RACE REPORT: God's Country Marathon

Note: Frank and Ron both raced God's Country Marathon in PA this weekend. Fortunately, both have excellent race reports, so I will not bore you with my interpretation of their races. You can go straight to the source. To read Frank's follow this link to his blog. He even has a few photos. Ron's is listed below.

Submitted By: Ron Flemming

This marathon is way off the beaten path up in northern Pennsylvania. It's a point-to-point course starting in a small town called Galeton and ending in another small town call Coudersport. There were 162 finishers.

To get to Coudersport, where we stayed, we had to drive through Galeton and then drive the course, up the hell, I mean hill, into town. Getting to drive and see the course was much anticipated because I had seen the elevation chart and it was very intimidating. Miles 1-17 were all uphill. 15-17 were very steep. Mile 18 was the peak.

We did packet pickup and pasta dinner at the Coudersport fire department and had an early night. The morning of the race we met other runners at the finish and we were shuttled to Galeton in an old school bus. The bus took us back "down" Route 6 to Galeton High School where the start was.

The strategy....Go slooow...I wanted to really pace myself through the peak and have enough in me to run backside of the hill respectably. The first mile or so took us away from the direction of the finish and we did an out and back and then weaved back through a few blocks of Galeton. I think around mile 3 or 4 we got on Route 6 and started the climb toward Coudersport. We ran on the left side of the highway with oncoming traffic. There was plenty of room and not a whole lot of traffic.

I managed to keep a pretty slow pace and worked in some walk-run up the steeper hills and usually while drinking the fluids I picked up at the aid stations. They had aid stations every mile and that was awesome. Every 5 miles they had GUs. The aid stations really seemed to come quick and break up the monotony of the lonely road. Again, there weren't many runners, so conversation was scarce.

Route 6, the longest segment of the course, was pretty much just a country road through the mountains. It was beautiful. But there was the weirdest thing...In between the white line and the actual shoulder of the road, there were caterpillars everywhere...You could hear them popping with each step. It sounded like bubble wrap. I even have a couple stains on the top of my shoes from caterpillar splatter. One guy that ran a little bit in front of me for a while was running almost in the center of the road when there wasn't oncoming traffic...I quickly realized that was the thing to do. There was also a couple feet of packed cinder/small gravel just off the shoulder of the road that was nice to run on, so I took advantage of that as well...which eventually landed me a rock in the left shoe around mile 22.

Back to mile 15....The climb was actually not that bad...It was worse than anything this flat-lander was used to, but I just made sure to pace myself to the point were I never really got concerned. You could have made that hill as hard as you wanted to...I did some hard walking, but once the peak was in view I ran the rest. In retrospect, I probably could have pushed myself harder up the hill, but I'm pleased with how it worked out. Getting to the peak was a great feeling...It was a huge mental and physical boost. Knowing the climb was behind me really put all the worries away and I was feeling pretty good. The mile after the peak was my 2nd to fastest mile...I was stoked about getting over that hill. I swear it felt like I had 100lbs lifted off my back.

So there really wasn't much left...I just ran as hard as I could for the remainder. I really didn't start feeling like I was giving out until I reached Coudersport and those last two miles started getting long and hot. We turned left off of Route 6 and ran into a neighborhood before getting on Main Street Coudersport. I'm really glad they ran the course that way because the last aid station ("unofficial" aid station), at about mile 26, was in front of some one's house and there were lots of people out there and they had a table of home-brewed beer...That was a nice touch to the near-finish.

Once I hit Main Street I really picked up the pace and stretched it out until the end. Even though my time (4:30:35) was longer than the Flying Pig, I felt much better about this race. I felt much better through those last few miles and felt like I was able to finish much stronger than in Cincinnati.

We finished on Main Street right off the side of the Coudersport courthouse. After finishing (and receiving a lame medal) I walked around for a little while to cool down and then sat on a park bench watching runners finish...until caterpillars started taking over the bench and falling out of the trees. I mean they were everywhere.Great trip, great race...Nice rural scenery, friendly people and volunteers and very well supported.

Results:
Ron: 4:30:35 (107th)
Frank: 5:37:45 (150th)
Overall: Link
For a graphical view of Ron's Race click to the right

Kerr Lake Race Recap

This weekend, four RMEC members competed in the Kerr Lake Triathlon. This popular event draws big crowds, and 2009 was no exception. 284 athletes started the race on Sunday. Mary Whitwell thrived in the event, taking full advantage of a longer swim distance. From the moment the horn sounded she was on a tear with her swim. Only eight women in the entire event came out of the water faster than she did. . . In fact only 47 men could stay ahead of her pace! She followed up with a solid bike, and then the self proclaimed "non-runner" drops a 54 minute 10k (wow!) and takes 3rd in her age group.

Jennifer Crumley also had a strong performance in her debut at the international tri distance. Like Mary, she excelled in the swim portion of the race followed by a strong bike. A solid 10k gave her a total time of 3:00:16. This was strong enough for 4th in her age group, only missing the podium by 31 seconds! Great job Jennifer.

On the men's side, Dave Lavely and Jeff Miller continued their friendly competition finishing close yet again. Jeff had one of his best swims to date, and an impressive performance on the bike. Where he really shined however was in the run, when he ran a 41:41 10k! This is only 30 seconds off his 10k time at Ford's Colony last year. Only seven places and three minutes behind came Dave. His 40k bike time of 1:13:07 was the fastest of the RMEC, and help to secure him to a 8th place finish in his very competitive age group. Overall his finishing time was 2:31:51.

Below are the splits for every one. The men's split rankings are based on all finishers. The women's splits are just among the female athletes

Jeff 2:28:55 (13th age group)
Swim -- 27:57 (63)
Bike -- 1:16:11 (137)
Run -- 41:41 (22)

Dave 2:31:51 (8th age group)
Swim -- 28:52 (89)
Bike -- 1:13:07 (101)
Run -- 45:09 (55)

Mary 2:46:39 (3rd age group)
Swim -- 27:42 (9)
Bike -- 1:20:45 (38)
Run -- 54:09 (33)

Jennifer 3:00:16 (4th age group)
Swim -- 29:48 (28)
Bike -- 1:24:44 (40)
Run -- 59:06 (54)

Great job everyone!

Good Luck Racers!

The RMEC is once again doing some racing this weekend. For starters, Ron and Frank are heading to PA to run in the God's Country Marathon. Other than one hill, the course is entirely down hill. The only problem is the 17 miles long, with a peak grade at 6%. The elevation profile for this race is unbelievalbe. As Dave said, "Maybe you will see God". Good luck guys. . . I think you are going to need it.

Closer to home, Dave, Mary, Jeff, and Jennifer are tackling the Kerr Lake Triathlon in Henderson, NC. This international distance tri will a break nice challenge for everyone with a 1500 meter open water swim, 40k bike, and a 10k run. Good luck everyone!

On a side note. . . congrats to John and Derek for getting in the New York City Marathon!

RUN RSVP: Saturday 06/06

EVERYONE COME OUT TO RUN TOMORROW! The sun is up very early now, so I have change the start time to 6:30 for now. We will probably start to go even earlier as the summer heat builds up. We are meeting at the Harris Teeter lot as normal. If this is your first run, we park beside the post office building. Just look for a bunch of people wearing "short-shorts". . . that will be us.

The routes are 6 and 9 mile options. I know many of you are ahead of this with your training right now. You are welcome to do more, but do be mindful that you are about to start a long hot training program. Giving your body a "fresh start" is not a bad idea.

Run Details:

• Where: Saturday, 6:30 am @ Harris Teeter
• Supported: Yes - at the tracks
• Weather: Forecast
• Routes: 6 Miles, 9 Miles

PLEASE REVIEW THE ROUTES. These are roads that we have done many times, but we are going in a reverse order. To view the written directions, click on "Tools" and then "Route Notes". You can copy-and-paste these, and then print them if needed.

Fluids will be at the tracks. Both routes only hit the fluids once. If you need more, please bring a bottle to carry with you. We got a break in the weather. It looks like it will be 64 and 69 when we finish. This should make for some pretty comfortable running.

We will probably take five minutes to meet everyone before we head out on the roads. Please post a comment (members or non-members) to let me know you are coming. This way I can mix the correct amount of fluids. Post your pace as well, so people will know who they can run with. Remember, weekends are long/slower training runs. Don't feel like you need to impress anyone running a fast pace. . . just come out and enjoy a run!

Let's Get It Started!

It is finally time for the Marine Corps Marathon training to begin! It may seem like the October 25 race is far away on the calendar, but now is the time for us to start building up our miles.

As a reminder we have 30 runners from our area training for this race. Not only does this make for a super exciting race weekend, it also makes for a far more enjoyable training program. Previously I posted a long run schedule for our weekend runs. You of course are welcome to select the plan that is right for you, but I will use these long runs to plan the weekend routes for us. You can always adjust to meet your needs.


Tomorrow morning I will post a RUN RSVP, and encourage everyone to come out for a run (even if you are not training for a marathon). My true hope is that we can all find some good training partners for when you need one. Solo running is fine too, but you never know when you will need someone to push you through an 18 mile run on a hot day, so meeting other runners is nice.

Next week I will post the first names of everyone who I know that is signed up. I had previously emailed the Marine Corps runners about sending a few snippets of information about you. Most of you I have heard from. I mainly plan to use it to introduce everyone to the group, and to help you find people around your pace.

So lets get excited! We are about to start a 21 week journey as we train for the marathon!

Fun Run Results

As with many local races, there are too many participants for me to write something about every one's performance. I will once again try to hit a few highlights from the RMEC, and I have listed the club members and their families below. With such a big group, I am sure I missed someone. Please email me or post a comment if you see someone I missed.

First and foremost, what a great event, and what a great showing by the RMEC and the RMEK. Everywhere you looked you would see one of our shirts. If you check out the photos on the Telegram site, it is like looking at our own personal slide show. This is a great sign for our club that we come out to support our local races.

The RMEK made me me proud to be a part of our club. These kids were AMAZING. We all owe Tracy Proctor a tremendous thank you for having the nerve to and the passion to create this program. We also owe that same thanks to Misty and Elaine for coaching the group at the Sports Complex. And none of it would have been possible without the volunteers who came out. If you never made it to one of the training sessions, you really missed out on some extraordinary kids. We will be looking for your help in the fall when we start again

Official Results
Telegram Photos
RMEK Photos

Here are the results:

-------5k -------
1 ASHLEY BASS 18:21
8 EVAN BRONDYKE 19:55
14 ZACH SHEA 21:14
16 TIM SHEA 21:32 6:56
40 TRAVIS HARTNEY 25:11
47 THOMAS THURMAN 25:53
91 MICHAEL FORRESTER 31:29
99 MURRAY SCHMITT 32:00
105 GRIFFIN WINGFIELD 32:25
107 MACKENZIE PROCTOR 32:25
109 ELAINE WEISNER 32:48
171 CYNTHIA LUCAS 50:28

------- 10k -------
6 KEVIN BOUDREAU 47:20
8 GERRY FELTON 49:36
11 ERIC PATE M 51:24
23 RYAN BULLARD 57:48
26 ARTHUR BENNETT 59:41
28 JON SHINGLETON 1:00:37
29 INDY CHESIS 1:00:48
33 WINSLOW ROGERS 1:02:41
35 AMBER POOLE 1:04:16
40 ROSS CHANDLER 1:07:26
45 CAROL DICKENS 1:10:00
48 INGRID BULLARD 1:16:42

------- 15k -------
6 ANTHONY LUCAS 1:12:42
10 SCOTT WINGFIELD 1:14:32
11 BRENT BRONDYKE 1:19:38
12 WILLIAM LUCAS 1:19:49
16 RON FLEMING 1:21:09
18 LEVI MOORE 1:22:40
19 LAURA HAYNES 1:23:33
30 DEBI BRONDYKE 1:37:01

Highlights:

• Laura Haynes won the 15k with an impressive 1:23:33. Way to go Laura!
• Ashley Bass continues his streak of victories wining the 5k in 18:21.
• New member Ross Chandler ran his first 10k (I believe) in very strong 1:07:26.
• Ryan Bullard ran a 57:48 10k while pushing a stroller!
• Scott Wingfield finished 3rd in his age group with a pace under 8:00.
• Hailee Griffin and Mackenzie Proctor placed 2nd and 3rd in their age group among much older children
• William Lucas ran a 1:19:49 15k, after running with the RMEK for the first two miles.
• New member Winslow Rogers left the bike at home and ran a 1:02:41 in the 10k.
• Zach Shea out kicked his dad Tim to finish in 14th place in the 5k
• Ashley, Zach, Mackenzie, Evan, Misty, Elaine, Eric, Kevin, Gerry, Carol, Laura, Anthony, Scott, Brent, William, and Debi all earned awards in their races!

Next Up for the RMEC. . .

• Marine Corps Training kicks of this weekend. Lets try to have 30+ runners show up so we can all meet each other. We will have a 6-mile and a 9-mile route planned. Get your training started on the right foot. . . don't start out behind.
• Ford's Colony 5k and 10k - As a reminder, we are open for registration. We need your help spreading the word. Thanks to Tim Shea and the people at Eagle Press, we have lots of race brochures. Please help us get these spread out around Rocky Mount, Wilson, Tarboro, Roanoke Rapids, Raleigh, Cary, etc. Registration is open and going well. Right now we have four times the number of entries in the 10k over the 5k. Also, don't forget we added a 1.5 mile Fun Run.

RACE REPORT: Lake Kristi Triathlon

Submitted By: Steve Cooper

Bitten by the TRI bug… I participated in my second sprint triathlon this weekend in Greenville, NC—the Lake Kristi Tri at Parker Overton’s private oasis. The swim was a 700 meters swim—which is 465 yards more than the 300 yard swim I did at the Roanoke Valley Tri. The swim is in a man made lake created for Parker’s daughter to practice competition slalom skiing. This was my first open water swim event. When you look at 300 yards—or 12 laps in a pool—it doesn’t look that far. However, when you look at the halfway point of a 700 meter swim, it looked like a long distance. And while I swam it slow, it wasn’t too tough. I finished 95th in the swim out of 129 participants.

I learned a lot about the need for quicker transitions from my first Tri and feel that I saved a few minutes there. I had purchased a used Trek triathlon bike and procrastinated once again and only got one training ride on it the Wednesday before the event. This Tri bike had Aero bars and I had never ridden a bike using them before—but it was quite enjoyable. I was able to cut 7 minutes off my bike time from my previous Tri event. The bike route wasn’t tough, but there was a lot of wind—that always felt like it was a head wind. Frank—you’ll be glad to know that it didn’t take me quite as long to get my feet in the pedal straps this time. The bike felt extremely comfortable the whole ride and I was able to transition to the run without as much resistance as the time before. I finished 84th in the bike leg out of 129 participants.

The run was around Parker Overton’s private golf course and property—which is really nice by the way—and I finished with the 29th fastest run time out of 129 participants. Overall, I finished 72nd out of 129 participants and absolutely had a blast. The post race food was great. My favorites were the watermelon and cinnamon & raisin bagels with walnut cream cheese spread—yummy.

From where I finished in the swim and the bike legs, I know where I need to work to improve the most. Eric and I are going to do the Outer Banks Sprint Triathlon on August 23rd and we’d love to have a bunch more join us. Come on out and tri—I know you can do it.