Marathon Maniacs News Letter – February 2005

February Highlights

· 8 new members for the month of February

· The AnNie(mal)…is RUNNING WILD! Two marathons, two wins, two PR's!

· The first win by male (Gregg Walchli) and female (Annie Thiessen) Maniac in the same marathon (Valentine Marathon)

· Sean Meissner does it again!

· Exotic Marathon Maniac vacations…Antarctica, Tanzania (Kilamanjaro) and the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

· Keep those race reports coming in…they're wonderful to read!

*****IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT****

Main Maniac would dearly love to credit all of you for the marathons that you've run and keep the Insane Asylum as accurate as possible. But he's feline(ing) overwhelmed. Without your help in logging on and adding your name to your upcoming races, you may not be credited. Main Maniac doesn't have the time to look up results on marathonguide.com for everyone. He has many races to run, just like all of you!

Upcoming Marathon News

· The Chuckanut 50K trail run (3/19/05) is sold out.

· Boston Marathon 2005: For those of you participating in the Boston Marathon, be sure to stop by at one of the official merchandise sales booths (Saturday, afternoon shift) and say hello to Tony, Chris and Steve, who will be volunteering their services at the booth. Maniacs Alicia Britt and Marc Frommer may also make a cameo appearance at the booth.

· Deadwood-Mickelson Trail Marathon (6/4/05): reduced entry fees, courtesy of Jerry Dunn, the event director. From December 1st to May 15: $65 full; $45 Half / May 15 to May 30; $75 full; $50 half. Your maniacs can take $10 off the full and $5 of the half of any of the above fees. However, in order to do that, I'd like for them to download the entry form and mail it to me, so as not to have to mess with trying to do this at the online registration site. Be sure to write down that you are a Marathon Maniac.
Additional option: If they want to register on line, at the listed fee, I will give them a $10 coupon for Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon merchandises. (Of course they will have to make me aware that they are in fact MANIACS). Jerry can be contacted at (605) 641-3534.

· If you will be participating in any of Elite Racing's Music Marathons, there is a $5 discount for all Maniacs. On the entry form, or on-line form, denote the word CLUB on the coupon code. Their next event is the Country Music Marathon in Nashville (4/30/05). After that, it’s the San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon (6/5/04).

· Maniacs Steve Barrick and Jim Anderson are once again presenting the Green River Marathon on June 4 (0830): www.greenrivermarathon.com

· North Olympic Discovery Marathon (6/12/05): Race Director Larry Little has offered the Maniacs a discount of $5 for his race. Just be sure to write down on your entry form that you are a Marathon Maniac. He will need to cap the race this year so sign up early.

· Skagit Flats Marathon (9/12/05) Race Director and Maniac #112 Terry Sentinella is happy to inform the Maniacs of a $5 discount on their entry fee. They can get the discount two ways;
1) Enter online at active.com, http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1198020. To get the discount on Active, enter 123 in the running club code selection. Also ask that you enter Marathon Maniac under Club Affiliation, or
2) mail him a copy of the attached entry form. Just subtract $5 from the fee. Please make sure you tell us you are a Marathon Maniac. I am also offering to Marathon Maniacs the chance to pick their
number, assuming the number is available. I have had fellow Marathoners tell me they like to use the number corresponding to the Marathon they are running, or possible a B-Day, Lucky Number, etc. This is going to be on a first come first serve basis. I will make every effort to get you the number you want. Once again entries must be sent to me. I will be assigning numbers and taking care of the runner databases. Can entries to:

Skagit Flats Marathon Entry
C/O Terry Sentinella
P.O. Box 1562
Anacortes, WA 98221-6562

Race Summaries

February 5

Tybee Island Marathon: Deo Jaravata, Larry Macon

Rocky Raccoon Ultra: Susan Bell, Sean Meissner. Congratulations to Sean, winning the ultra and setting a new course record in the process. Hope you all enjoyed his race report that Main Maniac sent

out recently. If you want to relive his experience… 2005 Messin' with Texas

Lord Hill Ultra: Ruth Balf, Tony Covarrubias, Glenn Tachiyama, Kendall Kreft, Rick Haase,

Robert Hester, Kurt Lauer, Annie Thiessen, Cheri Gillis, Jennifer Yogi, Guy Yogi, Olga

Varlamova, Van Phan and Tony Phillippi, with race director Tim Lofton. There were rumors that a few runners got off-track, but if you "knoll" how to navigate, you won't get lost!

Death Valley Trail Marathon: Steve Fredrickson offers his account of this race held in a unique

location. For the third time in five years, the spectacular course through Titus Canyon was not available - this year because of damage caused by heavy rains in August. The secondary route, an out-and-back on the unpaved West Side Road, was used. This course is unique in the fact that it is entirely below sea level. From the start, the course drops about 200 feet in just over a mile before bottoming out on the valley floor. From this point, the course simply follows a nearly level dirt road to a turn-around at approximately 13.1 miles. (A cyclist with a GPS claimed the turn-around came at 13.6 miles). The surrounding mountains add a bit of majesty to the course, the return leg gets a bit tiresome, especially when the finish is visible from the 20-mile point, and there is not a shrub or plant of note between the runner and the finish line from that point. I ran an even paced affair, finishing in 4:32:16. I was first in my age group. The men’s winner was Stephen Marsalese from the Bronx, NY in 2:57:08, the only finisher under three hours. The women’s winner was Katherine Wesseling from LA in 3:34:59. There were 121 finishers (97 men, 24 women).

February 6

Hops Marathon by the Bay: Rick Korecki, Cheryl Murdock

Pacific Shoreline Marathon: A message from President Steve…when an accompanying half-marathon starts exactly at the same time as the marathon…get there early! Stuck in the onslaught of traffic driving to the start at Huntington Beach, we made the gun with 1 minute to spare. This after having to hurredly run a mile from where our car was parked. In our haste to make the race on time, I forgot to load up my Race Ready shorts with any gel/GU packets. It was an auspicious start. Maniac Sue Fauerbach and I had lined up near the rear of the pack. One advantage to that was I could try to catch up to fellow maniacs who were also running. First there was Janet Burgess. Then came my first encounter with David Reid. Soon to follow was the triage of Steve Supkoff, Gregg Walchli and new Maniac Andre Boulais. Other maniacs present were David Dassey, Dana Mosell, Todd King and John Downing. The out and back portions along the Pacific Coast Highway and the beach trail made it enjoyable to spot the Maniacs numerous times. But the strong southerly winds also made it a challenging race.
Congratulations to Sue, Gregg, John and Steven for picking up age-group awards.

February 12

Surfside Beach Marathon: Tom Detore, Larry Macon

The "EPIC" Ultra: I bet you're wondering hat the "Epic" is? Read Maniac Olga's story in the Maniacs

article link The Epic by Olga Varlamova

February 13

Austin Marathon: Philip DeYoung, Tom Detore, Marc Frommer, Dale Shoup, Barb Bumann,

Chris Marr, Cathy Troisi, and Dennis Spurlock. Maniac Dale Shoup offers his rendition of Austin.

After enduring cool weather (cold for down here) for over two weeks, the warm front arrived right on schedule as forecast, dumping rain on us before the start, then warming up to produce difficult running conditions. Nonetheless all the NoWDead's did well, especially Marc. My wheels fell off before the finish but I still eked out a 3:36:35 chip time. Cher and I picked up Marc at the airport and we went directly to the expo. I had already picked up both our packets to insure that we would have no troubles, so we had some time to kill before we met Barb and Chris for dinner. We decided it wasn't enough to go anywhere and get back in time - did I say that traffic was heavy going into the expo area. We got to the restaurant where we were to meet with 45 minutes to kill, but that turned into an hour and a half as Barb and Chris got delayed in traffic (or lost?).

Marc and I left for the finish area parking at 5 AM and by coincidence arrived at the bus stop at the same time as Barb and Chris, so we all took the same bus to the start. While we were on the bus it poured, so we didn't mind the traffic delay approaching the start area. Traffic was backed up onto the freeway for a half mile in every direction. We eventually got kicked off the bus and had to seek shelter in a parking garage. We delayed our exit from the garage till the last possible minute, dropped off our clothing bags and went to join the start line. Oops there were already 10,000 runners out of the 12,000 total half and full marathoners already lined up. I wanted to try to run 3:20 however Marc only wanted to go at 3:30 or better. Where we were I guessed we would have to pass 5,000 runners to get with our pace group. Consequently, as they were singing the Star Spangled Banner we crept up the side of the massed runners. On the way we saw another Maniac, Sam, but I don't know his last name and never saw him again. Eventually we found the 3:30 pace group and positioned ourselves ahead of them but behind the 3:15 group. The 3:20 group was on the opposite side of a street divider that split the line in half. We were still nearly 1000 runners back from the start and it took nearly a minute to cross the start line.

None of my previous races, including Boston, have been as crowded at the start for as long. It was partly due to the combined half and full start, but mostly due to the extreme number of runners lining up ahead of the pace they intended to run. I can only imagine how much worse it was further back. I could not get into my stride for at least a mile and then I had to avoid the water stops. Fortunately I was carrying my own bottle so I did not have to stop, since even at my pace there were an inordinate number of folks stopping to walk. My first mile was 8:14, but as I found my stride my second was 7:25. Marc stayed with me dodging slow runners through mile 1 but some where before mile 2 I lost sight of him; probably because I picked up my pace to stay up with the 3:20 pace group. I saw the jam at the first water stop and steered wide to avoid the conflagration. The 3:20 group got hung up and I passed them. My pace steadied out at about 7:30 for the next 8 miles. I felt good and had no hint of my impending disaster except my HR was running a little high at 150+, which is a little over 80% but I thought still sustainable. The route has more twists and turns than 'Carter has pills'. I lost the course several times when I tried to drive it the day before, nonetheless that did give me a feel for where I was. That helped a bit when we turned onto 45th St. and ran directly into the sun. I could not see hardly anything because I didn't have a hat to block the sun. I missed the mileage markers along this stretch and then after we turned the corner I still continued to miss them for some reason. It was starting to get hot or at least really humid from the evaporating rain. My next split I got was for the half where mercifully the half marathoners left us. At 1:39:51 I was right on track for a 3:20 still but I was feeling a little tired or maybe it was the heat starting to affect me. My pace slowed down to 8:00 for the next two miles as I was overtaken by the 3:20 pace group. I slowed down a little more to about 8:25 for the next 6 miles before the wheels started to come off at mile 22.

My pace fell to 9:15 as I was passed by Marc and then the 3:30 pace group. I was so discouraged by the 3:30 group passing me that I gave in to the irresistible urge to stop and walk. Most of the other runners struggling like me had cramps or an injury to contend with, but I was just flagged. It was hot, but I have to say I don't think that was my problem. I think my relative lack of LSD runs in the last month reduced my endurance; either that, or I just plain started too fast. Anyway I managed to run the last half mile and avoid the complete disgrace of walking across the finish line. Nonetheless it was still good enough for 11th in my age group. I met up with Marc afterward the race. He finished strong and had a good race in spite of the heat. We never did see any other of the NoWdead's or Maniacs after the race. They ran out of water and it was getting beastly hot so we had to get out of there. I took Marc back to the RV Park where we were staying and just hung out and enjoyed the sunny afternoon till delivering Marc back to the airport for his flight home.

Valentine Marathon: Alicia Britt, Sue Fauerbach, Olga Varlamova, Annie Thiessen, Cyndie

Merten, Jennifer Yogi, Guy Yogi, Rick Haase, Mike Shiach, Gregg Walchli, Kurt Lauer, Jim

Scheer, Jim Boyd, David Jones, Mel Preedy, Bob Dolphin, Tony Phillippi, Steven Yee. Be sure to read Bob's eloquent stories on his marathons…here's his latest… Valentine Marathon 2005

Mercedes Marathon: Keith Panzer, Cheryl Murdock, Marie Bartoletti, Brenton Floyd, Larry

Macon and Franklin Mason

February 19

Birch Bay Marathon: Tony Covarrubias, Terry Sentinella, Jim Boyd, Mel Preedy, Ruben Contreras, Guy Yogi, Mark Looi, Mike Shiach, Eric Jensen, Van Phan, Annie Theissen. Once again, the AnNie(mal) and the Ani(Mel) are in the same race. Congratulations to the former, whom not only won the race but set a PR by 5 minutes! Also, congratulations to Van, who also set a PR.

Myrtle Beach Marathon: Marie Bartoletti, Kevin Brosi, Keith Panzer, Phil Walchli, Greg Roth

San Miguel Buzz Marathon: David Reid

Hagg Lake 50K: Maura Schwartz, Gunhild Swanson, Ruth Balf, Olga Varlamova, Sean Meissner,

Robert Hester Read more here Hagg Lake by Olga Varlamova

Psycho Wyco 50K: Tom Detore

February 20

Last Train to Boston Marathon: Dick Vile

Pensacola Marathon: Cheryl Murdock

Tallahassee Marathon: Paul Hargrave (1^st in age group)

Desert Classic Marathon: Carol Dellinger, Kurt Lauer, Tom Neuman, Amy Yanni. Maniac Carol

had a great time in the desert. Here's her report: The Desert Classic Marathon in Arizona last Sunday was

awesome! I finished in 6:17. They moved it last minute up further into the desert because of the recent flooding in

the Phoenix area to an area NW of Peoria in the Sun City desert 40 miles north of Phoenix. it was an out and back

in the true desert, nothing but cactus, snakes, and lizards crossing the road. They had 103 finishes for the marathon

and about 200 for the half. Every finisher got a nice shirt, medal, and a homemade ceramic tile with a photo of the

10-mile mark of the marathon in the desert! The Arizona Road Racers running club did a great job and we even

had a day of wonderful sunshine and 70 degrees!

February 24

Coyote Four-Play: Glenn Tachiyama, Tony Covarrubias

February 26

Antarctica Marathon: Lisa Spence

Cowtown Marathon: Phil DeYoung

Invest in Youth Run: Kendall Kreft, Robert Hester, Tim Lofton, Diana "Slug" Robinson, Van

Phan and Tony Phillippi

February 27

Kilimanjaro Marathon: Cheri Gillis, Rick Haase. The adventures of Maniac Cheri: After a week of Safari (and getting used to heat) we ran the Kilimanjaro marathon. It was 101 degrees. We ran through villages where all the people turned out to watch and encourage us. It was Sunday so they were all in their best clothes. Running by churches, I heard some of the best music I've heard in Africa. The first 14K were on a main road with all the buses, people and shops. After that, we headed up a 7-mile hill in the heat. This road had lots of coffee and tea plantations and still had a few settlements. The children along this route liked to run with us and practice the English they were learning in school. This section was tough and most of us white guys had to walk lots of it. The water stop at the top of the hill ran out of water but they did have coke. We gratefully drank coke. At the turnaround there were sponges that actually had cold water! I had a sponge cool down bath and did my ultra down hill dash 10k to the finish. I never saw a clock and didn't wear a watch but some guys yelled that I could make it under 5 hours. Before they put the medal on, they put a tag on me that said 2nd veteran female (over 40)…woo hoo! The first was a S. African woman and there were plenty behind me. The local men were miles ahead of any white guys and the local woman don't seem to run if they're over 40. They put us winners on a podium to announce our place and where we came from. The stadium had thousands of people in it watching. What an incredible experience! Today I'm re-packing, all the hot clothing goes in storage and the mountain gear comes out. We start our Kilimanjaro trek tomorrow morning. Rick did well and he took a great picture of me on the podium.

Trinidad & Tobaga Marathon: Gregg Walchli

Hyannis Marathon: Deo Jaravata, Don Kienz

Mardi Gras Marathon: Marie Bartoletti, Sue Fauerbach, Cheryl Murdock, Terry Sentinella, Al

Harman, Robert Lopez, Sam Thompson, Dana Mosell and Steven Yee. Party time at the Big Easy,

Congratulations to Marie, Sue, Sam and Steven for receiving awesome plaques for placing in their

respective age groups. But the biggest accomplishment goes out to Dana, where by finishing a race in

Louisiana, has completed the 50 state circuit. We're proud of you Dana!

Noteworthy Accomplishments / Promotions / Omissions / Maniac Stuff:

Ø First Ultra completed: Jennifer and Guy Yogi (Lord Hill)

Ø A belated congratulations to Deo Jaravata, as he is a 5-star Maniac (13 states in 2003)

Ø Last fall, Don Kienz completed 4 marathons in 5 weeks, this elevating his status to Gold level.

Ø More congratulations to Rick Haase, who has quietly moved up to 4-star Iridium level. Rick recently completed 3 ultras and 1 marathon in four weeks. Now that's a lot of miles!

Ø Left off a few names from marathon finishes from last month: David Hipps (Miami Tropical), Stan Neumann (Ocala), Brenton Floyd (Callaway Gardens) and Paul Hargrave (Ocala).

Ø Be sure to check out the Maniac Gear page…we have some new inventory in stock!

Ø Thanks again to John Elliot for his valuable time and effort for linking marathonmaniacs.com with marathonguide.com, and establishing the race spreadsheet and bulletin board options.

Maniacs…Off to the Races in 2005

Ø Larry Macon - 8 races…….Tom Detore - 7 races

Ø Cheryl Murdock - 7 races……Olga Varlamova - 6 races

New Members for the Month of February

2/02 - Eric Jensen (Oregon)

2/04 - Andre Boulais (California)

2/10 - Todd King (California)

2/12 - John Downing (British Columbia, Canada)

2/22 - Christine Humble (Arizona)

2/24 - Don Mukai (Washington)

2/24 - Greg Roth (Virginia)

2/27 - Amy Yanni (South Dakota)

UPCOMING MANIACS at the RACES

3/05: Dirty Duo 50K (Annie Thiessen, Olga Varlamova, Guy Yogi and Tony Phillippi)

3/06: City of Los Angeles Marathon (Barb Bumann, Chris Marr, Ruben Contreras, Carol

Dellinger, Deo Jaravata, Al Harman, Rick Korecki, Dana Mosell, Andre Boulais

Little Rock Marathon (Kevin Brosi, Keith Panzer, Philip DeYoung)

Napa Valley Marathon (Laura Bleakley, Janet Burgess, Sue Fauerbach, Dennis Spurlock, David Reid, Todd King, Tom Neuman, Chris Warren and Steven Yee)

Maraton Fin del Mundo (Roger Biggs)

3/12: Way Too Cool 50K (Sean Meissner)

Mississippi 50 Trail Run (Sam Thompson)

3/13: Valley of the Sun Marathon (Marie Bartoletti)

Virginia Creeper Marathon (Don Kienz)

3/19: Catalina Island Marathon (Deo Jaravata, David Dassey)

Cherry Blossom Festival Marathon (Don Kienz)

Ellerbe Springs Marathon (Keith Panzer)

Shamrock Sportsfest Marathon (Rick Korecki)

Thailand Temple Run (Gregg Walchli)

Chuckanut 50K (Ruth Balf, Annie Thiessen, Diana "Slug" Robinson, Maura Schwartz, Olga

Varlamova, Terry Sentinella, Tony Covarrubias, Glenn Tachiyama, Kurt Lauer, Guy Yogi,

Rick Haase, Tim Lofton, Sean Meissner, Robert Hester and Tony Phillippi

3/20: Bataan Memorial Death March (J. Ellis, Steve Monk)

Knoxville Marathon (Tom Detore, Dick Vile, Cheryl Murdock)

Ocean Drive Marathon (Robert Lopez)

3/26: Easter Marathon (Diana "Slug" Robinson, Sue Fauerbach, Mike Shiach, Terry Sentinella,

Jim Boyd, Chris Warren and Steven Yee)

Tri-State Marathon (Bill Mandler, Dana Mosell)

Mudness Ultra Runs (Maura Schwartz, Olga Varlamova, Kurt Lauer)

Grasslands Run (Sam Thompson)

Great Southwest Marathon (Amy Yanni)

In an attempt to make the Marathon Maniacs one of the best and unique running clubs out there, we want to hear how we’re doing. You as members know what you want and what you don’t want, so don’t hesitate to let us know. We can’t guarantee that we can accommodate every request, but we’ll do the best we can.

If you have a desire to share your race experience with the rest of the Maniacs, feel free to write up a race report, submit it to us and we’ll post it in the monthly newsletter. This is a good way to get the info you want into the letter and not just what we might write.

Maniac Discounts

· $5 off marathons put on by Bob Green (his next one is the Easter Marathon 3/26/05).
· 10% off any running shoes, apparel at the Bellevue, Wa Foot Zone store (ask for Jenny)
· discount on BITE sandals (contact Tony at tony@marathonmaniacs.com for details)

More to come in the March 2005 Newsletter and to the web site soon.

The President has written…