Spring continued to regress back toward winter. (Did anyone else see snowflakes on Tuesday?) It was drab and cool (low 50s) as Jim Myers, John Domico, Tom Cali, Costas Maranas, John Sheakoski, Jim Moore, Bob Cornwall, Randy Jepson, Mike Casper, Mark Fedkin, Ron Cunfer, Jonathan Thurley, Esther Prins, Kathy Koetje-Simin, Chris Cook, Michael Goldfine, Mark Traband, Rob Peterson, Matt Soccio and Marty Mazur headed for the track.
Today was basically a support group day for several of our beloved nutcases. John Sheakoski, LDC, Jonathan Thurley, Michael Goldfine, and Bob Cornwall are running the Pocono Marathon this weekend. Sheakoski is the sanest in the bunch. He's been there (and to Boston), and done that. Nothing to prove. He's going in order to support Bob Conrwall, who will be trying to qualify for Boston. Bob's gotten back into running competitively since last year's mOUnTainBACK and now Mr. Midlife wants to run Boston (and other goals) when he turns 50 next year. Jonathan Thurley is a babe in the woods, marathon-wise, but seems to have been beguiled by the other nutcases in the group. Michael Goldfine was severely punished at the New Jersey Marathon a couple of weeks ago. He bonked at 10 miles due to the high heat, winds, and humidity and dropped out at the half-way point. He'll be looking for redemption. But the biggest nutcase has to be Kathy "LDC", "BM" Koetje-Simin. She's seriously auditioning for Marathon Maniacs, having done Boston in near PR time, then generously (and successfully) paced a 4:15 group at New Jersey's inferno a couple weeks later. And now she's doing Pocono. There's some scariness in this woman's psyche. Maybe what's needed is not a support group but an intervention!
The Crew did two-person 6X400 relays. Not our hardest workout, but plenty challenging if you end up in synch with another duo!
The Crew could have used a little more support today. Dana Todd, John Ake, Kirk Rager, and Jim Laudermilch were out doing loops of the Creamery instead of the track. They tried to make it look like they were running, but the Peachy Paterno stains were a dead give-away. Tara Murray was trying, for some reason, to learn French in one morning. Meira Minard was resting her Hyner for the next big trail race. But the biggest nutcase in the Club, Jeff Smucker, was stashing pairs of shoes in the woods so he'd have something fresh to change into during his 12 hour training run on Sunday!