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.

Burke takes to Euro XC like a duck to, well, mud

The NETT news desk got a great story filed in from Jack Burke, a guy who's never afraid to mix it up on multiple surfaces--and multiple continents apparently. Here's Jack's report:

Jenn and I took 63 kids to London over the Feb break (Editor's Note: Jack and Jenn are teachers, not kidnappers). That in itself was a feat of endurance. I managed to run a cross country race on the outskirts of London with some of our high school runners in the group. UK Cross Country is an animal unlike any cross country experience that exists over here. Our kids who usually run 5:50's ran over 8 minutes and I hobbled through 5 miles barely hitting 9:30's.

We were woefully unprepared - the English runners had spikes the size of pencils and the terrain was like running through a damp marsh after several weeks of rain. So with each step you sunk in a few feet and slipped at the same time. We ran this in trainers ;-)...I was able to redeem myself at the Amherst Ten Miler - not sure I saw any other NETT folk out there - I think you guys were all on the Cape. I ran 7:45's over ten miles thanks to all the good training I suffered through with you guys over the winter. I was happy with that time given the course was very tough. I think this would be a good course to have a team at in the future - it's seems like a very NETT type event - lots of huge hills, dirt roads and some good straightaways to make up time.

Jerry's crazy tale makes the WHDH news!

In case you haven't heard, Jerry De Zutter's encounter with a red-tail hawk while on his Sunday run was covered on WHDH last night. The coverage included an interview with Jerry and a couple shots of fellow NETT members out for their Tuesday workout in Cambridge.

See the coverage here and you can find the full video report on their home page under "local" videos (Jogger struck by red tail hawk)

http://www1.whdh.com/

Hawk attacks Mini Pony!

Well just when you think you've heard and seen everything in running, a story comes along that just floors you--or in this case, floors Jerry. I'll let him tell the story:

"Sunday morning I planned on a run of the mill 90min or so. I didn't get out until ~1pm and it had started raining and I scoped out a new route on some roads I don't normally run on and ~25min into the run something way out of the ordinary happened.

Yes, a Red-Tail Hawk dove down and hit me. It made full contact with my neck and head, basically tried to take me out. As best I can tell it slammed into me and then talon'ed me on the way out. You know, after it hit me I was too busy trying not to fall face first onto the ground to take a swipe at him but I did feel the whoosh of the wings etc as it took off with my hat in its talons, dropped it a few wing beats later. As soon as I stopped stumbling I found myself in a "ready" stance without thinking about it, really is amazing how we are just like any other mammal with our fight or flight response to something totally unexpected and threatening. I was totally swivel-headed for the next mile or so of the run.Of course I got a good look at it, it only flew about 50ft away onto a tree branch and we eyed each for a few minutes. It was a red tail because, well, it has reddish tail feathers. They are actually pretty common, I see them around fairly regularly. Bigger than your average bird, this one was big even for a hawk. Felt like I got hit in the back of the neck with a large duffel bag. Called blue cross blue shield, no worries on rabies and my tetanus shot was fairly recent (football split open eye injury couple years back) so I'm all set.

Not to worry though, I finished the 95 min run; which ended up being anything but run of the mill."

No confirmation, but rumor has it the winged beast was wearing a blue singlet with a unicorn on the front...? All kidding aside, that's pretty messed up and we're just glad Jerry didn't sustain any serious damage.

UPDATE: NETT Women Win Hyannis Relay

The NETT coyote pack was out in full force at the Hyannis Marathon, Half-Marathon, 10K and relay, putting in some great performances.

At top of the performance list was the NETT women's relay team, which WON THE WOMENS' MARATHON RELAY RACE. Their blazing fast time of 3:20 for the relay would put them in first. The winning team was led off by the capable hands of Karyn Eminem Miller-Medzon who slim shadied her way up to the first exchange point. From there Chrissy Durden took the baton and cruised along to the half-marathon exchange area. Mary Smith took off like a shot from there in a neon green blur before handing off to anchor leg speed demon Deb Robertson who was all business kicking it in for a 3:20 finish (whatever was in those port-o-potties Deb clearly wants to get away from--fast!).

In the 10K race, Paul Young successfully three-peated in winning the Master's competition with a third-place overall finish in 37:33 (for a course that is significantly longer than 10K). That's three years in a row Paul has won the master's competition here, despite missing some training time with a back injury lately. Paul was simply too fast for us to get any pictures of him, even!

In the half-marathon, there were plenty of Mini Ponies to contend with. On the men's side Crazy Dave led the charge with a 1:16 for for fifth place, Dima Feinhaus was not far behind with a 1:23, good for third master honors! And just to make us feel like whimps, Chris Smith showed up with a mere five hours sleep to run his second race in about 15 hours and still managed a 1:28.

In the ladies half-marathon, the always-consistent Karen Ringheiser churned out a 1:36, while Laura Wieland ran a Personal Best 1:47. Laura is definitely someone to keep your eye on as she continues to improve her times steadily!

Also on hand to cheer on the Mini Ponies and get some running in were Martin Bures and Jean Dany Joachim. Special thanks to those guys for the support.

After the race there was an exclusive, invitation-only NETT lunch at Doyle's in Dennis.

Photos courtesy of Eminem Photorgraphy Studios.

If NETT ran the U.S. Treasury Department...

Today we have a very topical guest blog post from Frank KJ! Take a look.


I started pondering a bit about the astronomical size of the stimulus and wrote the little snippet below. You are welcome to post it on the blog if you feel it is appropriate. I just had "fun" (sometimes disgust) playing with the numbers. Frank
$787,000,000,000 is a lot of dough. For that kind of money you could
- Buy Walmart 3 times
- Organize about 50 Olympic Games
- Buy the worth of Niger 200 times - say
- Buy about 1500 Major League Baseball teams
- Pay each person in the US about $2,700
- Hire 12,000 bank and carmaker CEOs and give them each a Gulfstream jet
- Buy 270,000 Super Bowl ads
- Buy 3,400,000 Ferrari F430 Convertible

Now imagine that NETT was in charge of all that green. How would we spend them? For starters we could buy every single person in the US a nice pair of running shoes. That would only cost us about $15 bio. Next, throw in some Darn Tough socks and we are set back another $1.5 bio. (still leaving Big Ben with a nice commission). And of course everybody will get an NETT singlet with the cool new logo – never miss a chance to promote even it cost you about $5 bio. Whew! Still $755 bio to hand out. Some big ticket items would include building and maintain trails across the country, building sidewalks and bike paths, and fixing all those darn pot holes so we run can at night with risking sprained ankles. In the fine print of the bill, NETT would quietly award each member $10 mio. for promoting a healthy life style; surely no one would catch such a tiny little bit of pork. But there is still money left, so how would you spend them?

Just to get a sense how big a number 787,000,000,000 is --say NETT members combined run 100,000 miles in a year. At that rate it would take us 7,87 mio. years to run 800 bio. miles. Even Paul Young better start believing in reincarnation if we want to reach that goal.

These are tough times but like any endurance event hang in tough and as long as you keep moving forward you are getting closer to the goal.

-Frank

Update: NETT braves the cold at Derry

NETT had another solid showing at the Boston Prep 16 mile race in Derry, NH this weekend, which lived up to its reputation for bone-chilling temps and a course of non-stop hills. But never ones to be intimidated by such things, a group of hearty Mini Ponies galloped their way to strong finishes.

The day started with a visit from a "ghost of Derrys past" when Big Leo Fahey rang up Crazy Dave on the cell phone on the ride up. "Dude, I'm in the car in front of you" Leo said. But, when asked if he was, in fact, making his return to the Derry race, he said "What are you f--ing crazy? I'm going to coach a volleyball tournament! I'm NEVER running that race again."

Well, despite Big Leo's absence, New England Track & Trail was well represented. Frank White posted yet another solid result at Derry, coming off an ankle injury and a triple effort in Bermuda last weekend to finish in 1:45. Dima Feinhaus notched a 1:50 effort for 27th place overall and Karen Ringheiser put up a very strong 2:06 run, good for 10th female master. And Crazy Dave slogged his way to a 1:42.

The tag team of Karyn Miller-Medzon and Peter Evers churned out a 2:26 effort for a very solid Boston prep run while ultra specialist Bogie D simply laughed the hills off en route to a 2:46.

But clearly the star of the day goes to youngster Eri Verter, who ran not only his first-ever 16 mile race, but likely his first 16-mile run in a stunning 1:55, or 7:12 pace, to finish 61st place out of 650 finishers. Given the course, the cold and his race experience level, this amounts to a very promising finish for a guy who's only done a handful of races. His secret? Well regular trips to Prospect Hill are a good start.

(photos here courtesy of Dima F. To see more pics of the race, see Scott Mason's PHOTOS HERE )

Not the USUAL Bermuda vacation

How did you spend YOUR weekend? Maybe you did a race? Maybe you even did two races? Or maybe you jetted off to Bermuda for the weekend? Well even if you did ALL of that this past weekend, Frank White's got you beat. This lunatic flew to Bermuda Friday, ran three races in three days, and flew home Monday!

The Bermuda International Race weekend hosts a mile race on Friday, a 10K race on Saturday and a marathon/half marathon on Sunday. But if those events individually aren't challenging enough for you there's the Triangle Challenge where you do all three events in three days and your times from all three are combined.

And apparently Frank just felt doing one race in a foreign country on a weekend wasn't enough of a challenge, because he did the mile, 10K and half marathon in a combined time of 2:11 to finish third overall. "I died in the last 5K of the half-marathon and got passed for second place," Frank griped, but still gave the trip and the races high marks. And Frank's got some friends that live in Bermuda, so the overall costs of the weekend sufferfest were limited.

Snowshoe season heats up for Mini Ponies

Well if you don't like snow, you've probably either moved to Florida or taken the radio into the bath tub with you by now, but for those that do like the white stuff (not THAT white stuff), it's been a very good January. And that certainly includes a big part of New England Track & Trail's members.

Last weekend, it was a great day for a casual snowshoe hike on the trails in Lincoln. Crazy Dave led the way on his XC skis and Doris, Adrienne, Mary and Chris followed the tracks on their snowshoes. It was only the second time for Mary and Adrienne, but they shoed like seasoned veterans, hopping rock walls and following their brainless leader across fields and trails.

But this weekend, it was time to get our race on and NETT attacked the Beaver Brook 5K Snowshoe Race in Hollis, NH with great success, taking 2nd and 4th on the men's side and 2nd and 2nd and 3rd on the women's side, in addition to various age group awards.

For the women, NETT North's Jennifer Shultis (now a resident of Peterborough, NH) took 2nd behind a ridiculously fast Kara Haas (more on that later). While Jennifer's run was very strong, she's an experienced snowshoer and we've come to expect those kinds of finishes from her (although not always wearing a skirt! No sh-t, the chic wore a skirt in the snowshoe race). The surprise on the women's side was Mary Smith, taking third place overall in her FIRST EVER snowshoe race. Before the race, she was calm and cool, as the video at the bottom of the page documents. It was clear that she handled the new sport with ease and even added a snowshoe cooldown for good measure. Another one hooked!

The men's race was chock full of drama, with Chris Smith taking us all out strong in his only second snowshoe race (he was third last week at the Pooh Hill race). Chris led for most of the race, towing a few guys along including Crazy Dave, sucking wind a few yards back by halfway. But lurking back in fourth was the always tough Rob Smith who found a high gear in the last half-mile to dust us all easily. You'd love to hate a guy that pulls something like that off, but Rob's such a nice guy (seen here with Dave and Mary), you gotta give the guy credit for a good win. Chris did an amazing job and finished second in his second ever snowshoe race--it's clear that he's got some serious potential in this sport. And Crazy Dave was fourth place only 13 seconds in front of a fast-charging Kara Haas (I swear I looked back with 200m to go and there was no one behind me--she came out of NOWHERE!).

RD Michael Amarello gets high marks for not only getting 50 people to a first-time snowshoe race but a good course and markings and nice t-shirts and prizes.

But the person that deserves perhaps the MOST props, is Mary's beau Dustin, who was perhaps on of five spectators in the freezing temperatures supporting Mary and the rest of us, taking great pics, shivering and looking at us all like we really really need professional help. When asked if he'll be at the next snowshoe race, Dutsin's reply was: "I'll be there in spirit."(In comparison, Doris has been to enough snowshoe races at this point, that she had me drop her off at the Pheasant Lane Mall on the way up!)

All in all, it was a fun day in the snow. Those interested in doing some snowshoe races, there's plenty more coming up:

• Jan 31 Northfield, Mass. (A very tough mountain course)


• Feb. 8 Frosty's Dash for a Cure (5K) in Atkinson NH to raise money for Cystic Fibrosis


• Feb. 14 Horse Hill 7K in Merrimack, NH
  

And plenty more on these sites: http://www.runwmac.com/ and the Granite State Snowshoe Series.

Winter Multisport Races coming up

For those of you who haven't heard about it yet, the rapidly growing winter multisport concept is gaining traction (get it--traction!) in the New England area.

The 2009 New England Winter Multisport Series is made up of three races--one in New Hampshire and two at the Weston Ski Track in Weston, Mass. The first winter triathlon in the series on January 25 is at Gunstock in New Hampshire and according to the web site, it's pretty simple: "Winter Triathlon is a succession of a run, mountain bike ride, and X-country ski segment separated by transitions."

The Gunstock race distances are scheduled to be a 5K run (on snow), 7.5K mountain bike (on snow), and a 6K X-country ski (on water--just kidding, on snow).

The Weston triathlon on Saturday, Feb. 7 will shoot for the same distances, although snow in Weston is less reliable.

The final event of the series is a winter duathlon at Weston on Feb. 22 (unfortunately, the same day as the Hyannis Marathon!) and will feature a 4K run, 6K ski, and another 4K run. This race is also designated as the club championship race, so anyone not doing the Hyannis race for NETT should consider this event.

Lastly, note one the sponsors of this series, Patrick F. Dwyer and Associates, should be a familiar name to NETT members.

While you might not have tried this sport before--no worries. I don't think many people have, so there's definitely no harm in giving it a whirl, especially if you're an experienced mountain biker and skier.