theLong Run

Mountain West Track Regional

Out of One’s LeagueThe US 15K Championships

Running on the GoWashington DC

theLong RunVolume 32 Issue 4 Running News for the Pike’s Peak Region April 2008

Elected Board Members:President: Micky Simpson 495-5891Vice President: Ron Garcia GarciaRonald@msn.comSecretary: Esme Delange EsmeDelange@yahoo.comTreasurer: Pat Lockhart 598-2953

Tony Abdella abdellat@earthlink.netEmily Brzozowski emily.potter@us.army.milJon Cornick cornick_jon@bah.comJohn Gardner john.n.gardner@smithbarney.comTim Steffens timmahh2@hotmail.comLuci Stansberry lvstansberry@qwest.netTravis Waldrip TandU@comcast.net

Appointed Board MembersVolunteers: Cymmie Bailey CymmieB@qwest.netMailing: John Cassidy johnc@mindspring.comEquipment: Larry Miller FallSeries@aol.comNewsletter: Jim Kelleher 232-4419Races & Membership: Pat Lockhart 598-2953Website & Training: Dave Sorenson DavidSorenson@msn.com

Other Jobs:Calendar: Dave Sorenson DavidSorenson@msn.comCourse Marking: Travis Waldrip 282-1671Event Promotion: Micky Simpson 495-5891Insurance: Pat Lockhart 598-2953Historian: Storme Rose 591-6819Nielson Challenge: Phil Foster 447-1371Race Results Dave Sorenson DavidSorenson@msn.com

Club Meetings Business meetings are held on the first Tuesday of each

month at 7 pm at the downtown Pikes Peak YMCA, 207 NNevada. Your board encougages PPRR members and friendsto attend. The next meeting is April 2nd.

Membership ☺Memberships last for 12 months. Check the expiration

date on you mailing label. A happy face tells you that youhave 3 months or less. You will NOT receive a renewal no-tice. Renew early so you don’t miss a single issue! Third classmail is not forwarded, so keep addresses current. Send re-newals and address changes to:

MembershipPikes Peak Road Runners 207 N NevadaColorado Springs CO 80903

Long Run SubmissionsItems for the Long Run are always encouraged and most

welcome! You send it, we’ll try and run it. (You don’t have tobe an English major either. We’ll fix anything that needs fix-ing!) Write up a race you were part of or tell us about a fa-vorite running place or an upcoming event.Email your submissions to editor@pprrun.org either as at-tachments or in the message. We accept any Windows com-patible file format. Other media can be mailed to:

Jim Kelleher, EditorPO Box 26252Colorado Springs CO 80936

Submission Deadlines All materials should be received by the 2nd Friday of the

month for inclusion in the following month’s newsletter. Thenext deadline is March 14.Long Run Stuffing Party

Next stuffing is Wednesday April 23rd.Long Run mailing preps usually take place on the fourthWednesday of each month at 6:30 pm. at the Colorado Run-ning Company, 833 N. Tejon (corner of Tejon and Cache laPoudre). The Colorado Running Company graciously hosts theparties and provides beverages. Food (usually pizza) will beprovided. Everyone is welcome to join the fun! Writejim@pprrun.org for more information. Advertising

Insert flyers will be included at the rate of $50 per issue.The maximum folded size is 8.5 x 11. Do not staple. Please ensure brochures are unfolded. Send to editor@pprrun.org forprinting (add $40; color also available) or notify the editor anddeliver 1000 copies by the Long Run stuffing date (see above)to:

PPRR Newsletter c/o Colorado Running Company 833 N TejonColorado Springs CO 80903

Include check for $50 payable to PPRR.Advertising is welcome and we can help with design.

Business card size (3.5 x 2) advertisements may be run atthe rate of $20 per issue. Submit as indicated above. Write toeditor@pprrun.org for other size rates or call at 719.232.4419.

The editor and the PPRR board reserve the right to determine the appropriateness of any advertising.

PPRR Information The Long Run, Volume 32 Issue 4

The Long Run is the official publication of the Pikes Peak Road

Runners, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. The Long Run is

published monthly. The subscription rate is $15 per year.

Editor: Jim Kelleher jim@pprrun.orgEditorial Staff: Diane Cahalan

Jack Anthony

Mike Shafai

Return Address: Pikes Peak Road Runners

207 N Nevada

Colorado Springs CO 80903

The Long Run2

April 2008 3

President’s Letter Contents

cover: The Winter Series 1 5K in Fox Run Park. John Monk leads astream of runners through the trees on a snow filled course.

April 2008PPRR Meeting Minutes . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4Editor’s Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5the Long Run Long Ago

by Joyce McKelvey . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6News and Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6Volunteer Corner

by Cymmie Bailey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9Membership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Nielson Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11Heading to Holloywood

by Vanessa Warren . . . . . . . . . . . . .12Mountain West Regional Track . . . . . . . .

by Jack Anthony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13Running on the Go: Washington DC

by Frances Duane . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Friendship Through Sport

by Emily Brzozowski . . . . . . . . . . . . .15US Corporate Athletics

by Jon Cornick . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16Veteran’s Home Run Update

by Jack Anthony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Running Out of One’s League: The US 15K

by Emily Brzozowski . . . . . . . . . . . .18The Tortoise & Hare: How to get a head

start by Jim Kelleher . . . . . . . . . . .19

3

People run for many differ-ent reasons. Some peoplerun for their health, others

run for the companionship, andstill others run for the competi-tion. This past weekend, a racewas run for another reason. OnValentine’s Day, a seventeen yearold young man named Ryan Bow-

man had a stroke. A hole in his heart was found tohave caused the stroke. Ryan went through brainand heart surgery to fix as much as possible. Thisput a tremendous strain on the family both emotion-ally and financially. Ryan’s best friend, ShawnDubbs wanted to do something to help. He and hisfamily put together the Race for Ryan to try andraise money to help with the medical bills. They en-listed Pikes Peak Road Runners to help with adver-tising and the finish line. I am so glad they did.Several people from the club went up to CrippleCreek, and each of us was thrilled to see the wholecommunity turn out to assist in any way they could.The organizers of the race, the Dubbs family, did noteven let the sudden passing of their older son twoweeks before stop them from making sure every de-tail of the race was taken care of. They made theirown bibs with pictures of Ryan on the front and theyhad “We Love Ryan” buttons for all to wear. Itseemed like a cold day, but as the hundreds of peoplestarted filling the school and school grounds, thewarmth could be felt by all. When Ryan showed upshortly before the race start, the outpouring of lovewas overwhelming, even for an outsider. Ryan’s bestfriend, Shawn had chosen the course, putting lots ofsteep, short hills throughout and it was fun to hearhis cross country team banter about how he had theadvantage. Before the race, I overheard someone saythat Shawn was going to win the race for Ryan andthat is what he did. Shawn was so far out ahead; itwas several minutes before the second runner cameinto view. Most of the participants were not runners,but this was the way they chose to show their sup-port. With the race and a bake sale put on at thesame time, $3000 was raised for Ryan.

I know that we can’t always choose races simply

continued on page 4

The Long Run4

1. Attendance (Esmé): Present: Micky Simpson, Ron Garcia, Pat Lock-

hart, Esmé DeLange, Tony Abdella, John Gardner,Luci Stansberry, Emily Brzozokowski, TravisWaldrip, Tim Steffens, Phil Foster, Bill Gallegos,JimKelleher, John Cassidy, Larry Miller Excused:Jon Cornick, Dave Sorenson

4. Past Events

01/12 Winter Series I (Pat)John Gardner: Record turn out so far 600 possi-

bly due to decent weather. 200 race day registrations02/02 Nielson (Phil)

Saturday only had 54 runners. Was cold

maybe due to weather?

5. Upcoming Events

02/09 Winter Series III (Pat)County has not approved road usage permit, sub-

mitted in October. Have many new people volunteer-ing. Over 600 registered in computer but not everyonenecessarily finish.03/01 Winter Series Dinner (Pat)

Dinner will be the same spaghetti dinner from5.30 to 9.00. Will get flyers ready. There will be noauction. 04/06 Parkinson’s Disease (Cahalan):

Micky suggested that this being a new race, maybePPRR should consider donate the fee back. The sug-

gestion was not approved. Larry wants to determineif the course for the race is going north or south?04/12 Tortoise and Hare

Email from Bob Mutu on 01/20 Bill suggestednew board member should become race director if po-sition becomes available. Tim Steffens volunteeredbut asked some direction. Jim will do handicap. Needsomeone to mark course and hand out water. Check-list can be used if we are assisting, make sure every-thing gets done. Finish line requires max 2 people.05/01 Kokopelli Kids Trail Running Series (Rains-berger)

Liza Rainsberger asked Dave to do resultsand offered to make small donation to PPRR. Bill sug-gested go back to kids instead of us. We are not in-volved in this invent as a club. Accept donation andsee what happens.05/10 Alex Hoag Run for Sunshine

Kim Hoag is making some changes to the race.Cancelling the 1 Mile and adding a 2M Military Chal-lenge. She wanted to know if PPRR would be charg-ing them double because there would be two finishlines. It was agreed that they need to pay the doublefee. Dave Sorenson will let her know06/28 Veterans’ Home Run: (Ron for Jon)

Jon is looking for some assistance and volunteers.Pat will do race day registration. Need coordinatorsfor water stops and finish line. Bill will do finish line.Water - Crawford house did it the previous year, butit needs to be coordinated. John Gardner will dowater coordination

PPRR Meeting MinutesFebruary 2008The following minutes are condensed. For full meeting min-utes, contact Secretary Esme Delange

continued on page 8

for their cause, but there are so many times when wecan. Many of you get your newsletter by the Fridayafter the stuffing. That means that I have the oppor-tunity to let you know about the 1st Annual Runningfor Rachael on March 29th. This race is to benefitthe Brain Tumor Foundation and was organized byLynette Newton, whose daughter died of a braintumor. How difficult, but rewarding it must be to tryto raise money to help others suffering the same wayher daughter did. This will be run on a beautifulcourse at the Air Force Academy.

On April 6th, the Colorado Parkinson’s Aware-ness 5K Run/3K Walk will take place at America TheBeautiful Park. Dan Harding and Diane Cahalan

have organized this race to bring more awareness toour community about this debilitating disease.

Even the long running Sailin’ Shoes 10K and 5KJune 21st give their proceeds directly to the YMCA tobring more programs to the local community. Somany times, the choices we make in our lives affectothers. Isn’t it wonderful that we can combine some-thing we love so much with wonderful causes likethese? As you are planning your spring and summerracing, please keep in mind how your racing dollarscan be benefiting others who really need the help.

Micky Simpson

President’s Lettercontinued from page 3

April 2008

From the Editor the Long Run Long Ago

Happy April everyone. I hope you had a niceEaster Sunday, which, although technicallyin Spring (yes, it’s Spring!), behaved like a de-

cidedly winter day. But it’s a good thing that we don’thave an annual Easter Run since it would wreakhavoc with our tight and tidy running calendar. Wefill the calendar with the same events on the sameweekends year after, and even then, have to jugglesomewhat. “4th of July” events are bad enough, sincethe fourth lands on different weekdays each year.But Easter? Easter has precisely 35 different dates itcan fall upon, which means 5 or 6 weekends of poten-tial clashes with established events.

I did some checking on this restless feast day. Theearliest possible date for Easter, at least for us West-erners, is March 22, which last happened in 1818 andwill happen next in 2285. (We only missed the earli-est date by a day this year.) On the other end, Eastercan fall as late as April 25th. That happened in 1943and will happen again in 2038. And for you numeratetypes who can’t get enough of figures, the cycle ofEaster dates repeats itself every 5.7 million years.

How do the powers that be set these dates? Well,the powers are all very high church officials (after all,you can’t have just anyone messing with Easter).They decided upon the first full moon on or after thevernal equinox. Very scientific you may think. How-ever, the full moon is an ecclesiastical full moon,which means it happens when these high church of-ficials say it happens. But this works out well, be-cause one can’t even pin the vernal equinox (readfirst day of Spring) to one date. Sometimes it’s on the20th and not the 21st. And what about that moon?Astronomically speaking, the precise occurrence ofthe full moon can take place on different days in thesame year, depending on where you are on the planet.

So, if you’ve ever wondered about why we don’thave a “traditional” Easter run, here’s your reason.Easter isn’t traditional enough, date-wise, for PPRR’scalendar. But the Tortoise and Hare race features abunny on it’s flyer, so maybe that will do!

Speaking of which...if you haven’t yet run in theT&H Handicap, you owe it to yourself to give it a go.If you have, you’ll come back, because you know howmuch fun it is. But where else, if you normally startat the end of the pack and stay there, will you get thechance to be among the leaders for most of the race?And if you normally start in the front row, where elsewill you get the chance to track down runners one byone, passing them more quickly the further you race?

Anyway, all you wanted to know about why youdon’t see race posters plastered with bunnies, bas-kets, and multi-colored eggs.

10 Years Ago

The April, 1998, Long Run, beganwith best wishes to Boston-bound

Pikes Peak runners. Tracy Stew-art’s cover story, “Two Kinds of Run-ning,” compared two sides ofcompetition: those to whom winningis everything and the only thing, andthose who love to run and through their running en-courage others. She lamented her generation had beenfed by professionals and the media that number one isthe only number. PPRR president Dave Balzer re-flected on benefits and problems of running, whileLong Run editor Carol Lyndell lauded the benefits ofchocolate in running performance. The 1998 WinterSeries had 215 people completing the series; the MarchNielson Challenge had 25 runners with Roger Alli-son finishing first in a time of 12:28.

20 Years Ago

The new Pikes Peak Road Runnerslogo did appear in the April, 1988,

Long Run. A new run planned forApril was the Elbert Reflections 5Kand 10K, and president Pat Lockhartannounced a meeting to acquaint newvolunteers with the facets of runningand organizing a race to be held at the

Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. The Club hadassisted constructing the school’s “railed” track pic-tured on the cover. A newly forming running club forvisually impaired students at CSDB was noted, and aletter written in Braille by Dian Chavez thanking theClub for running shoes given this multi-handicappedgirl was included. Runner Susan Hadesman obvi-ously enjoyed her most-improved runner status, as shereceived “restaurant awards” in both February andMarch given to the winner of the Nielson Challenge.Dr. James Gremillion offered training hints for thesummer Triple Crown of Running series.30 Years Ago

The April, 1978, newsletter beganwith congratulations to runners

Dave Blue and PPRR secretaryLinda Anderson on their marriage.Editor Hank Cole wrote on the subject of tea’s possi-ble adverse effect on the body’s absorption of certainvitamins and minerals and another article regardingthe criteria of good running shoes. Interesting to notein race results listed were names of runners 30 yearsago who still appear on the running scene today: TerryLeeper, Jon Epperson, Jim Beckenhaupt, and TomBerg among them.

5

Jim Kelleher, Editor

ADTM named RRCA state

marathon championship

Race Director Travis Waldripannounced that the American

Discovery Trail Marathon andhalf-Marathon have been chosenas this year’s races for the Colorado RRCA championships.According to their website, theRRCA championship designationhelps the host club recruit top per-forming runners, attract sponsors,and improve civic and media sup-port. In accepting a championship,race organizers agree to followRRCA guidelines in the conduct ofthe event, which can make theevent more attractive to elite run-ners.

Lowest marathon on Earth

Ever wanted to run to the low-est point on Earth (imagine

the thick O2!)? Well, you’re in luck.Under the Patronage of His RoyalHighness Prince Raed Bin Zeid,the Dead Sea Ultra Marathon(DSUM) recently announced theopening of registration for the 15thannual event. This year, themarathon, organized by the

News and Events

The Long Run6

Letters

Dear Runners,John Gardner and I have taken

over PPRR’s trail cleanup whichtakes place on the first Saturday ofeach month. We meet in the 8thStreet Wal Mart parking lot at theSouth West corner by the recyclingbins at 9am and walk the trail tothe Bijou Street bridge. John and Ithought we would be great candi-dates for this service commitmentsince we run regularly on the SanteFe Trail with the Tuesday andThursday A.M. social run group.

Not only did we have tempera-tures in the sixties for the Marchtrail cleanup but we also had a re-ally great turnout! I wanted tothank Gary Hackabay, Pete Solie,Kerry Page, Kenneth Howard,Sydney Steffens, Todd Normanand Jeff Owsley for showing upand helping keep the trails in ourwonderful city clean and trashfree. It is a bit of an overwhelmingtask because of the amount of re-fuse but by taking the extra effortby PPRR and volunteers the leastwe can do is make a “dent” in theproblem. I want to send out anextra “thanks” to Pete Solie whotook the effort to actually crosssome fencing, remove trash thatwas difficult to access and to stayand extra hour! He did have a cou-ple of helpers although I don’tknow how much they actually ac-complished other than enjoyingthe sunshine and the walk. I wouldalso like to thank Scott Abbottfrom the Regional Parks, Trailsand Open Space for providing uswith trash bags and picking up thetrash we collect.

If anyone is interested helpingout please feel free to contact me attimmahh2@hotmail.com or visitthe Pikes Peak Road Runners web-site at www.pprrun.org for moreinformation.

Thank you,Tim Steffens

Dear Jim,First, to finish the Pacer's char-

ities report. Mrs. Heady, TroopLeader, Girl Scout Troop 3695, andmother of three of our runners tookcare of the details. The Plano San-tas charity group decided the Pac-ers' contribution would allow fivepackages. Mrs. Heady and thetroop made and delivered thepackages to deserving families intime or Christmas.

Our next charity run, in March,will benefit area children throughKiwanis.

Now for news of interest to Col-orado Springs runners. Tami Wisehad a time of 1:50:41 in Decem-ber's Wellstone White Rock HalfMarathon, good for 826 overall,189 female, 26 age group. In theFebruary Cowtown Marathon,Fort Worth, Timothy Berry ran4:23:21 for 347 overall, 259 male,33 age group.

Our February runs were a 15Kand 5K, with temperatures justabove freezing. Although the lo-cals generally suffered, DennisChupp followed his usual practiceof running shirtless. We let him.Winners were Jeff Fox and EllaMontgomery in the 5K and RobHigley and Frances McKissick inthe 15K.

I remember the Road RunnersWinter Series. I ran it, and mywife, Chun, was able to attend thelast race and meet a few RoadRunners, including Julie Fosterand Storme Rose. Chun enjoyedthe snow, plentiful at her Koreanhome but rare in Texas. I gorgedon chocolate covered doughnuts.

Who needs health food after arace?

Regards,William L. Jones

RRCA developed a special logo for their 50thyear celebration.

April 2008

Society for Care of NeurologicalPatients (SCNP), is scheduled forApril 11th and, as customary, it issponsored by several locally andinternationally based companies.Just drop by the SCNP headquar-ters in Shemisani, or maybe waitfor the official website, deadseama-rathon.com (currently stuck on2005), to be updated. Proceedsfrom the marathon go towardstreating neurological patients inJordan.

The DSUM is held annually onthe first or second Friday of April,starting from Amman and endingin the Dead Sea. The event com-prises an ultramarathon (48.7 K),a marathon (described as “startingat the Salam gas station”), a half-marathon, a 10K “fun run” and a4.2K. Although temps can run inthe 90’s this time of year, the aver-age high is not much over 70.

World record-holder pulls out

of Olympic marathon

One thing the InternationalOlympic Committee appar-

ently failed to consider in selectingBeijing for the Summer Olympic issmog.

Although the majority of ath-letes would be ok, those whoseevents last longer than one hourcould be at risk according to recentstudies by the Committee. Thiswould affect such events as themarathon, road and mountain bik-ing, triathlon, and race walking.The IOC is now preparing to moni-tor the pollution in Beijing on adaily basis during the Games andpostpone events if pollution and hu-midity pose a threat to competitors.

The problem is bad enough thatmarathon world-record holderHaile Gebrselassie said he wouldnot be running the Beijingmarathon because of the pollution.Although he still plans to run the10,000 metres, Gebrselassie is an

asthmatic who fears the conditionsin Beijing will be too dangerous.There is even suspicion among ath-letes that the Chinese are coveringup the full extent of the problem,which has been caused by dramaticeconomic expansion over the last10 years. Chinese officials at theBeijing Environmental ProtectionBureau had to be “persuaded” todisclose data on ozone levels.

The smog led scientists in Eng-land to spend over $40,000 of pub-lic money developing masks for UKSport and the British Olympic As-sociation over the last 18 months.But to their dismay, IOC presidentJacques Rogge described wearingthe masks as "totally useless".Coming up in April

Despite the numerous event cal-endars, it’s nice to have things

pointed out sometimes. Here are afew events—editor’s picks—to con-sider in April. First is the Parkin-son’s Awareness 5K, Sunday the6th. It’s the first annual, and wellworth supporting as reported inFebruary’s Long Run. Then onSaturday the 12th is the Tortoiseand Hare. If you haven’t run thisyet, it’s a unique experience. Thefollowing weekend you have to

7

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Low Force techniquesAdvanced Proficient in

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$25 OFF INITIAL VISIT

“Lets keep you running”“Motion is life”

Smog shrouds Beijing’s Olympic, also know as the Bird’s Nest. Concerns about the air qualitycaused the world record-holder in the men’s marathon to opt out of that Olympic endurance event.

choose between the Elbert Re-flections 5/10K and the longerGreenland Trail Run, 8M/25K/50K, though it’s an easychoice for trail runners. Check theweather the week before, however.The Greenland Trail gets quitemuddy. Also, try the new FullMoon Runs, next on Sunday the20th. Micky and John promise it’sgoing to be a lot of fun.

The Long Run8

Tony Abdella asked if we are doing race packets ifwe have restrictions. Are there any policies regardinggetting samples? NO restrictions.7. Event Promotion (Pat)

Responding to Diane - team sign up for Parkin-son’s. Put some type of compensation package to-gether. Active.com is doing kid registration for nocharge. 8. Road Runner Clubs of America (RRCA) –

(John Gardner)Nothing to report. Congratulate Jim Kelleher on

Newsletter. He does a fantastic job on the Long Run!9. Certifications/Measuring – (Travis)

Working with Diane on course for Parkinson’sRace.

Logistical challenges with Run for Sunshine be-cause of two races with two finish lines

ADTM - special events application sent in, missedJanuary cycle, should be going out this week, wouldhear back within the week after. Course needs to bere-measured and certified. 5k go north instead ofsouth. Marathon starts in Palmer Lake if approved.Sponsor for ADTM. ENT is reducing contributionfrom what it has been in past. Looking for namesponsor for half marathon and marathon. 12. Newsletter: (Jim K.)

Newsletter Jim debating what to enter for na-tional championship. Ran out of newsletters at laststuffing. Bulk Mail (John Cassidy)

Mailing went smooth on Thursday. Over 100 re-newals added. Simplify labeling process? Calendar (Dave)

Motion was made and passed to close calendar forthis year.13. Equipment (Bill, Larry)

Everything works fine. Replaced fuse on timingclock. Pat needs new listing of people driving van and their driving licenses14. Insurance (Pat)

We received notice that Ohio Casualty was boughtby Liberty Mutual. PPRR Auto Insurance up for re-newal up in April. Pat will do equipment floater. 17. Trail Clean up (John G.)

Add Tim Steffens to coordinate effort. John wasout on the trail on Saturday and only one other volun-teer to clean up. Will get it going. Trail in pretty goodshape. Scott Abbot will supply bags and coordinatetrash pick up

18. Race Coordinator (Pat)

Pat received a call from volunteer firefighter lady in

Green Mountain Falls who wanted to put together a

PPA/Marathon training run as a fund raiser. Have

not heard back from them.

Bristol Elementary school wants to put up race

over Christmas. Possibly on 13 December? They

want funds for school - does not want to pay. Does

not have any sponsors. Calendar is probably full. Pat

will get back to him.

19. Membership (Pat)After first winter series - 99 new members and re-

newals. Putting together new order for membershipforms and cards.

618 – individual

43 – clubs

12 – life

243 – family primary

507 – family members

1423 – Total members

1092 – Current

146 – expiring (within the next 3 months)

102 – new

83 – renew

845 – Newsletter mailings

21. Old/New Businessa. Full Moon Run John O Neill and Micky came up

with a social run for people to meet each other. Meetevery month at full moon at GOG trading post. After-wards grill some burgers. Purpose is to get togetherto know each other.

b. Trails and Open Space Coalition Received a let-ter in Nov 2007 wanting to now if PPRR wanted todonate any funds. Disagreed. They already get half ofADTM proceeds.

Next meeting March 4, 2008 – 7:00 pm DowntownYMCA

Respectfully submitted

Esmé DeLangeSecretary

PPRR Minutescontinued from page 4

April 2008 9

Bronze Level:

10 to 20 Hours*You have earned a

PPRR t-shirt

Tony Abdella 12Dave Balzar 12Debbie Bloch 13

Emily Brzozowski 14Dean Buck 12

Yvonne Carpenter 12Beverly Carver 20

Jon Cornick 18Tony Delange 11Julie Foster 16

John Gardner 16Lyn Hale 20

Katy Hodges 12Diane Holmes 14Tom Huberty 16Don Johnson 18

Melissa Leftwich 13Eric Mullins 15

Scheri Nagaraj 13Steve Recca 12

Dave Redinger 19Storme Rose 13Bob Royse 12

Emilie Satterwhite 11Leroy Smith 10Zach Waters 19

Darrell Weaver 11

Silver Level:

21 to 50 Hours*You have earned a cap,

race entry or gift certificate

Cymmie Bailey 35Gordon Barnett 36

Jim Beckenhaupt 24Matt Carpenter 25Esme Delange 32Tom Dewane 22Phil Foster 28Ron Garcia 35Al Grimme 34Kees Guijt 32

Susan Hoxie 21Melody Lundin 23Cruz Martinez 38

Bill Ranson 32Robin Satterwhite 26Jonathon Veteto 27

Kate Waldrip 30Travis Waldrip 44

Jim Waters 26Emilee Waters 26Cady Waters 26

Melissa Waters 29Matt Waters 32

Sara Wulfkuhle 21

Marc Wulfkuhle 21Christian Wulfkuhle 21

Hallee Wulfkuhle 21

Gold Level:

51 to 75 Hours*You have earned a jacket or duffel

Janet Rose 54Lucy Stansberry 54Micky Simpson 56

Angie Earle 64Pat Lockhart 72

Diamond Level:

76 to 99 HoursYou have earned a year's membership and

entry to the Fall & Winter Series

Dave Sorenson 80Larry Miller 97

Platinum Level:

100+ Hours*You will receive

special recognition at the Fall awards dinner

Jim Kelleher 250

2008 Volunteer Hours

PPRR’s dedicated board of directors meets every first Tuesday to ensure the affairs of Colorado’s largest running club, from races and other eventsto finances and insurance certificates, runs smoothly. From L-R is Tony Abdella, John Cassidy, and Micky Simpson. You are welcome to join them!

The Long Run10

Welcome NewMembersAmber Adams PeytonBeth Pruitt Adams PeytonJustin Pruitt Adams PeytonReuben Archuleta Adams PeytonJennie Armogida Colorado SpringsJulie Beidler Colorado SpringsDave Betzler MonumentDawn Cartellone Colorado SpringsChelsie Cate Colorado SpringsAnais Gude Colorado SpringsLoren Hanavan PeytonTeri Hedgpeth Colorado SpringsDenise Logan Colorado SpringsKelli Lusk Manitou SpringsBrook Mark Colorado SpringsScott Mathis Colorado SpringsKate Middelstadt Colorado SpringsJames Nagy Colorado SpringsJessica Narkevitz Colorado SpringsChristy Romine Colorado SpringsBernadette Rowlison Colorado SpringsKylie Toone Colorado SpringsWil Winter Peyton

Renewing MembersTim Allison Colorado SpringsScott Anthony Colorado SpringsFred Brewer Colorado SpringsGeoffrey Chance Colorado SpringsJohn Crouse MonumentAutumn Crow PeytonEllen Crow PeytonJason Crow PeytonKylie Crow Peyton

Esme DeLange Colorado SpringsTony DeLange Colorado SpringsRonald Garcia Colorado SpringsAlbert Hale San AntonioBobby Hammett OmahaFrank Hibbits Colorado SpringsIngrid Hibbits Colorado SpringsSteven Jennings Colorado SpringsBill Keyes Colorado SpringsAlan Ley Colorado SpringsMary Ley Colorado SpringsNathan Ley Colorado SpringsCruz Martinez Colorado SpringsChristie McCall Manitou SpringsRonald McCall Manitou SpringsJohn Mills Colorado SpringsBo Moss Colorado SpringsBonnie Moss Colorado SpringsBrooke Moss Colorado SpringsLee Moss Colorado SpringsMackenzie Moss Colorado SpringsWoody Noleen Colorado SpringsAdam Podratz Colorado SpringsAlana Podratz Colorado SpringsDanna Rabb PeytonJohn Rabb PeytonStephanie Rabb PeytonBlake Ramsey Colorado SpringsJack Ramsey Colorado SpringsKate Raphael Colorado SpringsThomas Rathbun MonumentRodge Rodgers Colorado SpringsAnton Schulzki Colorado SpringsJack Sherman Colorado SpringsPeyton Smith Colorado SpringsRiley Lynch Smith Colorado SpringsStephen Smith Colorado SpringsTonia Smith Colorado SpringsJohn Victoria Colorado SpringsSheila Geere Victoria Colorado Springs

Membership

Greet-i n g sa l l .

With Springjust aroundthe cornerand moreraces on thehorizon, us"fair wea -

ther" volunteers (and I'm includingmyself) better start signing up.Tim Steffens, one of our new boardmembers and Race Director (forthe first time) of the Tortoise &Hare Handicap race needs ourhelp. This is a fun, low key race inMonument Valley Park on Sat.April 12th at 8:30 am. You canemail him at timmahh2@ hotmail.com. We are also assistingat the Colorado Parkinson'sAwareness Run in America theBeautiful Park on April 6th at10am and our traditional ElbertReflections is on Sat. April 19th at9am. Let me know if you wouldlike to help at any of these racesand I'll get you to the right people.

We're in our fifth year of ourVolunteer Rewards and Recogni-tion program and we thought itwas time to add some more good-ies to the pot in our attempts to entice you to volunteer. So, whenyou have reached the Silver cate-gory (20-50 hours), in addition tothe cap or race entry, you canchoose a gift certificate to one ofthe running stores. When you area Gold member, (51-75 hours), youcan choose either the jacket or aduffel (to carry all the stuff to andfrom the races). Remember toemail me your requests.

Take care and I'll see you at theraces.

Volunteer Cornerby Cymmie Bailey

The monthly Long Run mailing party is a great way to get to know members in a fun and social set-ting. It happens every 4th Wednesday at 6:30 PM at the Colorado Running Co on N Tejon.

April 2008

Chad Halsten 2 21:24.3 12:02.5 - 09:21.8Deedle Murray 70 23:59.2 21:46.2 - 02:13.0Elizabeth Wolfe 59 20:24.7 19:02.5 - 01:22.2Katy Hodges 76 24:17.2 23:11.9 - 01:05.3Renee Hodges 75 24:16.4 23:11.4 - 01:05.0Jared Gorthy 74 23:54.0 23:03.0 - 00:51.0Jennifer Hedden 54 19:39.8 18:56.4 - 00:43.4Doretta Hale 55 19:39.9 18:59.5 - 00:40.4Robert Sexton 11 14:24.7 13:46.5 - 00:38.2Derek Gorthy 51 19:23.1 18:49.1 - 00:34.0Alyssa Karl 48 18:57.7 18:32.3 - 00:25.4Ed Gleason 16 14:51.1 14:26.7 - 00:24.4

2008 Champions

The Nielson Challenge handicap race takes place thefirst Saturday of each month in North Monument ValleyPark in downtown Colorado Springs, directly west of theFontenero access, at 8:00 in the morning. Runners compete against their own previous best times. Seewww.pprrun.org/events/Nielson/main.htm for a mapand more information.

The Nielson Memorial in Monument Park, commemo-rating Larry Nielson, marks the start of the monthlyhandicap race.

Name Place Handicap Actual Difference

It was a beautiful morning with temps in the mid40s, mostly sunny and no wind. What a great day fora run. 83 agreed with that sentiment and ran theMarch Nielson Challenge. With the warmer temper-atures, more people than normal visited after finish-ing the race.

Chad Halsten was this month's most improved, ashe took more than 9 minutes off of his handicap.That's an eye-popping improvment. Chad is an ele-mentary school teacher, so it must be handling all ofthe students that are getting his fast-twitch musclesto perform.

We figure by next month, we'll see more green inthe grass and other signs of spring, so come and joinus on April 5th.

11

Dec: Kevin WoodJan: Kevin WoodFeb: Edgar TrilloMar: Chad HalstenApr: May:

Jun: Jul: Aug: Sep: Oct: Nov:

Robert Hedden 61 19:40.2 19:20.8 - 00:19.4Jeff Chowning 6 13:25.5 13:06.7 - 00:18.8Jeff Canada 27 15:58.8 15:40.4 - 00:18.4Edgar Trillo 1 12:07.0 11:49.9 - 00:17.1Jeth Fogg 30 16:10.2 15:55.3 - 00:14.9Chris Sexton 18 14:51.6 14:38.9 - 00:12.7Kristy Milligan 22 15:15.0 15:03.3 - 00:11.7Rob Garza 17 14:30.0 14:28.4 - 00:01.6Paul Jaszkowiak 3 12:34.4 12:36.4 + 00:02.0Pam Gustafson 37 16:37.2 16:41.3 + 00:04.1Tammy Karl 40 17:07.9 17:12.4 + 00:04.5Karen Karl 44 17:39.3 17:45.6 + 00:06.3Jim English 8 13:23.1 13:31.8 + 00:08.7Don Stauder 32 15:52.3 16:01.1 + 00:08.8Carl Nelson 13 13:42.8 13:53.3 + 00:10.5Dennis Stalnaker 49 18:26.9 18:39.2 + 00:12.3Diana Trillo 29 15:40.4 15:52.9 + 00:12.5Brian Smithey 35 16:12.2 16:26.3 + 00:14.1Bret Stewart 14 13:40.0 13:54.2 + 00:14.2Randy Kunkel 38 16:35.9 16:51.3 + 00:15.4Tim Barry 10 13:25.4 13:43.4 + 00:18.0Matthew Hodges 65 19:54.2 20:13.9 + 00:19.7Jim Massa 63 19:36.2 19:57.3 + 00:21.1Donald Karl 28 15:26.0 15:50.3 + 00:24.3Laura Ayotte 50 18:11.8 18:40.7 + 00:28.9Mary T. Smithey 67 19:53.3 20:25.1 + 00:31.8Genevieve Poucel 79 23:58.4 24:32.6 + 00:34.2Les Bell 36 16:05.2 16:39.6 + 00:34.4Christina Stewart 41 16:39.0 17:21.3 + 00:42.3Jonathan Crowe 24 14:40.2 15:22.6 + 00:42.4Kate Lyman 53 18:09.9 18:54.1 + 00:44.2Karen Barry 62 18:48.4 19:32.8 + 00:44.4Wendy Kimmel 42 16:41.2 17:27.7 + 00:46.5Pete Solie 15 13:16.4 14:04.4 + 00:48.0David Fenell 47 17:42.5 18:31.5 + 00:49.0Deborah Griffin 69 20:52.4 21:42.8 + 00:50.4Taylor Fogg 20 14:03.0 14:55.0 + 00:52.0Sharon Greenbaum 23 14:22.0 15:14.9 + 00:52.9Erich Gohlke 9 12:41.3 13:37.7 + 00:56.4Joyce Crowe 73 21:39.0 22:39.6 + 01:00.6David Minter 5 11:39.2 12:48.3 + 01:09.1Hollis Lyman 25 14:19.9 15:30.3 + 01:10.4Sue Canada 60 17:50.5 19:03.4 + 01:12.9Joel Smithey 33 14:37.4 16:03.2 + 01:25.8Rob Gilliam 7 11:47.4 13:14.9 + 01:27.5Janis Michel 68 18:30.0 20:34.9 + 02:04.9Lou Christensen 64 17:54.2 20:13.2 + 02:19.0Jeffrey A. Barden 72 19:54.8 22:15.0 + 02:20.2Michael K. Olson 43 14:32.1 17:33.5 + 03:01.4Gale L. Gerken 83 25:34.6 29:37.1 + 04:02.5Doris Chandler 77 20:07.6 24:18.4 + 04:10.8Kristopher Poskey 46 13:53.0 18:13.3 + 04:20.3Charles Foster 81 21:25.1 25:49.3 + 04:24.2Scott Gorthy 82 13:40.5 27:35.8 + 13:55.3

March ResultsName Place Handicap Actual Difference

The Long Run12

Al r i g h t ,for thosewho re-

member Febru-ary’s Long Run,I did promisean update onmy quest tocompete in aTV game show

whose name I can no longer men-tion, due to extensive confidential-ity agreements.

So, instead, I will simply saythat I did recently spend twoweeks in the Los Angeles areawhere I participated in various ad-ministrative processes, medicalexams, and most importantly,some great physical training.

I discovered that I am actuallypretty darn good at using dinosaursized Q-tips to pummel other peo-ple and in fact, enjoyed that activ-ity the most. (I should probably bea bit concerned about what thatsays regarding any anger issues Imay be harboring, but for now, Iwill simply enjoy the ability tocommit simple assault without thehassle of police intervention.) If Icould just get a set of those sticksfor home use, I think it would workwell to lower my stress

levels on a dailybasis.

I did meet many other contest-ant hopefuls and learned that I amgrossly behind on technology as Iam still unable to text message onmy phone, rendering me useless inthe social networking and bondingexperience of the younger crowd. Iwas reduced to actually having tocall people on their phones when Ihad something to say, which I be-lieve was a nuisance to everyoneunfortunate enough to give metheir number. Turns out that I’mnot as young as I used to be andgoing to bed by 9pm also inhibitsmy ability to mingle with the othercontestants. No matter, since Inever went to make friends any-how! (It’s a lot easier to pummelpeople when you don’t know howNICE they really are.)

For now, I am home with a reju-venated training plan which will in-volve lots of speed work and upperbody exercises until I can no longerlift my arm above my waist. I amoperating under the theory that“What doesn’t kill me makes mestronger,” so if you see a maniacalwoman racing around the city hold-ing hand weights and growling atpassing strangers, don’t worry – it’sjust me working on my “game face”!

The next step is the actual tap-ing of the show, which shouldoccur within the next 2-3 weeks.They aren’t releasing the finalnames yet, but I am keeping mysuitcase by my bed and waiting forthat next important call. If all goeswell, I won’t be around for nextmonth’s Long Run edition, so I’mkeeping my fingers crossed. Stayaggressive with your own trainingand get those TiVos ready!

Heading to Holloywoodby Vanessa Warren

Vanessa is a local PPRR member andmother of three. She is a Major in theAir Force Reserves, teaches severalgroup exercise classes at local gyms,and is the team leader for a localwomen’s fitness group called Moms InMotion. She is an avid triathlete andrumored to be on her way towardsAmerican Gladiator status.

Long Run Mailing

Volunteers!Hosted by the

Colorado Running Company(Didn’t join us?

You really missed out!)

Diane CahalanDave Thomson

Heidi CraigKayla HaferNorm HallLynne Hall

Tammy CarlCindy ThompsonGary Huckabay

Jeff SmithPhil Goulding

Henri St-MartinMarie Baughman

Jon CornickMicky Simpson

Jon TeisherJohn Cassidy

Al Grimme

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it’s time to renew!

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Then put the enclosed

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associate. You are PPRR’s

best promotion!

April 2008 13

From Febru-ary 28th toMarch 1st

the MountainWest Conferenceheld their indoortrack and fieldchampionshipsat the AFA Field

House. This article is a dad’s per-spective and review on this 3-daymeet where sportsmanship, team-work, courage and determinationwere showcased by all partici-pants…and fans too!

My bias is to the Colorado StateUniversity ladies, specifically thedistance gals, but I certainly en-joyed cheering for the ladies in thesprints and field events. The CSULady Rams finished 7.5 points be-hind powerhouse TCU. SeniorEmily Pearson is a heptathlete,hurdler and high jump specialistwho is simply amazing. Sheearned 20 of CSU’s 121.5 points.Missy Faubus came up just 1 cen-timeter short of winning the shotput title. Both Emily and Missyearned all-conference honors. Ialso cheered for the CSU men whoput forth some great efforts. No-tably, Drew Morano won the 400meters and Rampart High’s RyanFriese (CSU sophomore) earned a3rd place in the 800 m. Ryan isnew to the 800 m, he’s a triplejumper who agreed to give the 800a try. Wow, what a promising fu-ture for this versatile young man.

The CSU Lady Rams distancegals scored 56 points over 4 events:the Mile, 3K, 5K and DistanceMedley Relay. The mile featured aqualifier race where MarissaSaunders, a transfer from Tulsa,and Pueblo’s Heather Loseke (CSUsenior) earned their way into thefinals. These gals would have toquickly recover from their qualifierand join Kristen Kugler and NiomiRidge in the Distance Medley. Thisis a fun race that included Marissa

running the opening1200 meterleg, then Niomi Ridge taking thebaton for the 400 meters. Kristenzipped along in the 800 meters andshe handed off to Heather who an-chored the team to a Silver Medalwith another lightning fast mile.Earlier in the day, a pack of ladyRams took to the 5K and Fresh-man Allison Gohl (pronouncedGoal) lead the Rams in this gruel-ing 19 lap event. Alli is a North-glenn High School graduate and avery determined and courageousrunner. As the lead pack emerged,Alli kept her cool as she prowled atthe back of the lead pack. Withabout 1K or so to go, Alli turned upher jets and reeled in the lead andzoomed to a gold medal. Just be-hind her, Kirsten Anthony earnedthe Bronze with her trademarkkick. Right behind Kirsten wasFreshman Ellie Rastall in 4th andshe soon was followed by KristenHemphill in 8th. Ellie is a RockyMountain High School graduateand was last year’s State 5A XCchamp, so it looks like running forthe Rams is agreeing with theyoung lady. The CSU depth wasamazing. Melissa Thomas andDanielle Rawlings contributed to

the sea of CSU Ram green in thislongest of races. With April andMelissa Thomas as well asHeather Loseke and DanielleRawlings graduating after terrificcollege careers, its great to see theCSU lady Rams distance depth, es-pecially the freshmen stepping upto NCAA running.

The next day the mile finalstook place and Marissa andHeather placed 3rd and 7th respec-tively. Remember, these two galsran two 1-mile runs the day before.But, they ran with great strengthand composure. It was clear to methat Marissa and Heather were to-tally focused on their mile finalsand left nothing out there on thetrack, but I also have to believethat somewhere in their mind a lit-tle voice was saying “Oh my, I haveto run the 3K after this.” What fab-ulous iron-women all these galsare! Did you know that Marissawas also the alternate for the milerelay? But she was not called uponfor that 5th event.

The 3K featured CSU recordholder Kristen Hemphill leadingthe way to victory with Ellie in 4thand Kirsten in 6th. Once again, the

CSU at the Mountain West Track Finalsby Jack Anthony

continued on page 15

The Colorado State University women’s indoor track & field team took 2nd at the regional meet.

The Long Run14

Whethery o uhave to

go or you wantto go, visitingW a s h i n g t o nD.C. is not anexperience you

want to miss. I personally am notsomeone who is easily impressedby anything less than extremeforces of nature, but I still remem-ber the feelings of awe that I hadwhen I first visited. The NationalMall and the city center were DE-SIGNED to be impressive. Ofcourse, constant improvementsover the last 218 years have ex-panded beyond just the city centerto include dozens of great runningsites throughout the city. The cityhas a long history of internationalfame, hosts the 4th largestmarathon in the U.S. (the MarineCorps Marathon) and the Nation’slargest 10-mile race, the ArmyTen Miler.

Of the various running clubsthroughout the greater Washing-ton D.C. Metro Area, one of thelargest and oldest is the Washing-ton Running Club, www.washrun.org. The WRC hosts avariety of races throughout the

year, as well as weekly runs in-cluding Sunday long runs, start-ing in Georgetown and lastinganywhere from 10 to 14 miles, andWednesday track workouts.

Their website is a font of infor-mation about Washington D.C.running, with information on over20 routes ranging from 4 miles to23. According to the website,there are so many trails, paths,roads, and open areas that it isvirtually impossible to get boredrunning in the national capitol re-gion. I have selected three differ-ent routes for your considerationwhen running in DC.

The first route is a trail run-ning north to south starting in Ar-lington, Virginia. The MountVernon Trail parallels the GeorgeWashington Parkway and the Po-tomac River. This paved trailstretches 18.5 miles fromTheodore Roosevelt Island justnorth of the Lincoln Memorial,through Old Town Alexandria,and ending at Mount Vernon, thehome of George Washington. Thetrail is a popular route not onlyfor runners, but for bikers too, soit can fill up pretty quick on sum-mer mornings. The northern por-tion of the trail has some greatviews of Washington D.C. be-tween Roosevelt Island and ReganInternational Airport, but thesouthern end of the trail, south ofAlexandria, can get prettyhilly…but anyone going for a 37-mile round trip of the entire trailwouldn’t shy away from a coupleof hills. And besides, what is a hillthere compared to a hill here?

If you are not training for anultra and would just like to go fora nice scenic run, the trail ismarked at each mile. The DCFront Runners site has landmarksfor anywhere from 4 miles out to8.5 miles out from the start, allow-ing you to set your round-triproute to whatever you would like.

If you are looking for a longer,more challenging route, anotherpopular DC route is the RockCreek Parkway. Starting at a pop-ular DC landmark, the MarineCorps Memorial (also known asthe Iwo Jima Memorial) outside ofArlington National Cemetery, thisroute crosses over Arlington Me-morial Bridge and connects to theRock Creek Parkway behind theLincoln Memorial. While travel-ing up the Parkway, you will passDC landmarks such as theKennedy Center, the WatergateHotel, and Georgetown.

The north end of this route isthe Smithsonian National Zoolog-ical Park, located in Rock CreekPark in Northeast D.C. The parkis home to the National Zoo, andBattleground National Cemetery(which was where President Abra-ham Lincoln was fired upon bythe enemy during the Battle ofFort Stevens). It is a trail andhill-heavy park, similar to PalmerPark. Once you reach the Park,take a loop through the Zoo andback onto Beach Drive, which con-nects to the Parkway. Returnsouth down the Parkway to Ar-lington, for a nice 10.2 mile run.

If these two routes aren’t whatyou are looking for, the most pop-ular destination for visiting run-ners is the National Mall. Takingadvantage of the comprehensiveWashington D.C. public trans-portation system, jump on theMetro and go to the Smithsonian

Running on the Go: Washington DCby Duane Frances

Part of the Rock Creek Trail is shown here. Themost popular running route is the National Mall.

The Rock Creek Parkway starts at the MarineCorps Memorial and offers a challenging run.

continued on page 1

April 2008 15

Irecently hadthe privilege oftraveling to

Thune, Switzer-land, as a memberof the US ArmedForces team andparticipating in the

world military cross country cham-pionships. The International Mili-tary Sports Council, CISM, is aninternational sports associationcomposed of the armed forces ofmember nations. It is open to allnations, and currently has 127countries that are members. Itsmotto, Friendship Through Sport,supports its principles of develop-ing friendly relations between theArmed Forces and promotingphysical education and sports ac-tivities. CISM holds high-levelcompetitions in different sportsaround the world every year. Thiswas my second time participatingin CISM, my first was two yearsago when cross country was heldin Tunisia. Both were memorableexperiences.

The first thing that struck mewas the true diversity of repre-sentation there, starting with theUS team, which comprised ath-letes from all services—Army, AirForce, Navy, Marines, and evenone Coast Guard athlete. CISM istruly a non-political organization,as member teams include Iran,Syria, Algeria, and other nationsthat aren’t exactly our close al-lies, while other countries likeGreat Britain and Australiaaren’t members.

We all stayed at the militarybase in downtown Thune, so I hadplenty of opportunities at mealsand in between activities to inter-act with athletes from the othercountries. Our schedule was full: amilitary parade through the townsquare, opening ceremonies, clos-ing ceremonies, banquets, culturalday, and of course, the races. With

all the other activities going on, therace seemed to take second place,but I think that’s part of the whole“friendship through sport” ideal.

Race day started with an openrace for community runners, amaster’s race, and then the CISMmen’s 4K, women’s 4K, and men’s12K.

Many countries take the racequite seriously, especially thosewith mandatory military servicewhose Olympic athletes are in themilitary as well. So seriously, infact, that several non-Africancountries, which I’m not going toname, had teams composed ofmostly Kenyan imports! 25 coun-tries participated in CISM crosscountry this year, and as usual,Qatar, Algeria, Morocco, andFrance were the top contenders.The only athletes to break intotheir dominance was 4th place fin-isher in the men’s 12K, GuntherWeidlinger, who’s on track to rep-resent Austria in his third straightOlympics, and Belgian NathalieDe Vos, bronze medallist in thewomen’s 4K. The US teams did allright, after just racing the previousweekend in San Diego to qualifyfor the team and then traveling along way to get there.

After the races, all the athletestrade uniform items, t-shirts, andpins and are eager to get some-thing from all the different coun-tries. Even though everyone is inthe military, I never heard anytype of military or political discus-sions. It truly was a weekend thatbrought together athletes, despitehaving different backgrounds andviews, and helped them becomefriends through sports.Emily is a PPRR board member andlives in Colorado Springs. She trainswith the Army World Class Athleteprogram in the pentathlon and hasqualified for the 2008 OlympicMarathon Trials.

Friendship Through Sport:World military cross countryby Emily Brzozowski

Rams distance gals were scoring im-portant team points. 5K championAllison placed 9th and Heather andMarissa also gave the 3K a try andplaced 10th and 21st. Again, keep inmind an hour earlier these gals hadjust run in the mile finals. Whew!How do they do it? The 3K race wasquite a thriller as Kirsten led theway leveraging her strength and de-termination. Fighting off a latecharge by BYU’s Angela Wagner,Kristen took Gold in the 3K race.

When the 3K was done and thescores added up, the lady rams hadan overall 1/2 point lead over TCU.One event left, the Mile Relay. TCUis a national powerhouse in the milerelay and although the Rams gave110% in the relay, they fell short ofthe upset. Once again, CSU Rampride and determination were evi-dent. There was some second guess-ing by these dedicated track andfield ladies “Could I have maybecaught that girl in my race” or “If Ionly got that extra inch.” Well, I cansay without a doubt that it was afabulous team effort and there sim-ply were no more points to be had.

Distance coaches Bryan Berry-hill and Liz Moore asked the dis-tance gals to step up and scorepoints in the 4 distance events.They came away with plenty ofpoints, two individual champi-onships, and promising perform-ances that showed solid depth thatcan help the Lady Rams defendtheir Mountain West ConferenceXC title next fall. Kristen, Allison,Kirsten and Ellie earned all-con-ference honors as did the distancemedley team foursome of Heather,Niomi, Marissa and Kristen. Whata great event and what a greatperformance by the Rams.

CSU Trackcontinued from page 13

Jack is a PPRR member, formerboard member, Spring’s trail histo-rian, avid volunteer, and Long Runcontributor. He is working hard onthe Veteran’s Home Run.

The Long Run16

US Corporate Athletesby Jon Cornick

This Feb-r u a r y17th, I

was privilegedto be at thestarting line ofthe AT&TA u s t i nMarathon. Iwas running

for the Booz Allen HamiltonMarathon Team; a group of non-judgmental, cheerful, globally di-verse employees with one commonlove, bi-pedal motion. Unseason-able warmth and excess oxygenover-rode my common sense: I rantoo fast, too soon and by mile 20 mylegs had nothing left. I finished in4:22 something, not fast enough toearn my team any points. Ourfastest runners were sub-three-hour and post-50-year groups. Iwas humbled by my team mates,but I was also not the slowest.

I've worked for Booz Allen forthree years. This is my secondmarathon with the team. Our teamwas in competition with other cor-porate teams such as Texas Instru-ments, Shell Oil, Exxon Mobil, andGeneral Electric. The competitionwas tough. I rationalized my per-formance against the faster run-ners for Exxon and GE by saying Iadvertised the Booz Allen singletlonger than anyone on their team.

Booz Allen Hamilton and manymore companies participate in theUS Corporate Athletics Associa-tion. The USCAA began withfriendly track and field competitionbetween companies. In 1979 BobAnderson of Runner's World maga-zine organized the events and by1985, the USCAA became the spiritof corporate competition. Thesecompanies back their commitmentto health and fitness with a budget.They provide financial backing andopportunity for the employees to or-ganize a team, design a uniform,and attend the USCAA marathon

and track and field events. Each year, the USCAA hosts

three events. The winter marathonis held in conjunction with an exist-ing event. The 2009 USCAA wintermarathon will be held in Houston,TX. During the summer, the corpo-rate teams enjoy a weekend of trackand field events including shot,javelin, hammer throw, long jump,and various relays. This year, therelays will return to the 2007 loca-tion at Cal State, San Marcos, Cal-ifornia. During the fall, the USCAAhosts teams for the Army Ten Milerin Washington D.C.

The summer relays are truly athing to be witnessed. Senior man-agement is teamed with collegegrads in their first year of "realwork". There are executive relays,senior relays, distance, sprint, andmasters relays. There's a 5 and 10Kand a presidents’ relay. All agesand levels are welcome.

The rewards of participating inUSCAA events include displayingcorporate pride and commitment tohealth and fitness as well as build-ing comradery, networking andcross talk among employees in dif-ferent business areas. These oppor-tunities are invaluable, especiallyto companies with diverse clientsand markets.

Not every company can put to-gether a running team, but thosethat can far out number those thatdo. I would encourage asking youremployer whether they have heardof the USCAA. If not, bring it totheir attention. Visit the web site(www.uscaa.org) and learn moreabout the USCAA and maybe we'llmeet in California or Texas, wear-ing the corporate colors of our em-ployers while secretly competing asPikes Peak Road Runners.Jon Cornick is a PPRR board mem-ber, director of the Veterans HomeRun, and former PPRR president.

Metro Station. Starting at thatstation, begin running west to-wards the Washington Monumentand the Lincoln Memorial. Thepaths on the National Mall arepaved and crushed rock, and ex-tend the entire length of the mall,some stretches going thorough thewooded areas lining the reflectingpool, and some through the openexpanses in front of the Smithson-ian. Running the entire length ofthe National Mall—looping be-hind the Lincoln Memorial, trav-eling down the opposite side of themall and behind the CapitolBuilding, and returning to theSmithsonian Metro stop—willgive you a nice 5-mile run.

You can use the run to planyour more leisurely visits later inthe day. You will run past theWorld War II, Korean and Viet-nam Memorials, as well as theWhite House, the WashingtonMonument, and countless otherhistoric monuments and build-ings.

Ironically, while writing thisarticle, I found that the Army issending me to the National Capi-tol region for three months to per-form temporary duty. Now I havethe opportunity to take my ownadvice and try these routes. So, ifyou are in Washington D.C. thissummer, go for a run on the Na-tional Mall and keep your eye outfor a big bald guy running like awounded bear…smile and wave,because it’s probably me.

D.C. Runningcontinued from page 14

PPRR member Duane Frances cur-rently lives in Fountain with his wifeand 2 children. A 15-year army vet-eran, he recently returned froma tourin Iraq where he helped run a desertSailin’ Shoes 5K race in conjuctionwith the Colorado Springs event.

April 2008 17

Veteran’s Home Run Moves to AFA Groundsby Jack Anthony

SA V ET H ED A T E !

S a t u r d a y ,June 28th,7:00 am; theplace to be isthe Air ForceA c a d e m y ’ sFalcon Sta-

dium for the start of the thirdtour of the Veterans’ Home Run5K Run/ Walk/PUSH! (I’ll sharea bit more on the “PUSH” in amoment.) VHR 08 is dedicated toraising funds for the CrawfordHouse as in the first two tours.This year, we are making courseadjustments you recommendedafter last years event. We’vemoved this local veteran’s aware-ness and support event, tradi-tionally held on a Sunday, to aSaturday. We’ve also earned thego-ahead from the Air ForceAcademy to allow us to use a flatand fast Stadium Blvd 5K course.Now for the PUSH!

This year, VHR 08 will featurea wheelchair division in the 5Krace. VHR 08 is being supportedwith the help of the USA Para-lympics team. That’s right, our

paralympic eligible athletes, in-cluding several athletes who aredestined to take part in the 2008Olympic Games, may be partici-pating in VHR 08 as a tune up forthe China games. Our wheelchairequipped racers refer to theirworkouts as “runs” and some-times can be heard enthusiasti-cally declaring, “I pushed for10K.” So now you know the scoopon the “PUSH.” Come run withthese awesome and dedicatedparalympic-eligible athletes!

This is the 5K you must in-clude in your sumer fun andfitness running program! Wewant to maximize participation.Besides the benefits for theCrawford House and support forAmerica’s veterans in need, we’rehoping that a Saturday event anda very “PR-able“ course will boostparticipation. We’ve exceeded300 each year; we want to reach500 participants this year. Infact, we want to blast thru that500 goal by challenging ALLPikes Peak Road Runners mem-bers to take part in VHR 08 andto bring a friend new to runningand introduce them to what aPPRR fun running/walking/push-

ing is all about. Let’s learn a bitmore about VHR 08!

One year the Race for theCure used this fast Stadium Blvd5K course that heads east fromFalcon Stadium and then northon Stadium Blvd. It’s a fanfriendly out-and-back. At thistime, you can register via Ac-tive.com and soon VHR 08posters and race applications willbe available on the PPRR website and at your favorite runningstore. Make your VHR 08 com-mitment real: add this 5K as partof your summer fun running fit-ness program. Don’t forget, bringa friend! Help them achieve theirgoal of running a 5K and joiningthe Colorado Springs runningcommunity!

Next time I’ll tell you moreabout USA Paralympics involve-ment in VHR 08 and remind youabout the Crawford House, theirmission, and Medal of Honor win-ner Bill Crawford, a humble manwho earned a nation’s highestcombat honor.

Jack is a PPRR member, formerboard member, Spring’s trail histo-rian, avid volunteer, and Long Runcontributor. He is working hard onthe Veteran’s Home Run.Runners gather themselves in prayerful reflection before the inagural Veterans Home Run in 2006 in

Memorial Park. This year’s venue will be at the Air Force Academy and adds a wheelchair division.

The Long Run18

Ientered theGate RiverRun/US 15 K

Na tio nal Champi-onships as a tune-up for the OlympicMarathon Trials.My coach con-

tacted the director, and I thoughtthey were just giving me a compli-mentary race entry, but after twodays of traveling to Jacksonville (Igot stuck in a snowstorm in Dallasovernight), I arrived to find out Iwas considered an “invited athlete”and would be given special treat-ment at the race. I had startedraces in the elite field before, butnever at a National Championship,which was quite a different level.And to make it an even bigger impact, the elite women were start-ing 5 minutes before the elite menand rest of the field so that it wouldbe an exciting finish. That meant Iwas on my own with all the elitewomen, and couldn’t hope for somefast local runners from the field tocompete with.

Early Saturday morning I wentto the invited athletes room, andimmediately felt like I was out ofmy league. I was surrounded by allthe people you read about in Run-ners World, all wearing theirmatching sponsor’s outfits. Ilooked down, and laughed as I waswearing Mizuno shoes, New Balance socks, Adidas shorts,Asics singlet, and a Nike hat. Didthey look at me and wonder if I

was the new girl on the scene,someone who was going to sneakup and steal their prize money?Or, more likely, did they think Iwas someone’s manager, or thewater girl who would carry theirgear back from the start line? Ac-tually, I don’t think they noticedme at all, as everyone seemed tostick to themselves, mentallypreparing for the race. So what dothe super elite athletes do before arace? It seemed like what everyother runner does- mentally pre-pare, warm-up, drink fluids,stretch, and use the restroom.

Fifteen minutes before thestart, they led us through lockedgates past crowds of people to thestart line. I saw people looking atus and felt like doing the haughtybeauty queen wave: “Yes, yes weare the elite runners!” The racestarted, and as expected, DeenaKastor quickly ran away from thefield. Two girls actually attemptedto go with her, but fell back evenbefore the first mile.

I tried to stay with the mainchase pack (even though weweren’t really chasing anyone,since Deena was expected to easilywin), but after the first two miles,I thought I was working too hard. Ibacked off and settled into a com-fortable pace, which I think was alittle too comfortable. Never run-ning a 15K before, I wasn’t exactlysure how it was supposed to feel orhow hard I was supposed to push.I don’t think I found the right pace

until the last 3 miles, where, as mycoach says, you’re working but incontrol. I was ok with that be-cause this race was definitely alearning experience.

I had figured the elite menwould begin to catch me aroundthe halfway point, assuming theywere about a minute per milefaster. That turned out to be cor-rect. But no matter how mentallyprepared you are or who it’s by, itstill hurts the pride to get passed!I had flashbacks to when I waswatching the New York CityMarathon on tv this fall, where in asimilar fashion, the elite womenwere given a head start. As the elitemen started catching some of thewomen, the announcer said, “Nowthe men are moving past some ofthe women stragglers.” Stragglers?These women ended up runningsub 2:42 marathons! Not exactlywhat I would call a straggler! Luck-ily, there were no cameras at thisrace, or who knows what theywould have said about me!

The best parts of the race wereright after the 5K point and miles7-9. After passing the 5K mark,you run down a short street thatborders the ocean on one side. Itwas so windy I’ve never seen theocean that choppy. The waveswere constantly breaking over thewall, covering the street and run-ners in a heavy spray of salt water.Miles 7-9 are up and over a hugebridge. I consider hills one of mystrengths, and was looking for-ward to this part. I ended up pass-ing 3 women on the hill, but mybiggest accomplishment was notgetting blown off the bridge. It wasthat windy! I’m not kidding; everytime I lifted my leg to take a step,my foot got blown against my op-posite calf and I thought I wasgoing to get blown over.

After the race I noticed a lotmore girls like me in the invitedathletes room. Girls wearing non-

Running Out of One’s LeagueThe US 15K Championshipsby Emily Brzozowski

With over 12,000 finishers this year, the Gate River Run is the largest 15K in the country. The courseruns through the center of Jacksonville, Florida, and was the site of the national championships.

April 2008 19

matching brands, girls with moresubstance to their bodies than aknobby-kneed, half-starved deer.Maybe they were there before therace and I just didn’t notice themas I was trying too hard to appearnonchalant, secretly watchingDeena Kastor’s every move tryingnot to look like a stalker.

Even though a bit intimidatingat first, running out of my leaguewas a great experience that Ilearned a lot from. If my goal is toone day feel like I really belongwith these elite runners, racingwith them will help me achievethat. I think it helped set similarconditions to the Olympic Trials,where I’ll be with the best runnersin the country who are trying toqualify for the Olympic team, andmany others who are just theretrying to run a great race.

I think this applies to everyrunner as well. While it’s great torun in all the local races where youknow the courses and know thepeople you have to beat to place inyour age group, you sometimeshave to go out of your comfort zonein order to step it up a notch.Whether its driving up to Denverto race against different people,flying somewhere to race in a dif-ferent climate, or running in acompetitive race you have to qual-ify for like Boston or the BoulderBolder, running out of your leaguewill help you take it to the nextlevel. And if you don’t enjoy the experience of racing out of yourcomfort zone, then at least you’llgain a greater appreciation for thenorm.Emily finished 24th out of 5,814women in 55:56. She is a PPRRboard member and lives in ColoradoSprings. She trains with the ArmyWorld Class Athlete program in thepentathlon and has qualified for the2008 Olympic Marathon Trials.

The Tortoise and Hare: Your chance to get a real head startby Jim Kelleher

April rolls around again andoffers plenty of events tokick off your running season

if you haven’t already. Amongthem is a unique handicap race de-signed to even the odds. Althougha young man in his mid-twentieswith a tall and slender physique isnot guaranteed to be a fast runner,it sure doesn’t hurt. Many of us,I’m sure, would happily shed somepounds and years to go a littlefaster. And what if you women outthere could neutralize the naturalstrength advantage of being male?Well, that’s exactly what the Tor-toise and Hare Handicap 5K setsout to accomplish: levelling theplaying field.

In a nutshell, the slower, statis-tically, you are likely to run, thesooner you get to start. And if youare gifted with attributes that makefor speed, you get to start later andplay catch-up. All else being equalbetween a guy and a gal—age,height, weight—the gal gets to startfirst. Weighing more and beingolder count as two more reasons forstarting before someone else.

Both slower and faster runnersenjoy something very different in

this event. For the slower folks,particularly the back-of-the-pack-ers, they can experience leadingthe pack of runners. They start inthe lead and the challenge is tostay there. Historically, the “tortoises” do well for themselves.

But the faster runners have agreat deal of fun as well. Althoughthe pack gets out ahead of them,they can enjoy the thrill of thechase as they try to catch as manyrunners as they can.

Runners have to show up a bitearlier than usual because handi-caps have to be calculated for eachperson. They report their age andheight, and then step on a scale.This information plus their genderthen gets typed into the computerand out comes the handicap. Thecalculations are based upon national performance data andhave born out very well in practice.The only way to find your handicapis to show up, so hopefully we’ll seeyou there: Saturday April 12 atMonument Valley Park. And re-member that for PPRR members,it’s free!

Race volunteers busily calculate handicaps during the pre-race prep at the Tortoise & Hare Hand-icap. The computerized handicapping worked well last year, but runners still need to show up early.

Tortoise & Hare 5K

Saturday April 12th

Factor out age, size, and gender and whatdo you have left? Conditioning!

Level the playing field. If you’re in shape,that’s all that matters!

Kids, teens, and seniors—all can win.

Back-of-the packers lead early.Fast-runners play pursuit.

Saturday, April 12th

Memorial Park (just north of Bijou)

8:30 AM weigh-in and handicapping

$3.00 entry fee! PPRR members free!

Refreshments pre and post race

For more details at pprrun.org

Questions? Email Tim Steffens at timmahh2@hotmail.com