Jenna Robinson wins trail half marathon

Congrats to Marist Running Alum Jenna Robinson for her victory at the Thacher Park Trail Running Festival half marathon last Sunday in Voorheesville (Albany County). Jenna placed fifth overall and first among women in 1:52:05 (8:34 pace) for the 13.1-mile trail race. At my request, here’s her race report via email:

“I must admit, I didn't ‘race’ the Thacher race. I am in mid-marathon training right now. I signed up for MDI, which is in mid-October, and I treated this race as just a training run. However, I think there is something about the trails that bring the best runs out of me. Or maybe it's the people? This was the eighth year of the Thacher Park Trail Running festival and it was their biggest turn out yet with about 200 runners! Runners are crazy, trail runners are even crazier. And ultra-trail runners?! Insane. There were 12 people who finished the 50k on Sunday. Running alongside them for the first 6 miles was a gift! I had SO MUCH FUN. Somehow, I kept a better-than-expected pace despite lots of mud, plenty of single-track trails, and technical footing. I like to think of myself as a Mudder (like the horses that get picked to run in wet conditions). The worse the conditions, the better (comparatively) I tend to do! I didn't take any pictures from the race, but I did snag this selfie on the walk to my car after receiving my cool trophy. It's a branch with a trail marker painted on! Very neat.

“It's been so nice seeing Chuck's Instagram posts and your blog posts about the preseason shenanigans so far. It must be refreshing to have regained some normalcy with the team again. I'm looking forward to seeing what the Marist men and women do this year!” 

Thanks Jenna. As preseason winds down and classes begin on Monday, we’re hoping “some normalcy” includes seeing loyal alums like Jenna and so many others at upcoming meets.

Double the fun

A few days ago for their second practice of the day (it’s preseason; we have the luxury of team doubles in the afternoon!), several men decided their “double” run would be held inside, to avoid the roiling late-summer heat. Several guys like to run barefoot on occasion. The go-to on campus for barefoot running, for years, has been North Field. They guys opted for a different “field” – our turf room, inside the McCann Center. According to sophomore Chris Paxis, who gets credit for “inventing” this double, his watch said one loop of the small turf room is about 0.03 of a mile. Which means the standard 3-mile double would be 100 laps. While this would meet with well-deserved ridicule in most circles, it put a smile on my face. Short loops, endlessly? That’s my THING! I recently completed my annual 8-hour ultramarathon in Pittsfield, MA, on a 0.3535-mile dirt pathway. That’s enormous compared with the turf room! As you can see, several other men chose more “traditional” inside doubles – pedaling away on the stationary bike upstairs by our indoor square track, or in the case of Moe, running laps on the square track. All in a day’s work. As preseason winds to an end in a few days, the “turf room double” thing may remain a thing – but the turf room will surely get more activity as the regular semester begins. Either way, it was neat to see these guys double the fun in there.   

Team photo

 Last Friday was "picture day" for the team and this combined men/women team photo was the conclusion. As you can imagine, it took a bit of time to organize this large group of men and women. So nice to see this. Another building block in our return to normalcy, which still remains a fragile goal. One day at a time. 

Time for a wedding

 

Around the busyness of the first few days of preseason, we were happy to be able to squeeze in an alumni wedding. On Friday night in Washingtonville, we celebrated the union of Marist Running alum Julie Hudak and her new husband, Drew Gangemi. Julie and Drew got married a few months ago, with her good friend and former teammate Father Jacob Bertrand Janczyk officiating. Last night was the "reception" and we were happy to see Marist Running alums Kim Bartlett, Nick Webster, Will Griffin, Britt Burns and Jillian (Corley) Winterkorn in attendance. Earlier Friday was the men's team's first foray at Minnewaska, while the women did an excellent tempo workout at the rail trail in New Paltz. Tomorrow morning, we'll do our long runs at two rail trail venues, hoping to get the miles in before Hurricane Henri unleashes rain and wind. We are thinking about our many friends and alums in the Long Island/NYC area. Get safe and be safe.   

Whole in one

 

Thanks to senior captain Becca Walters for sharing this photo from the team's mini-golf outing last night. 

Preseason, day 1

The women ran at Vassar Farm. The men had their usual Mills Hills workout in Staatsburg. Vans and cars had sweaty seats in the late morning, as the dewpoint reached Florida-in-the-summer levels. Gatorade coolers were filled. There was energy. There was enthusiasm. Preseason cross country has begun. So many signs of normalcy, hope from the new faces, the sort-of new faces and the athletes that have been around here for a long time too. Yes, we wore masks in the vans and cars. Yes, we scrambled for our face coverings as we entered buildings. There was a first team lift. There was a wrong turn on the way to Mills (of course!). There was a problem with our IDs entering the dining hall – again! Yes, all in a day of preseason that steers its course back to normalcy. And then! A text from my son in the late afternoon telling me that the Air Force Marathon – a race in about four weeks in Ohio, for which he was training – was shuttered due to Covid concerns, that was a cold-water-to-the-face wakeup call that we are still living this and breathing this. Even while we plan for an as-normal-as-possible Day 2.    

Tiptoeing into preseason

Cross country student-athletes arrived in the McCann Center lobby to get their room keys. Off-campus athletes came to help the freshmen navigate their way around campus. Fist bumps, hand-shakes, high-fives … oh, come on already, even some hugs too. Finally, some hugs. It’s been a long, slow slog, but two years after our previous cross country preseason, we tentatively dip our toes back into the waters of normalcy. While wearing a mask. While knowing this Delta variant lurks, all over the country and here in Dutchess County, and right here in our home. Our youngest son? Already had Covid back in February, fully vaccinated since early June. Sore throat wakes him up a few nights ago, keeping him up. Chills. Headache. Runny nose. Uh-oh. Here we go, off to the doctor’s office. Strep test = negative. Covid test … what, THIS again? Finally, we get word, after two days of nervous waiting: He’s negative. Phew. He’s not some miraculous double-breakthrough case. For now, at least. Masks, contact tracing, rapid tests, PCR tests, it’s all still part of our vernacular. This shit’s far from over.

But on Wednesday, we prepared to start our preseason. We handed out keys. We handed out gear. We had meetings. There was a snafu about our being at dinner in the dining hall – an honest mistake and miscommunication. Stuff that would have annoyed us in the past, it makes us smile now. Lots of smiles – behind the masks inside, for the world to see outside. We’ll be loading into vans and cars Thursday morning for practice, wearing masks. Because that’s what we must do. But we will run, free and easy, not breathing through masks and gaiters, until we’re back in the vans and back inside, when the face coverings return.

Tiptoeing into preseason and hopefully a racing season with few if any hiccups. It’s not perfect, and we’re constantly looking over our shoulder for variants and breakthroughs and pauses and all the other jargon of 2020-2021, and you know what? It beats being stuck at home, walking the dogs.

Kitt soars in Hartford 5km race

Rising junior Jon Kittredge had a race that was a “work of art” the other night in Hartford. Kitt won the CFA Society Hartford Corporate 5K on Thursday night. His official time was 15:55 and according to various measurements the course may have been long, with his extrapolated time perhaps being 15:34. No matter. Either way, it’s a PR, and that’s great news for him (and for us) entering preseason with big goals. Kitt opted to forgo his Marist singlet in favor of this way-too-cool Bob Ross singlet. For those who don’t know who Bob Ross was (oddly enough, I do!), he had a cult following on PBS for his painting for beginners classes. With the magic of YouTube, he has a renewed audience for his quirky, mesmerizing way of teaching us how to paint. As I type this, on my back porch, next to me are a few Bob Ross-inspired paintings that my kids did while watching him last year. The “Bob Ross phase” was definitely one of many during the pandemic. In fact! Some of the Bob Ross-inspired paintings actually hung in my daughter’s dorm room during her freshman year up there.

Anyway, according to Strava and to Kitt’s post-race texts, his mile splits were 4:44 (yikes! downhill!), 5:12, 5:06. His dad Chuck was there to cheer him on. And! He ran into/met Marist Running Alum Jillian (Corley) Winterkorn. Jillian lives in Shelton, Conn., now. She was first in her age group (30-39), third in the women’s race and 14^th overall in a strong time of 20:06 (6:30 pace). Very cool when different generations of Marist Running can connect like that.  

Cool weather, awesome Olympic performances

Well, since the last time I had done a few posts, which I incorrectly assumed would lead to a flurry of more regular posts, the weather has turned far more temperate – even downright cool for the middle of the summer, and no one is complaining about that! And of course the Olympic track and field events have gotten into full swing and have been sizzling. What a meet – for USA athletes specifically but for track and field in general! So many historic best performances – some of which has been attributed to the fast track and humid weather in Tokyo. I just had a thought, though: We always hear about the “silver linings” of the pandemic – and gosh, isn’t that just a dreary cliché anymore? One “silver lining” might be that elite level track athletes traveled and competed less and trained more consistently without the interruption of the aforementioned constant travel and competition. And that has led to THIS. Or, it could just be the simple fact that there are truly amazing women and men track athletes out there, and that we are in a “golden era” for our sport. Either way, it’s been great to follow and sometimes watch. I’m grateful for loyal alums who keep me constantly updated on the happenings over there. I’ve even gotten my usually track-neutral/apathetic family members mildly interested in the meet. Here's hoping these final few days turn out as stellar as the first week of track competition. OK!

Jeep wave

In case you don’t follow my wife Heidi on Facebook, or in case I didn’t mention it in a post (I can’t remember and I’m too lazy to check), back in November 2020, she got a 2017 Jeep Wrangler. She loves it. She loves driving with the top down. She loves the look, the feel, the vibe. She loves everything about it. I do not share this (or any) enthusiasm about this vehicle. I drive it grudgingly – when I have to (snowstorms) or when I’m told to (fortunately, that’s rare). I’m not a fan. Let’s leave it at that. But Heidi? She LOVES it. Oh wait. I think I mentioned that already. But it cannot be overstated. Heidi is not a “thing” person – neither of us are. We’ve never been too much about big, gaudy purchases – it’s not in our personality nor in our bank accounts’ ability. So, through the years, it’s kind of worked out. We don't make frivolous big purchases because we can't make such big purchases. Until we got this Jeep. Which, for those that do not know? Are pretty expensive. But again. She loves it. Oh yeah, we’ve covered that already.

Well. Anyway. Apparently, there’s this “thing” among Jeep drivers – real Jeeps, the Wranglers, Rubicons, Willys, etc., not the SUVs and other “normal” looking cars that have the Jeep brand on it. The “real” Jeep drivers have this thing called the “Jeep wave.” Perhaps you drive a Jeep and you know about this. Perhaps you don’t live under a rock like me and are already aware of this “thing,” in which fellow Jeep drivers wave at each other – a distinct, peace-sign-two-finger wave. It’s called the “Jeep wave.” It’s a thing. I guess. Heidi picked up on it quickly. She does the Jeep wave. Other Jeepers (are they called that?) wave back. They are happy. She is happy. I’m happy because she’s happy. Life goes on – and if you are riding in a real Jeep, life goes on with much road noise. So, the few times I’ve driven that Jeep (again, grudgingly), I was getting waved at by these random Jeepers. I’ve been known to wave randomly at people (especially on the Marist campus), so with a little prompting this was an easy habit for me to pick up on.

Of course, because I’m an immature idiot, I cannot just leave it at that. As part of our Jeep transaction back in the fall, we traded in my beloved Subaru Forester (hey, it made the most sense) and now I drive the family minivan, a 2013 Honda Odyssey, for which I get incessantly ridiculed by my morning jog buddies … and which I immediately loaded up with magnets and stickers. I felt like Picasso with a blank slate. All this metal to be covered with magnets and stickers! (Again, for reference, I’m an immature idiot). So, the other day, I decided – randomly and for no reason at all, other than rampant immaturity – that I would start doing the Jeep wave as I passed Jeepers. While driving the minivan. This has been met with complete apathy and perhaps bafflement – Jeep drivers are not prone to wave at minivan drivers, especially nerdy older guys who get excited about going to the public library. But hey, I’m on a mission. I’m getting me some Jeep waves. For the record, I did get one, as I was waiting to make a left turn onto our road, off state Route 9G. I was stationary, an easy target for the usually distracted eyes of oncoming traffic. A Jeep passed. I waved, peace-sign and all. The guy waved back, probably out of reflex or confusion or both. I’m going to keep this up, if only to annoy the heck out of my kids, who think it’s stupid. Of course, it’s stupid! That’s the point!