BostonBound59

I’m not exactly sure why I’m posting the below video today. It's one of my favorite sports videos of all time. I remember watching this race live on TV back in the 1972 when I was 13 years old and I’ve lost count of the number of times since then I’ve watched the re-play. The version I have at home is actually on a video cassette and has an interview of Dave Wottle spliced throughout the clip. I am going to try to upload that version at some point. The clip below is from the live ABC telecast.

The race is the 1972 Men’s 800 Meter Final at the Munich Olympics. The favorite in the race was Yevgeniy Arzhanov of the Soviet Union who had not lost an 800 meter final in four years. Also in the race were Kenyans’ Mike Boit and Robert Ouko. At the time of the race Wottle (wearing the golf cap) was a student at Bowling Green State University, not even ranked in the top 20 in the world the previous year and had battled tendonitis in both knees in the weeks leading up to the Olympics. Over the last eight seasons I've tried to play this video to my Granite State Flash runners the night before our final race of the season to remind them to respect their competition but never be intimidated and regardless of their overall position in the race to never let up until they've come across the finish line.

Posted by Mike Merra at 5:05 PM    

Labels: 1972 Munich Olympics, Dave Wottle

Back in the late 70’s and early 80’s when I was in high school and college it seemed like most of the local road races were 5 milers or weird distances like 5.4 or 7.1 (like Falmouth) with a 10k thrown in once in a while. Somewhere in the late 80’s and early/mid 90’s (what I refer to as my lost weekend from real running) the 5k distance crept in and that seems to be standard fare these days. However the 5k distance is difficult for me (and many others in 50+ set) because the pace out of the blocks is so fast that it takes me 3 miles before I feel like my legs are actually moving. I’ve been able to remedy this somewhat thanks to some helpful advice from fellow Strider Steve Moland who told me a few years ago to start warming up at least 30 minutes before the race and keep moving right up until the gun goes off and that seems to have helped. Nevertheless my favorite distance has remained 5 miles.

Today we headed up to Concord for the 42nd Annual Bill Luti 5 Miler which honors the legendary Concord High School track coach and is one of just a small number of 5 mile road races remaining in the area. I also like the 5 mile distance for a variety of reasons not the least of which is my limited math ability where I actually have some idea during the race of my overall approximate finishing time (“ok, I’m running 7 minute pace that means 5 miles x 7 minute pace = 35 minutes”). That is a challenging but do-able math equation for me. For the 5k (3.1 mile) distance I seem to get continually mixed up with that last 1/10th mile (176 yards or 161 meters) that I have to tack on at the end. I’m hopelessly lost when I’m running a 10k (6.2 miles).

Anyway, since the weather forecast looked decent for this morning and against my better judgment since I have a 17 miler on Sunday I decided to sign up late in the week for the race. At the start it was cloudy after raining all night and still quite humid with temps in the 60’s. Cathy and I both got off to a decent start and she was about 50 meters in front of me for the first 1 ½ miles. I ran the early part of the race with former Flash coach Jim Robinson of Derry and his son Mike Robinson and we gradually caught up to Cathy (not easy) and all 4 of us ran as a pack until about the 3 mile mark which passed through the St. Paul’s School grounds where I was able to pull slightly ahead. The course was hillier than I expected and this year had been certified at 5 miles after having been run previously as an 8k. I passed the 5k mark at 19:30 although I was working harder than I had hoped and ran the last two miles in 6:25 and 6:07 and finished in 31:22 for 31st overall and 3rd in my age group. My previous 5 mile best (post high school/college) was 34:26 back in 2000 at Rojacks so this was a PR for me by more than 3 minutes. I’ll pay for it tomorrow. Cathy was first in her age group and 5th overall with a time of 31:54. Also running from our club was Aline and Terry Kenney who finished 2nd and 6th in their age group. Thanks to Aline who picked up my Margarita's Restaurant gift certificate--I left early because I usually never win anything at races unless its a raffle prize.

The pictures above have nothing to do with today’s race. The top photo was taken last weekend at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and shows us looking into a thermal imaging camera on display as we entered the museum. The photo below (with Cathy and Anthony in the foreground) was taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and is a 9 x 7 photorealistic portrait by American artist Chuck Close. Even when I stood no more than one foot from the portrait I couldn't believe it was a painting! I’m not sure why I posted either photo other than I liked them.

Posted by Mike Merra at 7:10 PM    

Labels: American Museum of Natural History, Bill Luti 5 Miler, Concord, New Hampshire

After more than three weeks of steady rain it seems we FINALLY have broken out of the cycle of clouds followed by rain followed by more clouds and then more rain. Even a hard core cold/rainy weather runner like me hopes the sun peeks out once in a while.
I’ve posted a few pictures above of my friend Roy Seliber of Sammamish, Washington who is training for the Cascade Crest 100 miler. http://www.cascadecrest100.com/course.php These are some recent training pics Roy took on the course. He is certifiably insane for running a 100 mile race (I was with him a few years ago when he made it 78 miles into the Vermont 100) but we will be pulling for him when he toes the line at the end of August. Roy routinely runs 30 + mile “training runs”. Roy is from the Boston area and is a 3:06:59 marathoner.

Cathy and I ran the 12th Annual Merrimack Sparkler on July 4. Unfortunately we couldn't shake the boys out of bed this year. With the exception of maybe one year we have run this race every year since its inception. The race is now directed by our former Merrimack, N.H. neighbors Julie and Brian Hafferkamp. The race started out small in its early days as it was up against the Nashua PAL 5 Miler that finished inside Holman Stadium but now its the big local race on the 4th with over 600 runners. I like this race because it is an out and back course on a closed road….something we don’t experience very often. I like seeing everyone coming in the opposite direction. This year I had a decent warm up and got out fairly quickly but could hear some familiar footsteps on my heels and to my left was Cathy and to my immediate right was fellow Strider teammate Karen Long, last year’s defending women’s champion. We all passed through the first mile in 5:57 and at the turnaround (1.8 miles) I pulled slightly in front of Cathy and Karen and finished the last two miles in 6:07 and 6:06 for 18:48. Cathy was 19:03 as the first woman overall and Karen was 19:21 for a PR and first women 40-49. I was 2nd in my age group behind Souhegan Cross Country coach Jeff Wilson. Here are the results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/09/nh/Jul4_12thAn_set1.shtml

I’ve decided (98% sure) I’m going to run the Steamtown Marathon in Scranton, Pa. (again). I’m coaching both a school team and Junior Olympics this fall so I’m limited as far as finding a race that fits my coaching schedule. This year’s race is on October 11, 2009 so the long runs are about to start up again. We did a hard and hilly 15 miler last Sunday which actually didn’t feel too bad. Most of my Strider teammates will be running the Baystate Marathon the following Sunday in Lowell, Mass. That’s it for now.

Posted by Mike Merra at 12:46 PM    

Labels: Cascade Crest 100, Merrimack Sparkler 5k

The Gate City Striders is New Hampshire’s largest running club. One of the Club’s most successful community outreach activities over the last twenty years has been its annual “Fitness University” program. Fitness University is completely free of charge, open to all children in the community ages 3 thru 14 and is comprised of a series of eight weekly 90 minute “clinics” centered around running as both a fun and healthy lifestyle choice. The children are grouped together by age and the activities vary by group ranging from games of tag, follow the leader and short relays for the younger children up to more involved stretching and running activities for the older children. At the end of each clinic every child receives a small prize and refreshments with the Fitness University clinics culminating in a “Finals Day”. Finals Day is a special half day event where the children become “graduates” of Fitness University and run varying distances on the track depending on age as well as participate in many other fun Finals Day activities such as face painting, special relays, obstacle courses etc. All of the weekly clinics as well as Finals Day are staffed by volunteer Strider members sharing their love of running for the benefit of children in the community.

You have to see Fitness University in person to believe it. Under the leadership of Striders Leeann and Trevor Ward (Trevor is pictured above--I couldn't catch Leeann as she was in constant motion) the growth of Fitness University has been simply phenomenal. This year’s attendance at the weekly clinics has been regularly in excess of 300 and this past week at Fairgrounds Junior High School in Nashua I would venture to guess there were close to 400 children. Fitness University is near and dear to our proverbial hearts as it was one of the first places our two boys were introduced to running. I often joke with my oldest (who now runs Div. I college cross country and track) that it all began with “Duck Duck Goose” at Fitness U. Both of our boys participated in the weekly clinics and finals day back in the 1990’s and have come back periodically to volunteer when they are available during the summer. This week I was in charge of five year old boys and in between breaking up a few wrestling matches and discouraging the pulling and throwing of lumps of grass we had a great night. I’ve posted some pictures above including the one at the top of Gate City Striders President Michelle Poublon and Strider volunteer Karen Pattelena.

Here is the Fitness U link http://www.runfitnessu.com/

Posted by Mike Merra at 7:25 AM    

Labels: Fitness University, Gate City Striders, Nashua, New Hampshire