2008 June «

Steve errrr I mean Elvis lives

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6/29/08

Well if we are grading on the curve then the Trotters just got faster. We have a new member in our ranks. Local speedster Brigid Freyne joins us. Welcome to the Temecula Trotters Brigid.

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6/29/08

Looks like Kim and her buddy Polly made the trip to San Diego to do the San Diego International Triathlon. I see where Polly won her AG and Kim finished near the top of her AG. I haven’t had the opportunity to talk with her yet so I don’t have any more to report.

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Thinkin’ out LOUD again (cross training)

Any of you interested in getting together for some Road Bike rides on the weekends? Im thinking a morning ride here in town somewhere. Maybe 10-20-30 miles with a destination. Perhaps a Starbucks or Jamba juice, something of the like at perhaps the half way mark. Stop have a cup of Java or glass of juice and then head back. Or maybe a ride without a stop. Any ideas?

And I personally would like to find someone to train with who rides just a bit faster than me and thats most any of you. Just bring earplugs or an Ipod.

Of course we will keep doing our MTB rides when we can fit them into everyones schedule.

Any of you interested in learning to kayak? There is a place down in Mission Bay in San Diego that rents kayaks and has lessons/ tours etc. They have a beginner lesson that runs 3 hrs and cost like $35. Then you can try out any of their kayaks for the rest of the day. Or you can simply rent kayaks at $15/hr 40 half day 50 all day. I was thinking that it would be a bunch of fun if we could get a group together and carpool down there and have some fun together. Here is their addy in case any of you want to take a peek:
http://www.aqua-adventures.com/

Ive heard that a few of the “new” triathletes in our mist are considering doing the Mission Bay Tri later this summer. It would be good idea to do a day down at Mission Bay and do some open water swimming. It helps with “knowing the water” getting over not having a line on the bottom to follow and you get to learn about “sighting” (how you keep going straight) So if any of you would like to go as a small group, then let me know and I’ll put something together. If any of you newbies need any wetsuit help/suggestions I can offer a bit of direction there also.

July Birthdays
    12th–Victor Lopez
              Craig Pulido
    16th–Lori Castille
    24th–Bob Ingertson

Dues Payable ($40/60)

April: none
May: Ryan & Cristina Moore
June: Beth Abshire
Steve Altfillisch

Monica Capler/Darren Gill
Herman & Lori Castille
Jennifer Coyle
Leslie Delaney
Matt & Andrea Haley
Pat & Darcy Hernandez
Mike Jennings

Jack Lenzo
Kim Parris
Amberlee Robbins
Tracey Scholtemeyer
Taimi Schweighardt
Iain Scott
Ami Shea
Bill Wright

July Membership Expirations ($40/60)
Brad & Teresa Burt
Marta Mejia

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Third Quarter Club Races
    7/12 Guajome Lake 5k
    8/17 Americas Finest City (AFC) Half/ 5k
    9/14 Temecula FIT 5/10k

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT HOLMAN

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Hot Day….Cool Event

The 22nd Annual TinMan Triathlon

The Start of the 5k run..photo by Tracy Ellis

What a turnout by the Trotters! We had 11 Trotters competing and 2 more Trotters rooting us on ( Noni and Tracy E). The Tri Chicks were there in force with I think 2 more friends. Kim was there with her entourage of Polly, Marc, and Martin. And soon to be “I think” Trotter Brigid was there.

I’ve raced this Tri for the past 6 years and it seems to stay the same with the exception of the run. The first couple of years I did the race it was about 3.3 miles. Then it was shortened to about 3.2. Last year it was about 2.8 and this year someone said it was 3.45. All this would be fine were it not that it drives you crazy trying to compare one year with another. For instance in 06′ Dan won the Mens O/A and Brigid won the Womens O/A. Comparing their times from the two years (and my own for that matter) Dans time was just over 2 minutes longer this year, Brigids just over a minute longer and the same for me. (Wasn’t that slick how I talked about myself in the same sentance with those the breathe the rarefied air? LOL.)

Perhaps the difference was the distance alone or perhaps its because IT WAS SO FLIPPING HOT YESTERDAY!. Ok, it wasn’t Xterra Hot, but it was I’d imagine mid to upper 80’s. During the run I kept unzipping my tri suit to get more air to my body but I was getting zipper-nipple rub on my right side and so I had to keep going up and down with my zipper, I know waaay too much information.

My goal for the day was to take as much time back out of Bob/Barb and Taimi as I could after the run. I know that I’m about 4 minutes slower in a 5k than Bob or Barb and Light years behind the Taiminator. As I came into T1 I could see Bob just leaving. I think he was having a bad day. As I left T1 Tracy hollared out that I was a minute or so behind Bob and 4 behind Barb. I didnt know it but Taimi was 10 minutes ahead. Well I got lucky that Bob was having a bad day and I caught up with him early on. I slowed up a bit and we talked for a few minutes about Nuclear proliferation, the price of a barrel of oil, Global Climate Change, and girls n’ stuff and off I went. As I hit the bottom of the big hill and started the looong slooow climb I started to watch the riders that were coming back down at Mach 1. The first I recognized was Brigid or at least I think it was Brigid. I sorta saw a blondish tourquoise streak and heard a loud whooshing sound. The next one I heard coming. I was looking at the ground at the time and watching the sweat drip from my helmet when I heard this loud squeeking/howling sorta sound. I looked up to see a smoke cloud heading my way. What was it? A rider on fire, a smoke bomb? No…it was Taimi, eyes the size of Silver Dollars and her brakes melting on the rims. Thru the smoke I could just make out her white knuckles. It was just a moment later that I saw Kimzilla go by with that look she gets on her face, you know the one, the take no prisoners look. She was haulin ahh… the mail (see how I cleaned that up)

Next I come up on Martin who is walking off the mountain with a flat. He had to walk back about 3 miles in his socks. Bummer.

Next I came upon a couple people gathered around a guy on the ground who had collapsed into the bushes. I think a heart attack. ( I later heard that they had 3 people go down in the heat). I finally made it to the top an got to enjoy the high speed E ticket ride back down. I cant imagine how fast the fast people are but I later checked and I’d hit 43.4mph on that hill while dodging other slower riders.

As I got back to the half way mark (where we went right by transiton and the crowd) Tracy hollared out “Barbs 2 minutes ahead, go get her”. I kept on keepin on and I did manage to catch her with about a mile left. Now I thought I’d put her away but apparently she liked the view following me and wanted a closer look because when I got off my bike at T2 she was all but up me bum. Well by this time my needle is on “E” and I can’t run barefoot on a bet. I hear Tracy now hollaring “Go Barb get Doug” (apparently she’s changed alliances) Barb passed me back on the sidewalk to the pool. I get in the pool and swim one of the 4 lengths and at the first wall what do I see but Barb just pushing off. Turns out she had water in her goggles and didn’t want to lose a contact lens. Here was my second chance to race her in the water. I came off that wall just about 5′ off her rear and when I did my left calf locked up like Ft Knox. I was in pain, I stopped took a breath and held it then put my head in the water and tried to massage my knot. Then I tried to bounce of the bottom, anything to relieve the pain. Nothing worked so I just tried to swim as best I could. I ended up swimming with one leg kicking (the one with the immobile foot) and dragging the other behind me like I was chumming for sharks. Barb would beat me by 30 some seconds. Made her day and getting to race with her made mine.

Brigid, Bob and Doug. Bob looked great in the swim and Brigid is telling him the Olympic trials are next week and he should go. Photo by Tracy Ellis

Good friends, Good times. This is a picture of a Natural High. Boston Barb doesn’t know it yet but she’s just won her second Tri. And watch out World, the Tiaminator is coming to a Tri near you to kick some butt. Once she gets the bike figured out were all in trouble. Photo by Tracy Ellis

So heres what the day looked like by the numbers (there were 359 participants)

Kims friend Marc won the overall. (OA race, mens OA and his AG)
Kims friend Polly won her AG and the Womens OA and 9th O/A race
Dan D won his AG and was 7th OA/race
Eric C was 2nd AG and 11th OA/race
Brigid F was 2nd in her AG, 2nd woman OA and 21st/race
Kim P won her AG, was 7th Woman OA and 49th O/A race
Taimi S was 4th AG in her debut appearance, was 19th woman and 103 OA/race
Barb F won her AG (2 triathlons and shes won them both) 27th woman and 137 OA/race
Doug S was 5th AG 112th Man and 139th O/A race
Darcy H was 7th AG 40th woman and 185th O/A race
Karrie C was 8th AG 43rd woman and 192 O/A race
Bob I was 3rd AG 157th Man and 205 O/A race
Erica K was 12th AG 69th Woman and 244 O/A race
Leslie D ( I cant find her in the results. Did you DNF Leslie?)

The race this year had more participants, was better organized, had lots of booths, just all around a better race. Not that it wasn’t already a nice little race. It just got better. Oh and they put out a pretty good goody bag to boot.

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NEW TIMES: Monday & Wednesday Night runs are moving to 6:30 PM for the Summer months.

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Hey Look, Darcy and Karrie finished and they look great!

Karrie and Darcy still stylin’ after what turned out to be a tuff race, and look at that smile on Karries face. It was a great day.

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The Tinman is this Sunday and I wanted to serve notice to Bob and Barb and Taimi that you guy’s might want to run PR’s in the 5k and put rearview mirrors on your bicycles cause Im coming to get you – hehehe dg

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Well the TinMan Triathlon is this coming Sunday and if the rumors are true the Trotters will be well represented. I’ve heard that Kim, Taimi, and Barb are going (this will be Taimis Tri debut) I’ve heard that Dan D is going to defend his title or at try to get it back (he won the overall in 06′ I believe) Don’t know whether or not Brigid is going to defend her title or not. But I’d imagine so. Ingy is going, as are I’ve heard, 2 of the Tri Chicks. I’m thinking Darcy and Karrie but I could be wrong. I also think that Linda D is going to make it.  Rumor has it that Tracy Ellis is going to show up wearing a High School Cheerleader outfit. Dont forget the Pom Poms. And pig tails would be nice. Maybe Tino will be there if memory serves and obviously YT will be there.

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“Dave, the wear pattern on you running shoes suggest you watch too much TV”

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6/14/08

TROTTER TV

Today at various times on various stations ( in the 600-650 range on Direct TV) they are showing the Rock and Roll Marathon. Im assuming its the San Diego round. Enjoy

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Swimmers:

Chaparall HS pool is “supposedly” going to be open this coming Monday. It normally is open for 2 months during the summer and it takes some of the load off of the CRC pool. I know they will be open from 11:30AM – 12:30PM. Im not sure if they have early AM hours or an afternoon session but I will check with the lifeguards on Monday and will post any additional info.

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“I started running last year because I’d done bicycling, I’d done Pilates, I’d done Yoga, but my backside still looked like a bag of ferrets fighting” – Sarah Freguson, The Dutchess of York

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Starting this coming Saturday the morning runs at the park are being moved up/back to 6:00 AM in an attempt to beat the heat.

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Just going back thru the Fontana results. Boston Barb was complaining about sore quads the other day and now I know why. She averaged 7:50mpm !!! in the half. I’m “almost” speechless.

Looks like Scott Holman and his wife Lorie also ran the race. Scott averaged 8:20 and Lorie 9:50. Dang isnt any one out there my speed?

Taimi didnt run this event………..she flew it…low level on the deck like a fighter jet, at a 6:25 pace!!

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6/11/08

Happy Birthday Eric

The Dipsea – by Eric Clifton
the big event for my birthday was last weekend when we made the long trip up to marin county/ mill valley (just north of SF) for a run at the second oldest race in the country and the oldest trail race in the country. unfortunately i got hooked on the event and will probably have to keep coming back now that i have finally started it. it was the 98th running of the Dipsea race, a 7.1(ish) mile race from Mill Valley to Stinson Beach. it is a huge deal in the norcal running community. it is also one of the few handicap race races around. everyone is age and sex graded and starts according to set handicaps. since my birthday was 3 days after the race i kinda got screwed but just as well. the first age groups to start, men over 75, boys 6 and under and girls 8 and under started at 8:30 and then other age groups until 8:55 which is the “scratch” age group (men 19-30) which is when the official race clock starts. the race is so popular there are two sections, one is the invitational (for veterans and more competitive runners) and the runner/open section for novices and slower runners. same handicaps but the runner division starts at 8:57 and runs to 9:22 (9:22 being the scratch runners’ start) the race only takes 1500 +/- runners, 750 in each section and tons do not get in each year. top 350 from the previous year are automatically allowed in but this is difficult for a runner/open division athlete to do. a scratch open runner has to pass on mostly narrow, difficult single track trail about 1150 runners to achieve that position. noni and i both applied for entry and being first timers did not expect to get in. well, noni didn’t but i did and luckily they listened to my petition for inclusion in the invitational division so i was able to start w/ the fast guys. my start time was 8:50 so i had a 5 minute handicap on the young guys. because of the handicap nature the race winner can be and usually is someone from one of the handicaped starts. last year’s winner was 56 yo female jamie berns. they have awards for top 5 overall, 1st high school m/f and best time (the fastest runners not necessarily the winners) m/f. they also award the black t-shirt for the top 35 with finish position on back. these black t-shirts are very coveted by norcal runners. i thought i had a really good shot at the black tshirt. oh yeah, one other thing; the race is on a moderately open course. over the years park and race officials have grown more restrictive but there still remain “alternative” routes. some longer but faster and some significantly shorter but more hazardous. this is one event where local knowledge is a definite plus. especially when competing with guys w/ major handicaps who are still fast. alot of the top runners have run the race literally for decades. jack kirk holds the record at 67 consecutive finishes starting in 1930 with his last finish in 2002 at the age of 95. he died last year at age 100.

just one half mile after the start i hit the infamous stairs. there are three flights with a total of 671 steps. the first time i did these i bounded up. this time, in part due to the incredible crowding and to save my quads, i powerhiked up the steps. i had just learned a shortcut on the first flight of steps the day before and had already made the turn when i noticed the property owners had marked the shortcut off w/ a no trespassing sign so it was back to the crowd. i passed dozens climbing up the steps and no one passed me there. after the steps i had trouble taking off at full run again and a couple of people passed me. after about a mile i started getting runners from starts after mine catching me but only one guy i knew from my age group start. i got into high speed then and chased up to the first “alternative” split at suicide. this shortcut is significantly shorter than the longer route but is very narrow and steep the first 100 yards. when i got there the majority of runners went down suicide. since i had been riding the brakes in the more gentle sections due to catching up to previous start groups i chose the longer route . there were only 3 people on my way and we weren’t that close so i could run all out and when i merged back w/ the other runners i had passed 12-20 runners who had taken the shorter route and passed the other runner i knew to be in my start group never to see him again. just after that section (around two miles) we headed uphill for the next 2.5 miles sometimes on narrow, rooty, rocky trails, sometimes on wide service roads. in the narrow sections the trail was tres crowded and very difficult to pass.   i had been warned by locals that being nice and running dipsea well are mutually exclusive and i was around people who did push and shove and yell a little but i can’t force myself to do that. i passed people as carefully as i could. luckily for a couple of really crowded hairy sections i had a yeller right behind and i took advantage of his yelling at everyone “WALK ON THE RIGHT, RUN ON THE LEFT” most of the way up the hill. his yelling at everyone slowed him enough i could stay in front of him until we finally hit a wide section near the top and i pulled over and let him fly past. beside the fact that i find it rude yelling at people like that i was having enough trouble just breathing so he saved me alot of breath. of course, after the race i discovered that the slightly longer but much easier and less crowded running along the service road almost the whole way up was a legal “alternate” route. had i chosen that route… but no regrets as the trail section tho slower, steeper and congested was also a lot more fun. after the top (cardiac- 4.5 miles) it is mostly a blitz downhill. nice wide service road for about one mile and then we come to the “swoop” shortcut. since there were only a few people on here by this time i took the shortcut but did have a guy behind me yelling all the way. there were just a couple of people ahead of us and he yelled to let them know we were coming thru and then when we got past this older lady (around 60ish) he started yelling encouragement at me. he was screaming “keep it up, catch those guys, go,go, go, push hard”. man, to have that kind of energy. but he did help as i was really hammering just to stay out of his way and to avoid his fury. finally we hit a wide spot and i pulled over to let him blast on by. i continued pushing but he was lost to sight almost instantly. i bet he got a black shirt for sure.  just before six miles there is a steep downhill section that has lots of steps. these are not the benign steps in the beginning which are mostly nice and evenly spaced. these are ground coloured, steep, windy steps with occasional roots, rocks and low hanging trees and going down to be navigated at top speed. this section is usually my nemesis. fear is very operative as i know one slip here and i would bounce down 30-40 feet on steep, hard steps probably on my face or some other cherished body part. yet on this day i ran great. abandoned timidness and bounded down as fast as i possibly could go. heard someone take a major header behind me (i hope they survived, i couldn’t even glance back to see) and passed one guy who, when starting his fall on the steps, threw himself over the side to the safer ravine part of the trail and was climbing back onto the trail. at the bottom i crossed the wooden bridge and then headed up the short last climb dubbed “insult” by racers. i had been given a place number near the bridge by a guy with a counter as number 51. over the next mile, tho i could see in places 20- 30 people ahead i could only manage to move between 48th to 54th position. we came to another alternative route section which combines nice paved road running with some very treacherous, narrow steep trail running on one route and nice rolly, wide service road running on the other.  i took the one most people were doing which is the fun paved road/treacherous trail section. passed a couple people here but was also passed by a couple of people here. my one injury happened around here. as i was zipping downhill i caught an older geezer but as i was nicely stepping off the trail to go around my foot hit an unevenness and i stumbled a little. i grabbed at some foliage with my left but still bobbled enough to throw a good shoulder into the guy i was passing. i apologized to him over my shoulder letting him know i hadn’t meant to body check him off the trail. a few hundred yards later i noticed my hand was bleeding. the branch i had grabbed ripped some skin off my thumb. some fun. finally got to the infamous, hazardous ”stile” which is a beam placed between two posts about one foot off the ground. that in itself is not so dangerous but the ground drops down very steeply right after down to the paved road for the last 1/4 mile to the finish. no one around me fell at the stile and i stumbled a little but survived well and then everyone just sprinted for the finish. i was going all out but still had some kid zip by me almost in the finish chute. i finished in 53d and with the 53 fastest time (a rarity) in 56:15(clock time) and 1:01:14 (run time). two minutes and 5 seconds short of a black t-shirt. if i had the 50 yo handicap that would have cut my time by one minute but would still have not squeaked in for the top 35. the winner of the race did start in the 50 yo age group, veteran Roy Rivers who ran 47:24 (clock time) and 53:23 (run time- the 6th fastest). the first guy in my start group was Greg Nacco who i was ahead of at the top of the steps and who i never saw pass me and yet finished 15th overall in 51:42 (clock time) and 56:42 (run time- the 20th fastest). i’d love to know what routes he took. first woman was 66 yo Melody Ann Schultz who finished 5th overall in 50:00 (clock time) and 1:11:59 (run time-the 334th fastest).

thanks so much for including my write-up with the newsletter.

harpy tails,

jester

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6/10/08

Monica has posted a comment below about her race this weekend. Click on her comment on the left side of the page to view it. She also wants to know if anyone in the club is going to run the 5k in Downtown Anaheim next Saturday.

http://www.downtownanaheim.com/

6/08/08 Idylwild 5K Race Report -Maurice Beidler

I always looked forward to Idyllwild as it was held the last weekend before school was over. So, if I made it to Idyllwild, chances were pretty good I survived another school year, and they might even let me go home if I got all my paperwork done. So I headed up the hill Saturday for my 14th Idyllwild 5K. It was 52 degrees when I left Temecula, and it was.. 52 when I got there. Pretty warm for the mountains. I was hoping to break 22, but finished in 22:27. I won my age group, and finished 21st overall. I think 11 of the people ahead of me live in Idyllwild, so apparently that helps. I did beat my times in 06 and 04. In 03 I did break 22, and in 94 (that would be 1994 for you youngsters, not 1894) I broke 21, and in 87 I ran a 19:45. I guess this is what they call progress. You can see where this is going to end up. There were about 150 in the 5K, and I would guess about 50-75 in the 10K. Quite a few people did both-in fact, the same guy won both races. Maurice

Thanks for the Race Report Maurice. I love it when you guys send me reports. doug

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California Multi Sport Race, Vail Lake CA.

Today our own Kim Parris competed in the very first of its kind, 3 sport Multi sport race held at Vail lake. It was originally scheduled to be held at Lake Piru but logistical problems required it be moved to our back yard. Im guessing that may have been just a bit too enticing for Kim to pass up. And truth be told, had I been able to sell that kidney I’d have raced too.

This race was sort of like an off road Triathlon only the swim had been replaced with a Kayak leg. The organizers claim that they will mix up the order of the disiplines at each race. For this race the 10k run (approximate) was the first challenge. According to Kim they had to cross a swamp 2 times, and a stream crossing early in the race so you were running with wet socks…weeeeeeee. After the run came a 5 1/2 mile Kayak around the perimeter of Vail Lake. That took most competitors over an hour. Then came a 15 mile off road MTB ride. I think the winner crossed the line in about 2.5 hrs. I think the last place was probably going to be about 5hrs ( I left before they came in)

It got hot today but not as hot as it was for Xterra. The day started off Beeeautifully. And it pretty much stayed that way. The race was to start at 10AM. I got there at 8AM as I wanted to see everything and to gather as much data as I could. It looked as though I’d pulled in right behind Kim. Only a few minutes passed before Ingy showed. Then we were standing around talking before the race when we saw Barb, Mark and Tracy there to spectate also. Now thats team/club support when 5 of us go out to support 1. Pretty damn cool.

As I was leaving Kim hollared out ” So do you want to do one of these races now?” I smiled, winked and said “Oh yeah”

This is Kim in her $3000 Carbon Fiber Cadillac of a Kayak she rented. “Stylin”. Here she is finishing up the Kayak leg. (photo by Tracy Ellis)

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This is Kims Race thru Tracy Ellis’s eyes:

I really enjoyed watching Kim and her competitors do their multi ‘ache’ event at Veil lake.
    Contrary to Doug’s prediction, Kim’s ‘Dirt Nap’ name didn’t get changed to ‘Splash’. She should be very proud of that fact because about 1/5 of the participants did indeed go home with that name. With the help of the nice folks who provided rental Kayaks, the participants, some what tired from their sunny 10K run, got their kayaks into the water, slid into the seat space, then promptly teetered off balance. Over they’d go, looking something between nicely refreshed and very sheepish.

      One fellow did a follow up dip to his initial dip once he got about 50 feet off shore. Kayak on it’s side and now filled with water, he had difficulty righting it, then, once righted, he found out that what goes in, namely his body, then back out into the water, does not go back in again. After about 5 minutes of struggling, the kayak rental folks took a second kayak out, towed his ‘ship wreck’ back to shore, and put him in a wider more stable vessel. I suspect his red face was NOT related to sun burn.

     Looking a lot less amateurish than she actually is, Kim took off, headed straight for the first buoy. That made her better than another 1/5 of her fellow floaters and sinkers who took off, more or less, accompanied to yells from the rental folks that they were holding their paddles back wards. Curved tip facing forward instead of rear ward meant the paddles didn’t ‘cup’ the water right. These people got their kayaks lined up on the buoy nicely, then kind of went into ‘pause’ function while they tried to figure out why they were in sitting duck mode.

     Still another 1/5 of the racers either didn’t quite get their rudders totally down, or hadn’t quite got the hang of the right/left foot peddle bit that controlled the rudder direction. These people had a propensity for taking a scenic (?) detour through an adjacent dense bed of water reeds.

      If you do the math, you now know that means about 3/5ths of the 40 or so racers had minuscule to non existent experience
Kayaking. I suspect that when they emerged from their kayaks about an hour later, most of them had learned a lot. Kim for example learned she HATED being passed by fellow kayakers. And that kayaking doesn’t wear your arms out but does wear your legs out. Can you say, “Oh Joy” as your brain contemplates legs doing 15 miles of Mt. biking next?

      Refueled by the fig neutons she lives on, she headed up to her bike, the one she not exactly genteelly called “friggen” as she past me, and yes Kim, I have that statement on video recorder. Apparently her bike didn’t hear that not nice reference because some where around 1 hr 42 later her bike shows up with no flat tires, and with Kim still in the saddle, no airborne time taken for a (very pleasant) change.

      I’m glad Kim gave me this opportunity to learn from watching her do this race. I now know that if I ever do it, I can expect to swamp my Kayak, paddle in circles, hold my paddle back wards, and have the wind blow me off course before I even think about biking hill and dale.

Kim at the Finish, and looking Great.    (photo by dougie)


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6/7/08

Just scanned the Mud run results and nearly went cross-eyed. I only saw one Trotter but there certainly could have been more. I see where Tino ran. And he did really well. 34th………out of an AG of 200.

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Just got this email from Tracy Ellis:

Bravo to Boston Barb for breaking her previous half Mary PR at Fontana by more minutes than she has toes on one foot.
       Her planned run strategy of doing the second half faster than the first kind of took a hike when her first mile pace was a 7.48. She used the excuse that she was fast (yes Barb, we definitely define that pace as ‘fast’ at our age…and maybe at any age!) because the first mile especially and much of the next 6 had lots of down slope. Of course, her rational doesn’t explain the last 6 odd miles that were more flatish than down where she maintained that pace. Frankly, my suspicion is that her Monday night speed workouts entered the picture too. Then there was the cytomax and hey, last of all, she’s not called Boston Barb for nothing!
    She finished in 1.42 plus a couple of hand fulls of seconds.

Taimi, probably the only person on earth who sleep runs instead of sleep walks, finished in about 1.22 after a previous night where she probably got less than 40 winks of sleep. She and Barb met at 4:15 AM for their trek that took them to the packet pick up local, thence to the bus that took them to the camp ground that wasn’t warm where they waited an hour for the start before starting the down hill then flat out sprint that let her finish 2nd in her age. Whew, I get tired just writing about that much pre race activity at that hour of the day!
(Note: Monica ended up not doing Fontana..she did something del Mar? I think instead.) -Tracy Ellis
Editor: Monica ran the Corona Del Mar Scenic 5k. Took second in her AG with a smokin’ 20:25.

Also today was the first day of 3 at Camp Pendletons Mud race. As soon as I get any results (if any trotters attended) I’ll post them. Stay tuned.

6/5/08

We had a good turnout for the Wednesday night run/walk/sit in your car (me) and club meeting. 18 people I believe it was. I wish those meetings were longer so I could touch base with more people but they aren’t and I can’t. I did hear that Monica (lil’ mo’) may be running this coming weekend at Fontana. That Maurice (BIG MO’) is running at Idylwild. That Eric (The Jester) is headed North to run in the Dipsea race (the oldest off road race in America) check out their web site and read about Jack Kirk and the 672nd step, who ran this race every year from 1930 -2002. http://www.dipsea.org/ and go and check out the course profile.

Kimi (aka Dirt Nap..soon to be known as Splash) is going to try out a new Multisport series race at Vail lake ( a 5.5 mile Kayak, a 15 mile MTB and a 10k) http://www.calmultisport.com/

Here is a picture of her new Kayak…..

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I had something to talk about last night if I needed to yak but once I was done with my pizza and I looked around at the other 17 people I realized that there were at least 9 conversations going on and to a woman/man everyone was smiling and laughing. The story I was going to share just would’nt have been well timed. Soooo instead I’ll tell it here:

Don’t know if any of you are regular readers of Competitor Magazine in general or in Bob Babbits Column in particular but he had an interesting one this month. It got me to thinking about age groups. And I was going to share a few observations last night about age groups and of Babbits editorial.

I read once where someone was saying “never regret the age you are today, in 10 years you’ll wish you were this age again” Those words seem pretty spot on except in the World of Age Group racing. Whenever we get into a new AG we are the babies, the wet behind the ears, the young guns. When I was racing motorcycles it was 10 year AG’s. And man did that stink. When I was 48/49 and spotting 8 – 9 years to the youngest guys in my class I felt like it just wasn’t fair. That many years is a long time and a lot of miles on the ol’ bod. That said when I turned 50 I was once again “the baby” in the class and I did most of the spanking. I had my most prolific year ever when it came to standing on the podium and taking home my
share of hardware.

Thank goodness in running and triathlon (for the most part) age groups are just 5 years. Still I find myself sometimes wishing away my life. Wishing I were older so I could get into that next AG. Other times common sense prevails (usually when I’m looking in the mirror) and I console myself with my physical condition at this age and time.

Babbits editorial also went into the life of the age groupers at the upper end of the field, we with the Silver hair. How us older guys at a tri for instance don’t get to use the bike racks at the exit of the Transition area near the Elites but instead our racks are usually back in the corner by the Porta Potties, which as it turns out isn’t such a bad thing in our Golden years .

But the main focus of his article was David Martin. David was the gentleman that was killed in April by the Great White shark off of Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach. He said that David had just turned 66 last year. That means that David himself spent 2007 as a “baby” in his new class. And it turns out David cleaned up that year. He won (his AG) at the Spring Sprint Tri, the Solana Beach Tri, the Carlsbad Tri, and the Encinitas Tri. He also took 2nd place at the Mission Bay Tri and the Pacific Coast Tri.

Now anyone that races can clearly see that for someone doing something that they love this man had one heck of a year. He must have been on Cloud 9. Then in an instant it was all taken away.

So I guess the lesson here would be to enjoy every minute, celebrate your fitness, breathe deep and embrace life and those you love. Im betting Davids life was just like that.

Godspeed David

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6/3/08

ELVIS SIGHTING

Got an email from Elvis last night. Apparently he too ran in the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon. Here is what he had to say:

Hi Doug,
Rock n roll marathon was blast. I ran as an Elvis and I’ll send pictures when I get them. The crowds really responded with “go Elvis” over and over. I responded with “thank you very muuuuch” or “you don’t have to be fast to be the king”. I was interviewed twice and a friend saw me on the news. The singer from one band came down of the stage while singing Blue Suede Shoes to give me a hi-five. The suit was hot but I was lucky that the overcast stayed with us for the first 2.5 hours. My 25 miles a week training meant a tough last six miles, but I got in just under four hours and I got to see Glen and Kim afterward.
Steve

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6/2/08

Sent Kiki an Email this morning and she responded with this:

“The past couple of months have been crazy. I was taking crazy classes at school, and training. So juggling both was difficult. Basically it was eat, study, run, sleep. But, yes it was my first marathon, so as you can imagine i was sooooo nervous. The morning of I woke up, drank some gatorade, tried to eat a half of a bagel then got sick. I was just so nervous. My goal was to finish in 4:30, so I started in the 4:30 corral and when I caught up with the 4:15 group, I just hung on. The last 6 of course were the worst, but hey thats why we do this right. My dad ran it with me and really pulled me through it. With out him I probably would have fallen back in my time. But he just kept pushing me. I was so thankful he was there though. This was his 3rd marathon in 40days. He ran boston, the cleveland marathon, and rock n roll. So least to say he is really beat. Now its time to start training for a new one. I will let you know when I pick it out. Thanks for the congrats”

(kiki crossed the line in 4:13)

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Surfing thru the Rock and Roll results this morning and I see another Trotter, a trotter friend, and one of my ex-beginner students.

Kiki Burnick ran the race and did great! Polly Crawford raced and of course flew thru the course. And Melody M an ex-student did her first Mary.

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6/1/08

Well it looks like Glen and Kim had a really good day at the Rock and Roll Marathon. They ran together the entire distance…ahhh, I bet they wore matching outfits too . Their pace was spot on consistant the entire way (how do people do that?) I think this was Kims first if Im not mistaken and she did really good. Somebody did their homework and trained correctly for this race. Congrats you two.

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Well today’s ride at the Santa Rosa Plateau was a mixed bag. I was a bit disappointed at the turnout. But I got over it Only Bob and Tracy and Iain showed up. On the up side the conditions were epic after the rains last week. It was dust free. The sand was firm and the air temp was perfection. Saw one Coyote, no snakes and lots of other bike riders. Since we had no beginners we took a ride around the entire (well almost) Plateau. We showed Iain the roller coaster and the Enchanted forrest. I love that place and like to share it….. we even showed him Taimi’s Alley, a rock strewn downhill. Then when we finished that loop we stopped for maybe 30 seconds and then 3 of us went out on the beginner loop at Mach 1 to get our HRs in the stratosphere. I think we got around it in like 12 minutes Tongues were in the dirt when we got back but everyone was smiling.

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One of our club members approached me the other day with a new race idea. Turns out there is an organization putting on a series of multi sport events that are sort of like a Triathlon only instead of swimming the swim is replaced with a Kayak/Canoe paddle. Then its a MTB ride and a run. They are having a race next week at Vail Lake (Sunday) I think the distances are 5.5 mile paddle, 15 mile bike and a 10k.   I find my interest piqued. So much so that I’ve spent the past day and a half researching Kayaks, the types, prices, what works best for what etc. I think I’m going to go out and watch this race this weekend and get the skinny on whats what. If Im still interested then I’ll put one of my kidneys up for sale on either Ebay or Craigs list and see if I can’t get a kayak. Here’s the website in case any of you are interested in seeing what I’m yammering on and on about : http://www.calmultisport.com

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