Valley Stream Running Club News

Box #212 Valley Stream, New York 11582

Stanley Friedlander, President

Donna Hahl, Vice President

Lois Timpanaro, Treasurer

Joe Tito, Secretary

www.VSRunningClub.org

 

Vol. 25 No. 12                                              December 2005

 

Ø      See Stan’s column about the coming club events.

Aphorisms from various running thinkers:

·        ’Character consists of what you do on the third or fourth tries’ – James Michener

·        ‘Running with all you’ve got for a finishing post, then savoring the exhaustion – sometimes that’s all the reason I need’ – Harry Cummins

·        ’Let us run with patience that race that is set before us’ – Saint Paul

 

December – Gift Giving

Fitness advocate J Tolbert says you don’t need a treadmill or specialized equipment to get a great physical workout. Tolbert uses a toolbox for stepping exercises, lifts soup cans to work his shoulder muscles, and employs other common household items in his daily training. He says you can stay fit at home using a low-tech approach. For that special person in your life, on Christmas consider giving him or her a can of peas or wash mop.

My mom who is 87 years old thinks I’m crazy to run and join a gym. She keeps in shape by working around the house, ordering my father about and shoving snow. With people like Tolbert and my mom, the exercise industry will go broke.

 

The month of December invites the feeling of gift giving; perhaps the greatest gift is that of given love. From the home of the Tito’s we wish you all a great holiday. If you have any articles, thoughts, or race results you wish to included in the VSRC newsletter, please e-mail them to me       … Joe Tito

 

Tip of the Month

When in Pain - Be flexible enough to make adjustments. Reduce your mileage. Wear a shoe you know agrees with you. Exercise regularly. Stretch, then stretch, and then stretch some more.

 

What’s happening by Stan

The following items were taken from November’s Newsletter, Hope to see you all. Joe T

·     Holiday Run and Breakfast: The breakfast/meeting will be on Sunday, December 18, Colony Diner, 2019 Hempstead Turnpike, East Meadow, at 9 am. The diner is a bit East of Eisenhower Park on the North side of Hempstead Turnpike. This will be our December meeting. Before the breakfast/meeting, there will be a group run through the EAB plaza [among other spots] which you may join, or you may bike, walk, or do your own thing before the meeting.  Of course, you may just come for the breakfast/meeting. The group run, a walking group that I will join, and other exercisers will meet at 7:30 am in Eisenhower park field #1. No reservations required.

·     New Year's Eve Champagne Run: We meet in the pool parking lot at 7 PM. We will have champagne (Jamaica Bay/2005) and cookies, perambulate the park, and get a little raucous and maudlin. No reservations required.

·     The Central Park New Year’s costume parade, midnight run and fireworks: We will go together on the LIRR from the Valley Stream station.  The time will be determined later since train schedules sometimes change. You can walk the run if you wish. Several of us did that last year.

 

The Imbedded Reporter – Joe Tito

2nd Annual City Council Turkey Trot at Long Beach. It was good to see Tom and Liz Zullo and Denis from the club at the race, we had great weather. Because the 4 mile race is back and forth on the boardwalk with few runners (about 100), our times were relatively good. As usual the raffle prizes were given out to friends of the Long Beach City Council – so much for a fair drawing. My left heel pain is still with me and my running is still difficult. I am now resting up to be a balloon handler with Carol at the Macy’s Day Thanksgiving Parade. Look for Carol and me at the Parade. Photos of the Long Beach race were taken by Liz Zullo.

 

 

 

Congratulation to Bob and Valerie Croon on the marriage of their son Keith to Susan – one down one to go.

 

The Balloon Handlers – ‘Dogs Drool, Cats Rule – GARFIELD’ was our cry as Carol and I held on to the big cat during a cool and windy Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. There are many similarities between running the NYC Marathon and participating in this parade. From the Smithhaven Mall we were bused to a hotel to pickup and dress into our costumes and then shuttled to Central Park West for instructions on balloon handling followed by warm-up exercises.  The waiting to launch the balloon and join the parade can be compared to waiting for a race to start. As you know Central Park can be cold and damp. Finally the order was given to remove the netting from Garfield and join the parade. Walking down the streets of New York with our 60 members strong to the cheering crowds, it is like running onto Manhattan’s First Avenue from the 59th Street Bridge; the adults and kids were into the spirit of fun. I can still hear the sounds of ‘Garfield, Garfield’ echoing through the caverns of New York. As you know a marathon has its moments of joy and agony; our distress was the M&M balloon’s misfortune of hitting a light pole and injuring two sisters – the M&M crew did not finish the parade. A race has a finish line, our parade has deflation area off of 7th Avenue nears Macy’s. After deflation, we returned our Garfield costumes, received a Macy’s X-Large tee shirt (We were told - One size fits all), passed through the crowds of people on the avenue and finally found our bus. We were exhausted and happy it was over. Will Carol and I do it again? We’ll see! (Post Note – The injured sisters are fine and will be attending the 2006 parade.)

 

From the computer of Tony Cannonito – Please note that the Saturday and Sunday club runs will meet at 7:30 AM for the winter months.

 

Marine Corps Marathon – John Cranston:

After leaving our hotel (me, my running partner, Veronica, my wife ,Gale and Veronica's husband, Kevvin) we headed for the Washington Metro only to find that the fare cards that we had purposely bought the day before had been wiped out by the money clip magnet in Kevvin's pocket.  After securing new tickets we headed to the platform and were greeted with delay announcements due to track construction (of all weekends).  Upon arriving at the train transfer station we quickly found out that the train to the start was so backed up that we would be better off walking.  We arrived at the staging area about 40 minutes before the start.  It was warm, too warm for a marathon.

Veronica and I started strong (for a couple of out of shape runners) and held what I thought was 9's through 10k.  Little did I realize that I forgot to adjust my Garmin GPS before the race and it paused when we stopped for water (that works ok when you are training, but the official marathon clock keeps running!).  That being said, we held a little worse than 9's despite the fact that I (Veronica never agreed with me) wanted to go out in 9:30's.  We hit the half in 2:01. Veronica started cramping at mile 14 and we walked the water stops and a bit more during the next four miles. At 18 Veronica (against my wishes) sent me on.  The rest of the run for me was uneventful except I came by a lot of folks who were cramping bad and resorting to what I have been told is a bad drug for runners (walking).  I even saw a number of people jumping over the highway barriers in the later miles thus cutting off a few miles.  I had nothing to write with so I could not get all of their bib numbers to report them to Tom Moore.

For those thinking of running in the future the paratroopers at the start were awesome.  They land right next to you.  The course is ok.  Lots of turns, and a lot of repeat loops.  Running by the Capitol was inspiring.  The crowd and some of the bands were not Chicago, but they were good.

The finish may have changed from what I have heard described before.  The Marines are not in dress uniforms, they are in fatigues.  They do not salute you.  They do call you sir or maim. You do not finish at Iwa Jima, but it is close.  The last hill is a bitch. (Hills in the last few miles of a marathon should be illegal.)  The Marines do take your chip off, but they do not retie shoes very well.  The finish area was poorly organized.  No water for at least 10 minutes and non participants allowed in with strollers, etc.  Two finishers went down beside us before we could get water.

Before I forget, Veronica fought through the cramps and finished not too far behind me. 

Thanks to my wife, Gale for cheering me on in person for the 8th time and thanks to Veronica's husband, Kevin for dragging Gale around and supporting Veronica and I for the for the 7th time.  Seeing those two intrepid souls 5 -6 times per race makes it a whole lot more bearable.

Special thanks to Veronica for putting up with me for a lot of ugly miles this training session.  She is truly a saint.  And finally thanks to all those at the VSRC who continue to allow me to be a member of this great club and who continue to send me jokes and other related back home memories.  John E. Cranston

 

Fun Runs, Speed Work, HILL WORK and Long Runs

·        Wednesday evenings. Group Runs / Walk at the Valley Stream pool at 6:00 PM.  Check with Donna, If new to club.

·        For Hill Work in Alley Pond Park on Sunday mornings we meet at 7:30 AM.  At Alley Pond we have a standard 8-mile loop and a lake loop which adds about 3 miles. For those who go directly to Alley Pond Park, parking is on Winchester Boulevard just off of Union Turnpike.

·        For Long Runs we will meet on Saturday mornings, time of 7:30 AM at the bridge in the park.  Be on time though, because after one loop in the park we sometimes go off to places hither and yon. Bring water as we often leave the safe confines of the park.

 

Race Results

Long Beach Turkey Trot 11/20 – 4 Mile

            Denis Brazil 27:55,   Tom Zullo 32:46,       Joe Tito 41:05

Joe Cataldo – Space Coast Lightfest 5K, 31:58, 1st.

Rob's Run - 5k trail Run 11/27

            Eddie P.       32:09,   Dorothy R.  33:08,     Debbie W.  33:31

Rochelle H.  34:01,   Carol B.     34:38,      Donna H.    34:48 

Lynbrook – 4 Mile Fly With The Owls – 12/03

            Jon Falk       27:21,                           Denis Brazil   28:03

David Fabel (39:14),                        Davis’s son Austin (39:14) 3rd age group

Tom Moore (30:30) 2nd age group,           Ed Pettinato (40:11),

Donna Hahl (40:37) 3rd age group,            Carol Beckler (41:31),

Walkers

            Rose Mundy    54:00,            Ellen Moore (54:08) 2nd age group

 

Upcoming Races 

Sat. Dec 10   Snowball 5M                                      Wantagh                                 8:00

Sat. Dec 17   Ho Ho Ho Run 5k                              Bethpage HS                         9:00