Eminem takes it out on wheels

In other NETT news (what a busy weekend), Karyn Miller-Medzon says she "actively promoted NETT during a 30-mile Diabetes bike ride through Marblehead, Gloucester and Rockport."

"It was hilly...yowch! I made sure that people saw my NETT shirt as I passed them on the hills...and again when they FLEW by me on the downhills and flats! But it was very fun!"

And for a good cause. Nice work Eminem.

Ludlow race another NETT success

Another weekend, another strong multisport showing for the NETT Coyotes, this time at the Ludlow race.

Martin Bures continues to improve his triathlon skills, finsishing 7th in his age group and 34th overall! Here's his report:

"It was a great day weather-wise, sunny, low 70s. I had a decent swim, a ride that needs lots of work and a great run. I am pretty happy with the results, though. I have tons of room for improvement. On a longer course with much more serious competition, I was consistently faster in each leg from the previous event."

And the rock-solid father/daughter duo of Jim and Katherine De Zutter were out as well (you could have a trialthon in your bath tub and these two multisport nuts would be there racking up points for NETT!!). Here's Jim's report:

"NETT was represented by Martin, who had a great swim of 11:07 for the ½ mile; 39:30 for the bike of 14 miles and a very quick 4 mile run of 23:23 the 7th fastest run of the day. His overall time was 1:16:37 for a 7th in a very competitive group. We picked up 3 GP points with that great effort. Katherine DeZutter continued her streak finishing first in the 19 and under group and picking up 8 GP points. Her swim was 13:49 it was her first open water race with a wetsuit followed by a bike of 44:33 and a run of 30:10 with an overall of 1:32:04. I followed up with my last race as a Clydesdale (hopefully) with a swim of 11:01 a bike of 35:38 including dropping my chain 2 times and a forgettable run of 35:18 and an overall time of 1:25:14 and 3 GP points. NETT remains in third place in the GP standings."

NETT piling up the multisport points

A multisport update courtesy of Frank KJ:

NETT is doing exceptional well in the FIRM Grand Prix Series. After 3 races, 10 Mini Ponies have raked in 74 points placing us 3rd in the team series. To no surprise Katherine has a perfect score of 24 points winning her age group. Paul Miller's duathlon dominance helped out a lot. Also worth pointing out is that new names like Eri, Martin (see his Ludlow results below) and Jim Jr and Jim III have helped score points for the team already. Note: The FIRM site only shows 53 points; I am working to make sure we get credited with all the earned points.

Next up is Webster on 6/21 and Old Colony on 7/13. The Webster race will feature a "NETT next generation relay team" of Nicholas (swim), Jim III (bike) and Noah (run). For those not competing, come out on and cheer on NETT v 2.0! Some seasoned adult triathletes will have no idea what just flew by them on that run course. And Old Colony is expected to attract some "old" folks for the Indycar race course; the bike course is 4 laps on a flat 6 mile loop.

Let's keep up with the great races and results. Go Mini Ponies!

Breaking News: Miller wins, De Zutters swarm Coast Guard Duathlon

Big congrats to Paul Miller who took the overall win at the Coast Guard Duathlon this weekend. Paul's crushing bike split and flying second run made him impossible to catch and gave him almost a full minute cushion.

And I suppose it goes without saying that the De Zutters were out in force as well. Even with Jerry up in Maine horsing around on the trails, triathlon's "royal family" was well represented with Jim (70th place in 1:08, 2nd division), Phil (92nd in 1:11) and of course Katherine, winning her division yet again and almost catching Phil in 1:11 also!

All total, they scored 16 Grand Prix points for NETT!

Did I miss anyone?

Pineland Farms race a big success for NETT

Well the Pineland Farms Trail Challenge was a great success for New England Track & Trail. After a pre-race dinner the night before in Portland, NETT members took to the trails early Sunday morning. Here's the results and a bunch of great pictures, courtesy of Doris and Adrienne.

25K
31 3/32 Adrienne Cyrulik 35 F 132 Belmont MA 2:03:13 7:56
33 4/32 Anne McGrail (adrienne's friend) 35 F 220 North Attleboro MA 2:04:35 8:02
49 11/36 John Burke 43 M 95 Cambridge MA 2:11:26 8:28

50K
2 2/28 Dave Hannon 38 M 1 West Roxbury MA 3:47:21 7:20
5 4/28 Paul Young 43 M 82 North Andover MA 3:55:21 7:35
6 5/28 Jerry DeZutter 44 M 117 Hudson MA 4:14:25 8:12
30 7/20 Bogie Dee 34 M 53 Chelmsford MA 4:44:37 9:10

50 Mile
21 1/8 Karen Mahoney-Ringheise 45 F 48 Carlisle MA 8:39:21 10:24


Random race notes: Jerry rode his bike for 1:30 before the race, and drove his car up 3 hours before that. Even I don't think that's normal...Bogie can no longer claim to be slow...Adrienne chopped 10 minutes off her 25K time from last year and Jack Burke chopped off 8 minutes--we should all be so lucky...Karen won her age group in the 50 miler (woohoo!)...Adrienne's friend Ann finished only two spots behind her!...The post-race party lived up to the expectations as always...NETT technically won the 50K team title, but results don't reflect it--it's being looked into...I'm still not sure what a canicross is...Pineland Farm is a dairy farm that used to be mental hospital. Brings new meaning to the term "head cheese."





Here's a couple trail veterans kicking back with a well-earned frosty post-race reward!

WANT MORE PHOTOS? The race director's pics are posted here.

UPDATE: Mini Ponies attack Lions--barefoot!

A few of the hearty NETTers took to the triathlon scene this weekend at the Lions Sprint Tri in Marlboro with our usual great success (are we getting spoiled here or what?). But it was our youngest team member that stole the show.

Martin Bures ripped off his first triathlon of the year at the finished 16th overall and 3rd in his age group. He had the 9th fastest swim split and 9th fastest run split in the race too. Also wrestling with the Lions this weekend were Jim and Katherine De Zutter. Jim had a fantastic bike leg (11th fastest) and cracked the hour mark in 59:29 and grabbed 2nd in the Clydesdale and 38th overall.

And then there was Katherine. Here's her dad Jim's report on Katherine's unique race:

"She had a much better pool time this week a much earlier start than Sudbury and only passed 1 person in the pool. The transition went smooth and the ride turned out to be a bit hilly but the training and spin classes paid off her time was very respectable for the woman’s category. Then came the transition for the run her feet were wet from the ride and she tried several times to slide her Zoots on her feet with no luck. She grabbed her shoes and left the transition with hopes to find a place to put them on the run. I met Katherine at the turn as I was headed back to the finish and suggested to her to just drop them and run she looked at me and kept running until the woman she was with told her I had told her to drop them. She finished the race without shoes a slower run than planned but still a good time considering the lack of shoes [and faster than her dad's run split, we might add!]. Katherine placed 1st in her age group and 77th overall with a time of 1:06. We are off to the Coast Guard Duathlon this weekend hope to see many of the team as it is a Grand Prix race."

Thanks Jim! Look closely at the pic--photographic evidence! You don't mess with a Mini Pony! What a gutsy performance by Katherine! Us old farts can definitely learn a thing or two from this kid!

NETT multisporters Du the Du this weekend

A couple Mini Ponies headed out (in opposite directions) this weekend to represent in New England area duathlons with typically impressive results.

First up, Adrienne Cyrulik kicked complete butt at the Shamrock Duathlon (I doubt she wore the leprechaun costume!) in Glastonbury, Conn. Adrienne finished 84th overall and sixth in her age group in 1:46. Great job Adrienne.

Meanwhile, Frank KJ headed up North to New Hampshire to du the Black Bear Duathlon with great results. Here's Frank's report:

Several times in my 13 seasons of multisport racing I have been close to giving up on swimming and focusing entirely duathlon. Two reasons have repeatedly kept me from going that route; the joy and challenge of swimming open water and the shortage of duathlon races, particular long-distance races.

One of my dreams is to one day race at Powerman Zofingen – a classic duathlon in Switzerland with an 8K run, a 120K bike and 30K run some of which are on trails. This race used to bigger and more prestigious than IM Hawaii. While that race is still on my to-do list, I had the opportunity to do a long-distance duathlon today in Waterville Valley. Ironically it turns out the race was organized by Jan Buitenberg who used to organize and race the Powerman Zofingen back in its hey days. He even knew some of the Danish duathletes I used to train with.

Black Bear Duathlon is a two day event. Saturday was short course (5K/30K/5K) and Sunday was long-course (10K/60K/5K). I woke up 3:40am and drove through shower after shower to Waterville Valley where the clouds were hanging low and the temperature was in the low 50s. Despite that it was obvious to me from the drive up along Mad River that this would be a great venue and a fantastic course.

The showers continued on off until 8am so everybody was ready and eager to get started with the first run on time. The first run, a relative flat two loop course, went behind the lodge, past the golf course, and finished with 1/3 mile on a trail right next to a streaming creek. Probably one of the most beautiful run courses I have ever tried in tri/du race. I had a great run finishing the 10K in just over 38 minutes and in 3rd position.

The bike leg turned out to be even more challenging than I had expected. After just ½ mile the course turns right off Rt. 49 and we have to a 1.5M 5% climb up to the ski lift. With the run still in your legs it’s quite painful. The downhill on the other hand is exhilarating with speeds around 40 mph down a bumpy road – in the aerobars of course. Back on Rt. 49 the downhill continues at a more reasonable but with the wind coming down from the mountain I am still able to push 26-32 mph. At the turnaround point I am still in 3rd place about a minute back the two leaders. Question is: can they climb? Answer: one can, one not so much. The 7 mile climb is fairly gradual at around 2-3% but with the headwind it is tough to push beyond 17-18 mph so it still takes me the entire climb to finally catch number 2. The other guy proves too strong and he increases his lead over me to 2:30. Oh and I forgot to mention the bike leg is two loops as well – including the climb up to the ski lift. I have a good second loop – keeping the same pace as on the first leg - increasing my leg over my pursuer. The lead person is almost 5 minutes ahead of me as return to T2.

Although it hasn’t rained on the entire bike leg the cold temperatures and wet roads have done the damage. My feet are soaked and completely numb so the second run feels like running on stone. Ouch. Luckily, my 2nd place is secure so I don’t have to race but can run steadily to the finish line.

Afterwards, I learn that the guy who won is only 19 years old. That’s a pretty solid bike split for such a young guy, especially since his background is in lacrosse and soccer. More interesting (to me) is that the guy I beat in 3rd place is Luc Morin – a professional triathlete from Canada (http://www.lucmorin.com/). I can now add that to my multisport bio. End result 2nd overall and a great experience.

This was the inaugural race so only about 100 people raced the short course and only about 50 people the long course. With the great venue, fantastic run and bike course and a well-organized event, I hope this race will be back next year. And hopefully more Mini Ponies will join. Paul and Jerry can totally demolish any contenders on the bike leg."

Thanks Frank.

Dima Takes on a BEAR

Never one to sit still, Dima Feinhaus last weekend took to the trails and ran the Bear Mountain 50 Miler in New York State. RESULTS posted here Here's his report:

It was a great day for a race and location was so beautiful. It would be even nicer if not for fog which was covering mountain tops earlier in the day.

When we arrived to the start at 4 am it was dark and raining. A few busy runners were wondering around taking care of their drop down bags and other necessities. Another pleasant surprise: no lines at port-o-johns, besides it was easy to get lost on your way to them.

We met Nikki Kimball before the race and chatted some. She lives in Montana now and hunts all the meat she eats. We were looking for Ben Nephew and couldn't find him, the guy who ended up being Ben was described by Nikki: "For Ben he's too undressed and bottles are too big".

10 min before start some non-runner looking guy was saying some incomprehensible non-sense, but who cares. Ready set go and we're running. It was dark at first, but the path was leading up and runners spread pretty quickly. The most unfamiliar element of the race was running water covered steep rocky uphills and downhills. they were pretty challenging particularly in the dark and closer to the end of the race when legs are tired don't quite do what you'd expect. there were a couple of those in that pitch dark first 40 minutes.

My position after first mile was 20-25. But by the end of the first hour it was more like 30-35. two groups of runners passed me. One of those groups was 5 latin americans (probably brazilians) working together. the group was headed by slim black-haired woman dressed in all black. As i founded out later she was pretty dilligently fighting with Nikki and was pretty close to her for most of the race, but slowed down on the last 10 miles.

From mile 10 to mile 28 i ran with a bunch 20+ guys. One of them was Kevin the Marine. He was talking of his tour of duty in Iraq and how it was pretty boring there and how after coming back they invented challenges for each other. His challenge was 50 miler. Kevin was bragging how he was on duty for 60+ hours without sleep and used to pushing his body beyond the reason. Even though he dropped back pretty suddenly at mile 20 and DNFed. Another guy was Navy sailor. He didn't mince words and run way ahead after 5-7 miles. The longest partner was Kurtis the music theory and cognitive science major from Rochester. I lost the view of him only at the aid station where Karen started pacing me and his brother started pacing him. Kusrtis actually tried to run away at some point but got disoriented on the top of the ridge and I caught up with him. He finished 40 minutes after me and thanked me profusely for support, it was very sweet.

First miles with Karen were pretty tough. However after awhile I picked up speed and soon started passing back people who just passed me. From mile 33 to 40 we were cruising high speed and a bunch of people tried to keep up with us. It was the first extended runnable, relatively flat stretch and it certainly helped. My unfair advantage was going through the mad. It has to be my Russian upbringing. After each mud hole, our entourage had to catch up. Particularly troubled was a young texan. He ran with earphones and would swear very loudly on each stumble. His driving force was to beat his twin brother who's a better runner but ran a 100 miler shortly before the race.

First 30 minutes after mile 40 aid station were tough. At first it was a half mile of asphalt and a gentle uphill afterwards. I had trouble making myself run. A lone 50k girl was struggling along. She told me a story of a gentlemanly tall dark and handsome 50-miler who helped her across the river. Maybe it was her night with a shiny water bottle, who knows.

Miles 42 to 46 were dark and cragy. The were steepest uphills and steepest downhills. there were nobody around but occasional 50k struggler. Karen waited for me at mile 47, we passed together the last aid station at mile 47.2 and the BIG question presented itself: should I try to finish under 11:30. It was whole 2.8 miles to go mostly downhill and only 33 minutes to spare. It was a tough decision. But challenge is challenge and i went all out.

Bottom line, 11:29:49, 38th out of 72 finishers and 131 people at the start line.

Positives: beautiful scenery, much younger friendly running crowd, different terrain, reasonable finish time at a race where almost half runners dropped, nursing pulled heap muscle from mile 10 which never turned into a problem, a single lost nail, no blisters or chaffing, no a single fall, scratch, or stumble

Negatives: too freaking far, orgainizers run it more as a business, rather than a labor of love, mediocre finish line party, some unsafe downhills.

We didn't see Leigh Schmidt at the start, but he had to be there, because he won the race. First three guys were from Massachusetts -- which i think is pretty amazing.

NETT moms (and more) kick butt on Mother's Day weekend

We had some great results over Mother's Day weekend. Here's a couple reports from the field. First, here's Frank KJ's report from the Sudbury Sprint Triathlon:

"The NETT family relay of Nicholas, Tina and Frank was back at Sudbury in another attempt to wrestle Überbiker Don Vescio off the thrown – but unfortunately I did not deliver on the bike leg and we fell short by 47 seconds to take second once again. Nicholas did his job and swam the 400y in 5:20 including passing several slower swimmers. This was 30 seconds faster than last. So shame on me for immediately losing exactly the same time on the bike part! Tina was a strong anchor as always and actually ran 5 seconds faster than last year. I guess I should not be surprised if they ask Paul, Jerry, Joe or Bruce to replace me next year ;-)

It was the day of second places as Jim De Zutter took second in the Clydesdale division and daughther Katherine took second in Female under 19. Jim was flying low and fast like a missile on his new sweet Cervelo.

Big Al Prescott decided it was time to do all 3 legs of a triathlon (as opposed to the swim leg alone) and that so well he placed 6th overall in the competitive M40-44. No surprise that he had one of the fastest swim times of the day. And his wife Judy who has done the race more times than I can count put in her usual solid performance.

Another fun day at the Atkinson pool in Sudbury and more great NETT results. Full results at www.firm-racing.com."

Thanks for the report Frank. And now a report from Karyn Miller-Medzon, who ran the Mom's Run 5K in Somerville:

"Can I PLEASE run a race without a headwind???

I ended up heading out to the Mom's Run 5K in Somerville without the Skittle boys--Noah twisted his ankle playing soccer yesterday so I vetoed his run today (much to his annoyance). And Daniel woke up with a cold and fever so no run for him either.
When I saw the massive buffet table of doughnuts and bagels and yogurts and luna bars inside the VFW post at the starting line I thought maybe I'd just spend the morning eating and pretend I had run.....Somehow I overcame this urge and lined up at the start in beautiful sunshine and VERY heavy wind. There was a lovely tail wind for the first mile, but then we looped around and had a powerful headwind the last mile and a half. It was like being back at wretched mile 23 of the marathon! But it was over in no time. I finished in 23:02 (not my fastest, but good enough to place 2nd in my age group and 9th woman overall.) I figure I'll try another one next weekend (and the weekend after if I have to!) until I find a race WITHOUT wind."

Great work Eminem. Also racing this weekend were Dima Feinhaus at the Bear Mountain 50 Miler, but can't find results just yet.

The Smith Sisters Crush the Pittsburgh Marathon

Today, we are honored to have a guest blog post from Clare Smith (Mary's big sister), reviewing the girls' very strong run at the Pittsburgh Marathon this weekend. Enjoy!

On an overcast Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh, the sisters Smith, Mary and Clare, separated by 457 miles or 735 kilometers, reconnect at the Pittsburgh International Airport. It's been too long since they've seen one another and even longer since they've been able to run together. But this weekend, they’ve joined forces to tackle the Pittsburgh Marathon together and nothing can stop them.

Mary, looking svelte and fit in her AX jeans, approaches the waiting Clare in her favorite "Lucky Mario" Lemieux t-shirt. (Her Pens, however, are losing game 1 of the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs to the HATED Washington Capitals). The girls hop into the Jetta and take off to confirm their race numbers at the marathon expo.

Mary's been given an elite or seeded runners' bib, #369, somehow. Clare is a little lower in the pack #3545, but both are excited and ready to run. After a quick lunch in the historic Strip District in Pittsburgh, they head to a friend’s house for dinner and relaxation before the big day. The girls fall asleep on the couch watching the Pittsburgh Pirates and are in bed by 9 pm.

The alarm goes off at 5 am Sunday and they're up, donning the matching Mizuno Wave Riders, pink City Sports running skirts and black T-shirts (thanks Chrissy!) for the “tag team” effect. Parked downtown by 6am, they have plenty of time to eat breakfast and drop their extra gear at the bag check. The savvy sisters had even scoped out the starting line the night before the race and smartly make the decision to line up between the 8:00-8:30 mile pace, as there was likely to be a nasty bottle neck anywhere behind the 8:30 pack.

After the national anthem and some pep talk by “Boston” Bill Rodgers, the wheel chair racers are off. Now, only 15 minutes until the marathon starts. The crowd numbers approx 10,000 in the corral for the full, half, and marathon relay. Tick tick tick tick tick, the gun finally goes off and they start moving. It takes Clare approximately one minute to reach the start, Mary approximately one minute and one second (this become relevant later).

The first 5K takes them through the Strip, nice, flat running with plenty of crowd support. Aside from the annoying and almost obnoxious pace group, it was great. They cross the 16th Street Bridge and enter the North Shore section. Mary hears her name from a familiar blond—it’s one of Mary's former Clarion Univ XC teammates! They cruise through the North Shore, coming across “Mr I AmSterdam” for the first time. Mary eats and drinks for the first time. The North Shore is known for its historical neighborhoods and the girls cruise by a host of mom and pop businesses. It's also where they pose for their first photo...holding hands raised in the air. The first relay exchange zone is just before the West End Bridge, about mile 7.5. The course makes a hairpin turn and the girls can see the elite runners on the bridge. Clare takes a Lifesaver and offers Mary one too, so Mary eats for the second time. As they cross the West End Bridge, they can see Heinz Field. Mary realizes it's where the Steelers play and says “BOO Steelers.” Bad move--she narrowly escapes being pushed into the Ohio River by a rowdy "Stillers" fan--they're everywhere!!!

Coming into the South Side, about mile 9, the girls hit Carson Street. They make use of the port-a-potties and keep trucking. Clare confesses that she feels half nauseated but eats some jelly beans. Both drink and Mary eats for the third time.

There is McDonald's billboard that shows french fries and Clare almost loses the jelly beans. They see a sign that reads "Your feet hurt because you are kicking ass!" Both laugh and keep rolling, the half marathon runners begin turning off course just before mile 10. Right after that they come up on the Boast brothers. Clare tackles her boyfriend Johnny, gives him a sweaty hug and kiss and they're off again. Carson Street to the Birmingham Bridge is nice running, the course really opened up when the half runners turned off and both girls are feeling pretty good.

Just before crossing the Birmingham bridge they hear a band covering Styx “Renegade” and Clare tells Mary that is "such a Pittsburgh Steelers' song - Let's GO PENS!" Coming off the bridge, they start climbing into Oakland, home of the "always choke in March” Univ of Pitt Men's Basketball team. The Smith sisters, however, are coming on strong and passing many runners on the steep hill. These girls are tough as grandma's cookies. They reach the half-way mark in mid Oakland and enter Shadyside. Mary eats for the fourth time.

As they run down the posh, yuppie lined streets of Shadyside, it begins to drizzle, 2 miles later you can see some rain drops and Aquaphor saves Clare's legs from chaffing--nothing like wearing brand new skirts on race day - however, the sisters did look especially good and it was all worth it.

By mile 18 Clare was beginning to feel a tightness in her right quad. She finally confesses she feels "ok, let's keep going and not talk about it.” Mary looks and feels great, she is cruising along like a machine. Eating and drinking, eating and drinking, eating and drinking. Mary eats for the eighth time. Clare manages down a gel outside of Homewood. Many cheers of "YOU GO GIRLS" follow them through Homewood and East Liberty (not the nicest parts of town). The neighborhood is full of men, women, and children making BBQ chicken.

Coming into Friendship and Bloomfield Clare starts to flashback to the Duquesne days. They run past the old apartment on Stratford Avenue. Mr "I AmSterdam" appears again and starts to chat with the girls. He tells them he's impressed with their consistent pace. Apparently they've been passing each other for the past 22 miles.

Turning onto Liberty Avenue puts goosebumps onto the entire field's neck, the banners honoring Pittsburgh's three fallen officers display proudly and many of the locals are out in their black shirts honoring the officers (the 3 officers killed a few weeks ago attempting to resolve a domestic dispute). This is the hometown of one of the three. Clare is feeling like garbage and it grateful to have her little sister pushing the pace. They start a brutal 3/4 mile downhill at about 23 1/2 miles. The girls politely decline beer from the local hash house harriers. Mary is doing her best to keep Clare entertained, telling her stories about "Crazy Dave" and their 30K training runs and beer. Clare's half delirious and dehydrated at this point, every muscle in her legs start to burn, not just the right hamstring. They push through the last 2 brutally flat miles in the Strip, actually re -running part of the first 5K of the course. They come up on the 26 mile marker and Mary lets out a yell: "4 minutes to qualify for Boston!!! Let's GO!!!" Heads are lowered, legs and lungs burn and the girls make their way into the chute. They join hands, raise them up into the air and cross the finish line together.

Mary 96th woman, 576/3453 overall 3:38:23. Clare 97th woman, 577/3453 overall 3:38:24. Both are happy and exhausted, just as they should be after a marathon. They claim their medals and pose for one more picture.

All in all, the Smith sisters rocked the Pittsburgh Marathon. They loved running one together and can't wait to tackle the next challenge. The 457 miles between them doesn't stand a chance!!

The World is Just Full of Mini Pony Fans!

Believe it or not there are more mini pony fans out there than you realize. I recently came across a blog called "Pittsburgh Sports and Mini Ponies" written by a person who is a fan of, well, Pittsburgh Sports and mini ponies. I mean REAL mini ponies. I was so impressed, I got in touch with him and mentioned to him that we are the Mini Ponies and we had a member (Mary) and her sister run the Pittsburgh Marathon this weekend. And, to my amazement, he said he KNEW of our site already! And this morning, he even posted a photo of our members up on his blog here:
http://psamp.com/

Go Mini Ponies! Go Mini Ponies! Go Mini Ponies!

Race Updates: Cure is Coming 5K, Pittsburgh Marathon, etc

Big congrats this weekend to two NETT members, Jerry De Zutter and Mary Smith, who each pulled off impressive tasks.

Mary ran her second marathon this weekend, the Pittsburgh Marathon, with Sister Clare and both finished very well in 3:38. This being the return of their "hometown" marathon, the Sisters Smith ran the whole race together and cracked the top 100 women in the huge field of almost 3,500 runners. They were 26th and 27th in the women's 25-29 age group (crazy kids!). Great teamwork.

For his part, Jerry pulled of a very successful semi-debut as a race director at the Cure is Coming 5K for ALS in Lexington on Saturday, with a lot of the extended NETT (and De Zutter) family helping out. NETT members were all over the course, both in the race and volunteering. The NETT ladies looked extra stylish in their new singlets. Adrienne Cyrulik was second woman overall in 20:05 and Katherine De Zutter was third in the 0-29 age group (she's 13!) in 21:38. On the men's side, Dave Guertin dusted off the cobwebs in 20:21 and Jim De Zutter cranked out the 8s for a sub-25 clocking.

The post-race festivities in Lexington Center were top-notch with food from Jasper White's Summer Shack and a long list of awards and raffle that kept participants happy and raised money for ALS research.

Big props go out to Frank and Tina for getting up early to mark not only the 5K run course, but the separate four mile walk course as well with great signage. As if that wasn't enough, Frank hopped on the mountain bike and led the runners on the course and Tina worked as course marshal. Dave and Doris chipped in as course marshals and course sweep. Rod and Mike M worked the water stop great. And Jerry's tireless wife Jennifer just seemed to be everywhere, at registration, post-race cleanup, mom duties, and even crossing guard at one point! I'm sure there's plenty more volunteers Jerry would like to thanks as well.

All in all it was a great event and big kudos go out to Jerry for the work he put in in his first official duties as RD (at least to my knowledge?).

Photos courtesy of WangPix International.

And as if Tina wasn't busy enough volunteering, getting enlightened by the Dalai Lama and outlet shopping, she managed to sneak in a second-place finish in the Exercise for Education 5K race in Burlington on Sunday. She says: "I wanted to test the water after Boston Marathon in preparation for our Sudbury triathlon relay race next weekend. I felt okay in the beginning and was leading more than half way through. But definitely could feel the speed was not there. With a half mile to go, can't believe a 58 year old woman passed me. I tried to move my legs faster. But my legs were just not listening. I settled for second place overall and missed the first place by one second." Congrats!

The Rick Report: Boston, in two parts

For those who were wondering, our illustrious running pal and story-teller Rick Cleary had a bad day at Boston this year and registered a DNFY--that's did not finish YET. As has been his tradition in the many many many (did I say many too much) Boston Marathons, if he is forced to DNF, Rick goes back to the spot he dropped later and finishes the run. And true to his word, this year was no exception. Here's Rick's report:

"I finished the 2009 Boston Marathon this morning (May 1), crossing the line 264:48:07 after the second wave gun was fired last Monday. Given the 71 seconds to cross the starting line back on Patriots' Day, my chip time is 264:46:56. Nice to be in under the challenging 265 hour mark, though I was almost 261.25 hours past my needed qualifying time for 2010.

A few highlights of the run in from the point where I stopped at the Woodland T-stop last Monday:

I chose today because my son Tommy had his three year old doctor check up, and his pediatrician's office is quite near where I dropped out so it was easy for Ann to leave me off there. If you ever want a warm up to elevate your heartrate, I suggest holding 31 pounds of wiggly toddler that needs to have blood drawn for a lead screening. Way better than stretching.

-I realized running up Heartbreak Hill is MUCH easier without doing 17 miles ahead of time. It's quite a nice neighborhood when you're not exhausted.

-As I neared mile 21, I had a sudden impulse to veer off the course and run right over to work, and keep doing the course a little at a time over more days. This time I worked through it and kept on track.

-I ran a little under nine minute pace for the part I did today, about 8:30s in the early miles when you don't have so much traffic and slower once in town where there was a lot of standing around at street corners. Adding how long I ran before I quit last Monday and how long I ran today I did a 3:48:30 marathon with about 261 hours of rest.

-There were people giving away free samples of Quaker "Mini Delights Multi Grain Chews" right at the Boston finish line; so it felt a little like the real post race! I didn't get anybody to take my picture or anything.

With this year's race done, time to decide if I should try to re-qualify...

Life in the Fast Lane

Since it's fairly rare that our members do a cycling race, the crack NETT news crew gathered up some detailed accounts of the great success three of our members had at the recent Quabbin Reservoir Race. Here's a few notes:

Here's a report from Paul Miller, winner of the category 4 race:

So much more goes on in a bike race than a triathlon: here are just a few of my memories of the event.

On the major downhill heading out of the start, I was uncomfortable so sat near the back and had a great view first of one guy shaking/vibrating so much as his bike picked up speed, then 30 secs later, of two guys going over the wall. One skidded out on a turn and took out the guy behind him. Not sure which one was the worst off, but one was totally motionless on the ground. Freaked me out, so I stayed out of the middle of the pack, hanging at the back (then the front) thereafter.

First 9 miles was kind of jolty from the back: when the front hit an uphill and we were going down we had to brake hard. When the front hit the downhill while we were still going up, we had to work hard.

Overall I found the early pace moderate, not easy, so thought our idea of picking up the pace at mile 9, the first big hill, to break up the field, maybe unnecessary. However I gradually started moving up when we hit the hill and noticed the pace was picking up. I looked ahead and saw a few guys off the front and noticed the guy leading was NETT. Probably hit my highest power in the race closing that gap as 75 riders makes for a big distance to close --- and at times spread across the road so I'd have to brake on the uphill.

Group of 5 or 6 away, including Joe and Jerry, but we got pulled back fairly easily, so I figured no chance of breaking away at this stage. However, next hill Jerry pushes it again so I go with him and by the end of the next hill there are 6 or 7 of us away. Some confusion in my mind as our break passes the peleton in front of us (M55+ but gaining 5mins in about 30-40mins of riding shows the early pace was not idle) and looking back I did not know who was in our race, who in the other, and felt like one of them had joined our break for a while (he had gray hair so I asked him if he was 55 -- he did not respond :-) ).

The break increased to 9 for a while and we just ticked along moderately for 30 miles, but basically Jerry, Erik and me doing the work. Always hard to tell how it feels to others when you're on the front, but as a control, when I was drafting it was always easy, except when Jerry was on the front :-)

A few times on uphills I tried to drop some of the hangers-on who were not working, but they always managed to stick back on.

I heard some comments on "Track and Trail" and that one team had decided to "leave us alone" whatever that means (they figured we did not know what we were doing maybe when we jumped off the front?)

My biggest worry from half-way through the race onwards was that my crank arm would come off. The creaking got louder and louder, giving dangerous sounds, especially if I got out of my saddle -- made me stay in a low gear and spin more, but gave me concerns about a possible hard finish :-) Luckily the support car was right behind us and I was trying to figure out if there was an optimal time I could stop off the back, quickly use a wrench to tighten the crank shaft then regroup (and who knows, if Jerry was on the lead he might hold the pace up for me :-) ) There never seemed a good time, and luckily it made it through (a couple of guys said they were keeping well clear of me on the finish hill).

By 15miles to go I decided the race was between the group of us for sure, so went easy when I knew a "nice" hill was ahead and only went hard if I thought there was no draft advantage for those on my wheel and I might lose some other riders.

Almost did this at mile 47-8, gaining a bit of a gap with one then two others, but an accident on the road held us up. Both Erik and I were inexperienced, Matt yelling to keep going, but when I saw the motorbike ahead of us stop I thought we had to stay behind it ... Jerry was first to regroup, which makes me wonder if without that incident it would just have been 4 of us on the final stretch. However the other caught back on too.

Jerry led much of the first mile of the final 2.5miles of uphill, I did a break early and lost nobody to my worry. Returned to the rear of the group for a gentle downhill stretch, then went again --- down to 3 -- thought I saw the line, so went again for the finish, got away but it wasn't the finish, just a photographer and parking spot. No choice but to keep going and stayed ahead.

Overall it's probably the most fun road race I've done -- would have been happier with no bike issues and especially if Joe was in the break -- I'm sure he would have been stronger than the 3 hangers-on."

Thanks Paul. Now, we'll hear from Jerry:

We started downhill out of the park and within 1 mile garmin had me at 38mph! Just ahead and off to my right two guys overcooked a hard left turn and slammed into some big boulders lining the road on their way completely over the embankment, hope they are OK and what a crappy way to start/finish a race. Oh, did I mention that was part of the "neutral" start?! Guess I learned something in that first two neutral miles!

We got out on Rt9 to start the racing and promptly slowed down as the road rose. After working my way into the top or so of the field for a few miles I went up and joined Erik on a steady uphill (gee do you think Erik was pulling?) and took a pull myself just to see how the legs felt. Matt Mitchell (switched out of 4/5 to our race just before start), Ray, Paul and Joe were also close by. Then by mile 8 or so ~8 of us had a gap on a good sized uphill. I looked around and was pleased to see at least Matt, Paul and of course Erik in our bunch.

By ~mile 15, I heard a familiar voice in my ear, Joe had helped lead a group of ~30 (?) riders back to us, I think Ray was in this group too. For a while the groups yo-yo'ed back/forth up and down the hills. I think it was about mile 27 or so a final selection was made with Erik, Paul, Matt and myself as well as a few guys who seemed mostly interested in just trying to hang on.

From here on we rode strongly and did our best to make the break stick. Kind of cool when I looked back to see the SRAM car just behind. A fair amount of suffering and some banter (basically politicking by the random dudes hanging on ("... please take the pace down, I'm not a threat, we're not going to make it to the finish like this!" Ya! Right!) over the next 30 miles or so and finally we were screaming downhill and heading into the park, 3.5 miles to go.

While I had good energy the quadriceps were cramping when I tried full gas. I could do nothing but ride a decent tempo to the finish and watched as Paul had a few digs, finally moving ahead to take the win followed pretty closely by Matt (2nd) and Erik (3rd in his very first race!). Our hangers-on finished ahead of me (big surprise.) and I finished last (7th) of our breakaway group. Not too much time passed and Joe (8th)led the first chase group across and Ray (10th) was right there too.

What a great race! I'm fairly new to the road racing scene and I enjoyed myself tremendously, from the tactics to the banter to the terrain and oh yes, riding the bike is fun too, it's all good!

Despite the Heat, NETT takes wins on the roads, trails and...WHEELS!

Despite record-high temperatures this weekend, there were some extremely impressive results from NETT, with members taking part (and winning) trail races, road races and cycling races.

First, the roads. On Saturday a couple NETTers were out at the LiveRight 5K for Hepatitis Research in Brighton. Eri Verter was helping a friend promote the race and, always the good samaratin, Mary Smith came out to support the cause. Well, apparently, Mary did more than just support the cause--she dusted the women's field with a 19:45 to take her first win since...the high school 2-mile. And Eri also ran very strong, matching Mary's pace in the scorching heat. Here's Mary's report:

"I think we both had strong performances (especially given it started at noon on Saturday when the temperature was over 80 degrees). There were somewhere between 150 - 180 runners & walkers and the course was a big Figure 8 loop along the Charles and you could say it was a "no-frills race"--no mile markers or split, no time clock, no chip timing, etc. (but I'm not complaining - it's nice to run small races).
I think it's the 1st race I've won since the 2 mile in High School Track, when there were only 3 or 4 girls that got suckered into running the longest event at the end of the track meet. Even though it was only a 5K and it wasn't a HUGE race, it was still exciting to actually win. Plus, when Dustin dropped me off he reminded me that he was making me a Peruvian dinner...and he told me that if I didn't place in the Top 5 - No Dinner!! (Obviously I knew he was kidding, but nonetheless I was in the Top 5 & earned my dinner, no questions asked!)"

Congrats to both Mary and Eri for not only running well, but supporting a worthy cause. We old farts can learn a lot from our youngest NETT members.

Now to the news from the trails. NETT had a fantastic showing at the Blue Hills Trail Races in Milton on Sunday in the scorching heat. Teammates Pat Dwyer and Crazy Dave ran together and tied for the win in the 10-miler Fox Trot (the officials had to declare one the winner, so Pat got the nod in the results and prizes, but he and Dave split up the booty between them). Also in the 10-miler, Karen Ringheiser won the women's masters and second woman overall (six days post-Boston)and Marshall Randolph won the 60-69 category (another in a long string of age-group wins for this stallion!) and Dima Feinhaus (also six days post-Boston) cracked the top 10 as well. Jack Burke finished 27th overall in the scorching heat.

In the 3-mile Bunny Hop, Dima's son Isaac won the 19&Under category (get that kid a singlet!) and Dave and Jack's better halves Doris and Jenn both get huge props for finishing their first trail race of the year in sweltering conditions!

UPDATE: Also hitting the trails this weekend was the father-daughter tandem of Jim and Katherine De Zutter, who crashed the party and took SECOND overall in the relay at the Rockbuster Off-Road Duathlon this weekend in 55:45.

And lastly, news from the world of cycling. Three NETTers headed out to the Quabbin Reservoir Road Race, a 63-mile haul in Western Mass. on Sunday with very strong results. Paul Miller took the win in the Category 4 race, finishing in 2:42. And less than a minute back was Jerry De Zutter and only a place behind Jerry was Joe Hardin, finishing 7th and 8th.

I defy anyone to find not such diverse success from a single club on any given weekend! Congrats to all.

NETT runners fastest in their towns!

A couple of the NETT ladies were listed in the Boston Globe today as the fastest Boston Marathon finshers in their towns--congrats to Tina Wang and Karen Mahoney-Ringheiser!

Globe[1]

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UPDATED: NETT at the Boston Marathon

Despite some chilly temps and a strong headwind, the NETT squad running the Boston Marathon produced some soild results.

Here's some early reports from the field:

Karyn Miller-Medzon (4:02) had some company when fellow Mini-Ponyettes Mary and Chrissy jumped in with her: "It was actually my slowest marathon to date. But I feel GREAT about it! I ran well and hard until just after the hills and then started getting cramps in my side and in my calf. I didn't walk, but I slowed down to nearly 10-minute pace for a few miles and lost the 2 or 3 minutes I need to sneak in under 4 hours for a qualifying time. (I missed it by about a minute and a half). But I felt like I finished strong and feel so psyched to have done this 10 months after my surgery. So no complaints here! I had one minor problem when I sort of fainted at the finish, got brought into the med tent, and was quickly diagnosed with hypothermia (the headwinds were cold and I didn't realize how bad the combo of wet and cold would be...) So my temp was down to 94 and my blood pressure was described by the doc as "um..VERY low". They warmed me, gave me an IV, and released me back into the wild when my temperature was back to 98. And I was none the worse for the wear. Chrissy and Mary were AWESOME running partners! And Mary went the extra mile (figuratively) waiting with Noah at Au Bon Pain while Ron was with me in the medical tent. Is that loyalty or what?"

Karyn's training partner Peter Evers finished a very good run in 4:00:59, his fastest marathon to date. "I'm incredibly happy to have run with him for 19 miles," Karyn said. (You can see Peter in the picture to the far right in the grey hat).

Tina Wang (3:31): "I sort of surprised myself today. I felt good all the way, except for some soreness in my gluteal muscle that started early, around mile 10. I stopped at mile 17.2 to see Frank and again at mile 23 to see my colleagues, so considering stopping a couple times, I am happy with the result. Thanks to all the NETT folks for being out there today. I saw Frank, Ron, Noah, Adrienne and quite a few friends out there today cheering. It was fun (can't believe I said that)."

Brian Scanlan ran a very impressive 3:08. "My legs just felt incredible thanks to a solid three-week taper. Thanks also to all the help from NETT in training and cheering."

And despite his prior trash talking with his bully of a sister Claire, she in fact turned out to be his biggest ally on race day. "Claire deserves spectator of the year honors. She went with me to the start and dropped off my dry clothes bag on the bus. Saved me about a mile walk. Then she took my folks to cheer me on at different points along the route."

Dima Feinhaus (3:01 the HARD way): It was quite a race for me. I haven't been in so much pain since I ran 50 miles 4 years ago unprepared. But now that pain is behind me and I'm in peace with my result: 3:01:12. My goal was 2:55 and I was thinking that if lucky I can do as well as 2:50-2:52, or...retreat to last year 2:58 if things don't go so well.

The first 5K was as planned and a bit ahead of last year time. I knew that something wasn't right, because it took way more effort than it should. I scaled expectation a bit but pushed on. Somewhere around Natick I realized that I'm getting dehydrated and I increased my fluid intake. I entered Newton slightly ahead of last year schedule and in a tad better shape. But my situation quickly deteriorated at that point though. I got cramps, legs felt stuffed with something heavy, I stopped paying attention to the watch, people around me and concentrated on managing the pain and running as lightly as I possibly could. Somewhere near City Hall the cramps got really bad and I would occasionally scream from pain (I hope it wasn't too loud).
At Coolidge corner it got so bad that I even made a couple of walking steps, but then I thought better of it. Last two miles were actually not that bad. I guess I got used to the pain. Last stretch along Boylston was a blur as everything after that. A kind female volunteer helped me to put my pants on. I think it was the first time after my mom stopped doing it ... I wasn't alone in that sorry state and it was soothing. A guy next to me got help with pants too.

I still wonder what did me in. Last year theory was electrolytes. That theory was disproved with vengeance. I theorize that weather was pretty misleading and I got really dehydrated, running against the wind wasn't helpful either. Thanks to all those people who cheered to me, I heard you! Better training next year.

Karen Mahoney-Ringheiser (3:30): I started out the day with double the amount of coffee as usual the morning of the marathon, which later proved to be too much for my system. The gun went off and I started running. Usual crowds at the beginning, didn't weave, just ran. Effort seemed more difficult than anticipated early on. Effect of coffee and first Gu w/caffeine, made me feel sick. By Framingham, I hadn't settled into the race, just felt sick and heavy legs. Also, actually had a headache the entire race from the noise level. Newton hills my legs were feeling pretty tired and new at that point, I wouldn't make my goal time of 3:15.

I didn't expect to see anyone else on the course at that point, but happily saw Doris at the top of Heartbreak Hill who spotted me on the opposite side of the road, and yelled my name. That helped. Hard to say how, but seeing supporters that you know, really does help. Struggled the last three miles and I had to walk some. I knew it wasn't my day, but it was just about over. Glad I ran such an amazing race, but such a tough course. Even with all the hill training I did in preparation, it still didn't feel easy. Oh well, made it through my 7th consecutive Boston. Placed 63rd in division. Thanks to all the NETTers who cheered, and thanks to all that helped with my training.

Other NETT results of note:

Jean Dany Joachim: 4:34 (had to walk a good part of the way from mile 18 due to severe cramping, but true to the spirit of the marathon, he did get across that line).

Rick Cleary: DNFY (did not finish yet) but plans to go back an finish from where he dropped out. He was, however, fortunate enough to make the TV coverage at the start of the second wave.

Interesting note: Dima Feinhaus (CSU) and Vlad Luppov (Shamrocks) both ran 3:01 (must be a Russian thing)

And if mom running the marathon and winding up in the medical tent wasn't enough excitement for the weekend, Noah "Little Skittles" MM had a great run on Sundayat the Heartbreak Hill International Youth race and came 3rd out of 49 kids in the 11-year-old race. (Note the B's hat--this kid obviously likes WINNING!!

Good luck to the NETT Boston Marathon runners!

NETT held its first ever "Good luck dinner" for our members running the Boston Marathon on Monday. A big crowd of marathoners and just hungry people showed up the Chateau in Waltham for the "last supper" of sorts. As a special surprise, the new NETT shirts were handed out to those in attendance. (Shirts are ready folks, so get in touch with Crazy Dave to picks yours up--emails will be forthcoming this week.)

NETT all over the Wrentham Duathlon

The multi-sport year kicked off this weekend and the ever-evolving NETT multisport squad gave notice to the other tri teams. Here's Frank KJ's report on the very successful day:

No less than 8 mini ponies raced the season opener and with great success as always. Jerry showed great form taking 3rd overall and 1st in his new “advanced” age-group. Chris was a bit ahead of Jerry into T1, and Frank just a few seconds behind but none of them could keep up with Jerry on the bike leg. Frank managed to move by Chris on the bike to secure 3rd in the M40-44. Chris held off veteran duathletes to take 4th. Nice work by Chris who rode a good old steel frame road bike. Bruce had a solid race all around and checked 10th in the age-group. And Eri did his first ever duahlon (I believe) and why not debut with a 2nd place finish in the M20-24; yes he’s that young and single (I believe).

The De Zutter family was all over the place. Katherine wanted her share of the podium and took 1st the teen age-group – improving her time from the fall race by no less than 15 minutes. Imagine taking 15 minutes of you 10 mile PR in just 4 months!!! Jim Jr and Jim III shared a family relay team which placed them a solid 6th place. And of course wife/mom was there to cheer on. Also thanks to Jim Sr and Tina for coming to out cheer and take pictures.).

Results at http://www.firm-racing.com/results.asp

Grand Prix standing has not yet been updated but I am sure we raked in a ton of points today.

NETT Runs the Rivah Wicked Fast!

It was a strong showing for NETT at the 18th annual Merrimack River Trail Race up in Andover, Mass. Overall as a team, NETT finished third thanks in large part to very strong performances by Pat Dwyer (1:05:57) and Chris Smith (1:07:09). Crazy Dave and Big Ben lumbered in behind them in 1:18 and Jack Burke cranked out a season-opener 1:28.

Coming out of the woodwork literally was Extra-Irish Dave Burney, who emerged from semi-seclusion in the woods of central Mass to run a very encouraging sub-2 hour time. And of course, NETT pal Marshall Randolph continued to defy all laws of aging and physics by running a downright ridiculous time of 1:16.

On the ladies side, Chrissy Durden took her first trip up the Rivah in a speedy 1:39, winning the bloodshed award.

Some Photos Courtesy of Jim Johnson, others Chris Smith.

NETT makes an assault on the 2009 FIRM Grand Prix

And, a word from Frank KJ on NETT's 2009 multipsport season, which kicks off this month:

One week to Wrentham Duathlon and we may have no less than 8 mini ponies racing. I have finished registering 25 people from NETT for the FIRM GP Series. So far about 172 people have registered in total (deadline in 4/15) so we are accounting for one of out of 7 racers. Furthermore, we are almost meeting the goal of having at least 3 people in at least 5 GP races which mean we will be eligible for price awards. I have attached a matrix that shows the races in the series and who have committed to what so far.

Green colored races means we already have 3 people but the more people the more points we are likely to score
Yellow colored races means we are close to having 3 people.
Don't worry about the colors on the names for now.

Please review the matrix and see if you would be able to do any of these races. And if you can then please let me know. Plus, I will of course keep sending out reminders in advance of each GP race. Editor's Note: You can zoom in on this document and scroll around by using the tools at the top. "Toggle full screen" might be the easiest. It's the only way to post a big PDF on blogger.

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A Tale of Two Long Runs

It was the best of runs, it was the worst of runs.

With three weeks to go before the Boston Marathon, a host of NETT members were out among the masses this weekend on the course for their final long run. And depending who you were talking to and what day they ran, it was either an encouraging fun-filled run or a complete and utter sufferfest.

Eminem and her pal Peter made a wise choice and met up with another friend in the Parkway Running Club to do their long run on Saturday. You remember Saturday right? The one with all the sun and the temperatures around 60. Karyn and Peter finished their 22 miles and told tales of dancing water stops with Hawaiian shirts and hula girls.

"It was fantastic today," she reported. "There were literally thousands of runners on the course. Busloads were arriving at the start line and there were aid stations at just about every mile, staffed by businesses (shoe vendors, sports stores), charities, private running clubs. At the 21-mile mark people were giving out plastic Hawaiin leis and food. It was so much fun. Peter and I had a great run--we were about 10 minutes faster than on any of other 21-milers. So it was encouraging."

But Sunday, oh cruel and unforgiving Sunday. You remember Sunday? Or perhaps you slept in. Well, a group of six MiniPonies who apparently don't get the weather channel on their cable package set out in a cold rain for a 21 mile sufferfest that would have made Dickens himself cringe. (three of which aren't even running Boston--talk about masochists!)

It had all the elements of a Victorian tragedy: Transportation troubles, horrendous weather, injuries and near-hypothermia. Frank W, Crazy Dave, Jim Rhoades, Mary and Jean Dany started off from Hopkinton (Ben S had the car trouble and met up with us on the course) in what seemed like a light rain and mild temperatures. But instead of warming up, conditions got worse, with temperatures dropping, rain coming more steadily and a pretty solid headwind for much of the way.

To make matters worse, around mile 12 Frank ran into a knee problem and was forced to walk in the rain solo before we could finish at 21 and go pick him up. When we pulled up next to Jean Dany shivering out on Comm Ave just before Dickensianly named Heartbreak Hill, through quivering lips, all he could utter was, "Please sir....may I have some warmth?"

Mary shouted "Bah Humbug" to the boys and just sprinted up Heartbreak Hill while spinning yarns of the devastaion she plans to bring to the Pittsburgh Marathon in May. "Claire's got NOTHING on me!" she screamed back at the howling wind.

Post-Script
In retrospect, with the misery of yesterday's slog somehwat dulled, we're all agreed it was a good test of mental toughness. And given that Eminem and Peter had their own tragedy a few weeks ago at Stu's 30K, I suppose they deserved such a great day. But why don't we let Charles have the final word:

"Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he's well dressed. There ain't much credit in that."
--Charles Dickens

NETT runs hard and long...for free beer

Free beer. Are there any words quite so sweet? Well it's no secret that a certain slice--okay a big slice--of the Mini Ponies put those sweet words at the top of their priority list in selecting which events they attend (it's no conincidence that we dominate the Andover XC race every year). And this weekend was a perfect example.

First off, big congrats to Jerry De Zutter for a blazing fast 5K at the Annual Ras na hEireann in Somerville this weekend. Jerry scorched a wicked 17:22 and just got nudged out for top master's honors by our pal Harris Hardy, who also had a very strong run in 17:18, so congrats to him. Adam Brown also seems to have come out of winter hibernation and uncorked an 18:20 on the course.

When asked about his strong results, Jerry told the NETT news department:
"Yes I was pleased with that time. I would term the course fast. Harris put in a nice kick to get in front of me at the end. After finishing, I made a beeline for the Burren, stopping to chat with John Kinnee who ran with someone elses number, and quaffed a few free beers with Adam and Rod Moreno nestled deep in the womb of the Burren." (If you look closely at the above picture from JimRhoades.com, you'll see Jerry's carrying a bottle opener in his left hand!)

Clearly a man with his priorities straight.

Also getting their priorities straight were a group of NETTers who headed up to the Run to the Beach 30K organized training run. The squad of Dave Mingori, Brian Scanlon, Mary Smith, Crazy Dave, Jean Dany and the Youngstah all toiled away for more than 18 miles from North Andover to Salisbury, flying past car dealers and Dunkin Donuts aplenty all for what? FREE BEER! We were all delighted to find that upon finishing at the Winner's Circle Pub in Salisbury the suds were on the house for those who ran.

Thankfully there were enough Mini Ponies in the crew that they could pry Crazy Dave's hands from the bar when it was time to go home. "But it's free--Which part of FREE BEER don't you jackasses understand?" he was heard screaming as his teammates dragged him out to the parking lot.

It was a great event courtesy of the Winner's Circle Running Club and the Andover striders. Volunteers on the run not only spent their Sunday morning setting up water stops and cheering us on a training run, but even shard their own Coors Light at mile 15 (Gives new meaning to the term "road soda"). What more could you ask for?

Stamina and Perseverance at Stu’s 30K

A host of NETTers ran Stu's 30K today with some encouraging results and a few wrinkles. We've got reports in from Frank KJ and Karyn Eminem. First we'll get Frank's take on the race:

"Keeping with tradition Mother Nature dished up with challenging weather conditions for the Stu’s 30K. And that for course that offers plenty of challenges by itself.

It was the boys’ day with solid performances by Frank K, Jerry, and Marshall. Frank finished just outside the Masters podium with a time of 2:03. Not far behind in 2:07 Jerry showed off his bike pistons and Southern Californian life style by wearing shorts and sun glasses. Randolph cruised effortless to another age-group win in 2:15– and that in some pretty cool looking racing flats.

The girls had a rough day. Karyn MM and her training partner Peter Evers hosted a wine-tasting fundraiser the night before and unfortunately, both had trouble today (more on that in Karyn's report). We all know that Tina is not thrilled about snow and ice. Now add losing both contact lenses around 20K making it possible to only see the ground a few feet in front of you and you can perhaps get a sense of what Tina experienced in the last 10K. Similarly to Karyn she showed true NETT spirit and finished the course in 2:41.

Finally, thanks to Jim, Katherine and Jim Jr de Zutter for coming out to cheer and snap photos."

Thanks Frank. And now we'll hear Karyn's review of what turned out to be a tough day for her and Peter:

"Stunning Discovery: Runners who drink wine until 1 a.m. and then run 30 km do NOT PR. As it turns out, the Stu's 30K race is every bit as miserable as we remembered it. It was snowing, it was blowing and it was cold. The hills were hilly and the flats were slippery! Peter was oddly euphoric for the first 6 miles or so (leftover wine in the system?) whereas my IT bands were tight from the beginning. All was going fairly well until the 15 mile mark when BOTH Peter and I (hard to believe, but absolutely true) starting getting migraine headaches. Still, we continued at a steady pace. Then, at 16, Peter's IT band, which had started bothering him around mile 12, really acted up and he needed to walk for a minute. I continued on, though by the time I reached 16.5 I had almost no vision at all (just a lot of shimmery lights and a little space directly in front of my nose). Since walking with no vision is no better than running (plus it gets you there more slowly) I figured I might as well just get to the finish line. And I did! Peter was only a minute or two behind. I think I finished in about 2:45 and Peter about 2:47. We immediately took drugs, and I got a lift home from our third running buddy, the ever-injured Alex! After the race, Frank said he felt like someone was squeezing his gluteal muscles, hard, the whole time. To which Peter responded: "Sounds nice, actually!"

Yikes...sounds like a tough day, but the good news is that Karyn and Peter's hard work the night before raised a buttload of money for the Family Reach Charity, which Peter will be running Boston for. See and article on him here.