PCVRC Awards Banquet Recap
Pike Creek Valley Running Club held it’s 29th annual awards banquet at Ed Oliver Golf Club on Saturday, February 26. forty-four people attended, which was a good turn-out considering that the date conflicted with a ski trip for some club members.
Rachel Yoder, the Program Director for the Philadelphia Chapter of Back On My Feet, was the guest speaker. She gave an overview of how BOMF works to help give homeless people needed structure in their lives through running. BOMF had previously received a $250 check from the club through the proceeds from the Delaware Distance Classic.
The following club members received Notable Achievement recognition: Epi Camacho, Lee Kauffman, Carole Feole, Kelly Horowitz, Adam Shilling, Tricia & Rich Szymanski, and Dirk Sweigart. Some of these people were worthy of receiving a major award for their achievements. Those who were not in attendance can contact President Ray Christensen about obtaining their Pike Creek glass.
The following major awards were presented:
Rookie of the Year to Tom Steekamer, who at the age of 50 found it amusing to be receiving it, but the award is for contributions of a new club member, not a new runner.
Outstanding Achievement to Chris James, Theresa Kauffman, Dave McCorquodale, Dan Simmons and Mark Vilardo.
Female Runner of the Year: Lynn Knothe
Male Runner of the Year: Josh Loren
Dave Farren was presented with a specially engraved mug in recognition of his eleven years of service as director of the Delaware Distance Classic. The club is now searching for someone to step up to become the new director. If you are considering it, be assured that the race committee will have three people(Ray Christensen, Joel Schiller, and Jim Steele) on it who are already directors of other races and Joel is a former director of DDC as well. So the new director will be mentored and not just thrown into the role.
President Ray has created a new photos page on the club website. Many thanks to Kim Riccio for the pictures of the banquet as well as Ugly Mudder pictures (see story below).
Ugly Mudder MAUSATF Off Road Race Results
Results of the Ugly Mudder race show that the PCVRC team is in second place among five teams that scored. It appears that four of the teams will have a good competitive series.
– – – – – – – – – – – – Time – Age Grade – Team Score 276.37
9 Patrick Boettcher 29 0:52:29 57.67
31 Thomas Steenkamer 52 1:01:59 56.63
76 Epi Camacho 55 1:05:39 54.83
42 Tom Jermyn 48 1:02:51 54.07
80 Lisa Jalot 39 1:05:57 53.17
254 Carole Feole 52 1:18:37 50.43
57 Christopher James 36 1:03:54 48.55
65 Mark Vilardo 37 1:04:44 48.25
198 Richard Szymanski 46 1:15:33 44.27
707 Gerald Herman 67 1:57:23 34.13
Chris James’ Ugly Mudder Report:
The Ugly Mudder was on Sunday, Feb. 27 in Reading. It was a nice day, warmer than we’d been experiencing for most of the winter, but I was fearful that it might also be muddier than usual with the recent thaw. I wore a pair of old shoes that I didn’t really care if I saw again, thinking they would get caked in mud. We had a great team of Tom Jermyn, Tom Steenkammer, Pat Boettcher, Mark Vilardo, Epi Camacho, Rich Szymanski, Jerry Herman, Carole Feole, Lisa Jalot and myself.
The race started later than expected due to some confusion over the starting line and the start was just organized chaos. It’s important to get out early and fast in the opening straight of the race before it changes to single track trails. Conditions really weren’t too bad, some snow but mainly just wet and not too muddy. For those that have never run this race, it’s definitely hilly to the point where everyone walks for at least a portion of the climbs and quite rocky as well.
Unfortunately the biggest problem was that a mountain biker, who apparently has a selfish view of the trails in Reading, cut down (with bolt cutters) several of the directional arrows that tell you where to go. Again, for those that haven’t run the race before it’s hard to explain, but there’s quite a bit of “bushwhacking” in this race. The race director had checked the course markings early on race morning, so apparently this individual did this sometime between that time and the start of the race. I know Tom J. and Mark were affected by this unintentional detour as I caught up with them later in the race, where I would normally be more than a few minutes back.
The funny thing is you never really run this race the same way twice and I only really recognize where I am when I see the lake or reservoir that you come down to right before Mt. Mud. As I said, conditions weren’t too bad which left me wondering why I was wearing old shoes until late in the race. Apparently I thought too soon as immediately I found myself heading down a descent and right into an unavoidable bog of mud. They changed the end of the course so you can actually run up the hill at the end instead of the traditional “all hands on deck” climb.
Always fun at the end relaying our war stories over a hot breakfast and beer at the German Liederkranz. Without the malicious re-routing, we likely would have done better in the team competition, but Pat, Tom J, Tom S, Carole and Epi all snagged age group awards. Nice tech shirts this year with a pretty hideous logo (intentionally for sure).
Next trail race in the off-road series is Tyler Arboretum 10K on Saturday, April 2nd.
Colonial Half-Marathon
Immediately after the banquet, Greg Cauller and Lynn Knothe drove to Williamsburg, Va. to compete in the Colonial Half-Marathon the next morning. The results:
1:20:27 Greg Cauller, 2nd Masters runner, 16th overall
1:33:57 Lynn Knothe, 7th Overall female
1:58:49 Chip Bixler
Also non-club member, Margaret Amidon with 1:36:23
Glassboro Ten Miler, Rowan Univ.
Ralph McKinney, 1:50:57, 1st 60-69
Ralph reports that there were less than 50 people at the race in excellent weather. This rolling course is good training before the Caesar Rodney Half-Marathon.
Wawa Stair Climb, Philadelphia 53 stories
John Schultz, 16:14
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Forgive me if the following seems self-indulgent, but I like to write. As I’ve stated periodically, club members are encouraged to submit their stories of their running adventures. Have no fear if you are not a writer, because I am willing to edit.
Dave M.
Washington’s Birthday Marathon, Feb. 20:
Some of you know my philosophy about marathoning. Now that I’m deep into my 60s, instead of all that rigorous training just to complete one marathon, I’ve come up with the rationale that my last marathon is my last long run for my next marathon. Once I’m conditioned well enough to complete them, I just want to continue doing about one a month.
But of course winter comes along and disrupts the schedule. Having done my last fall marathon on Nov. 30, I was chomping at the bit to enter another one. However, over the last month and a half, I had developed a soreness near the crest of my right hip. Interestingly, I had seen Dr. Cheskin (a chiropractor who is one of the sponsors of the Delaware Distance Classic), in the fall for a sore back. But after I felt better and once racing season was over, I skipped going for any sort of maintenance visits. Several weeks ago I had completed a 20 miler with a constant nagging pain near the hip. Then a few days later, I went for a run in which I ran some fartlek intervals. The pain increased quite a bit and the next time I went out for just a jog, I couldn’t do it without walking to relieve the pain.
So I went back to Cheskin only five days before I wanted to participate in the Washington’s Birthday Marathon in Greenbelt, MD. Cheskin said I had developed a hip imbalance, which was putting stress on the TLF muscle (which is a short muscle to which the IT band is attached). He said not to give up on doing the marathon, gave me an adjustment, and told me to return in a couple days for another session. Sure enough the “ropey-ness” of the attachments at the crest of my hip started to dissipate. By Sunday, they were only mildly noticeable. So I made the trek, figuring that if I started feeling it, I could get through the pain because I had completed a 20 miler while feeling similarly.
Greenbelt is right off the intersection of 295 and the 495 beltway of Washington, DC. I had run this marathon once before, over a dozen years ago. I had a bad day that time because I developed a side stitch during the race and it wouldn’t go away. But I figured I’d get back for another attempt. It was the 50th anniversary of the marathon (one of the oldest in the country) and the price was right $40 for day of registration and a tech shirt. Plus the 10 A.M. start meant I didn’t have to get up in the wee morning hours to get there.
But I had forgotten just how hilly the course was. I remembered the initial big downhill in the second mile, which would be the last uphill in mile 26, but not all the ups and downs of the three loop course in between. The three loops allows the race organization to also have three member relay teams. I did see Sam Mbugua there, who was participating on a relay team with two people who work with his wife.
The moment the race started, I felt the minor nagging pain I had felt several weeks before when I completed 20 miles. Although I was disappointed that it came out right away, I thought it was manageable. And it was – for a while. The first hour went by with me doing ten minute miles, which was what I had intended to do. But then things started to get more painful and at eight miles the pain got a lot worse. I had to walk up the hill to the relay area at nine miles. While going through it, I started asking loudly if anyone had any ibuprophen and someone did. So I took them and started on the second loop.
After a few minutes I settled into a much slower pace – initially 11:30 per mile. Then I came across a 37 year-old black man, a soldier stationed at nearby Ft. Meade, (name started with R, but I can’t remember it) who had stopped and was stretching before he continued to run. I asked him if he was injured and he said his right hip was bothering him. I’d said “Me too”. After a few minutes, we were at the same pace and I suggested we continue together. It was the old “Misery loves company” theory. And it worked – for a while. We were gradually going slower – maybe 13:00 pace by mile 15 when I suddenly felt a sensation I’d never had before. I swear I felt muscle fibers tearing in what I figured out later was my gluteus medius muscle on the right hip. This is the muscle related to the leg as the rotator cuff is to the arm. It helps the leg move side to side. I can only figure that the irritation of the other muscle and the continuing hip imbalance had overloaded this muscle and it partially tore.
After a few attempts at running, I realized I couldn’t do it. It was too painful. But I could walk with only moderate pain. (If I had torn the gluteus medius completely, I wouldn’t have been able to do that). So I determined to finish it walking. My erstwhile companion had shuffled on, but occasionally I saw him in the distance when there was a fairly straight stretch of road. Eventually I realized that he was taking walking breaks and when he was, I was catching up. Meanwhile, I actually passed other people who were having a worse day than I. Interesting what new insights one gets at the back of the pack. One guy had rheumatoid arithritis. He jogs until he can’t and then he walks. He deals with this every time he does a marathon.
With my long legs and slow turnover rate, I am no sort of race walker. My times in the last 11.2 miles were between 15 and 16 minute miles, depending on the terrain. The first half took 2:22:32. The second took over 3:17. Approaching the last two miles, I saw my former companion again. He was getting slower and I was closing. On the last uphill I caught him. I said, “You’re not going to let a 66 year old man beat you, are you?” Apparently not. His walking pace increased and he stuck with me going up the hill. Doing the last 1/2 mile in Greenbelt, he was again pulling away when he ran and I would catch him when he walked. But he had one more run to the finish and, when I tried to run, the pain brought me back to a walk. But my 74th marathon was in the books with still only one DNF.
My companion disappeared into a porta-toilet and I walked back to the Youth Center where the food was. A young woman, who had finished just in front of both of us, struck up a conversation. Turns out it was her first marathon. She had just moved from Alabama and this one substituted for the one she had been training for in Birmingham. Over a bowl of chili, I told her other marathons would definitely be easier than they were on this course and I filled her in how to expect her body to feel the next few days.
Epilogue: Back in Delaware, I’ve since Cheskin a couple times and will see him several more. I’ve spent my running days walking. But since I’m not practiced at walking long distances, my left shin muscle took until now to stop feeling sore from the marathon walking. A eight and half mile walk around Delcastle takes FOREVER. But, I did try in a few short runs toward the end. They were still painful if my leg moved at all sideways instead of straight ahead. But Tuesday, I went out for a short time and had several runs that were a quarter to a half mile at a time. Wednesday and today I found I could run continuously although I have some increased soreness afterward. So the healing is occurring. Which is good because I WANT TO RUN.
Tuesday Cheskin advised me to practice standing on one leg to start strenghtening all the little muscles on the inside and outside of the hip. I’ve found that I have an even bigger weakness in my ankles which shake like I’m standing on a vibrator. I can’t even to do for a minute and if one is strong, you should be able to hold for a couple minutes.