LDR MEETING GOT DOWN TO BUSINESS, MADE ONE CHANGE OUT OF THREE PROPOSED

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, February 26, 2012
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

The USATF New Jersey Long Distance Running committee February meeting always draws the largest crowd of the three meetings held each year. Thursday night’s meeting had over fifty attendees, mostly members of running clubs who wanted to have a say in the proposed rule changes.

Of the three changes, only one made it through. Another was given some consideration and some support. The third was dead on arrival.

That was the proposal to allow only one club team per division, with an unlimited number of members while scoring only the traditional five, or three as the divisions dictate. It seemed that no one liked the idea and once the discussion ended the vote was a resounding no vote.

With that proposal eliminated the way was opened for the other two proposals to be reviewed. Finding widespread support was the proposed rule submitted by John Sabatino of Morris Plains who is team captain for the Sneaker Factory club. Sabatino sought to have all of a club’s members included in team races. That was achieved by doubling the number of team members by the number of those who actually score.

Now, if a division scores five members, the team is allowed to declare ten. If a division scores three the teams may declare six. Open women’s teams will declare eight and score four. Once the maximum number is reached the squad can be broken into an A and a B team. The vote was nearly unanimous in favor.

The third proposal would have established how teams would be scored when a club’s B team managed to finish ahead of its A team. The proposed procedure would make the first team that finished the A team regardless how it was declared prior to the race. Many of the team captains in the room said that they liked strategizing on who they put on their A, B, or even C teams. One captain said it would be “shame on me” if one of his B teams beat his A team. That viewpoint held and the proposal was rejected.

In an association in California a successful grand prix includes a one mile road race. The Garden State Track Club would like to host a mile road championship in June that would be in the New Balance Grand Prix, mimicking the California series. Currently the grand prix restricts the minimum length of the Category One races to 3K up to but not including four miles. A mile race would obviously not meet that criteria.

While many of the runners in the room were in support of a serious mile road race or even several , the group was not receptive to adding the club’s race in 2012. It could be considered for 2013 if the club brings a comprehensive proposal to the committee meeting in September. However a look at the California series reveals that it is profoundly different from the one in New Jersey. The difference calls into question whether a mile race would fit in to the established New Jersey series. The club members were encouraged to hold the mile race and it was suggested that they work to create a road mile series in the summer months that could be a stand alone grand prix series.

Several New Jersey runners traveled to national championships in 2011 and division chair Ed Neighbour reminded the meeting attendees that travel stipends are available for those runners who meet the criteria that is posted on the association website. A club team can qualify for a travel stipend as well.

Neighbour announced that the association will be issuing e-newsletters through the internet service Constant Contact in lieu of paper newsletters sent via USPS snail mail. One part of the travel stipend criteria is a submission of a report by the runner or team on the experience at the national championship that could be published in the e-newsletter.

In a sure sign that the team competition is growing was the hand-out from David Siconolfi of New Providence whose scoring company CompuScore times and scores the grand prix and many of the championship races where teams compete. Siconolfi had to completely redesign the number system for the clubs and teams as the one that had been in use did not allow for the increased number of teams.

The first USATF New Jersey championship is the Miles for Music 20K on Sunday, March 11 in Johnson Park, Piscataway.

LONG DISTANCE RUNNING COMMITTEE MEETING THIS THURSDAY

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, February 19, 2012
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

Sparta’s Ed Neighbour, the USATF New Jersey’s Long Distance Running committee chair has a full agenda for the annual rules meeting this Thursday, February 23rd . Proposed changes or new rules governing the conduct of the championships and the various grand prix are submitted in September to be decided at the February meeting. This method is used to give the committee and the general membership time to research the feasibility or desirability of a rule.

“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,” could be the motto of the committee. As a doctor is advised to “first do no harm”, so too is the admonition to the committee.

This year’s proposals may not be quite as volatile as in some years, but will still cause some discussion. My prediction is that two will be approved and one will be voted down.

One proposal is more a clarification as to how the teams are scored when a clubs B team actually scores higher than the A team.

How’s that again? Here’s how. The team designated before the race as the A team has a member drop out and not finish. Their back up runner finishes the race but is well back, or there is no back-up runner. Meanwhile all of the B team’s runners finish and that team has a better score than the A team. That would not be a problem in most circumstances, but in New Jersey we have a grand prix where the A team needs to be the primary team.

For that reason a proposed new rule is to clarify that in any division, the first team for a club that finishes is the A team and the next team is the B team and so on. This same issue has come before the national committee that instituted a very similar masters team grand prix in 2011. They had just such an event in which an A team did not finish but the club’s B team did.

A team captain proposed a rule that if passed will make life a lot easier for team captains. Presently in the divisions that score five members, the team is allowed to declare eight members on the team. For the divisions that score three, five are allowed on the team. Open women declare seven and score four.

But what happens if a captain has nine runners, or ten available? What do you do with the extra runners? Well, you leave them off the team, and that makes no one happy. The new rule will allow for up to ten to be declared. In that way the team will be full and no one is left out. After that, if there are eleven or more runners, the captain can split the squad into two teams.

The same would be true for teams that score three. They would be allowed to have six on the team. Open women’s teams would declare eight and score four.

The proposed rule that is sure to be defeated was proposed in order to solve the dilemmas outlined in the previous discussion. In this scenario it is proposed that each club may declare only one team and that it contain an unlimited number of members with the current number for each age division scoring.

If this change were made the participation of the clubs would surely go down. I refer back to “First, do no harm”. The man or woman who is usually on a B team will almost never be a scoring member under the multiple member plan. They would soon lose interest in running for their clubs and look elsewhere for competition. Under the current rules some B teams do place in the team scoring and their points are added into the overall club scoring.

Other items on the agenda are a review of the fall 2011 championship races. Also a review of the 2012 championship line-up, important this year because of the races that were selected as championships for the first time. The full agenda is available on the USATFNJ website as are directions to the meeting location at the Alcatel-Lucent headquarters in Murray Hill. The meeting will start at 7:00 p.m.

DeROBERTS BROUGHT TOGETHER BY RUNNING AND A ROMANCE BLOOMED

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, February 12, 2012
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

She was a newbie runner. He was an old hand at the sport. In fact, he was the team captain of the Roche Running Club. So it was not unexpected that she was introduced to him by a mutual friend.

She was somewhat in awe of him. He was just annoyed. No, not at the pretty woman in front of him. He was in the middle of a speed workout and as any runner can attest, he didn’t want any interruptions.

Susan had been running only three or four weeks when she was introduced to Will DeRoberts of Boonton at the Roche health center.

“This is Will and he’s been running a long time and if you ever have any questions he’s the one you should ask,” she was told.

A week after that introduction they met again as volunteers at a Roche health fair.

“I spent an hour and a half with him and I asked him a million questions about running,” said Susan.

A little over a year later, in November 2007, they were married. True to the theme of their life they ran in a 5K race in Mountain Lakes the day before the wedding. Will ran on the day of the nuptials also.

“Susan insisted that I go out and run four miles,” said Will. “I ran up and down the Boulevard.”

Will was in training for a marathon when they met, but Susan wasn’t into marathons yet. In fact, she said she hated them at first.

“I didn’t like it, but you know how it is, a couple of days later you say maybe I can do better at it, train a little harder,” she said. “So first it was a life list thing and I crossed it off my list, and then it turned into a lifestyle.”

Lifestyle indeed. Susan has now run in 34 marathons, 18 of them just last year. She plans to do 20 in 2012.

“I’m not very fast so I had to find my own thing,” explained Susan. “So I can run a lot and that’s what really got me into it.”
The impetus of the marathon madness is an organization called Marathon Maniacs. In order to belong to the group you must qualify as a maniac. The minimum requirement is to run three marathons in ninety days. Susan and Will first met members of the group at the North Olympics Discovery marathon that takes place on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. At each marathon members get together.

“At every marathon it is kind of like a reunion,” said Susan. “They have a race calendar on their website and they show who is going to be there. They have a dinner the night before and things after it.”

While Susan has gotten deep into marathoning Will passes on most of them. He competes in the USATF grand prix and won his M55 age division in 2011. Just this past week he ran in the Super Hero four mile race in Morristown where his 26:05 age graded at 76.93 % for sixth in that category.

Will is supportive of Susan and her marathoning. She said that she knows that not all of the locations are vacation spots but he’s been a good sport about supporting her. Although she would be happy if Will only meets her at the finish line he always finds her at various spots along the course as well as at the finish.

On a recent weekend Susan ran a marathon in Jackson Mississippi on Saturday and another marathon the next day in Mobile Alabama. Susan says that she is not fast, but she is certainly consistent. At the marathon in Jackson her finishing time was 4:11:25. The next day, her time was barely five minutes slower at 4:16:53. Her best time has been 3:50:53 that she ran at the Soldier Marathon in Columbus Georgia, wearing the name of a soldier who lost his life in Afghanistan.

One thing is for sure, Susan DeRoberts has far surpassed her first running goal. When Will is doing a slower paced recovery run and Susan is looking for more speed they can run together.

“I just wanted to be able to run with him,” she said. “That was my goal when we started dating.”

Now six years later Susan and Will DeRoberts will be celebrating Valentine’s Day with a trip to Myrtle Beach for Susan’s 35th marathon. They are surely a running couple that keeps their love and the love of running alive.

SUPER HERO GETS KICKED BACK ONE HOUR

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, February 5, 2012
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

Sorry about that headline. I couldn’t resist using a football game term to let readers know that the Super Hero Four mile race being held today has, well, kicked back the start time to 12:30 p.m. today. Originally scheduled for 11:30 a.m., a conflict with another Morristown event dictated that a later starting time would work better.

“We’re close to a thousand,” said race director Heather Gardiner of the number of runners who have pre-registered as of Friday.

Asked if the runners were beer drinkers, or runners, Gardiner replied with a smile, “A little of both.”

Runners will be invited to check out the Super Hero, Super Bowl specials at Tashmoo and Sona 13, as well as other bars in the area of the race activity on DeHart Street once they’ve finished the race.

In keeping with the party atmosphere, winners in the ten year age divisions will win pint glasses to carry their after-race beer in. Some lucky folks could win gift certificates for an Italian dinner at Pazzo Pazzo or steak at Arthur’s Steakhouse.

With the weather being an un-Februarish balmy 40 degrees at noon, there may be several contenders in another division according to Gardiner.

“We’re having a polar bear prize too. That’s another kind of fun thing that we’re doing,” she said. “Whoever is wearing the least will win a prize for that too.”

Nudity is not advised, however.

NEW JERSEY MASTERS RANKED BY RUNNING TIMES

New Jersey masters runners were recognized with Honorable Mentions in the annual masters rankings in Running Times magazine. Roger Price, M60 of Randolph and Jim Leitz, M70, of Jersey City on the men’s side and Imme Dyson, W70 of Princeton on the women’s.

Here in New Jersey, Price, who runs for the Raritan Valley Road Runners, had his best 5K in 2011 at the President’s Cup Night Race 5K in June in Millburn where he finished in 18:29 to score at 88.32%PLP. He placed third in three national championships; the 8K in 31:12, the 15K in 1:01:36 at 15K and 20:27 at the cross country 5K.

Leitz, who runs for the Clifton Road Runners, placed fourth in the 5K national championship in 23:11 and second at the 15K in 1:12:38. Leitz routinely finished in under 24 minutes at 5K.

Dyson, who will be 75 in 2012, does well at both long and short distances. She scored an 87.63% PLP at the Great Swamp Devil 15K in Basking Ridge with her time of 1:26.23. Her 5K times range from 27 and a half to under 29 minutes.

RENEW, RENEW


If you haven’t already done so, it is time to renew membership in USATF. In addition to getting a discount in grand prix races when you pre-enter, there are several other perks for members. One that often gets overlooked is a fifteen percent discount at national chain hotels.

Of course for road racers, being able to participate in the various USATF New Jersey grand prix could be reward enough. Membership is required to run for a club team. For more information go to usatfnj.org to see how to sign up. Adult membership is only thirty dollars per year.

SUPER BOWL FANS NEED TO GET IN THEIR RUN IN MORRISTOWN

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, January 29, 2012
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

Next Sunday morning, February 5th, runners will want to get in their workout early so they don’t miss the Super Bowl coverage. As I mentioned a few weeks back there will be a great way to get in that run in Morristown at the first ever Super Sunday 4 Mile race.

As of a posting on January 19th, over 650 runners had signed up. The original order for 500 long sleeved technical shirts has been upped to 800. Runners should get their application in or risk being the 801st runner and no shirt.

This looks to be a really big event and all planned around a run and a party afterward at Morristown’s adult beverage establishments. If you haven’t signed up yet you have missed the early bird registration price but you can still sign up on-line at superheroracing.com or register at the Running Company store on South Street in Morristown. Race day registration will begin at 10:00 a.m. on DeHart Street with the race starting at 11:30 a.m.


MILERS RAN AT HARTSHORNE MILE IN ITHACA

A couple of weeks ago I suggested runners run at indoor track events and last Saturday a contingent of New Jersey milers headed up to Cornell University in Ithaca New York to compete in the illustrious masters Hartshorne Mile races. Considered to be the best and most competitive mile race it draws top masters milers from around the country.

While none of the New Jersey runners finished in the top three, all had outstanding races. It’s hard to share the same age division as Nolan Shaheed of California who continues to break records nearly every time he competes. Shaheed dropped the M60 record down to 4:50.96. Tony Plaster of Neptune placed fourth in that division with a 5:24.87 and Harry Nolan of Navesink, just weeks away from aging up into the M65 division was fifth in 5:37.59.

William Zink of Wyckoff was fourth in his M50 division with his 4:49.05 and Dave Hoch, M55, of Bradley Beach posted a time of 5:50.01. Jen Found, 41, of Hopewell had a time of 5:24.56

New Jersey’s open and masters meet is Sunday, February 19th at the Bennett Center in Toms River.


NOT SO MUCH SNOWSHOEING THIS WINTER 

Well you may not have been able to get your snow shoes on quick enough this weekend to enjoy the snow before the big melt on Monday, but spotted on Sussex Turnpike in her snowshoes on Saturday, heading for the Patriots Path was champion snowshoer Janice Morra of Morristown.


WHAT WAS THAT AGE AGAIN?

Correction to my column of last week [as was published in The Daily Record -ed.]: Due to a transposition error, the age of Kathleen Castles daughter Stephanie Castles-Fonseca was changed from 21 to 12. Alert readers knew that did not make sense since the point of the vignette was that it was unusual that an Olympic marathon qualifier could have an adult age child. Having one who was twelve would not be so surprising.

Dr. Castles was gracious in responding to my emailed apology. She gave a very moving acceptance speech at the USATF New Jersey Awards Banquet January 21 on receiving the George Sheehan award for outstanding achievement in national competition. The award was presented superbly by Jane Parks of Morristown, who is a member of the Long Distance Running committee.


AWARDS BANQUET ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL EVENT 

Executive Director Pam Fales of Boonton is to be commended for organizing and directing this huge event that has grown over the years from an attendance of less than 200 to nearly five hundred at this year’s event. In addition to the Long Distance Running awards, an entire second room was devoted to track and field athletes and to the young athletes in the Junior Olympics program.

KATHLEEN CASTLES RAN A PERSONAL BEST IN US OLYMPIC MARATHON LAST SATURDAY

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, January 22, 2012
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

It was cold last Saturday in Houston. The athletes waiting in the holding pen for the US Olympic Trials marathon were told it was 42 degrees. It felt more like 32, and indeed they learned later, it was 32 at the start. Adding to the cold was the wind. There wasn’t supposed to be any wind, but the city streets created a wind tunnel affect. One thing they found to be true – the course, three loops plus a 2.5 mile beginning loop was not really in good shape. In fact it was in really bad shape.

When the women runners started, Kathleen Castles, 40, of New Providence felt the cold and the wind. By mile two, both hamstrings were locking up. Castles was thinking that she would never be able to run another 24 miles with her hamstrings in such a state. Castles had worked hard to get to the starting line and she wasn’t about to give up after two miles.

“Listen Kath, you’re in shape to break 2:40 right now,” she said to herself. “Do you want to do this again or do it right now?”

It was only her fourth marathon. She had run the 2008 trials after qualifying in her first marathon, and in February 2011 she won outright the BI-LO Myrtle Beach Marathon in 2:40:10. She made national news with that win, and now she was in the 2012 Olympic Trials marathon.

No, she wasn’t going to let tight hamstrings stop her. But the course could have. At the technical meeting the night before the runners were warned about the course. In addition to uneven pavement, including a section that was ribbed for a repaving job, sections were riddled with potholes.

When a fellow runner stepped into a hole and fell she sent Castles into another hole. That mishap left her with an injured calf in addition to the cramping hamstrings.

The hamstrings never did loosen up. Stopping to stretch them was out of the question. When she crossed the finish line in 2:39:19 in 38th place out of 152 finishers, she pumped her fists in joy.

But the moment Castles stopped her legs locked up. She was wheeled off to medical in a wheelchair to be rehydrated.

Because she has not mastered the art of drinking on the run, Castles doesn’t take in fluids. She fears a bad reaction will ruin her run.

Once she felt better Castles chatted with the Hanson- Books Distance Project team coaches. Desiree Davila, the woman who came in second in Houston and also in Boston last April, is a Hanson runner. Davila had the same problem the coaches told Castles, and after training to drink while racing she improved.

“They told me I should really work on that,” said Castles.

As they learned more about Castles they offered more advice. Castles does much of her training on a treadmill and when she does run outdoors she is usually alone. She runs at six minute pace for most of her training runs. She is self coached, almost unheard of at the level she is running.

“There are so many things you can do to improve your time,” said one. “A minute for the treadmill, a minute you don’t train with anyone, a minute for no coach, a minute for no fluids. That gives you four minutes.”

He went on the tell Castles he could guarantee that he could lower her times by five minutes, if she were coached. They suggested that she should turn pro and run the masters circuit.

Castles had a full blown case of pre-race jitters in Houston. In the holding pen, filled with runners and coaches, with Meb Keflezighi on her left and Deena Kastor on her right, Castles was ready to head back to the hotel, sure she was in over her head.

“I don’t belong here,” she said to her daughter Stephanie Castles-Fonseca, who had signed in as her coach.

“Mom, if you don’t belong here than 150 of these girls don’t belong here, because you were seeded forty ninth,” her daughter said.

“No, it was a fluke. I just got here on a fluke,” Castle responded.

Her daughter retorted, “Mom, you can run a fluke half mile - you can have fresh legs and run a fast [mile] pace, but you can’t run a 2:40 fluke marathon.”

Castles credits Stephanie with calming her nerves. “Mom I am going to hold your hand and we’re going to go out there and I’m going to stay with you until they tell me to leave you.”

Stephanie and her mother became a side story to the marathon. Not many Olympic trials marathoners have a twenty-one year old daughter. A Newspaper reporter asked Stephanie to write about how she felt. She responded with this tribute to her mother.

“There are no words to describe what my mom accomplished in the Olympic trials this past weekend, or in her life for that matter. Everything she has done has made that weekend even more inspiring. The fact that she had me when she was only 18 years old and continued on with her education, reaching the pinnacle degree in her field and becoming a doctor. The fact the she never gave up on her dreams and trained so incredibly hard for the trials while balancing a life as a doctor, a high school track coach, a coach for the VA running team (which she created), and a college professor. When I saw her cross that finish line in the exact time she wanted so badly I couldn’t stop crying because I knew how much it meant to her and I knew how much she put into it physically and emotionally. I could not have been more proud to be the first one there waiting for her at the finish line.”

######

One final note: At the USATF New Jersey Awards Banquet on Saturday January 21, Castles was the recipient of the George Sheehan Award for outstanding achievement in national or international competition.

WINTER TIME AND THE RUNNING IS DIFFERENT

Written by Madeline Bost

Originally Published by the DAILY RECORD of Morris County, New Jersey
On Sunday, January 15, 2012
Copyright, Madeline Bost, 2012

Just like the summer time is a time to take a break and look for a change of pace, winter offers the same option.   But while a run on a sandy beach might be inviting in the summer, a run across a snowy field is a better option in the winter.

Although we have been either blessed or cursed with a lack of snow, depending on your outlook on winter, we should be able to count on a few days, if not weeks of snow coming up.  Last year a number of New Jersey runners had their first taste of snow shoe racing and this year, once the snow comes, they will have more opportunities.

Mountain Creek in New Vernon in Sussex County is hosting a Tubbs Romp to Stomp snow shoe event on Saturday January 21^st.  It is being held to raise funds for the Susan B Komen Foundation that is associated with breast cancer.  The stomp in the title is to stomp out cancer.  For the uninitiated, Tubbs is a major producer of snow shoes.  The company will have a supply available for rental but you are advised to come early to secure a pair.

The event is on Saturday, January 21^st.   A 3 kilometer snow shoe race will start at 10:00 a.m.  It will be followed at 10:30 by a 3 kilometer and 5 kilometer snow shoe walk.  The participants will be treated to all the bells and whistles of a major event, including a ride up the slopes on a ski lift. 

Without any bells and whistles, not even a race shirt is the low key, low cost, local snow shoe race on Sunday, January 28^th at the Mount Tabor Country Club in Mount Tabor.  Weather and all else will determine if another five races will be offered. 

For those who are without snow shoes, a limited number of Dion Snow Shoes will be available for small rental fee.  It’s a onetime rental though, as the website, njtrailseries.com, puts it succinctly and to the point, “The reason for the rentals is to introduce the sport, not to keep you from purchasing snow shoes.”

The 5K will go off at 9:00 a.m.  A 3K may be offered for those who find the 5K too daunting. 

For those who think snow should stay up in Canada somewhere, there is another alternative sport – indoor track.  Although it is seemingly out of place so early on the track and field calendar, the USATF East Region Masters Track and Field championship will be on Sunday, January 29, in Providence Rhode Island.  The longest distance indoors is usually 3,000 meters, or twelve laps on the 200 meter track, but this meet is also offering a 5,000 meter race, or 25 laps of the track.  Due to time constraints no doubt, there is a 25 minute time limit for the event, which will be the first on the schedule at 10:00 a.m.   Road runners may find this hard to believe but middle distance track racers will welcome this opportunity to run 5 kilometers on the indoor track.

The New Jersey track and field championship will be on Sunday, February 19^th,  at the Bennet Center in Toms River.  This is an open and masters championship.  One word about the terminology here.    In road racing a masters runner is age forty or older.  But in track and field, the masters divisions begin at 30 to 34, on up through all the ages.

What about road racing this winter?  Well, the Passaic County Running Club Winter Series is having a 5K today at Passaic County Technical Institute in Wayne at 11:00 a.m.  There will be another on the 29^th and on February 12^th.

Here in Morris County, on Sunday, February 5^th, a new race, the Super Sunday Four Miler, will take place on Dehart Street in Morristown at 11:30 a.m.  Information on it is hard to come by but the grapevine says that four hundred runners have already signed up.   There is an info page in the latest print copy of Race Forum and this four miler looks like a real party race.