50 meter dash

From the NRA mission statement: "As a group, the NRA’s purpose is to support the running community and charitable causes by organizing, volunteering, and participating in running related and social events in the South County Area." With the Mt. Washington hoopla officially behind us, it's time to focus the single event which, more than anything else, defines the Narragansett Running Association and the fulfillment of our mission statement. We're speaking, of course, of the Narragansett Summer Youth Track Series (YTS). This free series, open to kids aged 0-13 years of age, will begin its fifth season on Monday, July 6th at the Narragansett High School track. The brainchild of Brian and Tammy McNeiece, the YTS has grown beyond anyone's expectations and only through the hard work and dedication of NRA member-volunteers will this truly awesome event continue to flourish. If you've never been, bring your kids. If you don't have kids, volunteer. If you don't want to volunteer, come watch. Meets take place on five consecutive Monday nights. Be there. This week's picture is a shot from the '08 series. I believe (and correct me if I'm wrong) this is NRA's own Jennifer Davis doing the 50 meter dash with one kid in sling, one in tow.

Jim Sullivan

Pinkham Notch, NH, June 20, 2009
Last weekend, The Narragansett Running Association made its 4th consecutive trip to the Mt. Washington Road Race. Not only did we bring our largest team yet, but we were the largest team of all 22+ teams present at this unique event. The race itself is 7.6 miles in length with 4650 ft elevation gain for an average grade of 12% (extended sections at 18%, and a 30% "wall" in the last 100 meters). A well-run Mt. Washington road race is an extreme challenge, accompanied by end-of-5K discomfort for a half marathon's worth of time. Did you hear that? Run the race hard and your cardiovascular system will be strained at 3K-5K race effort for almost the entire race (which typically takes longer than a 1/2 marathon). Physiologically, this seems impossible, but it's not. Trust me. How your legs feel is a different (yet equally distressing) story. Imagine doing squats for an hour and a half. You simply can't train for this race in Rhode Island. There are no extended steep inclines, and don't even think about running up and down a short hill a bunch of times because the downhills will wreck you.

Last year the NRA turned some heads in the team competition: 5th male open, 3rd male masters, 5th female open, and 2nd female masters. This year we REALLY turned some heads: 5th male open, 2nd male masters, 1st female open, 1st female masters. This is significant. There are 22+ teams at this race and the good teams take this mountain stuff seriously.

The NRA females were led by Tara Cardi, who set her personal best by 3:08, running a 1:19:52 to place 2nd for NRA behind only Glen Guillemette. Not only was she second place for all NRA, but she was second woman OVERALL. In the entire history of the race, the time of 1:20 has been broken only 56 times by women. In addition, she broke her own record for fastest time by a RI woman. I the unlikely event that you can beat Tara in a flat race, she will likely destroy you on the mountain, casually dropping you in a wake of shattered egos, wobbly legs, and palipatating hearts.

In other news, Glen Guillemette (another mountain-running natural) ran 1:10:11, once again finishing about a minute behind Mt. Washington legend and three-time winner Dave Dunham.

Newcomer Elizabeth Ann Kordowski logged a solid 1:36:00 to place 3rd NRA woman behind also-newcomer and equally-stellar Amy Rice who ran 1:32:48. . Our fourth woman and third masters woman was Wendi Sylvia, who ran 1:37:26. These runners were absolutely key in the success of our women's teams. Good stuff.

Notable individual performances include Kathy Hwang placing second in the 65-69 age group. One of Elizabeth Kordowski's goals was to run every step, and she did. There are too many first-timers to go through them all, but many of them finished very close to 2:00, which is an impressive debut for just about anyone.

If you want to hear about the weather or parties, you'll have to ask someone who was there, but for now cross your fingers and knock on wood. The Mt. Washington Road Race lottery for the 2010 edition (the 50th running) opens on March 15th.

In this week's photo we have Jim Sullivan slugging it out above the clouds in the final 1/2 mile.

Kate

July 12, 2008. Little Compton RI. The 28th annual Little Compton 4.8-Mile Road Race attracted a strong NRA presence, with 15+ runners wearing the singlet. If you're getting a sense of deja vu, scroll down a few pages and you'll find an entry about this very same race, same day, but focusing on the purse-winning male master's team. Today our focus is different. While the men up front were competing for "hardware", there was plenty of mid-pack action, led by Ric Thornton, who finished in 36:57 (7:42), handily beating mid-pack specialist Kate Hoffman who finished in 37:38 (7:51). Mountain champion Penny Catalano wasn't far behind in 38:01 (7:56), and she, in turn, put the hammer down on Jim Cotter, who finished in 39:10 (8:10). Time and space doesn't permit a full accounting of the NRA presence, so we'll leave it at that. This week's picture features Kate Hoffman who, having been training all summer for the Blessing, was using Little Compton as a tune-up race. In this photo Kate looks focused and strong, but upon a closer inspection you'll notice a bloody singlet and a driver's license. As it turns out, she suffered a serious wardrobe malfunction, thanks to the friendly people at Olympic Physical Therapy who gave her a free (you get what you pay for) "shoe pocket" at their also-free stretching clinic for runners. Yep, it was an old-school yard sale at the 1/2-mile mark, but Kate (who had been running alongside Jim Cotter at that point in the race), in as dignified manner as possible, stopped, cleaned up her debris, and forged ahead. "Chaos found me, once again," lamented Kate. There's still a lot to tell about this story (Did Jim stop to help Kate, or even wait for her? Would Kate have beaten Ric if her shoe pocket hadn't failed? What's up with the bleeding?), but for more details you'll have to wait for the party at Mt. Washington.

Pat breaks the tape for the first time.

May 30, 2009. Boston MA. It's June already. How many NRA victories do we have in 2009? On the women's side, Wendi Sylvia won the Reservoir 15K. Until 5/30 that was it! But for the men, chalk one up for Pat Ferrigno (and the class of 1974) who won the The Boston College Alumni Fun Run 5K outright. Don't let the times fool you (the courses for these alumni races are notoriously long anyway), Pat built a comfortable lead and cruised to an easy win. Just look at the picture. Who's chasing him? Nobody. Way to break the tape Pat.

Carlene

Lehighton, PA. May 31, 2009. Black Bear Sprint Triathlon. Former URI swimmer Carlene Messinger has taken the plunge (no pun intended). She is a triathlete. Her first (and only so far) was last weekend and she reports that she had a fantastic experience. She finished pretty well too (92nd out of 542 finishers), posting the 7th fastest swim time and sub-7:00pace on the run. Having only been on a road bike 6 times previously, we can expect her bike times to drop significantly. In this week's picture we find Carlene posing in front of the transition area.

Warren

May 16th 2009. Bedford New Hampshire. Warren and Tara made the trip to Bedford New Hampshire for the 35th annual Rotary Memorial 12K. Rumor has it these two are training hard for Mt. Washington and used this as a tune-up race. Warren ran 5:34 pace and Tara 6:12. This is a very tough course, so these are excellent times. In this week's picture we see Warren, somewhere mid-race, in an extremely focused state, throwing his water cup to the ground like a champion should. Thanks to Jim Rhoades for this photo.

Mike and Brian

Holyoke MA. May 3, 2009. Four members of the Narragansett Running Association made the 2.5-hour trip to Holyoke MA for the 47th annual Walter Childs Memorial Race of Champions marathon. With only 82 finishers, this would be considered a small marathon. For some people this is a drawback. But others thrive on the competition, atmosphere, and personal touch that only can be found at a small race. You won't find Elvis, jugglers, cowbell-whacking yahoos, jet planes, cannons, banners, balloons, a half-marathon, or rock bands at every corner at Holyoke. You will find a well-manned, well-marked, beautiful and very challenging course with the start area at an abandoned ski lodge, and the finish just down the road a piece. You drive right up, park your car, and register; on-site, race day.
(Registration closes 15 minutes before the start.) At the finish you are greeted by the race director, offered a ride to your car, given orange slices and energy drinks, and thanked for running the race. At the awards ceremony there is an all you can eat buffet; not a bag stuffed with a cold energy bar and a bruised apple. At Holyoke you will find a disproportionate number of hardcore runners, and by "hardcore" I don't necessarily mean fast. I mean runners who train hard and race hard, who love racing, and who want to challenge themselves without the distractions and logistical challenges of the mega-marathon. This isn't to say the mega-races don't have their own unique challenges and excitement; they're just different. On this day, the NRA crew consisted of Mike (me), Brian, Tim, and Matthew; all chasing their own personal goals. The course was tougher than expected, but the NRA fared very well with Brian taking 3rd place in an amazing time of 2:45. Brian's training got a late start due to a mid-winter injury, making his time all the more impressive. Considering the course difficulty, this could be his best marathon to date, with better things to come. I finished 4th place in 2:49. Tim ran well, finishing 8th place in 3:06, and Matthew had an off day due to a bad cold, but still finished strong in a time of 3:26. The NRA took top team prize ($100) and several age group awards (shoes) and walked away with booty value exceeding our registration fees. In this week's picture we have me and Brian sitting down just past the finish area, about 10 minutes after the finish. As each of us finished, the others, despite barely being able to stand and feeling like puke, stood at the chute and cheered our NRA teammates in. Try that at Boston; you'll be arrested for disorderly conduct.

Kathy

Last weekend, on May 3rd, the NRA singlet was worn by no fewer than eight runners competing in marathons in three different states. One is Kathy Hwang, who ran the Jersey Shore marathon, her first marathon, winning her age group in a time of 4:52. (Injured husband Suksoo finished in 5:36.) Congratulations Kathy, and we'll see you and Suksoo at Mt. Washington. Our other first timer is Ric Thornton. Ric was able to put together a decent training season and he ran Providence in 4:02; a solid time for a first marathon. Pictured here is Kathy Hwang on the Jersey shore after her victory.

Lisa and Melissa

Boston MA, April 20, 2009. There are two ways to get to the starting area of the Boston Marathon: (1) Go straight to Hopkinton or (2) take the free shuttle bus from Boston to Hopkinton. The problem with (1) is that you need a special, hard-to-acquire, BAA-approved pass even to exit at Hopkinton. The problem with (2) is that the buses leave Boston at about 6:00am, making the Rhode Islander get up at 4:00am or earlier in order to get to Boston, find parking, find the shuttle buses, and then take the hour-long drive to Hopkinton; legs a'crossed tightly! Thankfully the NRA, due in large part to the dedication of Peter Barbera to this cause, has secured not only an aforementioned BAA-approved pass, but a luxurious rental bus with restroom a'rear. When all is said and done, the average cost per passenger is about $25, and passengers include runners and spectators alike. Spectators can enjoy the pre-race scene and start in Hopkinton, then get a ride to the finish area. Pictured here are two spectators, Lisa Ryan and Melissa Nathaniel, near the starting line in Hopkinton just before the elite women take off for Boston. Thanks to spectator Betsy Barbera for the picture.

Tara

2009 Boston Marathon. Two days ago, 22 members of the Narragansett Running Association toed the line at the 113th running of the Boston Marathon. All ran under 5 hours, and most requalified. That's a very impressive statistic for a "non competitive" running club. But perhaps most impressive is that Warren Angell was the top Rhode Island male out of 85 and Tara Cardi was the top Rhode Island female out of 63. That's big deal. This week's photo was picked off Jim Rhoades' site and features Tara Cardi at the 30K checkpoint looking strong. If you ran the Boston Marathon and you have some time to kill, perhaps you can find your photo on Jim's site: http://jimrhoades.com/09/boston/