Kyle's Korner is a segment of the Club's weekly email that will focus on reacquainting you with a different current club member each week. We will catch you up on how they are doing with regards to their training, their lives, and other general nonsense. This segment intends to be informative and educational while attempting humor in a purely inoffensive way. Mostly.
On this weeks segment, OUR 30th, we chatted with Steady Strider Captain, Erika Bow. She's a bit new to the club and even newer in her title, but she has shown some serious dedication to both and still manages to find time to run for herself, with others, hold down a full time job, and care for a cat.
Kyle: Hi Erika! Thank you for joining us!
Ms. Bow: Hello!
Kyle: First off how long have you been with the club?
Ms. Bow: I joined last summer '14 around late July. About 8 months.
Kyle: One more season till your one-year anniversary! How long after joining did you acquire your steady strikers position?
Ms. Bow: Not long actually! I think about 3 months or so. I just kept showing up to practice whether I had someone to run with or not, and I think Chuck was impressed. I just wanted to get better.
Kyle: That's certainly the type of dedication Chuck loves. What do you do as Steady Strider Captain?
Ms. Bow: I am the first point of contact for new members who run 9-12 minute miles or are new to running and want to get involved. I encourage new runners and Steady Striders to get out to team runs or fun team events like Road Relays.
Kyle: How many steady do we have? And how often do they graduate?
Ms. Bow: Not sure actually! We have 35 in the Steady Striders Facebook group so I guess we can go by that! Kristina Petillo is actually our most recent success story- she joined as a Steady Strider in the fall, but quickly progressed to a 1:43:47 half marathon yesterday in the NYC Half. We love to see improvement, a lot of Steady Striders join for this reason. But we also have many members who just plain love to run and we welcome all levels of talent.
Kyle: That's fantastic! It's great that we can offer that type of training to those who need it. And clearly it pays off. Are you yourself a steady strider success story?
Ms. Bow: Definitely! Joining GSTC has put me in touch with other runners, which always helps motivate me to run. I also started attending some of the track team practices when I can for some speed work and I've seen improvements in my own race PR's. Since joining GSTC, I've brought my 5k down from a 26:54 to a 25:41. And my half marathon down from a 2:08:33 to a 2:02:48. Hoping to keep seeing results!
Kyle: What goals have you set for yourself this coming season?
Ms. Bow: I would love to see a sub 2-hour half marathon soon and a sub 25 in 5k. I also would like to work more just on strength as I've been working with a trainer and have found where I have weaknesses that probably slow me down.
Kyle: Are you and the striders ready to conquer the 20k?
Ms. Bow: I'm actually training for the Rutgers half so it's not in my plan but I'm sure some of us will be representing!
Kyle: Ooo I've heard that's a good race. Good luck with going for sub 2!
Ms. Bow: Thank you! It's mostly flat just a few bumps to get over.
Kyle: What keeps you busy when you aren't motivating our strikers at practice?
Ms. Bow: Planning my next race! Or teaching myself how to cook or posting pics of my cat for #catsofinstagram. My job takes up a lot of time too, running keeps me sane.
Kyle: Two Erikas that love cats in the same town. Hmmm. And yes that's what I was getting at. What is your job?
Ms. Bow: Yes we have met each other's cats. Meow. I work for SHI, it's an IT equipment supplier sort of like a CDW but buyers have to have an account to buy with us. So we sell to corporate entities, governments, schools, etc. we are a global company so we never close for snow or hurricanes. But luckily it's in Somerset so not far from where I live.
Kyle: Too bad it's not running distance for those real bad weather days.
Ms. Bow: lol! I just mapped it, it's actually only 8.5 miles each way. I could be environment friendly and ditch the car. But that's 85 miles per wk if I do that Mon-Fri. That's a lot of mileage for me!!
Kyle: What a dedicated runner, researching about running while doing a running interview. Well that's all the time we have for today, thank you so much for speaking with us.
Ms. Bow: Thanks Kyle! It was a pleasure!
Kyle: The pleasure is always mine in my Korner.
Tune in next week to see who we interview!
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