Club Nationals 2009 Day 2

Highlights from Day 2 of Club Nationals 2009

This is what our Van looks like thanks to the drive through the blizzard in PA.

Here is the view from our room. Rupp Arena on the left, and thats about it.

Chaklos here is your number, if you can get down here by 1:30 you can wear it. Hope they are not working you too hard!

The "Best Facial Hair" I have seen since getting down to Lexington. Look at that Beauty.

A close 2nd?!?!?

Other highlights from day 2

- Oatmeal from Starbucks.

- Course Preview Hills, No Flat, Terrible Footing, and Loops. Cross Country?

- John's Run/Walk Store has nothing on SRC.

- Burgers from Sawyer's.

- Zombieland in the theatre for $1.50, the best buck fifty I have ever spent!

- Cornbread from deSha's, Salad from deSha's and Dinner from deSha's.

- Blades of Glory on our Flat Screen in the Hotel.

Day 3 is upon us. We race at 1:30, keep an eye on the USATF website for updates and results.

Club Nationals 2009 Day 1

It is 4pm and we have been on the road since 9am. We have stopped once to get gas and take a quick pit stop, the benefits of no women and no Kevin Beach on the trip. We are getting ready to enter West Virginia and this is what we are in the middle of

Our estimated arrival time was just before 9pm, but now we had to take our speed down and take it nice and slow so we are falling behind schedule. I guess safety takes priority in this situation.

I am seated in the back seat of an 8 passenger mini van. However we have it filled with the 5 members representing the SRC Racing Team for USA Club Nationals. Soltan is behind the wheel handling the car like a champ, Brendan is the co-pilot/DJ and doing a stellar job at that, Adam is bucket seat 1 typing away on the blackberry keeping us entertained with Letsrun.com banter, Pollard is in bucket seat 2 and just seems to be along for the ride while adding excellent insight to the conversation and then there is me, Petrina, back bench seat all alone with no friends, just along to document the memories that we are making.

We just entered West Virginia and the snow has stopped and the speed limit is 70 MPH. Lexington here we come! Morgantown detour?

We detoured in Charleston for some dinner and fill up on gas. All I can say is WOW! What a crazy experience!! After that Adam got behind the wheel and we started to roll to Lexington! We arrived a little after 9pm and got settled in the room. The others went for a run and went to bed. It was a long day.

It is now Friday morning, shawn and I got up for a run and now are at Starbucks to have some brekkie and get internet access. The “cheap” hotel makes you pay for their wifi. The plans for the day are to scope out the course, hit up the specialty running store near by and then packet pick up. Check back later for updates!

The Man The Myth The Legend!

2009 Ocean to Sound!

With More Stuff to Come...

Another Past Two Weeks

This Man

Was responsible for the incident that happened at the start of the Sayville Summerfest

Overall the Sayville Summerfest was a great outing for the SRC Gang. The race was the final race of the Sayville Summer Series. The overall winners were SRC's own Michael Petrina and Sandra Kolar. All the results can be seen at Sayville Summer Series Link.

The race was great and I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

The following weekend was the miles. This being a teams point race SRC was heading out for a good race.

I have added a quick clip of the finish of the Massapequa Merchants Mile. This was a chance for us to let our hair down and do something that we haven't done in a while. It was a ton of fun. Great Showing SRC!!! Only if the Race was scored on points and not time...

Its Been Awhile

I last checked in after the Massepequa Firecracker back on July 5th. There the SRC team stole the show. Now flash forward a few weeks and two races later SRC is still doing it the only way they know how.

On July 19th 2009, was the Thunder Run 5k up in Hauppauge. This was a teams race and Sayville was looking to continue its way up the team ladder. However there was a few little snags in the team. Kevin Beach had come down with a bit of a niggle in the shin/ankle area and Brendan Barrett was feeling under the weather and didn't want to push through it and get even more sick. SRC sent Mike Petrina, Paul Murphy, Ryan Soltan, and Steve Chaklos to the line to keep the ball rolling.

The four of them did exactly that. All four ran intelligent smart races and kept themselves in it the whole time. The conditions were not ideal, but still better than prior years. With many runners playing it cautious the first half mile Petrina decided the first uphill was a good place to make a jump to the lead and stretch it out a bit. That's exactly what happened, Petrina sat in second place around the hilly and tough Thunder Run course waiting for the right time to shift gears and bring it home. With a half mile to go Petrina pushed it to the front and never looked back, winning in a time of 16:20. The rest of the team followed right behind. Paul Murphy was a strong 7th in 17:09, Soltan and Chaklos then rounded out the four SRC team racers with a 9th and 10th place respectively in 17:20 and 17:22.

All in all on this day SRC left with plenty of hardware and most importantly the 100 team points that was needed.

Jump ahead to the 26th of July and you have the CF Run of Sayville 4 miler. While not being a teams race it was still a good showing for the whole SRC team. Petrina, Barrett, Soltan, Banger, Beach, Mullaney, Connors, and many others toed the line for SRC.

Some of you who were there might have notice that some of the SRC faithful were rocking their Alumni jersey's. All in good fun Petrina was running with the Ferret of SBU, Soltan was in the Black and Gold of Adelphi XC and Beach was wearing the Purple of Scranton U.

While I don't want to bore you with race details I am being forced to give you step by step details...NOT. All the team members competed while especially Barrett and Beach who were back after their week hiatus. Here is a quick look at the SRC Finishers.

1 1/8 Michael Petrina W. Babylon NY 24 M 21:29 5:23

3 1/8 Brendan Barrett Sayville NY 25 M 22:05 5:32

6 2/8 Ryan Soltan Sayville NY 25 M 22:53 5:44

9 3/8 Kevin Beach Long Beach NY 28 M 23:48 5:57

11 1/26 Craig Banger Smithtown NY 41 M 24:20 6:05

14 1/12 Matt Connors Brightwaters NY 34 M 24:41 6:11

34 4/26 Bill Mullaney Sayville NY 44 M 27:14 6:49

57 5/8 David Oroza E. Patchogue NY 25 M 29:19 7:20

If I missed anyone please let me know. All in all it was a good two week stretch for the SRC faithful! Catch us all over the next two weeks in the Sayville Summerfest and then at the Massepequa Mile.

Mission Accomplished

The 4th of July is known for a few things. Fireworks, Beaches, Barbecues and the Massepequa Firecracker. This year the Massepequa Firecracker was a race on the SRC calender that everyone was gearing up for. It was a race that SRC was going to use to see where the team stands for the rest of the summer and the fall season. Big things were going to happen and we as a team felt it coming on.

In the weeks leading up to the race, SRC has been gathering Tuesdays, some Fridays and Sundays to run as a team. The team running has definately helped. With everyone on the team training for different goals in different events we are all still there for one goal, For SRC to be the best it can be.While we as individuals improve the team improves right along with it. As a member of the team I am excited about how well the team is running at the moment and it makes racing that much more fun.

Back to the race at hand. While everyone else was off at family barbecues, SRC was out getting the job done. If you look at the results from the Massepequa Firecracker you can see the team training is paying off. With stellar showings from everyone straight across the board. While the conditions weren't all that great everyone ran the best that they could.

I will not sit here and give you a breakdown of the race step by step what I would love to do is analyze the results a little bit closely for all to see.

5 ADAM SIEPIOLA 29 M LONG BEACH NY 16:04 5:10

6 BILLY HOLL 23 M NORTH BABYLON NY 16:30 5:19

7 BRENDAN BARRETT 25 M SAYVILLE NY 16:31 5:19

8 SEAN HOPKINS 26 M PORT WASHINGTON NY 16:35 5:20

9 MICHAEL PETRINA 23 M WEST BABYLON NY 16:37 5:21

14 STEVE CHAKLOS 30 M HICKSVILLE NY 16:54 5:27

16 PAUL MURPHY 45 M STONY BROOK NY 16:58 5:28

18 RYAN SOLTAN 25 M SAYVILLE NY 17:20 5:35

24 TOMMY NETTUNO 39 M WEST BABYLON NY 18:02 5:48

30 CRAIG BANGER 41 M SMITHTOWN NY 18:24 5:56

48 KARNIK SEFERIAN 51 M SETAUKET NY 19:20 6:14

94 BILL MULLANEY 44 M SAYVILLE NY 20:44 6:41

Lets look closer:

1 - Top 5 spread 33 seconds

2 - 7 Guys under 17 min

3 - 1/2 of the first 10 finishers were wearing the SRC Singlet.

4 - 1/3 of the first 30 finishers were wearing the SRC Singlet.

Last time I checked that is pretty nasty! Great job by all! Plus the post Race Barbecue was a big hit. I also did not want to leave out another member of the crew. Taking another huge step towards his ultimate goals.

QUENTIN OCHS 25 M SAYVILLE NY 25:16 8:08

We are looking forward to some more of the same. Team training and Team racing!

Photos Courtesy of The Greater Long Island Running Club

Weekend Two

With rain the last 22 out of 24 days there has been absolutely nothing to look foward to. Unless your a runner on the Sayville Running Company team, then there is always something to look foward to. Before I can look foward I must look to the past and share with you the details.

For starters lets go back to Thursday of last week when the WeatherMen were calling for a weekend that was going to be a wash out. That was not making me happy. When it finally came to Race Day Saturday, the rain was no where to be seen. However its ugly step sister was here, Heat and Humidity. When I felt the thickness of the air that morning I was hoping for some type of drizzle to happen, unfortunately that was not going to happen.

When I arrived at the SHWACHMAN DIAMOND DASH I went over to the registration and signed up table. After signing up I headed to the SRC tent to start my stretches. While I was stretching everyone started turning up. While this wasn't a team race it was a Sayville Summer Series Race and also a LITF individual points race so the SRC gang was out in force.

My duty for the race was to pace Paul Murphy to a 518 first mile, to help him get under his 1630 goal. Kevin Beach was going to see how long he could hang on with us. Adam was going to work with Soltan to get him around the course at a good clip. Chaklos, Karnik, Connors and several other SRC Racers were out there to lay down a good time.

The race went off, and the best part was that an Old Man in cargo pants and a polo shirt sprinted to the front. He ran with the leader for a quater of a mile, all while he had his keys, cell phone and change gingling in his pocket. Once that was done with I settled at the front of a pack filled with Murph, Beach, and a ton of high school kids, I was running at a pace that I thought was hard enough to get Murphy to his goal. Unfortunately we reached the mile about 10 seconds off, at that point I surged to the 2 mile and continued from there. I was starting to feel good and looking to push it over the last kilometer of the race.

As we approached the turn around I was getting ready to dig in. We turned around and crossed onto the other side of the road onto new fresh black top. That was were my energy and many other runners energy was sapped from them. I coasted in unsatisfied with the job I did out there. Murphy was 20 seconds off his goal, however Beach hung in there long enough to have a stellar time. He recorded a personal best by 17 seconds lowering it to 17:11. So good job beach.

Overall this race was freaking awesome, it has a great vibe to it. The amount of support for the race was tremendous. It was so good that they did not have enough chips and race numbers. Check out the results to the Diamond Dash. It was a great job done by the Kolar Family, Congratulations to a Race well done.

With two races down in the Sayville Summer Series, it is heating up, two 4 milers remain. Before then you can check the SRC Racers out at the Firecracker 5k on July 5th. The SRC team will be out in full force and is looking to dominate the race. See you all there!

Sayville Racing Team Weekend One

This weekend marked the unofficial start to the Long Island road racing scene. There was so many races to choose from and so much to decided on. This weekend the Sayville Running Company was hosting the first race of the Sayville Summer Series, but more importantly it was their race, the Keith Kintzel 5k Memorial Run. Being a part of the SRC team it was my pleasure to be a part of such a great event.

With many races to choose from on this weekend it made the decision easier. However there then came a hard one. The following day in New Hyde Park there was a teams point race, we needed to get in on for much needed points in the series. So some of us took on the duties of running twice.

The weather over the weekend was beautiful, a little warm for racing but who am I to complain. Like I stated earlier the Keith Nintzel 5k started the weekend off strong. It was a great showing of people both competitively and recreationally. Many came out to show the support of the schloraship fund and the Sayville community. It was definately a nice thing to be a part of.
The race for the 6th time in a row did not dissappoint. Brian Dalpiaz, Sayville High School Class of 2003, took the win for the second straight year in a time of 15:22, a new course record. Brian is quoted as saying "I shut it down in the last mile." With that one can only wonder how low Brian can bring the course record to.

Second overall in the race was James Baracca, a graduate of the Sachem School District in 2004. This was James' first time on the course and he faired pretty well. He is the second fastest preson to run the course other than Brian Dalpiaz. James was happy with the way the race went and happy with the competitive nature of the race. He looks forward to the next race in Sayville.

Following the first two spots in the race was a slew of SRC singlets. This was the teams first time out this season in full force and they made a statement. They racked up the 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 17th positions. Many other SRC singlets followed. For most of the team they are training thourgh this race and looking forward to the end of summer when the heavy hitting starts.

A special thanks must be sent out to Brendan Barrett and Ryan Soltan who are the faces behind the scenes. They get a lot of help from the community but these guys get it all together and make the show run smoothly. Without their great efforts the race would not be what it is. Even with all the duties of the race director they still had time to jump on the line and take part in the race. Great Job B and Soltan!

There are many other thanks to be sent out but all in all it was a community effort. Some other notable SRC contributions to the race was the Pace Car from Tommy "Two Tone" Nettuno for leading the way in his Mustang with the two Red Bull girls in the back seat. Also a thanks to Q for a great job on the shirts and glasses. He also did a great jump announcing the race as it came toward the finish line. I believe he is taking the spot of Terry for the rest of the Summer Series.

While this day was a great race for SRC some of us decided to volunteer to run a teams point race the following day in New Hyde Park. It is an 8k race distance and we needed the points. With the team point season in full swing we needed to get out there and get after it. We thought that Bellmore would be out in full force but that was wrong. The team that we had to worry about was We Are Athletes. While standing on the line talking to Chris Mammone he filled us in on the fact that Bellmore did not have an open team in the race. It felt like a ten ton brick was lifted off my back.

The race went well for SRC, we were led home by Adam Seipola's 2nd overall finshes. He was followed by myself in 3rd place, Kevind Beach in 11th and Karnik in 23rd. However it is not the place finishes that matter but the times. The times for the SRC guys were 26:48, 27:20, 30:11, and 32:58. All great efforts by the four guys that were out there on the 8k course.

I am almost certain that our times were fast enough to bring home the 100 points for the team.

After that long weekend of racing I am ready to take a nice easy week of training and get ready for the Diamond Dash on June 20th. I look forward to seeing you all there.