Last year I parked here

 
 

I95 goes over the Brandywine and the race course

 
 

The volunteers were Great!!!!!!


 
 

The Finish Line

 
 

It's not cold!!!!

 
 

Let's Talk About That Race

 
 

Finishers


 
 

Pizza and Pretzels

 
 

I am 165


 
 

My Results


 
 

Results Board


 
 

Icicle Run 2006


 
 

The USA Track and Field Association (USATF) has joined the Goggle Map hacking craze and has what they hope will be the definitive running map database. Looks pretty good.


USATF MAPS

Here is another map that runners may find of interest:

Triathlon Map

(Running in a) Winter Wonderland

by Tracey Grzegorczyk, Dec. 23, 1994, to the tune of the same title

Sleighbells ring, are you listening?
On the lane, ice is glistening
A humbling sight,
'cuz I'm running tonight...
Running in a winter wonderland.

Gone til May are my singlets
packed away are my half-splits
I run through the night
in fleece, gloves and tights...
Running in a winter wonderland

Past the meadow I confront a snowplow.
And it seems that he will run me down.
He'll say, "Are you crazy?"
I'll say, "No, man!"
And then proceed to fall and slide around.

Later on, I'll perspire
while my lungs feel like fire.
I can't feel my nose,
my toes are all froze,
Running in a winter wonderland.

Down the street I see a drifting snowbank.
There's no way that I can get around.
My Nikes can't get traction
and I scramble...
I end up eating snow on my way down.

When it snows, ain't it thrilling?
Though your buns get a chilling.
I'll run every day,
the dead-runner way...
Running in a winter wonderland. ;-)

Reindeer Romp

I have a special place in my heart for this race. You see I designed the course. It is eight years ago now. Wow! I was approached by the American Cancer Society about doing a 5K race. I was skeptical about having an event in December. Competition from other runs, and iffy weather gave me pause. They originally wanted to simply use the same route as Haverford Township Day, but I discouraged that because I thought runners were less likely to come out for a course that many had just done in October. I volunteered to find a course that would work. I knew we had a great resource in the bus way. This is a relic left over from when trolley cars traveled thru the suburban counties of Philadelphia. One of these routes traveled the center of Darby Road to Eagle. When it crossed Eagle the route continued on a private right of way to Ardmore.

In the 1970’s the tracks were removed. Darby was widened to a four lanes with a medial strip, but the right of way was preserved – it was paved and is used exclusively by SEPTA buses. There are no buses scheduled for Sunday afternoons. (Hence the 3PM start which everyone seems to love. Although the first year just a minute before the start the fire alarms sounded and fire engines raced down the bus way on their way to a fire – needless to say it added a little excitement) So I had a good start for my course. Down the bus route to Haverford, turn and go back on the bus way to Merwood where you turn onto residential streets thru a very pretty neighborhood – made even more beautiful this year by the freshly fallen snow. (A long portion is on Golf Road that parallels Merion Golf Course.) You finish by turning back to the bus route. Many runners are surprised by the hilliness of the course. It is down, up, down, up.

A few years ago a local runner, Kevin Nolan, who is also a local businessman took over the leadership of the race and has made it an outstanding event. He has persevered thru some horrendous weather events and has been rewarded the last two years with near perfect weather. The big December event use to be the Jingle Bell Run which this year had 548 runners; Kevin had 407 (and a couple hundred walkers). Enough runners that Kevin came up with the clever idea of using the adjoining street for a spilt start. I joked with Kevin that he will have to start using a chip to time the race.

There were a couple of icy spots but I had seen Kevin on Saturday and he was out with volunteers clearing the icy corners so the spots were few and manageable. It showed great dedication and spirit on the part of Kevin and his crew.

I ran well. Not quite into medal territory but 4th in my age group and those who won are very fast seniors.

The photo below is me (post race and a little sweaty) and Santa.

Santa and Me

Santa and Me
Originally uploaded by ctbrunner.

What the heck was I looking at? This was just after the race.

owldragon

owldragon
Originally uploaded by ctbrunner.

I will have to figure out how to post this permanently.

Essentially simple, Infinitely intricate


I recently read an article with that title in one of those free papers given out at sports store. The article was about biking but I thought the author’s reflections applied equally to running. The author deliberately eschews the term “complex”; he believes that complex implies difficult whereas intricate gets better at the concept he wanted to conveys, namely that as he explored his sport he realized that it consists of never ending refinements and reflections.

I think many of us first started running as simple way to exercise. It is exercise and takes some effort, but it is not technically difficult. As I remember, my first runs entailed nothing more than stepping out the front door, running to the local track, and going four times around and running home. Wow, I thought what a work out. (Please don’t laugh – I hadn’t engaged in any serious exercise in years. I had ballooned up to over 220 pounds and yet didn’t feel particularly overweight.) I don’t even think I had “running” shoes but some kind of cross-trainer. I certainly didn’t purchase them in a specialty store and I certainly had done no research on what type of shoe.

I will skip over a large part of the story (my attendance at the FBI National Academy and working to get my yellow brick) but some time October 1997 I was coaxed into doing a local 5K. Just for fun. And although it was just a local 5K it had all the trappings of the many races I was to do over the next eight years. I really can’t remember what the attraction of racing was. The number, the shirt, the after race goodies all factor in but most importantly I was impressed by the camaraderie of the participants. I just remember I wanted to do another one and already I had formed the idea of doing a marathon to celebrate my 50th birthday. (The marathon turned out to be a few days before my 52nd). Again, looking back, I can’t remember why I wanted to run a marathon. I really wish I could remember what put that thought into my head. I had run three and now I wanted to run 26 – what insanity.

I still didn’t have proper gear. It was actually my wife who went to the Bryn Mawr Company and purchased for me my first “real” running clothes. But by then my essentially simple was turning into the infinitely intricate. For that essentially simple act of running out the door was being defined, crafted and honed. It was being defined by goals: faster times, longer distances. It was being crafted by tools: better shoes, better clothing, and watches. It was being honed by training. In the spring of 98 my wife saw an article about a runners’ seminar being offered by the Rothman Institute (part of Jefferson Hospital, it is a practice devoted to orthopedics and athletic injuries in particular. Philadelphia runners know them as the sponsor of the Rothman 8K, part of the Philly Marathon). This was a real turning point because I met Mike Patterson at that seminar. I would train with Mike until early 2002. I was now really exploring the intricacies of “my” sport. I began to think of speed, intervals, tempos and goals change from maybe to yes I will.

The journey isn’t over – few years ago I tried trail running and last spring I did my first ultramarathon. Now my library overflows with running books and magazines. A number of internet running sites are bookmarked. I participate in an online forum dedicated to running and I write about my writing experiences. The act itself remains essentially simple, but it continues to be infinitely intricate as I explore all the facets of being a runner.

There they go

theretheygo
Originally uploaded by ctbrunner.

We just turned off busy Montgomery Avenue. Just now it is a downhill, but soon it will be up, up.