The weekend started early for Yankee Runners, and a great weekend it turn out to be.  Many of us gathered on Friday the 4th and raced in the Tinley Park Stars and Stripes 5k. When the race was over and many of our friends had their trophies we settled in for some pancakes, and an assortment of other goodies.  Even as we celebrated we knew Saturday 7:00am was near.  We raced for fun but training would not stop.  You all know why “because the enemy never stops”.  I will have some results in no particular order later.  I know some runners raced closer to home as well.

Saturday 7:00am arrived too soon for some of you.  Attendance was what I expected but not what I hoped.  I know it was a three-day weekend and families had things to do.  On Oct 12 it won’t matter why you failed to train properly only that you did.  “The enemy will leave you empty and trampled like a discarded Gatorade cup”.  I have no way of knowing how many miles you ran over the weekend.  It is my hope you got them all in.  If you did not there is still time, but now as much as you think.  I was reminded during our run we are only 6 weeks from a 20-mile run.  I was also told that Saturday might have been the coolest Saturday we will have until mid September.  I thought why do I do this?  I was at a family function Saturday after our run I saw my support crew and remembered what it felt like after my first marathon as I looked up from the chair where I sat, knees wrapped in ice, feet blistered and bloodied.  I saw my older brother standing there, he reached out his hand to shake my and said “you did good you made us proud”.  Nothing I have ever physically done has been as rewarding as finishing a marathon.

The road we travel is not easy. But it is the only one that goes where we are going.

Jennifer Ondrejka-32:58
Lisa Gordon-25:27
Bev Lynch-26:20
Thea Hickey-34:12
Maureen – 25:30 Age award
Sharon Dwyer-29:11
Jean Reppa-29:50
Hillary- 26:04 Age award
Ed Thelen-28:20 PR
Tyler Thelen-19:16 PR
Valerie Thelen-34:27
Austin Thelen-33:45
Young Jeff- 18:30
Ricster- 16:54 Age Award
Paul K-19:25
Brain Jackiw-36:29
Christine Jackiw-36:30
Mike Yuhasz-17:32 Age Award
Maureen Yuhasz-23:38 Age Award
Tom Wiora-18:28 Age award & PR?
Susan Wiora-23:45 PR
Jerry Rauman-21:03 won $2.00
Mark Reilly-20:51
Larry Mirous-24:54
Steve Rice-21:48 Lost $1.00
Margaret Kedziora-35:19
Thomas Flynn-21:48
X-Man-23:21
Joe Madden-24:25
Mark Mullen-20:43
Jeff Smo-21:29
Joe Werner-21:33 Did not get an age award.  Did not set PR. Lost $1.00. But beat, oh never mind. If I tell you I will only make him mad.
Jim Hertz-23:14
Sarah –19:28 first female Tinley resident
Jim Grzybek-23:54
Ric Bruno-28:16
Special “K”-23:55
Tracey Leschim-35:11
Kathy Ceja-23:30 Age Award
Fran Dewan-23:08 Age Award
Josh Grund Hofer 46:46 beat his grandpa by one second
Spero-46:47 lost to his grandson by one second.  Get him next year Spero

I am sure I missed some of you and for that I am sorry.  Everybody did a great job.  I want to thank all of you for staying and breaking bread with us.  I want to thank those who filled our snack table not only on Friday but on Saturday as well.

It was a great day for a run on Saturday.  The rain made the run very refreshing. If you have never ran in the rain you should try it.  Rain and 38 degrees might not be fun and refreshing but rain and whatever temperature it was Saturday was. 

I got home and got all unpacked from the run.  I sat down at the table with my wife who immediately asked what was wrong.  I was unaware it showed so plainly.   I told her I was worried about some of you.  I have been with this program for 10 years and I have seen incredible displays of courage and determination.  Each year as our numbers grow I was more impressed by the dedication I see.  Then came Saturday. The group leaders were there, as was the water, Gatorade and snacks.   What was missing was many of you.   All during the run and all the way home I wondered what would happen if on Oct 12 the weather is not perfect.  I wondered how you could be ready.  I wondered how I failed to make you understand the importance of this training.  We train in any weather because we have no way of knowing what weather we will have on race day.  My wife told me that you probably did not know that we run in any weather.  I thought about it and perhaps I did forget to mention it.  I checked my e-mail this morning and I got e-mail from a first time runner inquiring for future reference what protocol is about running in the rain. Protocol is simple WE RUN.

I am not sure in what order our website will be updated so check back often.  There should be some updates to our event page soon.  I will give you the short version.  Next Saturday July 19 will be our biggest social event.  It is astronaut egg day.  If you are new all you need to bring is $5.00, a dry shirt so your name tag will stay on and a chair to sit on.  I hope you will not need the chair but in case you do, have one.

There will be a sign up sheet for our mid season pizza party.  There is no cost to you but I ask only sign up if you plan on attending.  I need to give the restaurant a number and many times the number is considerable higher then people who attend.  You can see information about this on our events page.

If you have not done so sign up for Cara’s ready to run 20 miler on Sunday September 21.  The cost is $3.00 and we will not have a run on Saturday that week.  Cara will attempt to place runners with their own groups.  To facilitate this I need from each group a list with first and last names along with e-mail addresses.  We will have sign up sheets NEXT WEEK ONLY.  If you will not be attending the run contact me with the information so I can get it on the right list.  More information will be added to our event page concerning this event soon.  This information has nothing to do with you signing up.

I promised our web sponsors that I would promote their businesses.  I attempted to do so on Saturday.  With the rain and circumstances I don’t feel I did a very good job.  I will repeat the plug this Saturday and hope you will pay attentions or at least remain silent so they can hear.

If anybody told you it would be easy THEY LIED.

Congratulations you now know what I have known all along.  YES you are sweet but NO you won’t melt in the rain.  Don’t worry if your feet start to develop webbing, I bet Mel has shoes that will help us with that.  I have never seen two consecutive Saturdays during training with rain like we just finished. Trust me there will be Saturdays in the next 8 week where we will wish it would rain.  Because I was cooking Saturday I did my 10 miles on Sunday and I was just as wet from sweat as you where from the rain. We will be entering a new phase of our training next week when the distances will start to be long.  We will do 12-14-16.  I am sure that some of you will be running further then you have ever ran.  We call that our Capt Kirk Club: to boldly go where you have never gone before.  The only words of wisdom I have are that the last mile is just like the first.  Left, right, left, right.

The rain once again prevented me from getting our list completed for the R2R 20mile run.  I will use all my charm and attempt to persuade Cara to give us one more week to complete this assignment.  I will have the sign up book at next Saturdays run.  You can e-mail your name and the pace you want to run and I will add your name to the proper list.
I will also have a sign up sheet for our mid season pizza party.

The rain did not prevent us from an astronaut egg breakfast.   In my perfect world it would not have rained, but you showed grit and I hope everybody enjoyed themselves.  Part of the reason for this event is so we have chance to meet runners from paces other then our own.  I am not sure conditions allowed this as much has I would have like but we managed.  I want the THANK all of you who help clean up and those of you who brought tables and chairs in case we needed them.   A SUPER BIG THANKS TO PAUL, the king of pork.  Besides helping clean up he helped set up and cook the bacon in between. 

Watch our events page closely; we will be adding new stuff all the time.  Things that will be added soon.
#1 how we from the south side will handle the R2R 20 mile run.
#2 how we will run the final six miles of the race in advance.
#3 what we will do on Labor Day since the scenic 10 has been canceled.
#4 how we will add long mid week run on Tuesday evening.
#5 our post marathon banquet.
#6 races we will do after the marathon

Normally I wait until after my Sunday run to write this.  That gives me time to reflect on the Saturday run.  It is when I run alone my goofy ideas come to me.  I have some major work to do at my daughter’s house on Sunday.  If I run it will be late night.  I like to get my updates in before then.

I am very sure that no amount of time or reflection would do anything to change what happened out there this morning. It was a hard run. The enemy called his allies, heat and humidity and together they put up one heck of a fight.  We finished perhaps a little slower then we thought we would, with our heart rates a bit higher then they should be.  But we finished and in the end that is ALL that matters.  I would like to promise you it will not be that hot on race day.  I may have made that promise last year and I was wrong.  This year I will just say it is not very likely we will see that kind of heat and humidity on Oct 12.  If we do, we will know how to deal with it.  We will slow down and drink plenty.  I will promise you that the marathon will not run out of water this year.

Today reminded me of one of my favorite stories.  It is the story about how it was suggested “the mountain won the day”.  You may have heard it before and some day soon you will hear it again.

I will give you one last chance to get in our pace groups for the R2R 20 mile run on the lakefront.   So you understand, Cara will send waves of 50 runners out. We will be sent out by coded bibs. They have no idea who runs with who.  When I send in the list from my book, that I have repeatedly asked you to sign they will attempt to group those runners together.  If you have not signed the book e-mail me gokarts@juno.com with your name and the pace you want to run the 20 miler at.  I will add your name.

Next Saturday I will attempt to sum up where we should be and what we should know.  I will speak very briefly about why most of us do our long runs too fast.  I know you won’t want to miss that.

Don’t forget to watch the events page we will have much new stuff coming soon.