Excelsior Running Club Results 2008

Miracle Mile/5K - 12/21/08


Congratulations to Chikara Omine for his win at Sunday's Miracle Mile. Chikara followed up with a third place finish at the accompanying 5K, after winning the PCTR Rodeo Beach 30K on Saturday. Not a bad weekend.

Also at the PCTR Rodeo Beach event, Jason Reed won the 8K, and Eric Nichol finished 10th (3rd master) at the 30K. Congratulations all, and I apologize to anyone I missed .

Christmas Relays - 12/14/08


We fielded open, master, and senior men's teams, and a senior women's team, at Sunday's rainy Christmas Relays (not complaining though--see next race report). Details . .

Men

Chikara Omine led the group in 25:25. Jin Daikoku took the baton for the wet leg and ran by far our fastest time of the day, 24:09. Bee-Oh Kim ran third in 25:44, and Matt Patout anchored in 26:15. Total time 1:41:27, 4th place overall, 4th PA.

With something like 90 seconds notice, Dan Shore led off for the masters in his masters debut and ran 25:25. Tyler Abbott ran second in 28:40, followed by drop down Tom Bernhard in 26:24. Brian Schultz, just out to watch, pitched in to run 29:03 in his second lap of the day. Total time 1:49:47, 4th master team.

I don't have the splits, but the senior team of Kenny Warde, Jim Gorman, Tom Bennett, and Gary MacPherson ran 2:15:30 to take 5th place in their division.

Congratulations all!

Women

Donna Chan forwards this report for the senior women:

Our historic first time relay started with Donna Chan taking the lead in 32:01 followed by Nancy Wang, having raced the last two weekends, ran the second fastest time of 36:42. Newest member Linda Northcott, who usually runs 1/2 marathons and longer, ran a very solid time of 40:34. Our anchor leg Char Bayles did a fantastic job of racing the ever strong Impalas and passing their anchor woman and beating her by 25 seconds. With our finishing time of 2:27:40 placed us in 3rd overall to protect our overall standing for second place in the road grand prix. The fifth member of our senior team Molly Newlon came out to cheer us on even though a bad knee and back injury is keeping her from running. Looking towards her strong recovery and running with us in 2009.

Old'uns

Gary MacPherson forwards the senior men splits:

My unofficial results for the Xmas Relays are as follows. I may be off a second or two on the times.

Kenny Warde 33:39
Jim Gorman 28:30
Tom Bennett 39:20
Gary MacPherson 33:56
Total Time: 2:15:29

Cross Country Nationals - 12/12/08

Byline Dan Mancini

On Saturday, 5 Masters men - Iain Mickle, Tim Wallen, Pete Vicencio, Dan Mancini, and our 11th hour saviour ensuring a full scoring team, Greg King, made the journey up to Spokane to run in the National Club Cross Country Championships in bitterly cold weather. The all grass, gently rolling, 2 mile meandering loop in a park in the suburbs of Spokane promised the potential for a fast course - on a good day. The ground was a bit sloppy on our Friday jog, and it was cold, but compared to the brutality that awaited us on Saturday, it was like a fall day in San Francisco.

We awoke Saturday to a steady snowfall with about 2 inches of accumulation, temps. in the low 30s. Then things starting getting ugly. By the time we arrived at the course for our 11:30am race, it was 22 degs. with a howling 25 mph wind that put the wind chill at 5 degs. at best. The only positive was that it had stopped snowing, and they had plowed the course leaving just a light dusting of snow, which had now turned to ice. Spikes were a must. On the warmup, the icy footing gave me and my questionable hamstring concern. The constant grabbing and slipping of the surface, combined with 3 laps of a handful of rollers spelled potential trouble for the hammy. But I remained optimistic that I could hold it together.

Did I mention that it was unbelievably cold. The entire team was outfitted in wool and full length tights. And we were still freezing into the wind. Some runners were wearing balaclavas. Indianapolis in '04 was cold. NYC in '06 was cold. But this was ridiculous.

Tim, Iain and I ran together for the first mile with Pete just behind, while Greg tapped out a steady tempo mid-pack. Shortly thereafter, Tim forged to the front of our group, and for the next 4 miles I clung to his pace like a limpet. Meanwhile, Iain lurked a few seconds back biding his time, with Pete a further 10 seconds adrift. At 5 miles, Iain pulled up alongside me looking strong and ready to make a charge for home, with Tim still 2 steps ahead. We turned into the fierce headwind of the final mile, feeling good and ready to make a final push for home and hopefully move up a few more spots. With a mile to go, we hit the last little sharp dip and rise of a roller. Moments later my right hamstring blew out. Grabbing it and slowing to a jog, I desperately massaged it on the run, hoping it was just a temporary spasm. But it was gone, totally cramped. I was done. I began hobbling in toward the finish line for a final mile that would take me 11 minutes to complete, while all of humanity passed me. Meanwhile up ahead, Iain was closing well with Tim just behind, and Pete, finally showing the promise of his recent workouts was holding steady a further 10 secs. behind.

Turning into the final cruel 400m into the gusting headwind, it was Iain across the line first for the team in 64th (37:30), closely followed by Tim in 68th (37:37), and Pete in 72nd (37:48) by far his best race of the year. 4 minutes later I limped across the line in 41:42, with Greg following in 206th (47:44). It was a memorable experience that none of us will likely soon forget, and the team finished a respectable 11th out of 18, particularly given our setbacks. Not only was it the coldest race that native Californians Iain and Tim had ever run, it also left Northeasterners like Greg and me hard-pressed to remember more frigid racing conditions. Did I mention it was unbelievably cold....

CIM - 12/07/08

From Matt Patout . . .

CIM started a little cold but with perfect race conditions for a fast marathon (overcast with light winds). The race proved to be very well organized, staffed, and managed. The roads were well stocked with volunteers and supporters. Heather ran her exact race plan 3:16. Very remarkable given 2 months of no running earlier this year as she recovered from multiple and challenging injuries. Matt had a very nice and mentally taxing 2nd half fade but pulled it back together at mile 22 to almost break 2:50 clock time. Not his goal time, but 3 minutes better than last year and first post surgery marathon where I can walk around the next day!

North Face 50 Mile Endurance Challenge - 12/06/08

Lentz Debuts at 50 Miles

Cliff Lentz ran his first 50 miler over the weekend, running 7:33 to take 8th place overall/2nd master at the North Face 50 Mile Endurance Challenge. Cliff wanted to think Pete Vicencio and Chikara Omine for their help during the race. Pete crewed three aid stations and still found time to win the accompanying 10K, while Chikara paced Cliff for the last 20 miles.

Running Wild - 11/30/08

Helen Kao reports on Sunday's Run Wild for a Child 5K/10K. . . .

Jenny Wong placed 3rd woman in the 10k 40:45, followed closely behind by Kim Fanady 4th woman and 1st Master, 41:15. Chelsey Remington also ran this annual tradition, 45:33, 6th AG.

In the 5k, Nancy Wang finished 6th Master, 2nd AG in 24:42.

Ed.:

In the 10K for the men, senior John Hale finished 14th/2nd senior in 37:22, David Moulton finished 29th/7th master in 39:21, and Brian Schultz finished 58th/14th master in 41:59.

In the 5, Jeff Dewey ran 18:47 for 13th/3rd master, Bob The Rocket Darling ran 20:54 for 43rd/5th senior, and Dan Ramos ran 21:11 for 51st/6th senior. I apologize to those I inevitably missed.

Philadelphia Marathon - 11/23/08

Helen also reports that Larissa Polischuk ran the Philadelphia Marathon on a freezing cold day two weekends ago, Nov 23. She accomplished this while changing jobs and, according to Patti, being quite busy helping several friends out with various activities. Congrats Larissa!

Ironman Arizona - 11/23/08

And Ian Hersey reports on a very successful triathlon a week ago . . .

I did my last tri of the year this past Sunday at Ironman Arizona in Tempe. This marked the first time I've ever done two Ironman's in the same year.

Conditions were pretty good, other than some wind on the bike, so I was able to improve my Ironman PR by 13 minutes to 10:31:25 despite a so-so swim (1:11), a pokey swim-to-bike transition and six (!) pee stops on the bike (I was beyond well hydrated, I guess). I'm proudest of my 3:32 marathon at the end; I had some leg cramps in miles 20-22 but after rehydrating at the aid stations was able to kick it in the last mile in around 6:00. It's so hard to get everything right on such a long day.

The bike (5:36) and run splits were both PRs, and I got my best-ever Ironman placing: 28th in my AG and 260th overall (out of just over 2000). Something to build on next
year.

PA XC Championships - 11/23/08

A fine day running at PAs Sunday. No wins this year, but strong efforts all around. Details . . .

Women
Byline Donna Chan

It was a cool and dry day for the PA championships. And so many of our women could not run but we were able to get five women to toe the line.

Coming is first for NB was Julie McGee in a very fast 25:54 40th overall and 28th 20-29. Heather Leutwyler ran a great tempo run of 28:09 76th overall and 18th 30-39 as part of her long training run for CIM. Gerry Kim followed close behind in 28:28 82th overall and 33rd 20-29 nursing a possible shin injury but running 2 minutes faster than her GGP Open in September. Lee D'Alessandro ran a terrific 31:27 for 118th overall and 29th 40-49 nursing heel soreness but taking 3 minutes off her time on this course from GGP Open. And I ran with a sore ankle and knee swelling and was glad to even finish at 31:38 for 120 overall and 15th 50-59.

Seen at the race looking very fit was Helen Kao doing a bike workout healing from a hamstring injury. Jen Major was out to cheer us on but was not able to run because of tendonitis of her knee. Best wishes for a speedy recovery from injurys goes out to Heather Johnson and Tracy Hogan. Cammie Dingwall and Sarah Jones is ill from a bug that is being passed around.

My apologies goes out to Mulan Chan-Randel who was so kind to come out to the race but we never hooked up. Also out to cheer us on doing a 14 and 8 mile run was Nancy Wang and Brenda DePeralta, a week after Brenda's first ultra (where she placed second overall!). Way to go Brenda!!!!!

Open Men
Byline Matt Patout

Another gorgeous day for racing in the PA. We got some good NBx race watching in with Julie M. making a fast return and Heather having a super PR. Thanks to Donna C for organizing a team including good runs from Lee, Donna, and Gerry. Nice to watch Dan M finish strong and Cliff out-kicking 3-4 folks at the finish. The Open Mens race started with the biggest NBx open team in recent memory. This was thanks to Yurik's 2 recruits, 1 being Sina (most positive guy I've seen at a race) and Camilo, a fast young guy who led the team in his first race with us. Jin brought several folks, including future Ironman Bee-Oh Kim and one of the youngest racers, Carlin (who also helped out at the race) into the fold and raced off of several weeks off. The back of the field started with Matt roping off of Carlos again.

Carlos and David (WV) are some of the best pacers I've seen and have helped me all year. I was thrilled to run a 30-40 second course PR (thanks to my new NB 790 flats) and to actually see the Chik-Ultraman ahead when I finished. Chik went out hard, but fought off a SCruz runner up the final hill. I did not have enough hot-dogs & Wanko Soba to catch Chik, but, I fought off the 3rd place River City guy to the finish hard. George Torgun also helped contribute and Jason Reed came straight from the DSE Great Highway 4 miler to race with us. Some of the guys celebrated by going to the WORST excuse for an Indian buffet in the world after the race where Bee-Oh put salt in Jin's water and Jin poured it all over Chikara. For his part, Sina threatened to TP Jin's house.

I believe that with all of the strong NBx racing and Jin's and Yurik's recruiting and running, we snagged 4th in XC. I see this as no small feat given that we have been laden with injuries and missed several scoring races. GREAT JOB NBx. Next up let's field 2 or 3 open teams at the Relays and let's have some crazy fast running. My next thought is, when is the NBx pizza and brews, post season night? I say Inner Sunset near Kezar, after 12.25 and before New Years. Or right after Christmas Relays. Or both. I'll buy the first round. Let's decide on a date.

Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini

The Masters Men came close to recapturing the glory of the dynasty years of 2004-2006 with their strong 2nd place showing at the PA Champs. race on Sunday. In an extremely deep field, the team placed 3 in the top-20, led by a fine performance by Tim Wallen in 13th (34:51.8). Cliff Lentz, in the midst of a heavy training phase, closed very well to grab 16th in 35:30.2, while Dan Mancini in 19th earned his metronome moniker by running 35:41.2 - the identical time to last year. Pete Vicencio used a furious kick to finish 35th (37:01.1) to edge out a fast-finishing Mike Slavin in 36th (37:01.9) whose performance was all the more impressive given his current training regimen of 3-day a week running at 9 min. pace pushing a baby jogger, plus an 18-min. rowing workout (seems to be working Mike, keep it up!).

Leading the "B" team was Jeff Dewey in 75th (39:26.2), Eric Nichol in 83rd (40:09.3), Tyler Abbott in 85th (40:16.3), David Moulton in 91st (40:42.0), Brian Schultz in 100th (41:48.4), and Seniors Kim Lilot in 109th (42:35.0) and David Schmidt in 121st (43:26.9)

Davis Turkey Trot 5K - 11/22/08

From recovering senior (and near super senior) Jim Gorman . . .

Tim Geraghty and I ran the Davis Turkey Trot 5K. Tim won the 50-54 age division in 18:23, and I won the 55-59 in 18:42.

Donna Chan reports that Brenda Gee-Deperalta ran her first ultra in Sacramento a week ago Saturday and came in second place overall women!!!!! She did an awesome job. More stats to follow via Char when she does the write up.

Big Sur Half - 11/09/08

Kenny Warde forward these 11/9 Big Sur Half results:

FYI, at least two members ran in the Big Sur Half Marathon last week. Ian Hersey ran 1:26:00; and was 3rd in the 45-49 year age group. And Hansi Rigney ran 1:47:47, and won her 65-69 year age group by about 39 minutes. Her husband, Bob (in his first half marathon) ran 3:43, and placed second in his 75-79 year age group.

Clarksburg - 11/09/08

Just kills me not to have been able to make Clarksburg this year . . . sounds like everyone had a great time. Details . . .

Open Men
Byline Chikara Omine

Clarksburg looked to be the first race this year where the open men actually had a team confirmed about 2 weeks ahead of time. Unfortunately, this was too good to be true. We learned of potential changes in plans (and discovery of a precursor to an injury), but evenutally we were able to get a team by the Wednesday before the race...not bad. Chikara Omine, feeling a bit better compared to the past month, led the way in 1:54:41 (22nd place). George Torgun, who had headwind in the 2nd half of the race thwart his plan of a negative split, finished next in 1:57:35 (28th place). Rounding out the open men's team was Matt Patout in 1:58:16 (31st place). Matt felt that this race was great for preparing for CIM.

Overall, the race was tough due to the distance and headwind, but we did BARELY have enough energy left to endure an excruciating "cool down" to retrieve the heart monitor that SOMEONE decided to throw into the bushes 1.6 miles away from the finish line.

With some added notes from Matt Patout . . .

* Gorgeous day for a well run race. Never knew the first 9 miles would be slightly downhill and with the wind. Was very thrilled to turn the half way point back up a slight hill and into the wind. Chikara disappeared at about 5 miles. George was running a tempo run, looked like easy effort and pushed at the finish. I hit my goal B pace right on. I was also excited to see Heather hit near her target pace with her first long race after an injury earlier this year and a first on the ladies team. We've heard reports that several of the runners find this the WORST race of their running. It must be that pesky wind in your face at about 20mph on the way back. Several of us watched as Iain toughed through to an injury laden finish for the masters. Having run on injuries and having seen Iain throughout the race, I can say that my Achilles hurt for his effort. We hope Iain heals up well and enjoy watching him run so dang fast. Next up fielding teams for XC.

Women

Whitney Stephenson reports that, other than being her "least favorite race on the planet," she had a wonderful time . . . plus Kim Fanady finished second in her age group!

Heather Leutwyler reports, "Clarksburg was a bit more enjoyable for me this year than last year but still a tough race. I went 2:21:40 for 8th in my age group and about 5 minutes faster than last year. I was feeling great on the way out but facing the wind on the way back in made holding the pace a challenge. A good CIM training run, that's for sure!"

Old'uns

Jeff Dewey came out to help us out and ran 2:06:52 (4th 40-44). Last year's savior (and newly minted master) Mike Molano ran 2:19:22 for 8th place 40-44. Suffering from old man's disease (aka hamstring injury), Iain Mickle competed under pressure against his better judgment and ran 7 miles, jogged/walked 11.5, and crawled the last .1 to finish in 2:25:40. Thanks Iain! Finally, Kenny Warde came out once again to help the team and finished in 2:29:28, 5th 55-59.

Tamalpa XC Challenge - 11/01/08

Tamalpa was a memorable race, with torrential rain, winds to blow down the shelters in the registration area, and 10 foot puddles/lakes along single track portions of the course. A blast . . .

Women
Byline Patti Shore

Rainy, muddy, cold - sort of unusual conditions for Northern California cross country, but five women made it out there anyhow and represented us very well. Jenny Wong led the way, running 29:19 for 25th place. Heather Leutwyler wasn't far behind running 30:48 for 39th place. Chelsey Remington came out at the last minute to help us field a full team (thanks Chelsey!), and she ran great - 32:33, 54th place (17th master). In next was a solid performance by Donna Chan - despite dealing with some ankle problems, she still ran 34:13, 69th overall and 9th senior. Lee D'Alessandro completed the scoring team, running 35:21 for 74th place. Currently, we are tied for 4th as a team - a strong showing at PA Champs could boost us to 3rd, so hopefully we'll get a great turnout at the last race of the season! Thanks to everyone who ran on such a tough day.

Open Men
Byline Jin Daikoku

Six brave NB Ex'ers went to the John Lawson Tamalpa Challenge to represent the team. There was talk of taking an "Ultraman"-themed team picture, but those hopes were dashed by rain, wind, and mud. We were so unprepared for the conditions that some of us improvised a genius warmup solution of staying in the car and eating Reese's peanut butter cups until the last possible moment. I used a late spurt to take 18th in 24:26.

George Torgun took 23rd, close behind in 24:51. Perennial rivals Chik Omine and Matt Patout had an epic battle, but Chik's 2 months of rest strategy proved to be too much for Matt, who was tired from a recent triathlon PR and definitely spent too much time out of the car before the race. Their times were 26:08 to 26:11, respectively. Jason Reed made a welcome comeback from a 50K last week to be our 5th man and notch his first XC race of the season in 26:38. Carlin "Don't like water" Lee finished in 27:05. Looks like we took 4th behind Transports, Aggies, and WVTC.

I'd also like to note that 13 year old Tamalpa runner John Lawson (Jr?) ran in the race.

BTW, 4th place team in the XC season standing gets $200. I think we have a shot. It will come down to the PA Champs, so mark 11/23 on your calendars now!

Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini

On Saturday, under unprecedented rainy skies, the Masters Men showed some strong front running, placing 3 in the top-10 on a sloppy Tamalpa XC course, the final tune-up before PA Champs in 3 weeks. Leading the way were Tim Wallen and Dan Mancini in 5th and 6th, separated by 1 sec. (for the 3rd time this season!) in 25:22 and 25:23, while Pete Vicencio ran strongly in 10th (25:57). Next in was Eric Nichol in 41st (28:23), Tyler Abbott (nursing a plantar fascitis injury) in 61st (30:11), David Schmidt, 35th Senior in 30:59, and Tom Bennett, 22nd Super Senior in 42:43. Preliminary results suggest the team finished 4th.

Whiskeytown 50K - 10/25/08

Gutierrez Wins Whiskeytown 50K!

From Ron Gutieerrez on the Whiskeytown 50K up in Redding 10/25. . .

Jason Reed & I started out running together sharing the lead and the pace making. I was hoping we'd finish together but Jason dropped back a bit at about mile 7. The only place to check the gaps on those behind comes at about mile 20 and I had about 3 mins. on 2nd place.

Shortly thereafter the signature portion of the trail starts at Mill Creek where there are over 20 opportunities (creek crossings/ straddlings) to get your feet wet and lose the trail. Sure enough my feet got wet. I was able to hold the lead to the finish for first place for the 2nd year in a row, although 10 mins. slower than last year. Jason came in a strong 5th place. Whiskeytown Lake provided the opportunity for a natural "ice bath" to make the drive home more bearable.

Jason's doing quite well in the Ultra GP standings for under-29 and this result should put him in first place. I hope he holds the lead w/ only a couple of races left.

Shoreline Open - 10/25/08

Open Men
Byline Jin Daikoku

Shoreline proved to be the most competitive XC race for us so far. The narrow course and combined Masters and Open race meant a very fast start, and one of our newest members, Sina Aboutalebi gave me a nice elbow as he blew by me the first 50m. We had only one Open male at this race last year, so it was nice to field a full team. I think it may have been the first time seeing the course for all of us. I managed to lead the team with 24:33, 33rd place. Carlin Lee, the youngest runner in the race, took 78th with 27:03.

Behind him, Sina Aboutalebi ran 27:55. Jorge Bad Luck Rivera was our 4th runner with 29:06, and managed to continue his string of PA-race-induced car troubles. Just behind Jorge and rounding out the Open team, Yurik Riegel ran 29:17. I think our team placed 5th.

Women
Byline Donna Chan

On a warm and clear day we had 6 brave souls at the start of the Shoreline XC race. To take the lead was Sarah Jones in a stellar time of 20:42 for 11th AG 30-39 and 43rd overall. Helen Kao, who was recovering from her marathon and said she was only jogging, ran a great time of 21:03 for 13th AG 30-39 and 51st overall.

Having done a 1/2 marathon 6 days ago with lead legs, I ran with a time of 22:27 for 6th AG 50-59 and 67th overall. Lee D'Alessandro followed with a time of 23:29 for her debut as a masters runner placing 11th AG 40-49 and 78th overall. Maureen Hogan took time out to run 24:03 for 12th AG 40-49 for 81st overall before she dashed off to her son's Cub Scout Camp Trip. Sara Cassella had a speedy first mile but had to stop and double back to the start and was unable to finish to finish the race.

I wish to thank everyone for coming out to help the team. You ladies were awesome!!

Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini

The Masters Men team finished 4th at the Shoreline Open. Leading the way was Dan Mancini, 11th Master in 25:32, followed by the tight bunch of John Spriggs (28:04), Eric Nichol (28:07) and Tyler Abbott (28:09) in 38th, 39th and 40th. Kim Lilot, 23rd Senior in 29:41 and Brian Schultz, 53rd Master in 29:47 rounded out the scoring.

Humboldt Half Marathon - 10/19/08

Mickle, Bernhard win AG!

At the Humboldt Half Marathon Sunday, we were unfortunately only able to field one team. That didn't prevent some top individual performances, notably Iain Mickle's (45-49) and Tom Bernhard (55-59) age group wins. Among open men, Jin Daikoku ran right at six minute pace in 1:18:36 (28th overall), with Matt Patout close behind in 1:20:44 (32nd overall). For the women, Gerry Kim had a very strong (PR?) performance in 1:35:02 (4th AG), with Heather Leutwyler following in 1:38:37 (7th AG).

Old'uns

As mentioned above, Iain Mickle won the 45-49 division (3rd master) in an impressive 1:13:51. After Iain finished his cooldown and was halfway back to Sacramento, in came Tyler Abbott in 1:31:06 (11th 45-49). John Spriggs, doing a tempo run in preparation for the Big Sur Half coming up, finished next in 1:33:09.

Among seniors, Tom Benhard took the 55-59 AG win in 1:20:34 (4th senior). Kenny Warde followed in 1:37:40 (6th 55-59). Al Stanbridge was our first super senior in 1:45:14 (7th 60-64).

A quick scan of the age-graded results suggests that Iain and Tom tied for third place (at least up to seven minute pace), 88.40%--congratulations!

Of note is that Allan's wife Christine won her age division in the accompanying 5K. Congratulations Christime!

Bizz Johnson Marathon - 10/12/08

Don Hogue reports that he "won the Bizz Johnson Marathon today in 3:00:40. It is a trail run that finishes in Susanville, CA. It was 25 degrees at the start. Brrrr!" Congratulations Don!

Strides for Life 5K - 10/05/08

From Kim Fanady . . .

On Sunday I was first woman, second overall (19:37) in the Strides for Life 5K at Lake Merced. It was really a fun run, I think I was the only semi-serious runner there. Strides for Life is a local organization supporting colon cancer prevention and screening, founded in memory of Dylan Cappell, a local aspiring Olympic rower, who died of colon cancer at age 23. Nice day at Lake Merced and a good cause to support.

San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon - 10/05/08

Larissa Polischuk forwards these results from the women's team . . .

We had three NBEx-ers toe the line at the San Jose Rock N Roll Half Marathon. Jenny W, a top 10 finisher the day before at Presidio, ran an exceptional 1:30:08 and was 6th in her age group. Jocelyn F ran a super fast 1:33:24 (I believe is a PR for her) still in the midst of NYC marathon training. Molly N ran an impressive 2:07:51, 23rd in her age group. Congrats to all!

Twin Cities Marathon - 10/05/08

Helen Kao reports on her Twin Cities race . . .

Twin Cities puts San Francisco to shame for its level of community support.

I arrived Friday into Minneapolis-St Paul. Saturday was a gorgeous day--what would have been perfect race weather (sunny cool 50-60) except it decided not to stay. I ran into Lloyd at the Expo as he was in Twin Cities for the Masters LDR meeting. That night the clouds rolled in. Sunday morning it was showering when the marathon started.

From about mile 6-13 it was a solid downpour--wasn't wearing a cap so had to squint my eyes so I wouldn't lose my contact lenses. If you tried to run the tangents you were slogging through 2-3" puddles. But I'm pretty happy with the result overall. It was a rough race for the last 10k--not because of the last hills but because I lost my juice. I definitely fell apart at the end. Felt awesome for the first 18-19 miles. Came through the half about 3:10 pace feeling good (and even made a bathroom stop in the first few miles.

But it was very wet and I was pretty cold. I was able to get a gel down at mile 11 but couldn't open up my gels after that--fingers frozen and slippery, even tried my teeth.

Some good winds in exposed areas. Started with 3:20 pace group and worked up to 3:10 and stuck with them through ~mile 17 but started falling behind. Got more cold/chilled through last 10 miles and trying to fuel with just sips of powerade. Slowed down last 5 miles to ~8min pace, cold and dead (saw Oliver Chan on the side around 23)--even the last downhill was a bit of a torture. Feet were wet and felt like pulp. Final chip time 3:15.26 (a 10 minute PR if I factor in the potty stop). Somewhat comforted by the fact that most of the elites also slowed their times in the 2nd half by 3-9 minutes.

Would definitely go back to Twin Cities on a good weather day. Unbelievable the crowd support out there in the rain.

Presidio XC Challenge - 10/04/08

In spite of the fact that an hour before the race more runners had shown up (6) than volunteers (2), the race went off without a hitch. The open and masters men managed decent teams (early scoring has them in 2nd/3rd place). The women were not able to field a full team, though there were a couple strong individual efforts--Jenny Wong in 24:52, 9th place, and Heather Leutwyler in 27:32, 30th. Details . . .

Open Men
Byline Matt Patout

At our own hosted event, we actually fielded an open men's team at the very last minute. Yurik certainly did his part bringing in a new and excited team member, Sina Aboutalebi. 0 minutes before the event, Tyler made a plea with Jin (the race director) to put on his 2 pound training shoes and jog the course so that we could field a team. in complied. George Torgun lead the team with a 9th place 21:10. urther back was Jin Daikoku with 15th and 22:31.

Funny enough, Jin ran behind me (Matt) until the last half mile and I finished happily but tired at 22:51. ew team member, Sina, finished his 1st XC race since high school for a 23:55. Yurik rounded out the team helping us finish 2nd in the men's field with a 24:09. think Sina and I both had sore heels after all of the hills. Let's try to field another, open men's team in the coming weeks.

Old'uns

Life returned to normal this week with Tim Wallen leading the way fresh from his wedding in 22:09 (6th), with Pete Vicencio not far behind in 22:30 (12th). Tyler Abbott finished next (24:20, 37th), followed by John Spriggs (25:12, 44th), Eric Nichol (25:35, 49th), Brian Schultz (26:28, 57th), Kim Lilot (26:43, 58th), and, a face we haven't seen for a while, Michael Gama (28:25, 70th).

And finally, a report from RD Jin Daikoku . . .

Well, I got really nervous on Thursday, but after about 36 hours of begging for favors things were starting to look a lot better. Saturday morning Chikara and I got out to the course at 6AM with a bucket full of flags to mark the course, but it was very dark still and the rain hadn't done much to soften the dirt. We ended up pouring them on the ground, but we managed to finish by 7AM.

Then I got a call from a friend saying he wouldn't be able to volunteer because his car battery died and another call from Tim Wason, the finish line and results captain, about his car getting broken into... As Masters men began showing up, things were starting to look bleak again, but our volunteers showed up and saved the day.

Special thanks for Chikara Omine, Jenny Wong, and Kelly Daikoku for going above and beyond. Hopefully it wasn't too obvious to the participants that I was directing the race for the first time. We had 191 participants, slightly up from last year, and some very solid performances. No official #s yet, but it looks like our club made some money, too. Thank you SO very much to everyone who helped make the event a success.

Berlin Marathon - 9/28/08

Rigney Wins AG at Berlin!

Les Ong forwards this link about Hansi Rigney's impressive 3:42:04 performance at Berlin. Congratulations Hansi!

DC Firetrails 50 - 9/27/08

Whitney Does 50

From returning NBExer Whitney Stephenson . . . congratulations Whitney!

Well, I finally took the big plunge and ran my first fifty miler. I am pleased to announce that I finished without being 1. a train wreck and 2. dead last. Both good things. I didn't think I was going to be able to break 12 hours but I finished in a steady 11:41 which for me is just fine.

DC Firetrails 50 runs from Lake Chabot up to Tilden and back and is very hilly to say the least. I just plugged along as best I could, and tried to just keep a steady effort, stopping briefly at the aid stations to eat and refuel. This is an out and back course and when I was at around mile 20 the first place guy passed me on the way back which just goes to show you how slow I was, LOL!

My pal and fellow-marathoner Cis paced me in the last nine miles and thank God for that! It was good to have company and encouragement. Dan and the dog met me with enthusiasm at the end and that was a great finale to a long day.

Just an aside: There was a marathon at this event as well. It started at the turnaround for the fifty and ended at the same finish line at Lake Chabot. All the fifty-mile runners passed all the marathoners coming the other direction at one point or another. Who do I see coming the other way? None other than Natasha (a gal from San Diego) who was on my trip to Mt Kilimanjaro this past March!!! What a small world. We gave each other a quick sweaty hug and kept going our individual ways. Too funny.

After I finished my first 50k in 2004 my friend Dave Covey very generously said to me "now you're an ultra-runner!'. It didn't really feel that way for me until I crossed that finish line on Saturday. Now I feel like I can say I'm an ultra-runner, albeit a baby one!!!

Thanks to all of you who encouraged me in my quest for fifty miles! Onward to the 100k!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whitney

Garin Park XC - 9/27/08

We didn't QUITE have a full open men's team at Garin Park--when it didn't look like they'd be full, a couple guys bowed out, though we did end up with a couple extra masters. In any case, Matt Patout still made the trek to Hayward and led all team members in a fine 18:42 on the hilly 5K course. The women and the masters men were able to scrape teams together. Details . . .

Women
Byline Donna Chan

Garin Park XC run of 3.15 miles was definitely a challenge with the warm weather, pot holes, hilly terrain and even a rattlesnake sighting. We were able to get not 5 but 6 brave women to field a full team. Leading the pack was SHELLY PIERSON with a comeback run at a speedy 21:26 3rd place AG and 21st overall. Not bad for her first race since a running injury. Not far behind was TRACY HOGAN with a tempo run of 21:51 11th AG and 26th overall. Tracy completed the Triathlon Nationals in Oregon the week before and is getting ready for the Elite Amateur Championships in Dallas this weekend. Good luck Tracy!!!!

HEATHER LEUTWYLER ran 22:41 bettering her time from last year by one minute and seven seconds placing her 15th AG and 38th overall. HEATHER JOHNSON strong as ever ran a solid 23:25, 17th AG and 45th overall. Followed by DONNA CHAN, doing a tempo run of 23:38, 6th AG and 47th overall bettering the last year time by 34 seconds with the beginnings of a bad cold. MAUREEN HOGAN arounded out the team with a time of 26:14, immediating running back to Menlo Park to catch her second grade son's soccer game.

I thank-you one and all for the wonderful participation of this race. Let's keep the momentum going by fielding a team for our run this Saturday. Please email Tyler or Larissa if you can run and possibly volunteer this Saturday at the Presidio run. We need your help. I can not be there, but I am sending good vibes!!!

Old'uns

Haven't been able to lead with this in a while (trivia question: name the last time), but Tyler Abbott led the old'uns in 20:13 (18th master), duking it out with John Spriggs (20:19, 19th). Not far behind came new member Eric Nichol (21:19, 24th), Brian Schultz (21:34, 25th), and Kim Lilot (21:39, 26th 50-59). Greg King, pitching in against his will in 23:23 (31st) and Tom Bennett (28:10, 16th 60-69) rounded out the team.

Bridge to Bridge - 9/21/08

And speaking of Jin Daikoku, he reports that after running and directing Presidio Saturday he ran Bridge to Bridge Sunday . . . anyone else?

For the record, I ran in the Bridge to Bridge 12K, and despite some Presidio-induced fatigue, I ran a solid PR. Granted, I've only run a handful of 12Ks in my life, but I think (not sure) I saw 42:30 as I crossed the line, and my old PR was 44:40. I'm still waiting for the official results.

Larissa Polischuk forwards these results from the women's team . . .

We had solid representation at the Bridge to Bridge race in SF on Sunday as well. Maria F had an incredible day as the 3rd Female overall and winning her age group. Gerry K came in 8th in her age group (out of 409!) running a strong 54:27 with Heather J on her heels in 54:45. Heather was 7th in her age group (out of well over 500!!). Kelly D rounded out the NBEx-ers with a solid 1:21:08 performance.

Santa Cruz Cross - 9/20/08

Byline Matt Patout

On a gorgeous day down in Santa Cruz, the men’s open team nearly fielded 5 runners to charge up that fun-filled first mile. We had a few last minute sicknesses that prevented a full team. Matt Patout led the team with an achy course PR after 9 days off with an injury. Chikara made a strong effort just to come to the race, given his injury nursing and 100 mile race planning. He managed to cruise to a great time for most of us humans. Dan and his father Kim came to help field the team.

I believe I saw a strong family support team for the Lilot’s. Dan ran a strong 3rd place on the team with his father Kim being our 4th place, team drop down from the speedy seniors. If we could mix women with the men, we could have fielded a open team of 5 with Heather Leutwyler’s smart and swift time of 28:46. Hayward is a lot closer, so let's fill 5 open men's spots for next week. J In a side note, Jin Daikoku was heard committing to running the Humbolt Half.

Banana Chase - 9/14/08

Two 2008 old'uns picked up at Sunday's Banana Chase 5K where they left off last Spring, Iain Mickle with a strong 16:23 (2nd place master, 1st 45-49) and Tom Bernhard (17:35, 1st 55-59). Among open men, Jin Daikoku led our finest open men's team in recent memory with a 15:33 16th-place finish in a very competitive field. Among the women, Kim Fanady's 2d place 45-49 19:23 and Donna Chan's winning 55-59 21:03 stand out. Details . . .

Open Men
Byline George Torgun

Back on the roads in Golden Gate Park, the open men fielded a small but strong team on Sunday for the Banana Chase 5k. After leading the way in the first two XC races this season, Jin Daikoku got out well and by the turnaround near Stow Lake, was out of sight to rest of us. Jin crossed the line in 15:33, good for 16th place among a fast PA field.

Following not so closely behind were new member James Timbrell (welcome!) in 16:11 (29th), who returned the favor after getting passed by old member George Torgun heading into Kezar, with Torgun following in 16:12 (30th). Ben Chaffee was next in 16:39 (47th), followed by Chikara "must have forgotten to eat his spam" Omine in 17:44 (83rd), Yurik Riegel in 18:29 (119th), and Jorge Rivera in 18:48 (134th). Thanks to everyone out cheering on the course!

Women
Byline Larissa Polischuk

What a great turnout for NBEx! We scored a full Open, Masters, and Seniors Team. A special congrats to Donna C for her FIRST PLACE Age Group finish and to Kim F for her SECOND PLACE Age Group Finish. The rest of the team seemed to have a pretty good day as well, aside from Sarah J who suffered from a stomach bug. Kudos to her for finishing under such conditions!

The team was led by Helen Kao who ran a second best time of 19:18 during a marathon training workout. Kim F was not far behind in a fast 19:23, again, second in her age group! Jocelyn, who is also in the midst of marathon training, ran a stellar 20:28, good for 7th in her age group. Gerry, not far behind Jocelyn in 20:36, ran a PR! Donna C also ran a PR, or it was her best time in many years by almost 50 seconds. She ran a super fast 21:03 for first place in her age group.

On her heels was Heather J in 21:08. Team friend, Miriam "Rosie" Allen, was not far behind and ran a PR of 21:14! Sarah J followed, stomach cramps and all in 21:39.

Maureen H ran a solid 23:01, also during a marathon training workout. Mulan C joined for the race (welcome!) and ran a 23:34. The seniors team was rounded off by Nancy Wang, 5th in her age group, in 24:20, Char B, 6th age group, in 25:20, and Molly N, 7th age group, in 26:17. Kelly D came charging in just under 30min to complete our large and stellar turnout. Congrats to all!!

Old'uns

Iain Mickle led the masters in fine 16:23 form, good enough for second master (1st 45-49). Cliff Lentz followed only a few seconds but 6 masters places behind in 16:35, with Tim Wallen (16:51, 10th master) not far behind. Jeff Dewey returning from injury (18:20), Tyler Abbott (18:51), and Brian Schultz (19:22) rounded out the team.

Only two seniors (I think) showed up: Tom Bernhard in 17:35, good enough for 1st place 55-59 (8th senior), and Kenny Warde (21:20). Our ascendant super senior team boasted three members: Al Stanbridge, 21:30; Gary MacPherson, 21:40; and Tom Bennett (24:57). Congratulations all!

DSE Rainbow Falls 5K - 9/07/08

Congratulations to Chikara Omine on his second place finish at Sunday's DSE Rainbow Falls 5K. He swears that if he hadn't raced Saturday he would've beaten that guy with the fannie pack. Rumors that the winner stopped twice for snacks are unconfirmed.

Golden Gate Park -9/06/08

GGP: Masters Win, Lentz 3rd! The masters men returned to 2006 form with a strong win at GGP Saturday, their second in two races, with Cliff Lentz leading the way in 3rd and four in the top 10. Details .
. .

Women
Byline Larissa Polischuk

It was hot, so it was nice that 'Ladies First' still applies in racing! Despite the steamy weather NBEx had a solid showing. Jenny "I'm going to run slow" Wong ran a speedy 27:04, the first NBEx-er to cross the finish line, good for 25th place. Coming in shortly behind her was Jocelyn F in 28:50, getting some speed workouts in for her NYC marathon training. Gerry Kim, just getting over a cold and running a solid 10 miles for the day, followed in 71st place.

Super-Star-Senior Donna C was right on her heels only 4 seconds behind in 30:21. Lee D ran an impressive 34:23 on a tough course. And Molly N, despite getting lost several times on the course (I hear a lack of course monitors was to blame), came in a solid 108th place in 35:11. Congrats to all who came out to battle the heat and the hills!

Open Men
Byline Jin Daikoku

It looks like the open men are off to a much better start of the cross country season than last year, as we fielded our second full team in as many meets. I lead the way in 22:27, good enough for 21st place. George "Smirk" Torgun came in next at 22:56 (29th) followed by Chik "need my Spam" Omine in 23:51, who was apparently saving something for the DSE 5K the next morning.

Parker Kelly, whom I haven't seen since XC Club Nationals a while ago where we ran together the whole time, made a very welcome appearance for 24:25, and I believe he has a birthday coming up so this may have been his last race with the open team. It was also good to see Dan Rhodes and Yurik Riegel, whom we haven't seen for a while, rounding out the team in 25:35 and 25:54, respectively. We beat the River City Rebels for 4th place. Let's keep up the
improvement guys!

Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini

On Saturday the Masters Men's team scored its 2nd win of the XC season with a resounding thumping of the competition by placing all 5 scorers in the top-13. Leading the way was Cliff Lentz with a fine 3rd place finish in 23:06, followed by Tim Wallen in 5th (23:25) edging out Dan Mancini in 6th (23:26), new member (and former old member) Jake Furber in 9th (23:47), Pete Vicencio in 13th (24:12), another returning member, Harold Radin (running his 1st XC race in 20 yrs.) in 27th (25:24),

Tyler Abbott in 41st (26:02), new member Eric Nichol in 62nd (27:41), Brian Schultz in 63rd (27:48), and seniors Kim Lilot in 66th (28:07) and Dave Schmidt in 75th (28:56).

Finally, Dan Mancini forwards the following Zinsli photo links, for the masters men and open women races:

Masters men
http://zinsli.com/pictures/08_0906_ggp_og/

Open women
http://zinsli.com/pictures/08_0906_ggp_wm/

24 Hours of Triathlon - 8/30/08

Ian Hersey forward this report from the 24 Hours of Triathlon in Denver a week ago. . . .

A Team Sheeper teammate (Lennard Hachmann, who btw needs to be recruited for NBEx as he's a very tough runner) and I competed in the Newton 24 Hours of Triathlon event in Denver last weekend (8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday).

The goal in this event is to complete as many sprint triathlons as you can in 24 hours -- trading off various legs, we managed to do 21 plus an extra swim (10 = 1 Ironman), so we each got in a little over an Ironman. We were 2nd in the 2-person division, missing 1st by 3 minutes and change (doh!). We left ourselves a lot of work in the end -- we still had 8 runs to do (20.8 miles, each run being 2.6 miles) with 2:43 remaining in the race.

Normally no problem, but when each of you already has at least 16 miles of running in your legs and about 120 miles of cycling, it's not as easy as it sounds. We had to trade off running 1 leg as fast as we could each go, and we managed not only to get to 21 runs, but we had time enough to spare to get one final swim in with 5 or 6
minutes to spare.

Oh, and Tim Sheeper won the solo division by a pretty wide margin.

There's a good writeup on the race on slowtwitch.com:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Features/Is_twice-around-the-clock_triathlon_s_next_big_thing__500.html

Plate to Plate 5K - 8/24/08

Congratulations to Kim Fanady on her overall women's win at the Plate to Plate 5K 8/23 at AT&T Park. Kim ran 19:43, finishing 23rd overall.

Headlands 50K - 8/23/08

Results are out for 8/23's Headlands 50K, and once again we had 2/3 of a strong scoring team. Cliff Lentz finished second in 4:27:11, while Jason Reed finished 5th in 4:56:15. Both won their respective age divisions. Great job!

Empire XC Open - 8/23/08

Mickle Third, Daikoku Top 10!

Iain Mickle led our masters with a fine 3rd place finish (19:06), while Jin Daikoku started off his cross country season with a strong 10th place finish, two seconds faster than Iain. Some of our women were out there, but I don't believe a full team. Details . . .

Open Men
Byline Jin Daikoku

With the promise of a full scoring Open Mens team, 5 of us made the trip out to Santa Rosa. Knowing that our bitter rivals at WVTC would be in Oregon for the HTC, we had high hopes for the XC season opener. Somehow they managed to field a full team anyway, though I only recognized one of their runners, and it would appear that WVTC beat us. I blame Chikara.

At the start of the race, Ben Chaffee burst from the line with some of the top runners, while the rest of us were more content to take a backrow seat and watch the race unfold. After a mile or so, we started to pick up the pace, and I really didn't want to lose to anybody in a green jersey. The weather and the jagged rocks on the course eventually took their toll on most of the field, but we finished strongly with me (Jin) leading the way with a serendipitous 10th place finish in 19:04.

Ben Chaffee was close behind in 13th place, 19:17. George Torgun came in at 20:01 (20th place), with a handful of the dreaded red jerseys just out of reach. Dan Lilot and our newest member Carlin Lee ran together most of the way and rounded out the team in 21:31 and 21:43, respectively. It looks like we took 3rd out of 5 complete teams. Great job guys! I hope to see you all and more at Golden Gate Park in 9/6.

Women
Byline Heather Johnson

Three dedicated women made the trek to Santa Rosa. Even though we did not have a full team, the day wasn't at all "point-less." Yours truly ran up and down the rocky terrain without falling and finished in a respectable 25:18. Donna Chan got in a solid tempo run in 25:35, and Lee D'Alessandro persevered despite a nagging side-stitch to finish in 28:40. It's a shame we didn't have a full team. But I know the women will be well represented on Sept. 6.

Old'uns
Byline Dan Mancini

The Masters Men kicked off the 2008 XC season with what looks like a strong 2nd place showing at the Empire Open on Saturday. Leading the way in fine early season form was Iain Mickle in 3rd (19:06), followed by Tim Wallen in 8th (19:34), Dan Mancini in 10th (19:40), Pete Vicencio in 17th (20:35), Brian Schultz in 35th (22:15), and Senior Kim Lilot in 59th (24:10)



Hood to Coast - 8/23/08

After signing up Paul (yes, Olympian Paul) McMullen at the 11th hour, the Santini Extra Virgins won the men's submaster title for the 12th year in a row, in the same pace as last year (19:22, 5:54/mile). The coed open Santini Popeyes and Olive Oils suffered several setbacks and illnesses, but still pulled out a third place finish.

After threatening for years, Tyler Abbott has finally retired from Hood to Coast, but not before finishing all 36 legs (in 18:56, 19:06 if you adjust for the longer current course), and he is now claiming that particular record. The teams have sworn they will continue on, so mark your calendars for next year. Anyone looking for more statistics than they could ever digest should email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Also, former Santini members: be on the lookout for an announcement of Tyler's retirement party.



America's Finest Half Marathon - 8/17/08

From Helen Kao . . .

Maureen Hogan and I flew down to San Diego for a quick weekend away to run America's Finest City (AFC) Half Marathon a week ago Sunday. Balmy Saturday found Maureen catching up with an old school friend while I saw my cousin and her new baby. Balmy didn't feel quite so nice on Sunday. We stayed up late Saturday night to
watch the Olympic Women's Marathon and then woke up 4:15AM. The race was very well organized but by the 7AM start the temperature was 70 degrees with 75% humidity-which didn't seem to phase most of the locals. Maureen and I, on the otherhand, sweated our way through the race.

It was not the best of races for us. Maureen was a trooper and was glad she ran it despite it feeling painful. She finished 2:07 and I couldn't be more appreciative of her endless support for me throughout the weekend-especially after she had travelled a great deal, having been on the east coast just a few days before. I didn't run the time I wanted-felt like I was in PR shape for <1:28-but given the heat/humidity and the 1 mile climb at the finish am pretty pleased with the 1:31 (7th age group finish, 21st woman). Next stop Twin Cities, via Banana Chase.

DSE Cross Country 5K - 8/17/08

Congratulations to Jin Daikoku on his 16:09 win at the DSE Cross Country 5K Sunday on a course that was probably a little short but that had its share of obstacles to overcome. Chikara finished not far back, along with several other club members, but results weren't available at press time.

Susan B. Anthony 5K - 8/09/08

Donna Chan forwards this report from the SBA 5K (which was on the circuit the last two years, but not this year) . . .

Char and I was so lucky to have cool weather for the Susan B. Anthony 5K in Sacramento. Although not a PA race this year it is a fun women's race. We all received cute running tanks and schwag bags with lots of goodies. Char had a great race bettering her last years time by 11 seconds coming in 3rd AG 70th overall in a time of 25:48.

I bettered my last years time by 42 seconds coming in 1st AG 25th overall in a time of 21:52. We both received beer steins for our efforts. Char had a chance to visit her 97 1/2 year old mother and her daughter who was too sick to run the race. I was able to visit my parents who live in Sacramento.

DSE Lake Merced Summer Series

Finally, congratulations to Chikara Omine and Heather Leutwyler for being top point-getters at the eight-race DSE Lake Merced Summer Series. Matt Patout and Jason Reed finished 2-3, and Tyler Abbott finished third master.



Mickle Silver at Nationals!

Tom Bernhard reports that Iain Mickle finished 2nd (16:19.77) in the 5000 at Nationals, in what must have been very difficult conditions given the number of DNFs. Congratulations Iain!

SF Marathon - 08/03/08

Larissa Polischuk forwards this report from the SF Marathon . . .

Several NB teammates toed the line for the SF Marathon and Half Marathons. Whitney Stephenson and Brenda Gee DePeralta both went for the long option. Whitney had a little trouble with the steps at Gerry's, but otherwise you would have never known she ran a marathon. She finished in 4:36 and was 35th in her age group. I was able to catch Brenda at the end of her race and she looked great! She finished in 4:04 and was 25th in her age group.

Three of us chose the shorter option, Kim Fanady ran a super fast 1:33 for 2nd in her age group (wow!) and still asked me if her watch was broken because she didn't think she had been that fast:) Jen Major also came in 2nd in her age group and ran a fantastic 1:27:47, 11th woman Overall! Larissa Polischuk finished 2 seconds short of a PR in 1:31:36, good for 7th in my agr group.

Maureen Hogan did run the 1st half as a training run (at 5am?!) and Helen helped pace former team member, Matt Greene in the second half. He finished in a very speedy 3:26:41 (musta been the pacer!) . Congrats to all participants (and if I'm forgetting anyone I deeply apologize!).

In addition, Chikara Omine finished seventh overall in the Marathon in 2:41:49. Great job Chikara! I apologize to anyone I missed.




Donna Chan forwards this race report from our newest member, Mulan Chan:

Well, the all-comers meet was super fun! I got 4th (women's/high school girls) in both races. In fact, I was the only "woman" in both races..the rest were all in high-school. I ran the 800m in 2:46 and the 400m in 68 seconds. The 800 was tough, I feel like I need to work on the pacing a bit as I just hit a wall at 600m. I think that perhaps I went out too fast as my splits were very uneven (75/91) However I think that I can improve and want to shoot for under 2:39.

The 400 felt fantastic! I felt great, really strong.like I was 17 again! I ran in lane 1 (not the best) and remember thinking at 300m that I wished there was someone next to me to run down. Next time I would like to try running the 400m without running 800m 30 minutes before. I think that I will have more energy and can run even faster. Masters all-american for my age group is 65.5. I am going to try for this, if not this season, next for sure.

Gay Pride Track Meet - 7/26/08

Tom Bennett reports that he won a "Gold Medal" at the Gay Pride Track Meet last month by finishing first in the mile, in his 60 plus age group. His time is "classified" but was faster than the competition!


Obuse "Mini" Marathon - 7/20/08

Race reports from Japan from Jin Daikoku . . .

I ran in the Obuse "Mini" Marathon (13.2 miles) on 7/20, and all I can say is that I'm glad the results are not going to end up on Zinsli. We had weather in the low 30s celcius (90s?) with the infamous Japanese summer high humidity. I ran the first 5K, which is the only uphill portion of the course, in about 19 minutes.

Then I slowed down pretty much the rest of the way. At one point, I was walking, and a little boy told his mommy, "Look, that guy is walking!" and I wanted to say "Dude, I see lightning bolts... stop laughing," but I couldn't really talk.

 I also violated the well-known concept of not trying anything new on race day by drinking a new beverage I'd never tried before, which resulted in a fairly bad case of the runs. All told, it was the most excrutiating 1:34 of my life, and with Mt. Fuji coming up on the 25th, let's hope that what doesn't kill you really does make you stronger. You can read the full report and about my other adventures at http://prexemplar.com/blog/2008/07/whos_a_rec_runner_now.html

And a few days later . . .

I completed the Mt. Fuji climbing race. It was very tough, but I've come to the conclusion that mountain races require a different skill-set from "regular" running. I had 17 minute 5k runners handing me my ____ on a stone platter. My time was 1:51.44, but I don't know my place because they only posted results for the top 10. I think only one woman beat me. She passed me near the end as I was climbing up the hurdles. I only fell twice. The winning time was 1:26. I made a course map for those who are curious: http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/ca/san-francisco/509590588382

Make sure you click "show elevation."




Tahoe Rim Trail 50 Mile - 7/20/08

Congratulations to Ron Gutierrez on his 2nd place 8:44 finish at the Tahoe Rim Trail 50 Mile. From Ron . . .

This was a rough one altitude, hills, heat and some smoke but under sunny skies w/ a decent amount of shade and truly magnificent scenery. I stayed w/ the two leaders and eventual winner for a few miles but decided to hold back when the pace picked up at the top of the first climb. I moved into 2nd place just before the turnaround at about 4:15.

Thomas Reiss had about 15 mins. on me at this point and he would extend his lead as the day wore on. I relaxed a bit w/ about 9 miles to go when I heard the gap to 3rd place was about 3 miles and I felt 2nd place was secure. The NB 826 has become my shoe of choice and held up very well on this course.




Vineman 1/2 Ironman - 7/20/08

Matt Patout forwards this report about the Vineman 1/2 Ironman . . .

Heather Leutwyler and Matt Patout competed in the Vineman ironman this past weekend. Heather dropped her time down to 5:30 overall with a 1:44 run for her 3rd ever, ? ironman. Her AG was loaded but she still managed a 30th AG placing. Matt's 51st half ironman race and he continued to plug away with another post-surgery, course PR of 4:53 overall time with a 1:36 run. Not quite his 4:10 course PR, but best since 2005 and actually ran the whole thing for a 33rd AG placing without any snapped tendons.

Eppies Great Race - 7/17/08

and Donna Chan forwards this one about Eppies Great Race . . .

We were fortunate that the race was last weekend and not the week before because of the air quality. But while the rest of you were enjoying the cooler weather, I drove to Sacramento on Friday when it was 99 degrees. My son who is going to school in Davis said I was lucky because the weekend before was 105.

I ran as a 3 person womens team and we came in first in our age group. Finally my younger cousin turned 50 so Nancy who rode her bike and Trish who was our kayaker finished in 2 hours 2 minutes 55 seconds. The water was lower and river times were a bit slower. I ran 42:15 for 5.82 miles and was very pleased with that time
considering there was still come smoke in the air and the heat. It reminded me of Shriners.



Ironman Austria - 7/13/08

and Ian Hersey reports back from Ironman Austria . . .

I was the lone NBEx representative at Ironman Austria on July 13. Cool termperatures, good pacing and decent execution on my nutrition plan resulted in a 45-minute PR of 10:44:22 (1:11 swim, 5:42 bike, 3:39 run). I'm most proud of not walking at all in the marathon -- a first.



LEAP Mile - 7/04/08

Thanks to Donna Chan for forwarding the following the following additional report from the LEAP Mile July 4th, and congratulations all . . .

Char and I also ran the LEAP run on Friday. Char came in 2rd AG at 7:38 and I came in 4th women overall and 1st place 50 to 59 with a time of 6:38. Tom Bennett also ran in 7:06.

Congratulations to Jin Daikoku on his 4:40 win at teh LEAP Mile on the 4th. Chikara Omine ran 17:20 in the middle of a longer run.

SHRINER'S 8K - 06/21/08
 
Mickle 3rd, Bernhard 1st AG
 
Iain Mickle led the masters with a 1st place 45-49/3rd master 27:01 performance at Saturday's Shriner's 8K in Sacramento, while Tom Bernhard had a similar 1st 55-59/4th senior 28:53. On the women's side, Donna Chan finished second AG in 36:08, and Erin Brightwell continued her PR spree with a fine 31:08 on a hot day. Details . . .

Women
Byline Erin Brightwell
 
It was so hot in Sacramento for Shriner's on Saturday, that I'm going to take the liberty of whining about it for a few sentences.  There was suffering all around with temperatures in the mid 80s by the start of the race.   Finishing times were on the slow side for pretty much the whole field.  For me this race took on a kind of death march feel by the 2 mile mark, and I was extra glad when it was over and I was still relatively coherent. 
 
Three water stations in 8k may seem like a lot, but it wasn't. It was a skeleton crew up there for the NBEx women, except for the awesome seniors team...congrats for scoring a full squad!  Too bad open and masters women didn't score, but honestly, this was kind of a throw-away race with the conditions such as they were. 
 
Anyway, who wants to eat pancakes in 90 degree weather when you've just survived racing 5 miles and you're having trouble getting your body temperature down?  They need to either change the date for Shriners or change the menu.  80 ounce slurpees might be more appropriate, or, hey, let's forget about breakfast all together and just serve cold showers.
 
Ok enough with the whining, let's start with the Seniors.  Nancy Wang finished in 41:56, 16th AG; Donna Chan picked up a prize for finishing 2nd AG in a PR of 36:08; Charlene Bayles rounded out the team with a 50:57, 10th AG.  Two open runners made the trip: Shelly Pierson raced despite just barely recovering from being sick and turned in a 34:25 for 9th AG; Erin Brightwell ran 31:08 the hard way for 5th AG.
 
Congratulations to all of us who made the long trip and survived the heat! I'm looking forward to Stockton...it might be just as hot, but running a mile in that kind of heat makes a whole lot more sense.

Open Men

Report to come . . .

Old'uns
 
Iain Mickle led the masters in a strong 27:01, 1st 45-49 and 3rd 40+, behind Jeff Adkins and newly-minted master Gary Towne. Cliff Lentz followed three places back in 27:22, followed by Pete Vicencio (29:06, 7th 40-44), Jeff Dewey (31:40, 14th 40-44), and Brian Schultz (32:20, 17th 40-44). Tom Bernhard once again led the seniors in 28:53, good enough for 4th senior and the 55-59 win. Kenny Warde once again came out to assure a full masters team and ran 36:18 (4th 55-59).



Double Dipsea - 06/21/08
 
Larissa Polischuk forwards this Double Dipsea report . . .

I'm going to whine a little about the heat too since running the Dipsea even once in 80 degree weather is torture, but I actually paid money to do it twice. 
 
Despite the conditions, I survived w/o falling or poison oak and managed a 5 min PR!  I came in 2nd in my age group (behind former teammate Stacey Schweighart, who ironically is still my friend even after I convinced her to run this:) and 28th overall.  The race volunteers were outstanding with all the water and sponges and even the Mill Valley residents helped out handing out water bottles and spraying their hoses for us.  Thanks to Jen M and Patti S for coming out to cheer!



Midnight Sun Half Marathon - 06/21/08
 
From club masters record book owner Kim Fanady . . .

While you were all sweating at Shriner's, I was running the cool, cloudy, rainy Mayor's Midnight Sun half marathon in Anchorage, Alaska.  The race features a nice, somewhat hilly course through city streets, along a lovely bike path which follows the shoreline and has beautiful views of Cook Inlet and the downtown Anchorage skyline, and even a mile or so of x/c --gravel then grass trail --with a dramatic finish on the track at West Anchorage High School. 
 
I happened to finish the half at the exact same time as the winner of the full marathon (it started an hour earlier). So there was wild cheering as I chugged for the finish line, just not for me!  I finished 42nd overall, 6th woman, 1st master woman, 1:36:33.  Fun trip and a fun race!

 

Grandma's Marathon - 06/20/08

Heather Johnson forwards this race report:

Just wanted to let you and the Excelsior women know that I finished Grandma's Marathon this past weekend--in a personal best of 3:32:23. It's my first marathon since December 2003, so I guess this qualifies as my marathon comeback! And despite a very difficult final few miles, I placed in the top 20 in my age group (out of 402) and was the second California woman --about an hour behind Calif.-based Mary Akor, the female winner!
 
The race itself was incredible. Grandma's is the most organized race I have ever run. The volunteers (4,500 of them) are amazing, and seemingly the entire city comes out to support the race. The final few miles are just packed with people. The course leading into Duluth is beautiful, with Lake Superior on your left, lots of tall trees and a winding highway to travel with mostly mild rolling hills. I'm putting a report with all the gory details on my blog. I'll let ya'll know when it's done.

 

Woodminster 15K - 06/15/08

Lentz Fastest @ Woodminster, Wins Triple Crown!
 
Cliff Lentz had the fastest time overall in 6/15's Woodminster Cross Country Race. Cliff ran 59:54 to take 4th in the handicapped race. John Spriggs and Pete Vicencio finished 14th and 15th in 1:08:37+12 handicap and 1:04:57+16 handicap, respectively, followed by Gary MacPherson 1:21:17+4, 51st).
 
I apologize to anyone I may have missed. This effort also gave Cliff the East Bay Trail Triple Crown, by a margin of nearly ten minutes! Note that this is NOT a masters division crown, or handicapped in any way--it's just based on overall time in the three races--Tilden Tough Ten, Lake Chabot Half, Woodminster.

 

Spirit Run 5K - 06/15/08

Don Hogue reports that he finished first master at 17:11 at the Spirit Run 5k in Pleasanton on Fathers Day. Congratulations Don!
 

 
Dipsea - 06/08/08
 
Cliff Lentz continued his torrid racing with a sixth place finish in Sunday's Dipsea handicapped race. Cliff finished in a fine 53:03 on a very hot day to run the fifth fastest time of the day as a 43 year old (and a 51 year old ran the sixth fastest time, a few seconds behind and a couple minutes ahead of Cliff). Other black shirts: Iain Mickle in 13th, Ben Chaffee as a scratch runner with the fourth fastest time of the day, and Jenny Wong in 26th with the third fastest women's time. Patti Shore forwards the following report (with a few additions):

Dipsea No. 98 is in the books!  Second oldest race in America (only Boston is older, but I'll guess that Dipsea is tougher).  In my last outing as a Dipsea spectator (this is my LAST pregnancy, so come hell or high water, I will run every Dipsea from here forward until it's time to bury my burned-out old bod), I'd say one of the best moments was watching Roy Rivers come cruising in with his huge margin of victory and the wherewithal to check his watch as he approached the finish line.  Those of us who have watched Roy get helicoptered off the beach in medical distress more than once can appreciate this. 
 
As for our team--we had a fine day! Most know that the race is handicapped for age and gender, making age and gender irrelevant in terms of results. Thus, a combined report.  NB Excelsior had a strong force out there, with 4 Black Shirts, 10 Top 100 finishes, and 2 out of the 4 available "heartbreak" placings.  Ultra-fit Cliff Lentz led the way with his 6th place finish (53:03/3 minute handicap)--despite a knee twinge that inconveniently appeared Tuesday before race day.  Up next was Dipsea Black Shirt regular Iain Mickle, who continues to defy age with his 13th place finish (55:36/4). 
 
It is hard to believe Iain is old enough to have kids in college, but he does.  Ben Chaffee turned in a PR (?) performance with a 24th place finish (52:54/0).  Jenny Wong, consistent as ever, was 26th for her 4th Black Shirt (1:00:58/8; she also owns Nos. 28, 29, and 30). Then came our team's first bit of heartbreak - Place No. 36--the first non-Black Shirt finisher, our very own Adam Hersh (55:13/1).  Adam came into the race fit enough for a Top 10 finish, and he would have definitely challenged Mark McManus for the Fastest Time Trophy for the men.  But, he hurt his foot badly enough that running more than 2 miles the week leading up to the Dipsea was out of the question.  Then he crashed during the race - probably a bigger factor than the foot.  Dang! 
 
Shortly after Adam was Chikara Omine (56th, 56:30/0), Dan Shore (60, 59:17/2), and Brian Gillis (76, 58:40/0).  Brian ran the race just two weeks after being helicoptered out of a cycling race due to a crash that left him with a concussion, broken wrist, and plenty of other injuries, so his Top 100 finish is quite an accomplishment, considering he was carrying a cast along with him.
 
Close behind Brian was George Torgun (85, 59:08/0) and Jen Major (95, 1:07:55/8), and then Heartbreak Placing No. 2:  Larissa Polischuk, No. 101 (1:08:29/8).  Those finishing in the Top 100 get their placement as next year's race number - but not 101.  Larissa takes heart in her 4 (!) minute PR in her first crack at the Invitational race; she'll surely run in the top 100 next year.  Not far behind Larissa were new member Hansi Rigney (156, 1:27:14/25), Jeff Dewey (164, 1:05:40/3), Jocelyn Friel (256, 1:13:26/8), Tyler Abbott (300, 1:10:56/4), and David Moulton (330, 1:09:48/2). 
 
We had three team members trying to qualify for Invitational for next year.  Peter Hsia (Dipsea Runner section 31, 1:07:10/4) and Brian Schultz (DR 43, 1:07:05/2) qualified, and Gerry Kim placed 788th overall (1:22:04/8); through 750 is guaranteed a spot, but with a well-written sob story, Gerry has a great shot!
 
A few team friends deserve mention.  Former teammate Stephen Donahue, now of Transports, placed 20th but was outgunned by his little sister, Sara Donahue, who placed 8th and won the women's Fastest Time Trophy.  The Donahues together brought home the family award, meaning Sara got on her plane back home to Boston with a whole lot of hardware.  Former teammate Stacey Schweighart, now of the Olympic Club, pulled down Black Shirt 22 in an very strong performance in her first Invitational. 
 
Kim Fanady's brother Todd (at least I think that's her bro) ran well, holding his spot in the Invitational with a placing at 360.  Brian Gillis' wife, Molly Burnett, also ran the race and made it into the Invitational by just 8 places in 742nd.
 
Pete Vicencio forward some Dipsea photos . . . thanks Pete!

http://gallery.mac.com/vicencio/100032

The next Dipsea is June 14th, 8:30 AM.  You have 369 days left to train. Start today.
 
 

Fleet Feet 5K - 06/08/08
 
From senior standout Donna Chan:

While Char Bayles visited her mother and I visited my parents in the Sacramento, we decided to run  a 5K run.  It was part of the Nike women's fitness festival which included a 5K run and 5K walk around the Capital. (Really cute Nike shirts and bag.)  Char did a great time of 26:14 6th AG, 208 overall out of over 2100 women.  Doing this a week after her San Diego marathon!!! So awesome.  And I ran with a time of 21:55 placed 1st AG 24th overall.  The temperature was nice and warm.  I didn't have to worry about being cold and windy.
 
 

Rock and Roll Marathon - 06/01/08
 
Larissa reports that "Char Bayles snuck in a marathon on us!  She finished in just over 5hrs and was 33rd in her age group in a marathon with over 16K runners...Congrats Char!"
 
 

Lake Chabot Half Marathon - 06/01/08
 
Cliff Lentz made it three strong weeks in a row (with the big one coming up) at Sunday's Lake Chabot Half Marathon. After an outright win at Tilden and the masters victory at MMD, Cliff finished second at Lake Chabot. Cliff also made himself the odds-on favorite for the revived East Bay Triple Crown title. BTW, I could not find results at press time, so I apologize to anyone else who run whom I missed.
 
 

See Jane Run Half Marathon - 05/31/08
 
[Polischuk] Bigelow Wins SJR Half!
 
This past Saturday, in the second annual See Jane Run Half Marathon, our very own Allie Bigelow won in a stellar 1:27:55!  Kim Fanady, not far behind in 1:34:42, came in 5th overall and Maureen Hogan ran a speedy 1:47:32, 9th in her age group.  Congratulations! 
 

 
Marin Memorial Day 10K - 05/26/08

Lentz Wins MMD!

After winning Tilden last weekend, Cliff Lentz won the masters division in Monday's Marin Memorial Day 10K in a not-too-far-from-lifetime-PR time of 33:36. This seems to have led us to a TIE with Pacific Striders, with both eams finishing in 2:55:37! Among other notable performances were Erin rightwell's several minute PR 38:07 and Tom Bernhard's 55-59 winning 6:15. Details . . .

Open Men
Byline Chikara Omine

The Marin Memorial Day 10K was one of the rare races where the open men wre represented by more than the minimum 5 people to score a team. Before the start of the race we were just one short of having a B team! We arranged a carpool, arrived with plenty of time for a warmup, and seemed to have a solid team.  Everything seemed great, but 3 of our open runners had a hectic start. 

Chikara Omine and Jin Daikoku were about 100 meters away from the start  line before hearing the announcement that the race is going to start in 15 seconds.  Both sprinted toward the line and made a 360 degee turn to start the race.  If that wasn't bad enough, Bee-Oh Kim, thinking that the race is at 8:30 instead of 8:15, was relaxing in preparation of he race until he saw a stampede of runners and learned that the race started 3 minutes ago. Not a great way to start a race but the open men still had a solid performance with the scoring team finishing withn 49 seconds of each other.
  
Ben Chaffee, showing the same strength that he had on a run up Mt. Diablo last weekend, led the team in 34:08/32nd place. Jin "we've got plenty of time till the race starts" Daikoku, feeling comfortable compared to the prior year, cruised in next at 34:21/36th place with Eric Knackmuhs not too far behind in 34:28/39th place.  Next was Chikara Omine struggling in at 34:39/43rd place. George Torgun, who has had much better days, completed the scoring team in 34:57/48th place.  The open men were also represented by Dan Shore in 36:02/70th place, Jason Reed in 37:20/105th place, and Robin Hart, making a return for a local race, in 41:20/214th place.  Let's see how many people we can get for Shriners!

Women
Byline Patti Shore
 
14 NB Excelsior women raced last Monday in the Marin Memorial 10K. Conditions were perfect and there were some mighty fast times because of it!  Leading the way with a monster PR was Erin Brightwell (38:07, 21st) who continues to have a spectacular spring season.  Jen Major (39:40, 39th) and Jenny Wong (39:45, 41st) ran strong Dipsea tune-ups together.

VERY close behind was Shelly Pierson (40:00, 46th place), running very well despite low mileage.  Larissa Polischuk rounded out the Open Women's A team with a FIVE MINUTE PR, running 40:38 for 51st place in her own Dipsea tune-up.  Master standout Kim Fanady led the B team with a solid 40:53 performance, 52nd overall and 9th master. 
 
Helen Kao continued a steady return from injury with her 41:20 (57th).  Sarah Jones (minus Mr. Jones, where was he?!?!) had a solid 42:37 (66th).  Jocelyn Friel, also preparing for Dipsea, was close behind in 42:54 (69th).  Heather Johnson also had a fine day in 44:56, for 82nd place.   Just missing the scoring team was Brenda Deperalta, who ran 49:36. 
 
The senior ladies turned out in force:  Donna Chan had a crisp 47:26, Nancy Wang ran well in 52:27, and Molly Newlon had a fine 54:32.   Well done, all!  I would like to say I enjoyed cheering you all on, but the truth is, I sure miss racing and can't wait to be back out there! 
 
Up next on the PA:  Shriner's!  In between:  DIPSEA!  Do try to come out and cheer on your teammates if you can - we have a VERY strong team this year between our men and our women, and it should be very exciting to watch!

Old'uns

Cliff Lentz led us in 33:36 to win the masters title by four seconds over Michael Woodward. Iain Mickle followed in 34:15, with Dan Mancini (35:20), Pete Vicencio (36:11), Peter Hsia (37:53), Brian Schultz (39:09), Tyler Abbott (43:12), and Marlin Gilbert (47:46). After dropping down Tom Bernhard, we seem to be in a tie with Pacific Striders for the team win. Also of note, new member but not in time for the race Harold the Hammer Radin finished in a strong 35:54. Tom Bernhard led the seniors in 36:15 to win the 55-59 age division. Kenny Warde finished next in 44:14, with Allan Stanbridge (44:27) and Gary MacPherson (45:38) rounding out the team.

Apologies to anyone I missed.



Bay to Breakers - 05/18/08

I'm afraid I made it out too late to catch the lead runners, but Allan Stanbridge forwards the following B2B notes--thanks Allan! If anyone wants to write a full Breakers report, write away!

Results from yesterday's B to B. According to the post race chip results given to runners on their way to the Polo Fields, I finished in 493rd place in a time of 54:43. I also finished in 3rd place in the mens' 60 to 69 division. Also saw Bob Darling, Kenny, and Eric Knackmuhs at the race.

More@Breakers

Kenny Warde forwards a couple other notes from Bay to Breakers . . .

Although I have been still fighting pneumonia since Boston, my Bay to Breakers time was 55:06. I place 533rd overall and 30th in the 50-59 age division. "The Rocket" Bob Darling ran a fine 52:57 and placed 389th overall. In our 50-59 age group he was 24th. And as you heard from Alan, he ran 54:43 and placed 500th overall. He came in a great 3rd in his 60-69 age division.



Tilden 10 - 05/18/08

Lentz Wins Tilden!

Pete Vicencio forwards this Tilden Tough 10 report. Thanks Pete!

Among the men, Cliff Lentz won in a strong 59:64.  However, this strangely did not qualify him for a sub-60 t-shirt. Cliff was followed by Dan Shore in 7th (?) and Pete Vicencio (65:31, 9th). For the women, Stacey Schweighart and Jenny Wong finished 2-3 in 67:40 and 67:50. Allie Bigelow and Larissa Polischuk followed in 71 minutes, with Jocelyn Friel rounding out the team.



Santa Ynez Half Marathon - 05/10/08

Larissa Polischuk reports that Helen Kao finished 13th in 1:32:55 at the 2nd annual Santa Ynez Half Marathon this past Saturday.

From Helen:
Was a much hillier course than I'd imagined (and that was advertised) and the race organization needed a little tidying up (not enough shuttle buses to the start, overcrowded gear drop off, race start bumped 15 minutes later b/c of these problems, only water and no gel or elecrtolyte drink, and not a single mile marker on the course!) but, despite these 'oopses' it was a beautiful course and perfect weather. Finished 4th AG, 13th woman



Quicksilver 50 Miler - 05/10/08

Chikara Omine finished second at Saturday's Quicksilver 50 Miler, his first run that long in a while. In the companion 50K, Ron Gutierrez finished third overall/first master, in a PR 4:14:21. Congratulations both of you!

Napa Valley Half Ironman - 05/04/08

Matt Patout forwards the following report . . .

Heather Leutwyler finished her first half ironman last weekend at the windy, Napa Half Ironman, placing 4th in her age-group and 17th Female Amateur with a time of 5:47 (29:59 swim, 3:16 bike, and a very strong 1:51 run).   Heather is using triathlons to get back into running after several months recovering from multiple injuries. 

Matt also trained through the race to get an 18th overall placing with a 4:54 time on a very tough run and bike course.  



Wildflower Triathlon - 05/04/08

Tracy Hogan finished 2d in her division at the Olympic Distance Wildflower Triathlon 2 weekends ago. Her finish time was 2:30 with a strong 41min 10k to close the race. Congratulations Tracy! 



Big Sur 5K - 04/27/08

After nine (?) years on the circuit, Big Sur took a couple years off, and the break seems to have reinvigorated the race (though the double points/money could also have something to do with that). NBEx saw many excellent performances, among them Tom Bernhard's 55-59 win, Donna Chan's 55-59 2nd place effort, Cliff Lentz's 4th master finish, and Erin Brightwell's top 10 placement. Details . . .

Women
Byline Helen Kao

A dozen New Balance Excelsior women road-tripped down Highway One for a gorgeous weekend in Monterey/Big Sur. The weekend was highlighted by team debuts by two new master/senior women (Maureen Hogan and Hansi Rigney) and a welcome back to former team member Chelsey Remington Dabora who saved the day by rejoining the team at the 11th hour and helping us score a full team in all age categories.

Most women were there for the PAUSATF 5k (back on the short course grand prix after a two year hiatus) with the exception of stellar new member Hansi Rigney who, 6 days after finishing 4th Age Group at the Boston Marathon 3:43.21, won the 65-69 Age Group at the challenging Big Sur Marathon in 3:54.27! Congratulations Hansi!

Additionally, Donna and Erin once again had fabulous performances for 2nd Age Group each. Reports are alphabetical below.

The Senior team will pull strong points for their showing at this Double Points race:

Char Bayles continues her recovery from a fractured foot with her 28:18 "kick it" finish (130th woman, 4th AG). Donna Chan cruised in, per her usual style, with a 22:44 2nd AG finish! (47th woman). Nancy Wang placed top ten with 25:43 (92nd, 9th)
 
The Master team also scored a full team with great races by all:

Brenda G Deperalta ran 24:11 (72nd, 6th) followed in tandem by Maureen. Maureen Hogan who normally races in longer events ran a 24:11 (73rd, 11th) catching up to Brenda in the final stretch. Chelsey Remington Dabora kept the race comfortable by jogging to a 23:55 (64th, 5th)

The Open team managed to score with the aid of master-drop-down Kim:

Erin Brightwell ran a second-fastest-personal-time 18:54, placing 2nd AG! (10th woman overall!!). Kim Fanady enjoyed the experience much more than the agonizing race she recalled from several years ago, 20:32 (32nd, 4th). Helen Kao overcame dead legs in Mile 1 to run tempo race for 20:58 (36th, 9th). Larissa Polischuk speeded to a quick 20:27 despite a 2hr+ run Saturday (31st, 8th). Jenny Wong pushed under 20min with 19:55 (23rd, 6th). Congratulations team! Next up, Marin Memorial 10k.

Open Men
Byline Chikara Omine

With the Big Sur 5K being a double point race, the open men felt the need to scrounge up a team.  Three open runners were able to make the trip down to Carmel.  None of us were feeling too great--two just ran the Calistoga to Santa Cruz Relay last weekend and one was coming back from injury--so we only had one goal:  to finish the race. 

Although we spread apart during the race from time to time, we ended up finishing close together with Jin Daikoku in 17:09/27th place, Chikara Omine in 17:11/28th place, and new member Bee-Oh Kim in 17:24/35th place.  Welcome to the club Bee-Oh! 

We should have a complete team with the masters drop downs.  As always, a big thanks to the masters team who have saved us numerous times.

Old'uns

Cliff Lentz again led the masters, again finishing 4th master overall, in 16:40. Iain Mickle followed Cliff in 17:04 (6th master), with Pete Vicencio (17:50, 13th), Jeff Dewey (19:03, 23rd), and Tyler Hoping to Pick Up a Few X-points Abbott (21:22) rounding out the team. Tom Bernhard was disappointed with his 18:28, but it was still good enough to win the 55-59 division. Alan Stanbridge was our first super senior in 21:17 (6th ss), with Kenny Warde showing up to make sure we have full teams just a week off Boston and running 22:35 (5th 55-59).
 


Boston Marathon - 04/21/08
 
Boston!
Byline Julie McGee

On Monday April 22, over 20,000 runners, including some from our own New Balance Excelsior toed the line in Hopkinton, MA at the start of the 112th Boston Marathon. Prayers of weather being better than last year's were answered with the start being cool and overcast, and then clearing and reaching from the low to mid 60's during the race. As the runners made the 26.2 mile trek to Boston, they were met by thousands of cheering (and sometimes screaming) fans.

First across the line for NBEx was JULIE M who was happy to qualify to come back next year, but wishes she had written her name on her shirt in 3:29.45. Running her second marathon, and having a great time was GERRY K in 3:40.52. Rounding out the NBEx ladies was Brenda G with a 4:03.49, who was very happy with her race.

Congrats to all those who ran. With a net loss of elevation, but a hilly mile 17-21, the Boston Marathon is probably the most humbling of marathons. A special thanks to CHAR B and TANJA T who made the trip to Boston, and provided their support, but were unable to run due to injuries.

[And Kenny Savior Warde ran 3:35:44. -Ed.]

More@Boston
Byline Kenny Warde

From Kenny The Savior Warde (who also still came out to Big Sur Sunday, Bronchitis and Bostonitis notwithstanding) . . .
__
The 112th Boston Marathon began under sunny skies with a temperature range from 52 to 55 degrees and a 5 to 15 mph headwind. With 22,375 official starters toeing the line, this was the second largest field ever in Boston's history. Not only was this my 26th Boston; but my 16th consecutive.

My splits throughout the race were rather even, although I did lose about 3 minutes on the second half. Perhaps this was due to not drinking as much as I should have and therefore, I developed legs cramps the last 5K. I also had a major fall just past the 20 mile mark in the flat area just before the last big hill in the Heartbreak Hill series. A young female spectator stepped off of the curb and looked up the hill instead of down the hill at the oncoming runners.

It happened so fast that I couldn't avoid plowing into her. As I am heading towards the gutter and curb, my only thoughts were, "Do I land on my hands, knees, and face; or do I turn sideways and hope for the best?" I chose the latter.

Once I was on the ground, my  next thoughts were to get up as quickly as possible, so as to not lose any time. So, I rolled over and got up. Luckily, everything was in working order except for some serious road rash and blood on my elbow, forearm, hip, and outer knee. So, mile 21 was in 8:48. I finished in 3:35:44. Overall, I ended up in 8,148th place; and 841st out of 3,762 in my veterans (50-59) age division.

Considering the fall, I was happy my time and effort.

[Hansi Rigney] Notes from Boston, Big Sur
 
A big thanks to Kenny Warde for recruiting top super senior runner Hansi Rigney. The notes below are from Boston and Big Sur from Hansi--welcome!

Kenny Warde recruited me for your NBEx team and I'm looking forward to some of the races on our schedule. Boston this year was a great experience. I had my best Boston time of 3:43:21 which got me a fourth place.

In my past 5 Bostons I was slower but placed better, relative to my age peers. In 2006 a 3:46 got me first place in the Senior division! I think more women are participating in running events and coming up through the age ranks with a lot more experience and training than in the past. All of this, if my theory is right, is very good for "running at all ages" with "senior" running in particular more and more competitive in the future. This year's Boston was run in near perfect conditions.....a little less sun and a little less wind would have been perfect, but we could not in good conscience complain at all!

I started the race at the back of the first wave and as always went off too fast, loving the frequent downhills of the initial course. When I started to seriously pace myself I was joined by a young Canadian friend whom I had met at my hotel and I was drawn into a good pace of 8:08, good for him but too fast to sustain for me. We stayed together till mile 12 or 13 and then lost each other after a water stop.

The Newton Hills, including Heartbreak were not a problem this year. I followed Kenny's advice of short high steps and managed the hills well with confidence in the next and last 6 miles. In retrospect, I should have pushed harder in the last phase, the last 2 miles in particular. I did enjoy the cheering crowd greatly and flattered by the young guy who asked me to slow down as I passed him so that he could take a picture of me, with my white hair, to show his wife! I was feeling so good at the finish that I could  kick myself for not going harder.

All the same.....very happy with the results, till I saw bloody Kenny who had been tripped by an unwitting spectator!

Six days later it was Big Sur and another marathon! I thought I could break the course record of 3:52:44 having come within 30 seconds last year. Again, went out too fast when it was easy and slowed down slowly but surely all along the course with its 13 hills. I wanted so much to pick it up in the last 4 miles and make up what I had lost, but my legs were just too heavy and tired. Managed a 1st age div finish, but a 3:54:40. The only consolation is that I still have 3 more years to give it a go!



Zippy 5K - 04/20/08

Thanks to race directors Jin Daikoku and Matt Patout, with a strong assist from Lloyd Stephenson, for running such a great race Sunday.

Women
Byline Kim Fanady

The NBEx women made a strong showing at our very own Zippy 5K on Sunday. We lucked into great running weather:  clear, cool, sunny, without the gale force winds and subarctic temperatures we feared.  
   
Leading the NBEx pack was Erin Brightwell, running a 18:42 (13 OA, 4 AG) a 30 second PR!  Great job Erin!  Close behind was the always fabulously fast Jenny Wong (22 OA, 8 AG), posting a 19:06 on a bad hamstring. 

Team stalwart Shelly Pierson (31 OA, 7 AG) ran her usual smart and sharp race, coming at 19:26 (running great on 3 days/week training).  Kim Fanady overcame her hatred of the 5K and a way too fast first mile to run 19:35 (35 OA, 2AG, 6 master). 

Helen Kao, pretty in pink, put down a 19:45 (39 OA, 12 AG), not what she hoped to run but OK just the same; reminds her not to go out so fast!  Sarah Jones, in her second race with NBEx, ran a sharp 20:30 (48 OA, 14 AG), with Jocelyn Friel just behind in 20:45 (52 OA, 12 AG) . Heather Johnson, also in her second race with NBEx, had a nice 21:54 (63 OA, 13 AG). 

And good work, seniors!  Donna Chan ran 21:57, 1 second faster than last year -- every second counts! (64 OA, 2 AG), and Molly Newlon (97/6) posted a 25:39 (96  OA, 6 AG), showing her heels to lots of girls in their 20's.  
   
And thanks to our volunteers who showed up to help out and cheer us on: Patti Shore, Kelly Daikoku, Lee D'Alessandro, and the long lost but not forgotten Whitney Stephenson.  Sorry to anyone I missed.  
    
Ziperrific!  Ziptastic!  Zipitudinous!  Nice job everyone -- great running!

Open Men
Byline Jin Daikoku

I'm not sure if I got this right... but if nobody else writes to you, I'll give it a shot. Fears earlier in the week about not fielding a full 5 open men at our own Zippy 5K proved to be unwarranted as we had six men toe the line (and one co-race director on the sidelines ready to stand in, just in case).

Despite all the pre-race grumbling about not being in shape, we performed remarkably well.  George Torgun led the way with a 15:57, which was good enough for 27th place and a 4 second course PR. Eric Knackmuhs and Ben Chafee used a little teamwork, pushing each other to 16:30 (39th) and 16:33 (40th), respectfully.  Dan Shore and Brian Gilliss also came in close together, running 17:07 and 17:17 for 55th and 59th, rounding out our scoring members.  To keep them honest, Dan Rhodes ran almost two minutes faster than he predicted, at 18:47 (104th).  Matt Patout went really fast, but he was in car so that doesn't count.  Great job and thank you so much guys!  It was a pleasure seeing you all out there.

Old'uns

Cliff Lentz led the masters with a strong 16:29 (4th master), with Iain Mickle next on the team and next master in 16:33. Don Hogue continued his early Spring string in 17:04 (12th), with Pete Vicencio (17:47, 21st), Jeff Dewey (35th), and Brian Schultz (19:18, 39th) rounding out the team.

For the seniors, Tom Bernhard returned to racing in 18:09 to win the 55-59 age division. Jim Gorman was next on the team and in the division in 18:30. Al Stanbridge led our super seniors in 21:07 (4th super senior), followed by Tom Bennett (23:40, 11th). Congratulations all!

Finally, Zippy finish line video, courtesy coRD Daikoku:

Women
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3646707705055577050&hl=en

Men
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3484736092949119084&hl=en


 

Presidio 10 Miler - 04/06/08

Larissa Polischuk reports that Micha Lowe placed 3rd woman overall in this past Sunday's Presidio 10miler with a time of 1:10:39.  Great job on a not so easy course through the hilly Presidio and over the Golden Gate Bridge!



Run Like the Wind Half Marathon - 03/30/08

Don Hogue reports that he finished third in the Run Like the Wind half marathon in San Ramon this past weekend. From Don . . .

Time 1:18.32 - happy with results on the hilly course. Won age group (40-44) and only got beaten by two guys who were both 19 years younger than me.



Across the Bay 12K - 03/16/08

Open Men
Byline Chikara Omine

George Torgun led the open in a time of 40:31 (20th place) improving from last year by one second and one place. Next was Chikara Omine in 43:19 (47th place), closely followed by Eric Knackmuhs in 43:45 (54th place) and Jason Reed in 43:50 (56th place). Michael Richardson completed the open team in 54:07 (318th place), racing for the first time as a Excelsior runner. Unfortunately, Michael will be moving to San Diego soon. Good luck in San Diego Michael and thanks for helping us field a team!

Women
Byline Gerry Kim

The Across the Bay 12K was a blur of blue as a dozen NBEx blazed the course. Leading the ladies in was none other then JENNY WONG with a 49:01. Following closely behind her, JULIE MCGEE brought in the Boston crew with a 49:22. Also seeing Boston in the distance, the ever speedening LARISSA POLISCHUK came in with a 50:30. HELEN KAO, taking yet another one for the team, followed with a very solid 50:59.

Coming off a foot injury, SHELLY PIERSON ran an impressive 51:25. Chart topper, KIM FANADY came in 5th in her age group with a 52:15. HEATHER JOHNSON sharpened into distance in her debut NBEx run at 56:09. (Welcome, Heather!) GERRY KIM, inspired by the NBEx ladies to scramble some eggs, ran home at 57:59. DONNA CHAN led the fierce seniors team with a 59:58. Following, BRENDA GEE finished a wonderful run with a 1:02:37. NANCY WANG, also representing the seniors, came in with a magnificent 1:06:00. Most amazingly, team trooper CHARLENE BAYLES ran a 1:18:44 coming off a foot fracture. Thanks to everyone who came out to race and to Jen Major for cheering us on!

Old'uns

Don Hogue led the masters for the second race in a row in a fine 44:31. Pete Vicencio finished next in 45:53, followed by Ian Hersey (46:16), Brian Schultz (49:12), Jeff Dewey (49:39), Tyler Ouch Abbott (55:05 the hard way), Greg King (57:03), and Michael Gama (59:21). Several runners we haven't seen for a while (including yours truly)--great to see you all out! It should also be noted that Tim Wallen was near the front of the masters pack (Chris Schille wasn't in the pack) when his calves gave out around mile 5 and he was forced to drop out. Get better soon Tim!

For the seniors, we had but two runners. Kenny Warde ran a fine 54:37, followed by Wayne Plymale (1:00:53). Great job everyone!



Stanford Treeathlon - 03/02/08

Hogan Wins Treeathlon!

From our own tri star Tracy Hogan . . .

I raced the Stanford Treeathlon a sprint distance triathlon this past weekend and to my surprise was the overall female winner. I was so thrilled! I think this is the first triathlon in the state of California that I have won the overall. I had a really solid swim in the 55 degree Bay water which was numbing.

The headwinds on the bike were fierce but all the strength training that I've been putting in really paid off and I had the fastest female bike split of the day. Running my bike into transition I somehow tweaked my back and got a horrible shooting pain but it only lasted a moment so I continued on. I had a very solid 20:15 5k but my posture felt off for the entire run. After I finished the race I realized that my hips were crooked and I had strained my back. Luckily my chiropractor just happened to be in the office on a Sunday afternoon so I had my back adjusted within 5 hours of the race which seems to have made all the difference. Three days after straining my back my hips were straight and I was out training again.



Napa Valley Marathon -03/02/08

Mancini Runs a Marathon

Not a typo. From short distance specialist Dan Metronome Mancini . . .

I celebrated the 25 anniversary of my first and only other marathon (a DNF from 1983) with a 2:42:51, good for 9th place and 2nd Master. I think I justly earned my reputation as a metronome with half marathon splits of 1:21:20 and...1:21:20, with a 10 sec. stop at mile 22 to search for a water bottle. It was an ideal day for a marathon: perfect temp., with a slight tailwind at times, on a nice scenic rolling course. Somewhere around mile 22, someone decided to take batting practice on my quads - a unique kind of running pain I must admit - but otherwise managed to close well with the final 10km only 8 secs. slower than the first 10km. Overall, an enjoyable experience.  I'm penciling in NYC in 2033.



NorCal 10 Miler - 03/01/08

We managed to scrape together the two open teams anyway for the inaugural race on the 2008 road grand prix. The race was highlighted by George Torgun's 10th place finish and Don Hogue's 5th place master finish. Details . . . .

Open Men
Byline Chikara Omine

As usual this race was a difficult one to field a team however, 3 open men made the trip to Redding.  George Torgun lead the team with a 56:35 and placing in the top 10 (10th place).  George was followed not so closely by Chikara Omine 59:19 (18th place) and Oliver Chan 1:00:10 (25th place).

With the aid of the masters drop downs it looks like we were able to score as a team.  Next up, Emerald Across the Bay!

Women
Byline Julie McGee

On a sunny but windy Saturday, 5 Excelsior women raced in the NorCal 10 miler after making the long drive up to Redding the night before. First across hte line for the team was Tanja Tamguney, running a 1:06.29. Next was Julie McGee, with a 1:08.26. Third for the teram was Larissa Polischuk who ran a 1:09.30. Helen Kao crossed the line next in 1:12.54. Rounding out our group of 5 was Gerry Kim, who ran a 1:17.06.

Afterwards, eveyone agreed that the hill with the switchbacks arouind mile 4 and the overall design of the lollypop course made it very hard to settle into a pace. Regardless, the team placed 2nd overall! Congrats to those who ran:)

Old'uns

Don Hogue led the way with a fine 1:00:05 finish--good job, Don. Vitas Ezerskis fought a tough knee injury to finish in 1:03:18, and Kenny Warde rounded out the team in 1:14:52. Thanks all of you for making the trip and helping out the young'uns!



Cross Country Nationals - 02/16/08

Masters Men Fourth at Nationals, O'Rourke 5th!
Byline Dan Mancini

After years of futile persuasion [or, apparently, lack thereof -Ed.], it took the prospect of a balmy San Diego venue to finally convince the required 5 scoring team members to lace up the spikes for a February cross country race.  Sunscreen and shades were the order of the day, as sunny skies, warm temps. and a dry all-grass, mostly flat course greeted the Masters Men's team at the traditionally miserable weather USA Cross Country Champs.  This race has grown in size every year since its inception, and this year some 200 Masters men lined up for the 8k race.

Leading the team with a superb effort in a strong field was Iain Mickle in 23rd, followed by Tim "thirty-mile-a-week" Wallen in 34th edging out Dan "eighty-mile-a-week" Mancini in 36th, newly minted Senior Tim O'Rourke in 43rd (5th 50-54--just eight seconds off the podium!), and Pete Vicencio in 80th.  And although the top 3 powerhouse teams made a podium spot unrealistic, the team scored a moral victory with a surprising 4th place finish, nipping the 5th and 6th place teams by narrow 7 and 8 point margins. The team enjoyed the race so much, that they have already signed on (with binding contracts) to next year's race in Anchorage, Alaska.



Caruso 5K - 02/10/08 

Shore Wins Caruso 5K!

From Patti Shore . . .

Well, I won.  Which I guess means I can't complain about my time, which was 3 seconds slower than last year on this course, 10 weeks post-partum.  Oh, what the hell - I am going to complain a little.  I really thought I was in better shape than 20:02, but perhaps the head and chest cold I've been fighting all week played a role.  Back to the bright side - I won!  There was a nice prize - a one year membership to the Koret Center, and it was a lot of fun. 

Each year this race has more and more participants, and the USF students who put the race on do a nice job of it.  The race director said some nice things about our teammate, Tom Caruso, whom this race honors - I am sure that the family is gratified that 8 years later, large crowds of people still remember Tom and his contributions to USF as both a student and an athlete.  Maybe next year more of us will be able to participate!

Ed.: For club newcomers, Tom Caruso was a club member who was very tragically struck by a bus while heading to the start of the Las Vegas Marathon eight years ago this month. He passed away a few days later.



Kaiser Permanente (SF) Half Marathon - 02/03/08

A big turnout for club members at Sunday's somewhat Wet and Windy Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon . . .

Women
Byline Helen Kao

A wet but successful weekend for many women! I apologize if I've missed anyone. In alpha order:

Chelsey Remington, team friend, returns to running with a 1:34.59 (11th AG) despite not being sure she wanted to run if it rained.
Christine Brighton, returning team member, ran a 4th age group 1:27.09.
Corrine Roberts, team friend, finished right behind Julie in 1:30.20 (1st AG)
Jen Major logged a 6th AG 1:28.05
Julie McGee starts her Boston prep with 1:30.19 (8th AG)
Kim Fanady, also a 4th AG Master along with Christine, ran 1:34.26
Larissa Polischuk revs back up from her NYMarathon PR with 1:31.34 (12th AG)
Maria Fregoso speeds to a stellar (PR?) 1:24.48, 9th women OA and 3AG (she'll clearly break 3h marathon)
Micha lowe, team friend, picks up after a longstanding injury with 1:34.10 (6th AG)
Molly Newlon demonstrates why she loves the half distance with 2:12.06 (24th AG)
Congratulations to all!

Men

George Torgun led our charge in 1:14:23, 7th place, with Adam Hersh close behind in 1:15:34 (11th). Iain Mickle won the masters competition in 1:17:10, 15th overall, with second master Dan Mancini close behind in 1:18:23, 19th overall, followed by Matt Patout (1:19:44, 25th), Daniel Shore (1:21:36, 49th), Mark Janes in his farewell race as he relocates to Portland--bye Mark, and see you at Redding! (1:22:11, 57th), and Adam Lucas (1:22:22, 59th).

Just behind Adam was new member and senior winner John Hale, running 1:22:24, 60th overall. followed by Andy Chan (1:23:24, 69th), John Spriggs (1:26:18, 112th), Peter Hsia (1:26:40, 118th), Ian Reid (1:32:02), and--doubling with Jed Smith 50K Saturday--Oliver Chan (1:32:59, 299th). A big race--I apologize to anyone I missed.

And in the much less competitive 5K, Andy Apfelbaum finished 3rd (and 2d master) in 18:43.



Jed Smith 50K - 02/02/08

Open Men Win Jed Smith 50K
Byline Chikara Omine
  
A few of us decided to send a team up to Northern Sacramento for the Jed Smith 50K.  Jason Reed led the the charge in 3:39:35 (4th place).  Chikara Omine, who learned that the lesson "never run a marathon unprepared" (obviously) applies to ultramarathons, staggered through the finish line next in 3:54:20 (7th place).  Oliver Chan completed the team in 4:08:17 (12th place). 

It appears that we won the team division.  Also, team friend Eduardo Vasquez joined us for a carpool and completed his first ultra as a really hard training run in a fine 3:57:22 (9th place).  None of us planned to double for the weekend with the Kaiser Half Marathon (although Jason only decided not to run because of the entry fee), but Oliver Chan must have changed his mind, as he was spotted on the Kaiser course with a bib number the next morning.

 

Bear Valley Cross Country Ski Area Hwy 4 - 1/27/2008

And thanks to Iain Mickle for culling the following Chikara result . . .

                        * * * Results by ON YOUR MARK * * *
3RD ANNUAL JAZZ TRAX SNOWSHOE STOMP 10K - BEAR VALLEY, CA - JANUARY 27, 2008

Top Male
         1. Chikara Omine, San Francisco, cA              25    1:01:43
This brings up the formidable question of how many Chikara results we've missed, so I'm looking for an official club Chikarawatcher (individual or committee) who will cull the internet every week and forward any Chikara results. Volunteers?



DSE Sawyer Camp 10K - 1/20/08

Bob Rocket Darling reports the following results:

Women: Maria Fregoso- Age 29- 1st -36:49
             Tracy Hogan Age 37     2nd  40:49
Men:  Grant Johnson - 1st - 35:11
          Jason Reed - 6th - 36:29
          Bob Rocket Darling Age 58 -2nd 50+ 40:41