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. 26 No. 12                                              December 2006

 

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

Aphorisms from various running thinkers:

·        ‘It is no easy thing for a principle to become a man’s own unless each day he maintains it and works it out in his life’ – Epictetus

·        ‘To deserve success is more important than to achieve it.’ – Lester B. Pearson

·        ‘Success is the combination of failures, mistakes, false starts, confusion and determination to keep going anyway’ – Nick Gleason

 

December-The Cheater

I am getting sick and tried of finishing races in the second half of the pack. Increasing my training has not helped. Not only do ladies pushing baby carriages beat me, all the goodies are eaten by the better runners by time I finish. What to do? Why not get someone to run in my place. Yes, I known that this is cheating, but I’m desperate. If I ask Mike Gillen to run in my place, he will charge me 10 dollars a mile and most likely tell Stan our President about our evil deed. Stan has been known to excommunicate cheaters from the running club. I could ask Donna but she is too well known and lacks the speed I am after. I know! I will have Rambo the Running Dog run in my place. There are a few minor issues to over come for me to pull off his masterful exploit.

Rambo will not allow me to shave him, but I think he can be passed off as an Italian with a four ‘o’ clock shadow. My Valley Stream Running outfit is a little loose on him; a few pins should keep his pants on as he runs to glory.  The main problem as I see it is to have Rambo run the full 5k course without getting lost or chasing cats. The answer lies in training; I will jog him along the 5k course getting him accustomed to the sights and smells of the neighborhood.

2 days before the race and a lot of running practice; I took Rambo to the race course and set him off to the finish line. It did not go well because he ran directly back to my SUV and refused to run without me.

If food is the key to a man’s desires, therefore ‘Snausages’ will move a dog to do great things. The evening before the Christmas 5k race, Carol (faithful wife) and I laid Snausages along the course right up to the finish line. The day of the race, we pinned my number on his Valley Stream Running Club tank top shirt and positioned him near the front of the pack of runners.

The horn sounded and Rambo shot into the lead ahead of Jose’ the man dressed in green. It should be noted that Jose’ is in my age group and always dresses in green and always wins races. Rambo ran, stopped to eat and then ran again. This went on until he hit mile one where he had to answer nature’s call. Jose’ the man in green passed him and then Rambo regained the lead a few pounds lighter, minus my pants. At mile two he stopped to smell a tree and bark at a few of the on lookers. Jose’ ran passed him and again Rambo was back in the lead. This went on until mile 3 were Rambo discovered a squirrel had taken one of his Snausages and ran up a tree. The finish was 20 feet away, Rambo was barking at the squirrel in the tree and Jose’ was getting close. I grabbed a handful of Snausages and threw them over the finish line nearly hitting Dave Kats the race director. Rambo saw my move and raced to the finish beating Jose’ by a tail.

After the race I was waiting for my name to be called. Finally I will get my medal and a 2 by 2 black and white photo of me publish in the GLIRC newsletter. In my head, I hear the great joy of accolades from all my faithful fans - ‘Joe is a Great Runner’, ‘J.T. has defeated Jose’ and ‘Can I train with you?’  Ah, Life is Good!

But, my name was not called, Jose’ came in first. Guess what, I forgot to attach the race chip on to Rambo’s paw – his time was never officially recorded! O well, maybe next year!

 

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.

Joe Tito

 

 

Tip of the Month

Give dogs their territory. Cross to the other side of the road and pick up some object you can brandish at them. Never try to outrun a dog. Face the dog and keep talking until it appears to be safe to go on.

 

What’s happening by Stan

Club Race: Ho Ho Ho Run Saturday December 16 at 9:30 a.m.: You may register at

 https://secure.marathonguide.com/register/GLIRC/holidayrun.cfm  A printable application is at http://www.aquafitmasters.com/Events/121606HoHoHo5Krun.pdf . This race is always fun and there are plane tickets as a raffle prize.

 

Holiday Run Sunday December 17 at 7:30 a.m.: We will have our traditional trip through the EAB plaza [among other spots] which will feature a group run and group walk. Or you may choose to bike, roller blade, or ride in a horse drawn carriage – note that we don’t provide the horse or the carriage. We will meet in Eisenhower park field #1. No reservations are required. Come and build up your appetite for the breakfast and meeting described next.

 

December Meeting, Club Elections, and Breakfast Sunday December 17 at 9 a.m.: The breakfast/meeting will be at the Colony Diner, 2019 Hempstead Turnpike, East Meadow. The diner is a bit East of Eisenhower Park on the North side of Hempstead Turnpike. After making up for the calories burned up in the holiday run we will begin the meeting with the election of officers for 2007. Right now Joe Tito is secretary, Donna Hahl is vice president, and I am president. Both Joe and Lois will not be running again after serving with honor so we will need a new secretary and a new treasurer. Please consider contributing to the club in these positions. Candidates need not be present but if they can not attend they should designate someone to come and nominate them. Also if a member can not be there, they may appoint someone to cast their votes. After the elections, we will discuss plans for the New Year and any other business.

 

New Year's Eve Champagne Run: We meet in the pool parking lot at 7 PM in our ancient and traditional vsrc greeting to the New Year. We will have champagne (Jamaica Bay circa the day before) and cookies, perambulate the park, and get a little raucous and maudlin. No reservations are required.

 

The Central Park New Year’s costume parade, midnight run and fireworks is your great alternative to the usual drunken New Year’s Eve indoor orgy. The city is alive with crowds and lights and a wonderful and very inexpensive way to enjoy it is to join in this yearly event. You don’t have to sign up and be official unless you want the cool shirt they usually give out. I used to sign up when the run was much smaller but now it is enormous, expensive, the start is crowded, and they don’t record your time unless you are running in the lead group. That means 5 minutes a mile or less for the men and not much slower for the women. Join with us as we begin by watching the costume parade, and then we walk, race walk, or run at the rear as each one wishes. The run is started by a long and wonderful fireworks display with the crackers going off right in the park. Feel free to kiss and hug friends at the stroke of midnight while the fireworks are going off. Anything goes and if it is not legal I didn’t see a thing. We may start and then stop a while to ooh and ah at the fireworks. So join in for a wonderful night which will show you that you don’t have to spend more than a few bucks to have a great time greeting in the New Year. Most people are out of money by New Years anyway.

I will be in a group leaving from the Valley Stream LIRR station and meeting in the building at the train level. We will walk up from Penn station and return the same way. If it is more convenient for you please join us at Penn Station. No reservations are required but let me know if you will meet us at Penn Station. I’ll get back to you with the time closer to the date as the train schedule may change between now and then.

 

Note: This trip is only loosely organized and nobody will look for you if you go off on your own.

 

Best wishes to all for a happy and safe holiday season and the best of health to all who are sick or injured.

Stan

 

The Balloon Handlers by Joe Tito – ‘PIKACHU PIKACHU’ was our cry as Carol and I held on to the big balloon during a rainy and cold Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. There are many similarities between running the NYC Marathon and participating in this parade. At 5:00 AM we were bused from the Smithhaven Mall 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 and hoping that the rain would end. It had begun to rain harder, but thankfully no wind – Pickachu will fly! Our hands and feet were cold and damp. Finally the order was given to remove the netting from Pikachu, get drenched and join the parade. Walking down the streets of New York with our 60 members strong to the soaked 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. As far as I know there were no balloon’s misfortune of hitting a light pole and injuring bystanders. A race has a finish line, our parade has deflation area off of 7th Avenue nears Macy’s. After deflation, we returned our Pickachu costumes, received a Macy’s large tee shirt, passed through the crowds of people on the avenue and finally found our bus. The bus was locked and the bus driver was no where to be found. We waited a half hour in the rain for our driver to return. We were exhausted and happy it was over. Will Carol and I do it again? No way Jose!!!

Pikachu is bright yellow and is one of over 380 Pokemon characters. It appears chasing a Poke Ball. Our Pikachu stands about 60 feet high, 35 feet wide, and 38 feet  long. It will be filled with 15,000 cubic feet of helium, according to a statement released by Macy's.

 

Donna’s Duathlon at SUNY - Old Westbury. It consisted of a 2mile run (very hilly); a 12 mile bike (extremely hilly) and another 2 mile run. It was quite a challenging event.  I finished in 1:50. I loved the scenery along both the run and the bike. It was the perfect day to be running and biking. I really worked hard to finish the Duathlon.  It was the most challenging run and bike I've ever done.  It seemed like there was nothing but hills.  Maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but there really were a lot of hills. I used all the gears on my bike and I was wishing I had a few more. Donna

 

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

·        Joe Cataldo - Space Coast Lightfest 5K, 11/19/06, 30:30, 3rd

·        Fly with the Owls
Austin Fabel 41:11, Dave Fabel 41:15, Jon Falk 27:21,
Denis Brazil 28:03, Tom Moore  32:22, Carol Drucker 37:27  
Eddie Pettinato 38:26, Liz Farrell      39:01
Donna Hahl  41:25, Stan Friedlander 43:11
Ellen Moore      52:43

Upcoming Races 

Sat. Dec         Snowball 5M                                      Wantagh                                 8:00

Sat. Dec 16   Ho Ho Ho Run 5k                              Bethpage HS                         9:00