Fleming remembered

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, April 23, 2017

 

FLEMING REMEMBERED

The entire New Jersey running community was shocked to learn of the sudden passing of legendary runner and coach Tom Fleming on Wednesday, April 19^th.   Fleming who twice placed second at the Boston Marathon and who twice won the New York City Marathon was at a track meet with his athletes from Montclair Kimberly Academy.

Joel Pasternack of Clifton trained with Fleming for over 15 years and remembers how Fleming would tell others, “Joel Pasternack is the person that I ran the most miles ever with in my life.”

According to Pasternack, he and Fleming would run together at a leisurely 6:40 to 7 minute pace.   Pasternack was a 5:30 mile pace marathoner while Fleming was a 5 minute pace marathoner.  Yet they were comfortable running together.

“He’d run with me twenty miles and then do a ten mile run [later in the day] in sixty minutes,” said Pasternack.

“In the years from 1970 to 1979 he averaged 140 miles a week, twenty miles a day for ten years,” said Pasternack.

Dean Shonts, former owner of the Sneaker Factory store in Millburn, was the coach at William Patterson College during Fleming’s junior and senior years and confirmed Flemings drive.

“Tom was the hardest worker I ever saw,” said Shonts.  “He was an incredibly hard trainer.   The amount that he could train was incredible.   “He’d come down here to the Jersey shore and run three ten mile runs at 5:30 a mile,” said Shonts.

“He didn’t do that every day, but he had to do that to get 160 and 170 miles a week.”

With that kind of mileage Fleming accumulated 124,000 miles in his career that ended at age forty.

“He told me at forty he was tired of punishing his body,” said Pasternack.  “He was just going to become a jogger.”  He didn’t want to become a masters runner.”

Pasternack has hit 125,000 miles but he adds a disclaimer when telling about his 125,000.

“I had some more years on Tom to get that number in,” he said.  “Tom did it in a shorter time.”

Pasternack recalled how Fleming would invite Marty Liquori and Bill Rodgers to go out for a run with them.

“I’d be running with them, talking to Bill, talking to Marty,” said Pasternack.  “Tom would be thirty yards ahead of us.  Marty and Bill would yell at him, Tom, where are you going?

 We’re here to run with you, to talk with you and visit.”

“Tom’s way ahead, pushing the pace a little bit.  Always being competitive when Marty and Bill are around,” said Pasternack.   “It was so funny hearing Marty Liquori, one of the fastest milers in the United States and Bill Rodgers, winner of the Boston Marathon telling Tom, ‘You’re going too fast, you’ve got to slow down!’”

“A piece of running New Jersey is gone,” said Pasternack.  “You never saw Tom in a bad mood, or unhappy.   He was always happy and smiling.  He always had nice things to say about everybody.”

“Tom lived his life,” said Shonts.  “He loved track, he loved running.  He was at a track meet.  He died doing what he loved.”

GRONER DID IT

Roberta Groner of Randolph placed 16^th woman in the Boston Marathon this past Monday.  Her time of 2:36:33   met was under the Olympic Qualifying A standard of 2:37.  With cooler temperatures that time would likely have been lower.

“The weather conditions were not ideal but I still wanted to try and race the plan I had discussed with Coach Matos,” wrote Groner in an email.

“I hit the half way point at the time I wanted but was not able to execute my negative split plan,” she said.

She ran part of the race with a teammate through the hills and she said that really helped her along the way.

“Obviously the crowd support is tremendous and that too carried me through the last few miles,” said Groner.

Readers might be surprised to learn that Groner is taking ten days off to fully recover.  She’s relaxing before starting to do some short distance training and speed focus.

Her next race is the Newport 10K in Jersey City on May 6^th.  She’ll also do the Ridgewood 10K on May 29^th.   In September she will start training for the California International Marathon with hopes to qualify with a Standard A time for the Olympic Trials.

TWO GOOD RACES NEXT WEEKEND
The Woods and Lakes 5K and 10K in Mountain Lakes and the Clinton Country Run 15K are both taking place this coming Saturday, April 29th.   Woods’ is a local favorite while the Clinton race draws teams. 

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.

Out of shirts? Cut the fee.

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, April 16, 2017

OUT OF SHIRTS?  CUT THE FEE.

           

“Souvenir T-shirts to the first 500 runners,” the race website states.  How about, “T-shirts to pre-registered runners only”  or “Souvenir shirts while they last”.

What those headlines don’t say is what happens after the first 500 runners show up, or a runner registers on race day, or the shirts just plain ran out.  All of those things happen, and they happen often.

It’s not easy to figure out how many shirts to order four months before race day, and what sizes to order.   Will we come up short or have too many shirts?  Better to be short than be stuck with too many shirts. 

So try to plan on just enough or not quite enough.  From the race director’s point of view this is a fine strategic plan.

From the runner’s point of view, well, it stinks.  You show up on race day with your post entry fee gripped in your hot little hand.  You hand the nice volunteer your entry application and your check or cash.

“Thank you very much,” says the person on the other side of the table.  “We’re out of shirts. Sorry.   Have a nice race.”

Wait just a minute.  You paid extra, probably another ten bucks for your race day entry and now you walk away with a bib number but no souvenir T-shirt.

How does that make sense?

It wasn’t always this way.  Back when I first became involved in the other side of racing, the management side, our policy was to cut the fee as soon as the t-shirt people told us we were out of shirts.  Other races did the same.

In fact I lead a small rebellion directed toward races that did not cut the race day fee when they ran out of shirts.

But over time this practice has stopped and now no one, neither the race organizers, nor the runners being fleeced have seen the irony of this system.

Is it time to foment a new rebellion?

LAST WEEKEND RACES              

Although it was not a USATF championship this past Sunday, the Cherry Blossom 10K in Newark’s Branch Brook Park had a good turnout. 

Women outnumbered the men with 625 women finishing the race to 469 men.  Stephen Mennitt of North Brunswick won the race in 33:04.  Alexandra Niles, of Montclair won the women’s race in 37:12.   An outstanding performance was turned in again by Nora Cary, 62, of Morristown who finished the race in 43:43 for the top age grade of 91.39 PLP %.

By far the biggest race of last weekend was the Unite Half Marathon held at the Rutgers Campus in New Brunswick and Piscataway.  Michael Dixon of Fanwood won the race in 1:14:16 and Kristen Prendergast of Annandale was the first woman in 1:23:13.  Men outnumbered the women in the half marathon 1,413 to 1,142.

On the other hand, the women had it all over the men in the 8K that was run along with the half marathon.  Women 596 – Men 337.   Only a scattering of Morris area runners turned out for the races, but Jason Schweizer of Rockaway finished the 8K in 30:48 for fifth overall.

My apologies to Justin Scheid of Succasunna.  Last week’s column noted that he finished second in the Indian Trails 20K.  I threw an “e” onto the end of his name, thus changing Scheid’s gender in one stroke of the hand.   I am very sorry for the blunder.

BOSTON MARATHON TOMORROW

Many area runners are in Boston to run on Monday in the oldest marathon on record.  The Boston Marathon was first held in 1897 and was actually shorter than today’s standardized 26.2 miles.  Many things have changed over the years but one thing that has not changed is that one must run a qualifying time in order to register in the race. All good wishes go out to the runners.

National coverage of the race will be on NBC Sports Network beginning at 8:30 a.m.  The elite women will start at 9:32 a.m. and the elite men and the first wave of faster runners will start at 10:00 a.m.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.

Indian Trails had its challenges

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, April 9, 2017

INDIAN TRAILS HAD ITS CHALLENGES

It’s called Indian Trails, but you were assured it was not a trail race.  Dirt roads and macadam, yes, no trails.  Runners in the Indian Trails 20K or 10K could be excused for asserting that it was a trail race after all.  After a week of rain the dirt roads on the course that wound through the Navesink hills of Leonardo sported rain filled pot holes that had to be dodged.  Especially annoying was the turnaround point for the 20K with a monster puddle that defied careful navigation.

Otherwise the race was well organized and well marked.  Unsuspecting runners who had been warned that it was a challenging course now understand the meaning of challenging.  All though, were rewarded for their efforts when they reached 11 and a half miles.  The course enters the Beacon Hill Country Club golf course and they are at the top of Beacon Hill with the view of the NYC skyline.

 Runners either flew down the hill or put on the brakes.  The first to reach the finish line was Joshua Izewski of Doylestown PA.  Izewski finished in 1:08:06.  In second was Justine Scheid of Succasunna in 1:09:53.

Hannah Eckstein of Middletown was the first woman to finish.  Her time was 1:19:29.  Eckstein led in her Garden State Track Club team to first place.  The Shore Athletic Club women, running on their home turf were second. 

Scheid’s Shore team took third place, while the Garden State club took first and second place.  The Morris based Garmin team placed fourth led in by Karl O’Reilly of Morristown who finished in 1:12:40.

Garmin’s M40 team won their division with Brian Crowley of Hillsborough the top runner in that division.  Crowley finished in 1:13:49.

The Garmin women’s team placed second in the W40 division and took the top spot in the W50 division.  Mary Christian of Flanders, on the W50 team scored third in the women’s age grading with her time of 1:31:32.  Susan Stirrat of Rockaway won the W60 division in 1:49:42 helping her Shore Athletic Club win the W60 division.

Reno Stirrat running on the winning Shore AC M60 team was age graded at third with his time of 1:25:19 and Bruce Langenkamp of Wharton won the M65 division in 1:38:09.  Fifty eight complete teams scored in the race, the first in the year long team grand prix.

In the 10K it was a sweep of sorts for the Slaughter family of Parsippany with daughter Stacy finishing first female in 44:35 with father Charlie winning the M60 division in 44:36.

LOCAL RUNNERS CAME OUT FOR THE STEIDL MEMORIAL5K DESPITE THE WINTER LIKE COLD

Despite the cold and biting winds yesterday, 295 undaunted runners turned out and ran in the Ryan Steidl Memorial 5K in Denville.  Matthew Byrne of Berkeley Heights was the first to finish in a time of 17:22.  Tim Murphy of Morristown was second in 17:30 and Robert Skorupski of Rockaway was third and the first masters runner to finish.  His time was 18:22

Fifteen year old Mackenzie Furlong of Denville showed her heels to the other women in the race and finished first in 19:18.   Gina Baker of Rockaway was second in 20:57.

Other notable performances tracked by the age grading system show Reno Stirrat, 62 of Rockaway with the highest PLP  (performance level percentage) at 84.34%  for his division winning time of 19:14.  Terry Lusard, 53, of Madison hit 82.12% with his 18:22.  Susan Stirrat, 61, joined her husband Reno as the top age graded masters woman at 75.97% for her 27:45 finish.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.

Don't be a pedestrian statistic

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, April 2, 2017

 

DON’T BE A PEDESTRIAN STATISTIC

Friday’s Daily Record carried two front page stories, one by Mike Davis reporting that pedestrian fatalities were up nationwide 11 percent over 2015.  Michael Rizzo’s story was focused on what the town of Dover is doing to combat fatalities with a program named Street Smart.   Both stories contained statistics but the statistics do not give a cause of the incident. 

We don’t read, “crossing in the middle of the street,” or “distracted while texting” or any others.  A few years ago I contacted New Jersey motor vehicles to inquire as to how many pedestrian fatalities were as a result of wrong side walking or running.  I was surprised that the reports do not have that as a statistic, or crossing the street or being distracted.  Just the cold statistic that a pedestrian was struck and killed.

The irony of the publication on Friday is that my feature this week is the Ryan Seidl 5K that will take place this coming Saturday in Denville.  Seidl, whose sport was baseball, had decided to run in the MK5K in 2011.   Innocent, or perhaps ignorant, of runner safety on the roads, Seidl was struck from behind while running on the right side – wrong side- of the road.  The driver of the car that hit Seidl was blinded by the late afternoon sun and never saw him.  With his back to the traffic on the narrow road, he never saw the car that killed him.

Each year I remind runners to run only on the left side of the road which is the correct side.  Face traffic and dodge and jump out of the way of any cars coming straight at you.

After the death of Seidl, the MK5K was renamed in his memory.  A young and promising life cut short remembered with the race he never ran.

All activities take place in the parking lot of St. Clares’s Hospital on Pocono Road in Denville.  The out and back course is considered fast with only one short climb that does come toward the end of the race.  That climb is a sweet downhill at the start of the race and should be used to rev the engine.  The race has an early 8:30 a.m. start and features raffle prizes from area merchants. 

SURVEY GOING OUT TO RUNNERS WHO DID THE THREE 700 POINT RACES

A survey is being mailed out to all USATF NJ  runners with the hope that those who ran in the three 700 point long distance races held last weekend will give their assessment of the race they ran.    USATF wants feedback on the races, two of which were new this year. 

As was reported last week the Baker’s Dozen Half Marathon in Montclair had 1,210 finishers.  On Sunday, 536 runners finished the Garden State Ten miler and down in south Jersey in Sea Isle City 171 runners finished the Ocean Drive Ten Miler.  Matt Mitchell of Norristown PA won in 1:01:26 and Karen Auteri of Belvidere was third overall in 1:04:28.

 Joshua Izewski of Doylestown PA won the Garden State ten mile race in 48:41, and on the women’s side Leonora Petrina of Bayport NY was first in 58:05, with Roberta Groner of Randolph second in 59:16.

Did the races live up to their billing?   Well, no one said the Baker’s Dozen was going to be anything but hilly.   Facebook postings by some of the runners agreed with that, with laments that they couldn’t wait to reach the finish line.   The Ocean Drive ten mile race was an out and back so that the wind would be at the runners back only half the time.  A Facebook posting confirmed that configuration.   On the other hand the Garden State race with claims of a flat course turned up with some challenging hills.   All these observations should turn up with the survey results.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at  www.bestrace.com 

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.

Indian Trails kicks off the real championship series next week

Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey

On Sunday, March 26, 2017

INDIAN TRAILS KICKS OFF THE REAL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES NEXT WEEK

Although three pseudo championships are taking place this weekend, two ten milers and one half marathon that you read about here last week, the first true championship is taking place this coming weekend, on Sunday April 2^nd in Middletown/Leonardo.

The Indian Trails race has been around for many years. But this time around the 15K has morphed into a 20K and the 5K into 10K. The newly measured and certified course maps show that the 10K follows the opening miles of the 20K and returns to the finish on the same roads as the 20K. The 20K runners will do an out and back that begins at about 3 and ¾ miles into the race. Both races start together at 9:00 a.m. with the 10K runners heading back at the 3.75 mile point.

Although the name, Indian Trails, seems to imply an off road trail race, that is not the case. One section is on a dirt road, but that will be the least of the runners’ worries. The race is run in the Navesink hills, as in HILLS. It features long, long climbs with exhilarating downhills if a runner is willing to let gravity take over.

This is the first of the true championships and team contests are on the line. As happens every year there has been a shuffle of athletes on the teams this winter. Most runners remain on their current teams during the season and wait for the off season to switch allegiance. The changes this year seem to be minor. Still losing one good scoring member of a club who then joins a rival club can have an impact – for both teams.

BAKER’S DOZEN HALF MARATHON

Two races of the 700 point trio are being held this morning, but one, the Baker’s Dozen Half Marathon in Montclair was run early Saturday morning. Rob Albano of Mahwah won the race in 1:11:50 while Alexandra Niles of Montclair won the women’s race in 1:20:28.

Morris area runners were well represented in the top ten men. Karl O’Reilly of Morristown, who won the Pre-Game Four Miler on February 5^th, was second in 1:14:53. Terry Davidson, 45, of Randolph was the first masters runner to finish. His time of 1:16:31 put him in fourth place overall. 

Stuart Haynes, 41, of Chatham finished in 1:19:56 and Gary Rosenberg, 46, of Morristown was eighth in 1:21:18. Finishers numbered 1,210. A remarkable number for a 7:00 a.m. race.

MASTERS 8K IN VIRGINIA BEACH DREW NEW JERSEY RUNNERS

New Jersey individual runners and teams made their way to Virginia Beach last weekend for the March 18, Shamrock 8K, the national masters championship. Weather predictions were not good, with rain forecast for most of the weekend. But the 8K runners dodged the bullet and while the sky was overcast the rain held off until after most runners had finished.

The post race festivities were dampened by the rain however, but a surprising number of parents and kids ran their mile heats in the rain. The half marathon and marathon on Sunday started and ended with a cold rain. It brought back memories of the Lost Dutchman’s Mine Marathon in February in Arizona in cold rain.

The turnout was light for the masters race but some of the teams came home with medals. The Shore Athletic Club W40 team with Susan Stirrat of Rockaway on the team placed first in their division. 

 The Shore M60 team and M70 team both placed third in their division. Susan’s husband Reno, who is coming back after a short lay-off, ran for the Shore M60 team. Roger Price of Randolph, who is still recovering from Lyme disease and Anaplasmosis, another tick borne disease also ran in the M65 division.

The Clifton Road Runners M70 team placed fourth in their division. Next up for the masters runners is a 10K in Dedham, Massachusetts on April 30^th.

GRONER TOOK TWO MINUTES OFF HER HALF MARATHON TIME

Roberta Groner of Randolph, who was featured here two weeks ago took two minutes off her half marathon time at the United Airlines half marathon in NYC on March 19th. Groner finished in 1:14:26, actually two minutes and ten seconds off her Newport Liberty race last September.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at www.bestrace.com

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.

Season opens with three distance races

Published in the DAILY RECORD of Morris County NJ

on  Sunday, March 19, 2017

SEASON OPENS WITH THREE DISTANCE RACES

Distance runners have three options next weekend. They can run ten miles or half marathon at one of the three 700 point grand prix pseudo championship races. The three races only look like a championship because of the high point value but lack the team competition. It is something new for the USATF NJ Long Distance Running committee and when they received championship bids from those three, they decided to feature a season opener with those races.

It will give runners who want to compete in the Mini Three grand prix an early opportunity to grab one of the three 700 points races allowed in the longest distance mini series. This change from two to three 700 point races with a maximum of five races was approved at the February 2017 Long Distance Running committee meeting.

Two of the races are first timers; the Garden State Ten Miler on Sunday, and the Baker’s Dozen Half Marathon on Saturday. The third is the Ocean Drive Ten Miler on Sunday that is run along with a full marathon and a 5K in Sea Isle City.

The courses for the Sea Isle marathon and ten mile race have been changed after concerns from the runners that the previous point to point courses meant running into a head wind the entire length of their race. They will now be run on out and back courses with the wind at their back about half of the time. The start and finish are not at the same location. A shuttle will take runners to the start.

Another change for the Ocean Drive race is to break their ten year age divisions into five year divisions up to 70 and older. While that is a happy change, the $90.00 race entry fee may hold a runner back. Wait until the Saturday Expo and it will go up another ten.

The Baker’s Dozen 13.1 on Saturday March 25, in Montclair had an entry fee of $95.00. But it is a moot point as the online registration is closed after hitting a cap of 1,300. The race sold out in just four days. Obviously the cost to register was not a deterrent.

Runners should be prepared for a challenging course with a number of turns. Due to road closure considerations the Montclair police department asked the organizers to start the race an hour earlier than was originally planned. It will now start at 7:00 a.m.

The Garden State Ten Miler that starts and finishes in Colonial Park in Somerset might be the fastest ten mile course in the state. The Garden State race has a lot going for it. The entry fee is a mere $50.00 even while offering prize money to the top three open finishers and the top three age graded masters. Like the Ocean Drive event, there is more than one race going on. A 5K will go off at 8:45 a.m. and the ten mile race will start at 9:30 a.m. This schedule allows for the Half Marathon Challenge that entices a runner to do both the 5K and the ten mile for a total of 13.1 miles. The ten mile race also will feature a relay where one runner hands off after four miles and the second runner completes the course.

Artesian bread, pastries and donuts will await the finishers of the Baker’s Dozen Half. Could that be why so many have signed up?

On the other hand, after the Garden State Ten Miler runners are invited to head down to Somerset’s Stagehouse Tavern with a huge menu and an even bigger bar, and two dollar drinks thanks to Molson Coors.

I doubt that runners are picking a race from the post race offerings, but it is a fun contradiction. Satisfy a sweet tooth or quench a beer thirst.

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Race Results can often be found at www.compuscore.com or at www.bestrace.com

A calendar of USATF sanctioned events can be found at www.usatfnj.org or at www.raceforum.com for running and tri and biathlon events.

Contact Madeline Bost at madelinebost@verizon.net.

Madeline Bost
973-584-9302
madelinebost@verizon.net