Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Call to Action: THREE THINGS



THE WEEKLY/MONTHLY EMAIL

Three items for your deep consideration
 
1.  Eight aGSTC'ers Qualify for USA's in Portland

2.  Road Relays Next Week!


3.  Email us!  
WHICH RACES CAN YOU DO?



2016 aGSTC Open Men/Women Racing Schedule

3/13:  Road Relays (+ Mike's Courtside Bar and Grill)
3/19:  Adrenaline 5k  (+ Angelo's Pizzeria + Forgotten Boardwalk Brewery)
4/16:  Asbury Park Half Marathon, 5k, & Relay  (+Dark City Brewery)
5/1:   Broad Street 10 Miler (+Frankfurt Tap; registration closed)
5/14: Newport 10,000 (+ )
6/4: College Ave Mile (+Olive Branch)
6/13:  President's Cup (+Charlie Brown's Parking Lot!)

Your Teammates:
The USA Qualifiers





Miki Barber
60m Dash: 7.30
2007 Gold Medal, World Championships 4x100










Christina Epps
Triple Jump:  45-10
Current National Leader










Jessie Gaines
Long Jump: 21-1
60m Hurdles: 8.38
2015 USA Indoor Bronze Medalist, LJ










Carmen Graves
3,000m: 9:16.43
2014 USA Finalist, 3k Steeplechase









Elbert Maxwell, III
Long Jump:  24-4
Lots of Big East Gold Medals!








Mariah Toussaint
Long Jump: 20-8
High Jump: 5-10
2 x All-American



Ron Woodley
Triple Jump: 53-9 
Ranked #3 in USA




Marisa Sutera Strange
Masters 1500m: 4:51
2015 USATF 50-54 XC National Champion

 



Guide to 
Road Relays VI
What you need to know in the GSTC's longest standing club tradition


STEP ONE:  Pick a Partner.
He/she doesn't need to look like you.  But if all else fails, hell, ask a family member.


STEP TWO:  Pick a Team Name.
Some people take this very seriously.  Shirts, bowties, three-piece suits.  Others come up with something with irony and innuendo.  Yes, "We Got the Runs" has already been used.


STEP THREE:  Pick a Category.
There are many ways to earn a baton award this year; picking the right category is key.  Thankfully for Chelsea, they win the "Beauty and the Beast" Division yearly.


STEP FOUR:  Pick an Outfit.
Or don't, and just dress how you normally do on a Sunday morning.


STEP FIVE:  Pick a Handoff.
The blind handoff, while usually reserved for just sprint relays, is one option.  Lots of other ways.

STEP SIX:  Pick an Order.
Having the hot dog do legs 1 and 3 always makes sense.   Then again, maybe the hot dog should run legs 2 and 4, as 4 is the anchor.  You decide!

STEP SEVEN:  Pick a Baton.
If you have issues running with a small baton, you may bring a larger one.  We won't judge you, as it truly matters how you handle the baton- not how big it is. 


SO THAT'S IT!



PRIZES

Winning Teams Gets $50 Restaurant Gift Certificates to One of the Following:
Old Bay, Harvest Moon, Garden State Ale House, Brother Jimmy's

Open (men, women, co-ed)
Overall Masters (men, women, co-ed)
Costume (men, women, co-ed)

Raffle Items
$50 Temulty's Pub
Six $40 EMS Vouchers
20 x Free Sandwich Coupon from Jimmy John's

Packet Pickup
Road Runner Sports, North Brunswick
10:00am - 1:00pm
Every packet picked up early is $$$ for GSTC!

Team Races

DeNicola Climbs Some Stairs
GSTC sprint coach Carmine DeNicola completed the "National Multiple Sclerosis Climb to the Top" on February 28 and 30 Rockefeller Center.  It had 66 floors to climb up!

He finished in a time of 11:40, thus setting the club record for a 66 floor stair climb.  He finished 29th out of 1239, and was 8th out of 159 in his age group.      

Yes, it's been a slow month of club results when this grabs the headline!


Karl, Aya Leitz Marathon in TN
Aya Leitz was the first female overall at the Cummins Falls Marathon in Cookeville, Tennessee.  She finished in 3:24:25, a course record, over a very tough course with endless rolling hills plus some very steep ones. 

Karl finished in 3:54:56, good enough for 9th place overall. This was his 49th marathon-state;only Maine is left to go!
SUNDAY TEAM RUNS
Start Time  9:00am
Yes! the Sunday team runs are always this fun!!

This week: ROAD RELAYS


Jan. 3 Duke Farms
Jan.10 Morristown
Jan. 17 Turning Basin / Princeton Towpath 
Jan. 24 Liberty State Park / Hoboken OAB/park loops Brianne
Jan. 31 Buccleuch Towpath 
Feb. 7 Sussex Branch Trail 
Feb. 14 Rosedale 
Feb. 21 Fairmont Park 
Feb. 28 Manasquan (changed!  sorry!)
Mar. 6 River Road 
Mar. 13 ROAD RELAYS! 
Mar. 20 Ridgewood Duck Pond 



Peter's Puzzler

Peter Bolgert is an esteemed member of the club who was on the DMR that won the club national title in 2013 for the aGSTC.  A former Marquette standout in the steeplechase, he is now halfway through a PhD program in the plasma physics department at Princeton University.  In hopes to raise the intellectual rigor to the club's weekly email, he designs weekly puzzlers to sharpen the wit, acumen, and intellect of the club...while wearing this onesey.



Anis has one more coin than Peter.  Both men throw all of their coins simultaneously and observe the number that come up heads.  Assuming all the coins are fair, what is the probability that Anis obtains more heads than Peter?




The Anis Angle
I have more coins than Peter.  Unfortunately, they're all pennies. 




Answer: 
Either Anis throws more heads than Peter, or Anis throws more tails than Peter, but (since Anis has only one extra coin) not both.  By symmetry, these two mutually exclusive possibilities occur with equal probability.  Therefore the probability that Anis obtains more heads than Peter is ½.









A Race to Consider, from our very own Don Weise

MAY 15, 2016 
MRCC TRAILCONFERENCE 5K RACE 
 
& 3K WALK

9:00 a.m. Start Time
Darlington Schoolhouse 
600 Ramapo Valley Road 
Mahwah, NJ 07430



This event will benefit both MRCC (Mahwah Regional Chamber of Commerce) and the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference.  The Trail Conference is a Charity Navigator top rated non-profit and is responsible for the maintenance of 2,150 miles of public trailsin nearly 100 parks throughout the metropolitan area. 

The Trail Conference connects people with nature by donating over 100,000 hours of free public service every year to keep the trails you love, free, safe and protected. If you enjoy trails, please consider joining or supporting the Trail Conferenceat: http://nynjtc.org/donatenow 

Course Description: Starting at the newly restored Darlington Schoolhouse, this relatively flat 3.1 mile course features highlights that include the scenic Ramapo Reservation and River, the beautiful Hunt & Polo Club neighborhood, and Ramapo College's historic Havemeyer house.  The course follows a mixture of quiet roads, wide-carriageways and maintained grass and dirt trails.  The course finishes back at the Darlington Schoolhouse, where food, an awards ceremony, and Schoolhouse tours await! Participants will park in the Ramapo College parking lot-Lot D.




Kyle's Korner

This week on Kyles Korner we spoke with Megan Ann. A steady strider who was looking for a home to expand her running and ended up doing that and more. Her running has flourished and she has run multiple half marathons including one full and plans on doing more. She's found a true passion for running with some help from the GSTC. 



Kyle: Hello Megan and thank you for joining us!
Ms. Cafferty: Hello. My pleasure.
Kyle: How has your time with club been so far?
Ms. Cafferty: It has been great! I find everyone so supportive and understanding of my current ability and my goals. I think that if I wasn't a part of the club, I would have given up on running already.
Kyle: Well we love to help runners find their passion for the sport! How did you find out about the club?
Ms. Cafferty: I found out about the club through a simple google search of running clubs. I wanted to get back into running and thought that I would be best off running with other people. I was looking over the club website thinking "they are all amazing! I could never be a part of a group like this". Then I luckily came across a familiar face. Erin Varga's family and my family have known each other my entire life. I reached out to her to see what she thought based on my pace at the time and she directed me to the Steady Striders. Less than 24 hours later and I think I was setup with the club.
Kyle: That's wonderful! You've found a home with the Striders on our club. Are you happy there or are you planning on moving up to more competitive running?
Ms. Cafferty: For right now I am happy there. I have never been a fast runner, but I've always enjoyed the outlet it has provided me. I got a little sidetracked the last year with training and having two new jobs. I was working around 80 hours a week. With that being said, I completed a marathon without having really run for a few months. Looking back it was the dumbest thing I've done, but it also led me to have a desire to perform better. I now have a training plan and am already seeing progress. I would like to be a better runner, but don't ever see myself running competitively. When I was younger, I had a virus that left me temporarily paralyzed down my left side. While I am very lucky to be perfectly fine today, there are still some lasting effects. My right leg is still much stronger than my left and it often shows when I'm running or when I am lifting (since I do Crossfit as well to strength train). In just a few days I will be 30, yet I am in better shape than my high school days when I used to play lacrosse...so who knows what the future holds for me as far as running! Right now I am just focused on some small goals, like a PR on my upcoming half and a better showing at the Newport 10k. If you remember, Newport last year was my first ever 10k. I still remember the look on your face and Chuck's face when I told you that I did a half marathon a few weeks before but besides that, I have never done more than a 5k.



Kyle: Yes ha I remember. That's great that you've found a love for running and want to keep improving Ina personal level. You've already overcome a lot including marathons. Do you have a big race you're looking towards before Newport?
Ms. Cafferty: I've definitely found my love for running. Just today I went for a 5 mile run through good old Milltown. I was cursing the hills the entire time, but yet I still just kept running. Once you find your groove, there just isn't any stopping. I'm running the Rutgers Unite in a few weeks, followed by the NJ Half. I registered for the Unite as soon as it opened, then realized I would rather do a half that I've never done before. So Rutgers will now be a part of my training plan in preparation for the NJ Half. I'm most excited about Road Relays coming up next week! I participated last year in the snow, and knew then and there that I would be at it again this year!
Kyle: So a couple Half Marathons in the works. Is this what you thought you'd be doing when you did that first search for a running club to join?
Ms. Cafferty: I definitely did not think that I would be running multiple half marathons just a few weeks apart. I thought I would go out for a few 2-3 mile runs here and there with a group of people. I'm glad that isn't the case! I now find myself running that much just to and from the crossfit place I belong to. That google search was the best decision I ever made!
Kyle: So are half's you're new favorite race?
Ms. Cafferty: I would say so. I love getting to see new places and a 5k just doesn't allow that to happen. A half marathon is enough of a distance to be a challenge, yet it is short enough to be fun. Being that I run at a slower pace, a marathon can be excruciatingly boring. That isn't stopping me from trying again in the fall, though! After that marathon, I will most likely stick to half marathons. Once again, who knows, though! My first half marathon was in April. I crossed the finish line and told my family never again. Then I ran another in June. Then I signed up for a marathon. I guess it's fair to say that running is addicting and the half is my run of choice!
Kyle: Caught the run bug! Glad to hear you enjoy the sport so much!
Ms. Cafferty: Thank you!
Kyle: Well that's all the time we have for this week. Thank you for speaking with us!
Ms. Cafferty: Anytime!
Kyle: Tune in next time to see who we interview!



2015 aGSTC
HIGHLIGHT VIDEO
Not up for an Emmy or Grammy, but check it out here.  Complete with Star Wars intro and everything!

Paid Your 2016 Dues Yet?
Please do so.  It keeps the lights on!


FROM OUR 
COACHING STAFF

If you've paid your yearly club dues, click this link for the spring training plan!!!




INTERESTED IN TRACK WORKOUTS?

We have organized team track workouts every Monday and wednesday night at Highland Park HS from 5:30-7:30.   Come out and have some fun with us, regardless of your age, pace, or workout.  The more energy out there the better!

This Scarf's For You Award
presented to the club member who goes above and beyond the call of duty...anything to keep Tyrone Ross salivating for one of his own.



This week's metaphorical scarf goes to Aparna Das for sharing this quote, and her blog, to the GSTC Facebook groups 




Clean Underwear on Demand Award

Just like everyone needs clean, new underwear, the club needs clean, new members, too!

We welcome Mariah Toussaint, a Monmouth grad who qualified for USAs in both the high jump and the long jump!  

Newcomers: the key is coming out to team events and meeting people...the club is much more fun when you get to know folks!



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