Category Archives: Stories

Parsons über alles

18 Monday Feb 2019

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photo of Christina ParsonsSam Parsons, a professional runner from Newark, Del., and son of CRR Christina Parsons and CRR George Parsons, won the 3,000m indoor German National Championship in Leipzig on Saturday. Parsons, who has dual citizenship because of his German-born mother, made the decision last year to compete for her homeland.

photo of Sam Parsons finishing 3,000m indoor race in Leipzig, Germany (photo by Theo Kiefner)The 25-year-old Parsons and another German-American runner, Amos Bartelsmeyer, finished 1-2 and were the only competitors to break eight minutes, Parsons clocking in at 7:53.71.

In a post-race interview, an ecstatic Parsons said, “It was amazing to compete here today. This is something special for me to start for the first time at the German Championships. The people here are so much cooler than in the U.S. The audience loves athletics. Now I am looking forward to running at the European Championships, and I hope to bring home a medal for Germany.”

photo of Sam Parsons after winning the 3,000m German Indoor National Championships in LeipzigHe later posted, “I wanted to win so badly. I was willing to pour out whatever was necessary to win. It’s a moment I’ll cherish forever.”

A Tatnall School and North Carolina State University graduate, Parsons will be off to represent Germany in the European Championships on March 2–3 in Glasgow, Scotland.

Will he be ready? With two Creek Road Runners forming his direct bloodline, we bet he will be. “I’m not afraid of opponents,” he declared.

> See post-race video interview (in German)
> Also see Parsons breaks four-minute mile.

Editor’s Note: Parsons took 12th place in the Euro Championships on March 2.

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Taking the “safe” out of Safety Harbor

03 Sunday Feb 2019

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photo of Rachel StricklandFigured we could start out the new year with a cautionary tale. The following first-person account was shared by CRR Rachel Strickland, whose foot, yes, still hurts after having run two shorter races in lieu of one longer one.

Probably not the best decision I have ever made, but…

photo of medals from Safety Harbor 5K and 10K…I had signed up to do the half marathon of the Best Damn Race in Safety Harbor, Fla., a race I had done seven years ago for its inaugural run. They have really fun medals.

My foot hurt so bad on my last training run the previous Sunday that I could only do five miles and had to walk a lot of that. The race organizers let me transfer to the 5K/10K Challenge. Still 9.3 miles, but I saved nearly four miles of pounding on my foot.

photo of meme from Monty Python and the Holy GrailI did the 10K at 7 a.m. then the 5K at 9:00. I got a medal for each event and a third for having done the combo. It hurt every single step, so probably not the best decision (hence the meme about being in denial). This is the same injury that kept me from doing the Wring Out the Old [at the end of 2018], but it seemed like it had been getting better.

I like to practice medicine without a license and know a little about anatomy, but I’m seeing a podiatrist this week to find out what the problem is, and, hopefully, I’ll have a real diagnosis. Likely a long time away from running in order to rehab. Just as well, because cycling season is just around the corner, and I can start training (I have the bike hooked to a trainer in the basement) for the Monkey Knife Fight on April 6—a 30-mile hilly ride in Emmaus, Pa.

Oh well, you just can’t keep some runners down. But, as a general rule, we don’t recommend running injured. Stay healthy in 2019 everyone!

19 participants at 20th annual trail run

31 Monday Dec 2018

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On December 31st, the 20th annual “Wring Out the Old, Ring in the New” trail run at Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area in nearby Maryland boasted 19 participants,… if you include the three canines, one biker, and a photographer.

photo of runners beginning the 20th annual New Year’s Eve event at Fair Hill

Creek Road Runners start the 20th annual “Wring Out the Old, Ring in the New” trail run at Fair Hill.

Gender equality was finally achieved with eight women and eight men this year, certainly a record for the number of female runners (7). Never had there been as many dogs running the loop as this year either, not counting those who may have been “dogging” the course—you know who you are, CRR Bill Rose.

The weather was crisp, but there was a delightful absence of wind (unlike last year), and everyone seemed to have a good time.

See full story >

 

Time-valued trifecta

11 Saturday Aug 2018

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photo of Mark Deshon with age-group winning plaqueThe race itself wasn’t special, even though it takes place each year in his birth city in association with Maine’s largest seafood festival, but it was the pursuit of an interesting racing trifecta that focused the attention of CRR Mark Deshon this summer.

After last Sunday’s race, Deshon, who first took on Rockland’s Lobster Festival 10K in 1997 during its silver anniversary year, has now competed in the race three times, winning his age group each time—in different 10-year age groups.

Despite what he viewed as a sub-par race performance (“I was on [my target] pace but completely blew up after four miles”), Deshon managed to finish 19th this year in 45:34, winning the 60-69 age group’s first-place plaque. He now has his third such winning plaque, having finished 6th overall in 1997 at age 41 in 37:47 and 21st overall five years ago at age 57 in 43:56.

Inevitably (like “death and taxes”), his times have slowed, but Deshon happily relishes this special—in a quirky sense—racing achievement, 21 years in the making.

Result of May madness in Switzerland

07 Saturday Jul 2018

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photo of Martin Wolfer during the SOLA relay

Martin Wolfer competing four years ago in this same event.

Back on May 5, our European representative, CRR Martin Wolfer, competed in a rather unique cross-country relay in the Switzerland—the SOLA-Stafette, a favorite of his near where he lives that he has run annually for several decades. His team finished 11th of 944 relay teams. He provided the details below.

Here are his explanation of the race and the results for his team.

“The name of the race is ‘SOLA-Stafette.’ The name SOLA (‘sun’) originates in Sweden, where in 1967 they organized a relay with that name, from Göteborg to Karlstadt. In Zürich, it was held for the first time in 1972. I [first] participated in 1978…. I [have now] started 36 times in this event.

“In the [map below], you see that the race is located around Zürich [the city at the head of the lake]. The changing points are chosen such that they can be easily reached by public transportation. The overall distance is 114 km, split into 14 [unequal and non-conventional distance] legs.

map of the SOLA-Stafette relay in Switzerland

“In the result sheet for our team [below], you see the distances in kilometers and the altitude-meters (hm) that had to be run (meters of rise in altitude, not the difference between start and finish). My leg was the third to last [leg 12, marked as such on the map above], where men over 50 and women are allowed to take a shortcut. The distance for me was 5.83 km with 75 hm of altitude (not the regulation and listed 6.91 km with 125 hm).”

Team result with Martin Wolfer’s stage results highlighted

“The first column (‘Rang’) shows the individual rank, with ‘Zeit’ [being] the time and ‘Rückstand’ the time behind the best runner on that particular leg.
The ‘Rang’ in the second column is the rank of the team after that leg, with the overall time and the time behind the first team.”

Martin ran 23:02 for his leg, which equates to a 19:45 cross-country 5K. Pretty complicated relay, but it’s clear that Wolfer, who had held Delaware resident age-group records in both the 5K and the marathon back in the late 1980s (when he trained here on Creek Road), is still enjoying the sport and running strong.