Did you hear of Helen...of Troy?

Helen Dole made it back from her summer in Colorado to close out the Al Goldstein Summer Series in grand fashion. Her altitude training paid off as she led all women in a time of 19:49.
And what about Troy Phipps, who continues to improve by leaps and bounds, taking over half a minute off his previous best, and leading all PPTC runners in 18:50.

The welcome mat was also laid out for Carolyn Kubitschek and David Lansner back from their sojourn in Italy, who changed in the back of the cab from the airport rather than miss the series finale. Carolyn took first in her age group, and David 3rd.

Congratulations to other PPTC standouts in their age groups: Maggie Deschamps (2nd woman overall), James McFarlane (3rd), Frank DeLeo (1st), Al Prawda (1st), Aaron Koffler (5th) and Sabrina Ring (1st under 10).

Thank you again to all the volunteers who made it such a succesful season, and who received high praises throughout the summer from many runners new to our speed series.

Team Champs 2008

Troy Phipps led PPTC men in 33:06, and Emily Sanderson led the women in 34:08.
It was beautiful weather for club pictures and running too. Our women took 11th place overall, and the 40-44 took 7th Place in the age group standings.
Noteworthy was Sarah Scott's maiden race w/ PPTC, finishing 3rd among our women. More accostumed to the longer distances, she said of her first 5 miler, "That was hard," as she reached for her inhaler after the finishing kick.

Our top 3, Emily, Maggie and Sarah finished under 34:30, and the next 2, Jimena and Corre came in under 35:30. Way to go, ladies.

Welcome also to new member Tjanysa Clarke, who wasted no time getting a photo opp with club prez, Tom Meany, and Frank DeLeo.

Good to see Olga Kalanz back on our roster again.

Geoff Vincent was not only inadvertently put into the lead corral, much to his chagrin, but his number was reported as his new alias , Tomas Vazquez. Vaya con Dios, Geoff.

My math abilities after running 5 miles were somewhat compromised as I offered that I could drive 5 members back to the Slope. I forgot to count myself, so the group got closer than they cared to on the ride back. Troy Phipps and John Nickles are still trying to straighten out their legs.

Thanks to our volunteers who put together the PPTC welcome table, Anne, Julio, Tom M. and Michael Rieman. Despite our elbow to elbow proximity to the Polish Club's table, rumors of a merger were denied by both sides.

And by the way, our men's team placed 25th (out of 25), and morale remained as high as ever. Krishna ran a PR, I had a strong run and felt rested for a change, Frank was in need of rest from his busy racing this year, Troy was back from vacation and still ran strong, Brad was knocking at 35, and John N. sees his times improving. Our senior ambassadors 60+ also posted good times, anchored by ageless club founder Jack Stetch. An editorial comment about our 25th place: "So?" We are rebuilding, and helping each other improve, and that's what matters. Good job, everybody.

Daniel Slotwiner trounces old runner

Daniel's father has been a long time client of mine. When I met Daniel at the speed workouts, I weighted whether to risk losing the business, or run him into the ground.
The second option was more fun, but now he's paying me back and having some fun of his own. Yesterday, he took off on the uphill start, and never looked back, beating me by 11 seconds. He medalled in 4th place among 35-39 men, and was second PPTC overall behind Frank DeLeo with a PR of 22:31. Determined to get back his former speed, he's discovered that less is better when it comes to getting faster. He's laying off the high weekly mileage, and concentrating on more quality workouts with good results.
Last week it was Krishna, this week it was Daniel, thank God there's only one more 5K left in this summer's series.