November 2016 Volume 19 – Issue 11

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– President's Pen –

Greetings RIRRs! Hard to believe that the year is practically over. Our final club event of the year will be the Beat Santa 5K on Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. in Portsmouth. It is always a great time whether you run or not, so please join us for some holiday cheer. Details can be found on the club website.

The annual awards banquet will be Jan. 28, 2017 at Davenport's in East Providence (same as last year). Details and signups will be coming soon. Solange has generously volunteered to coordinate the awards for New England Cup and Iron Woman/Man awards – typically that solicitation comes on some website named Facebook, but in case you are the other person who isn't on Facebook, please reach out to Solange to provide your credentials.

Lastly, wishing every member and their families much happiness this holiday season, and please don't forget our armed forces, many of who will be deployed away from home.

-- Kevin Brennan

– RIRR Meeting Minutes – November 8, 2016

Meeting called to order at 7:39 p.m.

Membership Report Sept. 2016 -- 173 (77F, 96M; still unscrubbed of July non-renewals, expect about 8-10)

Oct. 2016 -- 175 (78F, 97M) 2015 -- 171 (95M, 76F) 2014 -- 195 (82F, 113M)

Treasurer’s Report Oct. 2016 -- $2,652 ($1,527 Citizens Bank, $1,035 PayPal, $90 cash) No October revenue. October expenses were: $31 Adopt-a-Spot, $168 Constant Contact annual, $25 domain name annual, $21 Quickbooks, $10 Citizens Bank for a total of $257) Nov. 2016 -- $2,830 ($1,496 Citizens Bank, $1,164 PayPal, $170 cash) November revenue: $35 new memberships, $25 membership renewal, 4 Beat Santa 5k entries; $80 pacer singlet sales, November expenses: $21 Quick-books, $10 Citizens Bank. 2015 -- $3,196 ($1,883 Citizens, $25 cash, $1,288 PayPal) 2014 -- $3,171 2013 -- $3,065 (included $1k Beat Santa 5k sponsor-ship)

Grand Prix Report -- Two races left in 2016: The Trot Off Your Turkey 5K on Nov. 26, St. Luke’s School, Barrington, and the Christmas 10K on Dec. 11, at Rogers H.S., Newport.

Website Report -- October -- 428 hits, average of 2.94 pages viewed per visit.

Old Business -- Beat Santa 5k – Slow response, joint marketing opportunity -- Hyannis Marathon room interest – Club will get club room.

New Business -- Boston Marathon entries – No word from BAA as of meeting time. -- Banquet location – Planning for weekend in Feb-ruary or March at Davenport’s. MaryAnne will call. -- Awards stewards – Solange volunteered -- Elections in February – Current officers have been in roles for more than a term. Members dis-cussed preparation for elections. Need candidates to run for officer roles. Need to identify officer re-sponsibilities/succession planning. Members dis-cussed possible restructuring of officer roles Adjourned: 8:15 p.m.

Members in attendance: Christy Brennan Kevin Brennan Don Clukies James O’Reilly Kate McGowan Bryan Ganley

Pat LaChance John Santillo MaryAnne Donato Rick DiLibero Susan Rancourt Lisa Meehan Paul Pare

– Next Club Meeting – Tuesday, Dec. 13, 7:30 p.m., Fratello’s

(formerly Sons of Italy/Spirito’s Restaurant), 99 Hicks Street, East Providence, R.I.

– New Members – Johann Gomez, Rumford, RI

Rob Kallman, Bristol, RI

Tarzan Brown Mystic River Run <

Mystic, Conn. – November 6, 2016

A beautiful, partly sunny day was the setting for nearly 500 runners along the scenic Mystic River. The race starts in downtown Mystic, adjacent to the Hop and Hound Restaurant on Pearl Street. The race course is an out-and-back along Scenic Drive, which parallels and offers spectacular views of the Mystic River. Scenic Drive is also closed to traffic.

The post-race, nearby in Cottrell Park, and also along the river, was the usual clam chowder and brown bread (excellent), along with cider and ap-ples. No goodie bags, but a very nice long-sleeved polyester shirt. I hadn't done this race in a few years, but it was still business as usual, an efficient and well-organized event. The race started at 1:30 p.m., and the awards finished at 3 pm. The post-race continues until the clam chowder is finished.

KUDOS to the members of the Coast Guard Acad-emy from nearby New London. They handled the post-entry registration and the post-race party, as well as provided endless enthusiasm and motivation along the race route. Excellent job. This is a race everyone should try.

-- Mike Goodson Mike Goodson 56:20 10:21 5th 70-74

490 finishers

Taunton YMCA Turkey Trot <

Taunton, Mass. – November 13, 2016

This is a race I have run three years in a row now. The last two years, I was recovering from health is-sues and ran pretty slow. This year, I am feeling bet-ter. I am definitely not back to where I was, but I ran better this time than I did in 2015 and 2014. In

Jack Howley once again gave the Taunton YMCA Turkey Trot and its five-mile course a thumbs up!

the end, this race was good progress for me. I broke a 10-minute pace in five miles for the first time in a while and I felt fine at the end. I think I could have banged out another three, or even four if I had to.

The race course winds through the old Taunton State Hospital campus and then has a small loop through residential Taunton, It has some slight rolls and lots of curvy winds through the hospital cam-pus, but it is mostly very flat. You usually get a good tech shirt and something worthwhile in the goody bag. Hello, free Tom's toothpaste! I recommend this race to get you ready for the Mews, Pie Run, and Trot Off Your Turkey.

-- Jack Howley Mike Proto 35:41 7:09 3rd 50-59 Jorge Matesanz 41:14 8:15 Kate McGowan 41:25 8:17 1st 40-49 Woody Wilson 44:46 8:58 4th 70-plus Jack Howley 48:38 9:44

124 finishers

Philadelphia Marathon <

Philadelphia, Penn. – November 20, 2016

“The Right to go YOUR DISTANCE” is the tagline the organizers of the 2016 version of the Philadelphia Marathon adopted for the races this year. Tradition-ally there are 3 races – an 8k, a half, and a full mara-thon. Until this year, the half and full were run at the same time; however, a change was made to run the half and full on different days, which created the opportunity for runners to compete in the “Rocky Challenge” and run all three races. Quoting my philosophical brother, Ted, who once lamented: “I may be dumb but I'm not stupid.” Same here, so I opted simply for the full. I last ran it in 2013 and I had a great experience.

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A complete map of the Philadelphia Marathon.

Expo - Held at the Philadelphia Convention Center, and since the half was run on Saturday, the event hall was much more accessible that day since it was only folks running the full. Decent-sized event, doz-ens of vendors, well put together.

Course - Really good ... starts with your back facing the Art Museum (think Rocky steps), and you head through Center City (downtown) before reaching the Delaware River and heading south for two miles. Roads are wide enough to where you are un-encumbered to run your own pace by the time you reach mile 1. After mile 4, the course turns back to-ward Center City via an area called South Street (think Thayer Street times 5 or 10), and up into what is known as University City (home of Drexel, UPenn, and I think Temple U). From there, runners pass by the Philadelphia Zoo and into Fairmount Park, where the only notable hill on the course is at mile 11. Down to the banks of the Schuykill River, you go South toward the start line and the Museum before crossing over the river and heading North along Boat House Row and into a village called Ma-nayunk at mile 22. After the turnaround point, you retrace those four miles back to the finish.

Fan Support - Great! There are areas where there is very little out near the zoo, but outside of that, it is consistent, and at times, quite raucous. Center City saw fans three and four deep, and Manayunk re-minds me of Boston College on Marathon Mon-day. The finish line is packed as well.

My Race - Not great, not bad. If I said to you, “Re-member that really windy few days we had back in November?” you would probably say you did be-cause it was several days of persistent strong wind,

and chilly too. Well, the marathon was right in the middle of that, and the wind was significant enough that most experienced runners concluded that PRs would be in short supply that day.

My goal was under 3:25, and given the conditions, I knew it would be a stretch, so I didn't even wear my watch on my wrist, but rather on my belt so I'd be able to see my splits afterwards. My plan was to keep in close contact with the 3:25 group as much as I could, and that was the case for 90% of the race. My splits were all in the 7:45 range until mile 23, when they crept over 8 and then over 9. In the end, I landed at 3:31:29 and the GPS said it was 26.49 miles. My training was decent for this cycle, and if not for the wind, I think I had a decent shot at hitting my goal. For as challenging as the wind was, I can say that fortunately it had calmed from Satur-day night, where it was in the 40 mph range, and it was mostly 25-30, and even better, no rain or snow. So while it could have been better, it cer-tainly could have been worse too.

Logistics - Drove down with Matt and Scott on Sat-urday morning ... 275 miles, about five hours. Stayed at the Sheraton on 17th Street – fantastic lo-cation for this race ... four blocks to start one way, five blocks to expo the other way ... convenient res-taurants nearby, and while the reviews of the hotel generally aren't great, we had a great experience. Wonderful view from the 19th floor. Two minor complaints – no fridge in the room, and no hot tub at the pool.

This was my third Philly Marathon, and I expect there will be a fourth for me.

-- Kevin Brennan Kevin Brennan 3:31:29 Scott Caldwell 4:16:16

11,824 finishers

Run for All Ages <

Wakefield, Mass. – November 5, 2016

David Pember 24:41 7:57 Linda Dewing 30:54 9:57

235 finishers

DNRT 4-Mile Trail Race <

Dartmouth, Mass. – November 5, 2016

Nicole Perrault 38:53 9:23 5th 30-39 Linda Karpinnen 44:37 10:46 3rd 60-69

125 finishers

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Run for Open Space <

Portsmouth, R.I. – November 5, 2016

Webb McDonald 20:06 6:29 4th 30-39 Roger Gosciminski 21:00 6:46 3rd 40-49 Kate McGowan 26:07 8:25 4th 40-49 Don Clukies 28:52 9:18 2nd 70-plus Tom Morley 32:47 10:34 4th 70-plus

227 finishers

Edaville Rail Run <

South Carver, Mass. – November 5, 2016

John Santillo 40:27 8:25 Eric Benevides 40:27 8:25 Bozena Chmielewski 50:05 10:26

256 finishers

Manchester City Marathon <

Manchester, N.H. – November 6, 2016

Libbi Gaiser 3:42:38 BQ! 486 finishers

Colt State Park Half & 5K <

Bristol, R.I. – November 6, 2016

HALF MARATHON Mike Vallee 1:38:33 7:31 3rd 50-59 Brian Quigley 1:39:33 7:35 3rd 20-29 Mark DiFranco 1:42:46 7:50 2nd 60-69 Mike Proto 1:47:55 8:13 4th 50-59 Cecilia Vallee 1:49:11 8:19 1st 60-69 Robert Johnson 1:49:52 8:22 5th 50-59 Mark Schwager 1:53:27 8:39 3rd 60-69 Janet Johnson 2:11:23 10:01 Greg Allen 2:23:35 10:57 Don Clukies 2:29:05 11:22 2nd 70-plus MaryAnne Donato 2:39:59 12:12

174 finishers

5K Penny Catalano 27:33 8:52 1st 60-69 Meriam Traya 31:15 10:03 1st 30-39

69 finishers

Park View Veterans Day 5K <

Cranston, R.I. – November 11, 2016

Mike Proto 21:36 6:58 5th 50-59 Jim Ferns 21:45 7:01 1st 60-69 Eric Benevides 22:52 7:22 Shawn Finnerty 29:40 9:34 James O’Reilly 33:48 10:54 2nd 70-plus

888 finishers

www.rirr.org

CAMY 5K <

Walpole, Mass. – November 12, 2016

Eric Benevides 23:36 7:37 1st 40-49 David Pember 24:38 7:57 1st 70-plus Bozena Chmielewski 29:39 9:34 5th 30-39

80 finishers

R.I. 6-Hour Ultramarathon <

Warwick, R.I. – November 13, 2016

Mike Vallee 5:30:46.1 32.4 miles Bruce Dube 5:50:08.7 32.4 miles Meriam Traya 5:34:06.7 29.7 miles

82 finishers

Seacoast Half Marathon <

Portsmouth, N.H. – November 13, 2016

MaryAnne Donato 2:32:30 11:38 1,086 finishers

Faxon Law Half Marathon <

Guilford, Conn. – November 13, 2016

Solange Morrissette 2:20:37 10:45 734 finishers

Cousins Island 10-Miler <

Yarmouth, Maine – November 19, 2016

Stephanie Wheeler 1:20:43 8:05 3rd 40-49 Jessica Wheeler 1:28:22 8:51 1st 60-69

68 finishers

East Providence Turkey Trot <

East Providence, R.I. – November 19, 2016

Roger Gosciminski 20:26.01 1st 40-49 Jim Ferns 22:04.20 Jorge Matesanz 24:52.77 Kate McGowan 25:33.90 Penny Catalano 26:55.45 Shawn Finnerty 30:26.94 Paul Pare 32:43.80 Pat Kurzynski 32:59.10 Stan Kurzynski 33:14.41

101 finishers

Li’l Rhody Runaround 8-Miler <

Charleston, R.I. – November 20, 2016

Sabina Gellrich 1:14:08 9:16 3rd 50-59 Don Clukies 1:37:44 12:13 4th 70-plus Pat Kurzynski 1:58:51 14:51 2nd 60-69 Stan Kurzynski 1:58:51 14:51

206 finishers

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Wolf Hollow Half Marathon <

Nashua, N.H. – November 20, 2016

Brian Quigley 1:49:46 8:22 David Simmons 2:20:15 10:42

280 finishers

Mews Tavern ‘Gear & Beer’ 6.9K <

Wakefield, R.I. – November 20, 2016

Terrance Jackson 30:15 7:04 Bruce Dube 30:43 7:10 Johann Gomez 31:18 7:18 Ben Caplin 31:25 7:20 Michael Holtman 32:07 7:30 Cordell Cudworth 34:17 8:00 David Pember 34:46 8:07 1st 70-plus Chris Dyson 34:48 8:07 Jennifer Dube 35:53 8:23 Bert Neales 38:08 8:54

1,505 finishers

Newport Pie Run <

Middletown, R.I. – November 24, 2016

Webb McDonald 33:32 6:42 5th 35-39 Mike Vallee 37:10 7:26 Jonathan O’Hara 38:12 7:38 Mark Schwager 39:01 7:48 John Santillo 40:09 8:02 Cecilia Vallee 40:25 8:05 2nd 60-64 Kate McGowan 42:13 8:26 Kelly Powers 51:00 10:12

926 finishers

Lenny & Joe’s 5M Turkey Trot <

Madison. Conn. – November 24, 2016

Solange Morrissette 43:31 8:42 1,748 finishers

Newman YMCA Turkey Trot <

Seekonk, Mass. – November 24, 2016

5K Paul Pare 33:22.86 3rd 60-69

193 finishers

10K Brian Quigley 42:07.30 3rd 20-29

86 finishers

Whitin Five Road Race <

Whitinsville, Mass. – November 24, 2016

Harry Carter 40:16.7 8:03 1st 80-plus David Pember 40:43.8 8:09 1st 70-79 David Simmons 1:00:50.0 12:10

523 finishers

Rhode Island Family Turkey Trot <

Pawtucket, R.I. – November 24, 2016

Julie Henry 33:46.4 10:51 1,095 finishers

Through the years, one of the top five races that has attracted the most RIRR runners has been the Trot Off Your Turkey 5K at St. Luke’s School in Bar-

rington, and this year’s race was no exception! Nine club members were among those who finished in the

top three of their age divisions!

Trot Off Your Turkey 5K <

Barrington, R.I. – November 26, 2016

Roger Gosciminski 20:26 6:35 5th 40-49 Mark DiFranco 21:41 6:59 1st 60-69 Allyson Cole 21:55 7:04 1st 19-under Mike Vallee 22:13 7:10 5th 50-59 Robert Johnson 22:31 7:15 Libbi Gaiser 23:01 7:25 1st 50-59 Chris Dyson 23:34 7:36 John Santillo 23:46 7:40 Cecilia Vallee 24:09 7:47 1st 60-69 Harry Carter 24:10 7:47 1st 70-plus David Pember 24:19 7:50 2nd 70-plus Jorge Matesanz 24:19 7:50 4th 60-69 Eric Benevides 24:43 7:58 Sabina Gellrich 25:08 8:06 2nd 50-59 Solange Morrissette 25:59 8:23 3rd 50-59 Woody Wilson 26:43 8:37 3rd 70-plus Nancy Gendreau 26:45 8:37 5th 50-59 Don Clukies 28:05 9:03 4th 70-plus Janet Johnson 28:12 9:05 Jean Rainwater 28:32 9:12 4th 60-69 Sam Burling 28:35 9:13 Lynne Dolan 28:37 9:14 Poyee Oster 28:39 9:14 MaryAnne Donato 31:36 10:11 Pat Kurzynski 32:02 10:20 Stan Kurzynski 33:45 10:53 James O’Reilly 34:49 11:14 6th 70-plus

442 finishers

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Tough Ten Mile Turkey Trot <

Marlboro, Mass. – November 27, 2016

Kate McGowan 1:30:18 9:02 101 finishers

-- Club Officers -- Kevin Brennan – President 401-246-2237 kevin@kevinbrennan.info Scott Caldwell – Vice President 401-633-2539 runirel@yahoo.com Kate McGowan – Secretary katemcgowan@hotmail.com Christy Brennan – Treasurer 401-246-2237 christy@christybrennan.com Christy Brennan – Clothing 401-246-2237 christy@christybrennan.com Eric Benevides – Newsletter 401-248-3653 ericben24@cox.net Eric Benevides – Grand Prix 401-248-3653 ericben24@cox.net Pat LaChance – Webmaster plo@ams.org

The Fall/Winter Pub Schedule

All pub runs take place on Thursdays at 6:30 p.m. at a pub/restaurant in Rhode Island. Dec. 8: Newport Storm, 293 J.T. Connell Highway, Newport, RI (Graham Powers) Dec. 15: Square Peg, 51 Miller St., Warren, RI (Deryl Pace) Dec. 22: Ladder 133, 133 Douglas Ave., Providence, RI (Chris S.)

(Editor’s Note: A very special thank you to those who submitted race reports and photos, especially the out-of-state ones. They are ALWAYS welcomed, encouraged, and NEEDED, so if you want to submit one to the next newsletter, please send an e-mail to

EricBen24@cox.net so we can publish them!)

– Save the Date! – Rhode Island Road Runners Awards Banquet Jan 28, 2017, Davenport’s, East Providence

2016 RIRR Grand Prix standings

(As of Dec. 7, 2016, 12 of 13 races completed)

MEN 1. xz-Mark DiFranco (4 points) 2. Paul Savickas (4 points) 3. Robert Johnson (7 points) 4. David Pember (9 points) 5. Chris Dyson (11 points) 6. John Santillo (12 points) 7. Don Clukies (14 points) 8. z-Sam Burling (14 points) 9. Eric Benevides (15 points) 10. Stan Kurzynski (20 points)

WOMEN 1. x-Allyson Cole (2 points) 2. y-Solange Morrissette (4 points) 3. Pat Kurzynski (6 points)

(x-clinched first place)

(y-clinched second place)

(z-holds age-graded tiebreaker)

Final 2016 RIRR Grand Prix race

Christmas 10K – Dec. 11, Rogers H.S., Newport, RI

First 2017 RIRR Grand Prix race!

Hangover Classic – Jan. 1, Agave Rest., Bristol, RI

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