Wicked Running Club

A Special Report from Stephanie Cooper, a WRC roving correspondent:

In preparation for the Timberman in 2 weeks, WRC members Jay Curry, Bill Morse and Stephanie Cooper joined our trail running brethren from the North, GAC, for the “Mulvey 1/2 Iron Man” on Sunday. Organized by Cheryl and Ed Mulvey, the measured course covered all of the 1/2 Iron Man distances, but also allowed participants to do select portions of each of the three events. After a swim in Stiles pond, athletes headed to the Mulvey’s home in Boxford to set up the bike/run transition area. The bike course covered 4 repeats of a well marked 13.1 mile loop, passing by a well stocked aid station, which in traditional GAC style included excellent snacks such as pb & j sandwiches, brownies, cheese-its and all manner of sports drinks. Veteran GAC member D.J. cruised the run course in his Honda Element providing refreshments and a ride for anyone wishing to cut the course short. The day ended with a BBQ and some well earned relaxation. The Mulvey 1/2 was a great confidence booster, a lot of fun and the best free race around!!

For anyone interested in participating in another great GAC event, the applications for the November 8th Stone Cat Trail Marathon and Ultra Run are now available on the GAC website! Several Wicked Runners including the Touchette Family, Billy Shea, Steph and Dan Cooper, Jay Curry and Bill Morse have already registered.

And that intrepid trio Patrick Smith, Denise Murphy, and Dan Cooper were at it again this past weekend. Patrick participated in the Greenfield Lightlife Triathlon, a .63 mile swim, 30.4 mile bike, and 7.2 mile run. Congratulations to Patrick who finished first in his age group, 8th overall, with a time of 2:34:07. Denise and Dan participated in the Lowell YMCA Triathlon: a 1 mile swim, 22 mile bike, and 6 mile run. Denise finished 6th in her age group with a time of 2:41:21. Dan was 3rd in his age group with a time of 2:15:52. Excellent job, Denise and Dan.

Congratulations go out to Kathey Moskal who achieved a PR in last Wednesday’s Danvers 5K and also to Danny Leadvaro whose first race at Danvers yielded a very impressive 21:25. Great running, you two.

Finally, this writer will be on hiatus for three weeks (Aug. 5-28) traveling abroad. For those of you who have very unexciting lives or perhaps may be bored at work, I have set up Sheabilly Blog to document my trip. I have no idea how faithful I will be in writing as I may have limited access to a computer. But, I will try my best. This was all Colin’s idea, by the way!

Good luck to everyone running Falmouth this Sunday and the upcoming Lynn Woods Relay. I look forward to reading all about them here on the Blog. Ciao!

Two of our newer Wicked members, Bill Morse of Dracut, 57, an attorney, and Jay Curry of Lynn, 36, a registered nurse at Union Hospital in Lynn, tend to seek out challenges that test the limits of human endurance. That drive literally drove them recently to the tiny town of Jay, Vermont, about 5 miles from the Canadian border to compete in the Jay Mountain Trail Ultramarathon, an amazing 33 mile run encompassing both single and double track, a grueling 50 foot rocky river crossing in ankle to shoulder deep water, mountain climbing up Jay Peek (3,800ft. elevation), a run through a beaver dam, and lots of mud slogging. Check out the website and its ominous warnings about the inherent dangers of this particular trail marathon at Jay Mountain Trail Ultramarathon.

Bill reports that the area had just sustained six days of rain prior to the Saturday, July 26 race. This made for some sloppy conditions. “The mud was especially tough and the rivers and brooks that we had to run up or down for miles at a time were high in some spots with fast moving water. There was one river crossing that had a ‘rope assist’ all the way across. The current was very strong. The course conditions were so tough this year due to the previous week’s rain that more than one half of the field of 400 did not finish.”

Jay recalls the race vividly. “The race started on some double track trails for about 4 miles before you got to the first river run. During this portion you also had to run through culverts with rushing water. I felt like I was in an episode of Fear Factor. After this you had the roughly 3 mile climb up to the summit of Jay Peak. This climb was steeper than Mt Washington and reminded me of the last 50 yards of that run. We were told to walk down the descent to save the quads, but the trail was so steep that is was hard to walk. After this, we had more trails of deep mud, more rivers, running through waist deep swamps, wide river crossings with strong currents. The last 5 miles or so were through corn fields and open fields. I finished the race in about 7hrs 58 minutes. I felt more wiped out and sore than I did after the Ironman. The aid stations were will stocked. The rumor around the finish line was that about half the field were either pulled because they didn’t make the cut-off or dropped out. I loved this race. I loved the challenge.”

Bill finished the event in 8hrs. 46min. “This was a very tough race, but, moreover for me it was one of three killer trail races that I’ve been lucky enough to get through over the last three years, namely the Greylock Marathon in 2006, The Escarpment Trail Run in the Catskills in 2007, and now Jay Mountain in 2008. The triumvirate is complete. One more thing off my ‘bucket list!’” Bill and Jay had an ongoing joke for this race. “I (Bill) told him (Jay) that his 20 year younger legs would beat me by an hour. It ended up being 50 minutes. Long live we seniors!!!!” (Here, here!)

And what event is Jay planning for the future? Well, he and fellow Wicked members Patrick Smith, Denise Murphy, and Tim Clarke are all signed up for the Lake Placid Ironman which will take place in July 2009.

And just in case you thought these two amazing athletes took some well deserved rest after this event—wrong! They were back out there right away with their regular routine, swimming on Tuesday night at Stiles Pond and running Lynn Woods on Wednesday night. Seriously, you guys should think about auditioning for Fear Factor. I have the utmost faith that you would be most successful. A tip from Jay on trail shoes: “I highly recommend running with the Brooks Cascadia trail running shoes. They didn’t hold the water, so my feet never felt heavy.”

Susan Keezer and Allison Rourke, Kathie Moskal in back and below

We’ve certainly had our share of rain this week, but as tough Wicked runners a little rain is not going to scare us off from getting out there and “doing our thing.” Wednesday night, however, posed a bit of a dilemma for this particular runner. Usually, I would head over to Lynn Woods, but with the torrential downpours and memories of being out on the trails in thunderstorms, I thought it best to skip the Woods this week. Lo and behold, however, around 6:30 PM the rains let up, and living very close to the start of the Danvers Fun Run, I decided to jog over there. I hadn’t run this particular race for a while, and having read that a lot of our newer members were going to be there, I was interested in seeing them. It was great to see Kathie Moskal, Susan Keezer, Alison Rourke, Annie Willis, Nicky Blumberg, Eileen Dunn, and Billy Prentiss. Check out the results at Danvers 5K Slightly Damp Run. Congratulations to Annie Willis for finishing second place overall. As it claims to be, it was a “fun” run and the nice cold beer at the finish always makes the “journey” much more rewarding.

Tim Short, get back to Danvers and reclaim your title!!!!

Congratulations to Rich Tomlins and Billy Prentiss who both rain in the rain last night in Reading at the FORR 5K. Out of 59 runners, Rich finished 7th overall, 2nd in his age group, with a time of 18:17. Billy finished 14th overall, 1st in his age group, with a time of 20:30. That’s 4 first place finishes in a row for Billy!

Special recognition to all those runners (and there were a lot!) who showed up last night at Forest River for the Toomey Clinic. One never knows what the weather conditions might be on the day of the big race, so running last night in those torrential downpours certainly proved to all who participated, “We can do it! We are Wicked!”

Belated congratulations to Beth O’Grady and Doug Bollen who traveled to Stowe, Vermont, last Sunday to run in the Stowe 8 Miler. Check out their times under Race Results.

Finally, have you noticed we are approaching number 100 for our membership? How exciting! Enjoy the weekend. It’s supposed to be a nice one.

I first met Eileen Dunn late last year when the Danvers Fun Run on Wednesday nights first started. I had seen her previously a few times helping out at races, and I knew she had some connection to Doug Bollen, Park and Recreation Director, but other than that, I knew her only as a very friendly face, always pleasant and smiling. After a few Danvers runs and the spring running clinic of which both of us participated, I started to know her better and quickly came to admire her quiet but determined spirit as well as her superior athletic prowess. Watching her sprint up those hills at Collins Middle School, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “How does this girl do it?” It soon became evident that Eileen, like many other Wicked runners, has a vast repertoire of activities to keep herself physically fit. Most of us know that she recently returned from San Diego from a surfing adventure, followed by a backpacking trip to the White Mountains, and a week ago Sunday, she traveled home to Delmar, New York, to participate in her third Pine Bush Triathlon. This has become somewhat of a tradition with her brother, Danny, and at the same time serves as a worthy excuse to travel home to visit with the family. Eileen concedes that her brother is “Just naturally athletic” and that she is not particularly competitive with him. “He will always run faster than me.”

The weather started out fine for the event, with a threat of rain. It was muggy, but the downpour held off until right after Eileen crossed the finish line. The race started out with Eileen’s favorite part, the swim. “The swim can be a bit frightening though. You’re there with your wave standing in knee to waist deep water waiting for the start to be announced. Then everyone belly flops in and it’s a free for all. People swim on top of you, kick you, pull at your arms. It’s total chaos until it spreads out a bit.” Eileen finished the 325 yard swim in 5:53. Eileen enjoys the bike also. “Hey, you’re sitting down.” The course was fairly flat with very few hills. Usually plagued by bad luck with tires, Eileen was grateful to have escaped any flats. “I’m starting to feel more confident during the bike ride. Patrick (her brother) gave me some pointers earlier this year which have been very helpful.” Eileen clocked in at 43:40 for the 11.5 miles. Now, this is something that Eileen did not want me to share, but, hey, we’re all on the same team here, the run was her least favorite part. “It always gets me. I was exhausted. I actually took a tumble (I can relate to that!) It was in the first mile, and I got a little too close to where the pavement meets the dirt and rolled my ankle on the ledge. I hit the pavement, did a roll, and hopped back up and started running in hopes that nobody noticed. Of course everyone started yelling, ‘Are you OK?’ I was fine minus the road rash on my right hand, but it’s healing nicely.” Eileen reports she “made it through the run without walking, other than a few recovery steps after the fall, which is always my goal.” Eileen ran the 3.25 miles in 29:25 with an overall finish time of 1:18:57. Great job, Eileen!

Eileen has done two other sprint triathlons besides the Pine Bush, both down in New Jersey where she lived for a bit post graduation. This past June she did her first Olympic distance triathlon, the Mooseman in New Hampshire. Eileen’s favorite race of the year is the Reach the Beach Relay “200 Miles in 24 Hours” www.rtbrelay.com This September will be the third year she and her friends have entered a team. Eileen stresses, “I do this stuff for fun, not to be competitive.”

How did Eileen’s journey bring her to Salem? She grew up in Delmar, New York which is a hamlet of the Town of Bethlehem. She’s the youngest of 8 children and has 9 nieces and nephews. She went to the University of New Hampshire where she rowed her 4 years there and was a captain of the team her senior year. She graduated in 2004 with a B. S. in Kinesiology in Sports Studies with a minor in Psychology. She bemoans the fact that women’s crew has since been cut as a varsity sport. Prior to coming to work in Salem, Eileen lived in Davis Square in Somerville and worked for a small company called Marathon Tours & Travel located in Charlestown. She helped set up group travel to marathons around the world. The owner (her former boss), Thom Gilligan founded the Antarctica Marathon and the 7 Continents Club, a group for people that complete a marathon on all 7 continents. She started work for the City of Salem last June as the Recreation Supervisor for the Park and Recreation Department. And what a fantastic job she has done! Knowing how modest Eileen is, I sought out her supervisor, Doug Bollen, and asked him for his thoughts on Eileen. He had some pretty impressive things to say about her. “Eileen is our Recreation Supervisor, and she has brought to the position a high energy, super organized approach. She has helped our department take Recreation to the next level, always going the extra yard to make sure each program is meeting the expectations of each participant and assuring them a positive experience. I truly believe with Eileen on board, we have the top Recreation Department around and the best Salem has ever been offered! She is the perfect fit for the job! Pretty nice words to hear from your boss, Eileen. When asked how she got involved with the Wicked Running Club, Eileen states she joined last January when Doug, her boss, handed her an application, told her to fill it out and mail it in. “I did what the boss told me. I’m very glad I joined–what a great group of people!” We’re glad you joined, also, Eileen. Thanks for all you do.

A stellar performance was turned in by Dan Cooper, Denise Murphy, and Patrick Smith at this past Sunday’s Old Colony YMCA Triathlon (1 mi. swim, 24 mi. bike, 6.5mi. run) in Middleboro, MA. Competitors had the choice of participating as individuals or as part of a relay. There were approximately 200 individuals and 16 teams at the race. Our Wicked contingent planned to all participate solo, but only Denise ended up doing it “all on her own.” And what a performance! Despite forgetting her wetsuit and having to borrow a men’s medium from a friend, Denise ended up achieving a PR for her swim. Fantastic! Perhaps a larger size wetsuit may be in the offering for Denise. Once ashore, Denise proceeded to bike and run well despite a nagging back ache. Denise finished in about 2:54, very impressive considering the fact that anything under 3 hours is considered a good time for this distance. She was 6^th out of 15 in her age group and 117^th overall. Congratulations, Denise. A tennis mishap last week resulting in a twisted ankle for Patrick dictated a change in his strategy. Patrick realized the swim and run would be difficult with his injury, so he asked and Dan graciously agreed to help Patrick out with a team effort– Dan tackling the swim and run and Patrick taking on the bike. What a combination it turned out to be! As Patrick stated, “We smoked!” Unsure of how he’d stack up against some elite swimmers—Collegiate Champs, US Masters’ Champ, Dan gave a solid middle of the pack swim. Patrick took on the bike with a vengeance, rolling in with a 25mph. average speed, placing 2^nd overall! Dan took it from there, passing their last competitor in the All Male Relay category with a sub 7:00 min./mi. run, finishing 1^st overall. They finished around 2:12 claiming 1^st place in the All Male Relay and 2^nd overall for all relay teams. Outstanding, guys! And both Dan and Patrick were out there at 5:30 AM for the usual Tuesday morning run. We wish Patrick a speedy recovery and hope to see that tape removed from his ankle soon. And, in case you were thinking Denise must have been home sleeping at this early hour, she was returning home from a swim at the gym just as we were concluding our run. You are all so wicked!!!!