Race Report: NYRR RBC Race for the Kids 4-Miler

It was a perfect sunny morning for the 34 Flyers who came out to run in Central Park today (while others opted to run in the NYCRuns Brooklyn races). The third club points race of the season is in the books - and what a glorious race it was for our team!

Two sexagenarians led the team, Francesco Presutti in 25:10 (1^stAG, age-graded percentage of 82.83%) and John Whitfield in 25:35 (2^ndAG,  82.23%). Tomohiro Inoue took the team's third place finish in 27:37.

Francesco's result broke the Flyers' Hall of Fame record of 25:35 for the 4-Mile distance, which John had just broken himself on April 3 of this year -- please note that this morning, John repeated that fast time to the second!  The previous Hall of Fame record for this distance belonged to Andreas Werder, who ran 4 miles in 27:06 back in November 2014.  Andreas's record lasted 7.5 years! We should also report that Jo​hn recently set two other Flyers Hall of Fame all-time records: 1) in the 5K distance on February 6 (20:00, improving on Gary Smeal's record of 20:17, set in July 2011), and 2) in the 10K on March 6 (42:03, down from Gary's 42:53 set in March 2011). Both of Gary's records lasted more than 10 years! You can have a look at the complete list of Flyers Hall of Fame records here: https://www.nyflyers.org/hall-of-fame/

For the women's team, Jaclyn Sweeney took first place in 29:32. Lisa Konorty (30:55, 6^thAG, 77.32%) came second and Jillian Hobson (31:02) was third. Not to be shown up by the men's team, two women were on the podium: Frances Breslauer (40:41, 1^stAG, 81.23%) and Jeanine Hartnett (41:16, 3^rdAG).

And, because this was a points race, here is more exciting news!

The 60+ men's team came FIRST in 1:20:01, thanks to the combined results of Francesco, John and An​dreas (29:16, 5^thAG, 75.93%). The team moved up from third to second in the club standings, with only 2 points separating us from first place.

The 60+ women's team came in SECOND in 1:44:10, thanks to the combined results of Deborah Saat (34:10, 5^thAG, 74.28%), Nina Zoe Parks-Taylor (34:44, 6^thAG, 72.37%) and Elaine Rosen (35:10, 7^thAG, 71.46%). The team kept its second place position in the club standings, now ex aequo with another club.

The 70+ women's team came SECOND in 2:10:13, thanks to the combined results of Frances, Jeanine and Mindi Adler (48:16, 8^th AG). The team kept its second place position in the club standings.

This promises to be an exciting season for all three teams!

Kudos also to: 

• Delton Mace (7^thAG)
• Neil Tipograph (8^thAG, 72.03%) and 
• Hindy Schachter (8^thAG).

The team's full results can be found here: https://results.nyrr.org/event/22RBCKids/teams/NYF.

Finally, whether you were mentioned in this race report or not, congratulations to all of you runners of our great team who were out today!

-Francesco P,  NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter

Read more...

Super Bowl Monday -- The Boston Marathon 2022

Guy S.

If you call yourself a runner, the Boston Marathon is your Super Bowl.  I’m in my 60’s and started my running obsession just 10 years ago. 

I had run various small-time races all of my life. The 7-mile Bay to Breakers in San Francisco was a favorite. It has its own “Heartbreak Hill”. So, I obviously I had experience on my side. 

To prepare for Boston I read every advice column I could find. “How to train for the downhills”, “How to train for the Newton Hills”, and finally and most importantly, “How to hold it for an hour on the bus.” I kept that one for next year. It’s okay to overtrain in some areas.😅

I qualified for Boston for 2021, but injured my Achilles training for the October race, which had been postponed from April due to the pandemic. The decision was to take it easy and run the 50^th anniversary of the NYC Marathon in November 2021 and be ready to go for this spring. There was also something about running on Patriots' Day in Boston to cast aside the pandemic blues. I got what I was hoping for.

The vibe in Boston is intoxicating. Everyone, everywhere seemed focused on this iconic race. A fellow runner on the train was running in his first one. Small world story, he met me when I ran the last 21 miles 3 weeks before. Which ended up being 22.5. NOTE: Turn right at the Firehouse, don’t go straight.

Pasta in the North End on Saturday night, the Expo Sunday morning, and hopefully a good night’s sleep for Monday morning. It goes without saying that the night before a marathon will be a restless sleep. Goal achieved.🙌

The Gang met at The Four Seasons Hotel and of course, took a photo and posted it on Facebook. Our troop leader, Hiromi N, shepherded us to the bus line where we waited to sit together (another photo posted to Facebook).  We all waited together in the bathroom line (no photo taken for obvious reasons), and then each proceeded to get into our various assigned corral.  

I’m not sure how it happened, but in the scrum of getting through the security and taking off my wool slacks with the moth hole in them, I lost The Gang. Which in turn, made me miss my corral start time and landed me way back in the last corral of my wave. You know you’re in the back of the heap when the guy next to you is in a Benjamin Franklin costume.

Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, the Newton hill before Heartbreak Hill, Boston College, Brookline, and then finally – under the tunnel, right on Hereford, left on Boylston. As you approach each town there are banners announcing your entrance. It’s like an announcement to a party – and it is! It’s New Year’s Eve in each town. A celebration of runners and life!

I couldn’t write this without a note about our boy Ed A.who has been cheering us on in Boston for 25 years. Every year he makes the pilgrimage, toting the Flyers banner, and HE CHEERS!! It’s an emotional moment seeing Ed. So brother, a huge thank you from me and all of us. We love you!

“You’re only as good as the support around you”. This is not a jock strap tag line, it’s the truth. And I have it. Flyers Marathon Training Program (MTP) leadership from Flyer Coaches Brian Rosetti and Amy Sitar, my “Rat Pack” posse, competition and unbelievable camaraderie from the Flyers Gang, and the love of an amazing woman – Anne H. Anne introduced me to The Gang and I am who I am today because of her.

 

1 more mile to go!

I’ll leave you with a song I wrote the week of Boston. I was on a high getting ready for it all. Because we all want “One Good Life to Live”.

Thanks for reading, listening, and just being here.

-Guy S.

Read more...

SHAPE + Health Women's Half-Marathon & 5.8M Central Park Loop

30 Flyer women joined thousands of women in one of two spectacular races staged in our beautiful Central Park this morning (yeah, in case you wondered, the Harlem Hills were part of both courses...). Congratulations to all of them!

The larger contingent of Flyers, 19 of them, picked the half-marathon distance. Jaclyn Sweeney led the team in 1:44:48, Victoria Tiase came second in 1:48:20 and Melida Barbosa was third in 1:50:12. A special mention goes to Mindi Adler for her 7^th AG. 

Ilse Abusamra led the 11-strong contingent who took the option of the 5.8-mile loop. Ilse finished in a strong 46:57 (8^th AG). Noreen Okarter (49:51) and Kristel McKanna (51:43) came second and third in the team. Kudos to Frances Breslauer on her first place in her age group (no age-graded percentage was made available by NYRR as 5.8 miles is not a standard distance).

One last word about our race reports: if you PR in a race, whether it's a small PR or a big one, please don't be shy: a PR is a PR no matter what, and we want to hear it from you. Notify the Flyers Blogkeepers, Dave K and Melissa S (at Blogmaster@nyflyers.org) so we can celebrate it with you!

-Francesco P, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter

Read more...

Run as One 4M

62 Flyers were back to Central Park on NYRR's second spring race, after the NYC Half jamboree on March 20 – 121 Flyers were among the 22,378 finishers in the NYC Half, so far the biggest Flyers team this year – Congratulations to all finishers!

 

John Whitfield does not cease to amaze his teammates: he led the team in a blistering 25:35 (that's a sky-high age-graded percentage of 82.24%), also earning a 2nd AG. Nicole Theodore was the first Flyer woman in 27:12. Vincenzo Pascale (26:35, 3rdAG, 77.07%) and Howard Choi (28:19), were second and third Flyer men, respectively. Laura Sackler (29:09, 6th AG) and Jaclyn Sweeney (30:17) were second and third Flyer women, respectively.

 

Three more amazing Flyers made it to the podium today: Frances Breslauer (1st AG, 81.25%), Anky Lam (1stAG, 75.03%), and Andreas Werder (3rdAG, 77:05%). Kudos to them, and also to Barbara Paer (4th AG), Ricky Lam (7th AG), Delton Mace (8th AG), and Amy Thakkar (10th AG).

-Franceso P, NY Flyers Blog Race Reporter

Read more...