SLG'er beats NY Flyer by a nose!!!

BUT BECAUSE OF THE CHALLENGE, FLYER SHATTERS HIS PREVIOUS PR IN THE 5 K

COMPLETE STORY
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Downtown Manhattan witnessed the American Heart Association 5 k on Wednesday, May 17th. 2400 men and 2000 women ran this race. Many SLG'ers were called to run the race, only two surfaced. One was the coach, who could only be there in her coaching capacity because of an injury that will keep her out of the running circuit for a month. The other one was... yes you guessed it, the running monster, Gil Perrone. Perrone met up with Mike "The Flyer" Smyth (who has one foot in the SLG club anyway) at the start. They discussed speed and strategy and off they went. Mike's goal was to run the race in less than 20 minutes, Gil just wanted to run AS FAST AS HE COULD. Our reporter on the course says that it was an intensely fought race. Perrone was ahead the first two miles with Smyth on his tail. At mile two, Smyth caught up to Perrone and both were quite freaked out by there time of 12:10. From there on they raced shoulder to shoulder, not acknowledging each other. And then it became an intense battle for the lead, one time Perrone was ahead, another time Smyth led. At the three mile mark, Perrone showed off his famous kick though and, as the coach witnessed from her prime spot at the finish line, Perrone beat Smyth by a nose. (Admittedly, Perrone's nose is a bit bigger than Smyth's) Perrone finished in 19:41 on the clock, one second (or that nose, well maybe a bit more than a nose) faster than Smyth but their chip time was exactly the same, 19:39
Smyth's previous best in a 5 k came in July 2005 in the "Run to home plate" race where he ran 20:34. Perrone also set a new PR for that distance. His previous best was in that same race, and he clocked in at 21:07. I can hear him thinking that he used to run much faster, but do we really have to compare his results from 20 years ago with what he is doing now? I really don't think so.

The story has a bit more intrigue though. When I checked race results last night, there was no mention of Perrone. I checked again this morning...Same. When I went to look at Smyth's results and extrapolated to where Perrone should have come in, I made two amazing observations. First of, he finished 3rd in his age category. For whatever obscure reason, they had diffrent age categories for this race : from 40-49, 50-59 instead of the usual 5 year age categories. The other observation was that in the usual age categorie of 55-59, Perrone would have come in first.

I checked in with him this morning to see whether he had gone triple ballistic, first of, for not being in the results, second for placing third and third for not having the usual age categories. In any case, after he talked to his and our "good friend" Janet at NYRR, his name appeared where it was supposed to.

So, congratulations to Gil and Mike. A rivalry is born! It is actually continuing this coming Saturday, May 20th. After having run for a healthy heart on Wednesday, they will be running for healthy kidneys on Saturday. And here is the "Ham Question" : Where on earth are the other SLG'ers?? What is everybody doing? Is anybody running? Does everybody have a good excuse not to be running? I demand to see training logs and training schedules and please, please, do come out for the 10 K this Saturday.

By the way, after the race, Gil, Mike and I were very thirsty and went off to Markt to take care of that problem. It was the first time that Mike had been to that particular corner of the Meatpacking district. We had an outside table, it was a beautiful evening and Mike liked the "scenery" on that corner a lot (if you know what I mean) He vowed to go back soon.

Congratulations are also in order for Clem, who ran his 80th MARATHON this past Sunday and finished in a time of 3:26:53.

One more thing, and I will mention this again, By July 1st, I need a little biography of everbody who has signed up to run the Chicago marathon. It needs to have some information of your running background and for the rest it can be serious, silly, funny... whatever. But since not everybody knows one another, I think it would be fun to do a little introduction. So what about it. Does anybody want to start?? I am not good at guessing how many words it should be, but a couple of paragraphs is fine.

Stefan and David, how is the LOGO coming? Stefan, I thought you had made a good start with that profile of the runner on that invitation for Wendy and Erik.

Coming soon to your blog : The famous : "Ode to SLG"

I can feel the hot breath in my neck!.............

Actually, I cannot feel the hot breath in my neck anymore. I feel like I am already caught and it is still more than 5 months before the Chicago marathon. Patrick has left me in the dust (but of course that was a few marathons ago) and I can tell from Clem's post that he feels him breathing down his neck. 3:15 in the Vienna marathon this past Sunday. Hiep Hiep Hiep Hoera to Patrick. More amazing running by Gil and by Mike in the Long Island Half last Sunday. Do I dare to look at the results for Clem who will be running a full marathon next Sunday?
I truly have created running monsters. Or did Clem start this all? Good luck to him.

of course he did it!!!!

OK people, remember I told you about Gil really burning the road in NJ and finishing 2nd in a time of 1:36:26, without any training to speak off. He was very happy with that result until I ran into Mike Smyth, (which some people insist on calling Mike the Flyer), who told me that running faster than 1:36 would earn one a place in the Preferred Start I (instead of the lowly preferred start II) for the Chicago Marathon.
So, last Thursday, Gil called me to ask whether I would consider running the Long Island Half with him this past Sunday. I declined. I did check race results last night and could not get any evidence on line that Gil (or anybody except for the winner) had run this race....
But today, I learned diffrently. Gil did go to Long Island yesterday, Sunday May 7th, and ran the Long Island Half marathon. His car died on the way down there so he ran the last 2.5 miles to the start. Then he ran the race, and finished in 1:34:47 (chip time), 7 seconds off his overall time of 1:34:54, which placed him third in his age category.
Mm.... I guess that "Catch me if you can" is really working!!!!!!!! I guess I should be a VERY PROUD COACH.
Congratulations to Gil!!!!!!!!!!! And Mike, although you did not get to the preferred start I, you certainly planted the seed for this phenominal race.
Oh, and by the way, Gil met some people at the start, who then helped him push his defunct car to the nearest garage.
What a diffrence a week makes. Last week, "half portions" in New Jersey, this week, buddies who help you push your car.
As an aside, David Garcia, do yo see the possibilities in that slightly abstract shape of a runner to come up with a "prize winning" SLG-logo???

Half things in New Jersey

It is thanks to Thomas that I am sitting in front of my computer on a beautiful Friday afternoon, attempting again to compose my first real posting. Last night I worked more that an hour and while reviewing what I had written (since the writings were "Sauvignon Blanc aided" I thought it was a good idea to read my own ramblings first before other people were subjected to it). Anyway, I lost the first half of my musings somewhere in the stratosphere and a bit later, everything. That was not a real confidence builder. I have decided though to give it another try and if the blog eats my words again I think I will go right back to share my thoughts and news and gossip over that "lowliest" life form on internet communication, the much hated and maligned aol.
So anyway, thank you Thomas for getting me all stressed out about this blogging (only kidding). Let's see what happens this time
Of course some news is long overdue and there could not have been a better occasion for my first real posting than the New Jersey half marathon last Sunday, April 30th. Five local SLG'ers were there to run, Erik (with home court advantage), Gil, Stefan Mark and myself. It was a perfect day for a run, cool in the morning but very sunny and with a bit of a breeze, which was mostly felt in the last 3 miles when it was really a headwind near the Shore in Long Branch.
The goody bag was the best I had ever seen, the bag itself was made of fabric, there was a "Technical" T-shirt with a nice design, there was a baseball hat that could actually fit an adults head (unlike those silly hats that are given out for the New York marathon), and the medal was probably the best medal I have ever gotten.
By the way, can I just share my pet peeve here about the techical T-shirt. Would it be such a big sin to call it "polyester" which is truly what it is. Admittedly, the "wicking" action (who dreamt up that word) prevents the shirt from getting heavy with moisture unlike cotton T-shirts, but boy, do they get smelly in a hurry.
Anyway, as I said, it was a great run. The only not perfect thing about it was the ungodly starting time, 7.15 a.m. But even that had a bright side, we were basically done at 9 a.m.
For in depth results, you can go check them out on www.njmarathon.org but here is what we did.
Gil really burned the road, came in in 1:36:26. That was his fastest half marathon ever and it earned him an award in his age category with second place. But here is the catch about Gil's time. He learned from Mike the flyer that a time below 1:36 earns you a starting place in the Preferred Start I in the Chicago marathon. As of now, Gil has to share the Preferred start II with me (having both run a sub 3:55 marathon in the past year). He first thought it was just fine to to stick with me in the Preferred start II, so that he would run with me, not go out too fast and finish strong. See how that "Catch me if you can" motto can get in your brain? Let's face it though. I will see Gil's butt at the start for about 4 seconds and then he'll be gone. As he should. I guess he must have come to his senses about that himself because I got a call on Wednesday. Gil was wondering whether I would consider running the Long Island half marathon this coming Sunday, May 7th. Another flat course and the forecast calls for more perfect conditions. I passed. And I am wondering whether he will go out there by himself. ....
Founding fathers Mark and Stefan managed to keep there sub 8 racing streak going and ran an average pace of 7:59 min/miles. I did better than I had hoped. I thought it would turn into a longish training run because of my nagging sore but but I thought I did pretty respectably and finished in 1:51:44. That made me 6th in my age category, out of 117 runners. As I said, I was happy with the result but a bit frustrated when I thought about what could have been.
Erik also had a PR for his half marathon races although he was hobbled by some tendinitis. Anyway, he ran an average of 8:39 min/miles.

The only thing that did not work out as expected was the half portions at the breakfast/brunch/BBQ later on that Sunday at NJ headquarters at Wendy and Erik. They obviously have issues with portion control. Although half portions were advertised, I took home a small cow (or pig)'s worth of food after the party was over. I surely was glad we did not have whole portions

On an even more serious running note, I would like to wish both Patrick Bijnens (member from Belgium) and Clem the supercoach good luck in their upcoming marathon events. Patrick is running a marathon in Vienna, Austria this coming Sunday and Clem is running in the Belgian marathona championships in Vise next week Sunday. Good luck to the both of them and let them be an inspiration to start training for the Chicago marathon.
There are rumors that Steven Vandenabeele and Philippe Schaillee are running the Brussels 20 km. Is there any truth to these rumors?
In the category of non-running news, there does not seem to be a whole lot to report. The headquarters of the New Jersey chapter (chez Sevenants) have been expanded. A nice lounge area (they call it the living room) has been added which makes the house very airy and light filled.
Renovations of the headquarters in New York are almost finished. Although I do not really believe that it will be finished before its may 31st deadline, I think the space looks great and I have been very happy with the architect, the contractor and the workers. The 4th floor shower was tested last weekend and has been deemed a great succes. It will be excellent for showering after the races in Central Park. Actually, it is so excellent that you might consider flying for a shower from wherever you are running. Minneapolis, Mol, Chicago, Bilzen,.... you name it. Just let me know when you want to come and I will leave a key under the doormat.
One more thing. THE LOGO. Stefan designed a card for the Sevenants family and among other things, it had an abstract drawing of a runner on it. This Stefan guy seems quite talented. With a few strokes of the pen, the runner's body could easily read "SLG". I have been trying to upload the picture on the blog, and although I succeeded last night, it does not want to work today and I can no longer postpone my posting.
We do have some high speed issues and hopefully these will be resolved in the next few weeks so we are fully functional.
I sent out pictures on shutterfly anyway some maybe somebody els could post some pictures on the blog.
Stefan, if you could post your design, that would be very helpful.
David, if Stefan posts his design, maybe you could make the final touches or should we just get into a designing competion for this logo??
Keep on running. Lief