In the 5K, Rick “Rocket” Weis finished 2nd overall in a blazing time of 16:24. He was standing tall with that result. Mike “Comet” Cortez was 5th overall, in 17:55. Matt “Kinetic” Knight was 1st in his age group with a 19:40. Jim “Nuclear” Newman was disappointed with his 21:14 (“slowest time at that race”), but probably more disappointed by the strong age group field. Corrine “Sandbag” Schratz could have improved her 35:33, but kept stopping and asking for her Club Ed Handicap. “It worked once”, she stated. And finally, Martin “Mischievous” Newman pulled his mom Gretchen to the finish, chewing on his new remote the whole way.
In the 10K, Rick Weis decided he needed the extra miles, so he ran that race too, and finished 2nd in 35:30. Will “Leopard” Longyear and Mark “Streaking” Silva started out together, but “Leopard” pulled away with a 39:09 to “Streaking’s” 39:48. Silva blamed the difference on age. But he got the last laugh with a 1st place finish in the 50’s versus Longyear’s 2nd in the 45’s (two more months to 50!). Dave “Galloping” Grethen bolted away from Marty “Flying” Friedman in the first mile, was nearly reeled in during the 5th mile, but eased away for a six-second “victory” with 43:36 versus 43:42. But “Flying” maintained his mastery of the Medicare Division with a 1st place standing. Jeff “Comeback” Fulton finished with a 46:31. And Marina “Sneaky” Sanchez finished in 1:04:44, two minutes faster than her first 10K, but her result was missing from the official finish (maybe she was just a blur at the finish line?).
In the Masters Mile, Mike “Comet” Cortez (recovered from the 5K) and Rich “Gusting” Gust were given the same time of 5:17, but I guess “Comet’s” toenails crossed the line first. They both held off the 1st female finisher, Tania Fischer. Chivalry guys???????? Kevin “Stealth” Farrington showed he is back, tearing through the pack to finish in about 5:34, just steps ahead of Chuck “Kamikazi” Kaminski, who continued his age graded stellar performances with an impressive 5:38. Ed “Air Mail” Avol claimed he has only been jogging at 8-minute mile pace (and only 4 or 5 miles a day), but somehow reeled off a 6:07. And Sharon “Smoking” Lotesto (of sexy white arm warmer fame) had a fast 6:46.
In the Open Mile, Humberto “Superman” Sanchez had a blistering 4:52, and was followed by Aaron “Meteor” Munger in the same time. “Meteor”claimed he could have beaten “Superman”, if he could get a decent night’s sleep (new baby in the house).
Congrats to all Club members who braved the multi-event, multi-parking, three-ring circus to race. Although we missed several of our usual performers, we had a great showing!
Marty Friedman