MUDDY BUDDY RACE:    NOW SEEKING PARTNERS IN GRIME for the 28 March Race at Veil lake…Above picture is from their almost vertical drop slide one goes down after climbing up the cargo net…Squint hard and you can see my smile.  This 10 K combination run/mt bike/obstacle race is a blast.. and it’s in our ‘backyard’.  It’s a great race, anybody of almost any ability level can get through it so grab yourself a partner, sign up and do it…We Redliners were under represented at the last race in Nov! I left the pics and data from the last Mud Bud race in at the bottom of the Newsletter if anyone wants to re check it out.

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SCAN DOWN FOR TINSEL MAN TRI RACE REPORT IN FROM DOUG : )

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JANUARY CALENDAR

NOTE:  Jan. pizza night will be Wed.  JAN. 13th despite speaker’s cancellation on Wed 6 Jan!!!!

Monday TRACK workouts: CHANGED FOR THE WINTER TO 6 PM, at Los Alamos Sports Park in Murietta

MANY FEMALE  CLUB MEMBERS RUNNING on WED.  AT 4 PM starting by Rodrigo’s restaurant located by   Henry’s market off Winchester!!!! We run partially on the bike trail and loop up and around Lake Haverston for 5 miles at about a 8:50 to 9 m/mile pace.

Wed night runs: 6:15 PM at Pizza factory

SRP= Santa Rosa Plateau

Track =Los Alamos sports park in Murietta

Henry’s = Henry’s Market at corner of Winchester and Nicholas

Another Drip springs Run beside Sunday 3 Jan will probably be planned for late in the month…stay tuned…

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PIZZA NITE for JANUARY:    MOVED TO WED JANUARY 13th!!!!

The below speaker just cancelled out but because there isn’t enough time to switch pizza back to it’s normal night we are going to have Pizza on Wed the 13th since that’s the date most club members were told it would be.

:

SPEAKER: Deana Sicari-Rodgers, BS, CCN
NUTRI-FIT / Clinical Nutrition and Fitness

Deana offers over 18 years experience in the field of chemistry-applied nutrition and over 22 years experience in personal training. She will be speaking on three important areas of the endurance athlete’s diet:

Overall nutrition, pre race, and during the race nutrition

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THANX TO DOUG FOR BELOW RACE REPORT AND PHOTOS!!

2009 Tinsel Triathlon, Hemet, CA.

I’m still not able to run fast enough to keep up with the walkers at the Back Of the Pack so I was a spectator at this years festivities.  It was quite an interesting year for me as I normally race alot.  This year being injured I was in a position to spectate and I think I spectated at something like 16 races.  I found it actually eye opening to see just how far in front of us mere mortals the front runners really are.  Embarassing really.  What’s that old saying about “if your’e not the lead dog the view never changes”?  Well it was educational to have a different view for a change. And to actually see the North end of a north bound dog, even if it meant standing on the curb and clapping as all the athletes screamed past.

Ok I digress, back to the race…. Now most years this race is Cold with a capital C, and some years it rains.  This year the rain stopped a few hours before the gun went off and the Triathletes and 5k’ers were treated to mostly Sunny skies.  I’m not sure of the air temperature but if this young woman is any indication it must have been in the low 80’s. (why don’t more girls dress like this?) This girl was running at the sharp end of the field (pretty sure she was top 5) but when she came around the first corner on the bike, she and another scantilly clad female triathlete ran into one another and both went down.  A real shame to see all that Road Rash.

Actually it was cold but not horribly so.   There were many people in costume much like the Muddy Buddy race at Vail Lake.   Our own Eric Clifton was dressed in his full “Royal Blue” skin suit and for that “extra” touch of class he added a shiny GOLD swim cap for the swim.  Yeah, now that image is your’s forever too, hehehe.

Much like the Muddy Buddy the Redliners were poorly represented.  In fact I think Eric may have been the only Redliner there.  I did see Kim Parris and Brigid and I found out later that two of the Tri chicks, Leslie and Karrie were also there but none of the athletes above sport our colors any longer.  That said, Eric did represent.  I was standing at the end of the run in for the swim when I saw Eric run by. Id never seen the Jester swim so I ran over to the pool to watch.  He wasn’t hard to spot with the Gold cap on. He was on his last length when I noticed he was swimming right along side Brigid. The two of them got to the steps leading out of the pool side by side and Brigid had the inside line covered so she should have been able to shut the door on his shiny blue ass but he out powered her up the steps and just slid in front of her in line. Hehehe.

Kim P did really well in fact I think she was like 3rd woman O/A on the bike.  You cant quite make out what she’s saying in this pic but if memory serves it was “Get that camera out of my face or you’ll need to see a Proctologist to have it removed”  

Polly Crawford won the womens race by out running Patty P to the pool.

Ronnie Toth again won the Mens overall, this year wearing a pair of what appeared to be tights by “Eric”, shiny silver in color, and a pair of shoes. He did the event shirtless and he was WHITE.  Not sure what was more blinding, the pants or his chest.

Happy New Year Gang………….dougie
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NEW YEARS RESOLUTION RUN/ Run Club PARTY!!:

Eric, Noni, Monica, Monica’s son Ryan, and I headed down to Balboa park Wed 31 Dec to do what can be described very loosely as a 5 K ‘race’.  This proved to be a great way to get a few hours of fun for only $5 and who ever created this race had me in mind since it started at high noon.   This run/race is put on as a fund raiser for the YMCA and is totally casual in nature with no awards but lots of post race prize drawings.  The runners more or less line up in a line (What do ya mean my toes are two feet too far forward??), someone yells what may have been ‘ready, set, go’ and off go Mom’s, Dads, kids, baby carriages, 10 breeds of mixed breed dogs, 13 squirrels, a cat or two and Eric, Monica and Ryan. They all goooooo goooo go. Noni and Went, went, went but not quite at the speed of  the ‘go go goers’.

The route took us down the side walk that runs beside Balboa park, then cut UP UPPP the grassy hill til we matched up with this very aesthetic and not flat double track dirt trail.  About the time Noni and I hit the dirt road, Eric and Monica were probably departing that mile long segment of the course and some time around that time Ryan’s foot found a root or something and he spent the next who knows how many feet rolling down hill instead of running down hill.  When he came to a stop, his eye balls were treated to one of those little brain induced light shows where everything kind of looks blackish dotted by those tiny white stars and you feel faint and your brain pauses in it’s ability to function.  Being an exceptionally bright lad, he realized continuing to run in that state wouldn’t bode well for his body and he headed off the course to recover back at the start/finish line.

So i’m not sure if he or Eric  ended up at the end first but I can guess who was sorer since Ryan had enough square inches (feet??) of dirt track rash to impress every gal he ever went to school with. Not that long after Eric finished, the announcers announced Monica finishing in 22. minutes something seconds and she was 3rd over all female.  Not many females separated Monica and Noni and me.  I came in about 6 or 7th female in 24.40ish and Noni came in on my heels. All together it was a fun way to spend the day burning calories in prep for Christine and Bryan’s New Years Eve Party.

It was a good thing we did that run because as soon as I arrived at Bryan’s and Christine’s, the first thing my eyes were drawn to was this table covered in home made cream puffs and what proved to be Killer Cup Cakes with cream cheese frosting.  And then there were shrimp with cocktail sauce and egg rolls and baked brie and fresh veggies, and meet balls and more brie and cheeses and wines and sparkling ciders and beers that were lite and beers that weren’t lite and choc. covered pretzels and then kinda hidden amougst the goodies was this Yam n rice mix i’d made which was clearly out classed by all the truly delicious food items present.

The males seemed to congregate around the pool table and the food and the out door fire pit while a gaggle of gals seemed to prefer congregating around the food and the comfy sofa that comfortably sits 16.  I’m guessing 2 dozen plus people made a showing and we got to meet spouses of club members that most of we club members have little or no contact with normally. It was a great party and when midnight hit, there was the big count down as we watched the ball in times square on TV drop and we all said how nice it was to be at this party and not in Times square.  Hugs were passed around right, left, and center and the question that remains might be,  Can Ingy and Doug get ‘catch up’ hugs from all the girls next Pizza night??

Thanx muchos, Christine and Bryan, for opening your house and making this a really great start to the New Year!!

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Dripping Springs trail improvement effort:

It Worked.  Per Noni, The Trail Inspector, the trail is much more user friendly now after the groups efforts.

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DECEMBER MEETING:

1.  We can tell it’s December because every year at this time Ingy asks Santa Claus to bring the club a new president.  Ingy is sooo ready after 5 years to give up his   slot as leader of our rag tag pack.  Any volunteers??  I hear there’s some one named Victor out there on the side lines some where ..He better block his chimney  or Ingy in Sant’s clothing is gonna drop that title down the chimney on him on Christmas morning.  Now that’s the rumor but there’s this other rumor runnin’ ’round  wondering what Eric’s doing in his spare time.  Could he be a possibility??

2.  Ingy took a poll and everyone’s enjoying the timed runs by Eric (but hey, we need to drop our watches at the start) and Herman’s Hash runs and would like more of those next year.  Ingy encouraged  anybody who has a ‘runnng game’ they want to put on to step up with their ideas and put one on.

3. Brian and Christine want to do more biking with others, but not speedy gonzales faster than a speeding bullet rides—they want to ride n chat, mt biking around Diamond valley lake at easy pace sounds good to them or road biking at non break neck speed.

4.There is an ALL COMERS track meet on 12 Dec, 9 Jan and possibly one on 23 Jan at Great Oak High School.  Per Ingy, one pays about $5. to do any or all events at the track and this can be loads of laughs for spectators and fun for both young and not so young participants.

5.  Ingy’s working on getting a discount price for April’s Ragnor Relay and sign up sheets going around.

6. Our end of year points party will be in Feb…everybody (do I really need to say this again…) GET YOUR POINTS TO BETH!!!

7.  and remember….all Ingy wants for Xmas is a new club pres., more club members,  and for the members to pay their dues : )

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GET UP, GET AROUND, GET DOWN and GET MUDDY!!!

THE MUDDY BUDDY RACE

Temecula’s first Muddy Buddy race was held at Veil Lake last Sunday, putting roughly 600 pairs of buddys through the fun filled 10 K  obstacle course.  Unlike the mud run, this course combines Mt. biking and Running skills and requires pairs of people to participate.

THE Redliner Participants:

Kim K,  me, myself and I, Agent Orange (my bike) and a hitch hiking frog on my bike seat post get ready to Rock .

Karrie Carlson and Leslie Delaney …. photoed after they Rolled.

The participants are put into age groups based on their combined ages.  The age groupings are further divided into all male, all female, or mixed teams.  In Kim’s and my case, we raced against teams of other females whose combined age was 96 or above.  I’m not saying that was the oldest age group they had …but, uh, yeah, it was.  So of course we named our team ” Team Forever Young”.

GETTIN’  READY TO BEGIN:

Because of the large number of participants, groups of people were set off in waves  at 6 minute intervals.  The race began at 8 AM but all we purely female teams over a certain combined age were in the last wave and didn’t hit the course til 8:45.  We were told at packet pick up at what time we could expect to start racing so this worked out very well.  Starting later meant the temperature had a chance to raise a welcome few extra degrees.  It was extremely nice to have Glen and Doug present for race support.  Because of them, we were able to wear warm up suits over our racing clothes until just a few minutes before the start. Given the cold temperature, staying snug was sure nice!  The cars were parked way too far away to be running extra  clothing back and forth.

GET SET:

During this race, one person rides the bike for roughly 1 mile while their partner runs the same distance.    The biker does not wait for their runner…they bike as fast as they can, drop the bike at the obstacle, do the obstacle, then take off running themselves.  When their runner arrives at that spot, the runner does the obstacle, locates their bike, then takes off biking as fast as they can.  I ended up biking 3 legs and running two while Kim ran 3 and biked two.  The bike legs are kept non technical in nature on dirt double track but in this case they did involve short sections of hills that most of the females had to walk their bikes up. The hilly sections tended to be 30 feet or so in length, then would ease out to an easier grade that most people could ride, before hitting another 30 foot steeper segment.  None of the segments Kim or I rode were so steep that we couldn’t ride up them, though at least 1 spot was so sandy that it had to be walked, and one down hill near the course’s end was so steep and so sandy that my bike’s rear tire slid down much of the hill and a female walking her bike in front of me fell down and she and her bike slid aways.  There were two of those 30 foot long steep segments that were steep enough that I was only riding about 4 MPH, which was just fast enough for me to weave in and out of the walkers and slowly putz my way past them.  Kim and I both passed other riders almost non stop through out the race and getting past these other riders presented some of the more challenging race moments. Keep in mind that some of those we passed were dressed up like pigs (labeled ‘hog wash’ on her back), cats, turtles, hares, vikings, santa clauses, speed bumps, and one pair simply wore formal looking gowns which must have been a joy to ride in. Eric would’ve  fit right in!

GOOOOO!!!!

OUR WAVE:    OFF and BIKING……the bikers are staged in front of the runners and get launched 90 seconds before their  running partners.

The Obstacles :

Number one was a low lying cargo net…since many people wore costume ‘attachments’ to their helmets, this presented some interesting challenges as people’s heads got caught in the netting.  The antlers on the helmet of the gal struggling under the net beside me preferred to go up through the netting rather than under it.  Some people had large attachments to their fronts and got to experience what it would be like to do this course if they were 10 months pregnant with triplets.

Two obstacles were climbing oriented with the best being about a 20 plus foot tall vertical climbing cargo net laid up against a bouncy inflatable slide.  Once you crested the net, you had an almost vertical slide down the other side.  It was a blast and gee, who put that pool of ice water at the base of the slide?!!!  As for those folks in the 10 months pregnant category,  ever tried to climb something when you can’t get your body closer than 18 inches to it? Not easy for them  but hilarious for us to watch!

Another was simply a balance beam one traversed.  Some what less simple on wobbly tired legs!

Of course the most famous obstacle is the mud pit….on this day I think a few ice burgs may have been floating around it too.  That’s me clear over on the far side, blocking your view of Kim. People had a blast at the pit, and it wasn’t uncommon to see mud slung between partners or partners dunking each other in the grime. Happily, the staging was so good by the race folks that no where was there a ‘jam up’ of people having to wait more than a few seconds to do obstacles.

HERE WE COME: Kim and I skunked the other gals in the mud pit and hit the finish line in 52 minutes 10 seconds.

ME:

“DIRT NEVER TASTED SO GOOD!!”

KIM:  ”Frankly, it needs more salt to be really tasty!!”

THE RESULTS:

Kim and I took second in age with our 52.10, behind the Cheetah gals who were one of the fastest of all female teams with their 45 minute win. (In fact they placed about 49th over all, and  had taken first in age in 9 other muddy buddys, compared to our 140th of 600ish.) We placed roughly 16th of about 131 or so teams.  Next time Kim and I may need to dress up as lions  and take out those Cheetah babe’s!!

The tri chicks Karrie and Leslie took 4th in their very competitive age group, and placed 174th over all with a time of 54.01. They’ve come a long way since that first tri they did several years back and are proving themselves a force to be reckoned with!

Except for the chill factor, also known as down right cold in my book,  we all enjoyed ourselves and hope to do this race again…and speaking of again, I see where it’s already scheduled to be at Veil on 28 March f 2010, which is a date that aught to be far warmer than Sunday was. The first 50 people who sign up for it receive technical shirts so if you’re gonna do it, think about signing up soon, INGY and  GLEN.

THANX DOUG FOR THESE PHOTOS!!

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ATTENTION:  THE OCTOBER NEWSLETTER IS PUBLISHED BUT YOU HAVE TO CLICK ON “OCTOBER” TO BRING IT UP.
IT HAS IMPORTANT INFO  IN IT RE PICNIC AND RUN THIS SAT FROM NONI!! mean while, excuse    me while I take a sledge hammer to the computer since I just spent 2.5  hours creating October newsleter and now I can’t make  it appear.

SRP= santa Rosa Plateau

Track =Los Alamos sports park in Murietta

Pizza Fac = pizza factory

FM= farmers market in old town

TYPO: Temecula FIT  Race is Sunday the 13th, not  Monday..but you all  probably already knew that.

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Thanx to Beth (yet again!  ) for saving the Newsletter format  from my inverted mess to something reasonably readable : )

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Note:    From  KIM KOCH:   “Several of us are going to run the Temecula for Fit loop on Wed. 9  Sept at 6 PM starting at the parking lot between the rec center and the pool . We might do 2 loops.

Note to that note:  Herman and Victor were surrounded by a full compliment of run club females at the above referred  to training run….maybe ’surrounded’ isn’t the right term since they both seemed to be well out front of the rest of us.  Anyway we crunched and mashed and gasped  our way through  that heavily hilled course.     Once  one lap  was done, we contemplated doing a second for about .93  of one second,  then concluded that would amount to excessive masochism. So instead we topped off the hills by runnin’ round Regan park’s nice flat pathways for combined distance  of 5.1 miles.

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JESTER RUN on 19 Sept SAT!!!! Location:   Far east end of Murrieta Hot Springs Road -drive east as far as you can go…beyond the narrowed off area..   just keep gonin’ til you spot Eric’s smilin’ face -be there by 7 AM, prepped to have  fun and exercise!

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WED. NIGHT MEETING DATA:  The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly:

1.  THE GOOD: See below for data on Eric’s planned Jester FUN run on 19 Sept.

2.  Noni plans to have a club picnic and run on Sat 3 Oct, tentatively at a beach. Stay tuned for details as they  emerge .

3.   Mr Victor L,   Ambassador Extrordinare’ (or however  it’s  spelled..I  barely spell English let alone French) did some schmoozin’ with the folks  at Harry’s Pacific Grill and we can reserve the outdoor patio area some friday night for  drinks N’ conversation. Contact him directly, those of you who’d like  to do this.

4.  Ingy wants to know if people would like to join him (and often Bob M and Doug) for periodic Sunday morning road bike rides, normally starting from his house at around 7 AMish pending what folks want.  These rides run about 18 to 25 miles and are done at EZ pace of maybe 15 to 16 MPH average and oft times include ‘cofffee break stop’ at a ritzy joint like MacDonalds.  (Am I the only american that can’t spell  MacDonalds??).  Anyone interested, let Ingy know a couple days before Sunday arrives.

THE BAD:  Membership down and dues dollars disappearing fast. Ingy can’t find enough coins to support the club, especially now that his running distance has dropped.  Help save him from getting run over by cars at intersections by doing your part and paying your dues and trying hard and harder to recruit fresh blood.  and speaking of fresh blood:

THE UGLY:  About 6 of us (that’s like 1/7  of the club   members) are periodically crawling around Hurkey (aka Crash) Creek on our mt  bikes.   Most of us go in slooo mo’, which certainly doesn’t keep us from spillin’ blood but we’re havin’ a   blast doing it.  For you 6:

Today Doug and I set a new  distance record (for us)  out there, going 16.24 impressive miles in 4 hrs 20 minutes. Two, yes, 2 inches of rain fell there yesterday and that made  parts of the course… mmmmmmm… shall we say ‘interesting’. The Fresh rain created ruts and freshly exposed rocks tried to grab  our tires.  In other places, the sand turned to nice compact dirt and the stream that normally isn’t, today truly was a stream.      The world  of Hurkey smelled fresh and clean, scented by nature,  and yellow flowers carpeted the valleys.

We took the next loop higher up from the loop taken with Barb, known officially as Snake Skin.  It started at roughly 5,500 feet.  We did a long false start when we took the wrong trail, then back peddled up chuga- chug hill to locate the correct trail.  Once found, that trail was sweet with views to die for of the surrounding mountain tops and Doug, did you remember  to bring the lightening rod??  After descending almost back to the double  track road we all like to ride on, we forked off toward the  …uhhh…East (I think) and took a delightful single track that weaved it’s way through bushes but which wasn’t technical  in nature.  Just plain pretty and fun.  So heads up you mt bikers, this is a spot we’ll have to target at some point.

Key for Calendar:

SRP = Santa Rosa Plateau (parking lot the horse trailers use about 1 mile past the visitor center parking lot)

FM = Farmers Market in old Town Temecula

Pizza Fac =  5 mile run from Pizza Factory in Redhawk on Temecula Pkwy next to Stater Bros

Track = New location: In Murietta: Los Alamos Sports park, corner of Los Alamos and Hunter, meet at 6:30 PM at the concession stand.

Note:  1st and 3rd Sat of the month will be run at SRP at 0700 for the Summer

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WED night meeting:

Quick recap:  Monday night track workouts have been changed to Los Alamos sports park located in Murrieta, corner of Los Alamos and Hunter. Meet at the concession stand.

Dr. Brigid Freyene gave an extremely interesting talk about osteoporosis and how to prevent it.  Key points: we  should be getting 1,500 mg of calcium per day, spread out through out the day because one’s body can only absorb 500 mg at a time…so even if you eat 2 gallons of ice cream all at one time   (Is my finger pointing back at me??),  you can only absorb 500mg of calcium  even though the 2  gallons has more than that in it.  In order for the calcium to be properly absorbed, you also need about 1000 iu of vitamin D. One gets vitamin D via sun or food or vitamins. Despite living in this sunny climate, she sees  lots  of folks with vitamin D deficiency.    So make sure you eat it or absorb it or all that calcium you’re gulping, slurping or  swollowing down won’t do you the good it should.

Take heed males too:  Osteoporosis isn’t just no fun for we gals.  It can strike you too, so when the kids scream for  ice cream,  if your figure can afford it, think about screamin’ with them.

Dr Brigid tossed out this incentive ref the Os. disease:   If you are ‘older’, to put it nicely,   and you break a hip because your bone mass was  lacking,  there is a 90% chance you’ll be under ground lookin’ up at the bottom of your gravestone within 1 year.  YIKES!!  Runners tend to be slender and the more slender one is, the more likely one is to have the problem….but weight bearing activities such as running and weight lifting (note:  not biking or swimming) tend to build bone mass.  So what does she see?        Runners with strong hip/leg bone mass but they’ve got whimpy spines and poor upper body bone mass.  So pay attention to   your calcium and vit D. intake and work at weight lifting along with running.

From Doug:

Looking at taking Kayak lessons in San Diego. Talked with Mark about it and he said he and Barb are interested also. Said he can go either 8/2 8/15 or 8/30 Im wondering how many others might be interested…  price is a sweet $35.  for lessons plus use  of the kayak for follow up hours of  fun minus the instructor. E me  back if you are.

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from Ingy:

WE HAVE REDLINER SHIRTS FOR SALE. GO TO RUNNING CENTER, OR SEE BOB. Cash or check preferred. $20 each.-   In Addition to below Redliners shirts, Ingy has  a few Trotters shirts at $5.  Each.

Men’s sizes large or medium in white, gray, or green.

Women’s sizes small or medium in white only.

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HURKEY CREEK :

Kim :  Where do you suppose  my job stress went to??

Doug:  I think you left it in the car but it could’ve fallen out at that big dip you rode through.

Kim, Doug and I have now  made several trips to Hurkey creek.  On todays (31 July) venture,  Doug was able to  piece  together the correct route for the 24 hrs of Adrenalin Race course.  We followed that course well compared to the last few  times when the multitude  of unfamiliar trails kept confusing us.  Doug  enjoyed  the  steep, luge- course – like decent of the trail called the Exfoliator while I crept down behind him at a pace fast  snails could beat. We walked some heavy duty ascents,  flew down some truly delightful descents, and paid our  respects at  a  memorial    made  of  rocks,  GU packs, and photo left in memory of a young and handsome looking mt biker named Darren. Anybody flying along that trail  on the back of a bike  has to feel a certain  kinship  with Darren.  It made me realize how special  it is that those of us who  mt  bike or hike or trail  run get a  chance to enjoy aspects of life that the vast majority of the population never experiences. We live  life to  it’s  fullest.  Good for you, Darren, for being out there  living life to  it’s fullest in the abbreviated  time  that you had on earth.

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FROM AARP  MAGAZINE:

Ways to burn 50 calories:

1.  Vacuum for 10 minutes   (gag but if you gotta do it,  at least it accomplishes something besides clean floors that already looked clean )

2.  Give a friend a massage for 9 minutes.  Not sure how many you burn if you are the receiver but less than 50 for sure.

3.  Spend 20 minutes typing at the computer….When Doug was doing the newsletter, he was spending something like 35 hrs a week trying to put material  into it… this might explain why his metabolism actually went up instead  of down as he got,  uhhhhhhhh….. not younger.

4.  Laughing for 10 to 15 minutes.  Don’t we do that most Pizza nights??  maybe we need more  of them!

5.  8 minutes of Hula Hooping  (if your back doesn’t go out after 5 and prevent you from running for 2 months)

6.  8 minutes of picking up litter..now that’s what I call a win win situation!!

7.  14 minutes of conducting an imaginary orchestra..and here we all thought ‘ringing in the ears’ was just an irritant.  Now you can wave your arms to it and burn calories!

8.  last and definitely least:  Chewing gum for…4.5 hrs

THE AUGUST NEWS LETTER IS HERE…BUT  TO GET TO  IT, YOU NEED TO CLICK  ON ‘AUGUST’ ABOVE THIS.   I SOME HOW MANAGED TO ACCIDENTALLY STICK ‘AUGUST’ ON AS AN ADDITION TO JULY INSTEAD   OF AS A NEW NEWSLETTER.  THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOUR EDITOR IN CHIEF CONFUSES ‘NEW PAGE’ WITH ‘NEW POST’.   LOL  now let   me   go  shoot the computer.  it’s  not it’s  fault but  it’ll make    me  feel  better.  :)

SRP = santa rosa Plateau      FM  =Farmers  market  in old Town

Pizza fac  =  pizza factory

Note:  1st and 3rd Sat of the month will be run at SRP at 0700 for the Summer

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NEW just in below  Doug’s data:  Doug, Kim K. and my trip to Idylwild’s Hurkey creek for mt  biking fun in the sun.  NOW ADDED:  3 Video links …and corrected the inadvertent  duplicate video.

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From Doug:

Looking at taking Kayak lessons in San Diego. Talked with Mark about it and he said he and Barb are interested also. Said he can go either 8/2  8/15 or 8/30 Im wondering how many others might be interested…E me  back if you are.

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Thanx to Doug,  it looks like we really are going to have a ‘proper’   July newsletter…the following are his photos, captions and comments

HEY GANG, ENJOY SOME PICS FROM THE 5K/15K RACE AT CORONADO PLUS SOME PICS  FROM THE 5 K “OFF ROAD” RACE AT GUAJOME

Some of the Gang awaiting Awards.    4th of July and American flag

Check out Boston’s new Bicycle Wheel Ear rings

Guajome Park 7 AM  ”Only the Fit are Fearless”

Middle of the Men’s race and Tino’s just behind Big Mo’.  He’s  runnin’ well but for some reason he’s giving me the stink eye.

Victor Flores:   this Gato’s  gettin’  faster with every race. Or maybe he’s  afraid of gettin’ passed  by a dude with a mullet.

Flyin’ Bryan Allen mid race

Noni mid race.  Boston Barb is hidden behind Noni, you can just make out Barbs elbow behind Noni.  They are trying to run down Jammin’ Jane who has 20 yards on them and Jane is trying to catch Kim P. who is 10 yds in front of her.

KP only a few yards from the finish line. Kim took Taimi’s bib and ran in an age group 2 age groups lower…and she won..and if that wasn’t remarkable enough, Jammin’ Jane finished about 18 seconds later and Boston Barb and Noni (I’m guessing) finished just about 20 seconds back of that.  …And they are all 4 age groups older and would have placed well  in the W 35 to 39 group!!   I’d get down on my knees  and bow but well with my back  and all I might have trouble  gettin’  back up.  Any rate, you gals all rock!

Guajome Park and what’s left of the gang as they head home back to 100+ degree temps.

Thanx Mucho’s Doug for providing some really  first class quality material for the Newsletter!!

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On Friday 16th, Doug, Kim K, and I  Mountain biked  at Hurkey Creek, about 1 hr from Temecula.  Fun was never so  cheap.  $2. per person entrance fee to the lovely Hurkey creek campground start area got us a full days worth of mt  biking fun.

This area is ripe with trails from EZ to NOT  for  mt. biking and hiking.  The multitude of trails come with spectacular views and a map  designed to  confuse the best, or at least the 3 of us. The fact that it confused Kim and me was no surprise but even  pro navigator Doug got a bit twisted around due to the map not accurately reflecting cross trails.  Not a big  deal though so long as your brain remembers which  general direction gets you back to the campground.

I’d advise taking plenty of fluids and food though to allow for potential unexpected extra exercise that returning to camp might entail, and the compass we tossed in our pack last  minute came in handy.

We climbed steadily on  mostly nice single track from the start local of about uh….4,200 ft til 2.2 miles and 40 minutes later we summited at 4,900 feet.  After that our bikes got to play with swopping fun and ez downs til we suddenly hit the below technical  blip.   The photo  doesn’t accurately reflect the difficulty of the  20 ft dead down dive.  The dive led to the 2 ft wide bridge Kim is standing on that the bikes had to be aimed at, then pedal for all you’re worth to try to get back up  the 20 plus foot tall slope Kim’s facing.

Down hill speedster Doug was well   ahead of pokey down hiller me as we  approached this surprise.  Kim was  on my back wheel.

Kim flexing her new found mt  biking muscles.

Before Doug even had a chance to think ,  ’WHOPPYYYYY’  , let alone yell it,  he flew down, crossed the bridge and upPPed  back up the UP  again.   I doubt he even  had time  to comprehend the difficulty of what he’d just done or  maybe he just always looks that cool and collected under pressure :  ) .     He sprang ( as   much as   he can ’spring’) off  his bike to spot me across.  Approaching more slowly than Doug had,  I took one look at it, clutched  my back brake to slow  my pace  fearing I’d go over the bridge’s  edge, turned  my bike into  what Doug calls  a  sled, slid down, then only had enough speed to make it half way back up before reaching max uphill speed of zero MPH.  Since most bikes don’t like to stay vertical at 0 MPH, especially when on about a 70 degree slope, mine plopped over  on it’s side.   OOPSie daisy also  known as OH S$%&#t !!    Knowing Kim  was on my tailfeathers, I dragged my bike aside, and Doug bounced (yes, he can bounce) down into a better spotting spot  just   in time for her to catapult down, accross and WOWWWW KIM, I CAN’T BELEIVE YOU MADE IT back up and out.

KIM:    ”I double dare you Glen to  make  it up this first try!”

After the ‘blip’, the trail resumed to EZ fun downs, leading to a large valley surrounded by mt’s.

Doug doing a snake track check, better  known as an R n R stop.

R n R feels pretty good, even to a new found expert biker.

“Maybe it’s an ADD thing.”

Unlike most humans who fall off their bikes going zero MPH, somehow Doug manages to remain on his.  Or maybe the camera just stopped his motion really well. We’ll   never tell!

The above and below photos reflect  the terrain/views we had most  of the time.

Kim to Doug:   “Do ya want to compare heart  rates?”

Doug: ” Not particularly”

Lunch time – 5.3  miles and roughly 2.5 hrs into the ride.

Mt  Biking has a fast  learning curve to it  and Kim’s picking it up  at warp speed.  In this pic,  note that she’s even learned to stand like an expert  biker…and I don’t think Doug by the looks of it coached her!

View at lunch. (That road is steeper than it looks!).   We got to   experience this view twice because after lunch we headed down down downnnnn a very longggg and very nice double track road  for a very longgggg time until….

The nice nifty double  track dead  ended  at a DO NOT ENTER private property fence line. Hummmmmmm….

Lost in Space but at least it was   beautiful space  to  be  lost in

Doug:  “Not lost….I still  know where  North is and where the camp  ground is… uhhh,  let’s see that compass again  for a sec… and don’t those forest   service folks believe  in billboards  or  somethin’ out here to  ID the trails??”

Sooo we got to ride all the way back upppppp, making frequent map  check stops that didn’t help us,  til we  got  to   re  see that  view we had at   lunch at 5, 100 feet, then we kept going UP further from that spot til we spotted hiway 74, then went DOWNHILL and re found our original summit that actually wasn’t since  it was 4,900   ft. We  back tracked  back to  our start    local, then dropped our bikes after almost 4 hrs. We  all  set down and chilled out eating good food and drinking all  the extra  fluid we  had   left at the car  :    )

Icing on the mt  biking day Cake:  After words,  we all  took  a bath together. Uh, that didn’t come out quite  right since two of us are married.  We drove the 2 miles to Lake Hemit and took an absolutely delightful plunge in the chilly waters to clean the dust off our   very well  dusted clothes and bodies.  The perfect ending to a perfect day.

VIDEO LINKS TAKEN DURING THE RIDE:  Doug tackles the deep   dip and makes it look too easy and Kim   and I  traverse a    meadow, I whoosh thru a down slope at our lunch spot:

http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b143/Trexx77/?action=view&current=HurkeyCreekJuly09KimandTracy004.flv

http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b143/Trexx77/?action=view&current=HurkeyCreekJuly09KimandTracy005.flv

http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b143/Trexx77/?action=view&current=HurkeyCreekJuly09KimandTracy006.flv

Legend:    Pizza Fac = pizza factory

FM= farmer’s market

Track= at temecula middle school

SRP=Santa Rosa Plateau

HASH RUN

Saturday, June 6th we will meet in the parking lot of Best Buy on Temecula Parkway (Highway 79 South) at 7am for an approximately 7.5 mile Hash Run. Herman Castille will be the rabbit and claims he has NEVER been caught!!!Plan to make this Saturday run as it sounds like fun and club points will be awarded.

————————–

WHOOPPEEEEEEE!!!!

FLORES   Pool Party and BBQ June 13th at 1pm at 27945 Canyon Hills Way, Murrieta

RSVP:  dflores000@msn.com or via phone number   on your club roster

——————

3 JUNE:  Pizza nite:  special speaker:  Tim Sall, former coach at Murrieta Valley High, will speak about speed work for distance runners.  That same night,  Ingy encourages everyone to bring friend, relative or best enemy to run club for both the run and the FREE pizza as part of the Inaugural National Running Day celebration

Almost the whole gang – Top Row: Glen, Kim, Mari, Beth, Iain, Noni, Monica, Mr. Ambassador, Vic, Polly; Middle Row: Jen, Tino, Barb, Dina, Tony; Bottom Row: The Big E

Legend:   Pizza Fac:  Pizza Factory                   Track at Temecula Middle School

FM :           Farmer’s Market  (old town )           SRP:   Santa Rosa Plateau

Coming Soon:  Pizza night, June 3rd thanx  to Ingy we will have a guest speaker, Tim Sall, former coach at Murrieta Valley High School, and a former runner and disciple of Dr. Vigil, America’s premier distance running coach. He will speak on “speed work for distance runners”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SURF DOWN FOR NEW PICS FM Memorial Day Lake E   Race!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SPECIAL NOTE  from INGY!!! :  Wednesday, June 3 is the inaugural National Running Day, created to promote running as a healthy, easy, and accessible form of exercise. Across the country the day will celebrate the benefits of running as part of a healthy and active lifestyle.
    I encourage all club members to participate in our 5 mile run that evening at 6:15pm and to invite any friends or neighbors who may be interested in running. They are also welcome to stay for pizza following the run. We will have a local running coach that night speaking on “speed work for the distance runner”. 
.———————

From Ingy:

WE HAVE REDLINER SHIRTS FOR SALE. GO TO RUNNING CENTER, OR SEE BOB. Cash or check preferred. $20 each.-

 Men’s sizes large or medium in white, gray, or green.

Women’s sizes small or medium in white only.

———————

YIPEEEEE..every one see this!!!!!

Hi All,
 
Attached is an invitation to join us for a pool party and BBQ.
If we’ve left any of the Running Center Redliners out, please forward!
 
Thanks,

The Flores Family

Flores Pool Party June 13 at 1 PM, location:  27945 Canyon Hills Way, Murrieta, RSVP:  dflores000@msn.com

————–

RED, White N Blue races at Lake E.

Kim K:

“Happiness is running ’short’ at Lake E today and not 26.2 in the LA Marathon !!”

 Doug hung out at lake E. this morning, admired the scenery and clickity clicked his camera  while Redliners hit the dirt and ran.  You have him to thank for these photos.  As for results, Ingy went crazy with power with his new faster than the speed of Taimi internet connection, pulled ‘em up and if you keep scanning down, there they are : )

INGY,   out NOT finding the fiver I found at Regan Sports park this A.M  :  )

“Surf the what???  I’d rather run the LA Marathon cold turkey than surf the net!!”

Jane doing that ’screech to a halt’ thing at the finish after burnin’ up the dirt to  get there.

 Boston Barb hits the finish line with energy to spare…care to try to go 20 more miles Barb, just for old time sakes??

  Doug’s comments re his pics: Heres a few pics from todays race.   One pic is of Jane crossing the finish line. Another is of Barb just after crossing the finish line. There is a pic of both Ingy and one of Kim K at about the 2.8 mile mark.

   Thanx  Mr Camera- Doug-man  : )

  Thanx to Ingy,  we even have results!!:

RESULTS OF THE LAKE ELSINOR RED, WHITE, & BLUE RACES:

10K WOMEN

Taimi S.—————1st OA

Jane G.—————-1st AG

Barb F.—————-2nd AG (that darn Jane!!)

MEN:
Bryan Allen———–1st AG (top 10 OA)

5 K woman:

Kim Koch……..1st AG

Chris Allen…..2nd AG

MEN:

Glen Koch…..1st AG

Tino Soria————2nd AG

Adam Allen———-16th AG

Herman C.———–1st AG

Ingy———————1st AG

Looks like we had quite a showing out there!

_______________

MAY BIRTHDAYS:

02–Steve Altfillisch

03–Jane Gainer

04–Iain Scott

19–Tony Islas

25–Maureen Bourgeois

31–Tracey Scholtemeyer

————————–

                                                 CLUB RACE
                                                Saturday, July 11th

From INGY:

I have contacted the race director for the Guajome Lake 5k Run and they have offered us a substantial discount. This race supports the Vista HS Cross Country Team and is run on their home course. All off road, but groomed trails with one hill, finishing in a shady park. I’ve done this race 4 or 5 times and its pretty good and close to home. We need a minimum of 10 runners for the discount (our price will be $18), so bring your checkbook to pizza night or see me before then—I have applications.     Ingy

_________________

Victor’s doing (that’s like participating in, not leading) spin classes at LA Fitness at 6:45  PM  on Tuesday/Thursdays followed by session with yogurt shop to rehydrate the healthy way.    Anyone who wants, he’ll see ya there.  (I made a mistake before when I said he did this ion the morning.)

_________________________

Wed night meeting notes of note:

1.  Ingy made what he called a proclamation but which Bob M.  said sounded  more like a confession:  Since Ingy is  now officially the “least fastest”   member of the run club, we need to launch  a major recruiting drive targeting slower runners so that Ingy, as club president, will have people to   run with at his not any where near fast  pace.  

2.  3 Jun is National Running Day -probably an event started by runners jealous of the Ride your bike to Work day folks.  Kim P volunteered to contact local  Newspaper, tell them about this little known event, and have the paper mention our club  and invite  all  runners to join us for our club run  on Jun 3rd. 

3. Victor’s doing spin classes followed by yogurt (not Yoga!) at LA Fitness on Tuesday and Thursdays at 6:45 PM .  he’d  love  to have others come suffer with him.  He promises the yogurt fun makes up for the spin suffer .   

4.   The Sat. 6  Jun morning run will  be a  Hash run, hosted (if that’s the word) by  ’rabbit’ Herman. Meet at the SW end of the Best Buy store off Hi-way 79.    The objective is for the pack of runners (that’s us) to try to catch the rabbit (Herman) as he weaves his way through a 7. something mile course.  He will get about a 10  minute head start along a pre marked path.   Complete info will be given out run morning but lets just say this running game includes deceptive  paths which the pack   must sort out in order to   properly follow the rabbit.  I’m thinking dipping  Herman the Rabbit’s  feet  in red paint or   memorizing his shoe print might make things a lot easier and bust his current record of never being caught. 

5.  Matt Capelouto, founder of our great club (Yep, there WAS a time before   Ingy!) spoke to us about the upcoming Vineyard run (10K course will be two loops of the 5 K this year).  It will be   chip  timed,  distance won’t be  exact   and best   of all his high tech special running shirts with your bib number imprinted  on the race shirt will be featured.   This means runners can Just Say No to wearing a separate paper number if they wear the shirt given to them in their race  package.  

He showed us several   very impressive examples  of his work on his high tech extra nice moisture wicking shirts.  Instead of screen printing shirts, which merely puts a picture on top  of fabric (and blocks fabric breathability where the picture is),  he uses a far superior process called sublimation.  The fabric itself   is dyed with the picture or photo, thus the fabric remains soft,  breathable and of course the  design never cracks or peals  or fades like screen printed  designs.  This also   lets him custom make shirts to any individual’s specifications.

 Prices range from $20. if you bring your own white or light colored shirt to $30 (shirts/tank tops) to $40. (sweatshirts) if you use his products.  He feels one is better off using his shirts since he knows exactly how those shirts react to his process.  You can see his shirt styles at WWW.wearyournumber.com   or call him at 951-990-7227.  His web  site is matt@impulsetshirts.com   The greatest part of all:   he works out of his house in redhawk and it’s easy to e mail him photos you’d  like  on shirts or visit him in person and select  shirts from his inventory.    To quote him:  ”If the photo  comes out on your printer well in the size you’d like  to  see  it on a shirt,  it will come out fine on the shirt”  He has light colored shirts also but  stated that white tends to  work best.

—————————

VINEYARD RUN PICS BY DOUG:  

Walkin’ on water  may be hard but  looks  like runnin’ on air is easy…..

……maybe easier for some than others but look at this cornering technique!!

I’ve been gone and haven’t got much feedback on Vineyard except I gather the Redliners collectively commandeered a lot of brass running in the thick  dirty rows of dirt between (?) the grapevines on a decidedly hilly course on a day that was on the hot side  of warm by the time the 10K started.  Barb wore her Vineyard run race shirt with race   number ‘imbedded’ in the shirt fabric by Matt to Wed. nights run and I for one really liked the effect.

————–

RAGNAR RELAY…ALL NIGHT AND ALL DAY FUN  

Tony gives a shout out as the Team 40 first leg runner

(Photos/captions fm Noni)

Thanx to Beth, we have the following blow  by blow or is that step  by step  account : )

You are all so AMAZING!!  I never thought that 2 hours of sleep would be so much fun, thanks for letting me be part of the experience.  For those of you on the 12 man team, I have typed up some of the highlights of the Ultra Team’s race.  Although we didn’t visit the Hospital (scary), I am sure your experiences were about the same.  I look forward to the next relay and getting to run in it!!  

Leg 1: Tony got tripped in a pile up, twisted his ankle and was thrown off his “A” game.
Leg 2:  Polly got her first taste of the “Relay” magic and played pinch hitter to give Tony a rest.  ”Hurry up Polly, get out of the car and run!!!”
Leg 3:  We drove the wrong way, Tino was fired from navigation, but Beth drove 100 miles an hour to get us to checkpoint #4.
Legs 5 & 6: Jane braved the headwinds but enjoyed her first taste of Ragnar

Here comes Jane into Exchange #6 for the hand-off to Eric

Legs 7 & 8: Eric had a fan come up and shake his hand.  He was her “hero”.  He then ran like the wind in his pink leggings. We lost Glen for the first time but Eric remained calm when no one was there for the hand off for “36 seconds”.  ”Hurry up Polly, get out of the car and run!!!”

Leg 9:  Polly ran her tail off and the Suburban missed getting hit with flying glass from a passing truck by 25 feet.  Scary!
Leg 10: Still couldn’t find Glen, getting worried.  Tino took over, ran a great leg and saved his pride at the end and didn’t let the “girl” pass him!!
Leg 11:  We found Glen!!  He ran so fast he passed lots of runners!!
Leg 12:  We saw a whale!!
Dinner Break & Sleep at Santa Monica Pier:  Dinner was good but sleeping in a brightly lit parking lot was impossible.  Glen said I snored, hmmm….
Leg 19 & 20:  Eric strapped on his headlamp and ran the beach trails.
Leg 21 & 22:  We lost Glen for the 2nd time.  The checkpoint 21 forgot to mark he went through but luckily we caught up with him 50 feet before the handoff at 22.
Leg 23 & 24:  Tino hit the hills hard.  Memories of Wild Miles
Leg 25:  Tony braved the cold but put on too many layers and overheated.  ”Hurry up Polly, get out of the car and run!!!”
Leg 26: Polly ran very quickly through the “Hood”.  Very sketchy with lots of police action but Polly you were so BRAVE!!  
Leg 27:  Tino was a gentleman and accompanied Polly to keep her safe!
Leg 28 & 31:  Tony got back on his “A” game and ran 2 fast legs.
Leg 29 & 30:  Jane had a beautiful run on the beach and was DONE!!
Leg 32:  Glen ran his last leg and we didn’t lose him but we weren’t sure what was whiter, his face or his shirt!  The bagel store on this leg had some great food!  We finally see some other Ultra teams including a guy with “bun huggers”, hmmm…
Leg 33 & 34:  Eric suffered through 19 miles of heat and hills (but at a blistering pace).  Chocolate milk and oranges saved the day.
Leg 35:  Polly set a record for most bathroom visits in a 10 minute period but was able to speed up the hills in Laguna
Leg 36:  Tino ran an amazing leg in the hills (again), passed the “wig guys” and sprinted to the finish with the team!

Celebrating the finish!

I was so tired from watching you all run that I went home and slept for 14 hours straight.  Just think if I actually ran!!! Beth.

————–

Below  is partial excerpt from E Eric  sent out ref results:

The upshot is both teams were 2nd in their respective divisions.  the ultra team had an official time (adjusted for just running time) of 19:51 and the regular team was at 21:57.  Winning times were kind of ridiculous and  around the 16 hour mark.  
 
congrats to all- super experience and we loved getting to hang with everyone for the complete race experience.  another special thanks go out to beth for being super-crew.  you saved our race for sure allowing us to worry about the running and not the minutia.
 
have a great night and recovery.

The Jester

————

From Noni and Eric:
Hi Everyone!  Here is an album of photos taken on our camera during the relay plus the two photos Bob took of the gang on Wednesday evening with the Ragnar Awards:
 
http://picasaweb.google.com/noninierenberg/2009RagnarRelayPhotos?authkey=Gv1sRgCKLl5p3ZrdfAjQE&feat=directlink.

————————

From Doug:
Very short video of one of our teams crossing the finish line. You can hear them announce the team and pretty much see everyone if you stop the action. I tried to address this email to all that I knew were there. If I missed anyone could you guys please forward it to whomever? Thanks  dougie

http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b143/Trexx77/?action=view&current=RagnarVideofinish001.flv

————————

 To Victor,
You are busted!!  I am telling your doctor you ran!!  Congratulations to all of you, I am amazed at how good you look after 186 miles, no sleep and no showers.

 From Beth

 —————–

what a motley looking crew we all were after running so many miles on so little sleep! wouldn’t have had it any other way-you are a fantastic group of people . . . crazy, but fantastic!
jane

 —————-

Hi Everyone!  Eric and I wanted to let everyone know that we will be bringing what he likes to call the “unique awards” both teams won for our magnificent 2nd place standings in our divisions (GO REDLINERS!!!) to this Wednesday’s run at the Pizza Factory.  Each team member will receive an award.  Please let us know if you won’t be able to make it to the run and we’ll figure out another way to get your award to you.
 
We hope everyone has caught up on their sleep and is feeling well and ready to get out and run a few dozen loops around the Santa Rosa course this weekend (ha ha!).  Eric actually ran the 11 mile loop with his coachee on Sunday afternoon.  He said he felt a little more sore after that run than he did after finishing the relay!
 
We both had a fabulous time with the incredible Redliners.  Eric thinks you all are ready to become ultrarunners since you do so well on no sleep, lots of “interesting” experiences that would throw lesser humans into a tizzy and yet you all want to come back for more!  Congrats to everyone on a great job done and special thanks to Iain and Mr. Ambassador for their team captaining and to Beth for being the ultimate crew person!  Thank you Doug, Mark, Kim, Aaron and Brian for coming to the finish line to greet us and thanks Doug for the video that recorded the glorious moment of the Running Center Redliners crossing the finish line!
 
Hope to see you all Wednesday!  

harpy tails,
 
Noni & the
 

jester       O  
           \ __\__                                                     
                  \   \
                   \
              ___^
            /          \____       
        _ /                    \
————–

WED

Temecula Triathlon:   On your mark..get set….FREEZE!!

Legend:   Pizza Fac:  Pizza Factory       TMS:  Temecula Middle School

FM :           Farmer’s Market  (old town )           SRP:   Santa Rosa Plateau

Per Ingy:       TRACK:  The track workout at Great Oak fizzled when there was a track meet in progress, forcing us to go back to Temecula Middle School. I would guess that we’ll stay at TMS through April and we’ll discuss at the May 6th meeting.———————————————

BOULDER CITY HALF MARATHON :  WHO IS THAT UNMASKED MAN??

STEVE:

“IS THIS WHERE THE LINE TO AUDITION FOR AMERICAN IDOL STARTS??”

This was a great Half.  It is called “six tunnels to Boulder Dam” because the course runs along the railroad that was built to haul materials to the dam during construction.  The old railway is now a rail trail and includes six tunnels and great views of Lake Mead.  My friend “fasteddie” and I were the only Elvii in the race and had a lot of fun.
Steve

——————–

Diamond Back Doug’s Diamond Valley Lake  Mt Bike N’ snake watch Ride

(Photo’s  by Noni/Eric )

Sunday at 8 AM a 6 pack of Redliners met at DVL and cruised thru the 22 miles in temps that started out cold enough to freeze  a  snake to it’s burrow.  Happily,  just a few  miles of effort and sunshine warmed everyone up.   By the half way point some of us were shedding layers……

Noni, Linda, Doug (Tapping Mother Earth:  IS ANYONE HOME??), Tracy, and Ingy the Snake Snack.

Answer to Doug’s question….    One BIG YES:

,,,,, and by 3/4 way round, Speed  bumps started popping up  on the path. The above speed bump was fat  N’ sassy N’  big enough to think about eatin’  Ingy for brunch if Ingy dared tap  him with the whimpy whimpy whimpy itsey bit of straw that Ingy thought would make the perfect snake stick.  

Mr Western Diamond back,  sub species ‘Red’, checks out his brunch menu.  

One of the nifty things about these bike rides is that one gets to  chat with each other better then on runs.  As a result, one learns some interesting things.  I learned two things about Ingy.  One is that if he tried out for the Valley’s American Idol competition, he’d probably win, so long as he could sing The Skunk Song.  This song was goin’ thru his head since he’d heard it enroute to the ride.  Several  of us had never heard it before (for better or worse and probably for better,   per Ingy) thus Ingy belted it out for us.  And he did a darn good job!!  The second thing I learned about Ingy is that he needs to do a race to Oz, as in where the ‘Wizard Of’  lives.   That’s because when it comes to  rattle snakes,  he needs to find a brain, not a stick. Happily he ultimately dropped his  piece  of straw  and vamoosed with the rest of us.

 Technological miracle plus incredible balancing act = photo  of all of us. (it only took 35 tries and if you felt the earth shake, that’s  when the camera, balanced on Noni’s helmet which was balanced a top a round trash can lid plummeted to the ground.)

Thanx Doug, for  organizing this ride and thanks Noni/Eric for the great   photos ..more can be seen at this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/noninierenberg/DiamondValleyLakeBikeRide32909?authkey=Gv1sRgCJrQifjYvYLP_gE&feat=directlink. 

…………………………….

Editors note:  Jack provided below input about his first half ironman experience. Jack’s clearly an ‘outside the box’ thinker (Read that “whacked out insane “). Most folks doing their first half iron sign up for one that’s got as user friendly a course as possible. Special note to Jack :  They DO exist.  After hours spent training in 80 degree swimming pools with .5 inch waves, Jack signs up for the Super Frog.  Second special  note to  Jack:  The Super Frog ain’t  one of ‘em. Perhaps all that chlorine impacted his brain. Here’s his story:

My First Super
Frog Experience, by Jack (The water-logged) Lenzo.

Note:  I
made many rookie errors this being my first half iron. (Ed.  Note:   You’re being way too hard on yourself…I only spotted one:  namely signing up for Super Frog vs any one of the other 200 half irons held in this neck of the woods -you know, the ones with lake swims and non sandy runs)  Hope this write up helps any future participants! My times are as follows:

Short Story:

 The Swim: Never
mind the 55 degree water and 8 foot waves; when the horn blew I got right into the
surf with all the other Crazies out there…(Read that:  Jack gets his first reality check:  he’s no longer in a swimming pool in Kansas)

 I was in the first wave, registered as a Clydesdale. (Yes
Bob, I’m still over 200 pounds). I was able to ignore the cold- if not for my breathing
being completely arrested. Both salt water and fog were getting into my goggles
and confusion set in rather quickly, between GASPING for air, and lack of
vision. ( Ed. Note: So I guess that idea of visualizing yourself in a calm, happy place kinda got sucked down the drain fast?) I couldn’t see where I was going at all. (That’s OK, The sharks probably could) I was making strange noises I
didn’t know I could make. (Those are called shark calls) I was convinced I was being water boarded. And this
was after practicing in the ocean and hundreds of laps at the pool.

“Anybody seen where Kansas went??”

 I was contemplating my first DNF right
then and there. I resorted to the “Zig-Zag” swim method, (Guess he watched Kimmie’s  demo tapes). I took my goggles
off, which got me redirected several times by race officials in yellow canoe’s asking
“Are You Okay?!! The Shore is THAT WAY!” This coping mechanism did cost me
time, but kept me moving forward at least. At this point, I felt completely
over my head.  What did I get myself into??  I was cursing my friend who convinced me to do such a calamity. This had to be the worst of it, I hoped.  I could not have my wife simply “pick me
up with the truck” either, so I was resigned to tough it out. I’m glad I did. All
in all, as horrific as the swim started out, I did manage to get “comfortable” on
the last lap, and was in a groove.

“Where’s the Beach??”

Unfortunately I was now catching elbows and feet
from the next wave behind me. (Attracted by all your commotion, the sharks probably were too) Somehow, the 1.2 mile swim felt like just a half
mile swim, much shorter than a 1.2 in the pool. For me, the swim was not about
time, but survival. No pool training could have prepared me for the surf and
salt water entry.

Even though I did practice ingress and egress at the beach in
Encinitas with the wetsuit, I had forgotten my goggles that training day, so
those problems never came up before. My step son, Kendall, who was in the same
wave (15-29 age group / along w Clydesdales), was having the same problem, only
he opted to swim with his head out of the water the whole way, and swam a
timely 34:09! (That’s darned impressive for turtle style swimming!)  When I got to the
bike rack he was already gone… Up to that point, I was considered the stronger
swimmer. Ha! I had trouble getting out of my wetsuit too, even though I did well
in practice drills. My Velcro kept re-securing itself over and over! LOL!  I was
stuck in a bad joke…  Out of
desperation, I had a spectator help me un-latch the Velcro. (Am I disqualified
now?) To my credit, with gobs of Vaseline I avoided the dreaded “ring around
the collar” chaffing burn, which my step son forgot to do, so now he’s got a wetsuit 
souvenir hickey around his neck. (That aughta impress girlfriends and teachers alike.) Burns like hell too! (But worth it, I’ve no doubt.)

  Wedding Ring note:    Make sure you take off
your wedding ring: not only will you not lose it in the chop (or inside some shark’s tummy), you can pick up
more chicks while on the bike and run. (Just Kidding!) Seriously though, right
before the start, I tucked it under my wetsuit ankle, having forgotten to take
it off.  The guy standing next to
me said that he lost his ring in just the same way, and to tie it to the
zipper-pull instead. Luckily, I had just gotten done tying it when the whistle
blew!

The Bike:
Coming out of T1 from the swim, I followed two guys on the bike just ahead of
me who made a wrong turn. There was no indication they were off course, until
the absence of other bikes made it obvious.

“The tasty one’s have arrow bars”

Only then did we get told how to “get
back” on course by this laid back volunteer guy. (A sign with an arrow pointing
the way would have been far more effective than the labyrinth of cones you have
to make sense of), but then again a sense of awareness is part of the race too.
I get back on course and start cruising along on my modified road bike, losing only
about a minute or so for having gone off course.

What jack and Jack’s ‘Modified road bike’ were up against -the real reason he didn’t come in first place. Or second…or…

Soon enough, the wind kicked up, and 20 mph became 14 mph,
and sometimes 12 mph. Me and my large self caught every bit of wind. Pro’s
were zipping by me, literally, like I was standing still! I was quite distracted
by all the exotic tri-bikes that were rolling at 30 mph. They looked like aliens on a
mission, or maybe like comic book super heroes come to life. Their foiled wheels made
these whirring sounds, and I heard “On your left” at least 10 times. So I
stayed right the whole way. I also lost count of how many laps I did, and was
told I was done at the 3rd lap when I actually had yet another lap
to go. I only knew I wasn’t done since riders who pulled ahead of me still had not
yet finished. (The bike course is Out and Back, four times). (Jack gets extra points from Beth for honesty)

The last 30 miles were done in pure agony.  My left knee developed lactic acid over load. I tried everything: standing up, changing gears,

un-clipping to shake leg out, you name it. (Amputation??) I was LOATHING the bike ride at this
point, sniveling salt water out of my nose non-stop like a faucet.

What jack felt like on his less than significant bike in the more than significant winds

 Then, on what I thought was the last lap, I see my step son pass by
me in the opposite direction, now a whopping 8 miles ahead of me! I shouted,

“Are you kidding me!??” This was (yet) another low point. I switched between dropping all
manner of “F-Bombs” to whimpering on and off. I got completely owned by the
strong head wind, constant salt water nasal drip from the swim, and chronic knee
pain.

What Jack needed

I swore, I am NEVER doing this again (join the rest of us who’ve said that!), but of course, I will, to beat my
time, right?.  (You got it). And, gotta’ break 6 hours! It took a couple of days to reach this conclusion
after the race, but it did happen. Knowing the course, at least for me, is a huge advantage, and I am confident I will
break 6 hours next year- knowing what I know now. (LOL) Then the phantom knee
problem suddenly went away, as if by magic, and I finished the bike without
incident. Good thing too; back at T2 I noticed I left my spare tube on the
ground! Another rookie error…

The Run:
My nutrition was good on the bike at least, a combo of Gatorade and Accellerade,
and I was glad to get off the damn bike, so I was already smiling putting on my
running shoes. (Apparently no  one told Jack most people doing half irons dread the run) It took me about a half mile to shake off the bike’s muscle
memory, and to get into running form. I felt pretty good, and did the second lap
faster than the first. I never ran a race long enough before to have to take
water. That’s when I found out it’s difficult to drink out of those Dixie cups and
run at the same time without stopping. (It is but it’s a great way to replace the salt water in your nose with fresh water.) On the second lap, they offered a 1
liter sports bottle which helped a lot, half of it being dumped on my head to
cool off, as the sun broke free of the clouds. Another rookie error:  I didn’t grab my hat when I took off
running! So now I’m all sun burned :0    I  took off in the wrong direction, until somebody
redirected me. Luckily only 20 feet was lost. This happened to others too. (Usually does)

There were no portable bathrooms on the run.  I discovered the body won’t let you go while running, I tried that! There was one porta-potty behind some obscure sand dune, out of sight of course, or so I was told; so I invoked “The Tree Method.”  The 1 minute delay cost me about 5 minutes on the road, to catch up to the German guy I was pacing with. From there, I started to pick it up and passed a number of people.

Much of the run is on the shore line, so if you are not watching it you could get a surprise salt water foot bath. I was caught twice.

And you have to dodge the frequent sea weed patches too.  There are two very sandy spots going on
and off shore to access the Navy Base where it is like “running in place” because
the sand is so soft. The only good news is that it’s the same for everyone else
too, and it’s not that long, maybe 50 feet, but it feels like forever. I really
enjoyed the run a lot. (Proof of my “Whacked out insane”  comment in the header) I over trained for hills that did not exist on this
course. I could see my step son’s yellow jersey getting brighter and larger as
I made ground on him on the way back. I always knew it would come down to a
foot race…

The Finish: The
last 3 miles had to be sub 8 for me. (Now that IS Amazing!!) With just a half mile to go, I could see
my step son walking and jogging, looking over his shoulder for me. He later
told me I was like a boogey-man chasing him down, and I was. He never ran 10
miles before; much less 13.1 on sand, so the run was toiling for him. He turned
it on just enough to beat me by 30 seconds, but it was a spectacular moment. My
family and friends at the race did not know I made up all that ground, until the
very last minute when they saw me turn the corner right behind him. I had made
up almost 20 minutes that I lost to the bike. It made for a great finish! AND,
it was all caught on video too. I finished in 6 hours, 17 min, and 51 seconds. It
was an EPIC experience, definitely a love-hate ordeal. To do a full Iron Man, now that is crazy.

Thanx Jack for this great re-creation of your experience.  Many of the problems you experienced are part and parcel  of the triathlon experience, and they aren’t limited to beginners!   

I see where Kim P., who soloed the Super Frog last year with some outstanding splits (after almost visiting the Titanic on the swim) , made up 1/3 of a relay team this year  that took 2nd place in mixed teams and 48th over all with a time of 5:00.23.  I know Kim biked, I don’t know who her cohorts in crime were but their splits were 36:03 Swim;  .43 (that’s like in seconds!) T-1; 2.38.19 bike;  .48 T-2; and 1.44.30 run

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CARLSBAD  5000  Photo by Doug : )

Say, “FUN!”

Just about as many Redliners showed up for the Carlsbad 5000 as for the Temecula tri.  I haven’t heard how most people did but Boston Barb, at home in the cool morning air,  beat her last years time by about 13 seconds, giving her a 23.10.  Monica blitzed thru in a tad over 20 minutes but she’s shooting for a tad under so her goal continues to allude her.  Maybe a pair of 3 oz shoe, .5 oz socks and no hair barrettes will do the trick!  Dina mean while shot for 25 minutes but got some extra seconds  in her time too…but she still  managed to trim 45 seconds off her previous 5 K time.  Isn’t that like about 10 seconds or more  a mile off??  I’d call that a sizable improvement! Taimi ran at around noon by which time the temp had heated up so  she may have left some scorched foot prints imbedded in the pavement if she went at her usual pace.  

————————————- 

R E N E G A D E   ADVENTURE   RACE N’ Hobble

“What fools these mortals be”  (If you don’t recognize the quote, re read Shakespeare)

Photo note: Some of  the photos (like above) aren’t us but they depict parts of the race nicely.

Basics:  .5 mile paddle , 8 mile mt bike, 5 K
run.

Our splits: 33.56
paddle= 23 of 48 total  teams

1.31.54 bike = 31 of
48     46.05 run =18
of 48

we took 8th
of 11 in coed age group of  3 ages
=ing “over 100”

We were 28th
of 48 teams over all.  That’s much
better than we thought we did and I’d 
insert a big fat happy face if I could!

The nitty and very
gritty details:

Sat. Glen stole Mr.
Damaged-Goods- Doug’s identity and took Doug’s place beside Kim and me to
paddle, pedal, trip and plod our way through our first true adventure race. Jealous
Doug still came along as race handy man, prepared to help any and all with
every thing from pre race set up to post race team reconciliation services.

The race took place in the oak and cacti studded vistas of Bonelli  state park, roughly 73 miles away in San Dimas.

After we signed out lives away we got
two pages worth of detailed squint- to -read do-or-die instructions and three
pages worth of  We’re- Gonna- Be- Sooo-
Lost maps, 1  oriented North,
2  oriented who  knows??  (My perspective). 
We also got a classy high tech shirt not slaughtered with ad’s and enough
carb bars to keep lost souls alive for 24 hrs.

The pre race briefing
clarified the instructions. Scattered through out the course were 5 “challenges”.  Interspersed between those 5 challenges
was 1 gear check and 11 punch card check points.  The Zinger: 
Everything had to be hit sequentially to avoid disqualification and all
challenges had to be completed to avoid 20 a minute penalty. Each.  

The briefing ends 15
minutes before blast off.  In the
last 60 seconds of the briefing they drop the most important info of the
day:  Our starting order.  To avoid course pile ups at challenges
and check points, the pack is split into thirds. 1/3  start with the run , 1/3 with the bike, and lucky Team Going
Going and Gone gets to start with the Paddle.  That would be us. Maybe strike the term ‘lucky’. We have the
most difficult activity sequence.  After paddling, we bike. Then on legs either nicely warmed
from the bike (if you’re Lance Armstrong) or totally toasted (if you’re us), we
get to run.   We glance
around.  1/5th of the
park is dead flat. That’s the part that’s water.  As for the rest, not so much.  

Teams now have 14
minutes and counting in which to sort out the half ton of stuff dumped in the
transition area into the correct order of use, grab what they need for their
first race segment, and check  maps
to see which pathway they need to take.

ANYBODY GOT MAP QUEST??

In our case, that’s
easy.  Bright yellow rafts and a
lake full of water are pretty hard to miss.  Per pre race strategizing, I struggle into wet suit while
Glen turns the maps this way and that, orientating them so we know which way to
bike after we complete the swim.  Last we saw of Doug, he was headed down to the life guard
tower with binoculars around his neck, face slathered in sunscreen, ready and
willing to volunteer for bikini watch. 
How charitable  of him  : )   We 3 trot to the
start.

Twenty feet and 3
minutes from the start, I realize I’d had a ‘loco’ moment. I’d pulled my wet
suit on over my dog collar.  That
wasn’t a typo.  I’m wearing a Bull
Mastiff sized collar around my waist. 
Why?  That’s coming shortly.

 As Jack found out in his Super Frog
race, when you want a wet suit to come down fast, 9 out of 9 times it won’t.  Kim and I de-suction the wet suit inch
by inch from my skin as the seconds tick by. Tick, peallll, tock, pulllll, tick
pealll and umpfff. We get it half off, dog collar gets unclipped and re located
outside the suit. We scrunch my torso back into the suit, zip me up and Velcro
me in.  My required life jacket
gets cinched on tight.  I feel like
the Boston strangler’s got a chock hold on my chest.

The gun goes off and I
can barely breath. The pack splits as teams head for differing pathways.  About 16 teams head for the rafts.  We can be recognized because we’re the
one’s who look like Michelin Tire men, running with life jackets on over
wetsuits. This attire is not designed to help one set a PR.  Neither is the fact that 1 member per
most teams is either barefoot or wearing super thin swim socks .  Distance to water:  ¼ mile plus.  We tip toe fast.

PADDLE / SWIM ?  : 0

Kim, Glen and I arrive
lake side well ahead of the pack.  In
the next 2 minutes, we promptly zip into close to last place.  That’s because our pre race strategy
had a few errors in it.

 At the lake, teams get a rubber raft
sized to fit two midgets, one paddle just big enough to spank a minnow, an
inner tube big enough to drive Doug’s truck through, and enough rope to lasso
13 horses. Our mission:  get those
items and ourselves across ½ mile of (freezing) water. 

“What’s the load limit on this thing??  Two 5 year old kids??“

Piranha bait in the making?

“Load limit’s less than 2 adults, for sure!”

Our pre race
strategy:  Tie the rope to the
tire, tie the tire to the dog collar on Tracy’s waist, let Tracy swim while
Glen and Kim use the paddle and their hands to move the raft forward. 

Reality check 1 :  We ended up with enough spare rope to
anchor the Titanic and it took ‘a while’ to get that coiled up and secured on top the tire.
I’m not confessing how long ‘a while’ was but Doug offered to bring us Mai Tai’s
and some of his sun block. LOL. As we lingered, other teams simply plunged into
the water, 2 people per raft and 3rd person often on top the inner
tube, rope unused.  They’re off, we
aren’t.  

Looks like the Loch Ness Monster’s not gettin’ feet for lunch

Reality check 2:  Attired in a wetsuit and life jacket
that   compress my lungs to
the size of a dime store goldfish’s, there’s no way in Hell, or in this lake,
or in any other body of water that exists, that I can out swim a raft Glens’
paddling.  Any of you looked at his
arm muscles recently?  What’s that
guy do in his spare time?  Bench
press his BBQ?? And of course there’s that inner tube getting a free ride to
nowhere fast 2 feet behind my feet.

Inner Tube’s:  Not Small.  May fit Jolly Green Giant’s Truck

 We inched our way across the water, Glen
taking one paddle stroke for every 50 of my arm strokes. Kim kept turning
around to spot me as I putt putted through the water. Lesson learned:  Next time either the raft pulls the
tube or maybe better yet, the tube forms a necklace around Kim’s neck.

About forever later we reach what felt like Never never land and find our first challenges.

 These beach challenges consisted of a balance beam, a 4
ft tall wall, and a cargo net the teams go under while their equipment goes
over.  We trot to the beam, then stall to a stop.   We have to wait while
3 females cross the beam at a speed 3 legged turtles could beat.  Kim and I then cross light as twin
Tinkerbelles.  

Next comes so not a ballerina Glen.

The raft is balanced on his noggin, blood tries to flow back into his lower legs, the legs that were crimped in half for the 30 minute paddle.  His speed is impressive.  His balance is not.  Kim and I take 5 while Glen and the raft practice beam repeats. Three tries later, he and
we are off to a 4 foot wall.  Glen
and raft soar over.  Kim, the inner
tube and I sort of tumble across on his heals then head for the last obstacle, the short cargo net.  We toss our
stuff on top the net as we dive under it. 
Grap our stuff and hoof it over to the check point.  Beach mission completed, our card gets
punched and we head for transition to bike. 

BIKE:

We transition at about
the speed of lightening bolts minus the lightening part.  My wet suit’s got a death grip on my
swim socks and my swim socks have suctioned themselves to my feet like
barnacles to rocks.  That’s OK
though because this gives Glen plenty of time to re –exam our bike route and
Kim ample time to get her pony tail through her bike helmet hole.  Doug doesn’t offer us any more Mai Tai’s but I suspect he was thinking about ordering us pizza.

Squint hard:  Yes, that’s Glen, me half hidden, and Kim in Blue leaving T-2

We launch the bikes
toward the bike route, pedal 1 block, then make the first of 15 Tracy
stops.  A ‘Tracy stop’ is a pit
stop all   team mates make
because control freak Tracy’s confused about our route. Each stop took about 1
minute.  You do the math : 0

 So Gentleman Glen pulls out the 3 maps
for Tracy.  I look a little like a
psychiatry patient trying to interpret a Rorsch ink blot. “ Where’d  North go??  No, no, I mean on the map…”  I twist the map 360 degrees.   It’s facing back the way it first was.  Oh, that’s better. “Wait!! NO! This is
the run map, not the bike map!” 
Opps%&^*!

Glen, who spent half
an hour in the raft paying attention to which way bikes went while my head was
pointed toward Nessie in the depths below now calmly suggests we follow the
path he saw 50 other bikes take. Uh, OK. 
Lesson learned: Trust your partner’s  knowledge and instincts.  

Tracy:  ”North’s still UP?”

The bike course was
more challenging than I expected. We tackled 8 scenic miles of some quite rocky
ups followed by many delightfully swooping downs.   Kim learned on
the fly to lean forward to keep her front wheel planted while each of Glen’s
1,345 bones got rattled to the core on his hard tail style bike.

Half way through the
bike we swing up a hill, round a corner and see this gimpy mirage that turns
into Doug!!  Apparently bikini
watch wasn’t that great. He’s managed to intercept us and note he didn’t need
any map to do it.   I’m so jealous
: ) 

 He films us coming down a sweet spot on
the trail, then hops  or is that
hobbles over to catch us as we dismount the bikes and launch our brains into a
puzzle challenge.  I’ m blind
folded, Kim and Glen direct my hands in their placement of puzzle parts.  The puzzle challenge is a divorce
lawyer’s dream but Glen and Kim manage to get through it still married.  We head for T-2.

RUN:

Not Flat:

We get through T-2 and
start traversing trails of hard pan 
interspersed between solid rock inclines, and rich mulchy descents. That’s after a nice volunteer gets us turned around and headed back in the right direction 1 block after we left the T area.   

Glen followed by his following

Half way through the 5 K my
right foot lands square on top a round rock.  The rock rolls backward, my body flies forward, then dead
down and Mother Earth goes AUCH!  No soft mulch here. 
5 seconds later that 6.4 earth quake hits Italy. Kim scrapes me up off
the ground as Glen zips by. I start spilling blood from both hands, both knees
and one elbow.  Kim and I take off
in hot pursuit of Glen.  That
lasted for 1.5 steps. That because the other .5 of a step is when the knee that
kissed the earth should’ve swung forward but couldn’t.

Tracy and Kim:  “Whoa GLEN….Got a clean up on isle hand, elbow, knees!”

 The hot pursuit turned into a slo mo
limp and Doug could’ve run circles around me.  We yell to Glen to ease up in the speed dept but it’s not
til a quarter mile later at the next check point that he sees I’ve changed from
mostly tan to muchly bright red. 
Any hopes of a fast finish vanish. Since we were out to have fun and not
collect brass, this glitch didn’t matter. 

We eventually cross the finish line, all holding hands as required and Kim pleaseeeee keep your thumb out of that crater in my palm!!!!.

Team Going Going and Gone re-named:  ”The  Rolling Stoned”

Kim and Glen:  Now in search of new and better bikes 

Me:  Now in search of bigger better  band aids

AUCHO!

 We learned several things about team
compatibility for this sort of a race. I had assumed matching fitness levels
amongst partners would be top priority for any team.  After this experience, I’d drop that down to forth in
importance.  For me, tops is a
compatible attitude, followed by the right combination of  brains (to understand tasks quickly),
imagination (to think up short cut solutions to tasks), and personalities (so
you don’t kill each other and can swallow your ego and accept help when you
need it).  Then comes fitness level.  

All three of us had a
blast and hope to do more races like this. the future.  And yes, we made a great team!!

……………………………….

THE     T E M E C U L A   5 K   SPRINT  and  TRI  and   TRY   Again

           A  slew of Redliners  showed up for these two popular events.  Most were trying to out sprint or out tri their last year’s times.  The weather Gods had to  find a compromise between Doug’s devilish desire for pouring rain  and Barb’s angelic wish for sunshine. I guess Barb must’ve connected with them a bit better than Doug (why does that not surprise me?) because the sky didn’t really let loose until after Barb neatly parked her bike during T-2.

   I think you’ve all heard  that  my attempts to cam cord the run failed.  That’s a shame since most everyone waved, called out, gave me a thumbs up, or did a cart wheel as you passed me.  But none of those antics were as impressive as what Tino did while entering T-2 on the bike, which I did catch on tape.  He was so intent on spotting where to go with his bike once he entered T-2 that he failed to realize his bike had totally stopped just outside of T-2.  He got a quick lesson in physics, and the lesson was that stationary bikes fall  over and so do their riders.  Plomp.  AUCHO!

 Tino quickly drew from his childhood bike riding days, got himself and his bike righted, then kind of wondered into t-2, over to The Right Spot,  and proceeded to remove more layers of clothing than ducks have feathers. Judging by the speed at which he did this,  I think his brain was badly in need of oxygen and he temporarily forgot he was in a race.   Removing all those clothes gave his brain enough time to start properly using air again, he went back into race  mode and  sped out of T-2 for the pool. At that point he was out of my sight but Doug and Barb would shortly move into it.  Below is Doug’s account of The Amazing Race between  Barb and him : )

Kimmie:  ”Ya know,  it’s a whole lot colder watchin’ these things than doin’ ‘em.”

Doug’s account:

As a few of you are aware Ive been on the injured reserve list for the better part of the past two months. I hurt myself lifting weights. Pretty sure its Sciatica. That said,  I’ve done the Temecula Tri for quite a few years now and didn’t want to miss this race even if it meant crawling around the course on my hands and knees. So I waited until the last minute to enter. Of course that meant getting hosed for an additional $10 on race morning but I digress.  

I came into the race having only ran 2x in the past 6 weeks for a total of 5 miles. (editor’s note: sounds like Doug’s not exactly out pacing Kim N Glen’s yard tortoise)  I’d swam a few times and gone on two mountain bike rides. Yep I was well prepared .    

Race morning comes with threats of rain and I was doing my rain dance as I absolutely love racing in the rain and or mud. It also seems to slow everyone else down.  Well race morning was dry as a bone.  But the skys did look a bit threatning.  I was pleasantly surprised to see so many Redliners there (we are the Redliners right? I’m still seeing Trotter shirts everywhere I look and even this website still says Trotters but once again I digress...   Redliner/Trotters present: (or at least the ones I know) Karrie, Brigid, Tracey S, Tracy E (with camera in hand) Barb, Kim K, Kim P (with Pom Poms) and Dina.  Eric, Tino, Victor L, Victor F, Dan, Maurice, Glen and Dougie, hope I did’nt miss anyone.

”   BRRRRR…..Who turned on the AC??”

The race got off on time and I could have sworn we had a much smaller race this year but checking the results and I can see where we had 5 more in the Tri and about 25 less in the 5k.  Now I’m a sloooooow runner, that’s not news, but I was expecting to be at the back of the pack. And I didn’t disappoint as I was nearly at the back but I was sure I’d go 35 minutes in the 5k and managed to go 31 so I only had to spot the field from 6 – 11 minutes on the bike.

Eric, in about 7th place, followed by the center of mass pack, followed by the behind the center of mass folks, followed by Doug.  Doug the Mathematician:  How MANY bike MILES to make up how MUCH time to catch Barb??  

That shouldnt be too hard to make up right? LOL.  I figured on the bike my injury wouldnt be such a hinderence and it wasn’t but it was apparent afterwards that I was out of shape.  I pedaled that little red bike for all I was worth. It hurt. My legs burned the entire ride. Well they did cool off just a bit as it started to sprinkle a bit.  I managed to come in about 5 minutes slower than last year. ARGH!!.

My goal for the day was to try to catch Barb. Barb is a much MUCH better runner than I and also a much better swimmer. The only place I have her covered is on the bike. But Barb ran a 24 minute 5k so I had 7 minutes to make up.

Well fortunately for me Barb dropped a chain. (Editor’s note:  90 second stop N fix on Barb The Bike Mechanic’s part.) That allowed me to close in to about 3 and a half minutes at the half way mark. Once I realized where she was I pulled out all the stops (something Im still paying for as I write this on Wednesday morning, semi paralized in my computer chair).  I could see at the top of Night hawk that I’d closed to within 2 minutes. When I got back on Red Hawk loop I put it on the big ring and started hammering for all I was worth. It was then that I got a big knot in first my right calf and then my left. I stretched quickly and tried to ignore the pain. As I came back down the hill towards the school I still couldnt see her. Then as I approached that last turn around near Perchanga blvd I could see her less than 10 seconds in front of me.  And her body language was saying she was out of gas. But I too was running on “E”.

 I managed to close and pull up along side as we turned at the baseball diamond with maybe a 1/3 mile to go. I tried to put her away but I know Barb, she got out the big shovel and dug deep.  As I pulled into T-2  Mark Fanelli and Tracy were standing there and I could hear Tracy hollar something like “its Doug, he’s passed Barb!!!”  and then as Im hopping off  my bike I hear her hollar “and here’s Barb!  ….This should be a great race!!” (Ed. note:  Barb jetted into T-2 barely 7 seconds behind Doug, and headed for her  ’T-spot’ at a quick trot just as Doug got to his T-spot).

  Now at this  point Im having Deja Vu as we had this very same scenario at the Tinman last June where I caught Barb on the bike only to have her sprint by me as I gimped to the pool. Well this time I was going to go for all I was worth. I had a nearly perfect T2 (Ed note: About 30 seconds total) and from what I understand Barb had a bad T2. (She tried to out do Tino in the slow mo multi clothes removal dept.) But the run to the pool was long and homey don’t run real pretty without shoes on. But damn I was gonna try. I got all the way to the water and looked over my shoulder and she still wasn’t coming. Maybe I could pull this off.

I got in and started swimming hard. But after only one of six lengths of the pool I was tired. After the second length I was spent. Normally the swim is uber easy for me. Today not so much. I had to slow or drown so I opted for slowing. I think it was on my 3rd or 4th turn that I saw this tiny figure go by me mid turn. It was either a pool otter or Barb. Turned out to be Barb. ARGH!!

 I was soooo tempted to reach out and grap her ankle. But that would only be funny to me so I passed. I tried to hang on but she left me like a discarded pool toy.  We’d finish 123rd and 124th out of 231.  When we were standing in line at the finish the skies opened up and the spectators started running for cover.  Well thats the race thru my eyes.  

Pool Otter Barb:  Ready for some Sun shine!

Many Redliners did really well (as usual) Here’s the rundown:

5K RACE:

I think all the Redliner women ran with friends today and took it easy. I say that because I saw most of them on the run, running and yaking with friends and thats not the norm, they are usually not even in the same zip code as I am. Still that said;

Kim K took 2nd AG
Dina  also took a 2nd AG
Tracey S took 6th in the largest AG out there.

Victor F won his AG
Glen won his AG
Maurice won his AG

In the Triathlon it looked like this:

All the Redliner women brought home hardware

Brigid won her AG and I think was 2nd OA Woman
Barb won her AG
Karrie took a 3rd in her AG

Way to go ladies

Dan was the fastest Redliner, he was 3rd in his AG and went 1:08:17
Eric was close on Dans heals. Eric was 1st in AG and went 1:08:40
Victory L went 8/25 and had a really good race but a tough AG
Tino went 9/16 and…
Dougie went 9/11

Check this out: Tino beat me 1:24:38 to my 1:31:32.  Yet I beat his Bike time by 1:07 and his swim by 1:23.  He KILLED me by almost 10 minutes on the run.  Last year my time was 1:22:23.  Get training Tino, ( In my best Austrain accent) I’ll be Baaack in 2010.  

Conspicuously MIA at this race was the Ingster’. He opted to go do an Xterra race at Black Mtn.  If he’d been there Barb and I might have had an added dimension to our race.  Next year.

  Thanx Doug for the blow by blow account : )

For all of you who enjoyed reading that, remember it’s your submissions that make this the outstanding publication that it is. (Sometimes more outstanding than others, I confess.)

___________________________

WED. NIGHT CLUB  MEETING:

1.  AS USUAL, INGY EMPHASIZED GET YOUR POINTS TO BETH -REMEMBER TO  INCLUDE THE JESTER RUN.

2.  IT WAS DECIDED TO RE START TRACK WORKOUTS ON MONDAY NIGHTS AT 6:15 AT TEMECULA MIDDLE SCHOOL ON MEADOWS (SAME PLACE AS BEFORE)  MOST PEOPLE WOULD LIKE  INGY TO CREATE A WORK OUT SCHEDULE FOR THE TRACK WORK. INGY WOULD LIKE  HERMON TO BE IN CHARGE OF TRACK WORK OUTS.

3.  SHIRTS WE ORDERED ARE IN, EXTRAS CAN BE BOUGHT FROM INGY FOR 20 DOLLARS.  THEY LOOK REALLY NICE AND RUN A BIT ON THE LARGE SIZE.

4. IAIN TALKED ABOUT THE RAGNOR  RACE AND I GATHER WILL BE SENDING OUT COORDINATING E MAILS   TO THE TEAM MEMBERS SO I WON’T COVER WHAT WAS SAID HERE.  HE  DID STATE THAT TEAM MEMBERS SHOULD TRY TO TRAVEL  LIGHT SO DON’T BRING EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK WITH YOU.  DO BRING HIGH CALORIE ENERGY PACKED SNACKS.  YOU WILL BE ABLE TO STOP AT STORES/GAS STATIONS WHATEVER TO BUY STUFF IF NEEDED.  BOTH TEAMS HAVE ENOUGH VOLUNTEERS NOW. 

R E N E G AD E   ADVENTURE   RACE N’ Hobble

“What
fools these mortals be”  (If you don’t recognize the quote, re
read Shakespeare)

Photo
note: Some of  the photos (like above)
aren’t us but they depict parts of the race nicely.

Basics:  .5 mile
paddle , 8 mile mt bike, 5 K run.

Our splits:
33.56 paddle= 23 of 48 total  teams

1.31.54 bike = 31
of 48     46.05 run =18 of 48

we took 8th of
11 in coed age group of  3 ages =ing “over 100”

We were 28th of
48 teams over all.  That’s much better than we thought we did and
I’d insert a big fat happy face if I could!

We were 28th
of
48 teams over all.  That’s much
better than we thought we did and
I’d 
insert a big fat happy face if I could!

The
nitty and very
gritty details:

Sat. Glen stole
Mr. Damaged-Goods- Doug’s identity and took Doug’s place beside Kim and me
to paddle, pedal, trip and plod our way through our first true adventure
race. Jealous Doug still came along as race handy man, prepared to help
any and all with every thing from pre race set up to post race team
reconciliation services.

The race
took place in the oak and cacti studded vistas of Bonelli  state park,
roughly 73 miles away in San Dimas.

After we signed out
lives away we got two pages worth of detailed squint- to -read do-or-die
instructions and three pages worth of  We’re- Gonna- Be- Sooo-Lost
maps, 1  oriented North, 2  oriented who  knows??  (My
perspective). We also got a classy high tech shirt not slaughtered with
ad’s and enough carb bars to keep lost souls alive for 24 hrs.

The pre race
briefing clarified the instructions. Scattered through out the course were
5 “challenges”.  Interspersed between those 5 challenges was 1 gear
check and 11 punch card check points.  The Zinger: Everything had to
be hit sequentially to avoid disqualification and all
challenges had to be
completed to avoid 20 a minute penalty. Each.  

The briefing ends
15 minutes before blast off.  In the last 60 seconds of the
briefing they drop the most important info of the day:  Our starting
order.  To avoid course pile ups at challenges and check points, the
pack is split into thirds. 1/3  start with the run , 1/3 with the bike,
and lucky Team Going Going and Gone gets to start with the Paddle. 
That would be us. Maybe strike the term ‘lucky’. We have the most difficult
activity sequence.  After paddling, we bike. Then on legs either nicely
warmed from the bike (if you’re Lance Armstrong) or totally toasted (if
you’re us), we get to run.   We glance around.  1/5th
of the park is dead flat. That’s the part that’s water.  As for the
rest, not so much.  

Teams now have
14 minutes and counting in which to sort out the half ton of stuff dumped
in the transition area into the correct order of use, grab what they need
for their first race segment, and check  maps to see which
pathway they need to take.

(Map photo)

ANYBODY
GOT MAP QUEST??

In our case,
that’s easy.  Bright yellow rafts and a lake full of water are
pretty hard to miss.  Per pre race strategizing, I struggle into wet suit
while Glen turns the maps this way and that, orientating them so we know
which way to bike after we complete the swim.  Last we saw of Doug,
he was headed down to the life guard tower with binoculars around his
neck, face slathered in sunscreen, ready and
willing to volunteer for bikini
watch. How charitable  of him  : )   We 3 trot to
the start.

Twenty feet and
3 minutes from the start, I realize I’d had a ‘loco’
moment. I’d pulled my wet suit on over my dog collar.  That
wasn’t a
typo.  I’m wearing a Bull Mastiff sized collar around my
waist. Why?  That’s coming shortly.

 As Jack found out in his Super Frog race, when
you want a wet suit to come down fast, 9 out of 9 times it won’t.  Kim and
I de-suction the wet suit inch by inch from my skin as the seconds tick
by. Tick, peallll, tock,
pulllll, tick pealll and umpfff. We get
it half off, dog collar gets unclipped and re located outside the suit. We
scrunch my torso back into the suit, zip me up and Velcro me in.  My
required life jacket
gets cinched on tight.  I feel like the Boston
strangler’s got a chock hold on my chest.

The gun goes off and
I can barely breath. The pack splits as teams head for differing
pathways.  About 16 teams head for the rafts.  We can be recognized
because we’re the one’s who look like Michelin Tire men, running with life
jackets on over wetsuits. This attire is not designed to help one set a
PR.  Neither is the fact that 1 member per most teams is either
barefoot or wearing super thin swim socks .  Distance to water:  ¼
mile plus.  We tip toe fast.

PADDLE / SWIM ?  : 0

Kim, Glen and I
arrive lake side well ahead of the pack.  In the next 2 minutes,
we promptly zip into close to last place.  That’s because our pre race
strategy had a few errors in it.

 At the lake,
teams get a rubber raft sized to fit two midgets, one paddle just big
enough to spank a minnow, an inner tube big enough to drive Doug’s truck
through, and enough rope to lasso 13 horses. Our mission:  get
those items and ourselves across ½ mile of (freezing)
water. 

“What’s
the load limit on this thing??  Two 5 year old kids??“

Piranha bait
in the making?

“Load
limit’s less than 2 adults, for sure!”

Our pre
race strategy:  Tie the rope to the tire, tie the tire to the
dog collar on Tracy’s waist, let Tracy swim while
Glen and Kim use the paddle
and their hands to move the raft forward. 

Reality
check 1 :  We ended up with enough spare rope
to anchor the Titanic and it took ‘a while’ to get that coiled up and
secured on top the tire. I’m not confessing how long ‘a while’ was but
Doug offered to bring us Mai Tai’s and some of his sun block. LOL. As we
lingered, other teams simply plunged into the water, 2 people per raft and
3rd person often on top the inner tube, rope unused.  They’re off, we
aren’t.  

Looks
like the Loch Ness Monster’s not gettin’ feet for lunch

Reality
check 2:  Attired in a wetsuit and life
jacket that   compress my lungs to the size of a dime store
goldfish’s, there’s no way in Hell, or in this lake, or in any other body
of water that exists, that I can out swim a raft Glens’ paddling. 
Any of you looked at his
arm muscles recently?  What’s that guy do in
his spare time?  Bench press his BBQ?? And of course there’s that
inner tube getting a free ride to no where fast 2 feet behind my feet.

Inner
Tube’s:  Not Small.  May fit Jolly Green Giant’s Truck

 We inched our
way across the water, Glen taking one paddle stroke for every 50 of my arm
strokes. Kim kept turning
around to spot me as I putt putted through the water.
Lesson learned:  Next time either the
raft pulls the tube or maybe better yet, the tube forms a necklace around
Kim’s neck.

About
forever later we reach what felt like Never never land and find our first
challenges.

 These beach
challenges consisted of a balance beam, a 4 ft tall wall, and a cargo net
the teams go under while their equipment goes
over.  We trot to the beam,
then stall to a stop.   We have to wait while 3 females cross the
beam at a speed 3 legged turtles could beat.  Kim and I then cross light
as twin Tinkerbelles.  

Next
comes so not a ballerina Glen.

The raft is balanced
on his noggin, blood tries to flow back into his lower legs, the legs that were
crimped in half for the 30 minute paddle.  His speed is
impressive.  His balance is not.  Kim and I take 5 while
Glen and the raft practice beam repeats. Three tries later, he and
we
are off to a 4 foot wall.  Glen and raft soar over.  Kim, the
inner tube and I sort of tumble across on his heals then head for the last
obstacle, the short cargo net.  We toss our stuff on top the net as
we dive under it. Grap our stuff and hoof it over to the check point.
 Beach mission completed, our card gets punched and we head for
transition to bike. 

BIKE:

We transition at
about the speed of lightening bolts minus the lightening part.  My
wet suit’s got a death grip on my
swim socks and my swim socks have suctioned
themselves to my feet like barnacles to rocks.  That’s OK
though
because this gives Glen plenty of time to re –exam our bike route and Kim
ample time to get her pony tail through her bike helmet hole.  Doug
doesn’t offer us any more Mai Tai’s but I suspect he was thinking about
ordering us pizza.

Squint
hard:  Yes, that’s Glen, me half hidden, and Kim in Blue leaving T-2

We launch the
bikes toward the bike route, pedal 1 block, then make the first of 15
Tracy stops.  A ‘Tracy stop’ is a pit
stop all   team mates
make because control freak Tracy’s
confused about our route. Each stop took about 1 minute.  You do the math : 0

 So Gentleman
Glen pulls out the 3 maps for Tracy.  I look a little like
a psychiatry patient trying to interpret a Rorsch ink blot. “
Where’d  North go??  No, no, I mean on the map…”  I twist the
map 360 degrees.   It’s facing back the way it first was.  Oh,
that’s better. “Wait!! NO! This is the run map, not the bike map!”
 Opps%&^*!

Glen, who spent
half an hour in the raft paying attention to which way bikes went while my
head was pointed toward Nessie in the depths below now calmly suggests we
follow the path he saw 50 other bikes take. Uh, OK. 
Lesson learned: Trust your partner’s  knowledge
and instincts.  

Tracy:
 ”North’s still UP?”

The bike course
was more challenging than I expected. We tackled 8 scenic miles of some quite
rocky ups followed by many delightfully swooping downs.   Kim
learned on the fly to lean forward to keep her front wheel planted while
each of Glen’s 1,345 bones got rattled to the core on his hard tail style
bike.

Half way through
the bike we swing up a hill, round a corner and see this gimpy mirage that
turns into Doug!!  Apparently bikini
watch wasn’t that great. He’s
managed to intercept us and note he didn’t need any map to do
it.   I’m so jealous : ) 

 He films us
coming down a sweet spot on the trail, then hops  or is
that hobbles over to catch us as we dismount the bikes and launch our
brains into a puzzle challenge.  I’ m blind folded, Kim and Glen
direct my hands in their placement of puzzle parts.  The puzzle challenge
is a divorce lawyer’s dream but Glen and Kim manage to get through it
still married.  We head for T-2.

RUN:

Not Flat:

We get through T-2
and start traversing trails of hard pan interspersed between solid
rock inclines, and rich mulchy descents. That’s after a nice volunteer gets us
turned around and headed back in the right direction 1 block after we left the T
area.   

Glen
followed by his following

Half way through the 5
K my right foot lands square on top a round rock.  The rock rolls
backward, my body flies forward, then dead
down and Mother Earth goes AUCH!
 No soft mulch here. 5 seconds later that 6.4 earth quake hits Italy.
Kim scrapes me up off
the ground as Glen zips by. I start spilling blood from
both hands, both knees and one elbow.  Kim and I take off in hot
pursuit of Glen.  That
lasted for 1.5 steps. That because the other .5 of
a step is when the knee that kissed the earth should’ve swung forward but
couldn’t.

Tracy and Kim:  “Whoa GLEN….Got a clean up on isle hand, elbow,
knees!”

 The hot pursuit
turned into a slo mo limp and Doug could’ve run circles around me. 
We yell to Glen to ease up in the speed dept but it’s not
til a quarter mile
later at the next check point that he sees I’ve changed from mostly tan to
muchly bright red. Any hopes of a fast finish vanish. Since we were out to
have fun and not collect brass, this glitch didn’t matter. 

We eventually cross
the finish line, all holding hands as required and Kim pleaseeeee keep your
thumb out of that crater in my palm!!!!.

Team
Going Going and Gone re-named:  ”The  Rolling Stoned”

Kim and
Glen:  Now in search of new and better bikes 

Me:
 Now in search of bigger better  band aids

AUCHO!

 We learned
several things about team compatibility for this sort of a race. I had
assumed matching fitness levels amongst partners would be top priority for
any team.  After this experience, I’d drop that down to forth
in importance.  For me, tops is a compatible attitude, followed
by the right combination of  brains (to understand tasks
quickly), imagination (to think up short cut solutions to tasks), and
personalities (so
you don’t kill each other and can swallow your ego and accept
help when you need it).  Then comes fitness level.  

All three of us had a
 blast and hope to do more races like this. the future.  And yes, we
made a great team!!

DRIPPING SPRINGS:    ’Gettin’ Ready’

 FROM DOUG:  8 AM Mt bike ride around Diamond Valley Lake  Sunday 29 March -see below : )

Legend:   Pizza Fac:  Pizza Factory                   

FM :           Farmer’s Market  (old town )           SRP:   Santa Rosa Plateau

————————————

Dan Detienne

—————————————–

MOUNTAIN BIKE RIDE AT DVL

Next Sunday, March 29th, at 8am what’s ya say we all make like Magellan and circumnavigate Diamond Valley Lake.

Dig out your Mountain bikes and put some air in the tires, blow the dust of the seat, maybe lube the chain and show up Sunday morning in the Marina Parking lot on the East end of the lake. Ive got one extra bike in case someone would like to go but doesnt have wheels.

For those that havent ridden DVL with us before, we ride at an easy conversational pace. We take a few breaks as needed. Bathrooms are every 5 miles.  The entire ride is just under 22 miles and normally takes us from 2.5 – 3.5 hrs.  So we should have you back in your car by Noon O’ Clock. Dont forget a bottle of something to drink, and maybe a snack.

Its up to you but a helmet and gloves are always a good idea.

If you can Id appreciate an email confirming you plan on coming…so I dont go and find out Im the only one   dgstephens26.2@netzero.com

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NEW FUN:   THE JESTER RUN:  RESULTS, and Noni’s great photos and award winning captions : ) ,   Ingy’s Black  mt X terra race,  Below Eric’s Coyote 2 Moons data comes data  from another person engaged in insanity – a friend of mine’s take on racing up Haleakala  volcano on Maui. He took one look at Noni’s photo link to Eric’s race  and E mailed that the Coyote race looks like “FUN” to him (Did they share the same  Mom from outer space or somethin’??) and he may try it next year.  BEWARE ERIC:  He says the HURT race in Hawaii he’s done makes: ” Coyote look LIKE A PAVED PATH comparatively”  Did I just hear a challenge??

     Other stuff below:  _PHOTO LINK TO:   Eric’s write  up on THE COYOTE TWO MOON 100 MILER –  Dripping Springs High Tea with photo link : )….and Don’t forget the Jester Run coming this Sat. at SRP!!   And uh, Victor, oh Victor…before I start making stuff up  about you and Dan in Florida…did your input get lost  in cyber space?

COMING IN APRIL NEWS LETTER:  

                                       TEMECULA  RUN and TRI:  You all  saw me out there with my cam corder:  Slight problem…just about every one of you waved at  me as you ran past but I’m just learning how to use the cam corder and i happily stood there and video taped absolutely none of you because I didn’t push the record button hard enough.  I’d hoped to have a ‘motion picture night’ of the event but it ain’t happening …tells  me I need to stick to stationary photos and writing…I did catch portions of the tri on film but mostly that involved those screaming fast U turns on the bike and the screetchin’ halts at T-2, punctuated by  Tino’s oOOpsie and Doug and Barb’s dash to the splash finale’.

 I think about 80% of the club  showed up for either the run or the tri and despite freezing, everyone seemed to have fun.  At some point I’ll post the pre race stationary photos I took matched with great, good or even bad commentary from anyone whose willing to write it.  I’ve also decided that the club needs to   invent a new award for the Redliner that spends the most time in T-2 pealing off the most layers of clothing in slow  motion during a race…currently it would be a tie between  Barb and Tino…and I’ve got it on tape to  prove it : )

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BROOK’S NIGHT:  Wed. night’s run saw roughly  13 Redliners pop over to the shop to sample the shoes (or not).  We ran  a really nice route (per Barb, Noni, Kim K, myself and probably everyone else) compared with the high traffic routes we’ve done in the past from the store. This route took us past the double dog parks located in the new YMCA complex off Margarita, then up Solano to I think it’s called del Rey, swung a u turn, then returned.   Route was a bit short compared to our usual 5. but could easily be extended up del Rey.   I loved the Brook’s Adrenaline shoe I tried, with it’s  nicely fitted heal, comfy wide toe box in the size B width, and special fluid filled toe and heal gel pads.  It was light but provided plenty of padding and the shoe’s sole was very flexible.  Other comments I heard:  females seemed to like the snug heal/wide toe box bit except one female with narrow  feet found the shoe a bit too wide -maybe needed an ‘A’ width since we mostly tried b’s I think.  One male found the toe, which slanted very slightly upward (Theoretically to help  one’s stride) to feel ‘odd’.  (I didn’t feel the slant at all, other’s did with mixed feelings.) 

       Post run, we provided some verbal feed back about the shoes and got goodies like barefoot shaped key chain/can opener, decals, and quite a nifty gun metal grey shirt with saying “Are You In A Trance?” on the front.  That refers to the Trance shoe but it cracked me up.  I’m thinking I need to cross out the “Are You” part and substitute, “Am I”  for it then wear it next year if I try the shorter  more user friendly 100K version of Eric’s Coyote 2 moons race :  )

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SRP “Jester” Handicap Run:   photos by Noni,  Frivolous extra comments by your editor.

Before the start of the Inaugural Jester Handicap Race at the Santa Rosa Plateau

Frivolous extra comments:

Kim, Dina, Tino, Victor’s 1 and 2 = this will be a blast.

 Taimi:  How fast should i not go?? What if I see a  Mt  lion eating a coyote?  Is it OK to leap  over rocks with a single bound or should I take a step in the middle?? Does horse doo doo come  off shoes?? Can Tarantula’s fly??

Ingy:  Don’t worry Taimi, this is a piece of cake,  first the path goes 50 feet straight then ya see that bush, ya make a little  left by it then ya go  like 40 feet and turn south and the path goes up a ways then ya go like maybe 3 blocks through this grassy area and then ya just…

Glen:    “I think one of Taimi’s flying tarantulas just crawled up my shorts”.  (Note that  Victor instantly  in-acted  anti-tarantula measure)

Eric:  Suddenly decides his jester run might be harder to orchestrate than expected.  Can be seen here trying to create falling domino effect to see if his leaning on Glen will cause everyone to fall over. Why is he doing this?    As usual,  I have no clue.

Write up by Eric, edited by Noni :

We had 8 club members and future club member and Jester missus, Noni, show up for the handicap run.  When asked for predicted 4 mile times, most people were ultra-conservative even though being warned about penalty time if they run much faster than predicted.  Even though no one had to race, most everyone had someone within sight ahead of them and that helped motivate the pace.

Dina takes off with victory in her heart and hands!

(Ingy’s hopin’ she gets her head up and eyes off the ground real fast…form like she’s showin’ here could threaten his course coinage collecting)  See link below for start  photos/Noni’s commentary for each runner.

 Winning the sandbag award (no points) is Taimi who predicted a 4 mile time of 36:00 or a 9 min/mi pace.  Since I do not think Taimi is capable of running 9 min/mi even while dragging a tire behind her, I called her on it but she felt timid about the terrain and was worried about going off course, among other things. (See editors above list of  ”Other Things”)

Here comes Taimi with her pony tail barely keeping up with her!

Editors note to Taimi:  See that thing behind you?  It’s called a bench, it is inanimate, and it can not chase you. Some people even sit on them half way thru runs. 

 Glen Koch, however, showed up ready to go – getting into the real spirit of the event.  He started trash talking immediately and to back it up, predicted the fastest time so he got to start last and try to catch everyone.  First off was Dina at 7:50 am, then Ingy took off chasing her at 7:51.  Ambassador Victor Lopez chased Ingy at 7:52 not realizing that all his relay training is starting to kick in.  Kim Koch and Noni took off together at 7:53 and just cruised, gabbing all the way.  Then Taimi, starting way too far back at 7:54 caught Noni and Kim at about 1.5 miles into the course.  (We know the spot because Noni was able to point out to Taimi the spot where Noni saw a bobcat on a run at SRP last summer.) (Editors note:  OK,  now THAT explains Taimi’s extra burst of speed!)  Then Victor Flores took off, determined to catch his missus, with the 5 minute lead,  left at 7:55.  Tino also tried to match Glen’s bravado however he knew he was going to run another long run on the trails after the jester run and so held a little something back.  Not much though and he predicted a time fast enough to let Victor F. have a four minute lead before he pursued at 7:59.  Then Glen was off at 8:00 flat to try to catch them all.

Glen is worried that Jester Man won’t get his start time right since he has to take his photo at the same time! 

It was no surprise to see the sandbagger, Taimi, come in first with a run time of 31:54 well under her predicted 36:00 time.  She received a time penalty of 2 minutes for an official time of 33:54 which made no difference as she had the 3rd fastest time with or without the penalty.  However with the penalty assessed she was not the first to finish but was 3rd.  The next runner in was Victor Lopez who also sandbagged to a lesser degree and received a lesser penalty to actually take the win.  If he had run 18 seconds faster he would have been assessed an extra minute and Ingy would have won as he was the next runner in and he was also flirting with a time penalty but just under the “redline”.

Here comes Bob looking fit and ready for another loop!

 Noni, being more familiar with the trail and course, finished just ahead of Kim K. who was fifth officially. Kim was the first person to run sort of close to but still faster than their predicted time.  Noni finished just ahead of Kim but as she is not a club member yet doesn’t count for points.  Dina came in 5th, less than a minute and a half from her predicted time with hubby Victor right on her heels in 6th – a hair over a minute faster than his predicted time.  Glen came in 7th having a hard time making up so much time on the rest of the field, catching only Tino, who came in 8th running close to Glen’s predicted time.

Jester Man with best guesser Glen and worst guesser Taimi

(Ed. Note:  Based on expressions, I believe Jester is patting Glen on back for job well done while simultaneously pinching Taimi for miscalculating her time so badly.  From Jester’s expression, this is like trying to rub your belly and pat your head at the same time)

 Every runner in the event ran faster than predicted.  (Ed. note:  Just think how much more ‘under predicting’ would have happened had everyone been doing Ingy’s track workouts!!)   In the future time penalties will be more severe with one minute assessed at two minutes faster than predicted then two more minutes on the third minute and three more at the fourth minute and so on so that a runner running 4 minutes faster than their predicted time would have 6 penalty minutes added to their time.(Editors note: They will also be fed to the nearest Cougar. That should solve the problem.)  Of note – there is no penalty for running any time slower than your predicted time. (ED Note to Taimi:  SEE, that’s what that bench is for!!) So for handicap points Victor won 15.  Glen, who aimed high, got 9 points for his finish but since he was the closest to his predicted time (41 seconds) he gets an additional 15 points for a total of 24 points.

Tino and Glen did finish in style; so much so that Camera 1’s batteries died from the heat they gave off as they blitzed through the finish line.  That’s our story and we’re sticking to it. 

Ed note:  SO HOW COME THE JESTER DIDN’T GET THROWN IN THE HORSE’S WATERING TROUGH??? (Those of you sharing my military past know what I’m talkin’ about.)

Everyone was able to follow the simple and well-marked (if the Jester does say so himself!) course and despite being a little chilly and grey, it was a fine running morning and everyone had a lot of fun.  Tino and Taimi had so much fun they went out with run coordinator, Jester, for an eleven mile circumnavigation of the Santa Rosa Plateau.  Do I detect a little regular team vs ultra team competition going on?  Below are complete results:
 
runner               start      finish     place     run time  rank   predicted time   time difference   points
 
Victor Lopez        7:52 8:26:13+1   1      34:13+1     7     37:40               3:27               15
                                   8:27:13(official)    35:13(official)
 
Bob Ingertson      7:51    8:27:17      2      36:17        8     38:48               2:29               14
 
Taimi Schweighardt7:54 8:25:54+2   3       31:54+2   3     36:00               4:06               13
                                   8:27:54(official)    33:54(official)
 
Kim Koch           7:53     8:28:19       5       35:19       6     37:00               1:41                12
 
Dina Flores         7:50     8:28:36       6       38:36       9     40:00               1:24               11
 
Victor Flores        7:55    8:28:58       7       33:58       4     35:00               1:02               10
 
Glen Koch          8:00     8:29:19       8       29:19       1     30:00                 :41                9+15=24
 
Tino Soria           7:59     8:29:37       9       30:37       2      32:00               1:23               8
 
Noni Nierenberg  7:53      8:28:08      4       35:08       5      37:00                  1:52  

THE BEST PART:  NONI’S PHOTO LINK: 

http://picasaweb.google.com/noninierenberg/JesterHandicapRun32109?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqiuqTYveXL6QE&feat=directlink 

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BLACK MOUNTAIN 5K/15K   …The answer to  why Ingy wasn’t at the Temecula Tri…as told by INGY to my computer:

Black Mountain Regional Park is very large and quite pretty, esp. now when everything is green. I encourage anyone thinking of a trail run, or just a weekend hike—give the place a try.
That said, anyone who has ever ran an Xterra race learns quickly not to trust their course descriptions. This race was described as flat and fast, “the fastest trail run of the year and great for beginners”. Totally deceiving as the only flat was the last 50 meters across grass to the finish.
The first mile of the 5k was mostly downhill and you had to pay close attention as there were many ruts and washouts on the 10 foot wide trail. At one point I glanced at my Garmin and I was at 6:20 pace. The second mile was rolling with several hundred yards of single track trail. At two miles the course took a right turn and we started to climb. At about three miles I took a look at my Garmin and I was doing 19:00 min. pace! Of course, true to Xterra, the course was long also, measuring 3.61 miles on my Garmin, with the last 1.6 miles all up.
The best part of Xterra is always at the finish! Everyone gets a finishers medal and a great breakfast. Bananas, oranges, watermelon, 4 kinds of muffins, scrambled eggs, and coffee, and since their races are generally limited to around 400 runners there is rarely much of a line and plenty to go around. Normally, they also have lots of give away stuff. On Sunday I won a 48 count box of Gu——pretty cool, it’ll last me a long time!!
Xterra age group medals are also quite large, about the size of most marathon finishers medals. Since this was the first race held on the Black Mtn. course I also get to be the 60+ course record holder for at least a year—–my first record!!!! 

Ingy

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Wed meeting notes: In  abreviated non nonsense format:

1.Ingy and Beth arranged for Dr Alex Espinoza from the OUCH clinic to run and speak to us.  He did, provided interesting data on glycosumine, most forms of which apparently haven’t been proven to do much. Summerized what the clinic does -not just bone/joint work but also deals with lung/heart type issues.    Plus he gave out a number of nice T’s and the two wounded  warriors ( My hubby Bob and Kim P.) got nice AUCH clinic swet shirts 

2.  Jester Eric discussed the  ”Jester run” at SRP on 21st -recommends Ragnar folks make that a double and maybe even triple run day plus he hopes to have Ragnar team meeting that day.  Iain:  Show up. Please. See below for SRP run details.   People old  enough to drive are needed as Ragnar  volunteers.  Discussed the need to pin down group’s general collective speed to determine start time.  Start time determines also if folks may need to  spend previous night near Ragnar start local or be able to drive up there race morning.  Noon start time makes driving up on race day practical.   

3.  Noni discussed her Dripping Springs social briefly -see below.

4.   Ingy and Victor collected $$ for our new shirts -Plan to order them next week.  Ingy still has some left over Trotter and Brooks high tech shirts -buy from him at the Running Center.  OK to pay him for the sshirts you each ordered when possible.

5.  It was universaly agreed that ‘my’ Bob looked great for someone who had the joy of a triple bypass the previous Wed. 

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H  I GH  T E A    AT  D R I P P  I N G   S P R I N G S

Noni and Eric instigated a Run, Hike N’ High Tea event at dripping Springs Sunday.   They put this on for visiting friends of theirs. Their friends are clearly pretty unique  since there aren’t a lot of Americans in the grey haired dept. for whom The Drip Springs elevation gain and plunge would qualify as  ‘What I  most Want to Do on my Sunday’.  A few moments talking with their friends proved their uniqueness.  These are people who call double crossings of the Grand Canyon “fun”.  I guess that means they come from the same planet as Eric though I note they have dropped that planet’s style of attire and adapted to ours much better than Eric has.   A slew of Redliners  joined in on this Trail to the Sky.  Some hiked, some jogged, some ran.  Most of those who hiked headed out the less rocky more undulating left fork of the split while the runners headed up the steeper ups of Dripping Spring trail.  I wasn’t there so I can’t give much commentary on what went on before the High Tea part BUT let me activate my imagination and here’s what may have happened: Everybody takes off fresh and smooth at the start, accompanied by the involuntary thumbs up of Kimmie. Kimmie’s thinkin’, “Can I hike fast enough to burn off last night’s  huge lettuce n veggie salad, the one with no dressing but there were those 3 crutons”; Barb’s thinkin’, “I’m gonna make Mark hang with Kimmie’s  speed come hell  or  high water”; Steve A. is thinkin’ to himself,   “This can’t possibly be as fast as that super sonic 2 hr 55 minute run up here two weeks back but over my dead  body am I gonna slow down in front of Monica and Taimi”.  Ingy’s brain’s going,  “There’s a dime in my future and the future is gonna be in the next 10 minutes”.  Mean while Noni is happily  chattin’ away to  her friends about flower species endemic to the hills and Eric’s  thinking who knows what because it’s  impossible for me as a  human to  think like an alien.  Iain is target locked on just keeping up and so is Kim K. who’s headed up the steep route at quick time with Glen, hoping to reach the top for her first time. With those thoughts everybody heads up at various paces and as they do Doug chats 100 sentences to Mark’s 2.5.  This distracts both of them from aucho prone bodies and their speed’s pretty good because it’s embarrassing to have two females topping out at 5’  3” tall smearing two 6 foot tallers into the dirt. Eventually, some where near the clouds, half the fast group decides to search a rabbit warren for dead protein or something I didn’t quite get.  Maybe Monic’s idea since Eric being an alien,  he doesn’t get protein from meat.  They split  off from Taimi  and company.  Taimi’s busy finding out she really does dig this trail run stuff more than expected. Her turbo charge function kicks in and Steve goes into O2 deficit in .3  seconds and remains there for the next hour. Everybody makes their way back toward where great food awaits and as they do Ms. Wind Beneath Iain’s Wings, aka Alejandra (did I finally learn to spell that right??) has managed to do the impossible:  De-energize their two sons.  Every female out there can tell every male out there that that takes twice as much energy as any male ever spends doing anything including running Dripping Springs.  Doug to Ingy:   I wonder how many calories the group burned off this day.  Anyone wanna try and do the math?? Wait, it’s  on my garmin for  me..I could  just   multiply that by the number  of people who hiked that path, add 10 calories for  each 2 quarts of water each person carried, divide it by how little the gal’s weigh then add the distance and speed Taimi’s group blah blah blah…… Everyone hikes, jogs, dashes or in Steve’s case draggggssss then drops back into the parking lot.  Steve has just learned that given sufficient motivation he can do Drip Springs 15 minutes faster than he thought was his fastest possible pace.  2 hrs 40 minutes. Gasp whew gasp.    That’s if he doesn’t mind looking like a dead fish whose mouth is poofing in and out trying to suck oxygen molecules out of the mountain air. Noni:  I did this test thing:  I made 2 huge pans of brownies and my friend made 2 coffee cakes and we thought we’d see which of them Tracy ate…you aren’t gonna believe this:  SHE ATE some of each and 3 brownies!!     3 ??  NO!! didn’t ya see? it was more like 6!!  She made  this brownie sandwich with a blondie and a sprig of lettuce in the middle, then she opened wide like this and just popped them all in at once!!  it was just  like those Hipppo pics you see on discovery channel.    it was amazing!! Everyone then proceeds to eat great food and I take an instant liking to Noni’s friend because she understands the importance of putting large quantities of brown sugar streusel atop coffee cake.  While I didn’t bring anything besides Bob, I felt I contributed to the High Tea by eating large quantities of Noni’s brownies.  We certainly didn’t want the kids eating it and going into hyper mode, right Alejandra??  Living proof that Doug DOES eat!!….BUTTTT… Over whelmed by the 3 tablespoons of cous Cous, 1 tablespoon of pasta salad, 2 potato chips, and 1/3 of  one brownie he ate, Doug’s enormous  meal leaves him sleepy and ready for a nap.  About 1 Pm, everyone splits up to go get cleaned up, Steve drags himself up off the ground but is still looking for spare O2 molecules.  Last to leave was probably Ingy who did the parking lot sweep, you know, just  in case someone lost  some change. FROM ERIC: could you please put a short line in the newsletter from noni and me thanking all who attended and brought stuff.  we really enjoyed the morning, it was such a great day and super companionship.  and, btw, we have someone’s fold up blue chair that says “Z communications” on it and will return it when we know who’s it is. harpy tails,  jester       O              \ __\__                                                                        \   \                    \               ___^             /          \____                _ /                    \    PHOTO  LINK FROM NONI: I sat down shortly after returning home and downloaded the photos I took to a Picasa album and even added goofy captions.  Here is the link to the album:   http://picasaweb.google.com/noninierenberg/DrippingSpringsRunMunch?authkey=Gv1sRgCLj_gpD5q6aEogE&feat=directlink.    PS I think Eric already wrote to you about this, but just in case, would you please put a note on the website to everyone who joined us for today’s adventure that we are so happy they could come and we want to thank everyone who brought goodies to share as well. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ First quarter Jester Event   Mar. 21, 2009 at Santa Rosa Plateau same bat time, same bat channel (7:30 am; horse parking lot) we ask everyone to show by 7:30am and since this a handicap run slower runners will start around 7:45 w/ the faster runners starting around 8:10   format:  handicap run course: fairly benign 4mile run on trails marked w/ flour dots at intersections; approximately 8 w/ only 5 being major turns. method: on arriving everyone will provide a time estimate for the course.  these times can be based on one’s fastest attempt or whatever pace they choose to do therefore it is not really a race per se where the fastest runner wins.  to prevent sandbagging, any runner running more than 3 minutes faster than their predicted time will be penalized 1 minute per minute faster.  so a runner trying for an advantage w/ a slower start who runs five minutes under his predicted time will be penalized 2 minutes. a runner predicting a time of one hour for the four miles (15 min/mi) will start at 7:45 while a runner predicting a time of 20 minutes (5 min/mi) will start at 8:25.  theoretically both runners should hit the finish line around the same time.  points will be awarded as such:  15 points for the first finisher (not the fastest time), 14 for the 2nd finisher down to 2 points for the 14th finisher.  there will also be 10 points awarded for the closest to the predicted time done.  watches are allowed, we just ask runners to abide by the spirit of the run and not run the clock out to win the closest to the predicted time.   all math will be done by the organizers, just show up, predict your time and run the course when told, and we’ll handle all the point awards and timing.  full results with finishing order, points awarded and a ranking of times from fastest to slowest will be posted on the newsletter tho no points awarded on the basis of fastest times; it’s just a race w/in the race kind of thing.   also, for ragnar relay team members this is our tentative day for our triple workout.  hang around after the four mile handicap event for the second run of the day starting around 9:30am, distances to be determined depending on whether runners are on the regular or ultra team and non-ragnar relay team members are encouraged to join in the fun.  let’s run wild out there! harpy tails, JEster          O            \ __\__                                      \   \                    \               ___^             /          \____                _ /                    \   the coyote two moon 100 miler ….Just the fact that ‘100 miler’ is in the title tells you this comes from Eric: (Even if you don’t read this, check out the great photo link and Noni humorous captions at bottom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)   for those of you that are planning on attending this month’s jester run, the handicap santa rosa ramble, imagine, if you will, instead of predicting a 4 mile time over a fairly benign dirt course and having a staggered start over the next half hour you instead predict a 100 mile time over a mountainous course and having a staggered start over the next 9 hours. “Yi Yi YIKES!!!  I’d rather hang out in my den than even think about doing that”  that’s the way the coyote two moon race was set up.  the only 100 miler (and 100k for the wimps out there) with a handicap start.  it is also the only race i know of that adds and/or subtracts time from your “raw” time in the form of boner or bonus minutes done mostly on the whim of the rd.  boner minutes are awarded to people being rude or just doing really stupid stuff while bonus minutes were awarded based on being colourful, perky, friendly, participating in pre-run activities (like bowling), spending money in the host city (ojai), and sucking up to the rd.  so full results will not be fully tabulated until later this week tho minor awards are given out after the race for the top fastest times and all finishers.  so you get the gist- it’s a weird, fun race if that can be said of any 100 miler. Pre race activity:  Howling??   for all who have been introduced to the joy that is the dripping springs trail imagine, if you will again, doing the full up and down and then repeating it 6 more times for the distance of 100 miles and you will have a very good sense of the coyote 2 moon course. (Editor’s note:  Guess we ain’t talkin’ flat)  however, for feet of climbing to be equal you would have to repeat dripping springs a little more than 9 times to equal the 28,100 feet of climb in coyote.  at ojai, ca there is a mountain ridge, nordhoff ridge, just north of the town.  there is a truck trail that runs the length of the ridge east and west and there are single track trails running from both north and south sides and the west end up to the ridge and the truck trail.  the coyote course is really simple- run 6 miles up to the ridge, run along the ridge a wee way then take a different trail and run back down to ojai.  get to the bottom and turn around and run about 9 miles back up and go to the highest spot you can find on the east end and then return down 1.5 mile and run along the ridge for a half mile and then plummet down 8 miles to rose valley on the north side, turn around and run back up (but skipping the highest peak point) and run back past where you got on the ridge originally (and only 6 miles to the finish line but way too soon as this is only the 40 mile point) continue on the ridge to another trail that leads back to rose valley from the west but instead of a long gradual descent of 8 miles as done earlier the course drops the same elevation in only 3 miles.  once you return to the rose valley aid station and can face going on the course goes back up to the ridge via the steep 3 mile dirt road that was just done down.  back on the ridge again head west for another mile or so and, you guessed it drop down again off the ridge on the north side to howard’s creek, only four miles of fairly nice single track trail and again get to the bottom and turn around and go back up then follow the ridge west some more for a bit more than a mile again and hit gridley top aid station.  from there 8 miles with the first mile being uphill to the watchtower then 7 miles of mostly downhill plunge to the cozy dell aid.  turn around and return to gridley top and then turn right and head down gridley trail to gridley bottom 6 miles away back on the south side of the ridge.  following that head right back up to gridley top and then follow the ridge all the way back (about 6 miles) to your original trail and run back down that to finally reach the finish line just 6 miles away.  man, it was hard just typing that, it’s gotta be easier to run it, right?  …right? “I’m so confused…where was I supposed to go??”   due to the staggered start and the fact that once upon a time i used to be fairly good running hundreds i was in the last start group for the 100 milers which was 3am sat. morning.  a good time for me as i am a night owl.  the first wave started at 6 pm fri..  there were seven of us in our group, four guys and 3 gals.  as was my wont i cruised up the first climb in the lead intent on trying for a fast time.  i had karl metzler’s 19:24 from last year to shoot for tho i thought that unlikely given my training.  in any case i was hoping for the fastest time for the race.  by the first turn around i had a comfortable 5 minute lead and was not pushing.  everything was still going well at my first appearance at rose valley.  i had been seeing runners from other start groups coming back up the mountain and had already caught a few of those on the long downhill into rose valley.  the sun had risen and it wasn’t so cold (around mid to upper 20’s on the ridge and northside overnight).  at the aid station i drank about 6 oz of pickle juice as i had a pre-cramp feeling in my calves on the downhill and a full nestle chocolate milk plus some coke and a chocolate donut hole and headed back up.    it was hard getting back going as that was the first time i had had to see noni and really refuel and i stayed put a little long.  but my lead was still around 15 minutes so i felt pretty good.  headed back up the mountain doing ok.  energy was great but i noticed i was gradually slowing.  i still caught a couple of other people from earlier starts but looking way down the mountain i could see my pursuers and they were not still 15 minutes back.  by the time i got to the ridge aid station ray sanchez caught me and he was in and out and gone.  soon after on the downhill roch horton caught me.  i was thinking that those guys really didn’t know how bad that 3 mile steep downhill and then 3 mile steep uphill going back to and from rose valley was going to effect them and i thought i could run conservatively and eat them up later.  knowing while i was thinking it that race strategy never, and i mean never, has worked for me in the past but since my legs were feeling all pounded and tired what choice did i have?  going mincingly down to rose valley francesca passed me.  i stayed fairly steady from then on but not fast tho i think i actually went up the 3 mile hill better than most from rose valley as i still caught more people and no one else caught me.  when i got to the howard’s creek trail i was happy.  this is my favorite trail on the course.  four miles and just a gradual descent (and ascent) mostly soft dirt and single track.  i stretched my legs out and ran with some flair down.  no mincing just a relaxed cruise.  at the bottom i met noni and again spent a little too long time there and i stiffened up.  luckily she convinced me to carry a small head lamp for the next section even tho it was only about 13 miles to the next time i’d see her at cozy dell and i had 3 hours before dark.  one of the most amazing things i have discovered about ultras is how slowly i can go while actually racing.  i have clocked myself running, yes-running, a mile in 25 minutes during one 24 hour race on a flat 1 mile paved loop (i found i could walk the mile during the same race in 20 minutes so yes there are times when i can walk faster than i can run).  in any case wendy from my group passed me on the climb back up to the ridge on my favorite trail tho close to the top.  we stayed together and talked  for the next few miles but then when we started descending to cozy dell she pulled away.  Two Coyotes chattin’.  Note they are smart enough to pause as they do so, unlike certain human runners in this race.  my downhill legs were shot.  i could go up about as fast as anyone at this point but everyone, and i mean everyone, was going faster than i was on the downhill.  then about halfway down it got dark so i got even slower.  i did have my lamp so not all was lost.  just before the bottom the last two from my start group passed me and i was in last place from my group.  a position i solidly held from thence on to the finish.  noni got me food and more lights at cozy dell and nicely suggested the joys and comfort of just staying in place and letting the race go on without  me.  it was not an unkindness, she just knew i was fairly miserable at being so slow and that there were two more horrible climbs ahead and over 50 kilometers left in the race.  however, i had dnfed the year before at near the same point and as i have not finished a 100 miler since 2005 and especially since i was feeling ok, energy levels good and no significant pain like i was breaking something i was determined to carry on to at least the next aid station where i could see her, gridley bottom at 80 miles.  again, i stiffened up at the aid station and starting back in the dark was hard.  especially as i kept tripping on rocks and stumbling about.  i went thru my whole profanity vocabulary within the first mile until i figured out ( it takes awhile for my brain to work out things sometimes) that my LED light was not giving me the depth perception i needed so on rocky sections i used my hand-held flashlight and i don’t think i tripped ever again.  also after a bit more than a mile there was a fog coming over the mountain and the LED headlamp just reflected back from the fog making it very difficult to see.  it did not seem to slow many people down tho but once again i was going uphill and only two late start 100kers passed me going up.  to give you a sense of the speed needed to do 100s let me tell you i did the 8 miles uphill to gridley top in 3:26.  not exactly blistering.  and that was non-stop in case you thought i might have pulled over for a nap or something.  running down to gridley bottom was a painful chore and i got passed by a few more people but everyone was very spread out now even tho with lights one could see runners literally 8-10 miles away once above or below the fog layer.  i guess i shouldn’t call it fog as it was really a cloud cover that the mountain was higher than.  at gridley bottom, 80 miles, i had 20 more miles to go and noni let me know that she wouldn’t be horribly crushed if i called it a day there.  well, since her job was pretty much done as i wouldn’t see her again untill the finish anyway and i had done 7 of the 8 mountain climbs i concentrated on thinking just one more uphill and one more downhill to go rather than ten miles of mostly up and ten miles of mostly down for 20 long miles.  i set off and had only one guy pass me from a 100k start before gridley top.  going back up i saw that there were only a handful of people still racing behind me.  i knew the race was officially over by 10am sun morning and given that i was taking around 2 and a half hours for every 6 miles i knew it was going to be a close thing for me to be an official finisher.  i knew i was finishing as there were no good dnf options after 80 miles but i had worked so hard it would have hurt to not be official.  so i pushed my walking pace from 80 on doing the 6 miles back up to gridley top only 15 minutes slower than i went down.  at the gridley top aid station we were above the clouds and the moon was out and bright and the mountain ridge looked really cool with the ocean of clouds below us.  there was a bit of a backlog at the aid station and since i had really tanked up when i last saw noni six of us left the aid station withing a minute of each other.  so we had a little race w/in the race.  feeling pressured by time and knowing the last 10 miles of downhill to the finish was going to be slow for me i power walked past this group.  they appeared to be out for an evening stroll just chatting among themselves and having fun, it sounded like.  since we were on a smooth(ish) truck trail and on the top of an open ridge with a bright moon i did not have to use my lights at all from there to the finish so i was in “stealth” mode and i could watch everyone else ebb and flow from their lights.  i put some serious distance on the group fairly quickly and by about 4 miles in i had close to a half mile lead on them.  but then the downhill started.  it was quite gradual for awhile but i continued walking hard but it was not long before the crowd passed me just cruising along.  i did notice however that all conversation had ceased and everyone was down to business.  not long after that my second sunrise occurred.  well, i should say the next daylight happened as the cloud cover rapidly rose to meet the sun so that before it could crest the mountains to the east i was below the clouds so it was not until we were almost home that the clouds cleared enough for me to see the sun.  about a mile out from the last aid station 7 miles from the finish another guy caught me.  he left the aid station looking strong altho he was also walking like me.  i followed him to the last section of single track trail, the one i had started up more than a day ago and he disappeared quickly.  the first mile and a half down was very technical,  lots of rocks big and small and several switchbacks.  i tried running ever mindful of the 10 am deadline but it was just too hazardous given my state of mind and physical dexterity or lack of both.  hearing noise above me i look up at a switchback and see a lady catching me.  as the trail was  narrow with little passing opportunities i picked it up looking hard for some sort of pull out so i could let her go by w/out slowing her down too much but, of course, nothing and when she got close she seemed content to maintain at my pace  we were quiet for awhile but then we started talking and she was in the 100k but was about 2 hours slower than her last year’s effort and was just trying to get it over with.  finally we hit a campground and i let her pass and she pulled away.  about a half mile further the last guy that had caught me was coming back to me.  maybe he tried to hard to put me away but his wheels were certainly falling off and bouyed by the run with the lady and passing the guy i was able to run almost all the last trail down to the finish.  i get to the soccer field where i had to run a lap before the finish line,  a nice little insult after all that we had gone thru but at least it was flat and soft grass.  noni walked beside me as i ran my loop before skipping ahead to get a finish photo.  people with energy and spryness make me sick.  but at least i was finally done finishing at 9:28 am for a time of 30:28:48.  can you imagine doing anything that you love for 30 and 1/2 hours?  i won’t know how i did overall for about a week but i know i was the slowest of my start group all of whom finished the race with the top two fastest men’s (ray had the fastest with 25:16) and women’s (francesca had the fastest i’m guessing around 27 hours) time coming from my group.  and i also know that when it comes to really hard courses (at least at non-significant altitude) i can persevere.   there is so much left out of this account which is really a bare bones mile by mile replay.  it does not express the amazing feelings being on a mountain top after working hard to get up there (several times) and seeing the view 360 degrees around with the whole world seemingly below.  missing are all the feelings of going from cold temps to fairly warm (upper 20’s to mid 70’s) and back again.  and the spirit of comradery in the face of competition  which is really the greatest thing about ultras that i know cannot be expressed adequately in words by me.  out there on the course all racers are like a close family.  we may be racing but people are always willing to help each other be it batteries for lights or food or fluids or advice or just companionship and conversation.   harpy tails, “That race was worth howlin’   about” jester       O              \ __\__                                                                        \   \                    \               ___^             /          \____                _ /                    \ FABULOUS PHOTO LINK WITH GREAT NONI CAPTIONS:   I finally finished the photo album of C2M.  Here is the link to it:  http://picasaweb.google.com/noninierenberg/Coyote2Moon2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCITbhPivyOmxqAE&feat=directlink.           Editor’s note :  Reading that had an odd effect on me….it made  me both interested in what it would be  like to experience this sort of race  myself and it also made  me interested in never experiencing a race  like this!  Maybe  if the cut off could be extended to about 4 days and they provided a really nice camp ground with hot showers for one each night  ( I know: Whimpy whimpy whimpy!) ————————————————    HALEAKALA  RACE,   MAUI: The below race write up comes from a talented 59 year old friend who ’specializes’ in ultra’s and adventure races. His name  is Ed Bugarin and he is an instructor (as is his wife Carol) of the POSE method of athletics.  This method teaches one to use gravity to help one’s performance.  (He did Eco Challenge Borneo for those of you aware of the eco challenge series).  Note he and Eric have a few things in common -like race foot wear…do they know something we mortals don’t?? I did the Haleakala “Run to the Sun” this past Saturday (March 14) on the Hawaiian island of Maui.  As usual, it was a grueling uphill run to the summit.  About 5 minutes into the 4:30 am start it dumped hard and long enough to get everyone soaked and wet.  Then it stopped and did not rain until we reached the 8,000 ft level.  At the beginning of the Haleakala Road, where the switch backs begin (about 14.5 miles into the run) there was a strong headwind blowing at 40 MPH.  That really slowed down the runners.  We were also told at this point that the 36.2 mile race to the 10,023 ft summit was shortened 3 miles due to the high wind conditions at the top. The park rangers closed the summit off to everyone, including tourists due to the windy, cold and limited visibility of about 200 yards.  At mile 31 aid station we were encouraged by the volunteers that we had only 2 miles to go.  Then at the mile 32 aid station we were told we had only 2 miles to go.  That confused all the runners, especially since it was very cold, 35°, and with stronger winds.   With only 4 miles to go, my buddy, Tom, and I were walking at a sub 20 minute per mile pace because of the grade and windy condition and it seems like the lack of oxygen.  Damn runners in front must have used up most of the oxygen.  We were also freezing.  It was a good thing that my wife Carol was following us in a rental car because she stopped along the way and gave us clothes and gloves to put on.  If she wasn’t there to give us clothes, I would have dropped out early on.  It was so cold that about 3/4 of a mile from the finish line, I was shivering pretty good and was contemplating getting in the rental car Carol was driving.  Of course (editors note:  Why oh why would he say “of course’….like this is something the rest of us might do?? LOL) both of us were wearing Crocs and the wind was going right through the holes in the front of the Crocs and with wet socks our toes were numb.  But we managed to finally finish in 7 hours 54 minutes.  That was the 6th time I did this race and the third time in my Crocs.  Even with a slow time I managed to place 2nd in my age group, 50-59.  Next year I move up the the next age group, yeah! Here’s a few photos of Tom and I as we were up at the higher elevations fighting the strong head wind and steep climb a few miles from the finish line which was actually 34.2 miles from the start. Edward Bugarin Pose Certified Running Coach, level 3 Pose Certified Triathlon Techniques Coach, level 1 http://poseathlete.com “Training is supposed to reveal the possibilities, not define your limits.“          Most of you know by now that Hubby Bob had the joy of undergoing triple by pass operation a few days ago. He deserves an award at next years award night for being the run club  member who was most dedicated at attending pizza night, rarely missing a single slice, who always pays our dues on time, yes, for both of us, and who himself has yet to run a single club run during our 4 years of membership.  But he has done a tri or two and many bike rides.  Fortunately his heart suffered almost no damage from the minor heart attack that occurred.    SO I don’t have  time to do a proper write up on dripping springs hike but here are the photos, courtesy Glen and Doug: Eric may be able to walk on nice smooth even water, based  on his speed getting accross the creek, but here’s proof Doug can walk on tippy pointed rocks. Which is harder?? The FASS TTTTT    Group:       Taimi: “ Where’s the pavement??” Iain:  ”There’d better be a Chili Relleno waiting for me at home after this” Eric:   “Hill, What Hill??” Steve:    ”HI Ya, Old friend  Mountain”  They’re  OFFFFFF  into the Wild Blue Yonder..Up they GOOOOOOO!!!! Into the Blueeeeee! Mean while,  Kim, Glen and I go alternate gentler second fork  of the trail Kim’s and Glen’s second Honeymoon? We return and Glen and I construct a rock bridge that no one ends up using “This should do  it!” Shortly after we  return, the fastttt group  does too.   Then Beth and her family shows up and doesn’t stay dry crossing the stream ….   Some  more voluntarily than others, as Sandy her  dog demo’s. Everyone had a  fun time -Ingy was there  too and had an exhausting trip to the top and back but found no money so chooses to wipe the experience from his  memory banks.  (Is that a pun of a sort??) Barb and Mark were there also, or maybe it was their ghosts since I didn’t see them.  They zipped up and zipped down at max pace due to Barb’s need to sell shoes at noon. ———————— BOB UPDATE:  Noni and I went to see my Hubby  Bob today in the hospital  and he was up, moving and smiling.  Lot’s  of smiling.  His  injected pain meds were replaced with a  magical ” little pink pill”.  Asked if he was in pain, he said only when he breathes in.  Isn’t that like 20 times per   minute?  His leg, which now lacks a vein it formerly possessed, felt fine. He comes home Sunday and may learn the location of every pot hole between here and the hospital. That’s about 70 miles. I haven’t decided yet whether I should try to to hit them or avoid them.  Next time there’s a  bond issues aimed at pot hole repair, pay attention to which way he votes. Then you’ll  know which I chose to  do.   Lesson Learned from this:  Health via Osmosis doesn’t work.  In other words, you can possess all the exercise equipment in the world and belong to all the gyms within 15 miles but if you don’t make the time to use it, it  does you no good.  ———————– Monday PM:  Bob’s a great patient, continues to do incredibly well, and down loaded calorie counter into his I phone today…and used measuring cup to find out what half a cup  of sauce looked like at dinner tonight.  The food God’s   may have rolled  over  in their graves about this sudden interest in calories and diet : ).   His  words of wisdom on awaking this morning to the reality of multiple upcoming doctor  appointments and 14 pills a day,  most with various restrictions about how to  take them, and insurance phone calls:  THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A ‘MINOR’ HEART ATTACK.  Every one has a  major  impact  on one’s life and the life of one’s  immediate family.  He thanks you all for  all your wishes.    ————————— BOB UPDATE: FRIDAY March  the 13th:  Food for thought for any of your friends that might be heart attack prone:  Bob is recovering MUCH faster than the norm, probably due to his athletic past BUT his surgeon still won’t release him to work full time until 12 weeks from his date of surgery. So you might want to ask those who are over weight and love their food more than exercise who are in their 50’s if they can afford to skip work for 12 weeks.   If that thought doesn’t scare them, the staples used to hold the skin together over the incision should: They run about  9  inches long. (They came out earlier this week).   Bob is permitted to drive again starting next week. Look out fellow drivers !! His aucho factor goes down bit by bit.  The most painful part is from a vein that was relocated from inside one part of his chest, removed from it’s ‘normal’ local, and re routed to form one of his bypass spots. The other vein was removed from his leg.  Interestingly, that process has caused him very little pain -interesting because others we have spoken to have said the leg aucho is usually high.     I never knew how stress contributed to heart attacks.  This is how it works:  Stress makes your veins/arteries (whatevers) contract.  With time, they stay contracted and don’t bounce back ‘open’ again.  The smaller they are, the more likely an obstruction like plaque build up or a blood clot will be able to fill up that narrowed space, causing the heart attack.  Whether the solution to the heart is stints or a bypass depends in part on location. location, location.  In Bob’s case, the attack was extremely minor with virtually no heart damage but the local of his blockages were such that stints couldn’t be used.  Doug tells of a friends of his who had a heart attack a few weeks before Bob’s,  same  general age range. His attack was   massive with lots  of damage but stints were used to  repair his problem.  When a stint is used, the plaque causing the blockage is not removed -apparently it’s  just kind of  shoved back out of the way and the stint forms a tunnel for the blood to  go through again. Bob’s Mom had a stint put  in but it didn’t work ‘right’ and she later had to have bypass done.  My Dad had a stint put in 3 years back at age 80 and his is working great. Unfortunately,  once the heart is damaged from the attack,  it can not be restored -it stays dead- and then the rest of  the heart has to build itself up ‘extra strong’ to make up for the damaged parts inability to work any more.    ======================

  “

My way to “Just say NO” to potential  marathon blisters..an ounce of prevention was worth it :  )

FM :           Farmer’s Market  (old town )           SRP:   Santa Rosa Plateau

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FEBRUARY BIRTHDAYS 5th—Darcy Hernandez 16th-Mari Fuentes (Jones) ————————– KEEP SCANNING DOWN FOR :  Herman at the  International Sports Festival,   PALM SPRINGS HALF   MARATHON AND 5   K DATA WITH GREAT PHOTOS – both located below DATA ON 22 FEB DRIPPING SPRINGS HIKE N JOG,   Wed night’s fun run data,   REDLANDS TRIATHLON,  DVL Marathon,  CARLSBAD HALF AND SURF CITY MARATHON DATA What’s not in yet – A slew of us had a really nice  time at dripping Springs, and i’ve got the photos to prove it … except I haven’t got the time right now  to do the write up/place the photos in here so for now  this will  have  to  do….the ’stranger’ is Roger, associate  of Eric, who bit off a speck more than he expected when this group ran the 7.25 miles to the top and down again…but note he hung tough and finished with them in just under 3 hrs.  We’re hoping he’s hooked and will join the club.  Uhhh, I hope I got   his name right : )   Most frequent comment I heard:  ”YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY, IAIN!!” Referring to the way he kept up with this league of speedsters, not just at Dripping Springs but also on the Wed night runs.  He must be eating his wheaties.

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  Photo’s of the new REDLINER  high tech shirts. Females: Note the fitted seam configuration to help makes us all look our best : )

Available colors: White, the grey shown, and “bright green”.  Ingy’s hoped for  price is $20. each, which is based on assumption 50 shirts are bought.  I’m guessing those of us present on Awards night signed up  for about 15 total.  See below for sales pitch about the shirts.  

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Below input is from Doug:

Climb to the Clouds

Ok maybe not the clouds but up high enough to see for miles and miles

Time: 8:00AM Sunday February 22nd.

Location: Dripping Springs Parking lot (DP is located about 1.5 miles east of the entrance to Vail Lake on the right hand side of the road (hwy 79 so.). Pay attention as its easy to pass.  Park on the right side as soon as you enter) This is only about 5 miles from Town.

Carpooling isnt a bad idea if convienient, as there is limited parking. Meeting at the Ralphs Center on 79 and Butterfield Stage Rd might be an option.

After you park you walk thru the camp ground on a paved road about a 1/4 mile to the trail head. Right at the trail head is a “normally” dry stream crossing.  But it may be wet this time of year so be prepared to take off your shoes and socks for a minute to cross it.  After that its a nice serpentine trail that never exceeds a 6% grade. This is a pretty easy climb for anyone that is in decent shape and thats probably everyone reading this.  The difficulty comes in the distance up you go.

All up the side of the mountain are beautiful vistas.  You can see all of Temecula/Murrieta.  You get great views of Vail lake and all the surounding mountains (provided its clear out)

Views that make Eagles jealous

Running shoes are appropriate as long as they have some lugs on the soles. Anything with a smooth bottom will be a “E” ticket ride on the sometimes loose sand.  

Check the weather but always be prepared and dress in layers as it can get much colder the higher up one goes. 

Bring water or electrolyte drinks appropriate to the time you’ll be out there.  For someone like myself the climb to the top ( about 7 miles or so) and back down takes about 4.5 hrs. For someone like Eric its about 27 minutes .  Of course not everyone will want to go that far.  Many people go up about 3 miles and turn around.  That may take about 2.5 hrs or so. If your running it could be appreciably faster.

If you dont feel like hiking/running to the top you can also just stop on the trail and have a snack and wait for the others to come back down or just head back down to the camp ground and snack there.

I wear long pants, gloves and a few layers on top. I take along my camelbak.  If its cold you might want something to keep the ears warm.

Might want to bring a camera.

If your last name is Parris you might want to bring along an EMT or at a minimum a first aid kit. 

Those of you who havent been here will be amazed that this place is in your backyard.

And theres no telling who you might find up there.

Ingy:  ”Not too shabby a spot even if I didn’t find  any change”

Any questions:  …..dgstephens26.2@netzero.com

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The 11th ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS HALF MARATHON AND 5K

 Photos and story courtesy of Dougie : )

THE HALF

Good race for some, not so great for others (me)  Yep I decided against racing, or more accurately my body said “Nope, not gonna happen, No Way, not this weeknend”.  Lower back went out again last week while lifting weights and to top it off Ive now got what I think is Sciatica. Ok, enough of my pity party….. So I just stood around and looked handsome while all my female friends… err club members, had fun racing. 

And quite a few friends were there on Sunday.  I had the pleasure of carpooling out there with Taimi.  Once there we ran into Beth and her good friend Bubbles err I mean Susan (We’ve got to get this woman in the club, she’s a riot. I understand her and her hubby are both serious Triathletes).  Boston Barb was out there as was Brigid.   Monica (lil’ mo’) and her husband Mark were there to run in the 5k.

Race started at 7AM which meant I needed to get up at 3:15AM.  Barb who stayed in Palm Springs/Desert the night before had the pleasure of sleeping in until 5AM!.  It was cold when we all arrived but it was dry.  It was about perfect weather for racing. Overcast and low 60’s I’d guess.  The women were all pondering over what to wear and they all had on a couple of layers. Just before race start they started peeling off their tops and tossing them to me. I felt like a rock star .

The race got started a few minutes after 7AM.  The course ran such that I was able to see the gals at the start, the one mile and the 3 mile marks. 

I did notice at mile 3 that Susan was no longer in the race. Apparently she had some shin splint problems and had to pull up just past the first mile marker.  Her Bubble burst and she was pretty sad.  Put Susan down in the DNF column next to me in the DNS column…..But for the rest of the gals it turned into a pretty good day. 

 Both Taimi and Barb really liked the course.  I’ve been trying to get the gals out to do this race the past couple of years.  I think they’ll be back. (Editor’s note:  Barb told me she’d definitely recommend this race to others and has placed it  on her ‘do it again’ list.)

There were 882 runners in the race and of that 423 were women.

Taimi was the first to cross the tape in 1:32:44. She was 1st in AG and 7th OAW.

Click on the link for a very short video: http://s18.photobucket.com/albums/b143/Trexx77/?action=view&current=2009PalmSpringsHalfMary002.flv

Brigid was next across.  At the 3 mile mark she was a bit ahead of Taimi but T caught her somewheres out on the course and put a few more minutes on her.  Brigid crossed the line in 1:38:15. I didnt know she even did long course running. She was 4th in her AG and 18th OAW.

Check out Brigids new compression tights: Shes on the outside- that’s her passing a gaggle of runners:

Beth was next up as she crossed the line at 1:45:29.  She was 13th AG (tough AG) and 40th OAW. Excellent considering she’d paced Susan thru that first mile. 

Boston had another GREAT Half Mary. Hot on Beths heels she turned in a 1:46:47. 2nd in AG and 44th OAW.

THE 5 K

Check out this photo of our very own Lil’ Mo’.  Look at her fly.  Notice the woman in the black. Look familiar? Thats Ceci St. Geme. 

 Ceci would go on to win the race for the women but Mo’ was in good company.  Mo’ crossed the line in 20:10. Just a tad off her elusive goal of 19:59. But she’s gettin’ close.  Mo’ would end up 3rd OAW and 1st AG.

Mo’s significant other Mark has come out of running retirement.  (He was telling me “yeah I’ve been training since the middle of January”)  Yeah thats like 3 weeks ago Mark, lol. Still the young speedster crossed the line in 23:18 and for his efforts he too took home hardware as he garnered a 3rd in his AG.

The awards were pretty cool. They used 4″ square white bathroom tiles and had on them the logo for the race and your finish position.  The tee shirts as always were top quality long sleeve “keepers”.  Nice finisher medals for all participants both 5k and Half.  Goody bag was a bit enemic and the only thing of note was a GU packet.   I didnt sample the post race food (except for a water and some cooookies Taimi snagged for me) but it looked to be the normal fair. 

Results are posted and can be found at http://results.active.com/pages/page.jsp?eventID=1610903&pubID=3

Thanx Doug for the write up and better yet for the pics. It’s good to know you at least got a nice shirt and had a nice time out there thus the race entrance fee wasn’t a total loss. 

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  INTERNATIONAL SPORTS FESTIVAL

HERMAN C.  made the Redliners proud at the Palm Desert International sports festival earlier this month.  This festival has a Master’s division in each of a wide variety of track and field events.  Herman took home the gold in his golden age group in both the 400 meter and the 800 meter sprints.  His 400 meter time was a blitzing 1.06.53….uh, for all we longer distance types who are use to 3 sets of numbers representing hrs,  minutes and seconds, switch your brain into sprint mode and think minutes, seconds and hundredths.  Yeah, Wow.  Equally impressive, he finished his 800 sprint in 3.05.03.  I can see all those furrowed fellow Redliner brows right now wondering how someone who’s 60 can get their bodies to explode off starting blocks that fast, maintain the speed, and cross the finish line without pulling every leg muscle and tendon out of whack for a year.  Don’t ask me how he does it.  It must be a  Herman secret. Good going Herman!

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 WED NIGHT RUN:

A slew of Redliners braved the cold and came out for Wed.’s  night run.    Couple of things came out as we jabbered after the run:  One is that I made a mistake (Don’t everyone gasp at once) ref. Iain and  the Ingy Killer Quiz. I said he won nothing for his knowledge. I must have zoned out for a moment because he actually got a $50. gift  certificate which, per Iain, “Was the best  prize of the entire evening.”   Second, Steve A.,  for reason known only to  himself, ran up Dripping Springs at 3:30 PM on Tuesday and re found his car huddled up in the cold and dark at 6:30 PM.  He said it was both exciting and beautiful up there due to about 2 inches of snow that covered the path from about mile 5 to mile 7, and that ice cycles dressed the bushes at that elevation.  (He would  have  been happier if they hadn’t splatted wetly against his clothing en route down, in the dusk and dark).  He suggests that some time when snow hits again, some Redliners might want to bundle up and head up there to enjoy the (BRRRRR) beauty. Third, we have a fairly new member named Greg Tolle thats interested in mt biking around DVL at some point in the future when it’s nice out so stay tuned for that.  4th:  Ingy’s pushing the new T shirts -recommending those doing the Ragner Relay race sign up to BUY BUY BUY them and remember Christmas is only uh, you know, a certain number of days away and wouldn’t it be nice to already have some of your Christmas shopping done by mid Feb??  Oh, and remember Halloween’s just (kind of) around a few more corners and think what a motivational costume running attire  will  make for that slender nephew or niece or maybe you can get  one as a humorous costume for any not so running oriented friends or family members you know.  Anyway, the scoop is order them now so Ingy knows what sizes to order.

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WED NIGHT AWARDS MEETING:

  WED night a slew  of Redliners showed up for the annual awards  Cake N pizza  N’  Killer Quiz fun.  Notice the cake   got  first mention there.  Shows  my priorities!  A few redliners actually ran that   night too but I think I saw  more  beer drinkers than runners. 

   The business end of the night:

1.   Victor passed around our new high tech future Redliner T’s and everyone got a chance to sign up for size and choice of white, grey or “bright green” .  The shirts will hopefully be 20 biscuits each but Ingy’s gotta sell  50 of them for that price  to   work so if anybody hasn’t bought one yet who wants one, contact him ASAP.  You can also  bring in your own shirt and for about $7., just have the Redliners  new  motiff screened onto your shirt.  Coming  here soon hopefully:  Photo  of the shirt/motif.

2.  Other business:  Doug’s planning on making his way up Dripping Springs, all the way UP  which = about 7. 3 or so miles  on 22 Feb (Sunday) and he’s  invited us all to join him.  Lots  of Redliners acted interested, some hikers, some joggers, some runners.  Keep your eyes peeled to   this web site for a time announcement for that day.  This will be the day after the SRP run and there don’t seem to  be many races that weekend.

FUN STUFF:

1.    Once again Iain  took the quiz prize.   Oh, wait  there   is  no   prize.  But he’s  got  braggin’   rights for  the second year in a row.  He  got 7.5 answers correct and PATTTTTT  H.   …..where are you to  give this guy some competition!!!!  But Doug took the prize for  guessing closest to how much money Ingy found through out the year ($ 67.55).  Doug’s secret:  He’s with Ingy a lot when Ingy finds it.  Noticed  who gets to the money first every time though.  Note to Doug: When Ingy points behind him and says, “Hey look, CUTEEEE girl!!”,….   Doug,   ya gotta quit lookin’ back….ya need to put your eyes to the ground and look for  somethin’ shiny!

2.   Beth did her usual superb job as cake  baker, awards buyer (maker?),  awards presenter and general MC of the night. Hey gang, I think we  need to see  she gets something for her part next year since she’s doing such a fine job insuring we all  get very nice awards.  And a great cake.  And she keeps track of those fun little points we  all  rake up.   My dog’s are also  now in love with her even though they’ve never met her -for those who didn’t hear my yell of delight,  she  got   me/my critters 3   pounds of chicken jerky specially made  for  very good dogs,which of course   mine are.  That’s for  my Newsletter stuff : )

3.   Doug who had said not  kind things about the Diamond Valley Marathon medal and shirt got a marathon medal with enough zinggg to be seen from half a mile away.  Who was it who told him he needs to wear  it during his next marathon??  Make a hole through the middle  of his chest probably.  And the T shirt with it’s flaming skull and “death trudge” statement probably met his high standards of what a shirt should be.   For his newsletter hours of frustration before I took over, Beth got him a very nice jersey top.  Long sleeved so he finally has a layer of material to cover up his  arm bones on cold days : )

4.  I know Ingy got something from Beth as club pres but Ingy hasn’t shared what it was yet…..maybe a change counter???

AS for the point awards:

1.  Eric (for the second year in a row) got the Runner of the Year award for  most points,  or at least  most points reported since some folks still apparently aren’t reporting them.  Asked his secret, Eric said:  ” It’s gotta be the clothes”  Oh, and part two: “When ya get  injured, ignor it”  Please tell  me he wasn’t a doctor in his past  life.   (Did everyone out there know he makes and sells running tights/attire  on line?  Yes, you too may be able to run like he does according to his above statement,  just buy his home made attire : )…..and then run a couple thousand miles.       A month.

2.  Ingy took second place,  points wise, barely edging out Maurice who pulled in 3rd.   I noticed no one asked Ingy his secret to second or to finding so much money.  As for Maurice, maybe shooting for beating Ingy in the ‘finding change’ department might be more fun than the points bit. 

3. Kim  P.  and then Taimi took the next 2 places, getting those gorgeous winged shoe trophies -as if either of them need (more?) wings on their feet.

4.  Jane took home the prize for the person who participated the most in Trotter/now Redliner  specifics -I think that means club runs,  shirt wearing, yelling “GO GO GO”  and “BEAT INGY to the change!!!”

5.  Another new prize came about this year with the increased number of us doing triathlons.  This award went to Kim P. for doing the most or getting the most points for doing (I’m not sure which) tri’s.  I guess this proves to all  of us but her  maybe that she really can swim after all despite what she seems to think.

Thanx again to Beth for ‘Running’ a fun evening and to Ingy for his continued leadership…oh, and you thought I wasn’t going to mention his special badge to Victor, huh.    Well, move over John Wayne, there’s a new sheriff in town and it’s Victor.  So now when Ingy raps for everyone’s attn on meeting nights,  he’s  got himself an enforcer!!

———————————-

REDLANDS  TRIATHLON

Thinking outside the box:  Using a bike as an umbrella??

 Doug,  Brigid, Dan, Victor L. and Kim’s friend Polly formed a school of fish and swam through the Redland’s Sprint distance tri  on Sunday.  Doug  may be fishier than the others since  he confessed to liking not just the race but the rain also.  Ingy, who was also  present,  figured why get wet in the pool when one can do  it running so he did the 5k run and skipped the tri experience for the day. In fact, this was his 10th year of doing just that.
      At 8AM the gun went off,  and so did they.  Splish Splash Splish.  Ingy splished himself into first in age for the 5 K with his 27.05 time which was something like 16 minutes faster than his fellow age grouper 2nd place person.
      After he quit the splish splash part, he and Kim P. formed a rooting section and cheered the rest of the Redliners and Polly on.  Dan led the Redliner group during the bike while Brigid and Polly played ‘pen the tail on the bike’ with each other for the entire ride.  About the time speedsters  Brigid, Polly  and Dan were nearing T-2 and Doug and Victor still had 1/3rd of the bike to  go, God decided to end the drought and the sky poured forth with rain. Doug and Victor both got a very nice (?) pre-wash cycle to prepare them for the swim.  
          As Doug and Victor got pre-washed, Dan zipped through T-2 then into and out of the pool  fast enough to take 2nd in age and 8th overall with a time of 50.45.  Of the gal’s,  Brigid hit T-2 first having gained a bit on Polly near the bike’s end but when Polly hit T-2, she donned wings, flew through T-2, passing Brigid, barracuda’ed the  swim, and ended up taking first overall female with a 53.26.    Brigid came in second overall  female less than 1 minute later. Listen up here gals, the 3rd place female was a mere 10 seconds back and she’s 51 years young. Now that’s flying for my age group!
        Now with the top Redliners  off the field, Doug and Victor hit T-2.  Maybe not in that order.  I’m not sure.  Doug, who doesn’t do barefoot real well  under ideal conditions, decided to try something new.  At T-2 he put  on thongs for the race to the pool.  Anyone out there ever tried to run in thongs?   (Did I just hear Eric say, “Yes”?) Even on dry ground it ain’t easy. (Unless maybe you’re Eric).  Now these thongs of course were as wet as slug snot and twice as slippery.  When Doug added his not dry feet into the mix, his feet slipped and slid their way around on the thong’s surface as he tried to trot to the pool.  Note the word ‘tried’.  Thus Doug did not set a new 100 yard dash record getting to the pool.  So by the time Doug entered the pool, Victor was already reaching for a towel to dry off with. His finishing time: 1.04.12.   Doug took the plunge and ended up   finishing in 1.09.34, about 5 minutes slower than his time during last years fair weather race.  The one without the slippery thongs.
            After everyone got toweled  off and awards were handed out about a century later (the only bad side of the race, unless you did the duathlon and were one of those who got lost on the 2nd run course), the race director made a special announcement for Ingy to come forward.  He did..and to his surprise got presented with a very nice engraved plaque for having done the 5 K race for each of the 10 years it’s been held : )  !!
      It says something about a race when a group of people can go out during not perfect weather and still have an enjoyable experience, which is what seems to happen at Redlands year after year. Who  knows, maybe it’s the water!

———————-

MERRY TALES OF ‘MARY’ TRAILS:  THE DIAMOND VALLEY LAKE MARATHON:

Photo’s by Glen : )

The gaggle prepares to play

OVER VIEW:  Cool misty day on predominantly perfectly packed mostly flat dirt roads interspersed with several long paved dams. Eagle at the 12 mile point with 10 X vision watched we 135 finishers: 96 males and 39 females. Average finishing time: 4.31.19   Fastest male: our very own Thomas Beyer in 2.43.50 Fastest female:  3.15.03.

Why is it easier to smile before a marathon then right after one?? You’d think it would be other way ’round.

I’ll write this by answering all those teaser questions I listed in the Jan. newsletter:

 ‘No’… Eric’s running cap’s propeller didn’t take off without him….it spent the entire race just trying to keep up with the Jester’s  lickity split pace that ultimately saw him take 7^th over all and 1^st in age with a time of 3.14.35.

Runner A to Runner B: ” I think ‘Scotty’ just beamed somethin’ down instead of somethin’ up”

       Eric’s reaction to his time:  “Uh.., it wasn’t uh…,  as fast as uh.., last year”.  Right-o. Mr Survivor Man Eric then went out later that same 24 hrs and topped off his marathon with something like 8 more miles.  THEN… Encore Performance:  He skipped thru yonder hills for another 24 Monday.  Yeah, that’s miles, not kilometers. What planet did this guy beam down from??  I asked him if he felt as wiped out as most of us earthlings do at marathon’s end and he actually said he thought so, he just recovers faster.  No kidding.

When Eric flashed me a thumbs up as he flashed by me at around my 1.7 mile point (his 2.5 or something), what I didn’t know is that Trotter, make that Galloper now turned Redliner Thomas Beyer, who I haven’t seen in ages, had already blitzed by me in route to taking over all first with his 2:43.50 time.  Per the race web site, he took first in the marathon back in 2002 also : )

Thomas:  ”I forgot how EZ these things are minus the swim N the bike!”

 You old timers in the club remember Thomas- the low key fellow who packed away the ironmans like they were sprint tri’s.  I spoke to him afterwards (Hey, look everybody, look who I know –the overall number 1 guy here today!).  He’s recovered from that weird never really fully diagnosed body aucho that took him off the runner’s field for so long.  He got back into the ‘sprint’ of things 6 months ago and oh wowWWWW did he recover well or what!

 Back to my list of questions:  Did Kim qualify for Boston??:  YEE HAAA YES!! She qualified with her 4.05.05 !  That was fast enough to give her a 3^rd place in age : )

“Yummm..nylon N salt never tasted soo good!”

Kim starts her calorie consumption early, doing a taste test on her jacket.

 She probably would’a taken 1^st  but Kim’s got this curious ‘follow-the-center line’ concept (curtesy Coach Glen?) about the fastest distance between two points being the long side of the curve.  This started at mile 1. I know because:

About mile 1, after we’d chatted a bit, I told Kim I was dropping back because I couldn’t match her hoped for 4 hr time. Except as soon as I dropped back, I didn’t. I immediately cut a series of corners Kim didn’t and I lurched ahead of her.  She spent the next 26. 6 miles taking the scenic route every chance she got.  Note ’26.6’, not 26. 3 like the rest of us.  That’s about how much further Ms Curvy Kim ran. Guess she wanted to prolong the delight or would that be the delightful agony??

Rare photo: The only corner Kim cut

   Anyway, re Boston, she said she ain’t doin’ it and I’m sure her feet gave this huge sigh of relief when she said that.  That’s because she’s donating 3 dead toe nails to the ‘lost during races toe nail’ collection Ingy  keeps on his wall.  (Vicky:   GET THAT THAT THING OUTTA MY HOUSE!!)   Plus expect stock in bandaid companys to raise a notch as she treats her 6 oh-so-sore blisters.  AUCHO!

Kim to Ingy:  ”You wanna swap feet for a week?”

Ingy: “Only if you stepped on a quarter and it stayed there.”

  As Curvy Kim worked at not cutting corners, Doug dug deep into his past, pulled out his knowledge of geometry, and did cut.  Just like we other 133 runners.

There’s this movie out right now- the Curious Case of Mr Button or some such that I think might explain Doug some how.  In the movie, the person grows younger instead of older.  I can’t help wondering if Dynamic Doug’s found some magic formula  (he’s keeping it to himself since he’d hate to be a multi- millionaire) that’s letting him grow better, if not exactly younger.

MR  Dynamic   ‘AM I THERE YET’  Doug

“Did ya see that…my vortex almost swept that porta potty right off  it’s feet!!”

 His 5:10:45 finish was appreciably faster than his last DVL mary despite his being several years NOT younger.  And top that off with this:  When he emptied his shoes in the parking lot, enough sand to build a 5 pound sand castle fell out!  In fact, when you factor in this was off road and thus more difficult than his past mary’s, this equated to his best ever.  Leave it to Doug to magically pull that off. 

When I passed Doug on his approach to the U turn he looked amazingly normal (read that gimp free). We slapped hands and some of that intestinal fortitude that gets him through these things must have jumped hands from him to me, slithered down my legs, and helped my feet complete da’ feat.

My winning philosophy:  “JUST SAY NO to  training runs : )“

In the ‘Don’t let your kids try this at Home’ dept., most of you know I ran this unexpectedly and untrained.  Here are the answers to the 2 questions a bunch of you have asked:

1.    I felt virtually the same or better (!) as I have during my other trained for marathons both during the run and in recovery afterwards.

2.   My longest training run (in years) was a 16 mile jog n walk that I have Doug to thank for at DVL in mid Nov.  Til my early Dec race in Hawaii, I ran 10 to 13 miles at Dripping Springs on 5 occasions.  After Hawaii, in Jan., I did two 8 mile runs thanx to Barb and Noni/Eric and I did a 13 mile hilly  ‘test’ run 7 days before the marathon. 

My getting through this marathon was a group effort with a bunch of you deserving bits and pieces of the credit. Small comments made by Eric about any one’s ability to do Ultra’s combined with Steve’s comments about his longest training runs for his upcoming Boston being 14 miles ran thru my brain.  These gave me an ‘I can’ attitude.

 Scratching notes in the dirt to Doug and Kim (til she passed me: ) distracted my brain from my body’s efforts and kept me chuckling.  Trying to more or less hang onto Kim’s footsteps as they got further and further ahead of me pushed me through those hardest last 6 miles.

Winner’s circle : )  ”Can I trade the medal for Band-Aids?”

 There was the ‘home team’ advantage of having Ingy and Glen present to cheer all of us on and grab our excess clothing right and left.   They could’ve started a swap meet with all the clothes they ended up with and Thank You Ingy, I can’t believe you even left the change in our pockets : )   That meant each of us could start out warm and comfy and not end up hot and heavy, over burdened with clothes. 

Topping off this best ever most fun cake of a marathon was seeing everyone cheering me on in my little sprint finish. Then I got my full 15 minutes of marathon glory and post run support as I hobbled N’ wobbled about and Monica and Barb grabbed stuff for me hither thither and yon!

So you see, I didn’t run this alone.  A bunch of you ran it in my mind with me, leading not just me but all of us onto victory.  You all deserve credit and you all really really rock!

  Last, Thanx so much, Glen, for letting me run in your place… may you have as much fun next year as I did this!

Oh, the rest of those questions I listed, yes. Doug  did have a leg left to stand on the next day and he tells me he actually stood on it better than other post mary days (see, he IS getting younger!). Yes, I ate 2 tons of food, and Maurice and Steve race info follows the Merry mary stuff.

CURVY KIM’S post race INPUT:

.I’m sore, but not too bad. I can actually make it down the stairs without too much pain. (Read that: Glen doesn’t have to carry her.) I was starving Sat. afternoon as well. Yesterday, we took Charlie for a walk too, and I felt much better after that. My legs aren’t as sore as my feet. I think I will probably loose at least 3 toenails, and I have 6 blisters that hurt when I walk.  I might run on Wed., but I guess, it all depends on if I can get my running shoes on and be able to move.

Monica to Barb/Barb to Monica:  ”Been there, Done that aucho!!”

I didn’t track my splits except for the half which was 1:59 something, so I wasn’t too far behind you. (Editor’s insert: That means you were less than 2 minutes behind me at the half)  I had 6.2 to go at 3 hours, but I just couldn’t pull out of the fatigue after mile 23. I was DONE!!! I’m mad at myself, because I had it to break a 4 hr. mari. Oh well, it happens, I just pooped out! 

JUST THE FACTS: DYNAMIC DOUG’S INPUT:

DVLM  1/24/09

OK, its a bit tough for me to share my DVLM race report with those of you that run at or near the speed of light. But that said I want to share my race report because it was such a special race for me. 

This was my 6th Marathon.  I didn’t have many expectations as my training times were slower than years past.  That said I also enjoyed my training more this time around. Maybe that was due to going slower or maybe it was due to the fact I did all my long runs at DVL.  I love running there. I love the quiet, the smog less air, the wildlife and I like running on dirt. And at my age having a bathroom every 5 miles gets a big thumbs up. The only things I don’t like about training there is the $7 parking fee (although I could have parked at the bottom of the hill and ran in)  and the fact I need to carry all my water with me. On a 20 miler that means 8 lbs of liquid. (Editor’s note:  Ever thought about getting a pet camel to carry it?)

Well I got real lucky this year as I had almost zero bad weather for training. Did have one cold day.  But other than that day I was blessed with beautiful sunny cool days.

My back had gone out only 3 days out from the race and I showed up on race morning jacked up to the gills on Ibuprofen. (Editor’s note: YUM!)  Again I got lucky as my back behaved the entire race.  As did my Bionic Ankle.

I arrived at the lake and it was raining very lightly. Maybe more of a heavy mist.  Not real cold.  Field was small yet bigger than normal with 135 participants.  The gun went off and the pack took off. 

Doug: “Am I there yet?”

I’d not taken more than 25 steps when I heard “Go Dougie Fresh!!”.  Well that could only be one person.  It had to be Lil’ Mo’. I had no idea she would be there to support us.  What a pleasant surprise to turn and see her big smile.

The race started out counter clockwise. We’d run out just over 2 miles and turn around an come back and then head out clockwise for a circumnavigation of the lake (21.7 miles)  This was good as it allowed some of us cold blooded types to wear an extra layer for a few miles to warm up.ngy, Glen and Lil’ Mo were all there supporting those of us running (Eric, Kim, Tracy E, and yours truly.)  As I came back to the 4.5 mile mark I had in my hand my gloves and long sleeve shirt which I passed off to Ingy without losing a step.

“Am I there yet??”

  Now it was time to settle in for the trip around the lake.  I felt a bit like Magellan.  I went out just a tad faster than my goal pace and would stay that way for the first half of the race.  By the 1/2 mark I’d put 7 minutes in the bank and didn’t want to put any more in. (I’ve made that mistake before)  Also last week Ingy and I went out and rode around the lake and I stashed 2 – 10oz bottles of Grape Juice. That stuff had 53 grams of carbs per bottle. I’d use it on the half hours between Gels.  Seemed to work pretty good and I never had to carry much weight that way. I only had one problem and that came at 15 when I was running alongside a cute young woman and flirting and I tripped on a rock and went down. (Editor’s Note: Did the rock laugh?)  That’ll teach me, yeah right on.  I’d land on both hands and it was pretty much no harm no foul.

 I felt great until maybe Mile 16. Then the wheels on the wagon developed a tiny shimmy. About Mile 18 (the west dam) the wheels were wiggling more noticeably. By mile 20 they were wobbling.  At mile 23 the wheels came off and the rear of the wagon was dragging on the dirt road.  Then it got ugly. My legs shut down and I just did what I could to squeeze all that I could from my old bod. I knew that as I came around the corner at about mile 25 or so that I’d be able to see the gang standing on the last corner.  I’d heard that Boston Barb was coming out to see us finish the race. So I was really looking forward to hers and those other warm friendly faces.  About 13 minutes later I came around a blind corner about a 1/3 mile from the finish and off in the distance I can see two figures. One looked to be Ingy in his red jacket and next to him it had to be Barb. As I got closer my guesses were confirmed. By this time Eric had joined them and they all started jogging beside me. 

Doug to Ingy:  ”OH..pant… WOW!!  Pant…I’ve got thissss many friends runnin’ me in, and pant… pant, AM I THERE YET???“

Ingy to Doug:  ”Did Ya Find any money?  Ya ain’t there yet til ya find some money. I can usually find like $3.31 for every 26.2 I do.”  

A few hundred feet later we came to the corner to find Glen, Kim, Tracy and Lil’Mo all smiling and cheering me on.  What an absolutely fantastic feeling that was!

 Doug  bursting into song:  ” OHH WHAT A FEELINGGG!!” 

Monica: “GO DOUGIE FRESH!!” Ingy:  ”Is that a penny??”  Tracy: “Don’t scare the crows!”

Eric:  ”OK, Scotty, mission’s almost done, prepare to beam me back up”

Kim:  ”I think I’m gonna cut this corner”.

   
They all started jogging with me down the hill towards the parking lot.  Some split off to head over to the finish line and Eric stayed with me until the last few feet.  Good thing cause my needle had been on E for quite some time. 

“WHYYYY aren’t I  there YETTTT????

I’d make it across the line in 5:10.  That’s about 15 minutes better than my last DVLM and less than 5 minutes off of my PR. And 20 miles of this race was dirt.  So all in all I was happy with my time.  But the best part was yet to come.  After Id walked it off for a few minutes and knew I wouldn’t get sick I found a curb to sit on. In zero time there was Barb with water and a banana for me and in a few more seconds I was surrounded by the rest of the gang.  They all sat there listening to me share my race story.  As I looked around at their faces I realized then and there that I wasn’t surrounded by a bunch of Redliners, nope, I was surrounded by a bunch of good friends.

 Doug :  ”THANKs GUYS!!”

Ingy:  ”I can’t believe NONE of you found a single penny!”

I Came, I Conquered, and finallyyyyy  I’m here yet or is that “here now”? 

WHAT whew EVER!!!

EXTRA EXTRA from Doug:  re DVLM:   Organization: pretty good, no complaints.  Volunteers: Great. Post race food, OK,  Tee shirt: kinda dorky. Goody Bag: actually pretty darn good. Finishers medal: One of the worst ever. Price: average. Course: Loved it. Gatorade served on the course: Was that really Gatorade? Nah____________________________________________________________

THE STAT’s:

THOMAS BEYER:  2.43.50, FIRST OVER ALL EVERYTHING OF 135

SURVIVOR MAN ERIC:  3.14.35, 7^TH OVER ALL, 1ST IN AGE

CURVY KIM:  4.05.05, 47^TH O/A, 11 OF 39 F. , 3^RD IN AGE

DOUG: 5.10.45, 108^TH O/A, 82 OF 96 M., 5^TH IN AGE

TRACY :  4.10.02, 53 O/A , 12 OF 39 F., 4^TH IN AGE 

—————————————————

DIAMOND VALLEY HALF MARATHON and 5 K:

Steve and Maurice decided to be nice to their bodies and opted for the half and the 5 K respectively.  I haven’t talked to Maurice but Steve said it was his first time running at DVL. He really enjoyed the scenery and the course.  (As Doug later said, “…And he didn’t even run the pretty side..”).  Steve was quite pleased with his 1.42 finish which earned him silver in his very competitive age group.  He’s been running 14 miles at Dripping Springs every other week so I’ve no doubt DVL’s gentleness was a nice change for his body!

“I gotta run here more often!”

 Maurice kinda’ flitted into the race scene, zipped through it, then flitted out again so fast it was hard to even catch him for a photo.  Guess he was eager to get back to dive through those really good goodie bags we all got that day.  Here’s what he had to say about his day of Gold N Glory:

 I did the Diamond Valley 5K last year also, and I wanted to see if I could run it a little faster.  So anyway, I did win my age group and was 11th overall. (Editors note:  I think 11th overall trumps age group at his age!)  Not sure how many ran it-last year there were 180.  I was 20 seconds ahead of last year at mile one, so I felt good about that, but by mile 2 I was only one second ahead.  Either they moved the mile markers, or I was on cruise control.  I pushed hard and managed to finish in 22:08, 56 seconds faster  than in 08.  (Editors note:  That was one heck of a last negative split you laid on there!!)

To answer your other question, I usually don’t eat anything before a short race, especially if it’s early in the morning.  For a 10:00 race like Diamond Valley, I usually have an energy bar. Maurice

Maurice :  ”No way is that kid gonna beat me!!”

Miscellaneous notes:

I read other runner’s comments about the DV races and several pertained to that clear substance we were told was Gatorade.  It was later identified as “Some Sort of Health drink”.   OK, I heard some runners joking about it being “sugar water”.  Some how I missed : ( the homemade brownies at mile 20ish.  In the GPS dept., Doug’s and my Garmins read almost the same at about 26.33 and the course was officially measured (listen up Ms Curvy) via cutting all corners.

 Half  of  the ‘Harpy trails’ gang

———————————– 

  CARLSBAD HALF…THE RACE JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER REDLINER NOT DOING THE DVL MARY DID:

THANX to BETH, we’ve got more  data on Carlsbad : )

If only we had a camera at Carlsbad!!  It was a very nice race and the temperature was cool for racing perhaps even a little cold when the sun went away at the end.  The staggered wave start really improved the race and allowed us all to get up to pace speed quickly.  Didn’t feel like I was playing “Frogger” at the start like last year.

Good turn out for the running club (Taimi, Barb, Beth, Victor F. , Dina, Victor L., Dan, Craig) and everyone seemed to post excellent times.  Even some PRs!  The best part was all the free stuff at the finish!  Pat & Oscar bread sticks, Starbucks samples, Yogos, Rice Krispie Treats, Fruit Snacks, Clif Bars, Sambazon Acai drinks, and even a free loaf of Nature’s Own Whole Wheat Bread!!  Barb, Taimi & I all staggered to the car with all our loot!  (NOTE: SOME CLIFF BARS HAVE BEEN RECALLED -PEANUT PRODUCT) Beth P.S.:  I also saw times posted for Daria Wegner, Leslie Delaney & Kiki Burnick in the results! Editor’s note:  I see Petco now sells tiny cameras one attaches to  one’s pet’s collar -it takes photos automatically, recording what your pet sees every 5 or 10 minutes.  The cost  is 17 biscuits. maybe the club needs one of those……..

Dina was nice enough to slog through the race results and get them to me to share with all you.  I was told both Boston Barb and Taimi too somehow managed to warp time and finish in the same number of minutes as last year.  Is that too weird??

Other feed back I got was that it was crowded as always but fun as always.

Dina  wrote:

Hi Tracy,   Here are the people that I know competed at Carlsbad Half this past weekend   Taimi Schweighardt 1:28:48  She got 3rd in her AG!!! 13th female of 4,284, 169 of 7,149! pace: 6:46 Dan Detienne 1:40:40 Beth Abshire 1:43:28 Barb Fanelli 1:48:43 Victor Flores 1:54:37 Victor Lopez 1:55:50 Dina Flores 2:04:39 Perfect weather conditions, cloudy and cool. Scenery was beautiful along the ocean.   Dina Flores

Beth tipped me off about a few  more Redliners who did Carlsbad half:  Leslie Delaney finished in 2.32.35 , Kiki Burnick in 1.51.04, Craig P. in 1.37.01 and Daria Wegner in 1.58.02

Beakbytes is taking chit chat and race impressions from everyone from these races at this time.  Please send your comments re these races to me!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SURF CITY MARATHON:

Old Huntington Beach town area, home to Surf City Marathon

“I’d rather run the coast line then have to pay 25 cents/gal for gas to drive it”

The Mercury ‘twins’ – Taimi and Monica up staged  Punxsutawney Phil the Ground Hog by bolting through the Surf City marathon course so fast their shadows won’t catch them til Easter, I’m thinking.

“Tomatoes just don’t give me that Gu style energy burst”

 Taimi’s 7:27 pace was fast enough to make the local Hummingbirds look slow.

“Hey flit, did you see thatttt…I think it’s a HummerTaimitus”

Monica clung in, hot on Taimi’s heals, and  tried to snatch Taimi’s running short’s hem line with her own blistering 7:45 pace.   Ultimately, they finished only 4 females and roughly 8 minutes apart from each other.  Taimi snagged bronz and Monica just barely missed out on bronz herself. Scott H. , also present, paced his way through the crowds such that it appears he has a two speed transmission in his body.  His first 3 miles and last portions of the race were done at a 9:27 pace and everything in between seemed to come out 9:07. He finished in 4.18.53, a remarkable accomplishment since he’d been in a gimp boot for an entire month during critical training.

STRAIGHT FROM MONICA’S MOUTH:  

There was no “gliding” for me.  It was work!  I felt pretty good until 20, OK until 23, used all the mental tricks (repeating “Run the Mile You are IN” and “Pay the Price”)  to maintain from 23-24 and literally just hung on from 24-26.   All in all, it was a terrific experience.  I LOVED the mostly-flat course, fed off of the energy of the 15,000+ people, and was continually inspired and kept alive by my “crew” of Mark (husband) and Ryan (son).  They met me every 3 miles with a Gatorade/water cocktail and GU.  Their help shaved at least 2 minutes off my time.  I am so thankful to them.  They rode the course on their bikes.   More than anything, though, today I feel like I can do anything!  I am filled with a sense of accomplishment.  IT FEELS GREAT!!!    

1. I woke up at 4:15 and forced down a bowl of Special K (guess her race proves ‘K’ deserves to be called ’special’) with red berries with Soy milk around 4:45.  At 5:00 AM I choked down a π of sesame bagel with peanut butter and a banana, sipping water throughout.  I was so nervous I could barely talk, much less eat.   I always drink coffee before a race and didn’t want to break the routine, so after stopping at two closed Starbuck’s, we stopped at McDonalds.  I  drank a cup of black coffee around 5:35.   5-7 minutes before the race, I took a chocolate GU with caffeine.  I believe it helped juice me for those first few miles.  

1. Every 3 miles, I drank 5-6 ounces of a ∏ orange Gatorade, ∏ water solution.  Every 6 miles, I took a chocolate GU with caffeine along with the 5-6 oz of water/Gatorade.  The Gatorade/GU combo wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be (tastewise).  (Editor note: Sounds better than a fear factor fish cocktail…maybe)

1. I was in shock for the first 3-5 minutes after the finish. (Read that:  She hadn’t quite made into her happy space yet)  Miles 24 – 26 were very tough and I kicked in the last 50 meters to pass a girl (who ended up being a bandit and was DQ’d).  I was dazed and depleted.  The thought of heading to the Med tent crossed my mind, but it felt like a wimpy thing to do. (Ed. note;  It’s not – I hang out around the med tent after most of my marathons)  I knew I needed salt and fluids and felt I could achieve that on my own.  My legs immediately stiffened up and every time I tried to stretch I cramped.  So I stopped stretching. (Wow, her brain was still working : )  I sat down on a curb to relieve my aching feet, and felt nauseous and dehydrated.  Then I realized I had a bottle of water in my hand.  (Gee, how’d that GET there??) The more I drank, the better I felt.  I found Taimi and Kim after about 15 minutes and the more I walked around with them, the better I felt. (Misery loves company?) Taimi gave me 2 Motrin and some Fig Newtons and both helped.   At home for the rest of the day, we had company and I was up and down a lot without too much problem.  The quads and calves are sore, but on a scale of 1 – 10, 10 being excruciating, I am around a 4.  Not too bad one day later, though instead of running today, I think I’ll hit the bike to work out the bugs. (I can’t believe you people who hit anything but a bed for extra naps the day after a marathon!!)

1. I felt the course was spectacular.   The beach and water are beautiful, and you have both in sight for 2/3 of the race.  You start on Pacific Coast Highway at Huntington Beach Pier. 

 Old Salt water pool that use to be adjacent to pier

1.  The start was well organized and on time.  First 3 miles are flat, then you turn off of PCH at mile 3 and head toward an incline which lasts from mile 3.5 – 4.5.  The hill is no big deal.  In the elevation chart online it looks daunting, but running it was easy, especially compared to the hills we do around Temecula.  After the hill, you run a few miles through a wooded park near a bird sanctuary.  Lots of ducks, geese and seagulls. (EVERYONE DUCK!!) Tons of kids cheering you on.   It is beautiful.  Once you come out of the park and down the hill back toward PCH, you feel like you have seen the worst of the course.  The rest is flat and open, within view of the water.  I liked the course a lot and would recommend it to anyone.   

1.  (I asked Monica if she lost weight during the marathon or was able to drink enough to keep her weight the same -I asked her because I came out of DVM 5 pounds lighter than I went in): She said: I didn’t weigh myself after.  Logic tells me I did lose weight, but I drank so much water all day after the race that I figured I might be heavier due to water weight and I didn’t want the scale to betray me.   So I decided to remain ignorant and just feel good about the day.

THANX MONICA for the input! 

 Per the marathon’s web site: 

The Surf City USA Marathon serves as a “qualifier” for the Boston Marathon, and is rated among the top five marathon experiences in America by Marathon and Beyond.  It is an integral part of the all-new California Dreamin’ Racing Series. Combined with the Long Beach International City Bank Marathon and San Francisco Marathon, the three races let runners competing in all three events within two consecutive years qualify for the California Dreamin’ Series Medal and Finisher’s Jacket!

Taimi  was 64^th of 1,953 over all, 5^th of 846 females, and took bronz in her age group of 136 gals.  Time: 3.14.57 with 7:27 pace.  Get this:  She DOESN’T gets the Most Consistent Split award despite her splits for the first 20 miles staying within 10 seconds of each other.  Monica took that instead by 1 second…Her splits over the same distance ranged from 7:37 to 7:46…a mere 9 second variation.  How do these girls do that?? Maybe The Jester’s not the only space alien amongst us!

Monica’s stats looked like this: 102 of 1953 over all; 10 of 846 females; 4 th of 133 in age; Her time: 3.23.03 with a 7:45 pace

Scott finished with a time of 4.18.53 for a 9.53 pace.  That placed him 812 of 1953 over all, 565 of 1107 males and 89 of 178 in his age.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GETTING LOST IN THE MARATHON SHUFFLE:

Ingy spent a day repeating the Mission Gorge 5 K X terra race he’s  done before.  Not easy terrain, not easy racing.  I’d tell you how he did but there seems to be some confusion under race results …rumor has it he placed second but that’s all  I’ve  got for the curios.