ORC Sunday Morning Runs

Follow-on to February 5 Run

2012-02-07T10:43:00.001-05:00

Melbourne Half Marathon

Two of our runners competed on Sunday and reported in:

Jeff Hyson:

"On the name for our group - how about "Sunday Fun Run". It is always fun to run with our group!

Ran the Melbourne half marathon today (2:10). Not my best time but it was very humid and there were 2 huge bridges."

Kirsty Walker

"Thanks for remembering me. I ran the Melbourne Half on Sunday in 2:26. I knew it was too hot and humid for a PR as soon as I stepped outside but I did the first 6 miles on the fast side anyway and ended up short on gas for the final bridge crossing at mile 11. The downhill helped get me moving to the finish. Good bridge experience, nice shirt and medal. The bands along the route were fun including the grand piano player in a tux atop the first bridge."

Congratulations to both of you!

Proposed Name Change for the Sunday Run

Five members posted their comments on the blog and appear to agree with my reasoning. In addition, Seth, Mark and Jeff replied directly to me and they also agree:

Mark Hefferin:

"I think you're right on target and having optional mileage will encourage more participation. I'm just getting back to 2-3 mile runs... "

Seth:

"I agree with you. "The Sunday Run" is preferable."

I got a good chuckle from those who teased me about the Sunday "Ruin". Rest assured that we don't wand to "ruin" anyone's Sunday run. What I found to be hilarious is that in zinging me for my slip-up typo (that spell check missed), Chris questioned whether the change would be a "deferent" to new runners. I think he meant "deterrent" Is that right, Chris? Or was this just a "run pun" to have fun?

Would appreciate more feedback from the group.

UK Visitor:

It looks like we will have Marina Odey visiting us in March. She is training for the Bristol, U.K. marathon in April and hopes to join us on one or two Sundays. Hopefully we will be able to accommodate her. I will get back to the group when I have her schedule and pace.

Thanks!

Jack

February 5 Ruin

2012-02-05T12:34:00.000-05:00

Today's Run

Would you believe 23 runners turning out this morning? And better yet, we welcomed back Jorge and Danny after their recent Sunday sabbaticals. Good to see you two back in the saddle!

Rose and Helene did double duty this weekend since they both did Lady Track Shack on Saturday. Rose placed third in her age and Helene turned in a very respectable performance.

Dede has asked for prayers for her sister-in-law's niece who has been hospitalized. Dede ran early so she could be with the family this morning.

Another New Addition

Please welcome Meredith who joined us for the first time with her Dad who was visiting from West Palm. I am taking the liberty of adding you to our "roster", Meredith. Let me know if prefer to opt out. Also, great to meet you and your father.

Technically, Meredith showed up last week but missed us by a few minutes. Today she and her father were introduced to the six mile loop. Hope you found your way back OK!

Re-naming the Sunday "Long" Run

Looking at the ORC website recently, it suddenly struck me that we characterize the Sunday Run as the "Sunday Long Run". I believe that we are giving the wrong signal to use the term "long" and that we may be effectively discouraging prospective runners who automatically assume that they do not or cannot handle "long" runs.

My feeling is that we should re-designate our name simply as "The Sunday Run" and invite runners of all speeds and distances from two miles to whatever to join the group. This, in fact, is what has been happening for all of the 25 years I've been running with the group. We do have two, three, four, five, six and seven mile loops in addition to the nine, ten and eleven mile loops

In the recent past we have hosted a number of shorter distance runners wanting to build mileage. Examples include runners such as Dede who initially ran short and gradually built up mileage.

Bottom line is that if novice runners know they are welcome and that they will have our help in doing shorter loops, we all stand to gain.

Please weigh in on the above. To me, it seems like a no-brainer.

Have a great week!

Jack

January 29, 2012 Run

2012-01-29T11:58:00.001-05:00

With 17 or runners out this morning, we seem to be maintaining a higher turnout for the first month of 2012. This is a good sign and we should build on that for the rest of the year. A very positive development is that we have had a half dozen new people join our runs since the start of the year.

It's not yet like "the good old days" when we could draw 50 runners on a Sunday morning. However, the local running scene is a different world now, mainly because a large number of people run with the Marathonfest and Galloway training programs on both Saturdays and Sundays. Some of our runners like Wendy, Seth and Kirsty are members of both groups. Congratulations to Kirsty on completing the Ocala Half Marathon last weekend in a very respectable 2:21!

This morning we had Amy Weaver join us for the first time. Amy is an ORC Board member, as is Dave, our stalwart regular. Debbie and Sara, two of our newest members, did their first seven miler with the group today and pulled me along in the process. Their buddy Helene will be joining us next weekend. Helene and Liz 2 both plan to run the Princess Half next month.

Speedster Luis showed up minus his brace today, which hopefully signals a repaired hamstring. As it turns out, Luis ran with Lori, a young lady visiting from Delaware a few weeks back, and she is now helping Luis' daughter who happens to be relocating to Delaware.

It should be noted that Dede and Jeff returned to join us this morning after absences due mainly to pesky injuries. Hope both of you is back in the saddle again! It is good to have you back

See you February 5! We now have month one out of the way! Have a great week.

Jack

January 22

2012-01-22T11:20:00.001-05:00

Sunday, January 22 Run

It was a beautiful morning for a post-race run. At least 18 people showed up to enjoy the day, a nice turnout considering the fact that yesterday was a race day. Four of us out today did the race yesterday and we had two guys who previously have joined us but are not yet "official". Ben Pierce and Ian Macintosh are out newest additions. I have added Ben to our e-mail list today and Ian plans to send me his contact info.

Seasons 52 5.2K Race on Saturday

Yesterday also was a great day. We had about a dozen of our group show up for the race. My hunt and peck review found results for Debbie, Sarah, Helene, Bob, Cheryl, Rose, Barbara, Carol, Jake and Liz 2. Please weigh in if I missed any of you.

We competed in six age groups between 25 and 75 years. Rose placed first in her age group and Bob placed third in his. Jake came in 4^th in the 35 year age group with a sizzling sub-20 5K time. Congratulations to all!

We also had a Vicky sighting between miles 2 & 3. Good to see you cheering the crowd on, Vicky, and hope to see you back in the saddle soon. I enjoyed running for a spell with Debbie and Sarah, two our newest members. Their buddy Helene was out in front of us but we got to visit with her after the race. Our teacher's contingent graciously included me in a picture with them after the race and Debbie sent me a copy. Eat your hearts out, guys!

Have a great week. Hope to see many of you next Sunday

Jack

January 15 Run

2012-01-15T12:24:00.000-05:00

Today's Run

We had a glorious day to run our various loops. We started with a calm 42 degree, bright sunny morning. Adding to the pleasant atmosphere we had four visitors and one new candidate. As if that weren't enough, we also got to welcome Brad back after a long absence due to injuries. He was very happy to be back in the saddle. Good to see you, Brad! Hope this is the start of a long string of injury free running.

All told we had 15 people, including our four visitors and another recruit (See below)

The visitors showed up as promised. Sue and Roxanne from Baltimore and Lori and husband Mark from Dover, Delaware. Repeat visitor Sue is aiming to run Dublin (as Mike and Bob have done) and Lori will be running Boston in April. We solved the challenge of providing Lisa with a swift partner, thanks to Luis who stepped up to the plate and accompanied Lori through a fast ten miler. All four of the visitors turned out to be fun people.

Debbie showed up today with another recruit. Her friend Sarah from College Park joined us and asked to be added to our e-mail list. So we had added three new members in two weeks and they all are teachers. (Debbie, Helene and Sarah). Dede, you must get back soon to meet your fellow runner-educators!

Some of us are questioning what has gotten into Dylan. He appears to have been fitted with a rocket the last two weeks! Are you willing to share your secret, Dylan?

Disney Update

Dave kindly corrected my mistake in reporting Leslie's Marathon time, as did Leslie. I had the right info, but transposed the "minute" amount. Apologies!! I blame that on my 77 year old fingers!

Liz 2 has reported in that she ran a 2:26 Half. Although a quite respectable time, Liz said it was not her best time. She has targeted the Disney Princess half as her next challenge.

Have a great week!

Jack

January 15 run

2012-01-13T10:37:00.001-05:00

Three out of town visitors joining us this Sunday

Just wanted to alert you to the fact that we expect three young ladies to visit us this Sunday. Two of them are visiting from Baltimore. Their names are Sue and Roxanne. Sue is returning for her third year in a row and is planning to do the Dublin Marathon later this year (ala Bob Raymond & family). Sue belongs to my old running club in Baltimore. The third visitor is Lori from Delaware. She is training for an unspecified marathon and is a fast runner. Unless some of you speedsters show up Sunday, we may either have to pass her to our fast sister group up the street or let her fend for herself with the route map I have sent to her.

At any rate, it would be nice to greet them with a good turnout this Sunday. Last Sunday we had 19 runners and a great running morning.

Disney Races Last Sunday

Neither Leslie nor Seth reported in on their performance, but Dylan fared better than me in smoking out their race results. He reports that Seth continued his perfect record of running Disney since inception with a 4:39:35 performance. Leslie did the Marathon portion of Goofy in a very respectable 4:30:40. Hey Leslie, let us have the rest of the story! Congratulations to both of you!

Look forward to seeing you Sunday. Should be a nice, brisk run.

Jack

January 8, 2012 Run

2012-01-08T11:12:00.001-05:00

Today's Run

What a healthy turnout today! Despite the expected absences of people either running or working at Disney, we had a very healthy turnout of at least 18 people. Interestingly, at least three were first time runners with the group. I was not able to get contact info, but the two young ladies who joined us from Ocoee plan to join us for sure. We also had a man who just relocated to Orlando from Naples. I did not get his contact info yet.

Making it all the nicer was a temperature in the low 50'sperfect for a run. Hopefully it won't get hot too fast for marathon participants. I hope any of our Disney runners will check in and let us know how you fared. (Seth, Leslie, ???)

Upcoming

The next Grand Prix Race is the Seasons 52 Park Avenue 5K. That's two weekends away.

Little Charlie

Thanks to your prayers, Charlie came home from the hospital last Thursday and seems to be doing fine. He looks great and is scarfing food like he never has before. My family is deeply appreciative of your concern for him. This is a great way to start 2012!

Have a great week!

Jack

January 1, 2012 Run

2012-01-01T12:18:00.001-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Best wishes for a happy and prosperous 2012!!!

Fourteen happy feet attached to seven brave bodies made it out for the first run of 2012. They were rewarded with picture-perfect running conditions in the mid 50's. Christine, Liz, Chris, Luis and Dave were on hand to greet Bob who just came out of hibernation from the wilds of Woodstock, VT where he has been parked since last spring.

Dave lays claim to the category of most miles run by anyone in the group in 2012 (10.5) but acknowledges he may lose that title next Sunday when he and Christine will be working the Disney Marathon. I'm not sure who all in the group are competing next week, but I do know that Leslie is once again attacking Goofy., and that Seth will be completing his 19^th Disney Marathon to keep his perfect record intact. Good luck to both of you!!

Despite a brace on his left leg, Luis quickly disappeared in the dust with Liz and Chris in hot pursuit

We were hosted with drinks by Seth at his Mile 5 residence. Also took a much needed rest break to chit chat.

Little Charlie

I am very happy to report that our Grandson turned a corner this week after his complicated heart surgery and is now doing quite well. My family and I want you to know how deeply we appreciate all of your prayers and good wishes. Charlie is off the respirator and feeding tube and back to a bottle. Please continue to remember him in your prayers! Absent setbacks, he conceivably could be released from the hospital this week.

Visiting Runners

On January 15^th, we will have two visitors from Baltimore joining our run. Sue Reiter has run with us January of the last two years while attending a conference in Orlando. This year she plans to make it three in a row and will be accompanied by Roxanne. Sue runs with my old running Club in Baltimore where I spent eight enjoyable years and I have gotten to reminisce with her on "the old days" (when I was not terrified by steep hills!)

Jack

Last Sunday Run of 2011

2011-12-26T12:07:00.001-05:00

It was great to see nine smiling faces out yesterday for the last Sunday run of 2011. Many thanks to Dave who was appropriately sporting reindeer antlers and passing out candy canes to the assembled runners (and to two of my friends walking by!) The weather was very mild and the overnight showers done with.

Celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah were Liz, Christine, Dede, Carol, Dylan, Dave (who came directly from his 6:00 AM run from Jon & Betsy Hughes house) Chris, Seth and me.

Once again I thank all of you who have sent your good wishes and your prayers for little Charlie. He is showing improvement but is still very much in need of your prayers.

Some Highlights of 2011

Winter Park Magazine August Issue Article

Sadly, the magazine has ceased publication with the December issue. It was nice that they chose to do an article of the group in the April issue.

Participation in the Dedication of Lake Baldwin Trail

Earlier this year we were represented at the dedication of the completion of the loop around the lake.

Visiting Runners

During the past year we hosted out of town and out of country runners from Dallas, Baltimore, Winnipeg, Pittsburg, St Croix and Brazil. Maybe more.

Fourth Annual Blanket Collection for Homeless Men

We completed our most successful blanket collection with over 350 blankets delivered to the Coalition for the Homeless.

Runners Achievements:

Dede Kelly and sisters in Good Housedeeping Magazine featuring their impressive weight loss.
Jeff Hyson's journey from 250 lbs. down to around 200 lbs. and completion of his first triathlon.
A lot of PR's by member of the group.
A second person in the group who now is a pilot in training. (Carol, of course, is our global pilot). I leave it to the new pilot's discretion to reveal himself when and if he chooses)

Probably a lot more worthy of recognition, but the above certainly are milestones.

Passings

On a said note, this was a year when several of our members lost loved ones. These include Mark who lost his daughter, Barbara who lost her son and Liz who just lost her mother. All of you are in our prayers.

Roster

Our mailing list grew to 7l people this year, with five people relocating and about ten new runners joining us during the year. Moving on this year were Sultana to DC, and Matt & Chanelle and Kelly to Tampa. We wish you all well in your new environments!

New members in 2011 include Andy, Jay, Jeff Hyson, Jeff Levine, Jascha, Danny, Brian, Tim. and Ty. Jill also has been added to our roster and hopes to join us in 2012.

We now have quite a few runners on the e-mail list who no longer show up. If you fall into this category, would you kindly let us know whether you still wish to receive our e-mail updates. I know that some of you are dealing with injuries (Carolyne, Brad, Danny, Billy, ?), but we have some names on the list of people who have to the best of my knowledge never joined us for a run.

Jack

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T13:13:00.000-05:00

Just a brief note re Christmas Day and our grand son Charlie's progress.

I know that we ought to have at least a half dozen runners showing up tomorrow morning and I hope to be among them. To those who cannot make it, a Merry Christmas to you and hope to see you soon.

My heartfelt thanks to all of you who have expressed their concern and offered their prayers for little Charlie. We are cautiously optimistic that things are going well. The process involved a seven hour surgery last Tuesday and it appears that it was successful and that the recovery process is on track I know your prayers are making a difference. Please continue praying for him and his parents.

My apologies for not responding individually to the huge number of e-mails you have sent expressing your concern and good wishes. As you might guess, we have been kept pretty busy over the last days!

Hope I see many of your smiling faces tomorrow at 7:00 AM!

Jack

December 18 Run

2011-12-19T10:49:00.001-05:00

12/18 Run

Yesterday's run was blessed with a 54 degree and sunny start. We had a healthy turnout of some 15 runners, about evenly split by gender.

We had a new runner join us for the first time. His name is Ty Campbell and he has been added to our distribution. Welcome, Ty. Ty is in the process of moving from South Carolina. Sorry I did not get to meet you, Ty, but look forward to doing so.

We welcomed Dede back for her first run with the group in a while. She has been courting and injury which now is getting under control.

My Grandson Charlie

Little Charlie will undergo a complicated heart surgery tomorrow morning and we again ask all of you for your prayers. He has been in intensive care and surgery is the only viable option. He was baptized yesterday afternoon and his Godparents flew in from Houston to be with him.

Belated report from Lynne

I overlooked reporting on Lynne and son Sean's dance competition the weekend of the OUC Half. Lynne says: "We had a successful dance competition + ended up staying at the Ritz! Sean was 5th + qualified for the World Championships in solos. I qualified for Worlds in a group dance + improved my solo place over last year. All in all a good weekend, though we have to leave early in the morning."

Congratulations to both of you!

Christmas Day

It appears that there will be some runners out next Sunday. I know Dede and Christine plan to be there, and I hope I can make it. A Blessed and Merry Christmas to all of you and hope to see you soon.

Jack

December 11 Run

2011-12-11T10:53:00.001-05:00

Today's Run

We had a fairly robust crowd turn out todayat least sixteen of us showing up for a run with a 64 degree temperature at the start. Winter is nowhere to be seen so far. And we have only two runs remaining in 2011!

My sincere thanks to all of you who have expressed your concern and offered your support for our little grandson Charlie. His heart surgery will not be done until a few more tests have been completed. This could take up to a week, so we will appreciate your continuing prayers.

Blanket collection Windup

Two more deliveries of blankets to the Coalition for the Homeless were made last week. That leaves only Sue Arbuckle's collection effort outstanding. Sue is a guidance counselor at Keeth Elementary School. She and her students will deliver the blankets and the children will be given a tour of the Men's Pavilion in mid-December. This is a wonderful way for them to understand why the blankets are so sorely needed. (Sue is a member of the WP Dawgs and, as previously mentioned, is part of a group which goes to the Coalition and runs with the residents of the facility.)

The final tally will be in excess of 350 blankets! Good job!

Have a great week!

Jack

December 4th Run

2011-12-04T11:43:00.001-05:00

AWOL

I'm having some qualms of conscience about missing today's run, but am using the OUC Half yesterday as my excuse. It was a beautiful day for the race and we had a lot of our group out there. I am going to suppress my instinct to try to list everyone who ran since I likely have missed some of you. That said I counted 16 people on our list who completed the race. We were represented in nine ago groups ranging from ages 15 through 75. We missed only the ages 25, 35, 65 and 70 age categories.

The age spread has Jayman at age 18 and me at age 77!

Unfortunately I only got to see Wendy and Russ, both of whom ran. Also saw Cheryl at the start and Jeff near mile 4. Jeff jumped in and ran a bit with me. Thanks Jeff!! Also saw the lululemon girls near mile 10. They really were whooping it up!

Hope that one of you who was out this morning will report in today's happenings!

Have a great week!

November 28 Update

2011-11-28T10:54:00.001-05:00

Space Coast Update

Dave: As Cheryl stated Leslie ran with me the whole way. Even though she could have easily left me in the dust at any time she stayed with me and pushed me through the whole thing. Were it not for Leslie I think I would still be out there wandering the streets of Cocoa."

Jeff reports that he turned in a 2:08 half marathon performance and that Carol had an impressive 1:56 pace.

Kirsty reported a 2:24 half marathon. She had a bad cold and switched from the full to the half race.

Cheryl reports that Seth ran the Marathon in a respectable 4:50 and Amy did the half.

Recapping, it looks like we had five marathoners and four half marathoners compete yesterday. A very nice representation for our group!

Baby Joggers Department

Thanks to Russ, Kirsty and Lynne for their input to Mat and Chanelle. Hope this helps our expectant parents

Jack

November 27 Run

2011-11-27T14:15:00.001-05:00

Today's Run

We had an expected light crowd of eight or so out this morning with an unseasonably high temperate in the mid 60's for our last run of the month. I'm sure this was not what our Space Coast marathoners were hoping for.

Space Coast

I really had to hunt for the race results for four of the group (are there more?) who ran the Space Coast Marathon. What I found was Cheryl (3:57) Alfred (4:14) Dave (4:57) and Dylan (5:09) Congratulations to each of you. Cheryl came in right in the middle of her age group. My apologies to anyone I may have missed and I hope you will share your experiences with us.

Request from Mat & Chanelle

As some of you know, Mat & Chanelle relocated to Tampa recently since Mat was starting medical school. They have asked to remain on our mailing list to keep in touch. This week I received the following request from Mat. Since it beyond my knowledge base (I started running later in life), I am hoping that someone in the group may have some good input. Here it is:

"My wife and I used to come on the Sunday runs before moving to Tampa for school at the end of summer. We recently found out that we are pregnant and I was wondering if you could point me in the direction of someone who knows something about jogging strollers. There seem to be a thousand options and we could use some expert guidance. Hope that all is well."

Congratulations to you, Mat & Chanelle! Keep us posted, OK? Good luck to what will soon be all three of you!

Please respond directly to our expectant couple if you have any ideas.

OUC Half

Hope to see you those of you who are tackling the OUC Half next Saturday. As those in the group like Russ and Kirsty know, the time-honored spot to meet at races is ten yards back on the left hand side. I'm a bit hazy on who all are running, but I know Liz II will be there. Who else plans to run OUC?

Have a wonderful week!

Jack

November 20 Run

2011-11-20T12:26:00.000-05:00

Today's Run

We drew a good size group today (at least 16). My sincere thanks to Wendy for pulling me through 12 miles. Couldn't have done it without her. We had a nice starting temperature but it went up pretty fast.

Wendy's NYC Marathon Finish

Hard to believe that this picture is taken at the finish line!! Congratulations Wendy. We're proud of you!!!!! Next time try to make it look hard!

Off the injured list

Welcome back to Dede, Chris and Jeff after their "excused absences". It's great to see you back on the road. Chris and I ran last Wednesday morning. He is traveling so he didn't appear this morning. Dede will be ramping up slowly (if she follows my advice).

Blanket Collection

It now looks certain that we will exceed the 300 mark on our blanket collection effort. I picked up three more this week and we still have perhaps two dozen that are sitting out there. Blankets already at the Coalition and in my garage total 280. When we get a count from the Dawgs, Reedy School, Tri With Sway and lululemon, we will very likely meet our goal of exceeding 300 blankets!

Once again, thanks to all those who made such generous contributions. We are lucking out time-wise, since the weather has not yet turned real cold. Here's what my garage closet looks like. I hope to make a delivery this week:

By the way, Consuela Lively, the young lady who operates triathlon training programs as "Tri with Sway" delivered more blankets to Track Shack yesterday and is then off the compete in the 2011 Ultraman competition in Hawaii. This is a 3-day, 320 mile individual ultra endurance event which takes place on the Big Island of Hawaii. Entry is limited to 40 participants and is by invitation only!! It has been in existence since 1983. You can check it out at: http://ultramanlive.com/ It isn't designed for mere mortals!

Good luck to all of you running Space Coast next weekend. Please share your experiences with the group. And Happy Thanksgiving to all! We can do some group therapy next Sunday, OK?

Jack

November 13 Report

2011-11-13T14:04:00.001-05:00

Dave's report on this morning's run:

"We had just over 10 hearty runners this morning as I suppose many chose the Celebration 10k over a training run. Chris made it back this morning as well as Danny coming off his Marine Corp Marathon. Leslie also joined us after a long absence due to changing her long runs to Saturday. Leslie ran an early 4 miles and then kept the pace for Alfredo and me for 15 more. She again is signed up for Goofy in January. Alfredo finally succumbed to the urge to join many of the rest of us and signed up for the Space Coast Marathon."

Hey Dave, thanks for this. Please feel free to send these to the whole crew in the future! Sorry I missed seeing all of you who showed up!

Also, did a new husband & wife team show up today? (Names Allison and David)

I sent them details on the group this past Saturday and they confirmed they would show.

Today's race at Celebration:

I could account for only four of our group running the 10K today. Ironically, three of the four finished, you guessed it, fourth in their age categoriesjust out of the money! I saw Kirsty before and after the race and missed Cheryl and Jake.

If I missed you above, please weigh in.

Hope to see any of you who can make it at either the funeral home this evening or at St. Margaret Mary Church tomorrow.

Hope your week goes well.

Jack

Congratulations!

2011-11-06T16:06:00.000-05:00

Congratulations, Wendy!!!

I have been tracking you for so many miles now, I am exhausted. We're proud of you!! Hope you and Tom have been enjoying the big city. You ran some amazingly consistent splits!

Enjoy the rest of your visit and go celebrate!

Jack

PS: I have been bouncing back and forth between your tracking page and TV coverage of the winners. Very exciting. Also note that this is a real time report since Wendy finished about a minute ago

Wendy finished with a 5:15 time.

November 6

2011-11-06T12:21:00.001-05:00

Today

We had about 16 people show up today for a fairly pleasant run in the low 60's. We welcomed Claudia and Kim back. Claudia just returned from Wisconsin where she spends her summers.

For the 1^st time in almost a year and a half, I eked out 10 miles, thanks to support from Christine and Dylan. Dylan was doing 22 miles!

New Members

We had two new runners join the group for the first time last Sunday and, thanks to Russ, we have added them to our Sunday list. Please welcome Andy Todd and Bob Buck when you see them. They both showed up today and ran with Russ...

The Injured List

Good news from Dede who has now realized that there is again running after injury. She hopes to begin running in about two weeks. Be patient, Dede. It works.

Blanket Drive Update

250 Blankets collected so far! 200 already delivered to the Coalition! Collection efforts ongoing!! We have a good chance of going over the 300 mark?

Last Tuesday we made two deliveries of blankets to the Coalition, Dave brought a load of 92 and a St. Margaret Mary parishioner brought another 115 from the church and school. And our feeding group brought another bunch last Wednesday evening. Ironically, the two deliveries arrived there at the same time and Dave managed to get a few pictures:

In addition, Mary and I picked up 27 blankets from Track Shack on Thursday and Marty picked up another six from ProForm PT and a friend of his. I have sent follow-up e-mails and/or calls to the other participants asking for feedback and will keep you posted. The Winter Park Dawgs will likely be the largest contributor from here on out. They mobilize their own collection and delivery effort and will give me a report soon.

I also have been getting calls and e-mails, an example of which follows:

"We are bringing two new blankets today to the office from my son, Drew Moore, 12 years old."

Still outstanding are lululemon, Fleet Feet, Tri With Sway and Teresa Williams Sunday group. Teresa had blankets today, but I missed her.

Marathon in progress:

Wendy is running the NYC Marathon today and promised a report as soon as she can. Good luck, Wendy!

Gina's Marine Corp Marathon

Gina reported in with her great experience running with her daughter and son:

"Richie, Veronica and I ran (and walked a little) Marine Corps together and had a decent finish - 4:47. It was Veronica's first marathon, my second and Richie's third and none of us had really trained adequately for either the distance or the hills but what a beautiful course!!! Richie was holding back to stay with us and incredibly encouraging, and then Veronica and I and a couple of other young ladies were literally singing Sweet Caroline and You Can't Hurry Love and a few patriotic numbers to get us from 24-26 without stopping or crying. We charged that daggone hill at the end and I have to say it was one of my prouder mama moments to cross the finish line with two of my children, and on my 29th wedding anniversary."

A real nice story. I move we award them First Place in the Choral Division! (I can't imagine being able to sing a note at that point!)

Congratulations to you and family from all of us, Gina! Tell Rich that he should be out there for the next one! Come see us soon.

Used Running Shoes

For those of you not familiar with Track Shack's outreach program of collecting usable old running shoes, this is a great way to help needy runners. Betsy Hughes explained to me that these shoes are picked up by school track coaches and given to kids who want to run but cannot afford shoes. It's a great program!

Visit to Track Shack by former Oviedo star and Olympian

Next Saturday, Jenny Barringer Simpson will be at Track Shack between 3-5 PM.

Jenny won the 1500 meters at the world track championships this summer. She also will be at the Celebration 10K next Sunday.

Next Sunday

Grand Prix Race #3: Celebration 10K. See some on you there!

Have a great week!

Jack

October 30 blanket Collection and Run

2011-10-31T10:51:00.001-04:00

My sincere apologies for my failure to show yesterday. I can't remember the last time I was laid so low. The good news is that my bride took over, brought half of the blankets we had stashed at our house, picked up contributions from the Sunday Marathonfest group behind Brandywine and, from what Dave says below, did an admirable job of keeping things going. Rumor has it that she spotted two new runners and introduced them to the group!

Dave, as usual, did a masterful job of collecting the blankets and will be delivering them today. Dave has carried a heavy load for the ORC and its Sunday run for quite a long time. Here is Dave's report:

"Hope you're feeling better after sleeping in this morning. Mary did an admirable job with the speech and explaining your surprising absence. I now have 92 blankets to deliver to the Coalition tomorrow. Two or three other people were there in case we needed their vehicles, but with dry weather everything fit fine in my truck

The blanket drive not only brought in blankets, but brought in more runners than we've had in a while. The cool weather helped inspire Liz 2 and Jeff into boosting their mileage so I led them on the 10 mile route. Alfredo and I then proceeded to go a quick 6 more, but that still wasn't enough for Alfredo so he did an additional 2 after that. Dylan again did 15 and several others had significant mileage as quite a few are aiming for the Space Coast half or full or the OUC half."

Our sincere thanks to Kelly Kraise and the lululemon gang who came out to help with the blanket collection. I'm so sorry I was a no-show.

The Stats:

Blankets: The blanket count stands at 145 as of today! Looks like our group collected 55 blankets and another 69 came from St. Margaret Mary Church.

In addition Track Shack's training groups also made a generous contribution and Kirsty Walker and Laura Williams of the Galloway Group were on hand yesterday with a generous contribution. Thanks, ladies for your presence and your presents!

Marine Corp Marathon:

Danny reported in that "the weather was great for yesterday's race. I ran a 4:12. It was a great experience on a beautiful day in our nation's capital. See you next week!

Congratulations, Danny"

Gina, please let us know how you and your daughter and son did!

It appears that both of you dodged that horrific snow storm. My Marine Corp marathons were usually dogged by warmer, humid weather.

Have a great week. I hope to be back in the saddle this week.

Jack

Interim Report

2011-10-26T14:48:00.001-04:00

Request from Alfredo

Alfredo is looking from running company on Sunday for a 20-22 mile run. Please contact him directly if you are interested. ajk53@hotmail.com

Blanket Collection

Looking forward to a great turnout Sunday. Feel free to bring your cameras to record the action!

Lululemon: Awaiting final work from Kelly Kraiss on their mode of participation. She is leaning towards setting up a water stop as done last year. She is slammed with the opening of their new store in the Mall at Millenia and will get back to me after their grand opening party tomorrow (Thursday) evening. Here's what will be happening:

"Kicking off the ceremony at 6pm with a high energy yoga class (all levels welcome), we will have a huge party with tons of surprises and gear hand outs! Our theme for the night comes from our manifesto- "Creativity is maximized when living in the moment."

Alfredo: "I sent an email to my family group at church and hopefully I'll be able to bring some blankets as well and if you need any help in delivering them please let me know so I can assist with that.

Dave Sutton, Winter Park Dawgs: "Hey, Jack: I have published an announcement in the Dawg newsletter concerning your group's Sunday collection, with an invitation for them to attend -- you are unlikely to have many takers on that, however. Then, I have let them know that Sue Arbuckle and I will begin to accept blankets immediately and will continue to get them to the Coalition through the month of November"

Marathonfest Saturday & Sunday Runs: I will be on hand to run with the Saturday Marathonfest group at Cady Way and will pick up blankets from them. Susan Paul also will help me get them to my house. (I already have 21 blankets stashed in my garage and Track Shack has a half dozen or so)

On Sunday wife Mary and I will stop at Brandywine to collect the Sunday Marathonfest Group's contributions. We are bringing two cars and will try to be at our starting point about 6:30 AM.

5K Fun Run at Mead Garden this Saturday October 29

As previously reported there is a fund raiser for Haiti which has been arranged by St. Margaret Mary Church in Winter Park. Sign-up at stmargaretmary.org

Look forward to seeing you Sunday!

Jack

October 23

2011-10-23T13:48:00.000-04:00

Today's Run(s)

Courtesy of Dave: "As expected the turnout was low as most were probably at UCF. We had 8 of us. Christine Persons-Pratt was our sole representative from the fairer sex, but she ran a good pace with Seth and I until she turned off at Mizell. Letting Jascha and Luis race out ahead at the start turned out to be a wise move for me as I was able to achieve this week's goal of 20 +(actually much closer to 21). Dylan also got in 20, but I'm not sure where he went as I only saw him twice when passing in opposite directions."

Thanks Dave!

Unfortunately, a visiting runner from Dallas failed to show after Dave, Jascha, Luis and Dylan jumped through hoops to accommodate his request for company on a long run. This doesn't happen too often, but I scratch my head when it does and the visitor fails to show and/or account for his failure to show!

Out at UCF we had another contingent running the 5 Miler. Barbara, Cheryl and Liz 2 completed the race. On the male side, it looks like Glenn and I were the only two males who finished. Unfortunately, Jeff was having a great race when his calf told him it was time to quit. I saw him afterwards and he said he is still planning to appear next Sunday whether he runs or not. Congratulations to all of you.

Visitor from Dallas

We will host Daniel from Dallas this Sunday. Thanks to Jascha, Dave, Luis and Dylan for their efforts to help Daniel. Looks like he will have company to do his long run and he is grateful for our assistance.

Rose: Thanks for the e-mail. I ran the Susan Komen race at UCF. 7000 runners and walkers. (10/16/11)

Blanket Outreach Status:

Gina, our DC / Clermont member, contributed a half dozen blankets. I had the opportunity to catch up with her for this week since her marathon is next Sunday. Gina will be running Marine Corp with her son and daughter. She and husband Rich also will be celebrating their 29^th wedding anniversary this week. Congratulations!

Danny also is running Marine Corp, so we have two entries. Good luck to both of you!! Please let us know how it goes.

Dave: "Will be on hand on the 30^th to collect blankets and bring them to the coalition that Monday. Just collected 3 blankets last night at the fun run we had at the Milk District last night."

Kirsty: " I am pleased to help collect & deliver blankets for the blanket drive on Oct. 30th. Laura Williams has been promoting this well to our group so I hope we'll get a good number." (They run with the Galloway Group)

Ronnie Cartwright: "I have one blanket and 5 more from my church to drop off at Track Shack this afternoon. Sunday would be a great day to announce this at The Track Shack U Can Finish race and maybe for next year set up a place there to drop blankets off. Runners are the greatest people in the world. God Bless the Orlando Running Club for leading this project." (Ronnie is not a member of our Sunday group)

Marty has volunteered to pick up and deliver blankets from the several drop-off points we have set up.

Vehicle Volunteers: So far we have the following backup volunteers to receive blankets if needed: Dede, Jeff, Mark and Kirsty.

Jennifer Goldstein (Sunday Marathonfest Training Group)

"MarathonFest is joining forces with The Orlando Runner's Club once again this year for the blanket drive for the Coalition of the Homeless. Last year we helped donate 300 blankets to those in need. Please bring a new or gently used blanket to the run on Saturday, OCTOBER 29th OR Sunday, OCTOBER 30th. You can also drop a blanket off at Track Shack if you are unable to make the run. Thank you for your help with this project."

Sorry for the length of this report. Hope to see many smiling faces out there this coming Sunday. If possible, please bring a blanket. What's most important, however, is for us to have a good turnout.

Have a great week!

Jack

October 16th Run

2011-10-16T13:24:00.001-04:00

Today's Run

I counted eleven runners this morning. Seventy degrees and a bit muggy, but not a bad day to be out there. Lytle of Chicago Marathon fame joined us this morning for her victory lap with Brian who helped pull her along last weekend.

Seems most people ran relatively long. Dylan pulled me along for six miles before we parted, he to Baldwin Park and I to the shortest route back to Park Avenue.

Next Week

Race #3 of the Grand Prix Series, a five miler, takes place next Sunday at UCF. A number of us will be there, so there may be a skeleton crew on Park Avenue that day.

Blanket Drive Update:

Participants:

As previously reported, we now have fourteen confirmed participating groups and companies. I am in the process of working out lululemon athletica's role and expect to nail that down next week. With lululemon's new store opening at Millenia Mall next Friday, the staff is quite busy. The ORC board has promised to promote the race with the broader ORC membership list.

Needs:

On the collection date (Sunday, October 30) we will need volunteers to collect blankets from contributors that morning. Dave has tentatively agreed to collect blankets that Sunday, subject to his being in town. It would be prudent for us to have others available for this effort.

If you are willing to volunteer to collect blankets that morning, please let me know. Wife Mary and I both plant to bring our cars and it would be a good idea if we had some more options.

I will work out delivery arrangements with the Coalition for the Homeless this week.

Injured List

Dede has joined the ranks of the injured with a knee issue which is being sorted out. She may be out for a while, but hopes to join us on blanket collection day.

I didn't realize that Billy has been unable to run most of this year because of a plantar issue. That's a bummer, Billy! Hope you can bounce back soon.

Saw Chris driving down Park Avenue at the finish of my longest run in ages (15K) The good news is that while he did not join us this morning, he did get a few miles in. Hopefully he is the road to recovery.

Have great week.

Jack

Interim Update

2011-10-12T11:52:00.000-04:00

From Cheryl

"I've posted the information about the Blanket Drive on our Facebook page, which has about 300 followers (it is open to members & non-members) and Dave Berry and I will be promoting it at all of the fun runs, including one tonight at Mellow Mushroom.

My run went very well, and it ended shortly after the rain and wind picked up. I did 20 miles and will be doing 20-22 for the next 5-6 weekends before Space Coast"

From Lytle

"I finished in 3:49:42, just under my goal of 3:50. It was a fight at the end, particularly with the heat, but I'm glad I did fight for it. Brian paced me through the last 5 miles, which was both a huge comfort and a huge help. I hope to rejoin you all on a Sunday morning in the near future!"

What a team!

Marty Katz

Today marks the one year anniversary of our friend Marty's horrific biking accident that sent him airborne for 30 feet and almost cost him his life. Marty has had a remarkable recovery which is nothing short of miraculous. Chris and I had lunch with him yesterday and he shared with us that he and his wife Robin are toying with riding in the upcoming Horse Farm 100 bike races in Ocala. Marty had to give up running several years ago, but he is a poster child for overcoming adversity. We're proud of you Marty! It is truly a Happy Anniversary!

Marty also asked me to express his gratitude for all of your prayers and support when his life hung in the balance and there was yet no hint of how well he would heal.

Blanket Collection Update

Track Shack Running Store has joined the list of participants for our blanket drive. That means that we will have not only their marathon training groups but also a collection point at the store! This is great.

October 9 Run

2011-10-09T12:51:00.001-04:00

This Morning's run

We had a light turnout today as only eight of us made it out.

I was half right and half wrong about the rain this morning. Those who ran short dodged the deluge. Christine and I got through eight miles before the skies opened. That means that Dylan must have gotten soaked on the back end of his 18 miler, but Danny, who began early got through his 22 miles without being drowned. Dylan introduced us to his run five walk one minute regimen and that worked well for us. (Danny will run Marine Corp and Dylan Space Coast) The hero of the week, however, is Wendy, who ran 24 miles yesterday in a driving ran in preparation for her upcoming New York City Marathon!

That said, the sun just appeared as I began this e-mail!

Additional Info on Blanket Drive

I had intended to attach the press release which has already gone out to the targets I mentioned in yesterday's e-mail. You will find it as an attachment today. Sorry about that!

Both Danny and Jeff indicated they are going to broadcast this release and all of you should feel free to do likewise. The more coverage we get, the greater success we will have with our collection effort. Danny has an excellent contact at Channel 6 and Jeff with his triathlon training group. Danny also intends to involve he colleagues at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

THE NEED:

With cold weather on the way, there is a great need for blankets for men who sleep overnight at the Coalition for the Homeless. These men are provided with a meal, a mat, a safe environment and a sleeping space on the floor of the Men's Pavilion. We can only imagine what that must be like on a cold night without a blanket.

The numbers look like this: The Coalition accommodates about 300 men per night. The actual number of homeless men is much higher than the average 300, so it would be almost impossible to collect more blankets than are needed. Last year we collected just over 300 blankets. We would like to surpass last year's good effort if possible.

Have a great week.

Jack

Blanket Collection and update

2011-10-08T11:27:00.002-04:00

Chicago Marathon

We wish Lytle all the best in her pursuit of a four hour marathon goal in the Windy City tomorrow. Please let us all know how it goes, Lytle, and enjoy the race!

The Injured list

Dede and Chris are both side-lined for the moment. We wish both of you speedy recoveries.

Tomorrow

The weather forecast is dicey, but I will wager that the odds of it raining two mornings in a row are remote. So please try to get out there and enjoy what ought to be a pleasant temperature with refreshing winds!

October 30 Blanket Collection Drive

I've contacted a dozen groups and organizations this week. So far, ten of twelve have confirmed their participation. A copy of a preliminary press release in attached. I have already contacted a half dozen media organizations and four have confirmed that they will publicize the drive. They are as follows:

Orlando Sentinel: Kate Santich will cover in her blog and try to get in the Sentinel.

City of Winter Park: Clarissa Howard will post on City's website and send to citEnews e-mail subscribers.

Winter Park Chamber of Commerce: President Patrick Chapin will post in the

next Chamber e-newsletter. (He is a runner, but has yet to join us).

Winter Park/Maitland Observer: Jenny Andreason will post on the calendar and the

Community bulletin

Park Press: In process.

WKMG Local 6's Making a Difference Segment: In process

Groups currently committed include:

Lululemon athletica: These gals are in the process of trying to make an appearance as they did last year when they set up a water stop near mile 4. They are a fun group!

Track Shack Foundation's Saturday & Sunday Marathonfest training group plus Galloway program: Susan Paul is orchestrating this effort.

Winter Park Dawgs: They do their own collection and delivery. This group also has volunteers who go to the Coalition weekly to conduct a running program for residents and homeless men. Let me know if any of you are interested in that outreach.

St Margaret Mary Church and Grade School

Blankets will be collected in the coming weeks and I will get them to the shelter.

Fleet Feet Running Store: Stacy Bartow has broadcast the blanket drive in her newsletter and has already collected the first blanket!

ProForm PT Physical Therapy, Personal Training & Performance Training

Co-Owner Ed Dullmeyer joins the drive as a new candidate

Cross Fernandez and Riley: Melanie Fernandez is a triathlete and is overseeing a collection at her downtown Orlando CPA office.

Teresa Williams Sunday Running Group is pending. This is the group which meets at the corner of Morse & Park and whom I have dubbed at "The Big Boys & Girl Group"

PLEASE USE YOUR INITIATIVE AND IMAGINATION TO GET OTHER ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED!!

ORC Board Members:

Please post our blanket collection info prominently on the ORC website and make sure that the ORC membership list is encouraged to come out on October 30^th, whether they bring blankets or not. I would guess that few members follow our blog since only a small percentage of ORC members run on Sundays. Thus we have an opportunity to increase turnout in the future.

See you soon.

Jack

October 2 Run

2011-10-02T11:16:00.001-04:00

What a glorious day for a run! We had 15 people show up to enjoy a cool sunny day made for running. And that's not counting Seth who once again was the perfect host with drinks laid out for the group at his house. (Seth did a long one yesterday). Hopefully our ranks will continue to swell in the next weeks.

It was all the more enjoyable to see some faces we haven't seen in a while. Christine, true to her promise, came back strong after a summer of hibernation. (I think that's supposed to be the other way around). The Alvarez family was today's winner with Mom Jari, daughter Jarily and son Jayman showing up.

Adding a sense of the group's history, there were four of us out there who began running with the group over 20 years ago. That would be Rose, Barbara, Geralynn (who lives over the east coast now) and I. We also should include Dylan, who has been around almost that long (How may years, Dylan?) Unfortunately, long-timer Chris is sidelined with an injury, so he failed to make it out today.

I began making the initial contacts for our third annual Blanket Drive on October 30, which is just four weeks away. The Winter Park Dawgs will again participate, and that list will grow over the next weeks. I'll keep the group posted on our progress. Please feel free to feed me any ideas you may have on this outreach effort.

Have a great week.

Jack

This coming Sunday

2011-09-30T10:25:00.000-04:00

From Wendy

"On Sunday Oct 16 I will need to run 24 miles so if you know of anyone that walks every mile & runs b/t a 10:30 & 11:00 pace (11:00 & 11:30 with the walks), I would love to connect with them."

Please contact Wendy if your scheduled run is compatible with joining her for all or part of her run. (Wendy is training for the NYC Marathon this fall)

From Jeff

"Completed my first triathlon down I'm Miami today. Hope to join you guys next Sunday. Can you dial up some cooler weather?"

Congratulations, Jeff. Look forward to seeing you Sunday. No charge for the cooler weather!

Weather Alert

All excuses are off!! Looks like we will be blessed with the first harbinger of Fall this Sunday. Forecast calls for low to mid 60's temperature. Who can remember the last time we had that? Thus one more excuse for not showing up is off the table!. Christine, I believe this activates the cooler weather clause in your contract!!

Jack

September 25 Run

2011-09-25T12:56:00.001-04:00

On a warm and muggy post-race day, we had a predictably puny turnout this morning. I identified ten of our group who ran the 15K yesterday, evenly split between males and females with representation in at least five age groups. Almost 1800 people ran.

Congratulations to Rose who, as usual, blew away the competition by placing first in her age group.

We had a skeleton crew of only six people today, perhaps the worst turnout of the year. Hopefully we will be out in force next week. Ed was kind enough to hang back with me as I gave my errant hamstring a major test. Luckily, no pain during a five miler plus. Time to start ramping up for the three upcoming Fall racesa five miler, a 10K and the OUC half.

Hey Alfred, did you ever find anyone to run long with this morning? We did not see you today.

Dave has reeled in a new member who plans to join us next week. Please welcome Jeff Levine next Sunday. Good job, Dave!

Have a great week!

Jack

September 18 run

2011-09-18T12:00:00.000-04:00

This was one of those mornings where the weather turned more pleasant early in the run and within an hour or so treated us with some light sprinkles and a beautiful rainbow. We had a "baker's dozen" show up (a nicer way to put it than to say 13). We were graced with a few faces whom we haven't seen in a while. Jari showed up with her son Jayman, who is now the successor to Jarily, who has gone off to college at UF. Her brother enrolled in UCF and hopefully will be his sister's replacement on the J & J team!

There is now a hint of Fall approaching, so our ranks should soon be swelling.

Bob Raymond again in the news!

I previously reported on the flooding in Vermont and Bob's dodging the bullet by about five feet of dry land between his house and the river. This time the news is more positive. Bob was written up in the Vermont Standard for his remarkable stats as a runner. Now he is a celebrity in both Winter Park and Woodstock! I've attached the article. Congratulations, Bob!!

Blanket Drive this Fall

I would like to throw out the thought that we once again conduct a blanket collection effort for homeless men in the area. I think an ideal date for the drive would be the last Sunday in October (10/30//11). Would appreciate feedback from you if you have any thoughts or ideas. This will be our third annual drive and the quantity of blankets collected has grown each year.

Arnold Palmer 15K next Saturday:

Good luck to those planning to run this race next Saturday. I had planned to do it, but my hamstring has voted to the contrary. I'll have to settle for the OUC Half Marathon in early December. I am bummed, since our new grandson was born at the hospital four months ago, and I was truly impressed with the quality of the care given to newborns with issues. The head of the neonatal unit, Dr. Alexander, is a marathoner.

Have a great week and try to get out next Sunday!

Jack

9/11/11 Run

2011-09-11T10:03:00.000-04:00

Yesterday's 5K in Casselberry:

Saw Cheryl, Rose, Jeff and wife Lisa, and know that Barbara and Jake also ran. As usual, Rose took a first in her age category and Jake finished 2^nd in his age group. This was a fun race with lots of music along the way. The good news for me was that I was over three minutes faster than the last 5K (which is always a slower and ugly race). The bad news is that I again pulled a ham string late in the race.

Today's run:

Eleven people showed up today, one of whom was a new person by the name of Yasha. Danny came out early and circled back on his 18 miler today in preparation for Marine Corp. He mercifully stayed with me for an ill-fated half mile when I had to quit. Dede walked me back in and I had an early breakfast!

Hope to see you next week.

Jack

August 28 Run

2011-08-28T12:34:00.001-04:00

We had the best turnout in many weeks todayat least 15 people. Since it also was the warmest Sunday run so far this summer, that shoots down my theory that one more person turns out for every degree the temperature drops. At any rate, great to see a healthy attendance and look forward to seeing more and more of you as we gradually slip into the Fall.

I was feeling sorry for myself until I stopped into Paneras on the way home and ran into some of our fellow runners who train with Marathonfest. Many of them put in 20 miles this morning training for the Savannah Marathon!

I will miss seeing the crew next Sunday since I will be in Niagara on the Lake celebrating my bride's birthday with her. The town has a path which runs for many miles along the Niagara River and the weather should be great. The following Saturday, 9/10/11 (how about that number!) is the first race of the ORC Challenge Series and the second race of the Grand Prix Series. Hopefully I will see some of you at the starting line.

I also hope that those of you who can make it will attend the memorial services for Mark's deceased daughter, Ann Marie (Annie to her family). The wake/viewing services are tomorrow evening at 6:30 PM and the funeral service will be held on Tuesday morning at 10:00 AM. See my prior e-mail for details.

Mark: If you get to read this, you should know that I have received e-mails from many of the group offering their sincere condolences and prayers for Annie and your family.

Have a great week

Jack

August 21 Run

2011-08-21T14:51:00.001-04:00

Nice turnout today14 people by my count. I have a theory that for every degree the temperature drops, one more runner turns up. Today's starting temperature was 77, down a degree from last week. And did anyone notice the 74 degree day we had in mid-week? There's an ever so slight hint of Fall in the air!

Welcome back to Kim, Mike B. and Cindy. Kim and Mike had been dealing with medical issues and are now back in the saddle. Cindy hasn't run with the group for many years and hopes to again become a regular. Next Sunday I am expecting Kit to join us for her first run with the group..

I'm counting my blessings. My hamstring issue disappeared within days and I had a normal run today. Yippee!

Have a great week and come join us for a post-tropical storm Irene run next Sunday.

Jack

RE: August 14 Run

2011-08-14T11:13:00.002-04:00

Jack, Thank you for your note. Here's wishing you a speedy full recovery. I ran a part of the course in reverse direction from home and connected with a couple of our group near my house.

Several of us were discussing form this morning so I'm circulating this link that shows slow-motion video of this year's Boston Marathon finish for both both men and women winners.
http://run-to-live.blogspot.com/2011/04/video-boston-marathon-2011-slow-motion.html

Note the 1st and 2nd men in the top video and how they land on the forefoot and appear to be in excellent form and relatively easy effort even after 26 miles (a thing of beauty). The third clip down of women's winners really shows the contrast between heel and toe landing. The first 2 women are mostly on their toes and then a bit behind them the third place female is striking heel-first and appears to be working much harder.

Godspeed, Seth

Seth Elsheimer
Winter Park, FL
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~sethe/MarathonStatesMap.html

August 14 Run

2011-08-14T10:04:00.000-04:00

The heat continues, but Tom and I agreed that it wasn't quite as ugly as yesterday's Celebration of Running 5K, which is always the first race of the Grand Prix Series. It was particularly ugly for me because I pulled a hamstring muscle which sidelined me this morning. I showed up, but mostly walked. Then I had a coffee and waited for the rest of the group to get back. Actually, it was a quite pleasant way to spend the early morning!

Nine runners showed up, including a visitor from Daytona and a new recruit by the name of Carol who recently moved here from Sarasota and plans to join us.

Once again, I ask that those of you on our mailing list who no longer wish to receive our Sunday updates, to please let me know if you want your name removed.

Have a great week!

Jack

Unabridged version of August WP Magazine Article

2011-08-03T12:29:00.000-04:00

Unabridged version of August Winter Park Magazine Article on the group

I got the magazine in the mail yesterday and am attaching it FYI. The hard copy version has a lot of good shots which did not appear in the internet version. It is a very nice presentation on the Sunday group!

Get this: I already received a call yesterday from a lady who just moved here from New Mexico. She had already seen the magazine article at the Y even before I did. She likely will be joining us. Great stuff!! We may have to appoint an expansion committee.

Note to Amy: I copied the article in picture form. Will you be able to work with this for the blog? Let me know if you need a hard copy of the article

See you on August 14. at which time I will have turned 77!! Or August 13 at the Celebration of Running 5K. May try to get out and run a 7.7 mile route on the big day.

Jack

Winter Park Magazine Article on the group

2011-08-01T12:47:00.000-04:00

Winter Park Magazine August Issue

Check out the attached article and picture on the Sunday running group which will appear in the August issue of Winter Park Magazine. You will recall that Camille Thomas came out in April to interview the group. The photo was taken the following weekend.

Hey Dave, sorry to see you graduate to Bob's and my age group! I suggest you embrace it. You'll earn a lot more race prizes.

I haven't received the magazine yet, but you can find it on line at: Winterparkmag.com

Anyone for re-naming the group as "The Winter Park Running Chamber of Commerce"???

Good luck, Wendy, in your 18 miler in Providence this coming weekend.

See y'all August 14.

Jack

News from Seth

2011-07-31T15:29:00.001-04:00

Here is a report from Seth. Dylan forwarded his report to you earlier. Congratulations to both of you!

As you will see, Seth just tackled a race which I cannot even giet my mind around! Wow!!

Jack,

Thank you for your note and update. I'm just back from "24 Hours Around the Lake Race Race" in Wakefield MA where it rained several hours Friday night after the 7pm start and the temperature reached 90 F degrees on Saturday. The host hotel at the start/finish allowed me to stop twice to shower, change cloths/shoes, and take a quick nap. Late Saturday afternoon Janice joined me on the course to walk the last few miles when I passed my distance goal of 70.6 miles. Although the event lasted 24 hours, I stopped early after 21:40:07. If one subtracts the rest breaks from that my actual run/walk time was about 15.5 hours.

Godspeed, Seth

Seth Elsheimer
Winter Park, FL
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~sethe/MarathonStatesMap.html
Sund

Goodbye to July

2011-07-31T11:55:00.000-04:00

Hot day, puny turnout! Not much to report. Dylan and Wendy were off to a race in Rhode Islandjust about everybody else AWOL. The six of us who showed wrestled with an 82 degree and muggy start. The only good news for me was that I covered 7 miles trying to get ready for the first Grand Prix race of the seasonthe Celebration of Running 5K two Saturdays from now.

I too will be AWOL next Sunday. Mary and I are getting away for a long week-end to celebrate our 51^st wedding anniversary.

I am posting below a note from Claudio, our visitor from Brazil last weekend:

"Thank you (and all the group) very much. It was great to meet the group and be able to keep up with my training even with the weather from last Sunday. I take the opportunity to specially thank Luis (who was kind to keep with me for 10 miles, even having 14 miles the previous Saturday) and Seth (perhaps one day I may know the feeling of running a 100K).

Whenever anyone needs information or help concerning running in Brazil (specially Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro) please let me know."

Anyone up for a run in Brazil? My running is heading south, so I would be directionally correct visiting South America!

Have a great week!

Jack

July 24 run

2011-07-24T12:14:00.000-04:00

Today's run drew a somewhat meager turnout of eleven people! And bless her, Liz II was the only lady to appear. So the question of the week is where have all the ladies gone? Was there a song with that question in the lyrics? No, that was where have all the flowers gone! They say that a word to the wise is sufficient.

That said, it was a good group and Dylan, bless his soul, hung back with me and coaxed me along as far as Seth's house at mile 5. I was running out of time (and energy) and left him to do six plus miles, but Dylan later joined us at Panera's for a bit of breakfast after his ten-mine appetizer run.

Dylan is off the Rhode Island for a race next weekend. Seth is back after a 100K race in Vermont last weekend. He reported that Bob Raymond not only found him on the course, but also invited Janice and him to dinner in Woodstock to celebrate his birthday! Happy Birthday, Seth!

The International Desk

We hosted a visitor from San Paolo, Brazil this morning. Claudio is an intellectual property lawyer when he is not running. Claudio showed great initiative this morning. Using our route map, he came out early, found his way around the Vias and was back before 7:00AM to run with the group. Hey Claudio, I'll bet you were both surprised and pleased when Luis began speaking to you in your native tongue. You can see what lengths we go to make our visitors comfortable!! (Claudio, Luis' e-mail address appears in the distribution.)

It was a pleasure to host you, Claudio! Hope you can come join us again in the future.

Luis, as some of you know, got to Winter Park some years back after growing up in Portugal and doing a stint in South Africa. So Luis was able to use his native tongue to communicate with Claudio, with whom he ran for ten miles at his normal blistering pace! This, I believe, would be a course record in the language category.

We hope to see a good turnout next Sunday. Have a great week.

Jack

July 17

2011-07-17T12:23:00.001-04:00

Fourteen familiar faces appeared this AM for a warm romp around the course. Before we took off, Danny treated me to a "blue light special". You will have to ask Danny exactly what that means! Suffice to say that I thought I was in real trouble!!

Rumor has it that Danny bagged a 631 pound bear with a bow and arrow in Canada while on vacation. I heard this second hand, so you can issue a correction if necessary, Danny. Wow!!

Last evening the ORC held the annual awards Banquet in Baldwin Park. It was a very pleasant evening.

Some good news!

I was informed by the President & Editor of Winter Park Magazine that they will be publishing a story on our Sunday Running Group in the August issue which should be coming out the first week of August. You may recall that Camille Thomas came out to interview us in mid-April and requested additional information from me in late June. It will be fun to read the story she has written.

Kudos to Carol

Carol, our world-wandering pilot, participated in her first Triathlon yesterday. Congratulations Carol!! I searched unsuccessfully to see how you did, but a first tri is certainly a major accomplishment.

Welcome to Tim

Tim, who recently moved here from Colorado, and who is originally from Perth, Australia returned for the second week in a row and plans to join us. I have him my contact info and will be adding him to our roster as soon as I hear from him.

Have a great week.

Jack

Info on Dede and Seth

2011-07-13T14:32:00.000-04:00

Race info from Seth

"Thank you for the shout out. I'll be running the Vermont 100K that starts in West Windsor VT on Saturday 7/16. That's about midway between Windsor and Woodstock"
http://www.vermont100.com/race_information.html

Bob: As our "official Vermont rep", maybe you can cheer Seth on this Saturday.

Seth: Good luck, and enjoy your race!!

Kudos to Dede and her sisters

As you will see from the attached excerpt from the August edition of Good Housekeeping Magazine, we now have a celebrity in our midst. Dede and her two sisters are highlighted in an article on weight lossa truly astounding achievement!

It's so nice to have a celebrity in the group. CONGRATULATIONS, Dede, to you and your sisters. We are proud of you!!! Keep up the good work.

See y'all Sunday.

Jack

July 10 Run

2011-07-12T09:12:00.001-04:00

I am two days late with a recap of last Sunday's run, thanks to some significant computer problems and a loss of my address book.

We had a turnout of a dozen people Sunday morning on a steamy day with a 79 degree start.

Celebrity in the Group

Congratulations to Dede and her Mother and sisters! Good Housekeeping Magazine's August issue carries a story about four Kelly family members losing a phenomenal amount of weight. Dede dropped about 130 pounds and has become my most consistent running partner as of late. I have not yet gotten a copy of the article, but plan to do so. I will try to post it when I find it. CONGRATULATIONS, Dede, to you and your Mother and sisters! We are proud of you!!!

The Ultra Department\

Seth came home for a cameo appearance this morning. He did an Ultra in Tulsa last week-end and will be doing another in Vermont next weekend! Tulsa was about l00 degrees, making him think it was cool this morning. Vermont will be a whole lot easier if he can avoid hills, something which is very difficult to do in Vermont. In fact, he will be celebrating his birthday somewhere along the route! GOOD LUCK, SETH!!

Convalescing Computer

Note that this update is coming from wife Mary's computer. Hopefully I will be up and running again in a few days.

Hope to see some of you at the ORC Banquet next Saturday night, or on the road next Sunday. Have a great week!

Jack

4th of July Weekend

2011-07-03T12:53:00.002-04:00

Today's Turnout

We had a reasonably good turnout today, given the Fourth of July week-end mass exodus from town. Ten people showed up, evenly split between females and males.

Tomorrow is the Watermelon 5K race and I expect to see some more familiar faces, including Dede, Rose and Barbara-- all of whom ran today. I am passing on the race, but plan to cheer my grand daughter in the kids sprint.

Carol will be doing her first triathlon two weekends from now and we wish you well, Carol. She is the only person I know who does her training all over the world. This includes treadmill training in Seoul, Korea a week or so ago!

News from Vermont

Bob reported in to me last week that he had just completed his 50,000^th mile. Try that one on for size! His daughter, who had done the Dublin Marathon with him, came in from California and joined him in this history-making accomplishment. I still say that I want to be like Bob when I grow up!

Runners on the Bench
Kim is coming back from a recent surgery and should be rejoining us shortly. Her procedure went very well. Hope to see you soon, Kim.

Jeff is starting to come back from his injury. I'm wondering how Mike and Jarily are doing. Can you report in on your status?

Last Sunday's Visitor

Roger from Needham, Massachusetts turned out to be the Good Samaritan of the week during his run with the group. Turns out he found a wallet, passed it to Luis who got it to the Winter Park Police who in turn returned it to a lady from Melbourne.

Received an e-mail from Roger, an excerpt of which follows:

"I really think runners are one of the most down to earth, give you the shirt off their back, carefree group of people I have ever encountered, and your running club definitely confirmed that belief. I really appreciate the hospitality and sincerely hope that if any of your group head up to the Boston area that they contact me so that our club can play host to them. Tough to match such a beautiful route but the running and camaraderie are the important thing. :)"

HAPPY 4^TH OF JULY TO ALL! Hope to see you soon!

Jack

July 26 - Jaws 2

2011-06-26T15:24:00.001-04:00

AWOL

I will think twice before I ever skip our Sunday Run again. That said, I still lay claim to the best attendance record of the sixty-some of us who gather weekly for fun in the sun. Anyone care to challenge my claim?

Before we leave the subject I want you to know that I came down with a sinus infection and resolved all doubts in my favor about the wisdom of running while on antibiotics. That said, I have chalked up a miserly number of miles this past week.

Thanks to Dylan

I must say that Dylan did a great job of covering the antics of the crew this morning. I think we had a group PR since, by my calculation, almost 30% of the turnout are pilots! Well, one pilot and another almost-pilot. Ed has just another 30 feet to go.

By the way, Chris was out early and turned in a stealth run.

New Member

Join me in welcoming Brian Smith, who is Lytle's boyfriend and who wishes to be added to our distribution list. Hope to see more of you, Brian!

Visitor from Massachusetts

I am pleased that you all took care of Roger, our visitor from Needham. He had contacted me last week and I gave him directions on how to find us. In fact, he was the only runner who knew that I did not plan to show! He has a great story!

Winter Park Magazine

I was beginning to lose hope that the article on our Sunday group might not make it to press. The jury is still out, but I did hear from Camille Thomas this week. She asked for additional information which I have provided to her. She says there is a chance we will be in the August edition of the magazine. Let's hope so!!

I'll see you next week----honestly!! It will already be July next Sunday. Have a great week.

Jack

June 27 Run Reoprt

2011-06-26T10:58:00.002-04:00

There was much concern this morning among the assembled runners on Park Avenue as the clock ticked past 7 a.m. and there was no sight of Jack Gallagher, the glue that keeps our Sunday Morning Running Group's shoes and spirits together. A few vague allusions to a possible conflict gave us enough confidence to start running without him. So at 7:05 the shirtless Danny and Russ took off behind a galloping Luis who escorted guest runner Roger from Needham, Mass. Ed, Carol and Dylan took up the rear positions for today's light turnout.

Danny and Russ busted out somewhere between 8.8 and 8.95 miles this morning at an "easy" pace, one reported. Luis did his typical drive-them-into-the-ground routine with Roger, covering the same distance and then some. Roger is an interesting story, having tried to get on the Biggest Loser show. He used to weigh about 300 pounds at age 47 and decided to get serious about his body and health. He's now an ultra marathoner and is training for New York 2011. He has a web site that is inspiring: www.RFME.org.

Ed told Carol and Dylan another bucket list story. He's taken five flying lessons so far and has successfully taken off and come within 50 vertical feet of landing a plane. Despite Mrs. Ed's shaking head, he's determined to fly a plane by himself some day - but never to own one. Carol, a professional pilot gave him some good advice over the course of our five mile jaunt together.

When Ed turned at Aloma, Dylan and Carol continued on to do the 7-mile route and share stories of the nincompoops who inhabit the Earth we live on. We did cross paths with Cheryl at Mizell and Phelps. She was going some 5-and-dime run route with people who must have been way too slow to keep up with her. We didn't see any of them behind her.

Back on Park Ave, Dylan and Russ delved into an extended conversation on soccer and training. Take-away words of wisdom from Russ: if you don't know how to do something that somebody's telling you to do, don't be shy about ASKing to be shown how it's done. It will be a useful learning experience.

That's all for today. We hope Jack and the rest of you slackers (or unfaithful deserters) who haven't been out with us for awhile, will be back next week. You can do it! Get up and come run with us. That means you and you and you and you. You know who you are.

June 19 Run

2011-06-19T13:58:00.001-04:00

Happy Fathers Day!

To all of the eight or so Fathers who showed this morning and to the many of you who were not out today, we hope you are having a wonderful day. We had a dozen people turn out on a mid-70's morning. Things got a little more comfortable as we approached 8:00 AM when the humidity dropped and the breeze picked up.

Special thanks to Father Dylan, who pulled me through seven miles!

Celebrity Watch

Chris was back from vacation with a story to tell. While jogging on South Beach during this past week while on vacation, he passed none other than Mitt Romney. When he realized whom he had passed he reversed course and shook hands with him. After he returned home, he found out that Romney has come to Orlando and commented to his audience that he had a nice man offer his best wishes while he was walking the beach in Miami. That would be our Chris. (By the way, Chris and Mitt both have full heads of black hair. The difference is that Chris's is 100% real!

Have a great week!

Jack

June 12 Run

2011-06-12T11:18:00.000-04:00

We had a reasonably good turnout this morningfourteen people if I counted correctly. Nice to see some faces we haven't seen in a while including one new runner George. The opening temperature was in the mid-70's, so summer is almost here.

Michele and Cheryl said the ORC 5K race benefitting our sister city of Urayasu in Japan had a good turnout. Contributions to this outreach are still being accepted. Hopefully those of you who ran the race will report in on your successes!

Our best wishes to Sultana

Heard from Sultana this weekShe will be relocating to D.C. at the end of June to assume a new role as Account Supervisor with a public relations firm. In her new role she will be working with the US Dept. of Health and Human Services. We wish you every success, Sultana, and hope you will join us whenever you are back in Orlando. (Just like Lynne and Gina do when they are in town)

Jari and Jarily

Heard from Jari that her daughter Jarily has been under the weather a bit. Hope you are recovering well and that we will see the J & J girls soon.

CONGRATULATIONS, Jarily, on your graduation from high school!

Have a great week/

Jack

June 5 Run

2011-06-05T12:00:00.000-04:00

Fourteen Familiar Faces showed up for today's run on a moderately warm morning in the mid-70's.

Before I forget it, I want to remind you of the ORC 5K race next Saturday, June 11 at Blanchard Park. This race benefits the ORC and the City of Orlando's Japanese Relief effort with their Sister City Urayasu. Your participation and/or contribution would be much appreciated.

Recent Local Races

We've gotten word on a good number of the group out there on the race circuit. Locally, Rose and Liz both ran the Oviedo 5K, with Rose placing first and Liz second in their respective age categories.

Seth ran the Wickham Park Marathon. "Heat, humidity, and soft sand were the main setbacks but, even so, I finished 31 minutes faster than the same event last year. The website says all. http://www.mattmahoney.net/wickham/wickham.html"

Michele and Tom did a half marathon in UtahTom placed first in his age category.

Congratulations to all of you!

The International Desk

Gina weighed in on her Great Wall of China Half Marathon (as reported last week, Gina placed third in her age category): "The race was awesome - gorgeous day, 2025 runners from 50 countries and about a fifth of them Americans! The Wall part was less than 3 miles of the route believe it or not, but it took an hour. Nobody ran on the Wall - mostly climbed. Aside from the insane steps and inclines there are many places that are single file so long waits. Rest of race partially on a rural road (in the beginning a 485 foot rise) and the rest like a trail run through fields and little villages. Lots of people out to watch and cheer, little kids practicing "Hello!"... unforgettable." (Thanks, Gina, and congratulations!)

Carol: "Sorry I've missed the past few Sundays, this will unfortunately continue as I'm currently on my way to Anchorage then Seoul, and my schedule has me away for most weekends in June and July. Either way I'm training for and planning on entering a Tri in Clermont in mid July, so if you don't see me around before (or after) then I'll let you know how it goes.

Have a great week!

Jack

May 29 Run

2011-05-29T13:57:00.001-04:00

Today was a predictably light Memorial Day turnout of weekend warriors. Ten people to be more precise.

Racer's Corner

Had a verbal report this morning from Cheryl about her 5K success in Oviedo. She did a 22:44 race, setting yet another back to back PR.

Liz reported in on her Tri in Sarasota last week. She paced 4^th in a very competitive environment and had to battle some windy conditions and rough waves in the Gulf. The good news was a lower temperature and good food and beer at the finish.

I had to go to the internet to ferret out how Gina did in her Great Wall of China Half-marathon last weekend. Gina placed 3^rd in her age category with a 3:14! This is a race which has 5164 steps for the marathon distance, so we can safely assume she must have covered over 2500 steps along the way!! It would be worthwhile to check out the race web site if you would like to get some perspective on the difficulty of the course! Looks mind boggling.

Seth is in Melbourne for the Wickham Park Marathon today. Hopefully he will report in.

Congratulations to all of you!!!

Have a great week. Hope to see you next month. Had an e-mail from a guy who will be working in Orlando for a spell who would like to join us starting next week. His name is Bob, so we will have to designate him as Bob #2. The real Bob is in route back from Eastern Europe and headed to Vermont for the summer. Things are tough all over!

Jack

May 22nd

2011-05-22T16:49:00.004-04:00

Please Welcome little Charlie to the world!

Please share our joy at the birth of new grandson, Charlie, born May 20th at Winnie Palmer Hospital. He and our daughter are doing well, as are his father and six year old sister.

At the last 15K race which begins and ends at the hospital, there was a brilliant red sunrise and, you won't believe this, a beautiful full rainbow that arched perfectly over the hospital. Looking back, I think this was an omen. The 15K race shirts have this saying: "Little babies, big miracles! Yes indeed!

Today's turnout

Looked like 11 people out today. Geralynn, a long term running partner of Chris and me, made her way over from Indian River and graciously slowed down to run with Dede and Wendy for over four miles. We have known Geralynn for well over 20 years and she hasn't aged a bit in that time! Seth graced us with his presence, sandwiching us in between his ultra campaign challenges.

Other Racing members

Gina was planning to do the Great Wall of China Marathon and Liz a triathlon in Sarasota. Would you two ladies check in and let us know about your challenges?

Apologies to Jeff Hyson!

Jeff has been running with us for a month or two, and I inadvertently failed to get his name on our distribution list. Sorry, Jeff, and thanks for your patience.

Have a great week!

Jack

Update - May 12

2011-05-17T12:04:00.000-04:00

I will be AWOL Sunday, but have suggested to Chris that he should pass on anything he feels would be of interest on this Sunday's run. I am passing along some info on this week's happenings:

Guess whom I saw?

Yesterday I came upon Liz and a colleague retuning to work after lunch. Liz is primed for Florida International Triathlon at Sarasota's Siesta Key this Saturday. Great to see you Liz, and good luck with your race!!! Let us know how you do and--Y'all come back soon!

Heard from Seth

"Thanks for your regular updates and the shout out below. I'm gone for a while yet but will rejoin our group whenever I'm in town. I have ultras most weekends this summer. The full schedule of what's coming and what already happened is linked in the signature block below."

http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~sethe/MarathonStatesMap.html
Seth.Elsheimer@ucf.edu

Soon to return- Christy

For those of you who have not met Christy, she is a delightful young lady who joined us in June of 2008. Christy is a cancer survivor who had decided that she was going to run her first marathon and raise money for the cause. She trained with our group for the next five months prior to the 2008 New York City Marathon and then ran a great race.

She plans to come join us soon after being AWOL for a spell. Given her busy schedule in "Show Biz", she has been granted conditional amnesty provided she "Shows Up" soon. (How is this for putting the pressure on you, Christy??)

I am reprinting below some excerpts from her wonderful chronicle of her first marathon experience. It is both funny and inspiring as she shares her significant victory and demonstrates her courage and ability to overcome obstacles. It is well worth reading her success story:

12/26/08 report from Christy on her first marathon in New York City

"My alarm went off at 3am and I rolled out of bed with a good 7 hours under my belt. I had everything laid out, and my pre approved marathon bag was full of everything I needed for the day. My cell phone, my running number, a book, a disposable camera, a banana, and a bagel all seemed appropriate. I was ready to go at 3:30 and my mom insisted on accompanying me to the bus stop, as she was sure I would get mugged along the way. Thanks to Peggy's amazing hotel that she shared with us... I was a mere few blocks down and couple blocks over from the NY public library where I had to board my bus for Staten Island at 4am. Once we emerged onto Times Square it was obvious that I would not be alone. There were runners all over the streets. So many people like me, with their marathon bags in hand, headed toward 42nd street. Fears lifted, mom kissed me good luck and turned back, and I made friends with a lesbian from Australia who was rather chatty considering the early hour. It was my charming non makeup-ed face that peaked her interest, no doubt. :)
The line for the buses was long, but well organized, and I was on my way in relatively no time at all. Off we went to Staten Island. It was dark and there were signs directing us to our holding areas. I had absolutely NO idea what I was doing and found myself staring blankly at a large directorial of some sort that might have well been in Japanese for all the good it was doing me. Before long, another confused gal found her way to the same spot, and then another. We are all staring up at this thing and then we look at each other and discover we all have the same bib color. Orange. That was us. We all found great comfort knowing we were headed for the same place even though none of us really knew where that was. We happily traipsed off to find our spot, confident that we would in the 6 hours we had before our start time. Yes, 6 hours. You read that correctly.
Thus began my journey with Charlie from England and Stephanie from Scotland. I believe it was Charlie that guided us to the right spot and once we knew where we were going, we set off to find bagels and tea. We brought our stash back to the tent (I use the term loosely, as it was really just an overhead cover, and the 40 degree winds were whipping through chilling us to the core). We had trash bags which we used to sit on and I crawled inside one and made it a jacket. It didn't help. We were freezing. The three of us spent the next 5 hours pouring through Stephanie's magazines, waiting in line at the porto-potty's, taking turns getting more tea and bagels, laughing at the guy dressed up as buzz lightyear, and taking fun pictures. We also realized that we all run at relatively the same speed. Charlie had a start time of 10am, and Stephanie and I were both at 10:10, so Charlie decided to hang back and start with us.
I have no idea what time it was when we actually started making our way to the corral line ups. It was hilarious to see the discarded clothing. It was EVERYWHERE. People literally just take off pieces and throw them as they go. We were no exception. It was SO cold we debated what we would keep on and what we wouldn't, and what could wait until the last possible moment. We laughed as we peeled off the layers and tossed them to the volunteers that were collecting the clothing. Before we knew it, we could see the start line, and the three of us set off together to cross the Verrazano Narrows bridge. I have never in my life seen so many people. When we reached the crest of the bridge, you cannot imagine the amount of people we could see stretched out in front of us. It was utterly amazing. I couldn't stop laughing and telling the girls "this is SO cool!", because it absolutely was. Charlie had her camera and would dash in front of us to turn back around and take pictures.
Charlie and Stephanie both wanted to finish the marathon in 4 hours and 30 minutes. This was nothing I had ever dreamed about. I only wanted to finish. I had certainly thought on occasion that it would be great to finish in less than 5 hours... but I also thought that as long as the bus didn't come along and scoop me up because I was too slow, that was fine with me. With their excitement I started to think about it, and realized that we could absolutely do it in 4 hours and 30 minutes. So that became our goal. There are these 'pacers' in marathons... people who, for some ungodly known reason, know exactly how fast to run to complete a marathon in a certain amount of time. 3 hours, 3 30, 3 45, 4, 415, 4 30, 4 45... and they have that number on their back and they carry balloons so people can keep up with them and meet their time goal. We had started in the back of the pack for our time group, so no doubt the pacers were way ahead of us, but lo and behold we sure did come upon the 4:45 group somewhere around mile 10, and we passed them. I look at the girls and I say "Great!! Now we just have to go get those 4 30'ers" which I really thought we could do. I think at that point Charlie and Stephanie had given up on the dream. They trudged along with me for the next 4 miles and then at the water stop we lost each other. I turned back to look for them, but they were lost in the sea of people... so off I went to do the next 12 on my own.
Never was I ever on my own, though. There were people at every stretch of the race, cheering the runners on. It was mile 8 that I saw mom and Peggy and Christina. Yes, I saw THEM. They didn't see me, until I passed them and screeched "MOM!!!!!!!!!!" Their heads turned in my direction and I think there was great relief on my mom's face when she saw that I was still breathing, and smiling, no less. They had signs for me and for Charlie and Stephanie. I could not stop smiling. That encounter surely gave me motivation to keep going. So did the bands, and church choirs, and ladies with orange slices, and people shouting my name (it was on my shirt), and the big fat guy that screamed "WELCOME TO BROOKLUUN!!!!!!!" as we crossed over a bridge.
It was at mile 23 that I saw the 4 30 pacer girl. She came from BEHIND me. How on earth? I suppose they must have stopped for a pee break and I somehow went by them. Now, however, they were going by me. I realized by my watch that I was going to have to pick up my pace if I was actually going to accomplish this thing in 4 hours and 30 minutes. But they were RIGHT there. Right in front of me. All I had to do was keep up with them. It was impossible. I watched as they continued to put distance between us and I could not will my legs to go any faster. All I could do was will them to not buckle underneath me because they certainly wanted to. They had wanted to for the last three miles. They didn't though. They carried me through Central park, and up (yes UP... stupid hill in the last stinkin mile!) to the finish line.
It was amazing, my friends. It will remain one of the coolest things I have ever done in my life, and I look forward to what will top it.
To those of you that contributed financially to my cause, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I raised $3300 for the Young Survivor Coalition."

Jack

Re: Update - May 15

2011-05-16T20:39:00.002-04:00

Sunday, May 15th Report

10 runners showed up to run on a cool and overcast Sunday morning that followed a rainy night. The group went out fast and I quickly fell behind. They all seemed full of energy as I turned off at mile 4 to begin the next part of my perfect morning... coffee and the Sunday New York Times in the courtyard at Palmano's!

See you all next Sunday.

Chris

Mother's Day Run

2011-05-08T11:12:00.001-04:00

We had a surprisingly good turnout this morning, considering it is a holiday. Dylan counted the group as seventeen strong!

Happy Mother's Day to all of our mothers! We had three mothers join us today. One was Claudia, who leaves this week for Wisconsin where she and he husband spend the summer. The second was Chanelle who ran with her husband Matt. And the third was Leah, out for her first group run with husband Danny.

Also saw Barbara and Elin doing their own thing, and we wish them a Happy Mother's Day also!

Congratulations to Lytle:

Join me in congratulating Lytle on the completion of her MBA from Rollins!

Heard from this week:

Christy excerpts

"I have been telling myself each week that I am going to get up on Sunday morning and join you guys, but as you can see- that has yet to happen. This coming weekend I will be in Jacksonville to visit my mom, but THEN... I am planning to come out the following Sunday. Will this happen? Only the shadow knows. :) But, I shall give it a go!. Hope to see you soon."

Prince, a visitor from Birmingham, AL

"It was great meeting you and thank you again for setting me up to run with Claudia. Next time you see her please tell her I had a great run with her and then later on the Cady Way Trail as well."

Jeff, a runner from Oviedo who has joined the group

"Just wanted to thank you and everyone else for being so friendly and welcoming to me. These Sunday runs are my long run of the week and it really helps to run with someone"

Have a great week. I will miss next Sunday's run due to a weekend visit with our son and family in Baltimore.

Jack

May 1, 2011 Run

2011-05-01T11:39:00.001-04:00

May Day turned out to be a great running morning as at least 20 people showed up to enjoy what may be the best running temperature we will see for quite a while.

Visitor from Alabama

A visitor, Prince from Birmingham, Alabama showed up this morning as promised. We teamed him up with Kim and Claudia, and we thank you both for your hospitality to Prince. He has been attending a conference of the Leukemia Society here in Orlando, and also is a coach for a team in training group.

Prince said that he left home before the tornadoes hit Alabama, but that his family was not directly affected by the bad weather.

Departing Group Member

Bob pulled me through seven miles this morning, just before leaving for the Northeast today. He and wife Bev spend summers in Woodstock, VT where it is much cooler and hillier. They also are off the Eastern Europe for a grand tour, where Bob will add perhaps a half dozen countries to his running resume.

Seth on the Road

Our roving running ambassador, Seth, is off to run a bunch of ultra races over the next several weeks. Do well, Seth, and check in when you can. Seth is a hard man to keep track of!!

Elderly Runners Survey

Dylan weighed in on the issue of age group fairness for older runners. He said:

"I am with Carolyne (being of advancing age)."

Have a great week and remember that next Sunday is Mothers Day!

Jack

Visitor the Sunday

2011-04-29T11:19:00.002-04:00

Visitor from Alabama joining us this Sunday

I want to give you a heads-up that we will have a visitor from Alabama this weekend His name is Prince and he is looking to do 20 miles. He is a team in training running coach and will be happy to run anything between a 7:30 and 12:00 minute pace. That is an unusually flexible speed range!

If any of you are planning to start early, please give me a head up and I will contact him. I also may contact Teresa Williams to see in Prince might join her group.

Additional Postings on Elderly runners age categories

Posted below are the additional comments received regarding the fairness of lumping four age groups into one for elderly runners. I must say our exchange of ideas has been absolutely fascinating for me! It brings to mind the old adage: "Be careful what you ask for!"

Kirsty:

I agree with you that the races should continue the 5 year age categories through the eldest racer. These individuals need to be recognized and rewarded for their motivation and abilities.

Jake:

I'm amazed at what I've seen, so far. goodness gracious.

Mat: (Excerpts)
I want to look at the differences in 5k race performance based on the participant's age. In general i want to quantify the slowing experienced with aging and what that means for the age group classifications. So if you statistically will run a 1min slower 5k at 50 compared to 40 there is an age group classification to account for that. If there is a comparable change between 70 and 80, but no age group split, than that would indicate an inappropriate lumping of those two age groups together.

(I have sent Mat some info. He will find that the lumped groups are mathematically quite inappropriate.)

Carolyne

My 2 cents worth: I do not think the "award" or medal is what is important for older runners. I believe the age groups should be scored in 5 year increments regardless of age so you can easily see where you rank among your peers. Each year in age compounds the ability to manage injuries and age-associated issues and it is important to recognize each age group fairly with or without a medal or award. Perhaps the age groups could be scored and awards only given if a certain number of entrants are in each category.

Jack

Easter Run

2011-04-24T16:30:00.001-04:00

We had a nice Easter turnout of 19 people, two of whom did the 5K race yesterday. Jake finished first in the Age 35 category with a blistering 6:11 pace. Cheryl had another PR with a 23:34 time. Great job!

I have recently decided to boycott races which have only one catch-all age group of 70 years and older. This lumps four age categories into one and seems highly unfair to elderly runners. The net effect on yesterday's race is to lump two dozen older runners into one catch-all category. This seems to marginalize our seniors. Am I off base or should this not be fixed? Would appreciate your feedback!

The photographer for the Winter Park Magazine showed up as promised and took a group picture of us heading up Park Avenue towards the golf course.

Hope all of you are having a great Easter weekend and wish you a great week ahead.

Jack

April 17 Run

2011-04-17T14:59:00.000-04:00

What a nice turnout today! It was good to see some faces we haven’t seen in a while. Over two dozen people were standing tall to meet reporter Camille and photographer Sarah this morning. I just called her to thank her for taking on such an early gig with a bunch of crazy runners! As previously reported, Winter Park Magazine hopefully will be featuring us in an article—not before June as I understand it.

When last seen, Sarah was headed out towards Rollins to try catching you ten milers coming back in. Please let me know if she found any of you! Sarah had last told me that she would try to show up at the Bonita water stop, but that did not happen to the best of my knowledge. She wanted to catch up with us earlier, but Via Tuscany was closed, and she was not familiar enough with the territory to work around that.

Dede Kelly and family

I believe that most of you have met Dede, who began running with us several months ago. You should know that Dede is on her way to New York City today with her Mother and two of her sisters to a photo shoot for an article in Good Housekeeping Magazine. The story is the significant weight loss which the four of them achieved. Dede lost 120 pounds and I believe she told me that one of her sisters lost even more! One sister will be here for the summer and plans to come out and run with us! It will be so nice to have two budding celebrities in our group!!

Congratulations to all of the Kelly girls!

Hope to see you next week. In the meantime, Happy Passover (this coming Tuesday) and Happy Easter to those of you who won’t be out next Sunday!

Have a great week.

Jack

Interview with Winter Park Magaizine this Sunday, etc.

2011-04-12T14:34:00.001-04:00

Dedication of Baldwin Park Trail

This morning, Dylan, Bob, Jorge and I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony officially dedicating the completion of the Lake Baldwin Trail. It was a nice ceremony and we got to meet and chat with Mayor Bradley, some of the City Commissioners and the City's Communication Director.

I am pasting below Dylan's response to a request to our group regarding distance markers along the trail. The e-mail was sent to Jon Hughes and Tom Ward:

"Commissioner Robert Stuart approached me after the ribbon cutting of the finished Baldwin Park trail loop today and asked if our running group (the Sunday morning group) could "officially" (and accurately) mark the loop in quarter mile increments for runners, walkers, etc. John Holland from WP Rec was amenable too. I said I'd contact you guys to see how it's done and maybe get your assistance.

I suggested we could discreetly mark the pavement at the quarter mile increments and leave it to the cities (Orlando and WP) to embellish with posts/markers of their choice and at their expense. Ideas?"

Thanks, Dylan!

Interview with Winter Park Magazine

A reporter with Winter Park Magazine called today and asked if she could come out this Sunday to interview the group beginning at 6:45 AM. Her name is Camille and she is not a runner. She may ask for contact info on people she wants to interview further. She expressed particular interest in talking to the youngest and oldest members of the group, so Jarily and Bob should consider it a moral imperative to be there this Sunday!

So, if you possibly can do so, would you please try to arrive fifteen minutes early to meet and greet her. Needless to say, this will be a golden opportunity to showcase our group, hopefully get some publicity, and also increase attendance at our Sunday morning runs.

It you possibly can do so, would you please let me know by e-mail whether you can make it out this Sunday? Thanks!!

Hope to see you Sunday

Jack