley Trail, and I wondered if 2010 would be a repeat of 2009 in which Jean and Chikara and I stuck together through this area and over to Bear Meadow until both of them dropped me on the climb up the Golden Spike Trail. The three of us remained together until the Bort Meadow aid station (6.29, 42:07), where I ran on while they stopped. As I eased my way up the hill they narrowed the gap but did not catch me entirely. I screamed down the hill to Bear Meadow station and crossed the road to the Golden Spike Trail. As we climbed up this singletrack, Jean slowly caught up to me. We ran pretty close together over to the big climb up to the East Ridge Trail, and it was really nice to have his company a few meters back for the challenging East Ridge climbs. We both hit the Skyline station, where I refilled a couple of bottles and grabbed a gel. I pulled out ahead of Jean and tried to put a gap on him before heading down the French Trail. Doing the French Trail was a lot more fun this year than last year because I knew what to expect and felt more in control of the race. I pulled away from Jean a bit, and then passed some mountain bikers as they were going up hill. Getting in front of them gave me some added motivation because I was pretty worried that they would hit me coming from behind on a downhill. At one point it seemed really dicey as the cyclists and I headed toward an oncoming group of hikers. Luckily we all dodged each other and I stayed ahead of the bikes. It helped that I didn’t have to stop to cross logs! Around this time I started calculating what I would have to do to break Chikara’s age group record. I had come through Skyline ahead of schedule for it, and I figured that if I made it back to Bear Meadow by about 2:20 I would be able to do it. After what seemed like a meteoric descent of the Toyon Trail, I reached the station at 2:20:57 and began a serious hunt for the record. Working at a steady pace I climbed back up the MacDonald hill, and then I started rolling, first down to Bort Meadow where I got a couple more bottle refills and then on the way down the nice, straight, smooth, downhill Brandon Trail. I concentrated on running as fast as possible while staying aerobic, which worked out well. The only mishap here was smacking into a post near the Bort station. The long downhill was great. It was interrupted by the climb up along the shore of Lake Chabot to head into the Honker Bay aid station. It seems rude of the course to demand more climbing after such a nice downhill so close to the finish. Even so, I had enough left to climb the hills, motivated largely by a vision of reaching Honker Bay and having only a flat 3 mi run along the lakeshore to bring me home. Sadly, when I reached the last segment, reality did not match my mental picture of a flat, fast stretch on which I could run say, 16 minutes for 3 miles. As I should have expected, it was actually strongly rolling and even included a set of stairs! Despite these obstacles I managed to run 6:32 pace for this last part of the race to finish in about 3:37, three minutes faster than the previous 20s course record. Jean was not too far behind with an impressive time of his own, and Chikara finished in third overall. Later he explained that he has been dealing with some injuries since late spring and has had a demanding race schedule including WS at the end of June and the SF marathon just one week prior to Skyline. (Joe Binder) I’m glad I didn’t stay home sick for this one! Skyline 50 |
07/25/10 - Mann Wins National 45-49 Title in 1500m
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It was hot, hotter and hottest in Sacramento, and the Strawberry Canyon Track Club netted some nice hardware in the form of two bronze medals and one gold medal! Yes, Jeff Mann is the Strawberry Canyon Track Club's first-ever USA national champion as he won the men's 45-49 1500-meter race in a stellar performance. Teammate Matt Bogdaniwicz wrote the following effusive email:
"Strawberry Canyon TC Masters performance of the year- my vote Jeff Mann 92.46% Men’s 800. No open Strawberry Canyon athlete, or Pacific striders open, master, senior etc has ever reached that milestone. There may have been a 90% somewhere, but doubtful that is like a 4:07 Mile, 14:00 5k, or 29:00 10K at the open level. The 2:02.51=1:49.35 open. I just think it should be recognized somehow. I know Pete Magill use to list performance by % on his site."
Yes indeed!
Backtracking a bit, the first day of competition was Thursday morning, in which Strawberry Canyon TC stalwarts Thom Trimble and Tim Keenan competed in the 5000-meter event. Divided into age group sections, Thom Trimble ran first and posted a mark of 17:41.52 (11th-place) on a day when the temperature was in the upper 80s and muggy at the start of the race.
Tim Keenan lined up in the men's 45-49 division of the 5000 and ran a solid time of 17:14.27, not under the 17:00-barrier he'd hoped to crack but then again the conditions did anything but favor a distance runner's physiological requirement for cool air.
The next round of events for the Strawberries was the 10,000-meter event and the weather did indeed disappoint as temperatures crept up all morning. There was a cruel irony in that the 60-89 men's race went off at 7 a.m. when it was in the 50s and they actually put up some impressive times, lending false hope to the 10K runners competing in their later morning heats.
The men's 50-59 heat was combined and Thom Trimble and Jeff Teeters were entered. Jeff had been nursing a sore hamstring and made a race day decision to jump in, realizing he could always step off the track if he felt that dreaded twinge. At one point he openly wanted the conditions to be "120 degrees and with high humidity" so he would be able to grind out a race and not be forced to rely solely on his gimpy hamstring with a faster pace a cooler day would predictably allow for.
The temperatures were already pushing the low 80s and the humidity remained, which slowed things down considerably. Thom and Jeff both went out conservatively, perhaps Jeff's sore hamstring was a blessing in disguise as he really set himself up for a pretty good run. however (in his own words), he "got greedy" and started charging after some attainable guys in the middle of the race. Thom bided his time a bit and caught back up to Jeff. Thom's 37:06.05 (4th place) barely missed the medal podium, while Jeff managed to fight his way to 37:23.95, likely not what he had been hoping for timewise but considering his significant tweak he was happy to survive the race intact.
Next up was the men's 30-49 age group 10000 and the weather wasn't doing the competitors any favors. At one point it started to feel like Jeff Teeter's weather forecast would be uncannily accurate as the 90-degree weather took it's toll on everybody. Tim Keenan was able to maintain a strong pace in significantly hotter conditions than the earlier morning races and finished with a time of 37:06.61, good for 6th place in that age group. Coach Carl Rose did not enjoy that morning's jaunt and finished in 10th in 40:12.82.
Sunday was the final day of competition and the Berries heated things up in the middle distances. First off was the men's 45-49 age group 800-meter run and Jeff Mann was raring to go despite having various niggles and tweaks (hamstring, back, calves) during the course of the season which were reflected by some up-and-down performances. However he ended tangling in an inspired three-man war and came through fighting tooth and nail all the way until the end. His third-place bronze medal was arguably the club's best all-time performance (see Matt's endorsement above) as Jeff cranked out a phenomenal time of 2:02.51. He was just edged by Ireland's Kevin Forde (2:02.40) and Oregon's Mike Blackmore (2:01.12). This was one of the best races of the meet, going all the way down to the wire. Jeff was very pleased with his season-best breakthrough and bronze medal.
The wounded warrior brigade continued, as Matt Bogdanowicz lined up in the men's 40-44 800-meter race with an injured achilles. He managed to run an exciting race, running as evenly as possible with his sore achilles. His 2:01.99 was a season-best performance and he finished 6th overall. He should be able to break 2:00 fairly easily next year if he stays healthy and can train with our stable of sub-2:00 middle-distance runners.
After missing the USATF Club nationals meet with a strained soleus and possible inguinal hernia, Joshua Seeherman could not resist the temptation to race in the USATF meet either come away with a season-ending performance or exacerbating a potentially bad injury. He courageously and perhaps ill-advisedly ran the in the 800-meter men's 30-34 race, and though his 2:04.09 reflected three weeks of lost fitness, Seeherman was still able to secure a prestigious bronze medal in this event. Those do not grow on trees so regardless of his time, getting a medal for the club, while injured, was huge in my humble opinion. While some runners can only handle a little over 2 minutes at 800m pace, club member Bill Brusher was able to endure this semi-sprint race for over 3 minutes! It's not that Bill is a bit slower or out of shape, it's that he is running with about a third of his red blood cells tied behind his back. As many of you know, Bill is in the middle of chemotherapy to treat his cancer. Chemo is good for treating cancer, but not good for helping runners transport oxygen. Bill's hemoglobin count of around 10 mg/dl is well under the normal 14-18 mg/dl - almost like running with just one lung. If his blood count drops a bit more, Bill could be the only athlete at the meet who was LEGALLY using EPO (a red blood cell producing drug). Prior to being diagnosed with cancer Bill had his sights set on running in the high 2:20s and making the finals of the 55-59 division. Rather than pull out of the meet, or even worry about finishing last, Bill pushed forward with his plans. He expected to run about 3 flat and finish last in the prelims. He did - 3:01.68 to be exact. It turned out it would have taken a 2:21 to make the finals anyway. Bill has only four more chemo treatments and hopes to be cancer free and back to serious training and more hemoglobin soon. Bill turns 60 next summer and will be raring to go for the World Championships to be held in Sacramento in 2011. Last but not least...on Sunday Jeff Mann had more work to take care of and take care of it he did...in the men's 45-49 year-old 1500-meter event. He was lined up against some great competition, including all-world 45-49 age grouper Pete Magill, coming back from an injury-riddled season himself, as well as Jeff's nemesis in the 800-meter race, Kevin Forde. Mann went out in 70 holding on to a solid third and fourth place, with Magill shadowing his every move. The runners cranked, as the race thinned out into a five-man race by the 1K mark, with Forde, Francis Burdett, Andi Di Conti and Magill. Things really got hopping after the bell lap as Mann took the lead with about 300 meters to go. Forde and Magill were a half step behind, dangerously riding Jeff's coat-tails for a punishing finishing kick. Not to be denied, Mann dug down deeper and fought his way down the home-stretch. He was not about to lose to Kevin Forde a second time, and he crossed the line in a spectacular time of 4:13.90, just clear of Forde's 4:14, and Magill's 4:15.
Congratulations to all of the Strawberry Canyon Track Club masters and seniors runners for putting together such inspired efforts and represent us so well at USATF nationals. Great job everyone! (Carl Rose) |
07/10/10 - USATF Club Nationals
Cool, foggy weather greeted the Berries as five hardy athletes participated in the USATF Club National Championships. This was the most significant track meet of the year for the Strawberry Canyon TC, which took place on July 9-10 at San Francisco State University. In terms of classic periodization, it was an oddly timed duck in what is ideally the base-building portion of the training schedule. Hence a few other Berries whom had qualified for the national championships prudently opted to sit this event out and train for fall cross country.
The first day brought plenty of action for the Berries. First up was Niko Connor, who had to go it alone in the men’s 800-meter dash as a disappointed Joshua Seeherman scratched on race day, citing a lingering groin or psoas strain incurred while racing in Santa Rosa late last month. Josh came out to encourage his training partner Niko, who noted the pace went out a little too slowly, and was unable to come back to the leaders during the second lap of his heat. Niko fought down the home stretch and finished about a second off of his PR set earlier this season with a time of 1:59.77. Though a bit disappointed to end his season this on this note, Niko recognized his season was extremely long, and he had been fatigued for the past several weeks prior to this particular meet. His mark was still good for a respectable top ten 10th-place overall finish.
Sam tried to hang with Yu for the next 1000 but David was not to be denied and Sam eventually fell off of Yu’s sizzling pace. David continued to close the gap on the tiring runners in front of him, all with PRs in the sub-31:30 range. At roughly 7.5K, Yu passed Rikki Hacker of the Kansas City Smoke, who ended up dropping out shortly thereafter. David smelled blood as he pursued other runners in front of him, passing the 8K mark in a monster PR of 25:15. His blistering pace started to wear him out in the last mile, as Yu managed to hold on for a 5:16 1600 between 8K nd 9400 meters of the long race. David literally had nothing left at the end as he closed with a 74-second last lap, but he crushed the 32:00-minute barrier and almost collapsed after the finish as the contingent of Berries fans erupted in raucous cheers.
Yu’s stellar 7th-place overall finish in the phenomenal time of 31:45.84 was one of the club’s best efforts of the season, and a textbook negative split in which his second 5000 was timed in 15:50. David netted the team two valuable points and he drilled an on-so-sweet 26-second 10K lifetime PR, climbing over five runners to 6th place on the Berries vaunted all-time 10K list. In terms of going to the well, David was completely bonked on the ride home as he shivered uncontrollably in the car, possibly on the verge of hypothermia, but was quickly revived by his teammates, a well-earned warm dinner, and the enticing prospect of a week off followed up by easier stretch of summer mileage base training.
New Berry Patrick Reaves hung in there for a very solid 11th-place finish and 32:52.08 10K effort as he regains his fitness for a fall marathon, while Joseph Binder relaxed after falling off his PR pace early and finished in 34:11.49 in 12th place.
The second day of the competition proved every bit as exciting as the first, as the Berries entered two runners into the very competitive men’s 5000-meter event and Emily Bartlett, our newest woman who joined us in June for her first workout. Emily represented the Berries in the women’s 3000-meter steeplechase, and went out at a reasonably conservative first lap of 86.5 seconds. She was comfortably in fifth-place while shadowing Bevin Peters of the Central Park Track Club.
The former University of Cornell runner was regrouping after an off-year of training subsequent to her entry into the University of California’s demanding graduate program, and tempered her expectations accordingly. Still, Bartlett passed Peters at the 1600-meter mark and started her assault on the third-place runner from the Greater Boston Track Club. Eventually Emily’s sporadic training caught up to her and Bartlett fell back, eventually getting passed by the hard-charging Peters and settling for a very respectable 5th-place finish in a time of 11:55.59. Though Emily was mildly disappointed in her time, she still managed to outscore the men’s team and her four points netted the Strawberries a 15th-place team finish. Emily shook it off gracefully and will regroup to focus on this autumn’s competitive cross country racing scene.
The men’s 5000-meter event was a barn-burner as Joe Binder and Sean McFarland limbered up at the starting line. Binder again utilized this as more of a solid training effort and went out at 77 seconds for the first lap and was content to maintain that pace throughout the race, coming home in a workmanlike time of 16:04.35, chugging home in 16th place.
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06/22/10 - Records Shattered at Chabot
The 1600m - With nearly 150 years of experience in their legs, the Three Masterteers took the Chabot All comers #1 by storm - Tim Keenan, Thom Trimble and Ian MacLeod. The short club senior records were looking somewhat pathetic and we were here to make things right. Thom Trimble and Tim Keenan screamed into the Chabot JC parking lot and sprinted into the track stadium like they were late for a bus. Actually, they were late, or close to it, for the first event of the meet - the 1600m. With a 5:30 start it was nearly impossible to hold down a real job and make it to the initial race with anything resembling warmup. We covered the 400m from car to track in just under 60 seconds, but it was uncertified, so no record. Trimble was able to get in 200m of extra warm up while simultenously slipping on his racing flats. Keenan was a bit more pedestrian as he sat on the bench pulling off sweats. The field was a variety of talent and ages. Most were pre-teens on the local track club, a couple "normal aged" guys and then a few old farts like ourselves. With meet protocol resembling a rave party, we got to pick our own hip numbers (Accutrak....seriously!). Since 1 through 9 was already taken, I had the extra burden of lugging TWO hip digits around the oval. Damn! The meet guy peeled off a couple of 5's for me. Cool, 55, Tim Lincecum's number, and he was pitching at that very moment against Houston. What could go wrong? Tim was given number 22. I think that was Mercury Morris' number. Fast guy. The gun went off and a flurry of short people put us to shame over the first 200. Miniature Seb Coe's and Alan Webbs kicking our ancient butts. But, as it usually is with naive youth, these little munchkins thought Pace was something in a salsa jar. Timmy (Keenan, not Lincecum) and I picked off the little buggers like fleas off a dog. I set my prerace goals high - no one under 4-feet, or named Gramma beats me. With zippo warmup our legs responded like week-old flounder packed in ice. What is usually a very fluid analog physiological event (running) became very digital - left....right....left...right...repeat. Lap one in 78. Argh, felt like 68. On lap two we reeled in a couple more preschoolers and a lady in a walker - 2:39 - we're slowing Tim, more coal! I hung on for life to Tim's back. Actually it was more for a wind break on the back stretch, as we navigated a pass-less lonely lap 3. 4:02....gads, we're losing oil. Hang tough. No DNF. We were able to put down a semi-respectacle gun lap of 75-76. I decided to share the burden of leading with 100m to go to ensure my pathetic time was slightly less pathetic than Tim's - 5:17 to 5:18. Third and Fourth. No ribbons for YOU! The 100m - Yes you read it right. The fricking uno cero cero. Just like the 10,000m, but with 50 less turns. Tim was licking his wounds and speed boy Ian had yet to arrive. The club record for the 100m was....non existant. I was sure to own it. Just had to finish. My right hammy twinged at that moment. I pulled off my sweats and lined up for Heat 1 - the old guys. Old guys being anyone over 15. Six lanes of raw fast-twitch...and me...in lane 1. The other five guys were doing this bouncy leg-shaky thing, so I did too. Anything to blend in. They all had fancy spikes, and me with my distance flats. Oh, and my thighs were half their size too. As I lined up at the start I stumbled over some metal contraption. Wussat? Oh yeah, blocks! I knew blocks could do nothing but embarrass me, but not wanting to look like a distance weenie, I did the "get in the blocks" posturing - kneel down, shake out right leg and place in block, shake out left leg place in block, dust of hands and tuck in my necklace. I almost laughed. Really. Take your marks......seeeehhhhhhhtttttttt...........click! No ammo apparently. That was good, cuz the other 5 guys were 30m down the track and me still stuck to those block things. Destiny delayed. I could see the fear in their eyes. Finally, the gun fired and they were off, then I was off, literally stumbling out of the blocks like I just saw a snake. I swear it took me 3 seconds just to get up and running - not a good strategy in this race. I knew I was a second-half type racer, but I guess that don't work much when one is 5 seconds down. I spent the last 30m flailing and thinking "do NOT fall down...do NOT fall down". I leaned. Tim cheered. The fans for all the others were already gone. It was probably not a good sign that I had stopped and was resting a mere 10 meters beyond the finish. Wadja git me in? Whats my time? Tim had 14.80 on his watch. The finish line guy showed me a hand-scrawled time of 13.37 (Accutrak only has sooo much film ya know). Wow...not bad. Wait....is that a 3 or a 5? DOH! 15.37 seconds. Oh well. Age graded thats like what, 14.50? Club record, nonetheless. The 800m - My game plan was to take down the pedestriam senior 800m club record of 2:26 point whatever. However, before I could even catch my breath from the 100m, my plans were rudely interrupted, by the third Masterteer - Ian MacLeod. Ian, who turned 50 like eight minutes before arriving, was there for his feature event. "Was that YOU I saw sprinting?" Ian asked me. I could feel the sarcasm, but he hid it well. Trash talk ME will ya? We sprinters don't like trash talk. I knew Ian could lay down a 2:15 800m with no problem, given the right conditions. He too however fell victim to the micro-warmup. They were calling the 800m runners to the line before Ian could even get his spikes out of the bag. I figured if we could start before Ian got on his second spike I might claim the club record for my very own. No luck. Ian toed the line with me, a couple other older guys and some 20-something guy. Before the gun stopped echoing in my left ear, Ian was gone. Perhaps he thought this was the 400m. I hung with 20-something as the other two tailed behind. Ian flew through lap one in 65 seconds. I could barely hear the split from so far back. Me and 20 came through in 73ish. I felt good. 1600m pace can do that. With the club record essentially in Ian's pocket I focused on earning the #2 spot and getting under 2:26. 20-guy pressed the backstretch as I used him to break the wind. We hit 600m in 1:51. Must....kick....soon. With 80m to go I turned on the "afterburners" and eased by into second place. With 20m to go the afterburners ran out of fuel and 20-something nipped me at the line - 2:25:28 to 2:25:32. Curse you Accutrak! Still good enough for #2 in the record books. Ian scorched the two-lapper in an amazing 2:16.88, almost 10 full seconds under the old record. What could he have done with a little competition and some warm up? Scary. The 3200m - The final event of the meet. You can tell, cuz everyone has left but the real skinny guys with the watches on their wrist. With speed deamons MacLeod and Trimble left with very few slow-twitch fibers to use, the 3200m was Tim's to lose. Of course the fact that Tim was the ONLY one running it played into that saying well. The Portugese soccer team had a better chance of losing to the North Koreans. I digress. To help Tim with his quest of a 10:40-something, Ian and I decided to do some pacing for him. Low-80 second laps would be good, Tim told us. He then proceeded to nearly drop both of us with a first lap 78. Maybe he thought it was the mile again. Tim eased back a bit on lap two with an 81 but my legs were burning and Ian called it a day - dang 800m guys! We hit 1200m in 4:01 - ahead of our 1600m split - and I had yet to take the pace. I guess I was unclear on the concept of pacing; me back here trying to survive the effort. I finally gathered enough manliness and literally pushed by Tim on the inside to take the lead for lap 4. "Get out of my way; I'm here to help!" My goal was not so much to take the burden of pacing from Tim, but rather to record a slightly better mile time than we ran earlier. Who wouldn't?! As we approached the mile mark, where I had planned to dnfaoi (did not finish ALL of it), I decided to forge ahead and, um, follow Tim for another lap. We hit the halfway mark in 5:22, only four seconds slower than the 1600m race! We clipped off another 82 lap for a 6:44. I stepped into the infield a few meters later. I would later figuratively kick myself for not gutting out the last 3 laps in pursuit of the senior record of 11:06. I only needed 87s!! DOH and DOH! At that point 800m specialist Ian took the reigns and dragged Tim through another couple of low 80s laps. He hit the gun lap in about 9:28. A sub-82 would give him his 10:4x time. Little did I know he had planned to do one of those "kick" things. I broke the wind on the back stretch only to see him press by on the inside, in full "grunt" mode that he does when the end is near. My legs reminded me why I had chosen to drop out earlier. With 100m remaining I just yelled "GO" for no apparent reason (one of those coachy things), but it made pulling out seem appropriate. Tim hammered the last lap in around 74 to record a very impressive 10:42. Both of the remaining spectators cheered. That is the second fastest 45-49 time for the club, behind his 2009 effort at the same meet. We plan to repeat this adventure again next week. Maybe skip the 1600m this time. (Trimble) |
06/17/10 - Mann Wins PAUSATF Masters Short GP
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The 2010 PAUSATF Grand Prix was both short and sweet for the Strawberry's Jeff Mann. With just four races in this year's schedule, there was little room for error. One bad race, one cramp, side ache, back strain or allergy attack and you could drop from the standings like a wet sheep through lasagna noodles. Jeff placed third in both of the 5Ks and 5th at the Marin 10K. With a solid lead going into the Downtown Mile, Jeff just needed to run a decent race to win the crown. Nothing comes easy. Midway through the mile Jeff's lower back began to complain about the camber of the road. Rather than go with his early plans to hang with the leaders Jeff was force to play it safe and drop back to a less stressful pace. That stategy proved successful and his back hung in there and allowed him to swoop 2 or 3 places over the last 200m, assuring him the season title. Dwight Smith, the 2009 Short GP Champ for the Seniors, almost pulled off a repeat. Tied for the lead with Uber-Senior Tim O'Rourke half way through the season Dwight saw his chances of reliving the glory stumble when his knees gave out late in the Marin 10K. Not only did O'Rourke pull away in the race, over the last mile, but his teammates took no mercy on him, with Teeters and Trimble also passing him late in the race. While this made both Jeff and Thom uber-stoked, it all but ended Dwights chances of gold for 2010. O'Rourke put an exclamation mark on the title by winning the last race of the season for good measure. Dwight ended up a solid second in the year-end Short GP. Self-proclaimed masters/senior team Pubah, Thom Trimble, summed up the triumphs of his teammates this way - "It's those bloody leg warmers I tell ya. Training is overrated. Dressing up like sub-14 minute 5Ker Alan Dehlinger is the secret. Some of us are just slower on the uptake!" See photos on right --> The Open Short GP is still one race from calling it a season, with the Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot sill perched on the schedule. The Berry's David Yu is looking good in fourth place, while teammate Sean McFarland is back in 17th place despite on running two of the four races so far. With the top 15 year-end placers earning comp entries to the 2011 races, Sean could easily find himself in the money. Other club members who placed well in the Short GP standings included: A complete listing of the PAUSATF Standings can be found at http://www.pausatf.org/data/2010/rrstandings.html |
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06/06/10 - Teeters Breaks Record at Chabot Half
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The Lake Chabot half marathon is the second race in the East Bay triple crown series. (The other two are the Tilden Tough Ten and the Woodminster XC race). I've run the triple crown series many years and won it a few time. Since I turned 50 this year, I decided to try and get the 50+ course record for Tilden and Lake Chabot. I failed to do it at Tilden. In that race I was initially running with Chris Wendt, a tall 19 year old, but I couldn't keep up with him. He ran 62:54 which was close to the time I needed to run to get the record (which is 62:39). I finished about 1:30 behind him in 64:21. While not a record, my time was the third best all-time in the 50-59 division. After my failure to get the record at Tilden, I set my sights on the Lake Chabot 50+ half marathon record. The Lake Chabot Half marathon is a very hilly and difficult trail race. The course is so difficult that the record is only 1:16:48, set by Peter Gilmore (a national class runner). Usually the winning time is over 1:20. When I was in my 30's I won the race a few times. In 2006, I set the 45 to 49 course record (1:26:44). Given that, I thought it would be easy for me to break the 50-54 division course record of 1:30:01 when I reached 50. However, last year, (when I was 49) I ran my slowest time, 1:30:40, about forty seconds slower than the record. I realized that it would not necessarily be easy to break the record when I was 50. However, this year, I trained very thoroughly. I ran almost every day for three months or so, mostly 10+ mile runs, with lots of hills. Often with Lawrence McKendell, who was training for the Dipsea. Because of this dedicated training and recent race results, (35:30 10K at Marin) I felt very confident at the start that I would break the record. During my warm up, I jogged over the last mile of the course, and noted some landmarks (particular trees) indicating the start of the final uphill. I felt pressed almost all the way in the race, trying to keep up with Chris Wendt (same person who finished ahead of me at Tilden). Much of the time we were running side by side, racing each other. Quite a few times he would get 30 meters or so ahead of me and I thought I was going to be dropped. Somehow I always managed to work my way back to him. We were together and both took the wrong turn towards the end which looped back onto the course, causing us to run part of the course twice, about 300 meters extra distance. After that, I was kind of aggravated, thinking that all of my hard work in this run could be wasted, so I started running harder. I was afraid the wrong turn might keep me from getting the record. When I got to the tree's I had picked out, I started pushing even more, charging the last up-hill, and tried to pick up the speed after the hill in a near all-out near sprint to the finish. I didn't know it at the time, but this maximal effort was needed because I didn't have much time to spare. I broke the record by only 10 seconds. It was a great run for me, because even with the wrong turn, my time was 50 seconds faster than last year. I must have really accelerated that last bit, because Chris, who I had been struggling to keep up with the whole way, finished almost 30 seconds behind me. I wore a heart rate monitor in this race (June 6) and also in the Memorial Day 10K on May 31. My heart rate in the 10k was at about 160 average, 165 in the final sprint. In this half marathon about 150 average, 155 in the final sprint. A slower heart rate, but not by much for more than twice the distance. I was definitely pushing myself in both races. (by Jeff Teeters) |
06/06/10 - Berries Go Anaerobic at Downtown Mile
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The PAUSATF Mile returned to the Grand Prix after a two-year hiatus. After stops in Sonora, Sacramento, Davis and Stockton, the mile found its way out of the valley and into more hospitable North Bay climes. The Downtown San Rafael Mile featured a fast slight-downhill out-and-back route which produced some impressive times. Heats were broken into 10-year age groups and went off every 15 minutes which kept the atmosphere hopping with action. The first to test the asphalt for the club were the senior men. Dwight Smith hung with the leaders to the wire finishing 4th overall in 5:03. Teamates Ian MacLeod (5:10) and Thom Trimble (5:13) were not far behind. Bill Brusher, still undergoing chemotherapy treatment for cancer ran courageously, finishing in 6:44. While well over a minute off his potential, Bill was all smiles at the finish and provided support for the later heats. In the Masters heat, sub-4 miler Jim Sorenson toyed with the field, kicking in a sub-60 final quarter to win easily in 4:27. The Berry's Jeff Mann, hoping to grab second, had back problems early due to the sharp camber of the road. Jeff hung back in about 8th spot before blasting the last 200 to nab 4th in 4:49. Darrin Banks ran up near the lead and hung on with a very impressive showing in 4:51. Completing the masters squad saw the return of Tim "Ab Strain" Keenan, who was quite happy with his 5:06 effort, with almost no speed training. The Men's Open Heat was the showcase of the event, with over 40 guys going under 5 minutes. It also provided a showcase for the club's "short distance" guys - those half milers, unaccustomed to asphalt. Leading the club once again was Sean McFarland who ran a very strong 4:23 to take 9th overall. Sean was followed 7 seconds later by David Yu who recorded a PR with his 4:30. Half Miler Niko Connor did fine at twice his distance, coming in with a 4:39 PR, while fellow 2-lapper Joshua Seeherman was less-exhurberant about his 4:54 as the clubs 5th man. Holding down the #4 spot for the Berries, saw the return of another injured soul - Nathan Leefer. Nathan was running just to get under 5 minutes (or was it 5:10?). He seemed not to want to wait that long to finish and ran a surprising 4:48 to claim 33rd place in the big boys race. (by Thom Trimble) |
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05/31/10 - Memorable Efforts at Marin Memorial 10K
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The Strawberry Canyon Track Club showed up in force to compete in the highly anticipated Marin Memorial Day 10K race. The course has long been reputed for its fairly fast layout and typically features ideal conditions, however crisp and cool weather was not to be. After a prolonged unseasonably cold spell, temps crept into the 70s and felt positively East Coast-ish on an unusually muggy morning for the West Coast, slowing times down a few seconds per mile on the somewhat shadeless 10K course.
Still, a little hot air did not deter the mighty berries, which brought 18 entrants to the starting line of one of the most stacked and competitive races of the Pacific Association spring season. The open men were fronted by Sean MacFarland who gets race of the day honors. Prior to this race, he'd never broken 33:00 for a 10K, although you knew that was ancient history watching him train and race 15:22 5ks in the past couple of months. Still, he smoked his 8K PR (26:07) at the 5-mile mark (25:40) and rolled for home, also brushing aside the 32:00 barrier with a scintillating gun time of 31:59, good for 14th overall and a 10K PR of over a full minute. Closely following MacFarland was arguably our most consistent open road race performer, David Yu, 16th, who continued his amazing run and snipped two seconds off his 10K PR in 32:11 in another huge effort. El Presidente Joseph Binder held off a closing charge by WVTC runner Todd Rose and managed to PR by 11 seconds in 32:29 (17th place overall), all this while in recovery mode from hammering a 50-mile race less than two months ago. Jack Wallace (who arguably ties David Yu for the club's open performer MVP) cracked the 35:00 barrier for the first time with yet another PR (34:54) in 45th place. Helping out the open team in scoring was Coach Carl, who is fighting his way get back into shape and ran the equivalent of his Zippy 5K pace despite battling a nasty chronic plantar fasciitis injury (39:18). The open men finished fifth overall in the team standings.
The Open women were paced by the effervescent Elizabeth Scott (39:30 gun time), the 23rd woman overall. She pulled a 'Mokhtar,' going out a bit hard and tailing off during the last half, often part of the learning curve for a younger runner. Rachel Casanta, trying to work through a debilitating lower lumber injury, was the team's second and only other open woman, coming in at 43:34, exactly 7:00 per mile pace, and placed 8th overall in her 35-39 age group.
The Master's men benefitted from the presence of its senior stalwarts to claim second-place overall in their division to the host club Tamalpa Runners. Pacing the master's men was Jeff (THE) Mann in 35:03 gun time, which nailed down the 5th master's spot. He was followed by master's newcomer of the year Darrin Banks, whose 35:29 earned him 10th master's overall. Tim Keenan, returning from his weeks-long abdominal injury, put down a very respectacle 37:08 to help out the masters squad.
Perhaps tying Sean MacFarland for race of the day honors was senior Jeff Teeters, whose been doing training runs with the ever-dangerous Darrin Banks. Teeters went beserk on the competition and shocked everyone but himself with a great time of 35:30, better than his Zippy 5K pace and a performance which earned him a fantastic second-place overall in the 50-54 age group. Thom Trimble had a very strong race and rolled through the finish line with a great 50-54 performance of 36:17, scoring as our 3rd senior. Dwight Smith (4th senior) endured some achy knee issues and still closed well and managed a time of 36:24 to complete the master's scoring team.
Rounding out the rest of the strawberries was Coach Carl Rose (39:18, 20th overall 45-49 AG), David Altena (42:44), Sam (The Professor) Sagiv in 43:35 (18th 50-54 AG), Ken Bright (43:00-flat), Mike Plummer (43:02) and the irrepressible Ross Franco, who at age 71 finished the race at roughly 10:00 per mile place in 1:03.28. The berries senior runners, despite dropping down two of their best runners into the master's ranks to ensure second-place in the master's division, still finished as the third senior's men's team overall.
It was yet another outstanding day for the Strawberry Canyon Track Club, which continues to make its presence felt on the Pacific Association circuit, in local track meets, and even in the trail races. Other than the San Rafael Mile, there will be no more PA-USATF road races until the Humboldt Half marathon in October, however cross country season will arrive sometime in late summer. (by Carl Rose) |
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05/09/10 - Berries Qualify for Nats at Sac State Invitational
(Carl Rose)
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Five competitors from the Strawberry Canyon Track club rolled into the state's Capitol on Saturday, May 9th and put together very strong showings at the Sacramento State University Open track meet at CSU-Sacramento. Out of the mix of five runners, four PRs were generated and the mighty Strawberries netted two more qualifiers for USATF Club Nationals held on July 9-10 at San Francisco State University. The men's 5000 featured a competitive field on a fairly hard-surfaced Mondo track, which is more conducive to the sprints and middle distances. Sean MacFarland (15:22.82), believed to be fourth or fifth all-time for the Strawberry Canyon TC all-time 5K list, and David Yu (15:25.29) set PRs, despite the dry, warm, somewhat breezy conditions augmented by dust kicked up from a nearby construction site. MacFarland's time was a USATF Club Nationals qualifier and a 7-second PR in his first race since February, while David Yu trimmed one second off his PR. Yu also came through the two mile mark in what may have been a PR for that distance as well (9:42). The fast, hard track surface better served our middle distance stalwarts and the breeze died down for their mid-afternoon races. In the men's 800 Niko Connor (1:58.74) set a PR by 0.7 seconds and moved up into second on the club All-Time list. Joshua Seeherman gutted out a rough home stretch and cracked the 2:00 barrier and pulled off a great mark of 1:59.35, a season's best by 1.3 seconds, good for third on the all-time Strawberry Canyon TC club record list and also qualifying him for USATF Club Nationals. Sean and Josh bring the number of USATF Club Nationals qualified Strawberries up to seven, joining Elizabeth Scott (W-5000), David Yu (M-5000), Joe Binder (M-5000 or 10000) and Sam Robinson (M-5000 or 10000). In the women's 1500, despite setting a PR, Elizabeth went out way too hard (72 for the first 400) in the unfamiliar event and faded into "no-woman's land" to a time of 5:10.11, a top-five mark on the Strawberry Canyon TC all-time list. Not to be outdone and taking full advantage of the rare opportunity to race in the midst of his uber-busy schedule, Sean MacFarland doubled back in the men's 1500 and hauled himself to a solid time of 4:09.86. Also Rachel Casanta, readying herself for the Marin 10K, continued her comeback and pulled off a nice 20:35 for a 5K in Pleasanton today. It was yet another great day to be a Strawberry! (Carl Rose) |
04/20/10 - Great Scott 5K at Brutus Hamilton
by Carl Rose
| On a magical Friday night at the Brutus Hamilton Invitational meet, after Coach Carl and Elizabeth Scott jumped through myriad hoops in order to get her entered into the race after a late scratch. It was well worth it; Elizabeth slashed 22 seconds off of her 5000-meter PR and notched the first ever sub-18:00 5K recorded by a female Striders/Strawberry Canyon TC runner. This scintillating time moved her past the pair of 18:09s shared by Monica Dalidowicz (2008) and Amber Duncan (1995) on the all-time list for the top spot. Elizabeth went out as advised near the back of the pack in 82.2 which was faster than ideal, and managed to duel valiently with several other runners from Cal, UC-Davis, Nevada, New Mexico and elsewhere. As the laps rolled by she clung to a small pack of three other runners, fighting through the breezy conditions and hanging on for dear life. As the last couple of laps unfolded, everyone watching her knew it was going to be a close shave. Elizabeth hung on gamely with her last 400 in 88.5 seconds, and notched a stellar 17:58.46!!! Staccato cheers rang out from the club every time she crossed the lap on the side of the 16 or so Strawberry Canyon lap spotters, which grew louder with each lap. It's not only a new club record but a drop of 47 seconds over the course of one semester. Oh yeah, Elizabeth is a Cal freshman who didn't make the team last fall. Samuel Robinson's race was impacted when he got lost on a long recent long which which took him well overe three hours; he had an off night and ran 15:35.30. I also want to personally thank everyone in the club who shared their time, passion for the sport, and camaraderie in volunteering for the Brutus Hamilton meet as "spotters" and lap counters (of sorts). The group earned rave reviews across the board. Womens 5,000 Open/Univ - 17. Scott, Elizabeth Strawberry Canyon Track Club 17:58.46 Splits |
 Elizabeth hangs with Nevada runner on gun lap |
04/27/10 - Seniors Get Zippy at 5K
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While the Strawberry Masters' Team was unable to extend their 2-race win streak, the Seniors took care of business. Notching the first club 50+ team win, the foursome of Dwight Smith, Barry Smith, Thom Trimble and Jeff Teeters easily outdistanced the runner up team WVJS by over two minutes. The Masters settled for third without the services of 51-year-old Dwight. If we had dropped any of the top three seniors to the masters squad they would have garned second place.
The Open Team, if there was one, would have been led by David Yu, who 5-flatted the course in a time of 15:34, good for 18th place. Guillermo Peureux was the second non-master club member in a time of 16:52 The masters squad was led by Jeff Mann. Despite racing days after recovering from a cold recorded a solid 16:3, good for 3rd in that division. Darrin Banks was second man for the masters, just sneaking under 17 minutes (16:58) placing 8th. Steve Kraft, running his first PA race since the '09 Relay was our third old guy in 17:21. 48 year old Reno-ite Bill Reed was our 4th man in 17:35. Alan Dehlinger continued his comeback improvement with a solid 18:55 to complete the team. (Trimble)
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 Guilliermo
 Jeff Mann 16:51 |
04/17/10 - Binder Wins Ruth Anderson 50 Mile - Crushes Record!
The story of my race at Ruth Anderson starts on March 13, when my coach, Carl Rose, arranged for me and Sam Robinson to go for a long run with Caitlin Smith, one of the top trail runners in the country (she won the huge purse at the North Face Challenge 50 mi last year and has a sponsorship). While we were chatting about our running goals during our 3 hour trail run, I realized that the next step for me to get serious about trying to make the US 100k team would be to run a 50 mile or 100k race and see what would happen. Otherwise I would just keep talking about this goal rather than making progress toward it. So, when I got home from the run I started searching for fast, local ultras I could use as my trial race. My one option before the fall was the Ruth Anderson Ultra, which was to be held 4/17 on a 4.5 mi bike path loop course around Lake Merced in San Francisco. I like paved, loop courses. A further advantage to the course is that it is relatively flat, with only 1,450’ of climb in the 100k. Although I had just five weeks to prepare, I decided to do the Ruth Anderson 50 mile and not wait until the fall. My chief goal for the race would be to see what happens to me when I run this distance. Fifty miles would be my stepping stone to the 100k distance, and sixteen miles longer than I had ever run at one time. Because my ultimate goal would be to qualify for the US 100k team by a time standard (5:40 for 50 miles and 7:20 for 100k), I would pace the run for a 5:40 finish (6:48 miles). While I had no idea if I could run this, I felt that at least starting out at this pace would help me know what I would need to do to be able to run it someday. On race morning at Lake Merced, I put on sunscreen, which felt really strange pre-dawn and grabbed my Fuel Belt water bottles. I filled up the bottles with Cytomax and took one with me, leaving the others to grab on my way by the aid station on each lap. Next I walked about a half mile to the race start, crowded together with over 70 other ultrarunners, and began my longest run ever. At the beginning, it was really hard to keep from going too fast. I began in third place, behind Todd Braje and Toshi Hosaka. Unbeknownst to me, Jean Pommier and Jon Olson (who was shooting for the 100k qualifying time) were running at about 7:00/mi pace behind me. While Todd faded from view in the first two miles (he was running nearly 6:05/mi), I stayed about 100 meters behind Toshi for about three miles before I was able to convince my legs that I’d better not keep running sub-6:20/mi if I expected to be at this for nearly six hours. I completed the first 4.475 mi lap back to the start in 28:50, followed by much more appropriate 29:50, 30:10, 29:48 laps. Thanks to the race volunteers, I had a nice system for filling up on Cytomax. I dropped off an empty Fuel Belt bottle and picked up one which had been graciously filled when I went by either the North or South Aid Station. This meant I only had to carry a small amount of extra weight. The only flaw was that sometimes I was insufficiently agile to grab the bottle on the first pass and had to do some acrobatic turns to retrieve it. If I had avoided this and similar mishaps with my GU, I might have saved a minute on my race time. I think that I had about 11 GUs and 128 oz of Cytomax, comprising nearly a pound of sugar, during the race. It sounds bad, but this diet seems to have worked really well for me. Even so it was just about 1700 kcal, and I probably burnt well over 5000 kcal. At about 20 miles I came up on Toshi, who turned out to be running the 50k. We ran together for about 4 miles, just enough for me to almost trip him at the Aid Station when I tried to grab a GU. I don’t think that he got too upset with me, because he stuck with me for a bit until I dropped him while going down a hill. I ran this lap in 29:52 (5th), and it featured the excitement of a 26.36 mile (slightly longer than marathon) split of 2:55:07. At this point I was feeling really good. I had been running for a long time and I felt a bit of fatigue, but I perceived that my pace was relaxed and that my diet of GU was agreeing with me. With temperatures in the 60s, sunshine, and only slight winds, the weather was great, too. While Toshi was the only other runner I passed, the course setup meant that I began lapping others in my second or third lap. I was saying “good job” to other competitors and smiling at the many people out enjoying the Lake Merced path. This fun continued for a few more laps, which I completed in 29:57, 29:20 (hitting 50k in about 3:25), and 30:12 (6, 7, and 8). I had now run further than I had ever run before. At about this time, I started checking my splits as I crossed the line which would be my 50 mile finish. I was hitting this mark at 3’s (about 3:33 for roughly 32 mi, 4:03 for roughly 36.5 mi), etc. Given that I was running under 30 minutes per lap, a quick calculation told me that I was well under pace to run 5:40, the US qualifying time at 50 miles. I don’t know if I knew at this point that Braje had stopped at 50k, but I definitely didn’t care because I was running a lot faster than I had hoped to run and would have no trouble running under 5:40. Buoyed with this confidence, I ran my 9th lap in 29:59 and passed 40 miles. This is where the race started to get less fun. Early in each lap there is a large downhill. Just before 40 miles I had slowed down a bit because I was tiring, and I expected to pick the pace up while going down the slope. While I did speed up somewhat, I did not hit the pace which I usually did on this mile. My legs started to hurt a lot and running was not pleasant. I had two more laps to go, but I wanted to stop as soon as possible. Actually, I didn’t just want to stop. I wanted to lie down on the ground! Neither GU nor Cytomax helped the situation very much. Lap 10 I ran in 32:11 (7:12/mi) after averaging 6:39/mi pace for the first 40 miles. In lap 11, I twice allowed myself to stop to walk quickly for 10 or 20 seconds and completed the lap in 32:23 (7:14/mi). In retrospect, I was not running terribly slowly, but it didn’t feel very good and took a lot of effort. I questioned why I was doing this to myself, but what kept me going was the knowledge that I would still run under 5:40 and that I would sacrifice all of the work that I did in the first 40 miles if I stopped. When I passed the North Aid Station for the last time I picked up the pace for the last 1.3 miles. I managed to run the 0.8 miles between the start line and the 50 mile finish in 5:09 (6:26/mi), completing the race in 5:37:46 official time. Oh, was I glad to be done! I think I noticed that Braje wasn’t there, meaning that I had won the race. There was one volunteer there to take finishing times, and he congratulated me as I collapsed against the ivy-covered fence. This was the closest I could get to my objective of laying down without impeding other runners. I briefly entertained the idea of walking back to the North Aid Station, but I took the offer of a ride back to the start. Unfortunately, after waiting for what seemed like a really long time for a ride, I did have to walk about a quarter mile to the car, which was the most painful walk I can remember. Back at the North Aid Station, I pried myself out of the car, grabbed myself a lot of sports drink to get some water and calories, and finally collapsed on the grass. I’m not sure how long it was, but I eventually felt good enough to get up, walk to my car, put on some more clothes, and call people to let them know how I did. After this I alternated eating, lying on the ground, chatting with runners and volunteers, and walking around for a few hours until I felt good enough to drive home. That evening I went out to dinner with my roommates. I couldn’t keep up with them on the sidewalks in downtown Oakland, and I was a sorry sight trying to step up or down the curb when crossing the street! (Joe Binder) Ruth Anderson 50 Mile |
03/27/10 - PRsville at SF State Distance Carnival
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A small Strawberry Canyon squad made a good showing at the SF State Distance Carnival on Friday. In addition, a number of loyal timekeepers/spectators came, too, including Coach Carl, Josh Seeherman, Nate Leefer,and Chris Gurney. Nathan Spaun (2:04.78) and Niko Connor (1:59.74) started the club off with the 800. These are both seasonal bests. In the women's 5000m, Elizabeth Scott ran 18:20.56, a PR of more than 20 seconds, good for 4th-place on the all-time club records 5k list, and she placed 5th, while Eva Stuart ran a 19:27.23. 75% of the Strawberry men in the 5000m ran PRs. Nick Toda went under 16 for the first time and ran a 15:54.93. David Yu went under 15:30 for the first time with a 15:26.46. Joe Binder PR'd with a 15:24.94. Samuel Robinson rounded off the crew with a solid 15:18.06 (top five all-time). Yu, Binder and Robinson all nailed down top ten spots on the Strawberry Canyon TC all-time 5K PR lists. In the last event on the track, the masters mile, Jeff Mann demolished the field in with a 4:34.82, a full 29.02 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. In the words of Strawberry Canyon Track Club training partner Alex Varner, Jeff kinda took the rest of the runners in a headlock and gave them the noogie. On the whole, it was a good day to be a Strawberry. Rose |
03/21/10 - Masters Go Nuts at Emerald 12K
by Carl Rose
 Darrin and Dwight at 4 miles
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The Emerald Nuts Across the Bridge 12K race is uniquely competitive venue for many local runners seeking a seeded or sub-seeded qualifying time for the (in)famous Bay to Beakers 12K road race in May, as well as acting as the Pacific Association of USATF's 12K road race championship event. On a perfectly windless Sunday morning with temps in the upper 50s the Strawberry Canyon Track Club men's master's team sported eye-catching, sharp new singlets and also served notice they are a possible top five master's squad on a national basis when bringing everyone to the starting line. Though the Berries faced a stiff challenge without the services of two long-time stalwarts, Fred Zalokar (marathon training) and Tim Keenan (groin strain), they still jammed. With their solid old guard runners and an infusion of new blood, we managed to defeat a fully loaded New Balance Exelsior masters squad and held off Tamalpa Racing and the Asics Aggies master's teams. First across the line for the Strawberry Canyon TC contingent was their lone true open runner, Jack Wallace, a 20-year-old Cal student who keeps improving week in and week out. His strong performance of 42:00-minutes flat while impersonating David Yu (switched entry) was 1:39 faster than last year, which was then considered a breakthrough performance for Wallace. Our two female runners entered in this race are both cyclists and triathletes turning their attention to running. Jen Joynt, a Category 1 cyclist originally from Princeton, managed a 7:10 mile pace for a good time of 53:30 in her first race ever. She was trailed by Rachel Sears-Casanta (54:38), an elite triathlete who is working her way back into shape after an extended training lay-off due to lower back issues. The oldies but goodies included Rob Elia, who paced the master's men with a scintillating time of 42:12, smashing the club 45-49 record by 49 seconds. He was followed closely by Jeff Mann and newcomer Darrin Banks. Mann barely squeezed by Banks while battling it out at the end before prevailing 42:55 to 42:56 in a rousing kick to the finish. This was Banks' second serious race since his freshman year in college and he is already taking the scalps from a lot of big hitters in the Pacific Association. It's safe to say he is no longer our secret weapon though. |
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Fourth in the scoring department was our 51-year old force Dwight Smith, a swift who smoked the course in 43:18 - demolishing the club senior record by an amazing 85 seconds. The old club record was set last year at this race by Scott Strait, who bested a fading Dwight by 30 seconds. Closing out the scoring top five for the Berries was rapidly-improving Bill Salacuse, in a season-best PR performance of 45:33. Since Dwight was dropped down into the master's ranks to ensure the Berries victory, Thom "The Rock" Trimble stayed true to form and ran 44:38 along with Ironman Jeff Teeters (45:55) and helped paced the seniors team. Completing the four-man "All 50" team were Sam "The Professor" Sagiv in 50 flat, and Kenny Bright in 52:26. The Seniors appear to have placed 3rd. Alan Dehlinger, a former 23:20 8K runner, ran a solid race after spending many years fighting through injuries and lulls in training. His 6:27 pace (48:07) was 24 seconds per mile faster than his NorCal 10 mile pace - the best improvement by any member, by far. Carl Rose gasped through the remnants of a bad cold and long-time plantar injury to finish in a sub-par time of 50:54. (Rose |
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03/06/10 - Strawberries Debut with Strong Showing at NorCal 10 Mile
 Lucas  Dwight - First Senior  Elizabeth - 7th Female  David - 9th |
The first race of the 2010 season, as well as the first for the combined club was a great success. Initial plans to just run a masters mens' team at NorCal, were exceeded by scoring not only an additional Open Men's team, but a Senior Men's team along with three Open women. A grand total of 17 Strawberry members completed the race; one of the largest contingents to compete. The weather also did a 180, replacing arm warmers and gloves with sunscreen and shades The rain expected to hit over the weekend came through early, leaving that Saturday AM with near perfect weather, albiet a tad warm for the distance. Temperatures did hit the mid to high 60s which caught many winter-trained runners off guard and struggling a bit at the end. Both the Open men and masters/senior teams brought seven men to the race, but unfortunatlely both had to sideline one of their starts due to injury. Nathan Leefer (bad knee) played cheerleader for the club, while Tim Keenan (groin strain) manned the camera. The out and back hairpin course along the Sacramento River provided excellent viewing of the race. The Open team placed 3rd behind hometowners River City TC and a strong and deep contingent from WVTC. Leading the Berries through the hilly course was Sean McFarland who finished in 8th place in a time of 55 flat - just inches behind a WVTC runner. David Yu was about 100m back, placing 9th in 55:22. Sam and Davids time earned them 8th and 9th on the club record list. Sam Robinson was the club's third man, running a respecatable 56:51 after coming off a long layout due to injury. Luke Binder averaged 5:46 miles for a 57:37 to place 20th. Rounding out the open squad was Galen Reeves (26th) who snuck in under an hour at 59:39. Back in 62:37 was Chris Gurney which placed him 43rd overall. The Masters team was led by Senior Sensation Dwight Smith, whose 58:33 not only won the division but crushed the club 50-59 record by nearly a minute - on a hilly course! Dwight also easily outdistanced the next 50-plus guy (course record holder Tim O'Rourke) by over a minute and placed him 3rd in the masters division . Second in for the masters was Bill Reed who sprinted in at 59:51 to earn the unofficial Sub-60 shirt and placed 6th in the 40-'n-over category. Third finisher for the oldies was Thom Trimble whose 60:46 placed him 3rd in the seniors and 9th master, plus 4th on the club record list. "Team Jeff" provided the 4th and 5th runners for the masters as they had opposite reactions to their races. Jeff Mann 61:54 was slowed in the latter stages of the race by calf cramps and limped in at 7 min miles, while Jeff Teeters surprised everyone but himself with a 61:58 only 3 weeks after hernia surgery. Jeff had only run a few days, and one mile under 6 minutes prior to the race. Bill Salacuse, fresh off a PR half marathon where he wore racing flats for the first time, decided to wear the magic slippers once again. The magic backfired a bit, as Bill blasted out of the starting gate well under his planned pace, hitting the first mile in 5:45 and two in around 11:48. This process has been dubbed "Mokhtaring" after our beloved member Mokhtar Sharza who pulled the ultimate in eager starts by running the first half of CIM in a PR, then melting into the asphalt before the 20 mile mark. Bill decided not to wait until meltdown and smartly backed off the pace. While his time of 63:39 was slower than his goal (62) the warm weather and unknown course were also to blame. Alan Dehlinger was one of the few to run under his pre-race prediction (70) by recording a 68:30. This is even more impressive considering Alan drove 4+ hours from Reno that morning to make the start, then drove back home after the race. Final finisher for the club is our oldest and only Veteran runner - Ross Franco. Ross' time of 1:48:18 whacked over 9 minutes off the club 70+ 10 Mile record. The previous record was Ross' time at NorCal last year. The depth of the club masters squad allowed them to drop down Thom and Jeff, plus Ross to form a seniors team, while still keeping the masters squad in first place by quite a bit. The senior team finished 3rd. Three club women made the trip to NorCal and came away with some hardware. Elizabeth Scott placed 7th overall and first in the 19-and-under division with her 66:55. Only one other person in her division was within 10 minutes of that time, and it was teammate Eva Stuart in 67:23. Lindsay Meisel just missed the 70 minute mark with a 70:12, good enough for third in the 20-24 division. |