A Trip To States, A Birthday Card, And I Break One of Coach Groves' Favorite Rules

I made it to the PIAA Championships for the first time in many years.  I saw a few friends and missed many others.

Group Friend Henry Klugh and Franklin.

Coach Artie Gilkes and Hannah Humphreys

And PSU Great Curt Stone's 97th birthday is next week.  Greg Fredericks has a plan to send him a big birthday card from us.  I figured everyone should send a greeting to Curt on our Facebook Page and we will include them with a nice greeting from the entire group.

Finally, I purchased a new pair of running shoes from The Inside Track vendor (Henry Klugh's store between Hershey and Harrisburg).  They happened to be a pair of the most talked-about shoe in the world, the Vapor Zoom Fly.

After my first 2 runs in them, I can assure everyone that they do indeed have springs in them (a series of carbon plates in the midsole).   This reduced my heart rate by more than 5% during my treadmill runs at the same miserable speed I have been running all along.  This, of course, violates a rule that Coach Groves holds above nearly all others.

The Marquess of Queensberry rules were adopted long ago for the sport of boxing.  Coach Groves somehow has adopted them for use in running and general life and discussed them many times with me.  Officers of the Group even adopted them for use by our Annual Golf Tourney.  (For those unfamiliar with mirth, this is all tongue-in-cheek!)

One of the rules is that springs are not allowed in boxing shoes!  It remains to the brainiacs of the sport to decide whether they are in running shoes.

The Secret to Running Success Revealed!

Well, maybe not to running, but certainly recovery!  It's compression combined with ice.  Heck, if I had the miracle that is compression garments 30 years ago, I might still be competing today.*

110%

The Equivalent of the Fountain of Youth?

With my wife running The Dopey this year at Walt Disney World's Marathon weekend, we went looking for a way to keep her upright and walking the Parks each day after each of the 4 runs.

1. Thursday - 10K -  Followed by a tour of Epcot, culminating in a Kung Pao meal at the Nine Dragons Restaurant in China.
2. Friday - 5K - followed by a leisurely stroll of the Animal Kingdom, culminating in another Asian meal at the base of Mt. Everest.
3. Saturday - Half Marathon - Followed by rambling about at Disney Hollywood Studios, culminating with dinner at Herbie's Drive In.
4. Sunday - Marathon - With the triumphant limp around the Magic Kingdom with all 6 medals earned.  Not sure about dinner plans.

The best place to pick up your ticket to perpetual movement is The Inside Track in the Harrisburg/Hershey area, conveniently located on Rt. 322!  There are also stores in Lancaster, Mechanicsburg and a new one in Lewisburg at Bucknell University.

Manager Henry Klugh displaying the 1977 District 3 gold Medal he won in the Mile after I was disqualified for tripping him.  Thanks to him, I went on to run the 2-Mile at States instead, for which I'm ever thankful.

* We all know that I made that up.  But let's all pretend anyway!

Reliving Old Times

Everybody already knows I'm quite partial to living in the past.

My daughter Martha ran the Carlisle Invitational today, which is one rather large High School XC race.  There are teams from Virginia, Maryland, New York and all over Pennsylvania.  It is the largest race I know of in the HS XC ranks, even bigger than any District or State Meet.  There are  3 JV Races,  3 Puma Challenge Races and 2 Championship Races. It's an all-day event on a fast, well-marked course.

The best part was seeing an old nemesis of mine from the late 70's.  Henry Klugh runs the Inside Track Running Store between Harrisburg and Hershey. I have previously made him an honorary member of our group, as he already knows many of us and keeps a lot of us in supplies.  I am sure that if you stop by his store he'll be glad to tell the story of how I made him the PA District 3 1-Mile Champion in 1977.  He'll also probably not charge you extra for your shoes and running extras!

Back in modern times, the PSU  Mens team placed 10th at the Greater Louisville XC Classic and the Women's team was 5th.  Transfer Senior Sam Masters paced the men in 17th place while Rebekka Simko was 15th for the women (with a 2 minute PR!!).