Last
Updated
Thursday July 02, 2009
Check here for more
races...
Week 8 Summer Swing
Results (June 30)
Our
route
for Saturday has been posted.
Contact
Molly Johnson to help with a water stop.
July 1st: Remember
that this Saturday morning immediately after the run (8:00am) we'll have
an AORTA breakfast and everyone is invited. To keep this short
we'll use the same routine we've used the past 5 years!
This week marks a change in authority within AORTA. Tracey
Buckingham did a fabulous job of handling our water stops for the past 6
months which is a wretched and thankless task. Now, Molly Johnson
will be the new behind the scenes force being sure those are taken care
of each week. If you don't have Molly's address it's
Johns2407@yahoo.com. I'll
also have it linked each week.
Remember that we have the 2nd Annual Peach Run (5K) coming up on July
25th. You are facing an early registration deadline on July 10th
if you want to be sure that you get a t-shirt. You can
download the application here and get that mailed in.
Contact Jennifer Delmore for further information.
The Woodstock 5k RRCA National 5K
Championship will be held on Saturday, August 1, 2009 at 7:30 a.m. in
Anniston, AL. They'll have cash prizes! Pre-race pasta dinner
night before. Benefits will go to the United Cerebral Palsy and Special
Olympics Contact: Brooke Nelson, Race Director 256-239-9001
brookenelson@amcvets.com or
www.woodstock5k.com
4th of July: Next
Saturday is the 4th but we are going to make the run around 10 miles
because the Tour de France starts that day. As we did last year
we'll be having an AORTA breakfast here at
my office right after the run starting at 8:00am. Everyone is
invited, bring a dish of some sort and I'll provide coffee and plates
and utensils--same as always. The prologue to the Tour will be on
the 50" TV...
Click here to
download results of the 6/16 Summer Swing Series
More AORTA Overachievers:
Beverly Long put it so well when she heard
Carrie McCambridge had been promoted to
assistant coach for the Auburn national championship swimming and diving
team. She said "another AORTA overachiever". Congratulations
to Carrie on the promotion and hundreds of thousands of dollars in
salary and perks.
Meanwhile Todd Myers
spent the past 3 consecutive Saturday's competing in triathlons.
May 30- Grandman Triathlon (sprint distance) in Fairhope, AL 1:27:04
- his first triathlon
June 6- Ft. Benning Reverse Triathlon (sprint)- 1:12:42
June 13- West Point Lake Triathlon (Olympic distance) in LaGrange, GA
2:51:18
At Grandman he turned in a 21:58 on the 5K leg, very fast. Why
don't you take this weekend off?
Slow: It's summertime
and things have slowed down a lot for AORTA. We still have the
Summer Swing Series and the Summer 5K Series each week but thankfully
that's about it. There is a lot of gossip I could share with you.
I think that Beth and Gary are on a Mediterranean Cruise this week,
Carol Keever, Karen Khodadadi and Beverly Smith are together in Europe
on a trip. Dave Hennessey's mother passed away late last week and
he is still in Bogota, Columbia. But we can always count on our
members to be doing stupid runner tricks so we'll start with
John Nevels:
in
a little less than a month (July 1-4), a few friends of mine and I will
be doing a run across the state of Alabama. As much as I'd like to
claim this as merely my own eccentricity, it is actually for a much
better cause than that. We are running to raise money and awareness for
Tay Sachs disease, with which Eric Schotz's (one of runners) son,
Elliott, was diagnosed a few months ago. Tay Sachs is a childhood
disease that is a degenerative condition that will kill its victims by
age 4 or 5, and there is, as of yet, no known cure or effective
treatment. In any case, three guys will be running across AL over the
course of four days (I'll only be able to run the last two due to
classes). The link is:
www.runacrossalabama.com As
they are friends of mine, I can attest to the character and quality of
the entire Schotz family, and it is truly heartbreaking to see and know
what is happening to Elliott. Check out the site, learn about it,
get involved...
And I got the following from Heather
May:
I
am directing a children's play entitled Still Life with Iris for
the Auburn University Department of Theatre, and I'd really like to
invite people to attend the production July 26-28. It's appropriate for
kids ages 8 and older and is a very sweet play that looks like it should
be a strong production. My actors have been working really hard and the
set is beautiful. More information about the production, including
performance dates and times, a blurb about the play, and a link to
purchase tickets, can be found at:
www.auburnuniversitytheatre.org.
Here are your
results from the last Summer Swing 5K
And I have the list for the
1200 Mile Club
updated through May
Accounting:
I had written about how we've had a lot of absences on
Saturday the past several weeks which of course offended some but that
was the whole point. Here is what Heather Lloyd had to say in her
defense: I actually have been running on Saturdays, it's just been in
exotic locations like Gulf Shores and soon Panama City Beach. Please
don't be jealous... just realize that not everyone can afford the
expensive vacations available to an elementary school teacher. Andy
really has no excuse. I love how she threw Andy under the bus.
Then several of our regulars were out doing trail racing including Fred
Trouse so they are excused. I was ready to rip into Blake Henry
but he's been racing too. Dave Hennessey has been "at home...in
bed". Jill Harris is milking her foot surgery for all it's worth
and delaying her return and Beth Ladisla has fled the country to the
Phillipines. So I expect a pretty good crowd tomorrow!
June 4th:
Auburn/Opelika locals were well represented at the SweetH20 50k in
Lithia Springs, GA this past weekend. In her first trail 50k, Heather
May finished 13th overall
among 212 finishers and was 1st in the women's division with a 5:10
time. In the men's division, Eric Gilbertson finished 5th with a 4:46
(PR), Marcus Farris 8th with a 4:55 (PR), John Nevels 10th with a 5:01,
Bob Lawson 12th with a 5:12. Lance Haney and Black Henry ran together
finishing 58th/59th in their first 50k with a time of 6:26. Also,
I believe Andrew Strickland used to be one of our runners? He ran a
8:59 finishing 155th. Congrats to all those folks.
I won't have results for the Summer Swing 5K this week, you will
remember the storm that blew in along with lightning so the race was
cancelled. They'll be back again next Tuesday...
June 2 Update: Don't
forget that tonight will be the Summer Swing 5K in Opelika and Wednesday
will start the
Summer
5K Series in Auburn.
The birthday list has been updated for the month of June. Monica
Kennis tried to hide but failed.
Don't forget that this coming Sunday at 3:00PM we'll
be having our AORTA Meeting/Swim Party at the home of Britt & Tracey
Buckingham. All you need to bring is a dessert or a side dish.
I've noticed that attendance has been down some the past few weeks for
our Saturday runs. I haven't seen Andy Taylor, Speakman's been
gone for months, Heather Lloyd has gotten lazy, Scott Walker is milking
his injury for as long as he can and many others are just not reliable.
I know it's hot and humid now but I'll be expecting better attendance
this Saturday.
May 29th Update:
Heather May went last weekend to Montgomery for
the Jubilee 8K Race and took their money even after saying she hadn't
been training. She took first place and $150 in a time of 31:36
which is a bit over 6:00 min/mi so congratulations to Heather.
AORTA will be having a pool party at Britt
and Tracey Buckingham's at 3:30 on Sunday the 7th of June. We've not
worked out all the details but likely were going to ask everyone to
bring either a snack or dessert. Details will follow...
Late: I know the
website has been neglected but I've been out of town the past several
days. Tomorrow I do have a few things to catch up on and results
of the Summer Swing 5K.
Here's
your application for the Summer 5K Series which starts June 3rd
Here you can find the
results of the 2nd Week of the Summer Swing 5K
Wednesday Update:
Jim Doyle competed in the Twisted Ankle Marathon in
Somerville, GA. this past weekend. He reported back that it was a very
hard marathon with a lot of steep climbs but he finished. Sarah
Wolf competed in a Half Ironman Triathlon on the coast. She was
knocked over while on her bike and came back bruised and battered but
she also finished.
Big race changes at AORTA:
As all of you know the Politburo is a secret
group within AORTA that meets from time to time to decide issues about
the direction for the club. The truth is, they ask for your input
but they really don't want it, they just want you to think you have a
voice in club issues to keep you quiet. In that meeting some
changes were made to our race policy which are as follows:
1 Race fees: $350 for a single race and published results, $500
for two consecutive races with results at a single event.
2 We will only provide a maximum of two race services per month.
However, equipment rental is available all the time, $100 for a timer.
Our clock is not available for rentals.
3 Race directors are responsible for getting necessary equipment
to the race site (like our trailer). Alvin said he has thrown away his
trailer hitch so keep that in mind.
4 Other decisions made were Penny Merritt Price has agreed to serve as
vice president for the current administration. That will make her only
one heart beat away from being the most powerful woman in the world.
Elyse "Butterfly" Corbitt is now Director of Social Activities. Her
experience as a certified social-butterfly makes her eminently
qualified. Heather Lloyd is Membership and Volunteer
Coordinator. She will have contact information and help staff events
with member volunteers. Karen Khodadadi will continue her reign as
the treasurer due to her frugal ways...
Plans for Saturday are set, please
contact Tracey to help with a water stop.
April
results of
the1200 Mile Club
Results from
the Valley Haven Races
Results from the Unity Run
Results from the 1st week of the Summer Swing 5K
Out of town: Ok,
just relax because I'm back in town and I'll get everything posted.
I have results of the 1200 Mile Club for April, I have results from the
Valley Haven race, from the Unity Race and the 1st race from the Summer
Swing Series. We are also back on a normal schedule for Saturday
after months and months of races which will be kind of nice. I
don't like people messing with my routine, it makes me crabby.
Doug Underwood was the director for the Unity Run in Opelika and asked
me to post this: On behalf of Envision Opelika, thanks to
all who gave of their time to help make the Two by Two Unity Run a
success this year. Much appreciated volunteers were Bob K., Bob B.,
Jill, Karen, Tim, Genera (and children), Christopher, Walter, Greg,
Alvin, Tracey, Monica, Carol, Jim, Kermit, Penny, Robin, Yvonne, Ricky,
Duffy, Diane, Stephanie, Barbara, Emilyn, and Tom. Additional thanks to
Ricky and Yvonne for bringing a half dozen course volunteers with them.
It appears that postponing the race from the original date of 3/28
(inclement weather) was the best decision. Hopefully next year we will
not be faced with those kinds of problems!
Doug Underwood
The Race Calendar has also been
updated...
Unity Run: Yep, this
Saturday we wrap up the racing season at least for AORTA. You can
click on the icon above and download an application with all the
information you will need for Saturday.
Next in line will be the summer racing season. Doug Underwood has
been taking care of the Summer Swing Series for several years and asked
that I post this for everyone: Any and all, whether novice or
battle-tested, are invited to the Summer Swing 5K Run Series in Opelika
beginning Tuesday, May 12th. There is no charge for the run. Come
enjoy a good run or walk, as you prefer, and stick around to hear the
Lee Scott Academy Jazz Band at 7:00pm in the park. Runners meet at the
Opelika Recreation Center parking lot on Denson Drive at 6 :00pm. The
series will continue on Tuesday nights through August 11th. For
additional information contact Doug Underwood at
durunforfun@yahoo.com or
334-745-5070 evenings. Hope to see you on Tuesday Doug.
If you're wondering about the Summer 5K Series in Auburn that will start
the first Wednesday evening in June.
I've also updated the birthdays for the month of May.
Trinity Race Wrap-Up:
I got this note from Jill Harris and she asked that I post it.
Thank you to those who supported the 2009
Trinity Race. We are so grateful to all the volunteers, sponsors and
runners who helped make this year's event a wonderful success. A
special thanks to Doug, Alvin, Greg, Brian, Elyse, Beverly, Kermit,
Gregory and any others who stepped in to help. We could not have done
it without you!! We hope you will all come back next year!!
Flu: This has nothing to do with running
but I've seen this photo twice now and with the Swine Flu scare it's
pretty funny and pretty gross. The caption is usually "This
is how
the Swine Flue is Spread". My first thought was "where is your
mother"? Second thought was "put down that camera down you moron
and get that kid away from the pig".
Results of the Trinity
10K,
5K &
1
mile
April 30: I'm behind and
apologize to those of you I promised some things to...I got the results
to the Trinity Race a few days ago from Gail Lien, promised to post them
immediately but didn't so I lied to her. Thanks to Gail for typing
all that up. By the way, when I mention those people who type up
the results that is no small task, it can take 1 to 2 hours to read your
sloppy handwriting off the sweaty race tags and match your place to your
time. And no one seems to be fast at typing the actual finish
times with all those :'s. When you see those people (Heather Lloyd
types a lot of those) thank them.
Over the years I've told people that if they have a route they'd like to
try to send it to me and we'd give it a shot. Normally all I hear
is bellyaching and complaining about the routes but for once Ms. Molly
Johnson has created a new route. I do not have time to turn it
into a map but I will. You're going to have to read the Saturday
Plan and actually concentrate for a minute or two to let the directions
sink in. I know it's hard but you can do it. Forever this
route will be known as the Molly Johnson Route which is an awesome
honor.
I have a "Thank You" from Jill Harris that I'll get posted soon for your
support of the Trinity Race.
Boston Times:
According to the Alvin R. Walls Center for Statistical Analysis and Car
Wash here are the finishing times for our Boston runners:
Trip Garner 3:22
Juli Goldstein 3:55
Laura Walker 4:10
Scott Walker 4:10
Robin Kelley 4:57
There was another name on the list too from Auburn. Andrew David
Wisehart who finished 31st place overall in a time of 2:25! We
have never heard of this guy but he's no doubt extremely talented.
Boston: With all the
local races we have going on I completely forgot about Boston this year!
As we do every year we sent a group of celebrities there to take part in
the race including Scott and Laura Walker, Trip Garner, Robin Kelly and
an ex-member who still keeps in touch with us, Juli Goldstein. For
those of you who aren't acquainted with Boston you don't just sign up
and pay your money, you have to qualify which is not an easy thing to
do. I'll have results from all of them for you tomorrow...
The
race application for the Unity Run on May 9th has had some small
changes so you can click on the icon and download the changes.
Many of you would recognize Don Cleveland who is a regular at most of
our races but lives in Valley. Don has informed me that along with
the Valley Haven races on May 2nd there will also be a bike ride.
Not just a short ride but a nice 50 miler! He sent me some
information on it and in my usual way I've managed to lose it. If
you'd like to learn more I can get you in touch with him.
March update
for the 1200 Mile Club
Cary Woods: One race that we have
overlooked is the Cary Woods Bash & Dash which has been held each spring
for many years. This year it will be held on Friday, May 1st with
the 1 mile at 5:30PM and the 5K at 5:45. They have a lot more
going on than just two races and you can get all that information by
downloading their
application or look at our Race
Calendar.
Download results
from the Shamrock 5K
Thursday: I
think that I am semi caught-up with the website. Come on people,
it's only one week before taxes are due so who is thinking about races?
After my 17th email today and threats to myself, my cat and my business
I decided I should get the race calendar up to date and get the race
icons posted. I expected as much from Doug and Summer but it was
the first time Jill had actually threatened me but all should be fine
now. And we even have the results from the Shamrock 5K, it's late
but it's not our fault...
The Working Poor:
If you are reading this at your job this week
then consider yourself to be among the working poor. We literally
have people scattered from the beaches of Hawaii to the mountains in
Germany for spring break. Those would be the wealthy members of
AORTA. I just saw Alvin a few minutes ago so he and I both know
we're just working slobs but we've come to terms with it.
Alvin told me this morning that the July 4th Peachtree Road Race in
Atlanta opened registration yesterday and it's already closed since they
hit their quota of 45,000 runners. They will now pick another
10,000 runners who sent in paper applications at random. Not too
shabby.
I've gotten an
updated
application form for the Art Run/Walk which you can download here
and it will be under our Race Calendar too.
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!
