YMCARunners Manhandle Mount Desert Island Marathon

On October 19, 2008, a small band of YMCARunners traveled to beautiful Bar Harbor, Maine to take on the Mount Desert Island Marathon. Many runners consider this course to be among the toughest in the U.S., and we can confirm as much. The pre-marathon disclaimer read more like a canned obituary for someone who was ready to meet his maker. Our favorite part:

"Our best advice is to treat this race as a 'mini-ultra marathon' . The terrain is challenging and personal bests for the distance are extremely difficult to achieve." (Apparently, Teresa Calio didn't read the disclaimer)

The MDI Marathon was a Halloween nightmare featuring a relentless roller coaster of nearly nonstop hills and little level terrain. With a frosty start temp of 32 degrees and a stiff wind off the North Atlantic, our runners encountered more trick than treat. Nevertheless, our YMCARunners pulled out some excellent performances among stunning fall foliage, picturesque villages and MDI's gorgeous granite ledged coast. Here are their results:

Tony Stafford 3:03:20 6:59 Pace (16 / 700ish)

Kurt Brewer 3:04:52 7:04 Pace (17 / 700ish) 3rd Age Group

Teresa Calio 3:22:17 7:45ish Pace 1ST Age Group PR!!

John Fish 3:35:08 8:10 Pace PR

Micale Miles Indeed! YMCARunners Race 15k

The Downtown YMCARunners enjoyed a miraculous break in the customarily torrid race conditions for the Chick-fil-A Miracles Miles 15k this weekend. Yes, we get the irony of a fast food outfit sponsoring an athletic event. For the record, Chick-fil-A offers the "healthiest" fast food in the business. And let's be clear: the chicken sandwiches offered by Chick-fil-A at the end of the race are no worse than the usual post-race indulgence of pancakes/bacon/eggs/mimosa's.

Miracle Miles is always a surly event because of the distance required (9.3 miles) in Orlando's tropical September conditions. A few years ago the event organizers got savvy and moved the race to the end of September with an earlier start time. "Chick" super sized the post race party (I know, wrong fast food company) and offered up some serious Tag Heuer bling to the overall finishers. This year, Miracle Miles was blessed with a miraculous cold front that dropped the starting temp to an astounding 67 degrees with scant humidity. Our YMCARunners took advantage of the November-like conditions to post some impressive results.

Alan Lawson, 1:05:25 (7:01)
Carey Rothschild, 1:07:41 (7:15)
Carlos "Speedy" Pereyera, 59:43 (6:24)
Christina Sahr, 1:25:39 (9:11)
Dave Collias, 1:09:11 (7:25)
David Dix, 1:01:10 (6:33), 4th Age Group
David King, 1:33:42 (10:03)
Donnie McCammon, 59:35 (6:23)
Erin Volz, 1:17:43 (8:20)
Hulya Atli, 1:06:27 (7:07), 1st Age Group
Jason Kaiser, 1:02:18 (6:41)
Jeff "T-Plow" Tecau, 58:18 (6:15)
Joe Kivett, 1:25:38 (9:11)
Joel Remigio, 1:08:00 (7:17)
John Napolitano, 1:06:23 (7:07)
Julie Yocum, 1:20:08 (8:35)
Karlye Martorelli, 1:38:20 (10:33)
Kevin Radbill, 1:04:18 (6:53)
Kim Capps, 1:14:48 (8:01)
Kim Thomas, 1:35:33 (10:15)
Kristi Troy, 1:14:58 (8:02)
Kurt Brewer, 58:29:00 (6:16), 3rd Age Group
Marc Hustad, 1:16:19 (8:11)
"Boss" Mark Russell, 1:20: 11 (8:36)
Mary Beth Mottern, 1:18:11 (8:23)
Matt Renfroe, 1:21:18 (8:43)
Mike Hoffman, 1:12:32 (7:46)
Mike Masur, 1:03:30 (6:48)
Mylene Dally, 1:14:49 (8:01)
Patrick Marshall, 51:38 (5:32), 1st Age Group, 4th Overall
Paul Lynn, 1:14:47 (8:01), 3rd Age Group
Pauline Cumming, 1:31:17 (9:47)
Rebecca Hickam, 1:27:15 (9:21)
Rob Hambrecht, 59:06 (6:20)
Rod Jaeger, 1:12:03 (7:43)
Shannon Sarkarati, 1:27:15 (9:21)
Stephen Gidus, 1:03:42 (6:50)
Steve Key, 1:02:51 (6:44)
Teresa Calio, 1:03:11 (6:46), 1st Age Group
Tim Perry, 1:01:59 (6:39), 5th Age Group
Tracy Cook, 1:20:37 (8:38)
Victor Sojos, 1:09:03 (7:24)

YMCARunners Roll at Rock 'N Run 5k

Congratulations to the YMCARunners who braved sultry race conditions to suffer through 3.1 miles of all-out pain at the Rock 'N Run 5k. As usual, the Downtown YMCARunners posted some awesome results, the likely product of our brutal summer training program. Here are the preliminary results from the 5K:

PAT MARSHALL (16:06) 3rd Overall
ALEKS MARKOVICS (18:00) 2nd Age Group
BRENT SCHMIERBACH (18:58) 3rd Age group
DANNY WARDEH (19:08) 4th Age Group
KATHY GAGNIER (20:26) Masters Champion
KEVIN RADBILL (19:44)
CESAR ESTRADA (19:52)
CAREY ROTHSCHILD (21:23)
ONEAL BARNETT (21:32)
ALEX NEGRON (21:44)
DINA MENG (22:38) 3rd Age Group
JULIAN WHITAKUS (29:07)
BOB ERICSON (25:27)

YMCARunners Race 2008-'09 Grand Prix Kick Off

Congratulations to all of the Downtown YMCARunners who rolled out for the first event of the "Grand Prix" Series sponsored by Track Shack. Given the lovely August weather, the Celebration of Running 5k is kind of like elective surgery. You want to put it off, but you just have to get past it. The folks at Track Shack sweetened the pot with a tech shirts and Disneyesque pageantry, but this was a difficult run nevertheless with plenty of twists and turns, brick streets and Sri Lanken style humidity.

Here are the club results:

Katy Radkewich, 3rd overall, 18:31
Pat Marshall, 2nd overall, 15:58
Kathy Gagnier, 1st Grand Masters, 19:34
Bill Vanos, 1st age group, 17:16
Aleks Markovic, 4th age group, 18:33
DAnny Wardeh, 2nd age group, 19:02
Brian Furgala, 3rd age group, 19:51
John Napolitano, 4th age group, 20:55
Kim Capps, 2nd age group, 22:50
John Van Valkenburg, 4th age group, 21:13
Alex Negron, 21:52
O'Neal Barnett, 22:23
DAve Collias, 22:22
Sean Dishman, 24:00
Pete Barts, 22:48
Jeff Boley, 19:43
Julian Whitekus, 23:23
Bob Ericson, 24:07
Paul Lynn, 24:01
Tara O'Keeffe, 24:52
Carey Rothschild (Kosson), 21:43
Beth Stone, 24:22

YMCARunners Kick Off 2008-'09 Season with 12th Annual Xentury City 5K

Before Track Shack's storied Grand Prix Series begins, there is a little known 5k race that is unfortunately one of the best kept secrets of the Central Florida racing season. Located in the strangely named "Xentury City" area around the corner from the Gaylord Palms Hotel, the I-Drive U-Run 5k features the fastest 5k course in the greater Orlando area. Unlike every Grand Prix 5k, there are no brick streets, no twists and turns, no narrow passages. What you get instead is a straight out and back course on a capacious three lane highway. If this race was held later in the season, it would easily boast the fastest 5k times in Central Florida. The I-Drive U-Run also features loads of distractions for the kiddies, and this year's gorgeous dark blue tech t-shirt could easily be the nicest racing T handed out in years. With the first event of the Grand Prix the following, week, many of Orlando's racing elite skip this treat in preparation for the Grand Prix kickoff. Travesty! No matter, because our YMCARunners always make a great showing at this event, albeit not in the numbers found at the typical downtown Orlando/ Winter Park races. Here are their results:

Teresa Calio 20:19 / 6:32 pace Masters Champion
Kurt Brewer 18:29 / 5:56 pace 1st Place Age Group
Aaron Michelson 25:08 / 8:05
Jeff Boley 19:05 / 6:08 2nd Place Age Group
Paul Linn 23:09 / 7:27 2nd Place Age Group
Terry Kitch 30:08 / 9:41
Nancy Kitch 30:09 / 9:42