Hard to believe that I didn't really want to run too hard...but managed a 1:32.53 Half Marathon at the Gettysburg Blue/Gray race yesterday in snow covered Gettysburg!This was good for 20th place out of 420 finishers. And, second in my age group. I would have received an apple pie if I'd stayed! LOL
Pictures of the run will be uploaded tonight!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Felicia "REPRESENTS" - Way to go Girl!
Sometimes you just don't realize at the time that something special is brewing. Felicia did this when she asked, "Can I come up and work with you at Catoctin"
Little did we know that having this wonderful young lady come up from Middletown's youth running club would lead to a dual-championship high jumper! (We have to give some credit to Middletown, right!?)
But alas, this is exactly what happened.
Felicia began working with Catoctin earlier this season with Kathy (Coach Kathy) on high jump as there wasn't much of an opportunity to jump in Middletown. Several practices, bleacher relays, sharks and minnows and video taping those eyes shut and what happened?
Another regional Champion!! Thank you Felicia for allowing Catoctin to "adopt" you as part of our Team - you've been a great addition (and we found out she's a pretty good trail runner too....do we see cross country in the near future?) LOL
Little did we know that having this wonderful young lady come up from Middletown's youth running club would lead to a dual-championship high jumper! (We have to give some credit to Middletown, right!?)
But alas, this is exactly what happened.
Felicia began working with Catoctin earlier this season with Kathy (Coach Kathy) on high jump as there wasn't much of an opportunity to jump in Middletown. Several practices, bleacher relays, sharks and minnows and video taping those eyes shut and what happened?
Another regional Champion!! Thank you Felicia for allowing Catoctin to "adopt" you as part of our Team - you've been a great addition (and we found out she's a pretty good trail runner too....do we see cross country in the near future?) LOL
Regional Champion!!!!!!!
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Sam "REPRESENT" CYA Track & Field - First Gold Medal!!!
What an awesome day today was! As I had posted on my Facebook page, a coach's job is to place his or her athletes in the best position to succeed. Three weeks ago, I did just that with Sam. Much to the laughter and chagrin of some, and because of that, some convincing to Sam that this event was a viable event, she decided to give race walking a try.
It turns out that Sam is a natural - had the form down in less than 20 minutes. And, the work and effort that we put in (including that one extra practice at Mount St. Mary's) really paid off today!
Despite a sore knee, which quickly became two sore knees, Sam succeeded in her quest to not only complete the race walk, but she did it to perfection - receiving not one demerit for form. Race walkers are judged on their ability to keep both feet on the ground while keeping the front knee locked at all times.
Here is Sam's winning walk:
From the second lap on, Sam's knee was hurting her. The other walkers told her in the bullpen that everyone's knees hurt when they begin race walking because of the stresses the event places on the knee by having to keep the knee straight. But, she continued to race along, and fought through the pain. In fact, she told me afterwards "Oh, I wasn't going to quit." Now that is every coach's dream to hear their athlete make that statement!
So, 3000 meters and 27:28 minutes later, Sam crossed the finish line a CHAMPION!!!
As a coach, is there anything better than this? Can a coach be any more proud of their athlete? Well, yes, when said athlete possesses a humble personality along with a strong, good personal foundation, this simply amplifies their rise to Champion!
Very proud of you Sam! You represented Catoctin proud today!
~Coach John
It turns out that Sam is a natural - had the form down in less than 20 minutes. And, the work and effort that we put in (including that one extra practice at Mount St. Mary's) really paid off today!
Despite a sore knee, which quickly became two sore knees, Sam succeeded in her quest to not only complete the race walk, but she did it to perfection - receiving not one demerit for form. Race walkers are judged on their ability to keep both feet on the ground while keeping the front knee locked at all times.
Here is Sam's winning walk:
From the second lap on, Sam's knee was hurting her. The other walkers told her in the bullpen that everyone's knees hurt when they begin race walking because of the stresses the event places on the knee by having to keep the knee straight. But, she continued to race along, and fought through the pain. In fact, she told me afterwards "Oh, I wasn't going to quit." Now that is every coach's dream to hear their athlete make that statement!
So, 3000 meters and 27:28 minutes later, Sam crossed the finish line a CHAMPION!!!
As a coach, is there anything better than this? Can a coach be any more proud of their athlete? Well, yes, when said athlete possesses a humble personality along with a strong, good personal foundation, this simply amplifies their rise to Champion!
Very proud of you Sam! You represented Catoctin proud today!
~Coach John
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Runnin on the AT Trail - CYA Style!
I have wanted to post for quite some time, some of the kids that are running on the trails in northern Maryland. I coach a youth track and field/XC club with about 45 kids in track and about 20 in XC. Today's post will show some kids on the AT Trail from this past Friday, June 17.
We had an awesome time as we started out from Pen Mar Park, heading towards High Rock. We even manged to recruit two new runners from Middletown - Felicia and Veronica!
They are both strong runners and did very well on the difficult trail.
Next, we had Donovan, and he is very strong runner from Middletown, but now running for Catoctin. Donovan is very fast and usually our front-runner with Lillie (Lillie missed this run!).
We managed to catch one of our runners in "distress" - "What? I have to climb that hill!!" Sam's facial expression is priceless!
But alas we made it to the top of the mountain, High Rock! In this picture we can see Alexi as well as the rest of the kids in previously mentioned. They were looking at the awesome view!
Here is a pic of everyone just before we headed back to Pen Mar:
All told, the kids did great and we made 6.5 miles in 2:35! On July 8, we'll be heading out from High Rock to Raven Rock. More trail news to follow!
We had an awesome time as we started out from Pen Mar Park, heading towards High Rock. We even manged to recruit two new runners from Middletown - Felicia and Veronica!
They are both strong runners and did very well on the difficult trail.
Next, we had Donovan, and he is very strong runner from Middletown, but now running for Catoctin. Donovan is very fast and usually our front-runner with Lillie (Lillie missed this run!).
We managed to catch one of our runners in "distress" - "What? I have to climb that hill!!" Sam's facial expression is priceless!
But alas we made it to the top of the mountain, High Rock! In this picture we can see Alexi as well as the rest of the kids in previously mentioned. They were looking at the awesome view!
Here is a pic of everyone just before we headed back to Pen Mar:
All told, the kids did great and we made 6.5 miles in 2:35! On July 8, we'll be heading out from High Rock to Raven Rock. More trail news to follow!
Monday, September 6, 2010
Labor Pains 12 Mile Ultra
Wow...what an awesome run! If you've not run this race (and you haven't unless you were there yesterday), it is a hoot! Check it out on the link - they will run it again next year.
Forty miles - longest run I've ever done! 7:48 with a new 50K PR of 5:58!!
Forty miles - longest run I've ever done! 7:48 with a new 50K PR of 5:58!!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Frederick Marathon
What a HOT day for a race!
At race time, temperatures were already 78 and humid. The day before it was 22 degrees cooler. We all knew this was going to be tough!
Kristy (my daughter) completed her first half-marathon with Dad pacing her the whole way. Her goal was 1:45 which she just about made with a time of 1:46! Way to go Kristy!!
In addition, Taylor Myers was competing in his first full marathon. More to come on that in a little bit.
The gun went off and we were on our way. Within a half mile there were already people complaining about the heat. Cloudy and overcast but we knew the sun was coming!
Here is another pic of Kristy just before the start:
As you can see, she's ready to go!
The run for the first few miles was fast. We were on a 7:24 pace and looking good. By the time we got to mile five, we were well ahead of many in the pack. Here we are going left at Baker Park in the heart of downtown Frederick:
Our pace slowed down as Kristy's stomach began to give her problems, as well as the heat. Being her first, it is normal to go out too fast and then begin to fade. I've done that plenty of times. LOL
But, in the end, she did finish and here are a couple of pictures to show!
Way to go Kristy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kristy Ann. Steiner #5655
Thurmont, MD, USAAge: 19 Gender: F
| Distance | HALF MAR |
| Clock Time | 1:49:13 |
| Chip Time | 1:49:05 |
| Overall Place | 327 / 2627 |
| Gender Place | 94 / 1451 |
| Division Place | 3 / 34 |
| Age Grade | 60.7% |
| Total Pace | 8:20/M |
| Time Back | 33:11 |
| Tot Div | 2627 |
| Tot Gend | 1451 |
| Tot Ag | 34 |
| 5 8M Rank | INC |
| 5 8M Time | |
| 5 8M Pace | |
| Fin Rank | 427 |
| Fin Time | 1:49:05 |
| Fin Pace | **:05/M |
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Walt Disney Marathon
Like the New York City marathon in 2007, I was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to register for the Walt Disney marathon this year. I was attending a conference and just happened to be over the weekend of the run. What an awesome run!
This is one of the premier runs in the United States. This one makes the listing in Runners World - not even the Baltimore Marathon makes it there yet. This was also the first one that began with a huge fireworks display - it was awesome!
Race opening was COLD! I traveled to Orlando expecting that it'd be overly warm, having come from the mid-Atlantic and it has been cold. However, the weather seemed to wish to acomodate those of us from the north, as gun time temperature was a balmy 27 degrees with a nice 10 mph breeze! Brrrrrrr....
Above is my buddy from Real Green Systems out of Lansing Michigan. Steve ran an awesome marathon under 3:10 and qualified for Boston - "Way to go STEVE!!!" Fortunately for him, I left the car unlocked so he had a relatively warm place to go while waiting for me.
For me, I fully intended to run this race and take pictures. I snapped a whopping 70 pictures on the course. I won't post them all here, but here are a few to follow. I hope you enjoy and if you get a chance to come and run this race, it is well worth it. The whole Disney Team did an awesome job!!!
Here are some pics:
This was (obviously) just running into The Magic Kingdom! What an awesome park. I had no idea how mystical and majestic this place is.
A close up pic of the Kingdom! This pic prompted me to tell my family, "We're going to Disneyworld in 2011~"
This guy was playing piano out on the course - just a fun and awesome time!!!!
Two pics here, one above and the one below of Universal Studios Orlando - too cool!!!
Another pic to follow.
Epcot...what else can you say! :-)
Steve Katz Baby!!!! Cruising to BOSTON!!!!!!! Congratulations Steve!
Whew...glad that is over! LOL
Now, here's the awesome medal:
Sweet! - OUT.......
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