Jack St Clare 5M XC

Cliff Notes
50th out of 85 runners
1st Masters
31.28.4.
GPTC 8th of 9 teams

Considering this has now become a college race I guess the above facts aren't too shabby,of course I'll get sweet FA for being 1st masters finisher but this was just another race on the schedule anyway plus my first cross country race since Masters Winter Nationals in Derwood Md in Feb 09,more detailed account to follow after my 12 miler to round out week 8 of 50 mpw

Top 20 List Time Again

Having just downloaded "The Best Of"by Toyah and "Singles" by Alison Moyet on my ipod and hoping to squeeze "The Very Best Of"Altered Images in (the words Clare Grogan and squeeze seem to fit.....in the early 80's my ambition was to be Mr Clare Grogan....but like a lot of my foolish hopes and dreams it never came to fruition.....more's the pity!!!!) it got me to thinking about a Top 20 list of 80's female vocalists.
Like all lists it's a personal choice so I'm sure I'll have left off some peoples favourites and also included favourites of my own that wouldn't make other peoples lists but,my blog,my list,my choice........
Submitted for nobody's approval but my own........ and listed alphabetically to try to cut down arguments about the order..................................................................................

1 Alison Moyet
2 Annie Lennox
3 Belinda Carlisle(Go Go's)
4 Chrissie Hynde(Pretenders)
5 Clare Grogan(Altered Images)
6 Elizabeth Fraser(Cocteau Twins)
7 Johnette Napolitono(Concrete Blonde)
8 Kate Bush
9 Kate Pierson(B52's)
10 Kim Wilde
11 Kirsty Maccoll
12 Maria Mckee(Lone Justice)
13 Pat Benatar
14 Rachel Sweet
15 Sade
16 Siouxsie Sioux(Siouxsie & The Banshees)
17 Suzanna Hoffs(The Bangles)
18 Suzanna Vega
19 Terri Nunn(Berlin)
20 Toyah

Easy Does It

"We must play our lives like soldiers in the field,the life is short I'm running faster all the time
Strength and beauty destined to decay so cut the rose in full bloom
Till the fearless come and the act is done a love like blood, a love like blood
Till the fearless come and the act is done a love like blood,a love like blood
Everyday through all the frustration and despair love and hate fight w/ burning hearts
Till legends live and man is God again and self preservation rules the day no more"

Love Like Blood-Killing Joke

Another easy 6 miler to put me at 30 miles going into Saturday's Jack St Clare xc 5 mile race at Belmont Plateau,my first xc race in almost three years but more of that on Saturday.

By all accounts the Indian Summer we're enjoying will stick around through the weekend,not exactly xc weather....but I'm ok w/ that,one of the reasons I shunned xc for so many years was the memories of being caked in cold mud from xc races when I began running back in 76 it wasn't till I converted back to track in 06 that I fully embraced xc as the natural bridge from the end of outdoor track to indoor track.

No 80's dance nite at Sex Dwarf for me tomorrow nite since I have a race on Saturday,it's a small price to pay but I can hardly be out dancing till 1-2am w/ a race some 12 hours later,one month of no Sex Dwarf won't kill me but to numb the pain I've loaded up ye olde ipod w/ even more 80's tunes including Killing Joke's 1985 classic "Night Time"I'd put it right up there along side The Human League's "Dare" and Japan's "Tin Drum" as quintessential 80's albums and one well worth checking out if you haven't heard it or one worth revisiting if it's been a while since you last got your groove on to "Love Like Blood" or "Kings And Queens"....but don't take just take my word for it hundreds of 80's music fans can't be wrong.

Calling All Masters Milers

I realize it's over three months away but the 45th Hartshorne Memorial Masters Mile will take place at Barton Hall on the Cornell campus in Itacha on January 21st 2012.
For those interested in next years race please contact race director Tom Hartshorne at
thartshorne@twcny.rr.com
See you all in Itacha in January

Taking A Leaf Out Of Mo's Playbook

There's a quote on Mo Farah's website that I'm guessing is his mantra "Go Hard Or Go Home"so w/ 4 weeks of hard training left b4 the Bridge Run I need to make the most of my remaining Hard Tuesday 8 milers.
Having backed off the intensity the last two weeks w/ 5th Avenue Mile and Syracuse on my schedule I elected to go for it tonite,after two less than stellar times in my last 2 hard 8 milers 49.06.3. and 49.16.3. I wanted to at least make tonite respectable.

When I opened in 3.29 I thought back to my Sept 7th run when I opened in 3.26 but fell apart over the second half of the run.....since then I've put in four 50 mile weeks on top of the three I already had and feel much stronger so I said "let's go for it"
8.14 at Baltimore Ave and 12.50 at Whitby Ave these were some fast splits,probably my fastest to date on the 6 hard 8 milers I've done.
22.37 at the turnaround a potential 45.07 which would eclipse my Aug 30th best of 46.37.8. I was a full 59 seconds ahead of that pace and feeling strong.
Granted tonite's conditions were ideal but as each week passes it's going to get a little bit milder each week,I guess a case of making hay while the sun (still) shines!!!
32.26 at Whitby Ave which is my 6 mile mark,another positive for the upcoming 10k in 5 weeks time.
36.52 at Baltimore Ave,sub 45 was a real possibility as long as I didn't tie up over the closing stages of CCP
41.55 at Cobbs Creek Parkway and Cedar Ave,thanks to a clear run and that always helpful rub of the green where traffic lights are involved I got as good a run as I could ask for home to finish in 44.57.4.

A negative split 22.37/22.20 and a 2.20 improvement on my previous best of 46.37.8. I guess I did take a leaf out of Mo Farah's playbook afterall!!
W/ another 3 hard 8 milers on schedule b4 the Bridge Run it'll be interesting to see how much more I can shave off this time,but looking at the smaller picture I now have back to back easy 6 milers and a rest day b4 Saturday's 5 mile xc race at Belmont Plateau as I look to place another piece in the jigsaw.

Third Time's A Charm In Syracuse

My 09 debut in Syracuse was humbling to say the least but it taught me if I ever wanted a fast 5k this was the race to go after it in and last year I geared my season to wind up in Syracuse at the USATF Masters 5k Road race c'ships and lo and behold a pr,15.59 but it shows as 16.00 in the record books as it was rounded up.....bastards!!!!
This year I came in w/ my target race still some 5 weeks away so I knew any thoughts of sub 16.00 were wishful thinking but this year we finally had a M40 team in 09 I think it was just me and Bob Mc Ginty and last year it was me,Bryant Nix and Dave Brown not enough to score in the team race but after convincing Nick Berra to join us in Syracuse and enlisting a newly minted M40 Neill Clark we had a team.....of course this year they changed the team scoring to 3 not 5 but adding Nick really boosted our medal chances even if we didn't have a snowball in hell chance of toppling Atlanta Track Club for gold I'd take silver,in 09 I think our women's 40 and 50 teams both medaled and last year our M50 team took gold so it was time for the M40 team to show up and represent for GPTC.

Syracuse in early October can be brisk and I'm glad I packed my club warm ups and a long sleeved shirt in my bag but I probably should've packed a hat and gloves as I was shivering when we arrived Saturday afternoon for our traditional pre race jog of the course.
When race organiser Dave Oja says he goes out of his way to make this a fast course he's not lying,not only has he found the flatest section of Syracuse for us to race on he marks the course w/ orange paint to show you the tangents to allow you to run a fast time,I don't know too many 5k's that offer that and that's why each year the masters masses migrate to Syracuse in the first weekend of October to do battle.

Leaving the hotel at 7.30am Sunday we were greeted w/ 44 degrees and drizzle,no big I thought,it's only 5k,I've ran further in worse I told myself eying the grey sky as the drizzle bounced off of Nick's windshield as we drove over to the start.
Once there another jog of the course of the course as my warm up jogged w/ my buddy Ron K who was making his Syracuse debut and in search of a pr,if the rain held off he was going to be in luck.......
10 minutes b4 the 8.50am race start the heavens opened,oh well,I've conducted numerous training runs in the rain(and gotten stick for it it should be pointed out)but the reason I do that is if you've trained in the rain and come race day it's raining it shouldn't be an issue,like I tell non runners who look at me like I've got two heads when I dispel their notion that I couldn't possibly run in the rain "it's a bit like standing under a shower,you reach saturation point where you can't get any wetter and just get on w/ it"

From the gun I tucked in behind Dave Cannon he said he was looking a little less than 5.05 pace for the opening mile and we went through in 5.09 which was ideal and while Dave forged ahead I sat back knowing today was about seeing where I'm at right now w/ another 5 weeks till the Bridge Run and my 10k.
8.13 at half way a potential 16.26 in these conditions I'd take it,I forget my 3k time but I saw 10.26 at 2 miles a 5.17 mile I'd end up averaging 5.19 mile pace.....my target mile pace on my 2 mile repeats is 5.20.......
At 4k I saw 13.14 it was time to go I'd spent most of the race looking at Ron K and Brian Pilcher ahead of me and knew it was now or never if I was going to get to the finish line ahead of them.
W/ 200m to I was probably in 21st place but w/ the finish in sight I dropped the hammer to overtake the seven runner ahead of me including Ron and Brian to finish 14th overall and 5th in the M45-49 age group in 16.30.8.

Even though my time was rounded up to 16.31 it's still my second fastest 5k ever and my two sub 17 5ks are both here at Syracuse,who knows what any of us would've done in dryer conditions,Dave Cannon just missed the American M55 record but Ron K did pr w/ his 16.33.
W/ Atlanta Track Club putting three runners in the top 6 it was no surprise they won the M40 team race but w/ Nick in 8th myself in 14th and Neill in 33rd we did enough to win the silver which I honestly thought we were capable of and it's another National Championship medal to my collection.
W/ 5 more weeks to go till the Bridge Run I have to like my chances of lowering my 84 pr of 34.53 based on this performance providing I can stay illness and injury free I should be more than able to do that off a 16.31 5k let's just hope 44 degrees and rain isn't on the forecast that day!

Silver In Syracuse

A longer more detailed account of the Masters 5k Road race will follow but for now here are the cliff notes.
14th overall
5th in the M45-49 division
16.31 rounded up from 16.30.88.
We won silver in the team contest at M40
All this and Spurs won the North London derby vs arsenal 2.1......