(1/14-1/20): Awards Night, New Member Spotlight, Disney Marathon!

Big Team Dates....Mark 'em Down

Monday, Jan 14 (all day)- Cardinal McCarrack HS, the team Chelsea Callan coaches, is having a fundraiser at South Amboy's Sciotinos.  15% of your order goes to their team!  Come in for lunch or dinner!

Wednesday, Jan 16- The final day to submit your 2013 dues before we send Tim Morgan to your front door.  

Saturday, Feb 9- GSTC Award Night/ Fund Raiser @ Road Runner Sports in North Brunswick.  Starting at 7:00pm--Eat pizza, buy shoes/gear, prepare for some zany acceptance speeches-- 24 awards are up for grabs.  A great time to meet club members, help us raise some bucks, and....yeah, a night not to miss!

Sunday, Feb 24- GSTC's Road Relays.  Third year rolling, and it keeps growing....get a partner and let's go ave some FUN!

Sunday, March 10- 20k Championships- first grand prix team race!  Email us if interested!

Reminders....

1- Send Kenny your best 5k time since running with GSTC, 

2- Jump into our MeetUp page--Amy Denholtz had a run of five thanks to it yesterday- just takes a second!

3- Do ya like our FB page yet???  We're at 777 likes....help us get to 800!

This Week's Results

We congratulate our trio down who ran the Disney Marathon: Karen Auteri, Peter Auteri, and Fran Beideman (see attached picture).  Respectively, they ran 3:14:24, 4:31:10, and 4:12:4.  Sounded like the Florida heat got the best of our two gentlemen, but Karen ran a 7:30 PR, was 13th female overall, and 5th in her age group!  

On a sadder, yet maybe just as interesting note, Nicole Callaghan had a rough race today.  We aren't quite sure of all details, including what race it was, but we got a text saying that her race today was both poorly managed and inaccurately measured, along with its efforts to pull her husband, Mark, into the fray as a water-station volunteer.  Then, she was beaten to the line by a "male flightless bird wearing a mid-drift top and running shorts that said 'Wild Man' and he had hair like Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future."  Yikes....maybe yet another reason to train through these winter months and hold off on the racing?   

New Member Spotlight

Although we'd love to introduce everyone, we just haven't the time.  Regardless, please meet just a few of the new names who have joined your team....some interesting stories here from some very diverse people!

Valerie Boothby

A graduate of Voorhees HS, Valerie ran at East Tennessee State University and got down to 2:15 (800m) and 5:04 (mile) while running cross country and track for the Buccanneers.  After returning to her beloved home state of New Jersey after college, she's taken on a variety of jobs in the restaurant business, and now she's a full-time bartender at Hat Tavern in Summit--colleagues with David dos Santos.  An anthropology major, she hopes to one day open her own coffee shop in the near future.    

Jo Ann Coffee

Joe Ann is a 64 year old Somerset resident who is a seventeen year breast cancer survivor.  How did she get into running?  Well, she got bored sitting around the house during her recovery years, and starting doing a lot of walking.  Walking turned into a little running.  And then a two mile run.  And then a 5k in Johnson Park, whereas afterward, "I got the running bug."  A 58, she ran 3:58 at the Philly Marathon and qualified, and ran, at Boston.  How did she join the club?  A friend of Eric Davis, a GSTC master runner, he recommended the club (thank, Eric!).  She's on the comeback trail after tearing her meniscus last year rollerblading; not to worry, as she's back and ready to go! 

Michael Fonder

The Director of Physical Education at The Lewis School of Princeton, Mike ran four years of cross country and track at River Dell HS in Oradell and competed for The College of New Jersey as a health and exercise science major.  When no coaching seemingly every sport on earth (track, aquatics, tennis, basketball), he runs just a little bit.  His times in 2012?  He ran 4:24 (mile), 15:25 (5k), 32:26 (his first 10k of his half marathon), 69:01 (half marathon), and 2:27:32 (marathon....that's 5:37 a mile....26 times, BTW!).   When not following his favorite NYC teams, he's watching The Office and Burn Notice!

Joseph LaFleur

Joe is a new addition to the sprint squad this year.  A graduate of Abraham Clark in Roselle, he ran for Essex CC (Newark) for two years, allowing him to train with three future Olympians: Moussa Dembele (110HH-Senegal), Riker Hylton (400/Jamaica), and Kanicka Beckles (400/Grenada).  He's now a substitute teacher at Franklin and Roselle as he looks for a teaching position.  He came into the GSTC with a modest 400m PR of 53.14, which he broke in his first meet this past December (52.4 at Monmouth Invite).  Four weeks later at West Point, he PR'ed again (51.70), and then ran an incredible 50.6 split on the 4x400 a few hours later.    

Alexis Mbakwe

A junior at Rutgers, Alexis is a part of the Igbo Tribe, as her family's village is located in Umuahia, Abia State, Nigeria.  In her village, running water and electricity are not staples of every home, and being in America has inspired her to work even harder at school--where she is currently an exercise science major who attends GSTC sprinter practice three times a week.  A graduate of Kingsway Regional High School, she hopes to attend medical school in two years--and she just visited her relatives in Nigeria two weeks ago.  She runs the 100, 200, and 400 for the Black and Gold and is roommates with two ladies on the RU track team.

 

Julius Samuel

A resident of Sayreville, this fist-year GSTC member is from St. Vincent, a volcanic island in the Caribbean where he grew up in a small town called Barrouallie.  Although he's been running since early childhood, he never really was god at it--until high school, where he was always asked, "How do you run so fast, but walk so slow?" (editor's note: this still holds true).  He is currently working at Robert Wood Johnson as a nurse technician, living with his brother, and attending Middlesex Community College.   He has raced both track meets for the B&G, and he is in contention to be on the 4x200 team at Millrose Games.

Sarah Schillaci

Sarah is currently teaching English at Glen Ridge High School after, and we quote, "working in the booming newspaper industry as a reporter."  After writing one too many obituaries, she decided to pursue a degree in English education!  Crazy enough, she never ran in high school, and played ultimate frisbee at Carleton College in Minnesota...until trying out running her senior year.  She did pretty well, and....the rest is history!  Last year, she ran 18:41 (5k), 38:38 (10k), and 31:01 (5 miles)...looks like she made a pretty good decision about trying out running!  Oh, and she's also a HUGE Arrested Development fan.  Makes her even awesome-er.  

Team Runs/Meetings

Monday- 5:30 @ Highland Park HS track

Wednesday- 5:30 @ Highland Park HS track

Saturday- 10:00am @ Highland Park HS track

Sunday- TEAM RUN at Manasquan Reservoir 9:30am (address:  311 Windeler Road, Howell NJ.  Visitor Center- HUGE parking lot- we park on the left side)  Loop=5.1 miles!

Quotes of the Week: Bolgert is Back

"So, does the club have any spare females willing to be my Road Relays partner?"  -Peter Bolgert during the ride home.  Hmmm- we learn more about Wisconsin culture every day with this guy around.

"Ran it in pajamas with a sleeping bag, pillow, and blanket in tow. Napped at the finish line. 2nd place in age group fo' sho."  -Mike Obsuth, via email, about his outfit he wore when running his hometown 5k on New Year's Day.  Last year, he wore his Boy Scout uniform....and carried a huge Boy Scout flag.

"Bad navigational choice, might be 5 Mins late."  -Mike Anis, via text.  (read: I'm running late....again)

"Sup man! Been too long. I am looking to get back to running but have not done any sort of consistent running since the last time you saw me at presidents cup haha. I am working with Danielle stanton and she has been dragging my a** out on runs!"  -Brian Kopnicki, via email, regarding 2013.  Keep dragging his butt out, Danielle Stanton...he's too good to NOT be running!! 

"The Clifton Roadrunners Club would like to congratulation (sic) GSTC on their remarkable performance not only in building up your teams but in your spectacular achievements...We look forward to seeing you celebrate at the USATF-NJ banquet."  -Email from CRRC President on Friday.  Maybe if it didn't cost $65 per person, and maybe if the USATF-NJ showed any interest in changing their archaic rules....maybe we'd think about it.  

"This hill makes my heart sad."  -Sarah Schillaci, during rocky, hilly long run today at Watchung Reservation.  

"I'm glad to be back, and don't worry, I paid my dues last night.  I wasn't about to show my face at a team run and have you hounding me about it all day."  -Peter Bolgert, entering the GSTC van for the first time in 2013

"I'm glad I joined and am looking forward to getting into better shape and racing more."  -new member Dan Greer, via email, about 2013

"I will come to the long run on sunday.  i gotta get back into the GSTC groove."  -Peter Bolgert, via email on Friday.  Why did he fall OUT of the GSTC groove, you wonder, last fall?  Ehh, that's a what a Princeton PhD program in plasma physics will do to you.  For real.

This Week in Training

Another decision this week!  If you're ready to jump to full volume this week, go for it.  If not, hold last week's volume.  If you held your volume last week, more up to 90% of goal volume for this week.  Goal mileage can be a bit of a moving target - just because you set out to get it doesn't mean you necessarily should.  Remember that the goal is to race faster so if your goal mileage feels like it's a bit ambitious, it makes sense to dial it back for a season and push for it the next time around.

Let's build in a little more structure this week - the priority is volume over intensity.
Monday - comfortable run and 6-8 x 8sec hill sprints
Tuesday - fartlek run - warmup and cooldown the first and last 10 mins.  Use the middle to work some light pickups - don't go too crazy.  Keep the recovery intervals honest, and make them longer than the pickups.
Wednesday - moderate medium run
Thursday - super easy day, 60 mins max, 8x80m strides
Friday - comfortable distance run with 3-4 miles tempo in the middle - don't exceed 30 mins of tempo.
Saturday - comfortable run and 6-8 x 8sec hill sprints
Sunday - long run!