From President Ray:
Note: The B+ Race has been moved to next Monday evening because of the expected hot conditions on this evening.
B+ Fighting Childhood Cancer 5k: Run or Volunteer
The 6th Annual B+ Fighting Childhood Cancer 5k Run/Walk is Monday, June 25st at Salesianum School starting at 6:45pm. As a partner of the B+ Foundation, PCVRC will help to fight childhood cancer because 46 kids are told they have cancer every school day. Join our team today by running, walking or donating to our Team Goal. Help us raise money for kids fighting cancer! Click the link below and then click “Join a Team”. Select “Pike Creek Valley Running Club” and then you’ll be prompted to register. If you have any questions please contact team captain Jim Steele at 530-7274.
https://www.elleevance.com/5K2012/SelectATeam.aspx?TeamSelected=NBI57687740
Or if you can volunteer, please contact Ray () soon. PCVRC will have a table set up to recruit members and in exchange hope that a few members can help on race day (registration, course marshal, etc). More info at http://www.BePositive.org
I’ll arrive early, since I also have to set up our table/banner.
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Ray reports that the Crabowitz feast was an overwhelming success, with 110 people attending at various times. Rich and Tricia have now gotten kind neighbors to loan the use of their driveway for tables. $1,700 was raised, which will be contributed to the B+ foundation in the name of PCVRC’s team.
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The Canton Marathon
Having taken the plunge into being a 50 states marathoner, I chose Ohio as the first state away from the East Coast in which to run a marathon. A first time event was planned in Canton, Ohio, with a tie-in to the Football Hall of Fame. Most conveniently for me, it was four weeks after my previous one, allowing me to maintain my senior citizen training philosophy that my last marathon was my final long run for my next marathon. OK, I did work in a 14 miler two weeks out. Another good aspect was that there was also a half-marathon which Carolyn could do. We signed up several months ago and it seems no sooner did we do it than Carolyn developed sore knees which hadn’t gone away. But Carolyn was non-plussed, simply maintaining that she’d run some and walk some.
Canton is about a seven hour drive with stops, out I-76 and then 15 miles south on I-77. As we drove into Canton, we passed under the Hall of Fame bridge over the turnpike. I knew that the next day I’d be running over that bridge. After finding our motel and checking in, we went downtown to the Civic Center for the expo. For a first time event, the expo was nicely done and fairly large with a number of vendors and samples to see. We got our numbers and tech shirts. All of the shirts had a football motif, with a number 12 on the front. In smaller lettering above was 26.2 marathon. I’d rather have had the 26.2 be the large number. My shirt is a nice steel gray. Carolyn’s half marathon shirt was pink. I don’t know what the guy’s got in the half. After the expo, we found a nice restaurant in downtown for dinner and avoided the Carrabba’s pasta dinner(I had pasta anyway). Then it was back to the motel, prepare our stuff for the next morning and try to get to sleep at 8:30. The races were to start at 6:00 A.M. and we had to shuttle over to the Hall of Fame from parking at Fairgrounds about 3/4 of a mile away. We figured up at 3:00 A.M., down the road to Denny’s for some breakfast, back to the room for final preparation and off to the event. Everyone else in Denny’s appeared to have been up from Saturday night activities.
We arrived at the Hall of Fame at 5:00 A.M. in 65 degree weather, dressed to run. It was a bit cool in a singlet, but I figured the cooler I got, the better because I would surely warm up rather quickly. At one point we were sitting on a curb when the guy next to us, obviously not a runner, lit up a big stinky cigar. We had to move. Eventually about ten before six we exchanged a kiss, I went to line up with the pace group that I thought would be my pace, and Carolyn moved towards the back. Six came and went and we were still standing there. Then a few minutes later the entire group started moving forward. I had no idea is the race had started or not. We went under I-77 and emerged on a nice flat section along a creek, obviously a city park, and slowly walked forward for a quarter mile. We were approaching someone talking on a microphone and I realized this is where the race would start. Lot of trees around and having taken plenty of fluids and the race not getting off on time, I availed myself of the cover of the trees for one more pit stop. Lots of others guys were doing the same thing. The paper the next day said that a traffic problem had delayed the start.
Eventually the wheelchair participants were off and several minutes later the runners followed. The tree lined flat first half mile allowed everyone to spread out quickly. Little did I know that would be the last flat stretch I’d run until the last few yards in the football stadium next to the Hall of Fame. Moving through the streets of Canton, I warmed quickly. The sun was shining early and it felt a little steamy. Every time I crested a hill, there was another hill waiting ahead. I was either going up or going down. At six miles, the half-marathoners turned left to complete their shorter loop. Marathoners went straight and suddenly it was a lot lonelier. One thing this event had in spades was hydration stops, about 28 in all, more than one per mile. With the difficulty of the course, if the day had turned out as predicted a few days before in the upper 80s, all those stops would have been necessary.
But about the time we marathoners went on our own, the weather changed. It got cloudy and breezy. Overheating wasn’t going to be a problem. In fact about 17 miles in, it showered for about ten minutes and cooled me right down. The temp stayed below 72 the rest of the way. Oh, but the hills were taking their toll. I went through the first half in a little over ten minute pace. But with each successive hill, I felt less energy to take it on. I kept recalculating what time I thought I’d finish in. My heart sink at mile 22 when the 10:30 pacer went by with one female runner left in tow. I couldn’t keep up. Then there were hills where I had to walk and I wasn’t the only one. The downhills were rough also as my knees were protesting. After a long hill in the beginning of mile 25, there’s a good half mile downhill. But I was barely jogging, trying to keep my right hamstring from spazzing out completely.
Somewhere around 20 miles, we ran past on long line of cars at a complete standstill. I still remember the first year of the Baltimore Marathon when major four-lane roads were stopped. Horns were honking and people were cussing. Baltimore changed the route. I think Canton needs to do the same to avoid angering the populace. I say this because of the comments of one particular female driver. As we were running by these stopped vehicles, she yelled out “Thanks for running!” But as I started thinking that was really nice, she added …and f…ing up the traffic all over town!” Of course, she should have been directing her frustration at those who laid out the course, not the runners. But knowing she’d be there was another 20 to 30 minutes, I understood.
Finishing up on the football field, I received my finisher medal, shaped like a football and weighing about eight ounces. It was impossible to walk while wearing it as it would bump my chest with every step.
The after-race part was where this event needs improvement. The food was the typical fare for a 5K, but nothing substantial. The organizers had announced that no awards, other than the winners, would be given out at the event. They would be mailed. Fair enough, although it seemed like they had the time to least announce age-group people. But to make matters worse, no results were posted or viewable on a screen. When I asked, I was told to go online. Very disappointing. I got my bag, changed and we went over to the after-race “party”. It was at the far end of the Hall of Fame parking lot, in the opposite direction from where we had to go to catch our shuttle bus. The “party” consisted of a band playing music, a tent off to one side where we could use tickets off our bib for two Michaelob Ultras, and vendors selling food on the other side of the field. Well, I’ve expressed my sentiment before that lite beer ain’t beer. Even if some like it, there should be regular beer for others. And Yuengling has a plant in Ohio. What a missed opportunity! No one seemed to be buying food. Who had money? Everyone’s cash was back in their cars. We took about one sip of the “beer” and then left for the trek back to the shuttle.
All in all the town really seemed to get behind these events. About 5,000 signed up for the full, half, ten K, or relay teams and about 4,200 were finishers or team members. There were 2,000 volunteers and they were great! The next day, the local paper, The Repository, published all the results plus six pages of stories. Carolyn and I both found out we had placed third in our age-groups. Lots of inspiration about people who had lost weight or gotten in shape with the goal of finishing one of the events. Also lot of reassurance seeing the comments by some of the top finishers about the difficulty of the hills. I am not the only person to have said that this was the hilliest road marathon course I’ve ever run. -dave mcc
Race Results:
5K the Westside Way:
17:59 Greg Cauller, Overall Winner
19:59 Lynn Knothe, Female Winner
10K the Westide Way:
35:42 Mike DiGennaro, Overall Winner
37:35 Matt Cutrona, 1st Master
40:38 Sarah Rusk, Female Winner
Parvin State Park Duathlon:
2 mile run, 12 mile bike, 5K run
1:04:22 Andy Jacubowitch, 1st 30-34
1:12:47 Dan Simmons, 1st 65-69
1:13:58 Tom Jermyn, 2rd 45-49
1:16:56 Andrea Ladany
1:18:10 Rich Szymanski
1:20:44 Tricia Szymanski
1:25:51 Kelly Reph-Jones, 3rd 35-39
2:09:37 John Schultz, 1st 70+
Sprint Triathlon at St. Andrew’s:
1/4 mile swim, 16 mile bike, three mile run
1:19:43 Chris James
1:24:04 Michael Reph
Canton Marathon:
4:44:14 Dave McCorquodale, 3rd 65-69
Canton Half-Marathon:
3:00:17 Carolyn McCorquodale, 3rd 65-69