Weekly Rundown

October 6, 2004

HELLO ONCE AGAIN KALAMAZOO AREA RUNNERS, BATTLE CREEK ROAD RUNNERS AND RUNNING FRIENDS!

The Chicago Marathon is now upon us – may all of you running this Sunday, whether in Chicago or another 26.2- mile adventure have a wonderful, fulfilling experience! Also, Congratulations to all Akron, Lakefront and Twin Cities finishers out there!

The inaugural Lawton Blue Devil Benefit 5k Run kicked off this Saturday and KAR’s Katie Mann was the Women’s Overall Winner with a 23:13. Congratulations Katie! The men’s champion was the speedy Dan Higgasen with a 17:04. To check out other KAR age group award winners and participants – see the LOCAL RUNNER HAPPENINGS SECTION BELOW.

Special Note to those planning on running the Grand Rapids Marathon: Don’t delay any longer in sending in your registration. The event is limited to 750 hearty souls and Don Kerns is expecting it to close out around October 15. See www.cooladventures.net to obtain a registration form.

There is still time to RSVP for this Coming Monday Night! Looking for the perfect shoe or orthotic to mesh with your biomechanics? Are you a pronator, a supinator, a heel striker, an overstrider? Come to our Club meeting on Monday, October 11, 7:00 pm at the Borgess Health and Fitness Center. Stephanie Millis, staff pedorthist from Gazelle Sports in Grand Rapids, will show us how she does personalized gait analyses. Stephanie will describe the different foot anatomies, shoe construction, and orthotic devices. Run Faster, Run Longer!" In addition, dinner is on us! Subs and beverages will be served!

Please RSVP Bonnie at besrun2003@yahoo.com to let us know if you are attending so we can determine how much food is needed.

We have set the date for our Club Championship Awards Ceremony and Party!!! Come join us at the Borgess Health and Fitness Center Monday, November 15 at 7:00 pm for refreshments, prizes and more! Championship Series awards will be given to the top 3 in each age group, but all members are invited to come and celebrate! Please note that we will not be mailing awards. If you are not able to attend they can be picked up at the December Club Meeting or the Turkey Trot. To check out where you stand Click Here . If you notice any errors or omissions, please notify Jay Campbell as soon as possible at webmaster@kalamazooarearunners.com.

Our Spooktacular Halloween Hash Run is coming October 30! See below in our SPECIAL EVENTS section below for more info. A separate flyer will be going out shortly with all the gruesome details!

Here is a special message from Gazelle Sports.....

Want to be immortalized in the 2005 edition of Gazelle Sports' Events Calendar? We want to include YOU in the design. This next year, as we celebrate 20 years of operation, we invite you - our friends - to submit pictures or personal memories of events that have impacted you in West Michigan over the past 20 years. The photos and essays we choose from submissions will be part of our 2005 Events Calendar. If we use your submission, we will rew ard you with a $50 Gazelle Sports gift certificate! Deadline for submissions is October 15, 2004. Please label your submission with your name and address, and indicate if you would like your submission returned to you. Send submissions to:

Tessa Emenheiser
Gazelle Sports
214 S. Kalamazoo Mall
Kalamazoo, MI 49007
Or e.mail: temenheiser@gazellesports.com
Questions? E.mail Tessa or call her at 269/342-5996. Thank you!

Don't forget to check out the LOCAL RUNNER HAPPENINGS below to see if your name is there!

Formal track workouts are now officially over, but the WMU track is still open to the public for those who wish to continue on their own.

Here's what's coming up...

SPECIAL EVENTS AND RACES

Saturday, October 9, 2004
Do you miss High School Cross Country Days? Would you like to dust off those spikes and participate in one of the Midwest’s largest High School Cross Country Invitationals? Look no further; the Portage Invitational now has an open division just for us! The open event features both individual and team competitions. Teams may be Male, Female or Coed (2 men/2 women min.) and each team must have at least 4 members. Each finisher receives a Portage Invitational Medal and the winning team receives a Trophy. The Open race takes place at 8:30 am October 9, 2004 then stick around to cheer on some of the best high school cross country runners in the Midwest.. High School races begin at 9:00. Check out www.portageinvite.com for all the details and to register. The cost is only $10 if you register by Oct 6 and includes a Portage Invitational T-shirt!

Saturday, October 16, 2004
One of the areas largest 5k races, the WMU Homecoming Classic 5k Run and Walk takes place October 16 at 9:00 am and there is also a 1k Fun Run/Walk at 8:15. For a fun twist, you can also sign up as a 3 to 5 person team! This one has great prizes and a great post-race spread! For more information and to register visit www.wmich.edu/race/. To check out a special commentary on this event by Jay Campbell, click here.

• 8:30 am Show up at the Campus Classic early and get your Save Our Sports T-Shirt!
• 9:00 am Run in the Campus Classic, celebrate our Sport, and Support BBT
• 10:00 am Awards/Share Performance Excuses/Food
• 11:00 am Walk to tailgate party at Peter Livingstone-McNelis' house. Please bring some $ to chip in on the pizza and beverage. (We dropped the potluck format.) 314 Monroe...Just up the hill from University Roadhouse. Please RSVP your intentions of coming via insidelane@msn.com.
• 12:30 pm Game starts (The time was moved up from 2:00pm)

UPCOMING MARATHONS

October 9, 2004
Whistlestop Marathon, Ashland, WI www.whistlestopmarathon.com

October 10, 2004
LaSalle Chicago Marathon, Chicago, IL www.chicagomarathon.com*** Now Closed to New Entrants

October 17, 2004
Des Moines Marathon, Des Moines, IA www.desmoinesmarathon.com

October 24, 2004
Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon and Half Marathon, Detroit, MI www.detriotfreepressmarathon.comPlease note the correction in the Date on this one!

October 31, 2004
Grand Rapids Marathon, Grand Rapids, MI www.cooladventures.net

October 31, 2004
Marine Corps Marathon, Washington DC www.marinemarathon.com

November 7, 2004
New York City Marathon (by lottery or qualifier), New York, NY ***Now Closed to New Entrants

November 25, 2004
Atlanta Marathon, Atlanta, GA www.atlantatrackclub.org

November 28, 2004
Seattle Marathon, Seattle, WA www.seattlemarathon.org

GROUP RUNS

The SHufflers will be meeting at the Milham road entrance of Bicentennial Trail at 7:00 am Saturday for any distance you would like to run. The SHufflers will begin their formal marathon training program in January.

The Battle Creek Road Runners are hosting a casual Sunday morning run at 7:30 am. This run features a wide variety of paces and miles and meets behind Team Active Bike Shop in Downtown Battle Creek and runs along the linear path. For questions contact Toni Galligan at jogntoni@jasnetworks.net.

LOCAL RUNNER HAPPENINGS

This is the final taper week for the Gazelles, Impala’s and Gnus signed up for the Chicago Marathon. Best of success to all of you! Have fun and enjoy the experience!

In the meantime, several KAR members tackled other 26.2 mile challenges this past weekend. Racing machine Fred Colbert ran the Lakefront Marathon Sunday and finished with an awesome 3:39.57. Great job Fred! On Saturday, KAR’s Bob Smola tackled the challenging, new Akron Marathon course with a 3:32:54. Great job on a tough, hilly course! Sunday’s Twin Cities Marathon also produced some KAR finishers! Marathon Training Group Impala Gordon Hare ran an awesome 4:56:50 to complete his marathon adventure. Congratulations Gordon, you did it! KAR’s Charlene White also completed her 26.2-mile journey with a 4:41:03. Awesome run Charlene! Other locals completing Twin Cities include: Todd Prom, Brenda Stoddard, Donna Baker, Barbara Overlander-Afton, Francine Bangs, Kathy Neal, Sheryl Defouw and Larry Defouw. Please do let us know if we missed someone! Some of these marathon results don’t provide us with all the sort info to pull results easily, so the potential is there!

In addition to the women’s champion, Katie Mann, several other KAR members earned age group awards at the First Annual Lawton Blue Devil Benefit 5k Run. Congratulations to Bruce Watson, who finished 1st in his age group and to Renny Oas, who secured a 3rd place. Awesome!

Yes, once again, we erred – Adele Pitt is not relocating to the Windy City after running Chicago, but to Milwaukee! Regardless though, she won’t be here and we will miss her!