Northwest Running and Racing

Rainier To Ruston Rail-Trail Relay

Steve — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:30:22 +0000

I’m a huge fan of the team aspect of running, therefore relays are one of my favorite types of races. In fact I’m going to try and add a relay race section to my Race Schedule page in the near future. If you have never taken part in a relay race I would highly recommend you give it a try. There is no better way to bond with a group of fellow runners. One great relay race in our area is the Rainier to Ruston Rail-Trail Relay on June 6, 2009 (National Trails Day).

The Rainier to Ruston Rail-Trail Relay begins at Mt. Rainier National Park and runs 50 miles along the Foothills Trail to Ruston Ruston Way in Tacoma. According to the race website the course “passes through pristine wilderness and communities, following the old Northern Pacific railroad grade that once brought settlers and supplies to the west”. The race is broken into 12 legs and you can enter as a teams of 2, 3, 4, or 6 runners. There is also a 50 mile or a 50K solo option (the race is a qualifier for the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run) and a 27 mile walking relay. Please check out the Rainier to Ruston website for more information. Hopefully I will see you at the race.

I would like to thank race founder and co-director John Selby for getting me the information about this year’s race. If any of you know of any races that you think should be mentioned on this site please let me know.

2009 Henry Weinhard’s St. Patrick’s Day Dash

Steve — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 17:26:08 +0000

Over 7,000 participant braved the snow, rain and cold to take part in the 2009 St. Patrick’s Day Dash in downtown Seattle. This year’s event had a completely new (well not quite, the start was still the same) course. Instead of running on the Viaduct, runners now did an out and back on Aurora (Hwy 99). I have to admit, I really was not excited about the new course. But after running it I didn’t think it was that bad.

Basically, the new course is uphill on the way out. Then you turn around and run down hill back to the finish. The course is still an odd length, so really can’t compare you time to other races. I guess that gives the race a kind of XC feel, in that your time isn’t really important instead its all about the competition. And this race always brings out a lot of good runners so you can count on a lot of competition. I would love to hear what other runners thought of the new course, if you ran this year’s race and want to share your thoughts please leave me a comment.

Here are the results for the top 10 men and women (full results).

Men’s top 10

1.	Mark Mandi	19:14
2.	Jesse William	19:53
3.	Joshua Ricardi	19:56
4.	Bruce Jackson	19:59
5.	Tahoma Khalsa	20:00
6.	Steve Dekoker	20:07
7.	Tony Young	20:15
8.	Nick Hird	20:18
9.	Jim Jurcevich	20:30
10.	Mario Farioli	20:41

Women’s Top 10

1.	Lauren Matthews	22:35
2.	Sally Bergesen	22:58
3.	Rose Wetzel	23:03
4.	Lyudmila Vasilyeva	23:29
5.	Jeanine Stewart	23:31
6.	Diane Lacki	23:34
7.	Amy-Eloise Neale	23:50
8.	Jodie Isomura	23:55
9.	Regina Joyce	24:02
10.	Shelly Hack	24:21

Another World Record For Tony Young

Steve — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:31:59 +0000

Over this past weekend Tony Young of Redmond won a masters 1500 meter race that was held as part of the USATF Indoor National Championships in Boston. Tony’s time of 3:57.91 was almost 10 seconds ahead of the second place finisher and beat the world record for the 45 and over age group by about 4 and a half seconds. This was Tony’s third world record this year! On January 30th Tony ran a 4:13.25 for the mile, which is the fastest mile by a 45 and over runner ever, indoor or outdoor. However, since it was on the oversized UW track it doen’t actually count as a world record. Then on February 14th Tony ran a 1:55.70 800 again beating the 45+ age group world recond. But once again, since it was on the oversized UW track it will not count as an official world record.

2009 Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5K

Steve — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:38:24 +0000

With just under 2000 finishers, I think the 2009 Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5K at Greenlake was the largest running of this event so far. Yet due to the new course (course map) that is primarily on the roads around Greenlake and the great job of the event staff there were no problems handling the larger crowds. Not only does this race have a fun and festive atmosphere, but thanks to the flat, certified course it also draws some very fast runners. If you are looking for a fast and fun early season 5K I would highly recommend the Love ‘em or Leave ‘em 5k.

Besides the individual age group and overall winners there was also a team competition. There were two runners per team and they were scored based on their combined time. Below are the winners of the team competition (full results).

Women under 79 (combined age)

1. 41:27 Just Friends (team average 20:44)
20:22 Veronica Sackett

21:05 Laura Ruppert

Women masters (combined age over 80)

1.   37:52 Team BS  (team average 18:56)
      18:16    Sally Bergesen
      19:36    Elizabeth Stahl

Men under 79 (combined age)

1.   32:51 Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Cupids (team average 16:26)
      16:11     Leif Kohler
      16:40     Chris Tremonte

Men masters (combined age over 80)

1.   32:13 seattle running club (team average 16:07)
      15:29    Greg Crowther
      16:44    Henry Wigglesworth

The individual winners ran some amazing times that will surely be showing up on the NW Runner Best Times List. Below are the top 5 men and women (full results).

Female overall results

1. Heather Gallagher 18:00

2. Sally Bergesen 18:16

3. Christina Feliz 18:39

4. Erica Pitman 19:00

5. Karen Demartini 19:10

Male overall results

1. Brett Winegar 15:03

2. Greg Crowther 15:29

3. Joe Darda 15:33

4. Bruce Jackson 15:53

5. Eddie Stickler 15:56

Tony Young beats the indoor mile World Record for 45 and over

Steve — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:59:37 +0000

On January 31st at the UW Invitational at the Dempsey Indoor track 46 year old Tony Young of Redmond, WA ran a 4:13.25 in the mile. This was not only faster than indoor world record for age 45 and over but the fastest mile indoor or outdoor that a runner 45 or older has ever run. Unfortunately, since the UW indoor track is an oversized track Tony’s time will not count as the official world record. The official indoor mile record is 4:21.90 by Albin Swenson. The previous fastest indoor or outdoor mile was a 4:16.09, which Tony ran outdoors last year down in Gresham, OR. If you would like to see a video of Tony’s indoor world record, it is at Flotrack.com. Also, you can see a post race interview with Tony at Runnerspace.com.

2009 Hayward Classic Masters Track Meet Cancelled

Steve — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 01:10:45 +0000

I am currently working on putting together a list of outdoor track meets in Northwest that will be available to open and masters runners to compete in this spring and summer. Hopefully I will have that up soon. But I do want to let everyone know that one of the best masters track meets around (don’t forget that you only have to be 30 to compete in masters track meets), the Hayward Classic in Eugene, OR has been cancelled for 2009.

According to an e-mail I received from Ruth BreMiller of the Oregon Track Club, they were unable to secure the use of Hayward Field and the other options that were available were not adequate to put on a high quality meet. However, Ruth did go on to tell me that they already have a firm commitment to use Hayward Field in late June 2010. So the Hayward Classic will be back next year.

Favorite Workouts – 4×1000m/300m

Steve — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 23:40:07 +0000

If you do enough workouts on the track eventually it can become difficult to come up with new and interesting ideas for what to run (although personally, I believe any time I get to run on the track its fun no matter what the workout is). Therefore, I decided I would post some of my favorite track workouts to help give you some ideas.

Today’s workout is 4 x 1000 meters/300 meters. The 1000 meters is run at or just faster than 5K pace followed by the 300 meters at mile pace. I heard of this workout in a Running Times podcast interview of Pete Rea (coach of ZAP Fitness) called Your Last Hard Workout. The podcast actually lists a few workouts that Pete uses with the ZAP Fitness team, this happens to be my favorite of the bunch.

What makes this workout so fun for me is the mixing of different paces, which is also what makes it challenging. I always seem to have a hard time getting back to 5K pace after that first 300. I really like to use this workout as part of my training for a 5K or shortly before a 10K (makes the 10K pace feel much easier). As far as rest goes, I use a 200 meter jog between the 1000 and the 300 and then a 400 meter jog between the 300 and 1000.

I hope you find this workout as enjoyable as I do. Please let me know what you think of it. Or if you have any favorite workouts you would like to tell me about feel free to leave me a comment. I will try and post a new workout every so often.

Pace Calculator Application for iPhone

Steve — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 19:21:35 +0000

A friend of mine has helped to develop an application for iPhone and iPod Touch that allows you to select your goal distance and finishing time and it will show you your pace per mile, per kilometer, per 400 meters an in MPH. This could be very helpful for planning your next race or workout. The application is for sale on iTunes for $0.99, here is the link to it if you are interested.

iPace Application

Running Resolutions

Steve — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 00:17:06 +0000

Have you made any running related New Year’s resolutions for this year, or are you one of those types that doesn’t believe in resolutions? The way I look at it, resolutions are just goals for the year. When it comes to running setting goals is major part of improving. Below are some pointers on setting running goals (resolutions).

To help explain my tips I will use one of my running resolutions for 2009 as an example. My resolution is to run sub 4:00 for the 1500 and sub 16:00 for the 5000 (either on the track or in a certified road race).

Tip #1: Make your resolutions measurable. Some common resolutions might be to run faster or further or to loose weight. While these are great goals, they are very ambiguous. This makes it much harder to stay focused on your goal. Instead you should say specifically how much faster or farther you want to run or how much weight you want to loose. Before I picked my resolution for this year I had already decided I wanted focus on developing my speed in 2009. So then by picking goals that will require me to improve my speed I now have a specific goal that I can measure my progress towards.

Tip #2: Put your resolution in writing. By putting your resolution in writing you make it a bit more official than if remains just a thought in your head and you will be more likely to stick to it. Ideally you would right your resolution someplace like in the front of your training log where you will see it everyday as a reminder of what you are working towards. I actually prefer to take it a step further and let other people know what my resolutions are. This puts a bit more pressure on me to stick to the resolution. For some people this might add a bit too much pressure. Also, I never know who might have a suggestion that could really help me achieve my goals. So by talking about them with people I have more chances to get some help.

Tip #3: Make your resolution realistic. This is probably the most important of the three tips. If you make your resolution so outrageous that there is absolutely no way you will ever achieve it you will loose your motivation very quickly. Of course the flip side of this is also a problem. If you make your resolution so easy that it doesn’t require any effort on your part to achieve it you won’t have gained anything. For me a sub 4:00 1500 and sub 16:00 5000 is a very ambitious goal. In fact, I this will now be the third year I have made this resolution (this will be my year to reach my goal, I can feel it). Even though I didn’t actually achieve these times the past two years I have made them my resolution I still honestly believe that I am capable of running those times so I have never lost my motivation to work towards them.

Hopefully you find these tips at least a little bit helpful. When you have something specific that you are shooting for it makes your running much more enjoyable and meaningful, plus it is much easier to motivate yourself to get out and train. If you are like me and like to let other people know what your resolutions are please leave me a comment stating your goals. I wish you all the best of luck in reaching your running goals for 2009.

Washington teams at XC Club Nationals

Steve — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 17:20:07 +0000

Sorry it has taken me so long to post this, but due to the snow I haven’t been at my computer very much (I don’t have a computer at home). Washington teams had a pretty strong showing at the USATF XC Club Nationals in Spokane on December 13th. Below is a list of how each of those teams did. Hopefully these teams will continue to enter different events (XC, track, road relays) throughout the year so maybe we can start to build up some friendly team competition within the State. Please let me know if I have missed anyone or need to make any corrections.

Masters Women (40+)

Place Points Team

1 23 Club Northwest-A

Points Name Time

2 Susan Empey 24:21

9 Karen Steen 25:08

12 Alyssa Tower 25:24

20 Christina Ashby 26:08

Place Points Team

3 34 Seattle Running Club

Points Name Time

3 Alysun Deckert 24:23

13 Mary Hanna 25:34

18 Amber Cruzan 26:05

30 Heather Nugent 27:34

32 Kristy Maraveller 27:53

Place Points Team

4 49 Eastside Runners

Points Name Time

1 Liz Wilson 23:55

17 Francie Faure 26:03

31 Brenda Carter 27:44

33 Molly Hurd 27:56

Place Points Team

5 56 Club Northwest-B

Points Name Time

15 Regina Joyce 25:40

16 Kelly Kruell 25:43

25 Gail Hall 26:41

Place Points Team

8 91 Hard Core Runners Club

Points Name Time

14 Lisa Garcia 25:37

38 Carol Stuhley 28:42

39 Donna Nettleship 28:43

43 Ilene Gerardi 29:18

46 Rosanne Bacon 30:51

Masters Women (50+)

Place Points Team

5 153 Road Runner Sports-Seattle

Points Name Time

50 Phyllis Nelson 32:03

51 Joy Cordell 32:07

52 Sherri Prather 38:38

Masters Men (40+)

Place Points Team

5 128 Club Northwest

Points Name Time

12 Michael Lynes 34:55

16 Tony Young 35:15

31 John O’Hearn 36:31

32 Keefer Whan 36:37

37 Paul Abdalla 36:55

48 Sean Messiter 37:19

49 Carl Winter 37:24

64 Kevin McGinnis 38:20

Ian Brown 39:00

Loren Hill 40:51

Place Points Team

12 374 Eastside Runners

Points Name Time

50 Tony Hawkes 37:29

67 Lance Logan 38:37

82 Jeff Sowards 40:04

85 David Treadwell 40:12

90 Christopher Michaels 40:49

94 David Eddy 41:23

102 Mark Steen 43:03

Place Points Team

13 428 Fleet Feet Running Club

Points Name Time

63 Lance Docken 38:17

75 Scott Drennen 39:16

86 Kevin McCrabb 40:16

97 Daryl Montgomery 41:38

107 Tim Campbell 43:48

Place Points Team

14 430 EMDE Sports

Points Name Time

74 Kevin Swaim 39:07

77 Jeffrey Rahn 39:40

83 Tim Haugan 40:08

95 Troy Nelson 41:30

101 John Townley 42:53

103 Michael Lauffer 43:04

109 Paul Suter 44:31

Place Points Team

16 468 Fairhaven Runners

Points Name Time

70 Kendall Townsend 38:52

87 Steven Wade 40:18

88 Stephen Roguski 40:34
110 Charles Dooley 45:40

113 Anthony Cava 48:42

John Schick 48:14

Place Points Team

17 487 Fleet Feet Running Club-B

Points Name Time

89 Patrick Kenworthy 40:44

91 Zachary Willis 40:53

96 Paul Morrison 41:38

105 Richard Nelly 43:18

106 Chris Blair 43:38

Masters Men (50+)

Place Points Team

1 48 Club Northwest

Points Name Time

1 Rick Becker 36:42

2 Michael Smith 36:51

11 Mark Billett 38:51

13 David Cannon 39:11

21 Frederick Motteler 40:21

24 Michael Allison 40:55

31 Jerry Zyskowski 42:34

Place Points Team

5 133 Seattle Running Club

Points Name Time

8 Henry Wigglesworth 38:23

26 Kent Sizer 40:59

27 Win Van Pelt 41:15

35 Mark Drangsholt 43:45

37 Scott Serpa 45:09

44 Tony Myrie 48:28

Place Points Team

6 185 Eastside Runners

Points Name Time

3 Joe Sheeran 37:14

42 John Swenson 47:20

45 Wes Pitman 49:30

46 Norbert Geer 49:37

49 Jim Buckley 50:22

51 Osamu Yamamoto 51:04

57 Hon-wah Chan 52:50

Place Points Team

8 219 3 Rivers Road Runners

Points Name Time

39 Dana Ward 45:44

40 Jeff Huth 46:26

43 Stuart Kretzschmar 48:11

47 Steven Wisness 49:48

50 Ronald Melton 50:25

Masters Men (60+)

Place Points Team

4 27 EMDE Sports

Points Name Time

3 Jeff Corkill 42:25

9 Joe Machala 44:33

15 Scott Melville 48:43

Place Points Team

5 30 Eastside Runners

Points Name Time

5 David Longmuir 43:41

11 Frazer Mann 45:11

14 Patrick Dwyer 47:20

19 James McGill 50:12

22 Charles Crouse 51:06

Place Points Team

7 73 3 Rivers Road Runners

Points Name Time

21 Bill Voiland 50:45

25 Kenneth Kniveton 52:56

27 James Peterson 53:58

28 Jon Neely 54:38

29 John Butterfield 1:16:20

Masters Men (70+)

Place Points Team

1 6 Snohomish Track Club

Points Name Time

1 Ben Grevstad 52:32

2 Bill Iffrig 55:41

3 Larry Wright 58:38

4 Melvin Preedy 1:06:50

Open Women

Place Points Team

6 153 Club Northwest

Points Name Time

15 Rose Wetzel 22:32

22 Vanessa Hunter 22:49

26 Megan Johnson 22:57

44 Lauren Matthews 23:26

46 Lia Slemons 23:26

50 Kristi Houk 23:32

78 Linn Schulte-Sasse 23:53

118 Diane Martineillo 25:17

Place Points Team

11 284 The Spokane Swifts

Points Name Time

19 Johanna Olson 22:43

35 Janet Collar 23:14

48 Jodi Suter 23:29

84 Rachel Jaten 23:59

98 Haley Cooper 24:26

106 Amber Hamilton 24:46

107 Annie Warner 24:51

115 Heather McLaughlin 25:04

Place Points Team

19 562 Eastside Runners

Points Name Time

38 Susan Ashlock 23:20

121 Andrea Garvue 25:21

123 Erica Pitman 25:30

131 Jennifer Bolibol 25:55

149 Tami Curtis 28:22

152 Susan Pevovar 29:48

Place Points Team

21 659 The Spokane Swifts-B

Points Name Time

117 Heidi Bresson 25:10

125 Lori Buratto 25:41

136 Adrianne Campbell 26:19

140 Lora Jackson 26:38

141 Sarah Ranson 26:38

142 Lanaia Severino 26:48

145 Eve Nelson 27:02

150 Libby Fisher 28:43

Open Men

Place Points Team

6 216 Club Northwest

Points Name Time

12 Joseph Gray 31:33

20 Mikhail Sayenko 31:50

39 Mark Mandi 32:22

68 Brett Winegar 33:16

77 Sean Sundwall 33:23

88 John Timeus 33:30

134 Scott Halliday 34:19

152 Jeremy Park 34:38

240 Jeff Hashimoto 34:54

Place Points Team

14 479 Bigfoot Track Club

Points Name Time

49 Mark Curell 32:45

64 Andrew Fuller 33:08

85 Eric Burck 33:28

97 Ty Axtman 33:38

184 Sean Coyle 35:25

Place Points Team

18 576 Eastside TC

Points Name Time

73 Eric Griffiths 33:19

107 Sean Williams 33:53

118 Rusty McCrea 33:59

132 Michael Anderson 34:17

146 Patrick McCurry 34:33

186 Timothy Riley 35:30

Place Points Team

22 673 Seattle Running Club

Points Name Time

98 Ben Mangrum 33:40

119 Travis Boyd 33:59

138 Destry Johnson 34:22

143 Gregory Crowther 34:28

175 Chris Charles 35:09

196 Ben Sauvage 35:50

204 Aaron Ladd 36:02

219 Mark Davies 36:45

Adam Lint 37:22

Place Points Team

32 937 Brooks ID

Points Name Time

81 Michael Bresson 33:24

155 Steve Dekoker 34:40

182 Josh Hadway 35:24

250 Gregory Gallagher 38:37

269 Matthew Cusack 45:52

Place Points Team

38 1101 Fairhaven Runners

Points Name Time

129 Chad Portwood 34:14

207 Peter Ellis 36:08

245 Steve Grichel 38:21

254 Jason Gulley 39:01

266 Sam Brancheau 43:16

Place Points Team

39 1107 EMDE Sports

Points Name Time

194 Thomas Pileggi 35:47

202 Evan Sims 35:59

231 Michael Bergquist 37:28

236 Ryan McIntyre 37:44

244 Kenneth Linder 38:20

258 Sam Picicci 39:53

264 Charles Toillion 41:15

Place Points Team

40 1115 Eastside Runners

Points Name Time

122 Jonathan Murray 34:04

209 Cullen Cantwell 36:12

249 Travis Adams 38:34

267 James Johnson 43:32

268 Jeff Mataya 43:35