Marathon Maniacs News Letter – April / May 2006

 

                                                     

April Highlights

·         10 new members for the month of April (277 total members)

·         Peggy Nelson-Panzer wins the Moab Marathon

·         Marathon Junkie Chuck Engle and Nicole Mills wins the Katrina Relief Marathon

·         Gayle Zorrilla wins the Mount Si 50km

Talking Rain CEO and Maniac Doug (18) MacLean enjoying Whidbey Island

 

*****IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT*****

If you find a discrepancy or are missing any information that should be in the scorecard (number of marathons/ultras, total count and states/countries/provinces run, please contact Chris, Steve or Marc (#7).  They will be more than happy to make the corrections.  Also, if it's your Maniac anniversary date, please help Main Maniac out by renewing your membership. Dues collected help pay for website fees and maintenance, cat food, purchasing of more singlets and other wear and…future surprises. Keep your Maniac Seniority Number!

                                                  

Be sure to check the Maniac discounts link periodically…you don't know what kind of bargains the Main Maniacs will come up with!  http://www.marathonmaniacs.com/ManiacDiscounts.htm

 

                                               The Marathon Maniacs…at the Races

April 1

Yakima River Canyon Marathon: From marathonguide.com. Manuh Santos, of Yakima WA, won the 2006 Takima River Canyon Marathon with a time of 2:46:48. He was follwed by Kent Sizer, of Renton WA, who took second in 2:48:42, and Ruslan Tkebuchava, of Vancouver WA, who came in third in 2:51:14. Defending champ Mary Hanna, of Maple Valley WA, successfully defended her title in the Women's division with her final time of 2:58:06. Ann Armstrong, of Poulsbo WA, came in second in 3:10:47, and Jennifer Yogi, of Seattle WA - winner of the Birch Bay and Valentine Marathons this year - was third in 3:13:21.

                     

   Barefoot (210) Todd                Cheri (12) Gillis               Gunhild (69) Swanson                    Prez (1)

 

Race Report: Marc Frommer

Brief: 3:37:15 (3:38:00 - official), 6th AG, marathon #47 in the books
 What a difference a year makes. One year ago, I had to skip this race since I just had my melanoma surgery and had very sore armpits as well as a bunch of new stitches in my back. This year, I'm feeling pretty good (after the
bout with the cold from hell in February) and I was looking forward to the race. The course is one of the most scenic ones I have run (just a tad below Crater Lake and Big Sur) but it is the camaraderie and race logistics that make it wonderful. Lenore and Bob Dolphin put on a great race. It is a small race with absolutely no spectator support since you run in the canyon along a road closed to traffic and people. However, the 400+ runners are tremendously friendly and supportive.  At the pasta dinner on Friday night, Dick Beardsley of Duel in the Sun fame (one of the greatest, if not the greatest, Boston Marathons races when he dueled Alberto Salazar) was the speaker, as he was last year. (As an aside, there is a new book out called Duel in the Sun and it will be my reading for my trip to Boston -- it is waiting at the library for me). Also at the dinner was the annual appearance of the Tanned One (aka, Todd Byers) who did run barefoot, of course, but wore a singlet (Maniac yellow).

  

   May (167) Cheng and Eric (71) Gierke        Bill Barmore (215), Gayle Zorrilla (235), Lesa (49) Overfield

 

The other wonderful thing about the marathon is that it is one of the Maniacs favorite races (as well as many 50 staters -- if you are going to run one race in Washington state, this should be the one). There were around 50 Maniacs at the race and I always had a yellow singlet in sight during the entire race. One oddity was that before going to bed last night, I noticed that my bib number listed my age as 46, which as most of you know is a bit off. I guess they were going off my youthful looks as opposed to real age :-).  Actually, they made a mistake and put down my total number of marathons run instead of my age. I told them about it the next morning but on the results I was still listed as 46. One hopes it was finally corrected.

 

                      

    Eric Jensen, Mike Shiach and the Slug        Dana (121) Mosell      Marc Frommer and Kendall Kreft

 

This morning we woke to very unusual Yakima weather -- it was raining quite hard. I had visions of Victoria from 2003, which was probably the worst weather I've ever run a marathon. I ended up wearing a LS shirt with
singlet over it, shorts, and gloves/mittens. No need for the sunscreen I brought along. We caught a break with the weather after the race started and had no rain and not much wind so it actually ended up being fairly decent conditions though a bit cool. My plan for the race was total training run, somewhere in the 3:40 range and even splits. I accomplished both feats.


             

   Ruth (166) Morrow, Eric (153) Barnes and Patch (231)              Jeff (147) Perry and Kurt (61) Lauer

 

I started off with Maniac Prez Steve Yee and ran the first 5 miles or so with him. We both had to take a porta-bush break (or in this case just off the side of the road since there weren't that many trees around) at the same
time but he got going first and I didn't see him again until a lot later in the race.

 

      

    Mike Dutton            Cyndie Merten     Nathan Greene  Janet Burgess   Charles Sayles    Steve Hamling

 

Throughout the rest of the race, I usually ran with some other Maniac or just took in the scenery and listened to the river. At the end, I ran the last few miles with Maniac Kurt Lauer and we pushed each other to a good finish. The race is mostly rolling hills with a decent hill around mile 14 and a very long hill at mile 23. The last 5K is downhill and flat and you can definitely make up some time on that portion.

  

                        "Possum" (#204)                          Marc Frommer, Gregg Walchli, Earl Fenstermacher

 

After the race, I went for a little wine tasting and purchasing around Yakima Valley and then headed home for the long drive (the only bad part of the race) -- about 3.5 hours. I had an eclectic (to say the least) bunch of CDs to keep me awake and was singing along for most of the ride (Motown, Beatles, Sinatra, Pink Martini). I still don't feel I'm in as good shape as I was then but I'm hoping that my next 2 marathons in April (Boston and Oklahoma City) as well as a couple of shorter races in May will get me there.  So now it is time to take a couple of days off and start thinking about that little race on April 17. It will be a bit of a different experience than Yakima.
                                                 

     Paula (149) and Steve (150) Boone             Debbra (234) Jacobs-Robinson & Dave         Lenore/Elizabeth

 

The Post Race Gathering…Awards Ceremony

                                  

                                         Bruce (195) Quam, Bill (267) Fairgrieve and Dave (193) Conger  

 

Other Maniacs who ran Yakima but not mentioned or pictured above include Steve Barrick, Dave Bell, Jim Boyd, Tim Bruce, Amanda Cohn, Carol Dellinger, Eddie Hahn, Al Harman, Barefoot Jon, David Jones, Bruce Katter, Jon "Coconutboy" Mahoney, Van "pigtails" Phan, Maniac #3 tp!, Mike Wakabayashi, Cynthia "Draggon" Whitman, Guy Yogi and new Maniacs Barb Blumenthal and Tim Chesko

            

      Kent (222) Sizer - 2nd Overall                 Sue (7) Fauerbach                    Gary (232) Otheim

 

Running Fit Martian Marathon: From marathonguide.com.  Women's field was led by Justine Mosher, who broke the tape in 3:23:40. She was followed by Amy Yanni, of Rapid City MI, who took second in 3:23:45, and Marian Zobler, of Bethesda MD, who came in third in 3:32:47. Tom Detore, Mark Janosky

Trailbreaker Marathon: Steve Monk

American River 50 mile: Olga Varlamova

Darkside 8-hour Run: Andrew Edwards, Brenton Floyd

Moab Marathon: The marathonguide.com write-up. Peggy Nelson-Panzer, of Aurora CO - a former two time winner of the Mt. Rushmore Marathon - led the Women's field with her time of 3:21:40. Kira Pfisterer, of Boise ID, took second place in 3:23:43, and Angela Brunson, of Los Angeles CA, came in third in 3:30:05.

Robert "srlopez" Lopez, Bill Mandler, Keith Panzer, Blaine Phillips

Race Report from "srlopez": http://www.marathonmaniacs.com/Articles/MoabMarathon4.1.2006.htm

                         

 Marathon (250) Junkie          Sam (103) Thompson                      Jeff (247) Loen

April 2

Nature's Path Organic Whidbey Island Marathon - Apr 2 - Oak Harbor, WA
Is 13 an unlucky number? Approaching his 13th marathon of 2006, Chuck Engle - winner of the the 2003 and 2004 Whidbey Island Marathons and runner-up in 2005 - had set a goal: break the Whidbey Island course record (2:44:35) set by Doug Kurtis in 2001. Despite a previous best Whidbey that was five minutes slower than the record, and knowing that running a marathon each and every week doesn't leave any time to taper, Engle neverthelss felt up to the task. Running a strong race, Engle did meet his goal and bested the previous course record, posting a 2:44:19 - but in this race, that time was only good enough to gain Engle a third place finish as two other runners finished ahead of the previous record and ahead of Engle. Two local runners, on fresh legs, were apparently gunning for Engle, which was apparent as one approached Engle at the starting line and said: "Hi Chuck, I'm glad you're here...I wasn't sure that you would make it." In any case, Ian Fraser, who had posted sub-2:30 finishes in recent years at the Vermont City and Vancouver Marathons, led from the start and blasted a 2:30:56 on the hilly Whidbey course for the win and the record. Michael Lynes, 39 of Tacoma WA, finished second in 2:40:45. Engle, now with a record of 8 wins, 4 second place finishes and 1 third place finish for his 2006 marathon season finished third in 2:44:19.         

 

Race Report: Barb Bumann

Back in town after a whirlwind weekend at the Young Democrats Convention in Tacoma (where the future prez of the U.S. was asked to speak at an education panel discussion) followed by the Whidbey Island Marathon. The original intent was to drive to Yakima Saturday morning and run Bob and Lenore's race but the YD's panel discussion was at that time so there was a quick change of plans to allow one more "supported long run" before Boston.  Whidbey Island is lovely, by the way. It rained like crazy on Saturday but cleared up in the evening and stayed mild on Sunday. It was cold waiting at the start but as always the time passed reasonably quickly -- we saw Maniac "doublers" Van Phan and David Jones and there were a few other Maniac singlets as well. Later I saw Tony P. taking photos so hopefully I don't look too horrible when he puts them up on the website.


CM ran well on this course, partly because I taunted him after Tampa and said even if he took off fast I'd catch him because he was so undertrained. Well, I did see him once but only on an out-and-back section about 6 or 7
miles into the course :-). I'd try that trash-talking technique at Boston, but there's no way he's going to believe I'll make up a 30-minute delay at the start!

                           
David Jones & Barb Bumann       Judy (162) Fisher    Jon "Coconutboy" Mahoney     Steve (214) Duncan


Anyway, this isn't an easy course. Lots of hills, which after all this time you'd think I'd be better at. I'm okay but only on the *down* hills.  That's a blessing, actually, because my quads really don't feel bad the morning after and I can make up some of the time lost slogging up the hills by really leaning into the downhills. I added an additional challenge by forgetting to pack my running watch, so had no idea what my time was from beginning to end. The last couple of miles I considered asking someone the time, but thought better of it. There wasn't anything I could do about it by then, anyway :-). I decided to try to run in 4 hours as a reasonable goal for a training pace run and nailed it! In fact, the clock was just tipping over to four hours as I rounded the final corner into town. My final time was 4:00:40 or something like that!  We had chips but they were only there to record our finish time -- there were no mats anywhere on the course, including at the start.

The results went up quickly and we determined that I won my age group but I still don't know if there was anyone else *in* my age group (small race, you know). CM took third in his AG with a 3:44 and David Jones was first in his as well, even after running YRCM the day before! You Maniacs are amazing. The weather remained perfect for the entire marathon. The sun even came out as the morning wore on and it was quite pleasant at the finish line. The medals are nice and the shirts are LS coolmax. The trophy for first place AG is a big ol' statuette of a running girl which is sort of interesting. I'll take it in to work because by gosh, it looks like I won the whole race!

 

                                            
Chief photographer tp!, Doubler "pigtails" and the Junkie                          Todd Byers…a ladies Man

 
Lessons to be learned from this: I haven't had a "death march" marathon in a long time. My endurance is pretty good and I don't slow substantially at the end so the focus for a future *fast* time should be on speedwork.
That'll work out nicely for the next two weeks before Boston, because my goal is actually two weeks after that -- Bloomsday. The plan will be to *sharpen* from this point forward with shorter faster runs since I have the
base in place and see if I ran reap the rewards of that at Bloomsday and then later in May on Cap City's new course.  Other Maniacs completing Whidbey not mentioned or pictured above include were Dave Bell, Todd Byers, Monte Fus, Eddie Hahn, Dana Mosell, Cheryl Murdock and Jeff Perry.
Andrew Jackson Marathon: Brenton Floyd, Angela Ivory

Big-D Texas Marathon: Tom Timbol

Glass City: Lois Berkowitz, Tom Detore, Mark Janosky, Larry Macon, Amy Yanni, Robert Britain (won Clydesdale Division)

 

April 8

Eisenhower Marathon: Dave Bell, Brian "Action" Jackson, Marathon Junkie, Ron Knecht, Larry Macon

BRRC 50: Laura Bleakley, Jesse Leitner, Andrew Moore

Umstead 100 miler: Brenton Floyd

 

April 9

Easter Marathon: Jim Boyd, Mel Preedy

Paris International Marathon: Russ McCaffery, David Reid

Spirit of St. Louis Marathon: Barefoot Rick Roeber, Minh Dang, Brian "Action" Jackson, Robert "srlopez" Lopez, Larry Macon, Don Pattison, Lisa Spence

Ironman Arizona: Lauri "the Kid" Fauerbach-Adams

ORRR: Tom Detore, Mark Janosky, Larry Macon

Peterson Ridge Rumble: Christel Elliot, Monte Fus, Jeff Perry, Van "pigtails" Phan, Maura Schwartz

 

April 15

Charlottsville Marathon: Mark Janosky, Rick Korecki, Marathon Junkie, Edward McGowan

Anatolie Vartosu and Chuck Engle had met at the 2003 Little Rock Marathon with the result that Vartosu was the winner and Engle took second place. When the two saw each other at the starting line, they knew they would need to watch each other on this course. With temperatures in the high 80s, high humidity and a tough course, the two pushed each other alternately surging and trying to break each other. By mile 20, Engle had proven himself to be stronger than Vartosu in this go-around and began to move away from his competitor who seemed to be cramping up. But the competition had taken its toll on Engle as well and from behind, Steven Chorma was gaining and pushed ahead of the weakened Engle. Chorma continued to a win at the finish line, setting a personal best by more than six minutes. 

 

Capitol Peak 50 miler: Christel Elliot, Arthur Martineau, Sean Meissner, Van "pigtails" Phan

Lake McMurtry Trail Run: Helmut Linzbichler

 

      Bobbie (#87) Howard in Paris…but not for the marathon!  

 

    

                                                                Maniac #55 Alicia Britt pre-Boston finish

April 17

Boston Marathon: The Big-Time Blow-up: Bonkfest in Beantown…courtesy of Maniacs #1 and #2

Going into the Boston Marathon, #1 and #2 didn't have high expectations of running a fast race due to their lack of training.  All that we concentrated on was getting to the finish without hurting too badly.

 

We flew in Friday evening and had a room waiting for us at the Marriot Copley courtesy of #55 Alicia Britt, a true Maniac sweetheart.  A late night meal at the Champions Sports Bar left our stomach's feeling sluggish, with the first of many beers to come. Bedtime was 2:00 AM.  The following morning #2 wanted to go on a short run so while half asleep, we ran to the Boston Common Park.  As much as #2 wanted to partake in a leisurely ride in the pink swan boats, our schedule was hurried. After a quick bite to eat and the recurring Starbuck's fix, we meandered down to the Expo (Seaport World Trade Center), where the crowds were enormous.  Immediately we went to the marathonguide.com booth, whom were graciously allowing the Maniacs to share their space.  Manning the booth were #3 tp and Gary Geuss, with Maniac #54 John Elliott (owner of marathonguide.com) and friend Sharon supplying the computer expertise.  That first day, we "ran" across Maniacs Keith and Peggy Nelson-Panzer, Patrick Kanold, Richard Ervais, Andrew Moore, Ruben Contreras and Bob and Lenore Dolphin.  Gary Allen was volunteering at his booth, the Mt. Desert Island Marathon, where he is also the race director.  Later in the day, we were gracious enough to have the services of Jim Bitgood and David Dassey.  The Main Maniacs were registered to work at the "Official Merchandise Booth" (Marc Frommer did), but instead opted for the marathonguide booth. I think we may be banned for life at the booth. Boston merchandise volunteer Evan may never forgive us and we may have bought the last of the official jackets last year.  In other words…NO MORE DISCOUNTS for us!

              

        tp!, Gary Guess, Hollywood, Peggy Nelson-Panzer and Keith Panzer                    Gary "MDI"(59) Allen

 

Day 2: Same old routine, back to the expo. More Maniac sightings.

                          

QuickMick (196) Allen   Clay (183) Hathorn & Sara (175) Heskett   Jim (160) Bitgood & David (96) Dassey

 

Race morning…the seemingly never-ending bus ride.  Tom Neuman joined us and away from Boston Common we went. 

 

Maniacs at the Athlete's Village

   

Bekkie Wright          Laura Bleakley and tp!                   Larry Macon             Rob Cowan and Alicia Britt

The Prez and Hollywood made the unenviable mistake of going into corral #2 (our assigned corral), knowing full well we had no business being there, with the likes of "QuickMick Allen". Our strategy was simple. Try for 8:00 minute miles early on and hang on for dear life later. The gun sounded and immediately we were in trouble. Our first few miles averaged 7:40, so we tried to back it down. Along the way, the Maniacs started to pass us. First Ruben, then Peggy and Robert Bens, and finally Alicia. Our 10km split was a shade over 47 minutes. As much we tried to slow our pace, we were being "sucked" into the Boston Marathon "vortex of fast runners".  The downhills were having an effect on our legs. If we could just hang on for a few miles we knew that renewed energy would come our way. Already we could sense the excitement, the magnetism that was generated by the enormous screams of the Wellesley co-eds. For the first Boston ever, the Prez and Hollywood officially stopped and planted Maniac "seal of approvals" on the inviting lips of two of the loveliest co-eds in Wellesley.  Did this regenerate our energy level or did we just succumb to temptation? After we passed the screams and cheers, once again our legs felt weak. We used up our energy on the wrong body parts!

 

More Maniacs were appearing and disappearing in a blink of an eye. Don Pattison and Laura Bleakley. For Laura, it must have been a race as she greeted us and the next second…whoosh! Clay Hathorn then scurried on past. On the Newton Hills, our feet were glued to the pavement, allowing the Steve Supkoff curse to continue. Steve and I joke around that since I haven't beat him in quite some time, there must be a curse on me; the roles were reversed last year.  We were still running but the pace was excruciatingly slow. Bonking was inevitable. Amy Yanni passed us with words of encouragement and asked us if we needed water. We must've looked really bad. But the coup de grace was when the great Marc Frommer passed us. It was more than we could mentally handle. Now we knew we had to spring for beers for a "Down with the Main Maniacs" bet. Possibly if tp! could run a 2:35, we'd still be OK.  At one of the late water stops we noticed a Maniac singlet. We tried to catch up but we were almost spent. We think it was Andre Boulais (it wasn't, he was WAY ahead).  Finally, Hollywood turned into Hollow. He wished the Prez well as after 23 miles, we were on our own…a sad ending to a very sad day.  The Prez says, "where's the Citgo sign", while Hollywood chimes "where's the next water stop so I can walk"! Onto Boylston, the Prez sees the finish banner. On Commonwealth Avenue, Hollywood's right quad is cramping. He looks for diversions…where are the co-eds? He points at a Boston beauty and exhalts, "I'm going to start running, JUST FOR YOU"! She trembles, her hearts a fluttering. And then pandemonium breaks out. "JUST FOR ME"! Another duty performed by the Maniacs, always thinking of others, even when we're in pain! The Prez has finished, now just waiting for his compatriot. Keith Panzer finishes, telling me that the lights are no longer shining on Hollywood. Future Prez Chris Marr comes through the chutes. But where is Hollywood? Finally he staggers in, a limping and a gimping.   

     

     From left to right: Maniacs 1, 207, 60, 9, 2, 130, 40, 3 and 34                        Tom (99) Neuman

 

We saw most of the Maniacs there except Barb Bumann, Cheri Gillis, Andrea Hill, Don "the Rev" Kienz, Valerie Kilcoin and Greg Roth.

 

 

Post Race Gathering: While many of the Maniacs enjoyed the usual fare at John Harvard's in Cambridge, it wasn't in the cards for #1, #2 and #55. Hollywood was "hobbling" on a very sore Achilles tendon, making it very difficult to make the mile long journey to the nearest "T" station. After minutes of hot and heavy deliberation, we decided it was best to find a place to eat near our hotel. And eat we did! We all gorged ourselves on 16 oz Filet Mignon's in one of Boston's upscale restaurants (the Blackfin Raw Bar and Chop House). Unfortunately the bill for the three of us was probably more than the one for the combined John Harvard's meal. Oh well, you gotta live it up once in a while.  On our way back to the Marriott, #1 and #2 were fortunate to enjoy the esteemed company of three of Liberty Lake's finest and most beautiful ironwomen (aka Beth, Cheryl and Teri). While we were drowning our sorrows due to not making the John Harvard rendezvous, these future Maniac ladies consoled us, drank with us and made us laugh till the wee hours.  But as you can see, Hollywood was hard at work doing his best recruiting effort, so all was not lost.  Look closely, she's holding a Maniac Card!  What a great way to end another Boston trip! So let's do it again and hope to see you all in Beantown in 2007. Bad news...Mariners lost.

                

      Hollywood says "the drinks are on me"!      The "other" Chris says…Vote for me and I'll set you free!

 

April 22

Albuquerque Marathon: Blaine Phillips, Andy Smith

Double Chubb 50km: Helmut Linzbichler

Haw Ridge 50km: Brenton Floyd

Quachita Trail 50-miler: Andrew Edwards

Pine Line Trail Marathon: Larry Macon, Steve Monk

 

                         

Larry Macon and Steve Monk at Pine Trail       Franklin (#79) Mason and wife at Boston's Logan Airport

 

April 23

Germany to France Marathon: Kevin Brosi, Ron Bucy, Tom Detore, Mark Janosky, Robert "srlopez" Lopez, Larry Macon, Terry Sentinella

Katrina Relief Marathon: The Mississippi Track Club held a low-key marathon to raise money to help with what remains of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina. The marathon was hastily constructed in the previous two months and received little publicity and a small showing, but was successful in raising some needed funds. Having won the Mississippi Marathon earlier in the year - Chuck Engle attended the Katrina Relief Marathon in his hometown and easily won the event, his 18th marathon and 9th win for the year. Engle, who has been working on a two-part goal for 2006: be competitive in 50+ marathons in 2006, and complete each of the marathons in 2:49 or less; notched his win with a 2:46:00 time. Engle told us: "It was not a competitive marathon, but I wanted to support this local fundraiser and I welcomed the chance to run a marathon without another weekend of travel." Randy Jackson, 37 of River Ridge LA, finished in second place more than forty-five minutes back at 3:31:47. Ryan Miller of Warren MI was third in 3:49:46. Among the women, Nicole Mills of Naperville IL was first in 3:52:12. Lee Johnson was second woman in 4:13:20.

 

Mt Si 50km: Bill Barmore, Eric Barnes, David Conger, Bill Fairgrieve, Judy Fisher, Eric Gierke, Mary Latta, Tim Lofton, Stacy "Possum" Otter, Bruce Quam, Diana "slug" Robinson, Steve Supkoff, Rob Willis, Gayle Zorrilla

50 miler: Christel Elliott, Monte Fus, Cheri Gillis, Robert Hester, Genia "Tipoes" Kacey, Kendall Kreft, Jeff Loen,  Arthur Martineau, Kate Merrill, Van "pigtails" Phan

 

Wenatchee Marathon: Janet Burgess, Amanda Cohn, Sue Fauerbach, Earl Fenstermacher, David Jones, Wendy Marshall, Jim Morton, Gary Otheim, Mel Preedy, Michael Shiach, CJ "Hollywood" Warren, Steven Yee, Jen Yogi and Maniacs pictured below.  Race Report: Eddie Hahn

On a cool, clear, bright, and sunny day we formed up near down town Wenatchee’s Centennial Park for the second running of the Wenatchee Marathon. Maniacs were well represented and could be observed in their many yellow and black singlet(s) (With the exception of the beloved Prez,Steven Yee, in white). The Marathon course did an out and back 10 Kilometer on the through Wenatchee and near the West side of the Columbia River before performing two 10 mile counter clockwise loops on bicycle footpaths on both the West and East Sides.

 

Speaking of bike paths, bikes seemed to be the theme of the event. Packet pick up was at a bicycle shop (I could buy a nice dependable used car for the price of some of the bikes I saw in there...), Marathon runners occasionally jostled with bikers for space on the marathon route, which took place primarily on bike paths.

Along the hybrid-desert, croppings and pockets of trees provided shade along with a stiff headwind that cooled one off to the point of regretting shedding earlier long sleeves (not to be overlooked was a token stretch bypassing the endemic sage brush) on the East side,  while a tail wind and open areas on the West side quickly warmed us back up, even to baking excess.

                         

Mike Wakabayashi  Lesa Overfield/Eric Jensen    May Cheng       Eddie Hahn/Tim Bruce      Tim Pate

 

The views of the surrounding mountain ranges provided a quaint distraction, and the mighty wide Columbia River was quite a piece of scenery to behold. The amazing thing about the course from a marathoning point of view was the fact that one could cross such a broad river, and have such a moderate payback in bridge inclines.

To say they were palatable would be accurate, though they were probably a little tougher than the two or three rolling hills elsewhere on the course. Anyone who has run the Saint John’s Bridge in the Portland (Oregon) marathon can appreciate what I am saying.  Aid stations were generally two miles apart, and the latter carbo stations had gu, and banana slices, but the oatmeal raisin cookies were an especially nice touch.

 

The community seemed to really get behind the event in general where support was concerned, and there was larger participation in the accompanying (kids 2 KM, 5KM, 10KM and ½ Marathon as one would expect for a smaller event such as this. Refreshments provided at the end were consistent with what one would expect based on the entry fee, medals was awarded to finishers, and gift certificates to overall and age group winners. (To this end I would recommend a change, since apparently all race distances received the same finisher’s award.) As the medals are covered with a paper sticker it wouldn’t be much additional work to adorn them separately for each distance.

 

April 29

Country Music Marathon: Philip DeYoung, Brenton Floyd, Angela Ivory, Brian "Action" Jackson, Tom Karpowich, Russ McCaffery, Don Pattison, John Richeson, Charles Sayles, Fiona Wright

Kentucky Derby Marathon: Robert Britain, Tim Chesko, Mark Janosky, Ron Westbury

Trestle Valley Marathon: Paula Boone, Steve Boone, Milos Kostic, Amy Yanni (2nd overall female)

Triple Crown Trail Marathon: Dave Bell

Vancouver Discovery Walk Marathon: Pete "Hippo" Nicholson

Zane Grey Highline 50 mile: Andy Kumeda, Olga Varlamova

 

April 30

Big Sur International Marathon: Diva Burns, Eddie Hahn, Todd King, Rick Korecki, Robert "srlopez" Lopez, Jon "Coconutboy" Mahoney, Dan Marvin, Amanda & Grace Preble, Diana "slug" Robinson, Barefoot KenBob Saxton, Dennis Spurlock.  Race Report from Don "The Rev" Kienz

 

We may have found the most beautiful American marathon.  Put it on your future must-do list, and start running hills a good four-to-six years before you go. I’ll let the pictures do much of the describing.  Suffice it to say the coastline between Big Sur and Carmel is uniquely visible halfway up the cliffs along Route 1, and nothing quite matches seeing all of the views as being on foot does.  The ocean is active, with strong, clear waves crashing against the various rock and cliff formations in dramatic coves or along long, sweeping beaches, and the various wild flowers, bushes, and trees growing right along the cliffs add colorful contrasts that distract and awe your eyes frequently, nearly continuously in the second half of the run.

  

                      Highway 1                  Rick Korecki, the sLuG, and "srlopez"

 

The most famous hill was the least punishing because of its early appearance (miles 10-12), whereas the smaller hills at 19 and 22 can (did) exact a more serious toll.  The organizers sprinkle a variety of musical offerings along the course, so between nature and the music, the absence of spectators (and similarly the absence of residential and commercial districts) is immaterial and fine.   The organizers also did a superb job from our perspective in all ways, so what looks like a potential logistical nightmare in the reading really went remarkably smoothly, the only discomfort being a bit tight staging area, but one isn’t there all that long anyway.

 

We’re going back, and while nature takes first billing for the event, we have to comment about the great privilege and benefits of being involved in the Marathon Maniacs. This trip, besides meeting a number of relative newcomers, we created at the last minute a contingent of four that gathered together for meals and sightseeing (and the sights were delightfully worth seeing, while the restaurants were terrific along the coast and in the towns of Monterey and Carmel).  The serendipity: we were one from Hawaii, one from Washington, one from Pennsylvania, and one from Florida, all running a marathon in southern California.  Jim McKay on the old ABC’s Wide World of Sports never spanned the globe quite so splendidly.  And we had the eclectic breadth of marathon experiences of SRLopez, the “its all good” happy energy of Diana SluG Robinson, the impeccable decision-making logic and dead-pan humor of computer whiz Rick Korecki, and I (Kienz) thoughtfully made sure that the other three had a nice hour rest at the end of the race in the grass and sunshine with the generous post-race food before going back to town.  Good to keep things “balanced”.

 

BPAC 6 hour: Laura Bleakley

Frederick Marathon: Dave Bell, Barefoot Todd, Jesse Leitner

New Jersey Marathon: Lauri "The Kid" Fauerbach Adams, Marathon Junkie, Jack Heely, Helmut Linzbichler, Andrew Moore, Michael Shilling, Michael Szklarz

Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon: Andrew Edwards, Marc Frommer, Jim Geiger, Debbra Jacobs - Robinson, David Knapp, Ron Knecht, David Malone

 

The Marathon Maniacs…Family Ties

                    

        Steve ( 34 ) Supkoff and Family at Boston         Amanda (239) Cohn, hubby and Dad at Wenatchee

                   

 Big Sur: Amanda & Grace (181) Preble, Dan (270) Marvin         Gary (145) Geuss and wife Sarah: Boston

 

Noteworthy Accomplishments / Promotions / Omissions / Maniac Stuff:

 

Ø       Iridium Maniac: Eddie Hahn for completing the Yakima River Canyon and Whidbey Island Marathons on back to back days

Ø       Silver Maniac: Edward McGowan for completing 6 marathons in 5 months

Ø       200 Marathon Mark: Todd Byers (Frederick Marathon)

Ø       Van Phan: early leader in the point standings for the Trail Runner series

Ø       Sean Meissner sighting…May Issue of Trail Runner, pages 42-44

Ø       Maniac #76 Chris Marr is running for State Senate in Washington. 

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.

           

New Members for the Month of April

4/03  - Barb Blumenthal #268 (Sammamish, Washington): The Main Maniacs, as well as other Maniacs have seen Barb at various races over the years.  A speedy runner, she recently completed the Chuckanut 50km and the Yakima Marathon to qualify for Bronze status.


4/06 - Vincent Ferraro #269 (Delmar, New York): Vincent is a great testament that running can start later in life. After having heart surgery at the age of 52, he started running 2 years later (2001). Since that time, Vincent has run 49 marathons in 47 states. He plans on completing the 50-state circuit at the Portland Marathon this October. His best streak occurred in 2005 when he completed 14 marathons in 14 states.  Thus, Vincent, we crown you 5-star Ruthenium Status.

4/07 - Dan Marvin #270 (Honolulu, Hawaii): Dan has the pleasure of being married to Maniac #181 Amanda Preble (he claims she made him sign up for Maniacdom), making them the 6th husband and wife Maniac combo.  Late last year, Dan completed the Air Force, Marine Corps and Honolulu Marathons to qualify him for bronze status. His lifetime totals include 10 marathons and 1 ultra. And if you look in the Insane Asylum and notice another name by Maniac #181, it was because she ran 3 marathons carrying daughter Grace.   
 
4/11 - Tim Chesko #271 (Lockport, New York): Tim is certainly on a mission to complete the 50-state circuit. Since 2004, he has completed 22 marathons in 20 states.  By virtue of running 9 marathons in 9 different states last year, Tim gets the 4-star Iridium treatment.  He came all the way to Yakima but somehow we missed him!

4/12 - Andy Smith #272 (Bismark, North Dakota): Andy has run a total of 50 marathons and 1 ultra (in 44 states)  and on two occasions has run marathons on back-to back days, the latest being Tybee Island and Ocala. It's a great honor to grant you 4-star Iridum status into the Maniac realm.


4/13 - Stephanie Day #273 (Bremerton, Washington): Stephanie ran her debut marathon in Portland in 2004, and the next year she runs 9. That kind of behavior best exemplifies what a Maniac should be.  Stephanie, along with California fiancée and Maniac #266 Rob Cowan maintain a long-distance relationship, and well on their way to becoming one of the next husband-wife Maniac combos.

 

4/19 - Dennis Linehan #274 (Skokie, Illinois): Dennis has completed a total of 53 marathons in 48 states. He plans on completing the 50 state circuit and DC this September.  He is also the New Balance Pace Team Coordinator for the LaSalle Chicago Marathon. His back-back marathons qualifies him as an Iridium Maniac.


4/24 - Peggy Shashy #275 (Jacksonville, Florida): Peggy was recently at the Whidbey Island Marathon where she picked up a prize for coming the longest distance to run there. She has completed a total of 14 marathons in 12 states and her best streak includes 3 in 3 months (Disney World, Mardi Gras and Whidbey Island). So Peggy, welcome to the Insane World of the Insane Asylum.

 

4/25 - Genia "Tiptoes" Kacey #276 (Seattle, Washington): Another newly inducted Bronze Maniac, "Tiptoes" stared marathoning in 2005.  Her recent streak of 3 in 3 months comprised of an unusual trifecta: the Invest In Youth 50km, Yakima Canyon Marathon and recently the Mt. Si 50 miler. Now that's a lot of miles!


4/26 - Michael Wojcio #277 (Kenilworth, New Jersey): The Founding Maniacs met Mike briefly at the Tampa Marathon Expo, so something must have "clicked" since he opted to join the Insane Asylum.  Having just missed his Maniac initiation on his birthday by one day (I think it was our fault), Mike is a patriotic runner who wears a shirt that reads on the back "Dedicated to the Servicemen and Women who died for US & 9/11.  To date he has run 96 marathons, and plans to run his 100th at New York City later this year.

 
                               

 

 

 

Rhetorical Revelations and W(Rites)…from the Rambunctious Rev

                                                                                                 

Currently on a LONG Spring Break……We think he got lost in Wellesley and has no intentions of leaving!

So was that a "clone" who was at Big Sur with Rick, the Slug and "srlopez"???

 

Maniac Ongoing Discounts


· $5 off marathons put on by Bob Green (his next one is the Gateway to the Pacific Marathon).
· 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 May / June 2006 Newsletter and to the web site soon.

The President has written…

 

                     
Maniac Dick Beardsley tells Ruben Contreras…"Man, you're staying in room 209, the address to the hotel is 209. It's a sign, you're going to run a 2:09 at Yakima!