Photo of Jenny Turak (23:25) by Mike Conway for GoErie.com Street View

While there were more raindrops than snowflakes on Saturday, there were plenty of runners for the Erie Runners Club’s Snowflake 5K race. A total of 298 runners went the distance on what ended up being an ideal day for running — cool with no ice/snow/slush to deal with.

Top runners were:

* Mike Williamson (first male overall) with a 17:19

* Mike Lawrence (first male master) with a 19:32

* Ange Eberlein (first female overall) with a 21:05

* Pam Wassell (first female master) with a 21:30

See complete results here.

See 127 photos here.

Ever wondered how all those famous race-time shavers keep getting busted for, ahem, fibbing about their P.R.s? Check out Athlinks.

Athlinks bills itself as the world’s largest results database for endurance athletes. “If you’ve been racing, we’ve got your results,” they say. And who can argue?

Athlinks has your race times listed…and all your friends, too.

Read more about Athlinks and how to use it, including some cautions about distinguishing runners with the same name & age here.

Andy Cowell/Erie Times-News

The Turkey Trot wasn’t without it’s flaws this year, but weather wasn’t one of them — couldn’t have asked for better racing conditions and it seemed to me that most of the 4,000+ people there had a fine time getting fit with family and friends.

* See complete ERC Turkey Trot race results here.

* See 17 photos from the Erie Times-News here.

Saturday was Mike Vieyra’s 7th annual Run Across Erie County. Originally planned as a 50K (30 miles), Mike rerouted to make it a 20-miler that started in Edinboro (at the Crawford County Line) and ran to Manchester Road in Fairview, not quite county to county, but close.

Mike Vieyra, Fred Beckwith, Karen Manganaro and Jan Comi did the hilly 20-mile course. Dan Cass ran ahead, got lost and did 25.8 miles before Mike Vieyra found him. When Mike heard Dan’s mileage, he said…”Well, get out…may as well go for the marathon distance!”  Dan was having none of that. He was good it being not quite a marathon, but close.

Dan assures me that this is not how he felt Saturday.

Erie Times-News photo

* Safenet’s Boo Run: 130 hardy souls ran SafeNet’s Boo Run in the wind and rain on Sunday morning at Beach No. 9. Results here.  See 120+ photos on Facebook here and six Erie Times-News photos here.

* Snap Fitness Halloween Grand Slam: Results here.

* PumpKin Run: Results here.

Zombie Winners Revealed

From Zombie 5K Run organizer and Erie Playhouse PR woman, Sue Lechner:

 The Erie Playhouse hosted the first annual Zombie 5K run on Saturday, October 13 at Frontier Park.  The race consisted of Zombies who attempted to chase down the runners and “eat their brains,” which were flag football flags worn on their waists.  The winning runners where determined by time and how many “brain flags” they crossed the finish line with ( each runner started the race with two). The winning Zombies were selected as Most Lethal (ate the most brains), Best Performance and Best Costume.

PHOTO ID (l-r) runners – Jared Losse, Lake City (3^rd place – time 18:25 and 1 brain flag), Ben Kies, Erie (2^nd place – time 15:18.1 and 1 brain flag), Bill Mathie, Edinboro (1^st place – time 17:47.6 and two brain flags), Zombies – Adam Ryzinski – Most Lethal Zombie & Best Performance by a Zombie, Allison Shannon – Best Zombie Costume.

After years and years of saying, “I should that,” and twice telling my friends I’d be there…only to bail on them, I finally did the Presque Isle Endurance Classic, and I really loved it.

To be honest, I always thought…meh, how boring…running 1-mile loops all day, but, let me tell you, it becomes addicting. Every loop after 10, I thought, OK, I’m done after this one, then I’d pass the mat and think, well, maybe just one more.  I had planned to do 10 or 12, at most, and ended up doing 16 (17 if you count the first one which wasn’t counted because I forgot to cross the start mat).  I had it in my head to maybe do 20, but my lower back said….um, no, we’re good with 17. I’ve learned to listen to my back.

I really enjoyed this race and definitely plan to do it again next year.

Top three (most laps) runners were:

* Patrick Reed with 62 laps (!)

* Kurt Osadchuk  with 57

* Janice O’Grady with 53

There were a total of 77 runners. Complete results here.

And, here are a few photos I took (are you starting to see that I tend to be a “shy” photographer, particularly at runs when people might not love me taking photos of them sweating & gasping & such):

Seems there was nothing normal about racing this weekend.

While some runners were getting down and dirty over in nearby Bemus Point, New York, and others were going long (very, very long) in Titusville, still more runners were dodging “zombies” in Frontier Park.

Photo by Mike Conway for GoErie.com

Zombie Run 5K

Looks like the Erie Playhouse had another hit on it’s hands with Saturday morning’s Zombie Run 5K in Frontier Park. There were 159 5K finishers, but I don’t think that includes the Zombies who were making it hard for the runners to get to the finish line with all their brains (flags) intact.

There are results here, but Jim Lang from Big White Trailer warns:

“More than a few folks went off course, so take results as information, please. This does NOT affect brains collected or saved.”

You’ll definitely want to check out Mike Conway’s GoErie Street View albums from this race: The Making of Zombies and the Zombie 5K run.

Judging by all the flags in the hands of those zombies, it looks like some of the “undead” can haul ass, eh?

Muddy Viking

The Muddy Viking, a 4-mile adventure run, in nearby Bemus Point, N.Y., gave whole new meaning to the phrase down-and-dirty as the very last obstacle had runners (including yours truly) belly crawling through 1-foot thick cold mud. We also ran through Lake Chautuaqua (twice), flew down two homemade slip-n’slides, crawled over smashed pumpkin goo, climbed several walls and barriers, and slogged through the “cess pool” — a thigh-high, super-smelly pass through a rotting marsh.

I’ll give a full report in a separate post, but for now, suffice to say there were a total of 21 obstacles — some easy, some tough, some fun, some not so fun, some very dirty, some very cold. Suffice to say, it was a freaking blast.  I would do it again in a heart beat — yes, even on a 32 degree day again!

There are results for those who chose to get a chip (it was optional).  Most participants were there to have fun and, really, I can’t imagine how accurate the results could be since there’s no way of knowing who did all the obstacles and who went around them, you know? But…for what it’s worth…here are the Individual & Team results.

OC100 Trail Runs

While the rest of us were out there having “fun,” there were a couple hundred very serious runners taking on the trails and hills in Titusville at the OC 100 Trail Runs.  There were three divisions — the 100 mile run, the  100K run and the 50K run.

I know that several Erie runners went the distance in OC this weekend, including: Dan Young, Linda Young, Suze Carstarter, Karen Manganaro, Julia Roussos, Patrick Krott, Chris Coulston, and  Christine Kalie.

I’m in awe of them all.

Results are here.

The 7th Annual Her Times women’s race this morning was 719 finisher strong! Woot, Woot!

More to come on today’s events (I’m tired, my friends), but…for now, see race results here.

See my photos from the race here.

Congrats to all the ladies who went the distance and THANK YOU to my legion of volunteers (men and women) who made it all possible.

P.S. If you have an award coming to you…and you didn’t pick it up, you can do so at the Plymouth on Monday night. I’ll be at the ERC meetings (race year 2013, followed by the membership meeting) from 6:30 till 8ish.  We’ll be in the front meeting room.

It was a fantastic Sunday morning for racing, cool but nice and sunny, and local runners had their choice of three local races.  I’m betting there were a lot of PRs set this weekend.

* North East Wine Fest Stride ‘n Stomp 5K. Results at Run High.

* Bemus Point 15K. 52 overall finishers. Results at Big White Trailer.

* Run for Recovery 15K/5K/1Mile. Results here.

Dan & I did the Run for Recovery 15K.  It was the final event in the ERC’s summer triple crown series. Those who completed all three of the summer series will be receiving a long sleeve microfiber shirt (no word on who is ordering them or if they’ll be mailed, etc…..I’ll see what I can find out on that).

Dan was 8th overall and won first place in his age group. I was considerably farther behind him, but got a much bigger award (1st place female master). Pays to be an old lady. 

* How did you race/run this weekend?

* Ever run slower than your partner and still get a bigger award?

* Did you finish the summer triple crown? Ready for the winter triple crown? Starts with the Turkey Trot!

Race results for the Allegheny College Swimming and Diving Team Five-Mile Run on Saturday, September 22, 2012 at Ernst Trail in Meadville, Pa.

RUN RESULTS

MEN’S RUN RESULTS

Men’s Overall Winner – Brandon Intreiri – 31:17

14 Years and Under
Matthew Pulio, 8        35:29
Tyler LaRocca, 13        51:35

15 – 19
Kevin Crooks, 19        32:39
Kasey Sweeney, 19        35:25
Brendan Howlard, 15        41:35
Connor Wiczek, 19        45:11

20 – 24
Prateek Podder, 20        31:57
Henry Dominiquez, 20    36.32
Kirk Kumbier, 23        36:52
John Rooney, 22        43:39
Shane Wells, 22        56:57

25 – 29
Elliot Spaeder, 28        34:12
Kurt Maloney, 9        35:28

30 – 34
Robb Frost, 31            32:03
David Benson, 31        34:08
Gary Puleio, 34        36:01
Mark Arblaster, 33        44:05

40 – 44
Tim Ryan, 43            38:51
Steve Burge, 40        51:03

45 – 49
Robert Rubio, 49        37:54
Rich Shaffer, 47        40:31
Mark Izzo, 49            41:49

50 -54
Ed Masta, 50            31:39
Kevin Rose, 53            34:53
Jeff Groff, 51            39:00
Scott Bryson, 54        45:44

55 – 59
Frank Combopiano, 57    32:49
Mike Vieyra, 58        35:20
Fred Evanoff, 58        37:02
Terry McAndrew, 58        37:15
Jeff Shaw, 57            41:11
Donald Maloney, 57        44:51

60 – 64
Rod Brest, 64            36:40
Tom Schruers, 62        39:32
Bill Tobin, 63            50:01

65 – 70
Bob Juchnd, 65        43:19
Joe Hudacky, 70        45:13

WOMEN’S RUN RESULTS
Women’s Overall Winner – Pam Wassel – 33:42

14 Years and Under
Maryrose Shuman, 9        1:05.55

15 – 19
Megan Veglia, 18        39:41
Jessie Mazzeni, 19        43:25
Alexis LaRocca, 16        43:32
Natasha Marzdf, 18        45:27
Erica Bryson, 19        45:42
Bridget McCawley, 19        52:35
Carly Minsterman, 19        56:06

20 – 24
Amy Ochsenreiter, 21        37:16
Kirsten Ressel, 20        37:27
Catherine Eiben, 24        38:39
Dana Preston, 21        38:41
Christina Mucci, 22        39:18
Lauren Nord, 21        42:47
Kelly Williams, 20        44:04
Heather Benek, 22        44:57
Jessica Minsterman, 23    56:07

25 – 29
Molly Spaeder, 27        43:27

30 – 34
Sara Mehler, 34        39:02
Sara Turner, 33        40:10
Anne Mishler, 30        40:15
Becca Gellner, 34        42:20
Tiffany Hrach, 34        50:48
Karen Pekelnicky, 34        1:00.44

35 – 39
Carrie VanDamia, 35        38:26
Karen Groshek, 38        39:30
Lauren Paulson, 38        39:35
Elizabeth Andracki, 39        50:50

40 – 44
Chris Groff, 44            35:41
Jody Burge, 44            51:38

45 – 49
Mary Kaye Padzner, 47    34:23
Barb Hanes, 49        42:20
Eileen King, 46            51:25
Jeanne Espy, 49        1:00.34
Michaeline Shuman, 45    1:05.57

50 – 54
Ann Morris, 51        38:23
Sharon Tidball, 52        53:11

55 – 59
Jan Comi, 58            38:59
Allison Keenan, 55        45:34
Rana Evanoff, 58         51:09

WALK RESULTS

MEN’S WALK RESULTS

Men’s Overall Winner – Chris Lindsay – 1:02.53

15 – 19
Cody Turner, 19        1:13.21
Chris Schwanke, 19        1:30.42
Jack Sweeney, 19        1:30.44
Lucas Tucci, 19        1:30.45
David Taylor, 19        1:30. 59

45 – 49
Michael Bolen, 48        1:20.27
Tom Crooks, 49        1:32.14

50 – 54
David Hyland, 52        1:09.18
Mark Walsh, 50        1:21.35

WOMEN’S WALK RESULTS

Women’s Overall Winner – Hannah Janvrin- 1:08.10

15 – 19
Rosali Woolf, 19        1:12.57
Liz Profeta, 19            1:12.59
Kaitlin Walsh, 18        1:21.21

20 – 24
Bridget Donnelly, 23        1:11.36
Ashley Whitehead, 23        1:11.36
Ariana Lyons, 21        1:25.00
Sophie Katz, 22        1:25.01

30 – 34
Jennifer Miller            1:11.47

35 – 39
Renee Wright, 39        1:09.18

40 – 44
Lori Riggle, 44            1:20.05
Kristen Bolen, 43        1:20.26

45 – 49
Debbie Walsh, 47        1:21.45
Tamie Devenney, 46        1:37.02
Molly Crooks, 49        1:37.02

50 – 54
Kate Karl, 50            1:24.41
Anna Lynch, 51        1:24.41
Denise Bryson, 53        1:31.43

55- 59
Bonnie Dunn, 58        1:20.04