2008 Team Details for Our Fans

Welcome Rosie Ruiz Fan Club fans! A special welcome to the SOM students, faculty, and staff that follow along!

First, some last minute roster change news. Chris H. is trying to recover from a running injury and unfortunately cannot make it to the race. We all hope he heals up fast and is back to running in no time! The good news is Birgit has graciously stepped into the breach. So, Birgit, welcome to the team!

The team takes off on Thursday in the two vans. Van 1 leaves at noon with Matt, Sue, David, Emily, Cathy, Merle, and Rodrigo. Van 2 heads out at 4pm with Chris, Erica, Aisling, Nancy, and Birgit.

If all goes well van 1 should arrive in time for both dinner and get some of the check-in obligations out of the way. Van 2, will hopefully get in on time to get a good night's sleep!

Here is the big and unexpected news: the team's starting time is 1pm! That is four hours later than last year! What is going on? Well two things. First, we have been somewhat more aggressive with the estimated paces submitted by our team. Last year we came in far under our expected time, and this year the goal was to submit forecasts that are more likely to be in line with reality. Second, the race organizers decided to spread the teams out more than they have in the past. Their goal is to reduce the congestion at the various transition areas. What that translates into is a set of starts in which the last, and fastest, teams will start at 4pm which is a full hour and a half later than last year.

So when will our runners be on the course? While we will not know exactly until they actually hit the road below are our best estimates at the moment.

Runner	1st Leg	1st Dist	1st Start Time	2nd Leg	2nd Dist	2nd Start Time	3rd Leg	3rd Dist	3rd Start Time
Sue	1	7.8	1:00PM	13	3.8	10:59	25	9.3	9:43
David	2	8.9	1:58	14	7.7	11:27	26	4.2	10:57
Matt	3	3.8	3:09	15	8.2	12:26AM	27	8.6	11:29
Nancy	4	2.9	3:35	16	6.4	1:28	28	5.5	12:36PM
Birgit	5	5.5	4:01	17	7.4	2:30	29	4.2	1:26
Merle	6	8.6	4:49	18	4.9	3:38	30	3.2	2:04
Chris	7	7.2	6:10	19	4.4	4:21	31	2.5	2:34
Emily	8	6.6	7:17	20	9.1	5:02	32	6.8	2:56
Rodrigo	9	6.3	8:01	21	7.1	6:07	33	4	3:42
Cathy	10	4.9	8:44	22	5.4	6:57	34	4	4:10
Erica	11	6.1	9:30	23	6.2	7:48	35	3	4:48
Aisling	12	3.9	10:25	24	6.9	8:41	36	4.3	5:16
Finish!									5:54

Matt

August and Labor Day Racing Update

This is the last monthly update before this year's Reach the Beach Relay Race when the team will once again reconvene for its 200 mile adventure!

August saw Sue, Emily, Dave, Cathy and me/Matt all compete in our town's local race series so I am going to report by race to help keep this post somewhat compact.

On August 2 the town held it annual 4.68 mile race. Emily was first in her AG finishing in a 6:33 pace. I/Matt was a bit behind, and alas the closest I would ever come to catching her in a race, at a 6:35 pace. Dave came in with a 7:05 pace. Sue, as always, won her AG in a 7:07 pace. Cathy resumed her racing career with a 9:15 pace effort.

Next came the August 9 5.85 mile race. Here Emily was the second woman overall as well as first in her AG in a blistering 6:33 pace. I/Matt was far back with a 6:56 pace. Sue, again, won her AG with a 7:17 pace finish. Cathy, in only her third race in the 10K range, finished with a 9:33 pace.

August 16 saw the town hold a 6.85 mile race. Emily was again second overall and first in her AG with a 6:37 pace. I/Matt finished in a 6:45 pace (yes faster than in the prior week's shorter race!) and fourth in my AG.

On August 23 came the 8.4 mile race which is held on one of my favorite courses. Emily was again second overall and first in her AG with a 6:44 pace. I/Matt finished in a 6:55 pace. Dave came in with a 7:17 pace and a fourth in his AG. Sue, was first in her AG with a 7:27 pace.

The penultimate race in the series was the 9.3 mile race on August 30. This was a big day for Emily! Today she set the course record! She not only set it she demolished it! The old record was 12 seconds behind the new one which Emily pulled off in 1:01:20 for a 6:36 pace! Wow! Needless to say she was first overall and in her AG! :) I/Matt had my best race of the season with a 6:52 pace finish and fifth in my AG. Sue again won her AG this time with a 7:22 pace finish.

Finally the local race series wrapped up with the August 30 10 mile race. Emily was first overall again with a blindingly fast 6:42 pace.

In the end Emily won the women's division of the race series and Sue her AG. Congratulations to both!

Heather returned to racing last month with her run in the Stratford 5K on August 23. There she turned in a time of 25:48 for a 8:19 pace. Good enough for 10/46 in her AG. Well done.

The next race on our team's agenda was the New Haven Labor Day race. There is a 20K and a 5K race and we had runners in both.

In the 5K:
Birgit, the team's newest member, finished in an 8:15 pace.
Aisling made her what may have been her racing debut with a 8:25 pace which put her 12/87. Great job!
Heather came in with a 8:20 pace. Somehow the system switched her chip time with that of her fiancé (and future team member?) Chris. At least Heather and Chris managed to figure it out!
Cathy finished in a 8:47 pace. Good for 14/105 in her AG!

In the 20K:
I/Matt came in with a 7:09 pace.
Sue finished with a 7:36 pace and 2/53 in her AG! Wow!
Erica returned to distance racing with a 9:01 pace.
Chris also returned to distance racing after a long hiatus and recovering from a running injury to finish in a 9:18 pace. Congratulations!

The next post will have the, we hope, final team roster and runner order! We will also reveal the team's super secret Friday start time. Stay tuned.

Matt

July Racing and Not Much Roster Updating

2008 Team Roster Lack of Update
Not much to report on the team roster front beyond what Captain Erica added on July 17. At this point I think the next major updates will be to announce our twelfth runner and who is running what leg.

July Racing Updates
While the team roster is settling down the team's racing is powering up! Summer and fall are racing season and so the group has been fairly busy.

Captain Erica and Chris
Both ran the Missoula Montana Half Marathon on July 13. I was there too for the full marathon and I will add details about it below. The half marathon course starts in a suburb, heads into a wildlife area and then winds through town for about 11 miles. Finally it finishes on a bridge across a river. Overall, a very attractive course. Better yet the day saw just perfect racing weather. It was in the mid-50's at the start, and because it is Montana the air was dry! For those of us slogging through east coast humidity that is quite a treat.


Here is a shot of Captain Erica and Chris (at what may have been one of the world's smallest marathon expos) for packet pickup the day before the race.

Chris ran the race in 1:54:09 for an 8:43 pace. Way to go Chris! Busted through the two hour mark with time to spare, and all this after claiming a bit over a year ago that he would have to give up running due to various physical ailments. Not that anybody really believed him! His time put in 21/32 in his AG.

Captain Erica also pulled through with a sub-two hour race time of 1:58:54 for a 9:05 pace! Congratulations on a great run as well. That yielded her 29/79 in her AG. A terrific placement within the top half of the field.

Emily spent the month winning many of the town's summer series races outright and all of them in her AG! On July 5 there was the 3.05 mile race. There she was 1 OA with a time of 19:07 for a 6:15 pace! Wow! On July 12 there was the 3.78 mile race which she finished in 23:54 for a 6:17 pace and first OA. On July 19 she ran the 4.07 mile race in 26:36 for a 6:29 pace. That put her second OA and first in her AG. Finally she stormed through the July 26 4.68 mile race in 30:49 for a 6:33 pace. That left her fourth OA and first in her AG. She is just smoking! Last year I would often beat her in these races. Not anymore! Now I am lucky if I can even come close to seeing her finish. Expect to see Emily running one of the team's longest set of legs if not the very longest come race day!

Sue ran the same local series as Emily. As usual Sue spent the series winning her AG in every race! In the 3.05 mile race she finished in 21:07 for a 6:54 pace fourth OA and first in her AG. She skipped the 3.78 and 4.07 mile race to hang out with her kids in South America. Sounds like a pretty good excuse to me! :) Then she came back strong as ever in the 4.68 mile race with a 33:28 finish for a 7:07 pace, and 7 OA and (of course) first in her AG!

Cathy was waylaid with a virus this past spring the put a several month long end to her training. She is now trying to come back and has put in a game effort that includes running the local race series as well. Her first comeback race was the on the 4.68 mile course which she finished in 43:28. That is a good start and she will hopefully continue to run longer and stronger as the summer progresses.

Matt as I wrote in the Captain Erica and Chris section I too headed out to Missoula Montana to run on July 13. The marathon course, like the half marathon course, is point to point. The marathon, however, starts a bit further away in a place called Frenchtown. From there you spend about 12 miles winding through farms. Then it is up a hill through a wildlife area and then back down where you hook up with the half marathon course for the final 11 miles. I had one really nice surprise and that was Erica's mother Jeannie was at the race and agreed to run race support for me! Because of her I could carry less on the course and yet had even more flexibility in terms of what I could consume as the race went on. She was terrific! We had agreed the night before to meet at miles 12 and 19 and both times there was my favorite spectator! So thanks again Jeannie you made a great race day even better. My final time as 3:25:46 for a 7:52 pace. Not a PR but still my second best time ever. Placement wise I finished 5/35 in my AG so I cannot complain too much. Another nice surprise was a friend of mine who was also out for the HM came and met me at the 23 mile mark to run me in. Having a mobile fan base is always a big help.

Like Sue and Emily I too have been running in the local race series. Alas, unlike them I can never hope to come anywhere close to winning my AG let alone finish first OA! Sad to say, I have also generally seen my times deteriorate from last year. I am still hoping to catch back up to where I was pre-spring injury. Fortunately, there was some evidence two weeks ago that I may be on my way. In the 3.05 mile race I finished in 19:27 for a 6:21 pace and 7 OA and 3 in my AG. This was 3 seconds faster than I ran it last year, and I hoped a good omen for the Missoula Marathon the following weekend. (Of course, that finish still left me 20 seconds behind Emily!) Next I ran the 4.07 mile race in 28:09 for a 6:52 pace, 15 OA and 7 in my AG. This was well off my 2007 time of 26L38 and 6:30 pace. But, hey, at least I had a good excuse! Just six days prior I had run a marathon. It takes time to recover from these things! Last up was the 4.68 mile race that I finished in 30:56 for a 6:35 pace, 10 OA and 2 (yes second!) in my AG. I think that may have been my best AG placement ever! My finish time was two seconds faster than last year. You know, you take what you can get!

Matt

The Eleventh Runner

The Missing Number 11 from Matt's post below:
Rodrigo Canales, newly of the Yale SOM OB group! Welcome Aboard Rodrigo!


As of mid-July we have only one spot left on the team. I am lobbying my Aunt (second cousin, once removed, by marriage? or something like that. So we stick with "Aunt") Tammy from Billings. C'mon, Tammy, it is a blast and we need your talent and upbeat outlook on the Orange Line!

Stay tuned...

Roger: Next on the agenda is the Big Sur Trail Marathon, Oct 4. This is a less than zero probability of a Boston Qualify, my eternal quest, since there is about 4000' vertical. But trail runs are really where it's at. Last time I checked, however, about 81 square miles of Big Sur had burned, and they closed 20 or so miles of highway 1. I'll have to juxtapose the burn maps on the course map to see how things look... May not be as pretty as hoped!

June Racing and Team Roster Update

2008 Team Roster Update
At this point it seems increasingly unlikely that Paul will make to the race this year so I am moving him into the out category. The good news is we have added Emily Williams to the team! To say she is wicked fast is a vast understatement. Her Boston Marathon time was an amazing 3:12:07! Alas, this will likely me that I will lose my coveted "hero" slot but it is all in a good cause. :)

Here is the team roster to date (although I think I am missing somebody as I thought the team was up to 11 members by now):

1. Kathy
2. Erica
3. Chris
4. Merle
5. Sue
6. Chris
7. Nancy
8. Cathy
9. Matt
10. Emily

June Racing Updates
I actually have no idea who ran what! I will update this if I get some responses to my request for information. What I know is what I ran and that is it for now.

Rodger: On June 21 he ran the Duluth, MN Grandma's Marathon in 3:57:57. Alas, he was waylaid by a cold in the few days prior to the race which (as one might imagine) was not a good thing. Wisely, instead of running it full out he slowed down and turned it into a "casual run." On the other hand a LOT of people would be thrilled with his "casual run" time as their full tilt race time!

Matt/me In my quest to get back into racing shape I ran two races last month. The first was the Simsbury CT Iron Horse Half Marathon on June 1 where I managed a 1:38:46 finish. While poor relative to my performances last year, it is about all I could really hope for given my relative lack of racing conditioning after having been sidelined by my calf injury in March. The half marathon was then followed up with the Bridgeport CT Race for the Rock 5K. There the final time was 20:45. While far off my PR it was again all I could really expect. In any case, both races hopefully did what they were designed to accomplish and that was help get me back in racing shape prior to the Missoula Marathon on July 13!

Matt

2008 Team Roster Update

We are thrilled to welcome two new members to the team! Chris Herron and Nancy Livingston are '08 SOM grads who decided in the middle of our OB pub crawl that this race sounded just the thing for them. Amazingly, they still thought so the nest morning! So our team thus far (with last names for those new to the blog):

Kathy Ball-Toncic
Erica Dawson
Chris Dawson
Merle Ederhof
Sue Gold
Chris Herron
Nancy Livingston
Cathy Nolan
Matt Spiegel

Count 'em up: Three spots remaining. We have several prospects who will soon be getting nudges of varying degrees of firmness. Look here for updates.