Marathon Maniacs News Letter – July 2004

 

The month of July got off to a blistering, or shall I say sweltering start as Lisa Stranc-Bliss accomplished the amazing feat of completing the Badwater 135 mile ultramarathon.  Some say Badwater is the most demanding, extreme and prestigious ultramarathon running race in the world.  Fantastic job, Lisa!   

 

We launched, We finally launched…the new and improved InSane AsyLum…read below!!

                       

Race Reviews

July 4

Can you think of a better way to spend Independence Day than to run in a marathon?  Maniacs David Hipps, Marc Frommer, Mark Looi, Chris Warren, Tony Phillippi and Steven Yee did just that at the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon in Portland, Oregon.  Held entirely on the agricultural community of Sauvie Island, two loops comprised this fast course.  It must’ve been fast, as all six of us finished with Boston Qualifiers in this race! Kudos to Tony…another BQ in BITE sandals.

 

July 10

Ouch! It’s a long, long drive from the Seattle area to southern Oregon’s Mount Ashland area for the S.O.B (Siskiyou out and back) 50K trail run but Kurt Lauer, Chris Warren and Tony Phillippi made the trek.  A much shorter drive from Corvallis, future maniac Meghan Arbogast also ran in the ultra.

 

July 11

The largest maniac gathering in July occurred at the Gateway to the Pacific Marathon. Under the tutelage of the infamous Bob Green, the race starts in Vance County Park in the sleepy town of Elma, Washington and features an out and back course on seldom traveled roads. Maniacs Bob and Lenore Dolphin, Ruben Contreras, Dennis Spurlock, Jennifer Yogi, Guy Yogi, Chris Warren, Tony Phillippi, Steven Yee and future maniac Marie Bartoletti were present. With only 24 finishers in the marathon, the maniac clan represented a third of that group.  We sure know how to put $$ in Bob’s pockets!

 

Jennifer was the first female (3:25:42) and fifth overall. Ruben ran his consistently strong race (3:14:30) and finished third overall. Tony and Chris finished way further back but can you blame them? They ran the S.O.B. ultra the day before. Way to run, Palladium Men! Everyone ends up a winner in Bob’s races as he personally presents each finisher with a trophy and finishers medal.

 

For those of you who may not know, race director Bob Green offers a $5 discount for maniacs who enter any of his races.  His next scheduled marathon is in late October, the Halloween Marathon. 

 

Calgary Marathon: Carol Dellinger….there’s no stopping Carol!

Half Voyageur Trail Marathon: Tom Detore….there’s also no stopping Tom!

 

July 12 – 14

The start of Kiehl’s Badwater Ultramarathon got UltraManiac Lisa Stranc Bliss all fired up.  She’s got to be thinking “all this running on a treadmill in the sauna is going to pay off!” What a performance she put on.  Her finish time of 37 hours and 41 minutes put her 15th overall out of 57 official finishers, as well as the third woman finisher.  Just some of the gory physical details of the course…Badwater, Death Valley is the lowest point in the United States (-282 feet).  The race finishes at the Mt. Whitney Portals at nearly 8300 feet.  To finish the race, you must have traversed three mountain ranges for a total of 13,000 feet elevation gain and 4700 feet of descent.  Add to that was the highest recorded temperature in Death Valley so far this year during the race…120 F.  Can you say Furnace Creek! Unfortunately, Lisa is so swamped at the moment (she’s also one of the medical directors of the Western States 100) that she didn’t have time to write a race report, but when she does, you all will be the first to know the details! 

 

July 17

University of Okiboji: Tom Detore provided this assessment of the race: “Okoboji is one of them on my list to avoid. It is a boring course with nothing but water at the aid stations. When I finished there were only bananas and bubble gum to eat. Ruth had only bubble gum. There was some sports drink at the finish”.  And there you have it! Trouble is, some maniac is going to want to run this Okiboji as this seems to be the only marathon that particular weekend.

 

Devastating fires near the Lake Tahoe Nevada State Park region forced the cancellation of the Tahoe Rim Trail Endurance Runs.  Did that stop Cathy Troisi?  Of course not, she’s a hard-core maniac! While disappointing to many of the participants, Cathy and a few others managed to run in their own trail marathon that day.

 

July 24

Deseret News Marathon: Bill Mandler. Held on Utah’s Pioneer Days, this race is full of extremes: start/finish temperature and elevation. 

 

Jay Mountain Marathon: You want a real adventure? Steve Monk says this is one tough marathon. He finished in 8+ hours.  Below is a short description, straight from the race website:

 

Racer director's warning: The Jay Mountain marathon is considered by our own participants, the hardest marathon ever put together. See Tom's journal on the top right hand side corner of this page. Also you should take the time to read what other racers had to say by visiting the comment section of our race on www.marathonguide.com. This is a trail marathon, and using the word trail is stretching it. A section is actually a bushwack from flagging tape to flagging tape, another section will take you on a deer trail leading to a mountain brook. Yes you will have to run in the brook for about 1 mile. At approximately mile 17 you will have to cross a 50 foot wide river in order to reach Aid station # 6.Only the adventurous, experience trail runner and fit athlete should sign up for this race. You will get wet, very muddy and you will end up with scratch on your legs.

This is NOT a normal marathon. Most of our runners double and some triple their PR.

 

Hmmm, any maniacs want to try Jay Mountain next year? UltraManiacs? It’s right up your alley!

 

July 31

Those ultramaniacs were at it again, converging near the Mount Rainier area for the White River 50-mile trail run. This perennial Pacific Northwest favorite since 1994 served as this year’s USTAF trail run championship race.  Offering the majestic scenery of the mountain and a staggering 17,000 feet of elevation gain and loss, these maniacs were up to the task: Cheri Gillis (13:09), Glenn Tachiyama (10:49), Tony Covarrubias (10:01), Anne-Marie Thiessen (9:43), Van Phan (10:06), Tony Phillippi (9:03) and future maniac Meghan Arbogast (8:34).  UltraManiac volunteers on the course included Tim Lofton and Kendell Kreft.  According to the sandals guy, a fun time was had by all, even with the warm temperatures.  Notable performances include Meghan as the 6th woman overall and an impressive 50 mile debut by Annie.  Glenn summed it eloquently….Annie is an Annie(mal)!!

 

Just a tad bit south, the Mount Hood Pacific Crest Trail 50 mile ultramarathon was run by Maura Schwartz and Dude Spellings.

 

Wow, two ultras run in the shadow of two volcanoes…what a way to end the month of July!

 

Noteworthy Accomplishments: 

Ø      Palladium Men: Tony (sandals guy) Phillippi and Chris Warren achieved the coveted 7 star status, elevating them to Palladium level.  They both completed 13 marathons/ultras in a 12 week period. Way to go guys! (I still say Spiderman is my hero!).

Ø      Ann-Marie Thiessen advanced to Silver status with 9 marathons in 12 months.

Ø      One last hurrah for Lisa Stranc Bliss. We can’t say enough about her accomplishment!

 

The New InSane AsyLum

(in the immortal words of the Sandals guy, aka the Webmaster!)

 

Some of you may have heard the news; for others this may be news to them. It all started back in April 2004, while Steve, Chris and I were at the Boston Marathon Expo. At the time we were in different places inside the Expo.  I got a call from Chris on the Maniac phone, “Tony, John Elliott from Marathon Guide is here”! Being the humble web master of the InSane AsyLum, I dropped everything and went straight over to his booth.

 

I started picking his mind for information on how we could possibly control the InSane Asylum. The membership is out of control with no end in sight! The Maniacs are out of control; we have run a combined total of more than 4,000 Marathons!!! We have the most awesome gathering of Marathoners in the World!

 

Well, John says, “Tony, a database is the way to go”. I explained to him in high tech computer lingo that I don't know anything about building a database. I said “John, I have no idea how to build a database”!

 

John replies, “Tony, we can definitely help you”.

 

We exchanged cards and he said “email me, and if I don't get back to you email me again, and again”. Several weeks pass and the InSane AsyLum is getting even crazier. I am getting computer over load. I need to run, I need to sleep! I email John; there’s no response for weeks. I'm not one to bother someone but he said bother me till I get back to you. I email him again...weeks go by.

 

Then it happened. I got an email from the Marathon Gods themselves. It’s John! “Tony, your mail got covered up by more mail but I remember seeing it so I went back and found your mail. Lets do this thing”!

 

Since then we have been working together on building the Marathon Maniacs Database. It is interactive, so you can add yourself to the races in the Race Calendar. You can also add/update your Marathon statistics which will create a link on your name to your Marathon History.  Another bonus…we have a Maniac Message board for members only! 

 

We are very excited about this; the transition is going smoothly. It has been a lot of work but nothing is too good for such an amazing group of Marathoners. We sincerely hope you will enjoy the new features. Thanks for being such great Maniacs!  And a big thanks to you John and to marathonguide.com for putting up with us and including us in your marathon family!

 

****Please note: While we are trying our best to stay up to date with all of our members and all of the races they run, unfortunately we may have missed some of you.  If we did, it wasn’t intentional!!! To make sure we get all your races and that you get recognition on the website marquee as well as the monthly newsletter, we are asking you to send us an e-mail each time you run a marathon.  This will make it easier to keep the Insane Asylum up to date and your personal count correct.  Thank you for your help in making this a great marathon club!

 

New Members for the Month of July

 

Bruce Katter, Washington (7/4/04)

 

Franklin Mason, South Carolina (7/11/04)

 

Scott Diamond, Oregon (7/21/04)

 

UPCOMING MANIAC RACES

 

8/13 – Around the Lake Marathon (Jack Thornton)

8/14 – Crater Lake Marathon (Bob and Lenore Dolphin, Chris Warren, Steven Yee)

8/15 – Humpy’s Marathon (Steve Monk, Marie Bartoletti)

8/21 – Grizzly Marathon (Diana Robinson, Steve Supkoff, Steve Monk, Sue Fauerbach, Steven Yee, Mike Shiach)

8/21 – Tongass Marathon (Gregg Walchli)

8/21 – Where’s Waldo (Maura Schwartz, Lisa Stranc Bliss)

8/28 – Cascade Crest 100-miler (Tony Covarrubias, Kendell Kreft)

8/28 – Mesa Falls Marathon (Bill Mandler, Steven Yee)

9/12 – Skagit Flats Marathon (Janet Burgess, Bob and Lenore Dolphin, Cheri Gillis, Carol Dellinger, Diana Robinson, Ruben Contreras, Kurt Lauer, Tim Lofton, Dale Shoup, Mark Looi, Tony Phillippi, Chris Warren, Steve Yee)

9/18 – Top of Utah Marathon (Jennifer Yogi, Guy Yogi, Susan Marshall, Steve Supkoff, Bill Mandler, Tony Phillippi, Chris Warren, Steven Yee)

10/7-10/9 – Tahoe Triple: 3 marathons in 3 days! (Anne-Marie Thiessen, Cathy Troisi, Tom Detore, Chris Warren, Tony Phillippi, Steven Yee) Sorry to say you missed your chance as registration is full for this trifecta.  However, Les Wright, the race director mentioned that there is a short waiting list, so if you’re even remotely pursuing the option of participating, by all means e-mail him…you might hit the jackpot.

10/9 – Lake Tahoe Marathon (Sue Fauerbach)

10/10 – Bizz Johnson Trail Marathon (Ann-Marie Thiessen, Sue Fauerbach, Chris Warren, Tony Phillippi, Steven Yee)

Annie is calling this “Quadzilla” to cap off an exciting weekend after the Tahoe Triple.

 

12/04 – Reggae Marathon (Nelsen Petersen) Join Nelsen from Destination Marathon for this exciting 5-day, 4-night winter adventure. For more information, go to the maniac website, and under maniac links go to Destination Marathon.  The information can be found under the heading “Video Journeys”. But don’t delay…there are only 12 spots available!

 

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

·         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)

 

We are working hard to procure discounts for a variety of products, not only local but nationwide.

 

                                                End of the Year Maniac Awards

 

That’s right Maniacs, we still plan to have “End of the Year” Maniac Awards.  The founding Maniacs are still working out the details.

 

More to come in the August Newsletter and to the web site soon. 

 

The President has written…