Last
Updated
Thursday May 08, 2008
Check here for more
races...
Plans for Saturday are set so please check with
Jamie Shelton to help with a water stop.
Kermit Davis Mops up: AORTA's own
Kermit Davis was at the Valley Haven races this past Saturday and took
first place in both the 10.5K & 5K followed by Fred Trouse who took
second in both races and was the overall masters winner! In the
female masters division Laura Walker went home with the gold.
James Major, Andrew "Coop" Cooper, Jim Killian and the lovely Molly
Johnson all took home age group awards. In the 5K Heather Lloyd
brought home the gold which I think was her first win. Last but
not least is Callie Merrill who is a recent graduate of our Beginner's
Running Class finished her first race and according to Alvin is making
inquiries into the requirements for Boston. Our gang did a great
job but they always do.
If you missed the First Annual AORTA Spring Cookout you blew it!
Yes, it was raining a little but stopped right after 1:00 when the
festivities started and before the afternoon was over it was bright and
sunny. I'd say more but Laura Walker swore me to secrecy because
what happens at the cookouts, stays at the cookouts! We'll try and
do another this fall...
In my tiny mind the racing season is now officially over! It's a
long hard slog from January through April with a race nearly every other
weekend. I've always thought of May as the month to kick back and
coast some and let things heal up if you've been racing. Of course
we'll keep up our Saturday runs but don't expect much over about 10
miles until at least June.
Karen Khodadadi forwarded an email she got from our old pal Josh Stack.
As you all know by now he is a big wheel at a shipping company which
sends him all over the world. In the past couple of weeks he's
been in Tacoma, Washington and Vancouver. I am not sure of the
timing but I know he was recently in Hong Kong. Next he'll be in
Denmark for a couple of weeks before heading to Morocco. It's a
tough life...
I have a couple more things to tell you about that I'll get to this
week. I have a marathon report from Jim Doyle. I should have
final results of the Valley Haven races. I have a list of runner
rules that Penny Merritt-Price found that are funny yet good that I'll
post too. Oh, and I think we have Sergio and Tom who are trying to
sneak off to Maine at the end of the month for a marathon, I'll find out
more about that.
Official Notice: All
AORTA offices, including branch offices, will be closed Monday, May 5th
in honor of Dave Hennessey's birthday. This is a paid holiday for
all employees.
Nashville Girls: AORTA dispatched
3 of their finest, or at least pretty good, girls to Nashville this past
weekend for the half marathon. Tracey Buckingham clicked off a
1:51, Penny Merritt-Price finished in 1:56 with Karen Khodadadi close
behind at 1:58. Tracey was quoted as saying "if it hadn't been for
dinner at Maggiano's the night before I'm sure I could have broke
1:50"! They all did very well, congratulations...
I got a very rare email on Monday.
Not rare to get an email but rare to get such a nice email. This
is from Lisa Smith:
To AORTA: As a member of the beginner's class, I just want all
the "not-so-beginner" AORTA members know we have had a blast. Sure, we
have lost a few along the way - but Alvin's coaching paid off when I
beat my husband at the Mutt Strut Saturday and shaved 5 minutes off my
usual sorry, pathetic, 40:00 5K self. I could not have came in at 35:00
(although my Garmin had 34:54 - this was hardly a major race so who
cares). Me and my Yellow Lab both by the way did 35:00 - a PR for both
of us. I have stuck to the plan Alvin handed out the first night, and
have started incorporating weights 2 day a week to help some. My stamina
is what I am most proud of, and I am doing this only for myself. At age
40, I want to ward off chronic disease to the fullest extent through
activity and nutrition. As a nurse, I know what I need to do - Hey I
live in Valley, so you know I must have really wanted to improve at
running and get started the
right way. Every Wednesday has been a treat to drive to Kiesel
from Valley!
Tell everyone that Alvin has done a superb job of encouraging us girls
(there is only 1 or 2 guys in the group). We even went to
Buffalo Connection one night after running to eat a nutritious
meal and re-hydrate. Oh, well - you get the picture. This week is
graduation week, and then we are on our own. I plan to keep my running
shoes on for a while. See you in the street somewhere....
Late & incomplete as usual: Now that it's
Wednesday here is your Monday update and I have a lot of ground to
cover. First in line is a note from Jill
Harris our race director for the Trinity Races held just over a
week ago:
On behalf of Trinity Christian School and the Miracle Field, I can’t
thank you all enough – runners and volunteers for supporting our race
this year. It was our biggest year yet despite the cold rain that came
in during the 5 & 10K. We had more than 400 participants between all 3
events! I have had wonderful feedback about our race and everyone was
especially grateful for the wonderful AORTA volunteers who stuck it out
in the rain. Thank you to all of you – Alvin Walls, Doug Underwood,
Karen Khodadadi, Heather Lloyd , Heather Cummings, Mike & Gloria Walsh,
Randy & Beverly Long, Keven Yost, Beverly Smith, Andy Taylor, Kermit
Davis, Monica Kennis, Bob Keith , Scott & Laura Walker, Betsy Terry,
Penny Merritt Price, Beth Ladisla & Gary Leung and Greg Lanier for all
of your help getting our race on AORTA’s website. We hope you will
all come back again next year!! See
www.AuburnSportsShots.com for some great race photos. They are
posted under Trinity.
Heather May ran in the qualifying race for
the Women's Olympic Marathon this past Sunday in Boston. Heather
set a new PR with a 2:45:41 and I've had conflicting stories that she
was 68th & 65th out of 150 runners. I wish that I knew there were
only 65 people in the U.S. that were faster than me, in my book that is
an incredible feat. Alvin also showed me that there was a long
article in the OA News about a week ago about Heather and a big photo of
her was front and center on the sports page. She has a very interesting
story to tell. Congratulations to Heather on a great showing that
past weekend.
We also sent some boys to Boston on Monday for the marathon. I
have one of my favorites, Scott Walker at
3:49, Bob Lawson at 3:30 &
Trip Garner I was unable to find. I
haven't heard from Scott yet but I suppose he is back in town by today
and maybe we can get the "poop" about Boston from him.
Also in the OA News in the past week or so was a Letter to the Editor
where the previous mayor of Opelika, Barbara Patton, heaped praise upon
praise on our own Doug Underwood.
Doug directed the Unity Run that was held a couple of weeks ago in
Opelika and of course he did a great job, he always does. Alvin
told me "we will have to pay for this" meaning that this is another
talented person we'll have to beat into submission so they don't get
"the big head". Congrats to Doug!
Go here to find results
for the Trinity Races
10K,
5K &
1 Mile
Boston Marathon: Yep, the Boston
Marathon is only a few days away, next Monday! Of course Boston is
the most prestigious marathon in the US and maybe the world. For
those of you who are unfamiliar with Boston it's not one of those races
where you can pay your money and go. You have to qualify and the
times are nearly impossible for the average runner to meet.
Thusly, I have never been to Boston! However, we will be sending
Mr. Scott Walker (11093) as well as
Trip Garner (7920) from this area and
ex-AORTA celebrity Bobby Sumerau (4820) who
now lives in Nova Scotia. We also have future AORTA celebrity
Bob Lawson who currently lives in Ohio but
is moving to Auburn soon. The race is televised on Versus channel
74 and you can sign-up on the Boston website to receive their splits
every 5K via email which is why I gave you their race numbers after
their names. Yes, we'll have to deal with "the ego problem" when
they return but we are used to beating people back into submission so
that won't be a problem. Congratulations to these guys and good
luck. I'll post their finishing times as soon as I get it next
Monday.
And, not to forget, Heather May will also
be running at Boston but she'll be running on Sunday for one of the 3
slots on the Women's Olympic Marathon team! I'm sure she is
feeling no pressure whatsoever? It's an honor to make it as far as
she has and we wish her the very best of luck on Sunday. I'll keep
you posted on Heather also...
I'll get the Bash-n-Dash application posted here for you this week.
That race will take place on Friday, May 2nd at 5:30PM. There will
be both a 5K & 1 mile run.
But, basically the racing season is over. Sure, there are one or
two more races here and there but for the most part our work here is
done and we can go back to our normal Saturday routine of whining,
bickering & complaining for a couple of hours each week. I miss
it...
At the
breaking point: I know the website is not being updated as
often as it needs to be and it's not for lack of information I have to
give you. It's quite the opposite, I'm overwhelmed with the amount
of "stuff" that comes through here! I have at least two dozen
things to post but I've gotten so far behind it's kind of hopeless.
My solution has been to do nothing which so far has not worked well!
For instance, did I give you the finishing times from the Disney
Marathon that was actually a couple of weeks ago! No, I didn't!
So, I'm going to try and pass some things off to other people to make
this a more manageable system and to where we can be more responsive.
The most immediate problem is we need to change the rules for the 1200
Club because it has grown so much, it costs the club at least $1,000 per
year and I get 40-50 emails at the beginning of each month with your
mileage and then proceed to lose several of those. So the AORTA
Politburo has met and here are the new rules for the 2008 1200 Mile
Club:
1) Must be a member by Feb 28th. No
exceptions! Membership forms must be completely filled out including
email address.
2) Must turn in mileage no later than the 15th of the following month.
No exceptions. Let's face it, if you are tracking your mileage there is
no reason why you can't turn it in on time.
3) -- on the third day of the following month you will receive an email
with a link. Click on the link and you simply enter in your mileage
when prompted. Do not send your mileage to the website any longer.
4) -- Around the 13th of the month, people who have not responded will
receive a reminder email. Once again, you can click on the link and
enter your mileage for the month then hit submit.
5) To qualify for the 1200 Mile Club you MUST volunteer for a local
race. That doesn't mean help with registration and go run the
race. It means helping from start to finish, you can't race that
day at all. It's hard to get experienced people to volunteer and
this is going to help us out a lot.
Now, if you want to be in the 1200 Mile Club for this year you just need
to
send Karen an email
saying you want to join and you'll
be added to an automated database that she has set up. Then you will be
in the automated system. Later, a new spreadsheet will be sent to
me monthly that I'll post with everyone's mileage. Yes, it's
magical...
If you've been a regular member for a while then don't bother reading
this because you know this already. But, if you are new and have
been pondering maybe possibly to try running with AORTA this is for you.
Lately, I've had several inquiries (at least 5) about wanting to run
with us on Saturdays and they have a lot of questions about what we do
so here goes my explanation.
A) Yes, it may say the Saturday run is some impossible distance
for you but ignore that. About 25% of the people will run that
far, most will run an hour or maybe a bit more or less so don't be
intimidated by the mileage that gets posted. It's bogus man!
B) No, you don't have to be a member of AORTA to run with us.
But, at some point we would certainly hope that you would want to
support the group by becoming a member and forking over your $20.
Now, if you go a really long time we send one of our aggressive females
after you to collect. I have some names in mind but I won't
mention them right now.
C) What do we have to offer on Saturday? Click on the link
to the right that says "Saturday Plan" and it explains in a haphazard
way what we are doing. We have a planned route, a planned
distance, you can print out the map if you aren't familiar with Auburn
and most importantly we have water stops about every 3 miles!
4) "I'm too slow, I'll fall off the back". You might, but
you probably won't, we have runners of all abilities. We have a
lot of fast people and a lot of slow people and I can almost guarantee
you will find at least one person who is your speed.
E) "But I'm new to this and those guys have been doing marathons and
running for years". I can say with all confidence that everyone
understands how it is to be new and how hard it can be to get started
running or to try and move up to the next level. We've all been
there! I've seen so many runners who started running with us and
their max distance had been 3 miles over 45 minutes. A year later
they are much faster and have done a 10K or half marathon and pondering
a full marathon. Running with a group makes running much easier
and you'll find yourself being pulled along.
F) "You mean you run at 6:00 am on a Saturday?" I've heard
that a thousand times but once a person shows up they realize it's not
that hard to get out early. We meet that early for 2 reasons.
1) Do you know how hot it is, this helps to beat the heat a little. 2)
Many of the members have kids and activities so they get their long run
done early and can still get home before soccer, baseball, etc.
The hardest day will be that first Saturday! After that you'll
fall in, enjoy the people and the run and never look back... This
Saturday would be the perfect day to start!
