Call for participants! From the Prez…
Dear PVCRC member,
It is now only one week until our own Delaware Distance Classic race. Let me send a huge THANK YOU to those who of you who have already signed up to volunteer, or run! Looking at the statistics, we have less than 10% of club members signed up to volunteer, and less than 10% of our membership signed up to run. This is YOUR race, so please, please, help the club by participating. We are in desperate need of volunteers for some very specific tasks, so contact me (, 302-373-6060) if you can help out in with any of these.
Transportation:
· We need someone with a pick-up truck or large SUV to pick up water bottles on Saturday and then transport them to the Riverfront on race morning (early). It may take 2 trips depending what size your car is. We also need bottles to be shuttled to the water stations.
· We need someone again with (preferably) an SUV to pick up champagne glasses (I think there are 400 of them) from Frank’s Wine and bring to the race on Sunday. Registration opens 7am, that’s the time we would need the glasses to be at the race.
· We need someone to pick up bananas from ShopRite, and bring them to the race on Sunday, by 8.30am (we will call in the order)
Thank you! And hopefully, we’ll see many of you at the race.
Claire
Race Results, Reviews and accomplishments:
“Race for the Cure” 10K, Manchester Vermont, Sept. 21
Kelly Horowitz, 42:53 (2nd Overall Female)
Jack Horowitz, 47:45 (1st in AG)
Betty Olmstead, Bird-in-Hand Half Marathon, Sept. 7, 3:05:31
Dan Simmons, Bottle and Cork 10 Miler, Sept. 8, 1:13:18 (1st AG)
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Race Review – Another Lehigh Review but a First Time Marathon Runner!
Lehigh Valley Marathon Review by Jay Coughenour
This was my first marathon! My race was powered by my Tuesday night St. Mark’s track running group (thank you Coach Fischer!), my Sunday Panera group, my NB buddies, and the general Delaware running community who are always so encouraging. Special thanks to Keith, Tom, Andy, and many others who encouraged me to try a marathon! Also, special thanks to the Tuesday night track group who would shout a little “good job Jay” during endless interval sessions. That always helps! Finally, my wife and daughters were with me every step of the way – adjusting their lives at times for my training schedule, and who often had to put up with a grumpy old man stretching self-inflicted pain out of his legs at night in the middle of the floor.
Race day was surprisingly humid – and I underestimated how the humidity can sort of sit and hover along a river, which this course more or less followed the whole way from Allentown to Easton. Bart Yasso from Runner’s World gave the marathoners a little speech at the beginning, warning us to stay hydrated. Suddenly we were off! The course was fairly well maintained for what turned out to be mostly a trail run. I’d say the first 4-5 miles were on road/pavement, but after that it was almost completely packed-dirt and cinder trail running until the end. The trail was good enough to maintain target pace in most spots. However, I found the footing a bit uneven in many places, which probably added to my post-race soreness and a ‘tweak’ I felt in my right knee toward the end of the marathon. For the most part, the course was wide enough to handle the group running 6:30 pace, except for one spot around mile 12 where we were forced into single file along the trail for about 400-800 meters. There was minor elbowing at this point and at the water stops, but all the runners were always polite about it – saying ‘sorry’ if they forced you to break your stride.
This course is definitely for those who enjoy the solitude of a long trail run. Lehigh Valley must be the antithesis of the NYC marathon – a country run with few spectators, compared to a city run with mobs everywhere. I really felt like I was running the section of Creek Road trail between Hopkins Road and the bridge just south (past the pond) for 26 miles. The only sizable crowds were at the halfway mark and at the finish. At the finish they had a nice spread of pretzels, cookies, bananas, water, and beer. No complaints! It was great to see Keith Crispin at the finish, he had run the half marathon that morning.
I wish I could have run faster (don’t we all?) but after the halfway point I realized I would not run a negative split in that heat/humidity to reach my time goal. Knowing my time goal was unattainable at that point, I turned my focus to my primary goal, which was to BQ. So, around miles 14-15 I let my ‘pack’ drift ahead and I did some quick mental math to figure the pace I needed to assure early registration for Boston the following morning. Happily I attained that goal and my next (and probably last marathon) will be the 2014 Boston Marathon. Overall, Lehigh Valley has a good course that could probably yield very fast times as long as it is not hot and humid in early September and if the trail is dry – and all the volunteers at the expo, along the course, and at the finish were very helpful and friendly.
Events Calendar
Our “Events Calendar” page on the website includes all club-related activities including weekly group runs, USATF Series races (noted with blue stars), social events, and club meetings. We’ll also note events where PCVRC is affiliated in some way such as Delaware Marathon. The calendar is updated regularly.