FULL FIELD AT CROSS COUNTRY 5K

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, September 16, 2012

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

Two hundred and forty-six runners were on the line at Deer Path Park in Hunterdon County last Saturday for the USATF New Jersey cross country 5 kilometer championship.
Eleven open men’s teams finished the race with the Garden State Track Club taking the top four spots by spreading their talent among all four teams.  Their fastest runner, Anthony Harris of East Brunswick who finished first overall in 15:51, was on the club’s C team.

The Shore Athletic Club took first in the M40, M50, but a ploy similar to the Garden State club backfired in the M60.  Shore had sufficient men in the M60 to field two teams and they split their speedster between the A and the B teams, hoping to push the Raritan Valley Road Runners team that is currently in the lead in the team grand prix to third place.  They were cutting it close and when one of their men went down and another team member stopped to give aid, the Raritan Valley team grabbed first.  Both Shore men finished but they had lost precious seconds.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Shore’s B team placed second while their A team was pushed to third.  In February a rule was established that a B team would remain a B team even if it finished ahead of an A team of the same club.  This is important for points in the team grand prix.  Fourth place was taken by the Morris County Striders in the division.

On the women’s side, winner Cheyenne Ogletree of Garfield (18:06) brought the Garden State’s open women’s team in for first place, but second went to Raritan Valley and third to the Morris area Garmin Runners.

The Garmin Runners have been dominating the W40 division and they did so again on Saturday.  Second was taken by the Sneaker Factory and third by the Do Run Runners.  In the W50 division first was taken by the Sneaker Factory and second went to the Clifton Road Runners.  The Morris County Striders were third, with the Rose City Runners fourth.  The Morris County senior women took first in the W60, W70 and the W80 division.

Thirty-nine men’s and 28 women’s teams competed.  Even teams that did not finish high enough to earn points in the team grand prix, did win points at the race.  As an incentive to the clubs all teams receive a bonus of two points.  Even a team that finishes in eleventh place is valuable to a club’s score in the cross country races.

The next cross country championship, the 8 kilometer, will be at Deer Path Park on Sunday, October 28.

NEWPORT LIBERTY WATERFRONT HALF MARATHON NEXT CHAMPIONSHIP

The Newport half marathon is the championship for all divisions of USATF clubs.  It will take place next Sunday at the Newport Town Square in Jersey City.  Last year over twenty-two hundred runners finished the race and more can be expected this year.

RAIN OR SHINE, THE RACE WILL GO ON

But sometimes a race can’t be held.  No, a little rain won’t stop it but when a tornado appears heading your way, the show stops.  That’s what happened last Saturday afternoon in Morristown when the first annual Run 4 the Seeing Eye had to be cancelled.  Organizers are looking at a date in October for it to be held.  Runners will be notified via email and can always go to superheroracing.com for the latest update.

MASTERS WOMAN IS FIRST OVERALL AT 5K CHAMPIONSHIP

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, September 9, 2012

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

The JimmyD 5K in New Brunswick last Sunday was the USATF New Jersey masters women’s championship and it showed. Even in a big race like the Jimmie D with 747 finishers the first men and women to cross the finish line are usually younger runners. Not so on Sunday when Catherine Smith of Wayne finished first woman in 18:55.

Smith has been a top woman for several years in New Jersey and now that she has aged into the masters ranks she is sure to get more notice. Until 2011 Smith had run unattached but now is the top female for the Fleet Feet Essex club and she delivered the club a win in the W40 division.

The Garmin running team, new this year, placed second in that division with Susan Bessin of Madison bringing that team in with her time of 20:38.

Fifty-seven year old Nora Cary of Morristown led the Do Run Runners team in for third. She finished in 21:00, the fourth fastest women over forty. The Do Run runners placed third also in the W50 division. The Rose City running club placed fourth in the W50, with Dede Paul of Madison whose time was 22:51 first woman on her team. The Morris County Striders were fifth.

The Striders hit pay dirt in the more senior divisions. They placed second in the W60 division but first in the W70, and in the W80 division.

The Striders now have three women over 80 who love to run and love to race. Diane Stone of Bernardsville finished in 47:03 while Melva Murray of Bedminster finished in 49:42. Patricia Tummey of Randolph who at 83 has been waiting for her teammates to age up to her age group finished in 56:19.

Of course the men raced at JimmyD also and Anthony Harris of North Brunswick won the race in 15:47. There were plenty of young men racing, but amongst the top ten was 49 year old Mark Zamek of Macungie PA. His time of 16:51 put him at the top of the list in age grading at 86.81%. The first local man was Gary Rosenberg of Morristown who finished in 17:30. Rosenberg was the second masters man to finish.

LABOR DAY WEEKEND MARKS THE START OF THE FALL RACING SEASON

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, September 92, 2012

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

This morning the USATF-New Jersey masters women’s championship 5K is taking place at the Jimmy D race in New Brunswick. The course is a straight out and back and deceptive to the unaware. Going out on Joyce Kilmer Avenue the runners will have a sense that they are having a good race. And they will be. Until they make the turn around. What happened?

No, it wasn’t that the body ran out of juice. It is that Joyce Kilmer has a gentle slope on the way out. It’s not noticeable until you have to run back on it. So the first mile split will be the fastest and for the incautious runners the last will be, well, painful.

Next weekend, on Saturday September 8th, the USATF New Jersey cross country 5K is taking place at Deer Path Park in Hunterdon County. September is a bit early for cross country, but it has been held in some other years in September. Still there will be some grumping if the weather is warm. If you like cross country you will love the Deer Path course. It has the requisite hills around the fields at Deer Path Park and the surface is good and makes for easy running. It is a favorite for many New Jersey runners who prefer it to the Holmdel course and its heart stopping Bowl.

By the way, for those who seek cross country racing, the USATF-NJ website has a separate calendar listing for just cross country races.

Also next weekend is a four mile race that is bound to be a hit. The Run 4 the Seeing Eye is on Saturday the 8th in Morristown. The course appears to be the exact replica of the Super Sunday 4 miler that was held this year on February 5th. If so, then there are probably plenty of age division records that could be reset with such a young course. The Super Sunday race was won by Thomas Poland of Morristown in 20:59 and Elena Rozhko, also of Morristown in 23:52, so the overall times might be a bit tough to break but surely some age division records will be broken.

For a twist on the race. It starts at 6:30 p.m. and that means of course, that post run socializing can take place in one of the many restaurants and bars in Morristown.

Another local race has a 6:30 p.m. start and that is the Share the Care 5K that takes place next Thursday, September 6th in Morris Plains. The certified course starts from Trinity Lutheran Church at 151 Mountain Way. Share the Care benefits Morris Habitat for Humanity. Bring the kids for kiddy dashes once the 5K runners are in.

IT’S NOT EASY FINDING A DATE

It’s not always easy finding a date for a race. Sometimes the problem is the venue is not available when you might want it. Other times each weekend date is already booked and it is hard to find an open date that is not in conflict with other races.

This is especially true for USATF New Jersey championships. As hard as the Long Distance Running committee works on selecting races that do not conflict or are not too close to another championship, grumbling about the championship line-up is almost inevitable. The committee does not choose the dates for races and on some occasions has asked a race to move change their date in order to be considered for hosting a championship. But the schedule is never perfect. Is life?

MORRIS COUNTY STRIDERS SUMMER SERIES WINNERS ANNOUNCED

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, August 12, 2012

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

Beau Atwater of Bernardsville was the top man in Morris County Striders cross country series that concluded this past Tuesday in Boonton.  Not bad for a 54 year old man.  His best time in the series, 18:10, was done on July 31st.  Mike Lynch, 48, of Pearl River NY placed second.  His fastest time was 18:14.

Caroline Wolfe, 17, of Florham Park wasn’t at Tuesday’s race but she had the required three races out of four to win the series.  Her fastest time of 19:33 was done on July 17th.  Valerie Zielinski, 20, of Hackettstown had a season PR of 20:47 on Tuesday and took second in the series.   The real story is the third place finisher.  Allison Lounsbury of Franklin Lakes is all of eight years old.  On Tuesday she finished in 22:21.  They age grade children too and Allison scored 81.01% on the children’s scale.

RUNNING SUMMIT IN MORRISTOWN AUGUST 25 AND 26

With the fall racing season less than a month away what better time to have a Running Summit?  And who better than a team of well known running coaches to have as speakers?

Those speakers include Dr. Jack Daniels and Joe Vigil.  The two day summit on August 25th and 26th is being hosted by Atlantic Sports Health and will be held at Morristown Medical Center in Morristown.

Daniels is the head coach of cross country and track at Brevard College in Brevard, NC.  He’s been named National Coach of the Year by the NCAA but he is known far beyond collegiate coaching.  It is probable that if you are a runner you have read an article, or a book by Daniels.  The list of athletes he has coached or worked with includes Jim Ryun, Alberto Salazar and Joan Benoit Samuelson.

Joe Vigil was head coach at Adams State College where his teams won nineteen NAIA Team Championships.   Athletes he has coached include Deena Kastor and Meb Keflezighi. His training method for teaching end-of-race sprint training was featured in a recent Running Times article by Greg McMillan that he titled the Vigil Acceleration Workout.

More about these coaches and the summit, as well as cost to attend can be found on the website, runningsummit.com.

NOTE CHANGE OF DATE AND LOCATION FOR POPULAR DOG AND RUNNER RACE

The Hounds and Harriers Run™  that has been taking place at Loantaka Park in Morris Township each October has made a move to South Mountain Reservation reports race organizer Barbara  Rushman of Florham Park.  The race has also moved to a Sunday; October 7th.  Rushman said that the new course is a race director’s dream with far fewer course marshals needed.  She also notes that the course stays on the mostly flat plateau atop South Mountain.  For more information go to houndsandharriers.com

CHUCKLE OF THE DAY

The Morris County Parks folks have opened a new trail link between Roxbury and Randolph that connects the Black River railroad bed trail that goes south to Chester.  Lucky me, I live just a javelin toss away.  I need only cross a small field to reach it from my home to head north to Roxbury on the new stone dust trail.  Where the trail crosses my road there is a sign warning drivers to stop for trail users, of which there are many.  That the local drivers have gotten the message, albeit a bit skewed was illustrated last Monday.

It had rained the night before so I knew the field would be still be wet and not wanting to keep my feet dry,  I opted to go out my driveway and use the road for the fifty yards between me and the trail.

I stood patiently at the end of my driveway, waiting a clear road so that I could do the unthinkable and scamper the short distance on the right, or as we all know, on the wrong side of the street, with my back to traffic.

A car was approaching, with another right behind.  As I waited for them to pass, the first car slowed and stopped.  Oh no!  The driver was giving me safe crossing to the other side.  But I didn’t want to cross.  I hesitated.  She gave me a commanding wave of the hand.  “Cross now, I am waiting,” her gesture said.

I hesitated for a second more, and then I obediently crossed the road as she had commanded.   I trotted down to the trail and crossed back over to begin my run.

VERIZON WIRELESS ALWAYS EXCITING

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, July 22, 2012

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012 

There is always an energy, always excitement at the Verizon Wireless Corporate Classic 5K that takes place in Morristown each July.  This past Thursday was no exception.  The plaza at Headquarters Plaza was full of milling crowds of runners, easily identified by their company clothing.  Verizon Wireless always has the largest team and they turned the plaza a brilliant red in their classy racing shirts.

While many of the participants in the field of close to four thousand might have wanted to run a competitive race, many were there to be a part of the huge event and part of the excitement.  It’s hard to get a good start with a field like that.  Even using only your chip time it will be slower than usual.  If you are not on the front line you will likely be dodging people while being bumped by others faster than you.

If you can hit five or five-thirty minute miles you are on the front line and on Thursday there were a dozen or so who could do that.  From the gun Tyler Gibbons of Basking Ridge immediately went to the front.  Chris Johnson of Berkeley Heights and Jonathan Squeri became a dogged duo following in Gibbons wake.

Running seemingly alone Gibbons passed the one mile clock in around five minutes.  Up and down with turns at every block at the far end of the course he held the lead, going through the second mile only a bit slower.  Then the insurmountable lead narrowed and then it was gone.

“Once I got past the two miles, I started feeling my legs a little bit,” said Gibbons.

As he slowed, Johnson pounced, taking over the lead in that crucial third mile, just as he had planned as he waited to go into another gear.

“That was my plan all along, to let him go out,” said Johnson.

Johnson said he had hoped that no one would go out hard, so that he could steal an easy win.  Gibbons made him work for it.  It got them both fast times; Johnson finished in 15:55 and Gibbons crossed the finish mat in 16:05.  Jonathan Squeri of Princeton finished third in 16:11 and said later that he knew he would have a race on his hands.

“Just looking at these guys I know they are great runners,” said Squeri.  “I’ve run against Chris before and I heard that Tyler is good, going to Columbia next year.  So these guys are the real deal.  I was just enjoying myself.  Putting myself behind them and seeing what happens.”

The first woman, Rachael Sorna of Hopewell Junction NY, had no such race.  Surrounded only by men, she finished in 17:59, sixteenth overall.

“I was hoping one [another woman] would come up on me and run with me but I didn’t see anybody, said Sorna.”

There was plenty of competition behind her.  Ten seconds separated the next three at the finish, and there was a lot of action heading there.

In the last mile, Lyndsay McMeen, whose hometown is not listed, was running in second place.  Kavitha Manley of Piscataway was trying to run her down and did so.  She moved into second place.  Then just before the line Manley was caught by Mollie Pozolo of Michigan, presently living in Hohokus.  Pozolo finished in 19:33, Manley in 19:36 and McMeen in 19:43.

“I knew I wasn’t going to catch her [Sorna], but I was just happy to catch second and third place,” said Pozolo.

For Manley the whole night was a heady experience, her first time to race at the Verizon Wireless 5K.

“I never thought I would be part of something huge like this,” she said, summing up what many felt.  “It’s a little intimidating I think, but it was good.   A lot of energy.”

VERIZON WIRELESS CORPORATE CLASSIC 5K HAS CLOSED

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, July 15 2012

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012 

All you procrastinators out there, I have bad news for you.  The Verizon Wireless Corporate Classic 5K in Morristown this Thursday has closed registration.  This is the first year that the race has reached its cap so early.

“Last year we shut it down about 40 minutes before the scheduled end of registration on race night,” said race director Dan Brannen of Morris Township.

“We had people waiting in line and they were disappointed,” said Brannen.

So this is probably a good thing that the runners know well ahead of race day that there will be no race night entries accepted.  Last year 3,726 runners and walkers officially finished the race, almost exactly five hundred more than in 2010. 

The 3.1 mile race has taken place in Morristown since 2006 when it replaced the three and a half mile Corporate Challenge.  The course is downright challenging and running a little shorter met no resistance from the runners.

This year there is a minor change to the course that most people will not notice.  The start will be further north on Speedwell, away from the plaza, and the finish will also be a small distance away from the previous finish line.

“It will give us an additional two hundred feet to play with,” said Brannen.  “It will alleviate some of the crowding that has existed in the start and finish area.”

“It will give us more room to get people off the plaza and out into the street for the start and it will also give us more room for the walk off into the refreshment area after the finish.” 

Brannen explained that the area had become extremely crowded in the last few years as the runners stacked up after finishing.   The refreshment area is being reconfigured as well to make it more open and spread out, eliminating the tunnel effect of previous years.

Shortening the course at the start and finish means there must be a corresponding lengthening and that will be achieved by rerouting just one small section of the course at about the two mile mark.

None of the changes should have an appreciable effect on how fast a runner can complete the challenging course.  For the record, or more precisely, according to my unofficial record keeping, the fastest time on the course was run by Chris Pannone of Lambertville in 2009.  He averaged 4:50 minutes per mile and hit the tape in 15:01.  In that race Justin Scheid of Sparta gave Pannone a good challenge but faded toward the end to finish in 15:29 for the second fastest time on record.  In 2010 Scheid came back and ran a 15:30 to win.

In 2011 Elena Rozhko of Morristown won the women’s race in 17:49 nearly a full minute faster than any other woman has run. 

The irony of those fast times is that the Verizon Wireless Corporate Classic does not emphasis speed.  It is all about inclusion and the encouragement to exercise through running.  After the top three men and women are recognized there are no other individual awards.  Corporate teams do compete and that is to encourage the local companies to support good health in their employees.

Not that the teams aren’t competitive.  One hundred and nine teams competed in the men’s division with host company Verizon Wireless taking first place with the combined first three runners time of 54:41.  Alcatel Lucent was second in 55:05.  Hatch Mott MacDonald squeaked to third in 56:48 with Foster Wheeler just two seconds back in 56:50.

Ninety-six women’s teams finished the race in 2011 with Verizon Wireless again the winner.  Novartis was second and AT&T third.

Times for all of the runners are based on their actual running time from when they first cross the starting line and when they finish.  Doing the timing this way ensures that runners get a more accurate time for their race, although the start for most of the nearly four thousand runners will be so congested at first that even though they have crossed the start line they will still be only walking or jogging.

Packet pick-up on race day will begin at noon at the Headquarters Plaza just off the Green.  The race start is at 7:30 p.m.   

IT’S SUMMERTIME AND THE RUNNING SHOULD BE FUN

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, July 1, 2012

Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

Now that summer is here, it’s time for some fun.  The Morris County Striders summer series begins on Tuesday night, the eve of Fourth of July.  The course is an almost dead flat cross country run at Johanson Field in Boonton Township.  In 2010 the course was redesigned to an almost perfect double loop.  Ben Vanwyk set the course record in 2010 of 15:43, and Diana D’Achille set the women’s record of 18:53.  Age division best times are recorded so all runners have a chance at setting an age division record.

The club offers scoring in a series that counts the best three races out of four that will be held on alternating Tuesday evenings.   One exception is the last race on August 7th is one week after the July 31st race.

If you’ve been running for a few years you remember when the Firecracker Four Miles in Cranford was the only race on the Fourth of July.  Not so anymore.  Just take a look at the calendar’s that are listed at the bottom of this column for races.  The Firecracker for sure, but also one in Maplewood, and others that are farther away.

Summer time is also when runners get in the water and on their bikes so a lot of triathlons are on the schedule.  One that is right here in Morris County is the Randolph Tri on Sunday, July 8th that takes place from the Randolph Township swimming lake off of Route 10 on the border with Roxbury.  When I checked the website on Friday registrations were still being accepted.  As triathlons go, this one is a sprint featuring a one half mile swim, a bike leg of 16.4 miles, and 5K run.

Another big event in July is the Verizon Wireless Corporate Classic on Thursday the 19th in Morristown.  At one time this event was restricted to only those running for a corporate team, but it has been opened to all runners in the past few years.  It’s a huge draw with plenty of once a year runners.   Last year it drew 3,700 finishers.

Another fun night race is the Downtown Westfield 5K on Wednesday, July 25th.  It draws a huge crowd who come as much for the after race pizza as for the race.  If you go to that one be sure to plan to arrive early in order to find a parking spot.

OK.  Now for the real racing fun;  that’s if you think running over and under hellish obstacles, including fire pits is fun.  The first Warrior Dash 5K is taking place right here in our locale, in Lewis Morris Park on Saturday, July 14.  This is another of the new genre of adventure runs that have become so popular.  Being a spectator might actually be more fun, and less harmful to your body.  Check it out at warriordash.com.


HOT AND HUMID AT THE FITZGERALD’S LAGER RUN ON SUNDAY

The weather gods played a mean trick on the runners this past Sunday.  Both Saturday and Sunday were beautiful, with clear skies and fresh, dry air.  Then along about 5:00 Sunday afternoon, in Glen Ridge, those pesky gods ushered in a very un-nice front of warm sticky humid air.

When the gun went off for the Fitzgerald’s Lager Run 5K at 6:15 p.m., runners were well warmed up and not necessarily from a warm up jog.   Still some of the runners managed to get through the heat and humidity and register a fast time.  Youssef Rochdi of Morris Plains won the race in 15:17, with Morristown’s Ben Clarke second in 15:51.

David Craig of Westfield finished in 16:20 in fourth place overall, the first masters man and the lead runner in the winning M40 team, Fleet Feet Essex.  Elliott Frieder of Montville was fifth and brother Jonathan of Hartsdale, NY finished 10th.

The Sneaker Factory took second in the M40, and the North Jersey Masters were third.  In the M50 division the North Jersey Masters pulled off an upset in beating the Shore AC team.  The Shore team stayed ahead of the third place team,  Fleet Feet Essex by only seven seconds.


The Shore AC took first in the M60 division with the Raritan Valley Road Runners in second.  The Do Run Runners edged out a third by only four seconds over the Clifton Running Club.

Elena Rozhko of Morristown won the women’s side in 17:24.  Over a thousand runners finished the race on the track at Hurrell Field on Bloomfield Avenue.