Club Membership Status
Good News! In last then three months, 93 memberships have been paid. That’s way ahead of the pace we’ve gotten dues in the past. However, there are still 20 members who either need to renew or tell us they are no longer interested. You know who you are! Here’s a good idea. Come to the send off party, pay your dues, and immediately start reaping the rewards with the finger foods that the club will provide.

Boston Send-off Party & Spring Social
2011-04-13 Wednesday, 6:30-9:00pm
Location: Six Paupers – Hockessin DE

Join us as we wish our fellow PCVRC Boston marathoners a safe and successful marathon. Various appetizers/finger food will be served, compliments of the club. Drinks will be available from the bar.

Not yet a club member?
This is a great time to join the club and meet fellow members. Pick up your shirt on the spot and enjoy free food at events throughout 2011!
Non-members are encouraged to donate a few bucks towards food.

After a board meeting last evening we definitely want to try to get an accurate count to help us in ordering food. Please RSVP to Rachel.
Contact: Rachel Bleacher
Email:

Delaware Marathon Volunteers needed
The club is looking for more volunteers to help out in the Delaware Marathon, mostly to do course marshalling. This is your opportunity to give back to other runners. If you are in a relay, maybe you have to some to spare before or after your portion of the race.
Contact Ray Christensen at
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The club offers its condolences to Karin Pszczola on the passing of her grandmother.

Adrenaline 5K in Haddonfield, N.J.
Pike Creek Valley Running Club had nineteen members participate in the Adrenaline 5K in Haddonfield, N.J. on Saturday. It was the first event of the 2011 Grand Prix series of MA-USATF. The club had a great showing in the team competition with 413.296 point. Any individual score of 80 or more is considered national class. So for the top five scorers to average over 82.6 is outstanding. However, the bad news is that six teams scored over 400 with many quality runners showing up for this fast course. (As an aside, the overall male winner of the race ran 14:27!)

The team scores break down thusly: Bryn Mawr Running Club, which is associated with a store, was first. In the past this team has not devoted itself to sending out a full complement for each race. Close behind is the Athena Running Team, which is composed of all females, including local celebrity, weather forecaster Cecily Tynan and newly added member, Doreen McCoubrie. At 49, McCoubrie is scoring in the 90s, which is considered world class. If this team sends a full complement of runners to each runner, it will be tough to match. After those two teams, the other four over 400 point were all in the 416 to 413 range, with PCVRC being last. Three other teams scored below 400. So as it stands, PCVRC could compete for any team position from first to fifth.

Newly joining club member, Vic Zwolak, continues his assault on the men’s 70-74 state records by running 21:36 (chip time), breaking the record he set last year by several seconds. Individually, the following won age group places in the race: Dan Suher, 2nd 20-24; Mark Vilardo, 2nd 35-39; Josh Loren, 2nd 30-34; tom Steenkamer, 3rd 50-54; Epi Camacho, 2nd 55-59; Vic Zwolak, 1st 70-74; Bob Taggart, 2nd 70-74; and Deborah Compton, 2nd 60-64.

Name – – – – – – – – – – – – Time Age grade
Vilardo Mark Bear DE 19
15-53 84.05 35 37 M 25

Steenkamer Thomas Rising Sun MD 92
17-55 83.628 50 52 M 25

Zwolak Victor Wilmington DE 275
21-41 83.397 70 72 M 25

Suher Daniel Wilmington DE 13
15-33 82.958 20 24 M 25

Loren Josh Wilmington DE 23
16-2 80.665 30 30 M 25

Camacho Epi Wilmington DE 140
19-9 80.244 55 55 M 25
Compton Deborah Newark DE 449
24-50 79.262 60 62 F 25
Kauffman William Lee Wilmington DE 159
19-37 77.06 50 53 M 25

Gee Austin Philadelphia PA 51
16-59 75.957 25 25 M 25

Sweigart Dirk Newark DE 187
20-9 73.78 50 51 M 25
Taggart Robert Newark DE 393
23-57 73.626 70 70 M 25

Kauffman Theresa Wilmington DE 336
22-43 72.047 45 48 F 25

Durkin James Ardmore PA 586
27-25 66.93 70 73 M 25

Szymanski Richard Wilmington DE 269
21-31 66.383 45 46 M 25

Montana Connie Landenberg PA 465
24-53 65.104 45 47 F 25

Herman Gerald Wilmington DE 656
29-11 58.538 65 67 M 25

McKinney Ralph Wilmington DE 726
31-17 54.129 65 66 M 25

Schultz John Wilmington DE 812
37-32 53.508 75 78 M 25
MuQaribu Madhillum Newark DE 119 18-31 70.027 30 31 M

Congratulations to Chris James on his PR at the New York City Half-Marathon in 1:25:39.

Kelly Horowitz was the overall female winner of the McGlynn’s 5K at People’s Plaza on Saturday in a time of 20:37. She along with all the over runners had to deal with an unexpected wind which arose shortly before the start of the race. During the last mile, there was a long section during which runners had to go directly into it. The National Weather Service reported a steady wind of 20 mph with 25 mph gusts.

USATF Series Grand Prix Events
This weekend there will be the first event of the MA-USATF Grand Prix Series for 2011, the Adrenaline 5K in Haddonfield, NJ. This is an extremely fast course and we wish the club participants well.

A note from Chris James about the Caesar Rodney Half-Marathon: Just an update from the last CR committee meeting–there will be no race day registration this year, so don’t wait to sign up. Online registration will be active until Monday March 21st and those that don’t make that deadline can still sign up in person at packet pickup at DE Running Company in Greenville Thursday-Saturday.

Pike Creek Valley Running Club expresses its condolences to Becky Yencharis on the loss of both younger sister, Ann Lucas, and a good friend, Mim Rhoads, on March 9.

Boston Send-off Party & Spring Social
2011-04-13 Wednesday, 6:30-9:00pm

Location: Six Paupers – Hockessin DE

Join us as we wish our fellow PCVRC Boston marathoners a safe and successful marathon. Various appetizers/finger food will be served, compliments of the club. Drinks will be available from the bar.

Not yet a club member?
This is a great time to join the club and meet fellow members. Pick up your shirt on the spot and enjoy free food at events throughout 2011!
Non-members are encouraged to donate a few bucks towards food.

Although an RSVP is not necessary for this event it is always helpful if you can us know if you plan to attend to ensure that we have enough food for everyone.

Contact: Rachel Bleacher
Email:

Boston Marathon Qualifying Standards Changes
After a note from Joel Schiller, who is our club treasurer, but was writing as race director of the Delaware Marathon, about the changing standards for the Boston Marathon, I went to the baa.org website and read about them.

A little review of the registration history of the Boston Marathon is in order. With the advent of the running boom in the 1970s, the Boston Marathon started to become a bigger and bigger event. Around 1980, it adapted varying time standards for each sex and different age-groups, instead of a flat 3:10 qualifying time. Attendance started to increase into the thousands. In 1996 there was the hundredth anniversary of the event and the entries were unlimited. 30,000 participated, but the event resulted in the trashing of Hopkinton and the other small towns the course goes through. After than, entries were capped at about 15,000 for several years. But the event wasn’t filling up. Back then, people could run a qualifying time in February and use it to enter the Boston Marathon. In 2003, perhaps partially in response to the fact that the event wasn’t being filled, the time standards were relaxed for runners of middle age or older. By three years ago, BAA had worked things out well enough, coordinating with the small towns, that the entries had been raised to 20,000 with several thousand more charity and invited runners. But people could still register in February.

Then in the last few years, registration went from being sold out in January, to being sold out in November, to last October being sold out eight hours after registration opened. Obviously this deluge caught many runners off-guard and a number who had qualified and who had gone year after year were shut out. Now that BAA has deliberated on this situation, it has issued new rules.

I have to say I have mixed feelings about them. It’s obvious BAA had to do something, but the rules have skewed the event back towards being more elitist. How? Well, BAA is making sure that the fastest runners have the best opportunity of entering the event. Starting next September, registration will first be open to only people who have a qualifying time at least 20 minutes faster than the qualifying time standard for their age group. So, for instance, a 45 year-old male, who needs a 3:30 to qualify, would have to have a time under 3:10 in order to register in the first few days. Then, after several days, registration will open to people who have a time 10 minutes faster. Then five minutes faster. Only after two weeks will people with a qualifying time less than five minutes faster than their age-group standard be allowed to register – assuming there are slots left. I can imagine a mad scramble of people sitting by the keyboards to their computers ready to register when that day arrives.

For the 2013 registration, the time standards will get five minutes faster for every age group. Open males must run under 3:05 and open females under 3:35.

The positive in all this is that BAA has devised an orderly process for people to register. It needed to do something. But…. the negatives are:

1. In most situations in life you are either qualified to do something or you aren’t. People don’t get issued driver’s licenses in the order of their written test scores or their eye test. Everyone gets to drive. But for BAA, even if you’ve qualified, some are “more qualified” than others”.

2. What sort of stress in training and racing will these various levels of registration create? Will people take chances to qualify faster than five minutes and push themselves to injury in order to have a better shot at registering?

3. It used to be that running a fall marathon was the best option for qualifying because the time could count for both the next year, but also the year after that. With the registration process starting in mid-September, the fall marathons will be irrelevant to the following spring and would only be usable for the year after that. Spring marathons will assume a greater importance in qualifying, but will only be good for the next year.

4. What is to become of the marginally good runner? I count myself in this category. Looking back at the times I used for qualifying for the eleven Boston Marathons I have done, I see that in my fifties I mostly qualified with five or ten minutes to spare. Probably good enough to get in by the future standards. But lately it’s gotten tougher. I could have used a time that’s barely over five minutes faster for this year if I had chosen (which I didn’t). But for next year, I have a qualifying time that’s less than two minutes faster. And so it goes. In my late sixties, I slow down in chunks of several minutes each year at the marathon distance. It becomes a question of doing the training for a slight gain at the greater risk of injury with longer recovery. Not worth it to me. If I can get in, I’d better go next year because, with the faster times needed I may not be able to do it again.

I’m spoiled. I’ve been there eleven times. If I don’t get there again, not that big a deal for me. But what about the person who has similar abilities who hasn’t been there yet and really wants to go? What about the person who may only have one qualifying time in her or him? Seems to me this is where BAA is dropped the ball. It needs some provision for first-timers. Maybe a block of a thousand who can get in ahead of the other people who have been there before. That would mean I could be excluded to make room for a first-time runner. If BAA had rules like that, I’d be OK with them. Running the Boston Marathon is to marathon runners as going to Mecca is to Muslims. It’s something you have to do if you can. BAA needs to find a way to make sure that those who CAN qualify just once – WILL be able to register.
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Finally, two days before the Boston Marathon, I am registered for a marathon in Naragansett, Rhode Island, which has qualifying standards five minutes faster than the current Boston standards. The Gansett Marathon is billing itself as the only marathon, other than Olympic Trials into which people can enter by meeting qualifying time standards. In other words, no charity runners. The current issue of Runner’s World has an article about it. I can’t find an online link for that article yet, but here is a link to a previous article, discussing last year’s predecessor to this event, the Exeter Marathon.
http://www.runnersworld.com/article/1,7124,s6-243-297–13469-0,00.html.
Currently, I am the second oldest male registrant, but I have the slowest qualifying time for a male participant. Conceivably, I could end up being the last male finisher in the event and yet still qualify for Boston with my finishing time. To do that, I need to feel a bit better than I do right now.

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.

Awards Banquet
Deadline for mailing forms is Saturday Feb 19, so please download from http://www.pcvrc.com/pdf/banquet11.doc and send in soon. We hope to see as many members there as possible, especially if you haven’t attended an event lately!

Banquet Speaker
Guest speaker at our banquet next week will be Rachel Yoder, Program Director of Back on My Feet, Philadelphia Chapter. BOMF, founded in Philadelphia in 2007, is a nonprofit organization that promotes the self-sufficiency of homeless populations by engaging them in running as a means to build confidence, strength and self-esteem. They currently have locations in 7 cities across the country.

Club member Austin Gee has worked for BOMF and our club donated $250 to them from DDC 15K proceeds in 2010. It will be interesting to learn more about a growing charity that has such strong ties to running!

Last Chance for CR Discount:
If you have not yet registered and would like discount from current $50 entry, contact Ray () by 2/23 very latest to be on a team for $40 or possibly $35. Everyone runs complete race. First come, first served, no guaranteed placement on a particular team, since we may have to juggle to fill teams. Send your: name, address, phone, race day age, birth
date, T-shirt size, email (money later). Decent chance of getting a nice medal!

CR Pasta Dinner 3/26 at 6pm: Ray is again hosting a pre-race pasta dinner in “The Beer Room” (at his house near Delcastle). All are welcome, so please call soon 302-633-1482 with questions.

Club Sponsors Needed
Would your company be interested in sponsoring Delaware Distance Classic and
our club? For as little as $250, your logo appears on the race shirt and on
every page of our website year-round! See more benefits at
http://www.pcvrc.com/sponsor.php and call Ray with questions.

Richard Webb Checks In
Prez Ray had e-mailed Richard after he renewed his club dues. Club members will be interested in his response:

Ray – thanks for writing! As you will have seen from my address, I am living in Shanghai now with my wife Xiaoyan. Yes, I still run a little, with several of the local hashes here, but very slowly. I do follow the goings on at Pike Creek thanks to Dave’s regular updates. The continuing success in both Mid-Atlantic series is especially gratifying.

I occasionally return to Delaware for short visits, and meet up with the Hockessin hash when I can. Please give my apologies and regrets for missing the banquet again, and pass on my best wishes to all my running friends. Tell them there are some big races here in Shanghai – marathons and half marathons especially – so I would welcome anyone to visit us. Shanghai is one of the greatest places in the world now, both to live in and to visit.

News from the President
Awards Banquet
Deadline for mailing forms is next Saturday Feb 19, so please download from http://www.pcvrc.com/pdf/banquet11.doc and send in soon. We hope to see as many members there as possible, especially if you haven’t attended an event lately!

Winter Run Photos
A few photos of our recent Winter Run at Delcastle Recreation Area are here. Our events page will soon list tentative dates of coming fun runs. Walkers are also welcome at our events and invited to join the club.

Caesar Rodney Weekend: CR Half is 3/27.
If you have not yet registered and would like discount from current $50 entry, contact Ray() by 2/23 very latest to be on a team for $40 or possibly $35. Everyone runs complete race. First come, first served, no guaranteed
placement on a particular team, since we may have to juggle to fill teams. Send your: name, address, phone, race day age, birth date, T-shirt size, email (money later)

CR Pasta Dinner 3/26 at 6pm: Ray is again hosting a pre-race pasta dinner in “The Beer Room” (at his house near Delcastle). All are welcome, so please call soon 302-633-1482 with questions.

Delaware Distance Classic 15K preparations
As noted previously, we’re still looking for members willing to assist in planning DDC 15K. A new team is needed to continue the professional job that Dave Farren has done as Race Director since 1999. Joel Schiller, Jim Steele
and Ray Christensen met with Dave to begin the transition. If you’d even consider taking charge, let us know since each of us already organizes another race. You’d have plenty of support.

Anyone can contribute to a successful event by identifying potential club sponsors. For as little as $250-500, companies receive banner ads on our site, links in our eBulletin, logo on race shirts and other benefits.
See http://www.pcvrc.com/sponsor.php for details.

U of D Fun Run & Protest Run
Mark Deshon took some pictures at the Fun Run at Delaware Fieldhouse on
February 1. They can be seen here: http://www.ipa.udel.edu/deshon/CRR/events/fischerrc.html

Speaking of the U. of DE and the cancellation of the men’s running programs, we received the following:

Currently a group of runners in Newark Delaware are organizing a protest run against the University of Delaware cutting their men’s Cross Country and Track Teams. If you are interested in joining, the date is Feb. 20th at 9a.m. at the Fusion gym in Newark. This is not a race, and is not just for UD alumni. This is for any runner in the area.

The “Protest Run” will be about 3.5 miles down Main St. turning onto South College and out to the field house and then back. The starting point, Fusion Gym, is on Main St. @ 280 East Main St. on your right behind a couple of houses, right before you get to the new Mojo Cafe.

People don’t have to hold signs if they don’t want to, people are welcome to just come out and show their support by running. The more people we can get to come out the louder our footsteps will sound!
Thank you all for all of your support.
Chris Ward “UD alumni, former UDXC/TF runner”

Running in Vietnam
Club member Steve Thorpe, sent the following. Steve is a Vietnam Veteran and has been on such a trip:

This is an exciting opportunity to see Vietnam up close and support the work Kids First Enterprise is doing to support the poor and disadvantaged in
Vietnam. If you are interested in this adventure contact me for more details, possible fundraising opportunities to support you in this worthwhile program and if you know others that might be interested please forward the email to them. Have a good day, I look forward to hearing from you. Roger

Roger Ferrell, President
Kids First Enterprise<