Category Archives: Stories

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.

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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 [his 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.

 

Coaching Couch to 5K

20 Wednesday Jun 2018

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photo of Diane Kukich runningCRR Diane Kukich was recently written up as part of an article on the University of Delaware’s first completed “Couch to 5K” program for employees. Kukich is an RRCA-certified running coach who currently holds two Delaware state age-group records—the 20K (50-54, 1:30:56) and the 5 mile (65-69, 39:41).

Kukich will be starting a Couch to 5K program in the fall at UD, turning yet another cadre of so-called “couch potatoes” into capable joggers/runners.

CRR Beth Finkle, UD’s director of Health and Wellbeing, was also mentioned in the article.

April accomplishments, in first person

16 Wednesday May 2018

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CRR Charlie Roth on his Penn Relays experience:

photo of Charlie RothCreek Road is still running strong!

I had a lifetime running highlight this past weekend. I ran in the Penn Relays [April 27]!

Some of the other dads from [my son] Alex’s high school team and I were watching them running last year at Penn Relays, and while watching some master’s races going on that afternoon, we said, “We could do that.”

So we started training (Sunday afternoons through the winter on an outdoor track), ran a USATF meet to hit the qualifying time, and competed in the age-50-and-over 4x400m relay Friday night. I anchored in 64.8, a bit off the 64.2 that I had done indoors to qualify, but not bad for a distance runner at age 50.

I am hoping that the track work can translate into a fast 5K at some point. I went 20:29 last month for my master’s PR, but I feel there is a little more there. We’ll see.

Excerpts from CRR Jo Baird’s Boston experience:

photo of Jo BairdThis year’s Boston Marathon, my third Boston and seventh marathon overall, was by far the most challenging not only physically, but mentally as well. At the start line, as we were lining up in our different corrals in my wave, they announced that these were the worst running conditions the Boston Marathon has ever seen (something I wish that they had told me after the race was over, rather than before).

During the race, there was steady rain and wind with an occasional gust that took your breath away and an occasional downpour that soaked right through your clothes. It definitely was both a physical and mental test…. Many runners still only wore shorts and a singlet, which was no match for these conditions.

Personally, I had a surprisingly good race. I started out the first four miles at a 7:04 pace…. I backed off…but checked my watch at mile eight and saw that my average had only dropped to 7:06. As we got to “Heartbreak Hill,” one guy who had been running around the same pace as I had patted me and said, “We’re in this together.” I had no idea who he was. We hadn’t said anything to each other the whole race, but it meant a lot.

Once I got to the top of the hill, where all the Boston College students were, I felt nothing but love as I looked down into Boston. The last five miles were almost a blur; as [I] got closer to Boston,…[t]he crowds were so loud you couldn’t hear yourself think, and I didn’t even feel myself increase my pace. My last mile was 6:56, because, as I turned right onto Hereford and left on Boylston, there was this indescribable feeling of emotions that I felt from conquering that day and being lifted up by my fellow runners and this amazing city.

Overall, it was a race for the books. It was one of those experiences I have no regrets doing but don’t really want to do again.

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