Vol. 24 No. 5 May 2004

Ø The VSRC May Meeting was replaced by our Pasta Party.

Ø What’s new by Stan, Donna speaks out, and Ed likes to run with the club.

Ø May’s Feature Article - My Second HIP by Ted Orosz

Aphorisms from various running thinkers:

Ø ‘The worst part of success is to try finding someone who is happy for you’ – Bette Midler

Ø ‘I read somewhere that 77 percent of all the mentally ill live in poverty. Actually, I’m more intrigued by the 23 percent who are apparently doing quite will for themselves’ – Jerry Garcia

Ø ‘Success rests in having the courage and endurance and, above all, the will to become the person you are, however peculiar that may be’ – George Sheehan

May – Do they say the right thing?

The L.I. marathon is now history, we worked hard to get into shape. Each year it takes me more effort to run this ½ marathon race. I know that I did not train enough - when on mile 10 my legs feel like lead weights and seeing the Valley Stream club passing me by. Having people say to me ‘You’re looking great’ or ‘the finish is only a mile more’ has gone sour. Yes, I get the point, but repetitive cutesy is just as annoying as those ChiaPet commercials. ‘No pain, no gain’ is another saying that’s beginning to wear thin. It’s accurate but aggravating. When I’m running through the challenge of the race with perspiration dripping off my furrowed brow, that’s not the time to toss a glib my way. Trust me.

When I volunteer for the next Valley Stream race, I promise to smile at the runners as they pass by and yell ‘Looking good - only 3 miles to go – Icy when wet’.

Joe Tito

Tip of the Month

You have to train to train. That means using exercise to prepare your body for a new or harder activity. To progress safely, increase workout duration, intensity, or distance by no more than 10 percent per week; if you’ve taken a break from exercising, restart at 50 to 75 percent of your previous level.

What’s happening by Stan

Dues and Shirts: Our very hard working and competent treasurer Lois has informed the club that we have a nice sum in our account. I therefore suggest that all who have signed on for 2004 and all those who sign on during this year be awarded short sleeves shirts adorned with the club name. The present suggestion is for either white with the logo in green or green with the logo in white. I like the second since I already have the first kind. Donna and Lois suggested that we should consider getting slickers or hats instead of the shirts. I think that this deserves our consideration. We will talk this over and hopefully finalize it at the next meeting on June 13 in the park. [See below for details of the meeting]. Another issue is deciding how we get the shirts to our out of town members. By the way, the reason we have so much money in the treasury is we got payments for the work we have done at the Rotary 4-miler and at the Franklin 5k during the last few years. Our dues are far from enough for free shirts and other club expenditures. So please set aside those days this year to volunteer at those races. Remember also that we use this money to subsidize our runners at the Ocean to Sound and Corrigan relays.

Pasta Dinner, the Great Saunter, and the L.I. Marathon: We talked and we ate. Then we talked and lit a candle for those running the half marathon. Then we talked and devoured the excellent cakes shopped for by Fred [at least I did]. So a good time was had by all. Donna deserves our thanks for organizing the party. I forgot to mention at the dinner that Donna and Lois were going to walk the "Great Saunter" on the next day, which is the Saturday before the marathon. I apologize for my oversight. It’s 32 miles around Manhattan and it is an all day affair. Both finished the whole saunter in fine shape except for a few blisters and they received finisher’s certificates. Congratulations to Donna and Lois. I went to the 4.5 mile mark on marathon day and found that no volunteers had been posted there. So I happily took over in directing the runners around the turn and yelling encouragement. I exchanged greetings with many of my friends in the club and out of it. One professor (ret.) from my school came by wearing a shirt with his son’s picture on it. The young man had been in Army intelligence and had been killed overseas. It was a sad reminder that we are at war. The club times for the race are in this newsletter and I congratulate all who ran. Bob and Valerie were cheering people on near the finish and Donna was a volunteer handing out the foil blankets at the finish. I was told that she stayed on her job through a heavy rain shower. Good work by all.

Future Meetings: The June meeting will be at Hendrickson Park and not at the hospital. We will go to the hospital only if it rains and if it does rain, then we will have our usual meeting at 10 in the hospital. So if it is raining, and you don’t find us at the park, you can be sure we will be at the hospital.

Assuming that the weather is good, present plans call for a 7:30 a.m. start with a 3x1 mile relay race starting at 8:00. We will try to protect the food from the seagulls and the squirrels this time. Winners of the relay will get bragging rights. We will continue holding our monthly meetings in the park as long as the weather allows. The races will be varied month to month.

Future Events: I plan to be away in early July so we will tentatively schedule the annual barbecue on July 18, which is the third Sunday in July. This will be the July meeting. The Rotary 4-Mile Run will be on August 1. Boris is busy working on it. The August meeting will be on the next Sunday, August 8, and it will be in the park.

Best Wishes: The officers of the club wish you all the best and a speedy recovery to all that are ill or injured.

Stan

What’s happening ‘TO’ Donna

Down and Dirty: Donna our VP and Lois our Treasurer have completed their second Mudfest 15k (9.3 Mile) race which was held in Mt. Penn PA. Donna and Lois ran through trails with downed trees, roots, streams and muddy hills. The symbol of this race is the Hot Pink Pig. Donna reports "that all the shirts and awards have pink pigs on them." She goes on to say that "It's worth the drive because it's a fun event and at the beginning of the race a couple got married (Last year 4 couples got married)". She can't wait for next year's race because this is one of her favorites.

Walking the Streets of New York City: She and Lois completed the Great Saunter. It's a 32 mile walk around Manhattan. They walked through a dozen parks, saw the Statue of Liberty, New Jersey, the Palisades and four outer Boroughs, people fishing in rivers, cherry blossoms in bloom, and spring flowers. Donna reports that, “it was a warm, long and beautiful walk. It took us 11 1/2 hours (including several rest stops). I would guess that there were 200 + people and several dogs that took part in this event.” This is an annual event that Shorewalkers in NYC has on the first Saturday in May.

Donna the Volunteer: “I thought the volunteer aspect of the LI Marathon this year left a lot to be desired. I registered to volunteer about 6 - 8 weeks ago. It wasn't until Tuesday, 4/27 that I heard from David Katz about what my assignment would be. I believe the only reason he even called me was because I stopped calling the Dept. of Parks like the volunteer application suggested and e-mailed him directly. I was told to go to Field 6A at 6:45 am on race day. When I got there no one knew what was going on as far as the volunteers were concerned. This confusion worked out well for me because I was able to see everyone before the race. When I got to the finish area, there was no direction or guidance. All in all, it was pleasant enough to be volunteering, but very, very unorganized. Thanks for the opportunity to express my feelings about the race. I also e-mailed David letting him know that I appreciated the opportunity to be a volunteer at the race, but felt it needed more organization.”

Running the LI Half Marathon with the Club - Ed Pettinato

It's nice to belong to a running club . . . with so many friends. I spent the first half of the Long Island Half Marathon running with Fred and Dorothy, ran for a while with Joe C., then my brother Tom and eventually caught up with Joe T. (Maybe next year I'll be able to keep up with Tom Z.) The miles seemed to go by more quickly than I ever remember due to running with everyone and seeing Stan, Bob and Valerie shouting out encouraging words along the way. Donna was at the finish line, standing drenched in the rain waiting to greet all of us as we exited the chutes, with only a few hours of sleep after having walked 32 miles completely around the island of Manhattan with Lois in the Great Saunter . . . a much more incredible feat than running 13.1 miles!

The big news this year was the new course. Basically a loop around Mitchell Field and loop around back into Eisenhower Park for the half marathon. Full marathoners still are steered to the Wantagh Parkway. Mitchell Field is nonresidential. It's a nice place to run but spectators are sparse. What got my attention was the banked turn at about 3 1/2 miles. Maybe it's my imagination but it resembles one of the turns at Daytona Speedway. It seemed that steep. Not good for my iliotibial whatever. There were also a few hills. One going over the Meadowbrook Parkway before Merrick Ave just before seven miles and another after making a left turn off of Merrick Ave onto Corporate Drive. These are nothing compared to Kings Park or Cow Harbor. They are the kind of hills I like, short and a break from totally flat terrain. Overall, I liked the new course and thoroughly enjoyed participating in this event with the Valley Stream Running Club…….. Eddie

Race Results

Joe Tito - LIRRC – Easter 5K – 26:26, 10 Mile 1:47:30

Rockaway Rotary 26th Annual Ocean Run - 5k

Dorothy Russo(1^st) 28, Fred Pupke 28, Tom Zullo 24:40

Liz Farrell 29, Donna Hahl 35:02

Joe Tito – St. James 5 Mile 47:25

Tom Moore – Bull Run 50 Miler (April 17-- Clifton Virginia) 11:50:37

Mudfest 15K

Donna Hahl 2:37:49 Lois Timpanaro 2:38:33

LI ½ Marathon – May 2

Anthony Randolfi 1:25:26 Richard Kyung 1:34:39 Frank Pontrelli 1:35:15

Tom Zullo 1:49:55 Eddie Pettinato 2:16:36 Fred Pupke 2:19:04

Dorothy Russo 2:19:02 Joe Tito 2:21:08 Joe Cataldo 2:21:31

Debbie Whitton 2:54:05 Artie Foti 3:35

A Second Titanium Hip! --- Ted Orosz

Somehow I have this feeling of déjà vu all over again, except less so. I got my second hip replaced by the same surgeon, in the same hospital, at the same time of year. I must thank our friend Maureen Gillen for picking me out some nice “parts”. They seem to fit quite well and her husband Mike assures me that they really wash the parts well after they take them out of the prior user. All in all, this was a much less eventful process. Because I did not spike a 105 fever five days after surgery and because I did not catch a month-long case of stomach distress, it all seems so easy. I left the hospital on the third day and was transferred to a rehab facility (read nursing home) for 12 more days.

The one constant at the hospital is the morphine; it drips slowly after you come to in the recovery room. If you’re in pain, you self-medicate with the button. The mere thought of food while on morphine is nauseating (which is why, I suppose, Heroin addicts weigh 87 pounds). I kept asking the nurses to turn it off, but they just kept saying “No no, you must push the button”. The more I said that I was not in pain, the more delirious they thought I was and all the more they insisted that I “push the button”. After 12 hours of this dance, they shut it off and 5 minutes later I had a bit of appetite. Make a note, being in the hospital over Easter really is not too bad because it was surprisingly quiet with a skeleton staff and only about 60% of the beds occupied.

On Saturday, in the afternoon, we heard a crash of something breaking and then a whole lot of commotion. As it turns out it wasn’t a cart of lunch trays falling over. One woman attempted to dive through a sixth-floor window. The metal double-glazed windows--apparently with some foresight--are nailed shut. So after they stitched her up and tied her down, I saw maintenance types bringing up a new window (or to use the Queens English, a winder)

The physical therapy at the rehab place—South Shore Healthcare in Freeport--was genuinely excellent. Once they saw that a patient was willing to play any sort of sick game they could devise, they would then work as hard as you would. After a week they were putting light weights on the operated leg, and some significant weights on the good leg. They had me doing bridges—lifting one’s butt off a mat with the legs bent—it looked too easy to them so they casually dropped a 10 lb weight on my stomach. The food at this place was also surprisingly good. I enjoyed every meal, except maybe one.

My first roommate, Kenny is a charming fellow whose body has failed him but his wits remain intact. When I told him that it was April 18, he proceeded to recite the first dozen or so verses of “The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere.” Kenny really just wanted a decent cup of coffee, which was not forthcoming. The other patients, however, were so depressing to attempt to talk to that it was better when I just kept my nose in a book. We’ve all read about people with absolutely no short-term memory, but it’s quite another matter to attempt to interact with such a person. Bob from Merrick, we never got any farther than that because he forgot that he was taking to someone. There was one woman who sat impassively in wheelchair saying nothing to anybody. Her essence was gone but her body remained. She would get up and start walking without apparent provocation so they had her on a motion detector. When she tried to get up, loud alarms would sound. This was particularly helpful for keeping me alert at 2:42AM.

My second roommate Charlie was an angry old man with a foul mouth who was abusive to the nurses and aides. He just did not realize that for $8 an hour they just really did not need to put up with his crap. When the Dietician, who couldn’t be nicer, asked him what she could do for him so that he would eat a little a more, he replied “Nobody can eat that ____.” This from a guy who was a frontline cook in the Army. One more day and I would have tied his oxygen into a knot. Believe me, nobody would miss him. On my last night we were all blessed with arrival of a new patient, who despite her deceptively gentle and frail appearance was able to carry on a 12-hour verbal and physical battle with the aides. The chemistry of the brain is such a mystery. I would not even have thought she knew such language.

Anyway I broke out on the 15th day after surgery and I am home. It’s so nice to be with Diane for more than 40 rushed minutes we got at the nursing home after she got home from work. The small things are so enjoyable, one’s own bed and chair and all that other stuff. In a real sense though, the serious work begins now. Over the next few months I will do thousands and thousands of various kicks and leg raises, which will restore my range of motion to something approaching original equipment. Who would have thought that it would take hip surgery to get me to do leg raises at the bar like a dance student.

Ted