|
Rossini the Runner Archives Index
|
Subscribe
|
|
| << October17, 2006 - Rossini the Runner - THE TOP 10 |
November14, 2006 - Rossini the Runner - Recovery Resistance >> |
|
------------------------------- DID YOU KNOW? ------------------------------- APLA is the beneficiary for this year’s West Hollywood Costume Carnaval. This is their first year, and they’re already offering a chance to win a Chrysler Crossfire: http://www.apla.org/specialevents/halloween_2006/index.html (You have to let me know if you win!) ------------------------------- PROGRESS UPDATE ------------------------------- This week the folks at AIDS Marathon had us do something different. All the Honolulu trainees met at Griffith Park, while all the Florence runners, including little ole me, gathered at Santa Monica to do a 23-mile Celebration Run. We met at Santa Monica High School (http://www.samohi.smmusd.org/) at 7am, and it was immediately obvious that the day was going to be slightly different. Half of the site reps and coaches were in costume. My favorites were Team USA girl in blue, red and nifty sequin silver bracelets and Captain Awesome, “who took Jared’s place” and sported goggles and a red cape. Now, before we run, our site reps and coaches will tell us how proud they are of us, review the course, and send us on our way. This time a rep from APLA came out and shared with us a letter he had recently received. The man who wrote the letter, thanking APLA, was tested positive back in 1985 and has not only managed to stay alive, but also managed to regain his life in the process. He said, at one point, that APLA was (paraphrasing) “so patient and helpful that my only choice was to move forward.” That can be said about the training program as well. Receiving maximum motivation to take on 23 miles, we were sent on our way about 7:45 am. We strolled a couple blocks westward and entered the beach at Shutters (http://www.shuttersonthebeach.com). Immediately hooking south, we began our run. It’s amazing how much distance you can cover, especially when it’s normally been measured by walking. The first major site we passed was Venice Beach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venice,_California) still rubbing its eyes. It ends at Pacific Avenue, which is really Marina del Rey, and did a slight zig-zag into an alley that ran parallel with the beach, taking us into a sleeping residential area packed in tight with three-story beach bungalows of every architectural style. There are no streets here, only sidewalks, with small manicured lawns on either side, all leading their way to the shore. We reached a turn-around point somewhere in the alley around 9am and as we started back towards the direction we came, we started seeing the city wake up. First we saw cute dogs of every size being escorted by their owners, then construction workers. As we passed through Venice Beach, store owners rolled up their metal doors and large street cleaners noisily made their way along the boulevard. Roller bladers and bicyclists started appearing in our path, as we noticed outdoor dining areas were starting to be sprinkled with patrons. We past Shutters Hotel, our original starting point, and followed the path until it brought us to Temescal Canyon Road (http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/TemescalCanyon_4472.asp) at Pacific Coast Highway. There we turned around again, eventually leaving the beach all together at San Vicente. From that point we ran beyond 26th street into Brentwood, looping through the neighborhood and enjoying a little hill running along the way. Eventually (you guessed it), we turned around and came back the same way we came, passing Santa Monica Pier (http://www.santamonicapier.org) for a second time until we reach the high school. We arrived around 2pm, running 2:2 (that’s run 2 minutes, walk 2 minutes) for 6 hours at a very slow training pace. It was great to get a feel for the marathon would be like, but it was one we all struggled through. For some reason, Saturday was particularly warm for this time of year, reaching a high of 81 degrees. Despite the cool breeze coming off the Pacific, we battled with not having any shade cover. Also, everyone was hurting. Many of us have problem areas by this point, and I must finally confess that includes me. Like quite a few kids in my pace group, I have the I-T band injury (http://www.jeffgalloway.com/training/injuries.html). It happened about a month ago, and I know all too well what that “sharp pain in the knee area” feels like. Fortunately, with Advil and a handy Ace knee brace, I don’t feel a thing during the run, but I started feeling a pull in my calve muscle on the opposite leg. I started laughing, “oh god, I’m going to be a mummy by the time I cross the finish line.” I was doing good in comparison to some of the other runners, who were battling I-T band with either ibuprofen or brace, pounding headaches, sore feet, and kinked shoulders. I don’t know anyone in our group who wasn’t suffering. Yet, we had each other. There were so many volunteers who went all out by decorating their stands and overflowing with Halloween treats, that it provided a fun excuse to stop, rest the sore part of the body for a moment, and laugh easily for a moment. Also, many had signs that read “You are heroes”, and that sometimes would make me smile. Most of all, though, it was my group that got me through those 23 miles. When we finally made it back to the high school, our site reps had created a finish line, complete with a finish line with an arch made of yellow and red balloons. As we crossed, our site reps were there and they gave us each a medal. The entire time I thought how I was standing there because of the group. As I looked around, all of sudden, I thought of that letter and realized, yet again, thanks to this program, “my only choice was to move forward”. So, that’s that. After this, we meet for a couple 8-mile maintenance runs before we leave for Florence to do the actual marathon on November 26th. Stay tuned and don’t forget to donate. See ya! ------------------------------- ANNOUNCEMENTS ------------------------------- VOLUNTEERS MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE As you know, we depend on your friends and family to water volunteer so we have adequate support along the course. Please mark your calendars and begin to think about the following upcoming events for your friends and family (and even for AIDS Marathoners) to volunteer or cheer: October 28 - 23-mile Celebration Run for Florence runners. As you can imagine, this run will require a lot of help. Not only will you be able to share your training experience with friends and family, they'll be able to cheer for you (which makes the run more fun) and you'll earn fundraising credit! We will need about 30 volunteers for all times of the day for THIS run. Please email Jared Paul, our volunteer coordinator, at jpaul@aidsmarathon.com or call him at 213.201.1400 to sign up your volunteers. If your volunteers can only come out for part of the day, there will be 2 overlapping shifts. Please let Jared know the first and last name of the volunteer, their email address and cell phone number. He will be working with you and your volunteers to determine which shift(s) they want. November 18 - 26-mile Celebration Run for Honolulu runners. We also need help for the Honolulu 26-mile run. So please recruit friends and family. Florence runners are welcome to volunteer after you complete your 8-mile run!! We will need about 20 volunteers for THIS run. Please email Jared Paul, our volunteer coordinator, at jpaul@aidsmarathon.com or call him at 213.201.1400 to sign up your volunteers. EARN $150 CREDIT!!! Have your friends and family sponsor a Themed Water Stop! AIDS Marathon will supply water, salt, first aid kit, trash bags and a spray bottle. Theywill need to bring a table, food and decorations. FOUR PEOPLE must be at the water stop at all times during the training run. We've seen some WILD water stops in the past including: Western, Martians, Mardi Gras, Sports Teams, Romans, Patriotic and lots of others. It's a great excuse to run amuck in costumes with water guns on an otherwise ordinary Saturday morning in Burbank. Gather your best supporters, come up with an idea and send it to Jared at jpaul@aidsmarathon.com by next Friday, October 20th. RUN SITE VOLUNTEER TIME CHANGE In order for you to bring a volunteer to the run site on the weekends you must email Jared Paul at jpaul@aidsmarathon.com to put their name on the volunteer roster. You must also email Jared before noon on Thursdays or their name will not be on the list. Participants may RSVP only ONE volunteer for fundraising credit per day, two per weekend. If our maximum numbers of credit-eligible volunteer slots are not filled, we will issue credit to the next person on the wait list. We are happy to accept help from anyone who offers, for or not fundraising credit :-) ----------------------------------------- RUNNER OF THE WEEK ----------------------------------------- CZECH OUT THIS PATRIOTIC RECORD-SETTING HUMBLE HERO WITH STRANGE RUNNING FORM... Emil Z?topek of Czechoslovakia can claim one of track's rarest feats - winning the 5000m, 10,000m and marathon in a single Olympic Games. Beating the best in the world in the two track events in front of a large and enthusiastic Finnish crowd would have been enough gratification for anyone. To this day, only four other men have achieved this Olympic double. But Z?topek, a man who knew how to fight pain and fatigue, wanted more. Three days after his second victory on the track, he lined up to start his first ever marathon. Eager to avoid mistakes, he stayed close to "specialists" Jim Peters of Great Britain and Gustav Jansson of Sweden. He soon found their pace too slow and surged ahead to win in Olympic record time: 2:23:04. In later years, the ever-modest Z?topek would recall that race as "the easiest of my career." As for that Olympic win, Zatopek was a scrawny man with a seemingly frail frame at 5 feet, 8 inches tall and 145 pounds. As he ran, it appeared he might collapse at any minute, falling prostrate on the track, gasping for breath. His style was far from classic. As his pounding spikes chewed up the yards, his head bobbed from side to side, his arms flailed the air and his face became contorted, as if he were suffering the severest pain. Red Smith, the famous columnist who covered the Helsinki Games, wrote that Zatopek ran "like a man with a noose about his neck...on the verge of strangulation...his hatchet face crimson, his tongue lolled out." Like Nurmi, the Czech had come into his own rather late. World War II deprived him of some of his best athletic years and he was 26 by the time he made his Olympic debut at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. During his long career, Z?topek set 20 world records at distances ranging from 5000 to 30,000m. In 1951 he became the first man to cover 20 kilometres in an hour (20,052m). His wife Dana (n?e Ingrova) was a leading javelin thrower. On July 24 1952, in Helsinki, she won the Olympic title in her event an hour after he had triumphed in the 5000m. A unique coincidence in athletics history. But then, they were "astrological twins", who shared a birthday of September 19, 1922. All together now, awwwwwwwwwwwww ----------------------------------------- LINKS ----------------------------------------- Visit my blog – http://runnerla4119.blogspot.com Find out more about APLA – http://www.apla.org/ Make an online donation – http://www.aidsmarathon.com/participant.asp?runner=LA-4119&Year=2006&EventCode=FL06 And if you have a good, durable suitcase with wheels you are planning to donate, please consider passing it on to me :) Visit my Amazon Marketplace shop – http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/seller/at-a-glance.html/002-2564014-4522461?seller=A1FZSVIGYMYZ50&marketplaceSeller=1 Download the flyer and spread the word – http://www.geocities.com/jrossini@sbcglobal.net/RossiniAIDSFlyer.pdf Visit me at MySpace – http://www.myspace.com/oldladyrossini ------------------------------------------------------ CONTACT ME / SUBSCRIPTION INFO ------------------------------------------------------ Jennifer Rossini runnerla4119@sbcglobal.net http://runnerla4119.blogspot.com |
|
| << October17, 2006 - Rossini the Runner - THE TOP 10 |
November14, 2006 - Rossini the Runner - Recovery Resistance >> |
|
Rossini the Runner Archives Index
|
Subscribe
|
|
|
Archives powered by Zinester's Mailing List Service
Details on Rossini the Runner |
Browse for more newsletters at Zinester's Ezine Directory
Managed by Zinester's Mailing List Management |