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Written by Martin Mazur

The Centre Volunteers in Medicine Marathoners for Medicine Challenge Team is looking for runners who are competing in a SPRING MARATHON or HALF-MARATHON to join our team. Raise money to help your friends and neighbors without health insurance receive affordable medical and dental care.

Combine your love of running with an opportunity to make a difference to the individuals who receive care at CVIM, their families, their friends, their employers, their communities and all the people they touch in their lives. For more information or to join the team, contact Jaimie Wright at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

There will be a kick-off meeting for Marathoners For Medicine team for March 3 at St. Paul's United Methodist Church at 5:30 p.m. Pizza will be served; please feel free to bring a side dish or dessert to share. We will be using the 3rd floor of their Education Building (the building directly across Calder Way from the church).   People can park in the church parking lot after 5PM. The lot is accessed via Calder Way right behind the church and next to the Education Building.   Additional parking is available in the McAllister Street municipal parking deck (just behind Rotelli’s).  Enter the Education Building via the double glass doors facing McAllister street. 

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Written by Mike Renz

March 4, 2014

Try climb the Crest
‘Cause you’re on a run
And runners gotta train to take it

Try to believe
Though the hills get rough
That you gotta climb hard to train it

Hills repeat themselves
Climb and you’ll succeed
Never doubt that you’ll scale it

And you can have your dreams!
Climb the Crest!  Repeat!
Nothing’s gonna ever keep you down
Climb the Crest!  Again!
Nothing’s gonna stop you from training haaaard!

The Karate Kid was busy, so it was up to Mike Martin, Dean Capone, Jim Moore, Ben Tolton and Mike Renz to run some repeats on HillCrest Ave.  It’s a short steep hill, so they climbed it 6 times in total! Quite the tiring workout, but they persevered and knocked them out in quick succession. Small turnout for good weather. Hopefully, everyone was just on a short break from hill workouts. Marathons are just around the corner, and you’ll kick yourself later when you have no kick in the later miles of your race!

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Written by Marty Mazur

The 2014 Race Series is underway. Two races in the Series, First Night and the Indoor Mile Series, have been run. A Leaderboard showing the top point getters through the first two races is shown below. Full tallies to date are shown here.

The 2014 Series will feature two races new to the Series: The Flutopia 5K and the Allegheny Front Trail Runs. Unfortunately, these races will be held this year on the same day, July 26, but they attract different kinds of runners, so there shouldn't be too big a conflict. The Flutopia 5K is set in beautiful Tudek Park and features musicians on the course. It was a big hit in its inaugural running last year. The Allegheny Front Trail Runs are entering their third year. They are a set of 3 trail runs, 50K, 20K, and 1 Mile, in and around Black Moshannon State Park.

There are also several new opportunities to earn Volunteer points: Helping out at the NVRC/Centre Parks and Rec Youth Cross-Country Meets, Volunteer coaching with the Nittany Track and Field Youth Group, and donating blood at the NVRC Blood Drives. (If you donated at last month's drive, email Series tally-master This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. !)

You have to be an NVRC member to participate. Join the Club! More information on the Series is here.

Leaderboard

Race Series

Volunteer Awards

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Written by Martin Mazur

Three important volunteering opportunities to help our running community are just waiting for you to pitch in.

(1) The Knights of Columbus 5K needs a new director. The race is a great opportunity for a budding Race Director: It’s a known race, but a small race. You’d get plenty of help learning the ropes. There’s plenty of lead time: the race is in early October. If we can find someone to take over this race, it would return in 2014 to it’s old staging area at the Knights Hall on Stratford Drive. Contact Marty Mazur at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for information.

(2) The NVRC needs a new Apparel/Schwag coordinator. This person would take care of the things the Club currently sells, such as logo magnets and running apparel, and look for new opportunities to bring NVRC-labeled products to our membership. Contact Marty Mazur at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

(3) Finally, the Boalsburg Memorial Day Race would like to find a new director. This is a large (~400 runners) but well-established race. It’s part of the larger Boalsburg Memorial Day festivities. It’s not an NVRC Club race, but has been put on for nearly 40 years. Though the race is big, the fact that it’s so well-established can make it relatively easy to inherit. Ashley Kraige is the current director. She would be available to help this year with the transition of leadership. Please contact her This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are interested.

Thanks for your consideration.

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Written by Bwana

March 6, 2014

While warming up at the track, Bwana mused that he may have run over 100 miles indoors so far this year, and possibly even more miles than he’s run outdoors. (When he got back to his running log, he found that he’d figured right.) It’s been that kind of winter. And with temperatures in the mid-20s and an outdoor track still covered in snow, it looked like yet another indoor day as Judd Michael, Mark Fedkin, George Lesieutre, Costas Maranas, Marty Klanchar, Alex Wouden, Andy Maguire, Jaimie Wright, Mike Renz, Ron Cunfer, Lee Culver, Mike Martin, Jim Laudermilch, Dana Todd, Jeff Welsh, Rob Peterson, Joe Bollinger, Rich Harter, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur headed for the track. But Bwana has been turning that situation to his advantage as much as possible. If it’s hard to get lots of miles in on the indoor track (boring!), at least make them quality miles. So, besides the Thursday Track workout, Bwana has been doing a variety of fartlek and pace workouts.
 
It looks like a few of Bwana’s Crew have been getting in some quality workouts this winter, despite the weather. A few of the marathoners were doing lots of longer reps, so Bwana called a workout that followed their lead: The 3-4-4-3 March Bracket workout. Run 3 laps in lane 5 at close to your mile race pace. Take a lap rest, then do 4 laps in lane 5 at the same pace. Then kick it up by moving out to lane 6 and doing 4 laps there in as good a time or better than your 4 in lane 5. After another lap rest, top it off by doing 3 laps in lane 6 with all you’ve got left! These reps bracket 800 meters, so you’re essentially doing something like 4X800, but with a little speed and distance variation.

The whole Crew turned in a great workout. David Lloyd is getting a lot faster and needing much less rest to keep a consistent workout going. And Joe Bollinger liked his reps so much that he didn’t realize he was “done” and did a whole ‘nother 3 lapper!  And like I said earlier, some of the marathoners were doing a high volume of long reps. George ran 5X1K. Jaimie was doing 7X4 laps in lane 4. Jaimie may have had the best workout of anyone. She didn’t realize just how much more 4 laps in lane 4 (882 m) is than 4 laps in lane 1 (800 m). So she was going along cranking out her “800s” in 3:10-3:15 thinking “Why is this so HARD?” Well, if you do the math, she was running around 2:55 for an 800, that’s why!

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Written by Martin Mazur

Our Lady of Victory Catholic School is searching for a head track and field coach and an assistant coach for this coming season. The OLV track program is for middle-school aged students (grades 6-8). Sixth graders work out with the team, and seventh and eighth graders compete in meets. The positions are paid. Practice time is 2:30-4, Monday-Friday. They have a 7 meet schedule. If you are interested in either of these positions, send your résumé and cover letter to Kathy Bechdel at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .