Running Around

Basketball Revisited

So, it looks like Jermaine O’Neal will not be a Celtic after all. Of course in Pro Sports one never can be sure about anything. That does not change the basic premise. He was at one time, and probably could still be, a pretty decent runner.

Perhaps we should talk NFL. Did anyone know that Alan Page ran marathons after retiring from the NFL?

How about auto racing, several racers have run marathons, most notably Buz Calkins, and Michael Waltrip.

Basketball

No this blog is not about basketball. It is about a basketball player or few who happen to be, rather have been runners.

The hot rumor today is that Columbia’s own Jermain O’Neal may be traded to the Boston Celtics. Sure some Guy, named Garnett and a few others, from 4-5 teams might be involved, but O’Neal is the story as far as I’m concerned.

I grew up near Boston. I still root for the teams from Boston even though I’ve lived in SC since I was 16. I do root for players from SC. It has been tough watching Indiana play Boston, hoping O’Neal has a good game, but that the Celtics win.

I’ve seen O’Neal play basketball a few times. Most of them in high school, but a few times in Charlotte, and once (in a practice game) in Indianapolis. Most of the times I’ve seen O’Neal compete has been as….

a Runner.

That’s right. Oneal ran (as every basketball player did for George Glymph at Eau Claire) cross country.  He was pretty good too running around 18 minutes. Being at a cross town rival school I got to see O’Neal run on numerous occasions. He moved well for a big guy, and fast too. I guess they say the same thing about him on the basketball floor.

That reminds me of another Basketball player, Xavier Mcdaniel, who ran cross country for Bob Reynolds at AC Flora, who also ran in the low 18’s for 5 kilometers, and was on a State championship winning cross country team, before he won a state championship in basketball.

The point of cours is that X-Man had some good years in Boston as a Celtic. I hope a few years from now we can say the same thing about Jermaine O’Neal.

Training

I get to train this weekend. Sure I ran 62 miles last Saturday, but that was not training, it was racing. This weekend there is no race, no out of town trip (although Jon is racing in Ohio).

It is just me the roads and some miles. I wonder, should I do long runs? Double workouts? How about a triple? Maybe I should throw in some speedwork.

I’m at a good place, I’m not sure what my next race will be. I know some that are on the horizon, but the specific next race? I’m not sure.

That is ok. This weekend. I’m just training!

Heat Training II

It was hot in Indiana over the weekend.  I expected as much, so this is not a complaint, just a statement of fact.I built up slowly for the 12 hour race I went to run by standing in the sun most of Friday watching Formula 1 cars (along with GT3, Formula BMW, and Indy Pro Series) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. You could say that got me warmed up.

Saturday started warm, and quickly got hot. By the time I crossed 50 Kilometers, at just under 5 hours, it was too hat to do much more serious running, so I slowed down and kept moving. I drank copiously, poured water over my head, and tried to relax in the shady sections of the 5 kilometer loop where, even though hot, there was a reprieve from the relentless sun.

When 12 hours had passed I had covered 62.4 miles. I had predicted 100 Kilometers (62.137119 miles) so I was not disappointed. I still would have liked to have run a few more miles. I guess I’ll just chalk it up to not being sufficiently heat trained.

Full results are up at:

http://www.hawthornhalfdayrelay.com/index.html

Heat Training

I sure hope my heat training pays off. (I haven’t really done much heat training.) OK, I hope my competition at the race this weekend, in Indiana, thinks I have heat training, since I’m from South Carolina. Most of the runners in the event are from Indiana, and the Midwest. There is a fellow from Texas (I wonder if he is heat trained) a woman from Tennessee, and several runners from Missouri. (Is that Midwest or south?)

In any case there will be a twelve hour race contested on Saturday http://www.hawthornhalfdayrelay.com/index.html about an hour from Indianapolis Motor Speedway where I will spend most of the rest of the weekend at US Grand Prix activities. Yep, I race Saturday, Formula 1 races Sunday, only sixty miles apart.

There will even be cars RACING at the Speedway for part of the time I am running. I have mixed emotions on that.  I have only missed two racing events at IMS since 1985. One was an Indy Pro Series event when I could not get away from work for the weekday running of the race.  The other was a Brickyard 400 I missed to take my wife to the NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremonies the year Dan Marino (Her favorite athlete of all time) was inducted.

This year I will miss an IMSA GT3 Cup race, a Formula BMW event, and an Indy Pro Series race as well. I will take extra motivation for my running during the times races are being run at IMS.Now, bereft of any real heat training I have to go run 12 hours on a day that promises hours of temperatures in the 90s. 

It should be cool enough for a fast start, with a gradual meltdown as the temperatures rise. I hope to use the time cars are on track at IMS to through in some surges. Perhaps that will signal to the competition that I am heat trained. I hope so anyway, I’m going to need all the help I can get.

Hitchcock Wood 50 Kilometer

A new Ultra was held in South Carolina Sunday June 3, 2007. Held in Hitchcock Wood in Aiken the race saw 30 of the 35 registered runners toe the line at the start. That was pretty good considering Tropical Storm Barry was dumping water on the course. 

Race director Terri Hayes had worried before the event about the dry sand on the course. That would probably been preferable to the mud and puddles. In any case the runners were in good spirits, especially the 10 or so first time ultra runners, at the 7 AM start. 

The rain persisted for 4 hours, then it was muggy, then the sun came out and it got hot. Nevertheless the runners persisted. A few made wrong turns, including me, but in fairness to the race director every corner was marked exactly as she said they would be. Lack of attention, or misreading the markings led to many cases of runner error. 

When all was said and done 27 of the 30 starters finished. Most slower than they expected to run, but they finished. .Jordan Emmorey won by pulling away from Brian Kistner on the last of the three 10.5 mile loops. Craig Cooper and Brian Roth both caught and passed the fading Kistner on the last loop to finish second and third, leaving Kistner fourth. Before worrying about Eugene Bruckurt in last place consider the fact he is 72 years old and traveled from Chicago to enjoy this South Carolina event. 

 On the women’s side Jackie Lafontaine  and  Iva Lightsey were  together at the aid station after two loops. Lafontaine left out first and pulled away for a comfortable win. Janelle Zmielski held off Cheri Milne for third. 

Enough praise cannot be given to the outstanding volunteers, who were in fact outstanding in the rain for hours, then the humidity came, and finally the hot sun. These fantastic people manned the start finish station, as well as the station at the 1/2 way mark. They were cheerfull, helpful, and laden with goodies throughout the race. (They even chased race director Terri Hayes back onto the course after she ran sweep on the first loop so she could compete in,  and complete her own race.)

Results 

1. Jordan Emmorey                      5:15:12
2. Craig Cooper                           5:18:58
3. Brian Roth                                5:27:55
4. Brian Kistner                            5:30:50
5. Dan Schuster                            5:41:05
6. Rick Stroud                              5:41:05
7. Robert Bannan                         6:00:02
8. Adam McBride                        6:05:00
9. Cliff Corley                               6:07:11
10. Tim Cobb                                 6:07:55
11. Russ Johnson                            6:41:55
12. Rick Gibbons                            6:50:17
13. Tim Monetti                              6:50:17
14. Ray Krolewicz                          7:36:21
15. Jackie Lafontaine                       7:37:25         First Female
16. Kevin Frontz                             7:44:51
17. Iva Lightsey                              7:56:44         Second Female
18. Ron McBee                              8:07:09
19. Janelle Zmielski                         8:16:44          Third Female
20. Cheri Milne                              8:17:22           Fourth Female
21. Robin Blackburn                       8:25:14           Fifth Female
22. Andrew Colee                          8:37:04
23. Walt Prescott                           9:52:10
24. Joye McElroy                           9:56:14            Sixth Female
25. Terri Hayes                              10:20:25           Seventh Female
26. Anne Rentz                               10:34:42           Eithth Female
27. Eugene Bruckurt                       10:58:30