Worth Reading

 * Ready for a new challenge? Try reverse running.

* Outside magazine puts Tough Mudder’s First Death Into Context.

* Beautiful with brains: Why the whole concept of a bikini body is bunk.

* The running racket: How big business wrecked the marathon. “The average entry fee for the top 25 U.S. marathons has gone up 35 percent since 2007, to $112—three and a half times faster than inflation—according to the industry association RunningUSA.”

Video of the Week

Friend and fellow runner, Rob Frank, and his crew — including runner Matt Kleck, filmed this awesome Beast on the Bay promo video during the 3-mile trial run:

HOWEVER…..there’s an even BETTER one of Matt Kleck doing a total face-plant in the lake. His “friend” Robb slowed down the video and added sound…it’s hilarious.  If you know Matt or Rob or work out with Steve Krauza and his Team Adrenaline gang, ask them about it, and I’m sure they’ll share it with you.

Here’s a screen grab:

Poster of the week

FACT:

T-Shirt of the Week

Available here in various styles starting at $14.99

Here’s a fun challenge for you marathon lovers! Run 25 marathons that take place along the 5 Great Lakes (including Erie) and qualify to get a free jacket from the Alliance for the Great Lakes.

Yeah, I know, that’s one pricey jacket when you consider the race fees for 25 marathons, but….it’s not about the jacket, right? It’s about the challenge of doing 25 Great Lakes marathons.

Check it out:

The Great Lakes Marathon Series is a collaboration of 25 marathons that take place along the 5 Great Lakes. The goal of this series is to invite the running world to come and enjoy the unique beauty of each race, while simultaneously raising awareness of conservation and restoration efforts of the Great Lakes as well as focusing on the Great Lakes ecosystem and economies.

PURPOSE

The Great Lakes Marathon Series is for runners who are interested in experiencing a variety of marathons along the Great Lakes, while at the same time making a positive impact on the eco-system of the Great Lakes Basin.

The series is for fast and slow runners alike with individual prizes being awarded based on the number of Great Lakes races you complete throughout your running career. We will award prizes at benchmarks along the way, with a grand prize for those runners dedicated enough to finish all 25 great lakes marathons in their lifetime.

The Great Lakes Marathon Series members invite you to sign up for free HERE. Through this site you will be able to upload each of your finishing times and track your progress.

In addition to the individual commitment from each member in the series, we have partnered with the Alliance for the Great Lakes, a 4-Star rated independent citizens’ organization devoted 100 percent to the Great Lakes in both the U.S. and Canada.

WHAT YOU GET

When a registered member has completed the 25 Great Lakes Marathon Series Races each one of their races will be verified by a Great Lakes Marathon Series administrator. Upon completion the member will be contacted and an official eco-friendly Great Lakes Marathon Series Finisher jacket will be mailed out.

The finisher award will be provided at no additional cost to all finishers who have completed all races in the series.

NOTE
Please note that if you have run any of these races prior to signing up for the Great Lakes Marathon Series, they will not be allowed as fulfillment towards completion of the series. You will have to run the race again.

Early birds get the lowest race fees! If you’re planning to participate in the Erie Marathon this year, register by June 1 for just $50 for the marathon and $40 for the 1/2 marathon.

Marathon race directors, Jan Comi & Mike Vieyra, recently sent the following  note to 2012 participants which has some fun statistical info in it (Go girls, indeed!):

Thank you for participating in one of our 2012 Erie Marathon at Presque Isle (Eriemara) events last year.  We hope you were one of the many that achieved their goal for the day and or set a personal record as many of you did.  We always believed we had a flat and fast course with a lot of aid stations to help you achieve some fast times but were surprised by a recent article in MarathonGuide.com.  Their analysis of all marathon results for 2012 placed us as the marathon with the 5^th highest percent of marathon finishers qualifying for the Boston Marathon.    24.3% of our marathon finishers in 2012 qualified to run the Boston Marathon in April 2013.

 In 2011 our Eriemara registrations grew by 22% followed by a 26% growth in 2012.  We spend zero dollars of your registration fees on advertising, promotion, or applications because we have you out there to spread the word – thanks for being our marketing department.  The proceeds of Eriemara get distributed to local charities / not for profit organizations.  The local charities we selected for 2013 are: Erie city Mission, Lions Eye Bank and the Presque Isle State Park (more information about these organizations can be found on our online registration).

Yes, our Eriemara registration is now open for our marathon and half marathon that will be run on September 15, 2013.  The online registration link can be found on our website at:  www.eriemarathon.org.  Register online by June 1, 2013 for a low event price of $50 for the marathon and $40 for the half marathon.  The 5K plans are still being developed and thus registration will not be available until March. 

While our current website is “functional” it could use a bit of updating.   So we have plans to get a new website developed and rolled out in March.  This should help with communication both ways and further improve your experience with the Erie Marathon.     

Here are a few interesting 2012 registration facts:

• 53% of our entrants were female – go girls!
• Participants in their 30’s made up 26% of our entrants
• 40 of the USA states were represented  – only 3 states exceeded the total coming from Canada

Thanks for your past and current support,

Jan and Mike

A few end notes on the Erie Marathon at Presque Isle from the race directors, Mike Vieyra and Jan Comi:

A big thank you from our Erie Marathon Committee for all of your favorable comments regarding your experience in Erie last weekend. We can take credit and responsibility for many of the things about our event but we have to admit that the weather the past few years was simply a blessing.

Even though we didn’t set any new course or USA age group records this year we did see a record number of personal records/personal bests. We also have a record number of Boston bound finishers in the marathon – congratulations.

There has been a lot of info provided on our website, in email updates and in our race week end brochure. Here are a few of the post race items that you might find helpful:

Results – They were posted race day on www.runhigh.com and are also now posted on www.eriemarathon.org . Boston Athletic Association has also been provided an electronic copy of the marathon results to assist in their verification of those qualifying and applying to run the 2013 Boston Marathon.

Photos – Did you remember to smile for the picture at the finish line? If you haven’t had a chance to check yourself or others out in the race day photos, you still can at: www.runphotos.com . Make sure you also look through the “Lost & Found” on the photo website as there are a lot of good pics there also.

Happy Endings – we had some significant lost items reported last Sunday and I happy to say most of them have been found, including a recently provided engagement ring, and returned to their owners. The only significant item that remains at large is a Garmin GPS device for a car.

Marathon Certificates – marathon finishers will be provided an email notice in about a week once their on-line certificates will be available. These certificates are only provided to the marathon finishers.

We are relying on you as “Erie experienced” runners/walkers to share your experience with friends and let them know to save the date, September 15, 2013, for our 40th anniversary.

We couldn’t have asked for better weather for marathon weekend in Erie. We definitely showed visitors our best side this weekend with gorgeous blue skies, cool temps, and one really well-organized race.

I worked registration Saturday afternoon and know that it went off without a hitch (ok…a few hitches, but nothing we couldn’t handle) and the pasta dinner was well attended, with lines out the door and people enjoying Linda Huegel’s creations on the picnic tables inside and out of the Rotary Pavilion.  People raved, as always, about the food and how organized the whole dinner was.  Linda and her loyal kitchen crew have it down to a science.  If you’ve never stayed for the pasta dinner — you don’t know what you’re missing!

Race day dawned clear & cool and all the races started on time. That was unfortunate for me because…I really needed to use the porta-potty before the 1/2 started, but the line was barely moving, so….guess who had to, for the third time in 15 years of racing, make a pit stop during the race? Always discouraging as you lose valuable time, but…alas, I still had a 1:49, which I can’t complain about.

I’m especially proud of the husband — Dan finished the marathon in 3:27:27 — a full 10 minutes (TEN MINUTES) off his previous Marathon P.R., and my little brother, Patrick Bruce, who finished his first-ever marathon in 4:22, after having just done his first 1/2 marathon in July!

Congratulations to everyone who went the distance on Sunday — be that 3.1 miles, 13.1 miles or 26.2 miles.

MARATHON

There were 669 finishers in the marathon with top honors going to:

            CLASS
  ID#  PLACE PLACE           FINISHER                             TIME      PACE

Open Men
    1     1    1  Mike Aldrink, 35, Powell, OH                    2:30:26    5:44
  366     2    2  Aj Kelly, 30, Altoona, PA                       2:34:59    5:55
  249     3    3  Jake Gillette, 26, Goshen, IN                   2:39:34    6:05

Open Women
  223    20    1  Angie Fiese, 35, Mableton, GA                   3:04:10    7:02
  215    32    2  Traci Falbo, 40, Charlestown, IN                3:10:43    7:17
  403    45    3  Katie Kuttenkuler, 28, Erie, PA                 3:13:11    7:22

Masters Men
   50     9    1  Douglas Basinski, 41, Pittsburgh, PA            2:52:49    6:36

Masters Women
  351    70    1  Wendy Johnson, 44, Dublin, OH                   3:17:56    7:33

Marathon age group results can be found here.

HALF MARATHON

There were 1051 finishers in the half-marathon with top honors going to:

 
         CLASS
  ID#  PLACE PLACE           FINISHER                             TIME      PACE

Open Men
  931     1    1  Timothy Black, 29, Greensburg, PA             1:18:38    6:00
 1519     2    2  Christopher Patterson, 27, Webster, NY        1:18:48    6:01
 1620     3    3  Scott Saito, 48, Louisville, KY               1:19:32    6:04

Open Women
  903    10    1  Laina Bay-Cheng, 38, Buffalo, NY               1:25:54    6:33
  855    15    2  Mary Acker, 33, New Wilmington, PA             1:27:15    6:40
 1551    30    3  Jennifer Preteroti, 38, St. Clairsville, OH    1:30:28    6:54

Age group results for the 1/2 can be found here.

There was also a half-marathon walk. Results here.

AND….there was a 5K fun run, too, but results are not posted for that yet. Check here.

PHOTOS…PHOTOS…PHOTOS….

Professional Race Photos will be available shortly at www.runphotos.com

See 300+ photos from the GoErie Street View photographer Mike Conway  here.

See another dozen photos from Erie Times-News photographer Janet Kummerer here.

And…here is a slideshow of a few pix I snapped this weekend, heavily focused, of course, on my family and friends. 

More marathon news from the race directors—Jan Comi and Mike Vieyra—of the Erie Marathon at Presque Isle (Sun., Sept. 16):

The update we sent out on September 4th has generated a few questions that we had not directly covered in that correspondence like: showers, USATF certification, packet pick-up hours, what race did I enter?, is there a bag drop?, etc… We also had a couple folks point out the date error we made on the packet pick-up note. We listed it as Saturday, which is correct, but the date should have read September 15th (sorry). Most of the answers to those questions are listed on our website (www.eriemarathon.org. ) but a few of them are not.

Info not on our website:
• Showers – sorry there are none in the park. However, we have hired a life guard for the Lake Erie beach that is only 100 feet from the finish line. It is refreshing after a long race.
• USATF certification – we indicate on our website that we do have this certification but did not provide the actual certification code – PA12042WB.
• Event confirmation – on the website above you can “Check your registration here” . If you don’t see your name or others you are looking for in the detail list you can look it up in our live data base search under the “New” button.
• Timing chips – we are now going to use non-returnable timing chips so there will be no need to get them clipped off at the finish line – yours to keep.
• Drop bag service at start/finish – we have it… as outlined in our FAQs.

If you registered by September 1st we are going to have your first name printed boldly on the race bib, ex. CHRISTIE.

An informative brochure on the Erie Marathon will be included in your race packet. This is recommended reading for Saturday evening. The centerfold is a map with all the aid stations, restrooms, mile markers, etc…

Things to remember from our most recent update:
• Second Harvest Food Bank – remember to bring a non-perishable item for collection by J. H. Bennett Moving & Storage.
• Parking, parking, parking, …… arrive early and beat the traffic. Please follow the directions of our parking marshals on race morning.

— Mike and Jan