News for July 5, 2004

New Club Website! Today we rolled out the new club website. We think you will find it easier to read and navigate. Please give us your feedback! It will be a few weeks before all of the old content is converted to the new format. We have dozens of highly paid programmers working diligently on the conversion ; ).

Club Championships! Eight championship races are now history. Congratulations to club members who have run 4 of the races: Carrie and Steve Long, Carrie Hybels, and Peter Burrill. If you think there are results missing for you, let us know. If your name is spelled differently in our member roster than it is in the results, you will need to let us know. Send us a note!

June 30, 2004- Weekly Rundown

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY RUNNING FRIENDS! Fireworks, parades and RACING are plentiful throughout the Greater Kalamazoo area this Independence Day Weekend; so plentiful as a matter of fact there are two opportunities to earn more points towards our Club Championship series! Lindsay’s Race 5k Run/Walk is this Saturday, July 3 and starts at 8:00 am behind Gull Lake High School. Bring the family – the Richland parade begins at 11:00. Also part of our Club Championship Series is the Schoolcraft Firecracker 5 mile run which takes place Saturday at 8:00 am as well. The Race Day Registration is from 7 – 8 am and the start and finish are behind Schoolcraft Middle School. See Firecracker Entry or contact John Stodola at 269-679-5439 for the details on this one.

The National City Half Marathon course lives on! The Gazelle Sports/Kalamazoo Area Runners Marathon Training Program took the Safari through familiar turf this time around as the Gazelles completed the half marathon course while the Gnus and Impalas skipped the rough terrain of Spring Valley Park to complete 11 and 9 mile routes. Kalamazoo Area Runners tour guides Dave Walch, Charlie Crouch and Bonnie Sexton managed to keep all but one of the herd from going astray.

Lots of you have been coming out for our FORMAL outdoor track workouts at Western Michigan University. Steve Hicks will be the group leader on Tuesday, July 6! Workouts start at 6:00 pm (feel free to come earlier for a warm up). What on earth is a Group Leader anyway and what is he or she supposed to do? Some of you have had to ask!

As of today (and we are always in a constant state of redefining ourselves) the Group Leader is the KAR officer or member that will be available as a resource to assist you in answering questions on different variations of speed workouts. The Group Leader will also be available to try to connect you with others who may be doing workouts in line with your goals.

Usually, in addition to the named Group Leader, several other friendly KAR Officers will be present (don’t know what we look like? You can see our pictures if you click on the “The Club” section of the website) and any of us will be happy to help get you started or pointed in the right direction as well. The folks from the Gazelle Sports/KAR Marathon Training Group have the added benefit of having several Gazelle Sports team members available for questions as well.

Here's what's coming up...

SPECIAL EVENTS AND RACES

Saturday, July 10
The Kindleberger Summer Festival 5k is an annual favorite among local runners. Come out for this "mostly downhill but with one big uphill course." Start and finish are both in Kindleberger Park. This one also earns you points towards our Club Championship Series. See www.kindleberger.org or E-mail Dale Turton at turtonkzoo@chartermi.net for more information.

Monday, July 12
Come join us for our next monthly Board meeting at Roadhouse (near the WMU Track) @ 7:15! Everyone picks up their own tab, but you get to enjoy great company (we think) and share lots of great ideas!

Thursday,July 15 – Saturday, July 17
Start saving your pennies – the Gazelle Sports/Kalamazoo Store Sidewalk Sales are back again. Don’t miss this opportunity to stock up on your favorite running apparel!

Saturday, July 31
Travel to Southwest Michigan College for the annual Steve’s Run 10k and 5k runs. The 10k provides a unique challenge with part of its course running along trails while those who want to stick to the roads can select the 5k. This is a huge event with great prizes and a great awards presentation. Course signs may be purchased in honor of those who are fighting or in memory of those who have lost the battle with cancer. For more information contact Ron Gunn at 269-782-1209 or rgunn@swmich.edu or visit www.swmich.edu.

LOCAL RUNNER HAPPENINGS

We did it again – we missed someone-this time due to a name glitch. Somehow, Peter Burrill was tagged as Peter Bvarill in the Kalamazoo Klassic results! To set the record straight, not only did Peter tackle the double, but he also is the only club member to complete all four Club Championship series events. We still haven’t figured out how he is going to manage juggling Lindsay’s Race and the Schookcraft Firecracker 5 mile to continue his perfect participation record!

We have heard from several of you who have won the lottery – the lottery to the New York City Marathon that is! Todd Raab, Peter Gower and Robin Carpenter will be making travel arrangements to the Big Apple! Is there anyone else out there?

Our local runners have been contributing to make the world a better place both abroad and at home. One of the Marathon Training Group’s Impalas (or is she a Gnu?), Angela Simcox (who is married to run camp graduate Brent Simcox and is the sister of local runner Marty Foster), fit in one final long run this past Saturday. She, Brent and daughter Haley will be leaving the freedom of our home turf to travel to Romania on a short term mission’s trip Friday. Running won’t be an option while she’s there, but making a positive impact on the lives of others will be.

Closer to home, in between his efforts to save the world (or at least the community we live in), Blaine Lam confessed to squeezing in a couple of runs over the past week. Blaine, best known by the running community as the Borgess Run spokesperson and Run Camp Coach (as well as a former KAR Officer), has taken over the helm of the ailing Lakeside Treatment and Learning Center to spearhead an extremely challenging turnaround effort. If you read last Sunday’s Kalamazoo Gazette, you couldn’t miss his story and picture on the front page! One of these days we’ll have to convince him to run for President!

It was great to see John Gray and Ralph Meyer out there running strong during Marathon Training as well as Chris Crowell. For some reason, though, Chris never made it to the 2nd water stop – could it be that he got sidetracked by MacKenzie’s Bakery which conveniently placed itself right near the first water stop – probably not with Dave Walch monitoring! Megan James and Audrey Hill kept a fast pace going as they led the Gazelles through the hilly terrain while Charlie Crouch took off in his safari van in search of the herd member who wandered to Sprinkle Road. Cheryl White and her training partner thought they could see more people by running the course sdrawkcab!

New KAR member Shawn Messenger was initiated into the club by Dave Walch and Bonnie Sexton with a 6:00 am Sunday morning Kal-Haven Trail run. There’s nothing like the peaceful calm, pink sky and crisp air of an early summer morning. If anyone else out there dislikes sleeping in as much as we do and wants to experience this, let us know.

Last of all it was great to see Peter Gower again back on the home turf of the WMU track in between his world travels. Other than teasing 5 year old Paige Sexton, though, we couldn’t get him to perform any of his usual shenanigans.

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY ALL!