The Legend Lives: Perrella Wins President's Cup
Millburn- Since the inception of the Garden Sate Track Club in 2010, elite men's captain Jeff Perrella has been both an enigma and an inspiration. On the stage, he has won myriad titles, including the 2011 President's Cup, Penn Relays Distance Classic 5k, GSTC vs CPTC Elite 8k, USATF National Club track 10k, USATF-NJ track 10k, USATF-NJ Half Marathon, and USATF-NJ cross country 5k. In 2012, he won the Spring Lake Five Miler, and came in close second at the USATF-NJ 5k and College Ave Mile races.
Behind the curtain, however, he's been fighting numerous injuries, ranging from hip, calf, and shin pain. Many of his races, including his club record 68:12 half marathon (5:12/mile), and Monday's double-loop President's Cup race, were done under-trained. Days ago, due to nagging calf pain and a heavy workload, Perrella toed the line runnng just four times in two weeks.
But, as club VP Steve Bonica says, there isn't much quiet in The Quiet Storm.
After lap one, Perrella ran in a small chase pack with Charlie Murphy and Tyler Udland, three seconds behind Morris Plain's Youssef Rochdi. On the backstretch of lap two, Perrella still lagged steps behind, yet had opened up a sizable gap on the chase pack and was now running solo. With hundreds cheering and lining the final stretch along downtown Millburn, the Saucony-sponsored Perrella finally pulled away with 800m to go, winning his back-to-back title 15:02.25 (see attached). Averaging 4:50/mile, he hit the tape ten seconds before second place Rochdi came in.
Several other MIG's closed their season well, including PR performances from Edsel Flores (16:54.43), James Lothian (17:04.28), and Nick Waclawski (19:44.53) The Year of Tim Morgan continues, as he finished his spring season with an 6th place, 15:33.66 effort, winning $25 in prize money. This was seven seconds faster than his 15:40 race last year.
The Living Legend Jeremy Stratton, 51 years young, came through in 18:32.16, a GSTC master 50s 5k club record. Since not a grand prix race in 2012, only a handful of members elected to race the always-popular Monday evening race.
Heibell Wins Immaculata Race for Freedom 5k
Somerville- After a long track racing season, which yielded club records in the 1500m (3:50) and 3,000m (8:26), and 5,000m (14:42), Chris Heibell finished the season with a gold medal at the low-key Immaculata Race for Freedom 5k. Crossing the finish line in 15:21, Heibell won his high school sponsored-race for the seventh time in a row. Due to his win and love for contemporary boy bands, Heibell has been selected as the Athlete of the Week (see below).
Cupido Finishes 2nd at Lavallette 8k
Lavallette--
Kristin Cupido, one of the major reasons for the GSTC's two-point lead in the open women's USATF-NJ grand prix this spring, finished second at the Lavallette 8k this Saturday. Running 6:37 a mile, she finished in 32:54...a solid two minutes faster than her time last year. However, sadly she was hit head-on by a wreckless driver (who swerved into her lane) the very next day, resulting in a broken hand and foot. She's okay otherwise, and we all wish her a speedy recovery, as Kristin is AWESOME and one of our favorites. If you'd like to wish her well, her email is:
kcupi963@gmail.com.
MDM Competes at USATF Half Marathon Championships
Duluth, MN- Mark Del Monaco, the GSTC #6 man at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships last December in Seattle, finished 80th in 71:16 at the USATF Half Marathon National Championships in Duluth, Minnesota two weeks ago. That said, it may be his last team race for a while, as he has landed a job in Colorado, and will stay there for a while to train. Great job in Minnesota, Mark, thanks for all the great races over the years, best of luck in Boulder, and we'll see you soon....!
Team Bayside HS Wins at Pine Beach 5k
Pine Beach- Every year, our homeboy Steve Geiger enters a three-person team, racing under Saved by the Bell characters called "Bayside HS" of course, with hopes to win the team title. Geiger ran 16:40 as Samual Powers, Rob Decarlo ran 18:32 as Zack Morris, and Meghan Decarlo ran 20:37 as Kelly Kapowski. For some reason, they didn't add up team scores, but by our math, team Bayside HS narrowly edged out Ocean Running Club by 15 seconds: 55:49 to 56:04.
Team Runs This Week
TUESDAY - 6:15 @ Buccleuch Park's gazebo
WEDNESDAY - 6:15 @ Morristown Running Company
THURSDAY - 6:15 @ Buccleuch Park's gazebo
SUNDAY - 9:00am @ Holmdel Park's gazebo
Walsh Dances w/ "The Big 5" at GSTC Beach Gathering
Brigantine- Dozens of club members gathered down at Brigantine beach this weekend to celebrate the conclusion of the spring racing seasons, and there was nearly as much excitement this weekend as there was all of the spring season combined.
Members came down Thursday through Sunday, with the weekend highlight coming Saturday night in Atlantic City. The GSTC ladies were dressed to impress, yet the big winner of he evening was Ken Walsh. You just can't make this stuff up; he had five large women, approximately 1.25 "tons of fun", impulsively start grinding up against him in The Blue Martini Bar at Bally's Wild West. Walsh, who doesn't even know five girls let alone ever danced with five at the same time, was flustered both with excitement and a genuine concern for death via asphyxiation.
A warm thanks to Ken Goglas and his family for hosting us in their house with countless bedrooms and pull-out cots. Between the slip-n-slide, barbecue, beach-side runs, bike rides, beach visits, Atlantic City dance-a-thons, pub visits to watch the trials, and air-conditioned rooms....we all had a great time. For more on the weekend, see the quotes of the week, or the pictures on the GSTC FB page.
Quotes of the Week
"I run a 5 minute mile. Everyone is my rival." -Rob Decarlo, explaining why a 45 year old is a major rival of his- along with Steve Bonica
"Plaid shirt and plaid shorts? You are NOT going out like that. Change now." -Alyssa Douma to a wardrobe-challenged Chris Heibell before going out to AC
"How about playing a song that came out when I was alive?" --a younger Chris Heibell requesting a music change from 30 year old Karen Auteri
"Not only have we met, we had a 15 minute conversation after the College Ave Mile. I guess I was memorable." -Ken Walsh to Karen Auteri after she introduced herself to him
"Why Ken? He would be the last person they should all go up to! Ooops, I mean...." -Alyssa Douma, ragging on Ken Walsh the morning after his escapdes in AC
"This week's email is gonna be rough. I just have to accept that." -Tim Morgan, after another week of follies that will earn him his own award...again
"You know you're out of shape when you get tired body surfing." -Rob Decarlo. Enough said.
"Hypothetical question for you: suppose a fat man, with a fondness for donuts, has decided to get his fat-ass back in shape. Furthermore, his fat ass is residing in Jersey for the summer...What would you advise this creature to do? When and where do you run? Is there room for one more?" -Chris Piekarski, Chuck's brother's old HS friend, in a FB email
"You don't have to run all the grand prix races, but if you don't, be prepared to get made fun of in the weekly email." -Ken Walsh while recruiting Alyssa's friend to join
"Is this what you're NOT going to cook us this morning?" -Ken Goglas to Karen Auteri as she described the french toast recipe she had previously planned to use for everyone
"All of a sudden you were sleeping next to me, and you kept creeping closer and closer." -Chris Heibell to Tim Morgan, the morning after he stumbled mistakenly into the wrong bed (see attached)
Tim Morgan Award: TIM MORGAN!
For a while, half miler Zak Martins was making a strong ush to claim the yearly award. However, in the year of Tim Morgan, Mr. Morgan is slowly making a comeback, as evidenced by this weekend's behavior. First, the guy comes 24 hours late because he was writing a blog article that hadn't a deadline, but he ended up waking up a 1:00pm, and yeah- same ol' story. But then, somehow, he joins an elite class with Mike Anis to forget his ID on a major team outing (Anis forgot his ID during nationals trip to Seattle in 2011). So, he spends the entire evening using Chuck's long-expired California license, resulting in him paying a cover and buying a drink before anyone else even got in, all for naught because we ended up not even entering due to the high cover. After urinating on the top floor of a parking deck by night's end, two cars rock-scissors-paper fought over who to NOT have him in the car. He ends up sleep walking later that night, ending up in Chris Heibell's bed as the big spoon. And your winer of the TM Award is......drum roll.....Tim Morgan.
Athlete of the Week: Chris Heibell
How many people do you know who run 4:08 for a mile, STILL wears silly bandz (fat duck and a rabbit, to be specific), loves songs like "Call me Maybe", shares a bed with Tim Morgan, enjoys shows such as "Gossip Girl", "Big Bang Theory", "OC", and "One Treet Hill", and only eats Eggo Waffles because "I only know how to use a toaster in the kitchen"? For all of this, an overall great spring season, and a spring-ending dubya on Saturday at the Immaculata Run for Freedom 5k, Chris Heibell is today's Athlete of the Week.
A standout at Loyola and then Kentucky, where he ran his all-time PR of 3:49 for 1500m, Heibell has flirted with a run at a sub-4:00 mile now for three years. He is taking things to a new level this year, as he is changing jobs, upping mileage, and starting a new group within the GSTC called "East Coast Milers." The GSTC's top man at the national club cross country championships in Seattle last fall, Heibell is not just a three-event club record holder for the club- he is also a threat in the fall. Look for him to once again lead the GSTC charge to club nats this coming December, as the MIG look to crack the top five in Kentucky.
Get the Gorilla 5k....October 7th!
New Uniforms Are A' Comin'
Thanks to our evolving partnership with Brooks, we will be ordering new uniforms this summer. Be ready to help us decide on what to get- this will be a decision by concensus, and we wanna know what YOU want to wear!
Next Two Weeks: Spring Summary & Fall Preview
The next two weekly emails will have, in order, the rundown of the spring action....and a preview of races, etc. coming around the corner for the fall. We've received numerous texts, calls, emails, etc. about how the fall schedule will look, and we appreciate the passionate enthusiasm. And in due time....yu'll be well-informed!
This Week in Training
Distance
(we are on week two of three-week break): Take 3 weeks of downtime to recharge the batteries. In those 3 weeks you should stay active, but that doesn't necessarily mean you have to run - walk, hike, ride a bike, swim, play other sports. Each week, get out for 2-3 easy runs of 2-3 miles. The purpose of these runs is to keep your muscles, tendons etc in good working order and prevent atrophy of inactivity during your break time. That way, when the time comes to get it going again, you are met with much less muscle soreness and you can resume normal training and build mileage faster. Enjoy the downtime, forget about training for awhile so you can come back to training in mid-July hungry and fresh!
Sprints
Take this week completely off. Nothing. Do whatever you want. Pretend running doesn't exist, because soon enough we'll be grinding the axe again.....enjoy a well-deserved break. I know you all miss god ol' Chuck and my text-bombing three times a week. Ahhh, in due time, you'll have me back in your life. I promise.
Great Olympic Trials Quotes
"You have to go from the gun to the finish line. I've lost thousands of dollars in prize money by a tenth of a second." -Lashawn Merritt
"When you do it the right way and you do it every single day, the hard work pays off time and time again." -Adam Nelson
