Dewey, Dew, Do

The Jenny Kuzma Bergen race now has the distinct honor of being the only 5k that I was forced to walk part of in order to finish. At race start, 8:30am, it was already 81 degrees with a dew point of 74. At the second mile water stop I stopped and walked for about twenty seconds. My first mile was a decent 7:35, my last mile must have been around 9:00 and that was a struggle.

I think a lot of runners were suffering in the race. The weird thing is, despite the slow race, I finished sixth in my age group, earning some valuable Rochester Runner of the Year points. Mike W also finished sixth in his age group, Pete was third, Eileen second and Jan sixth. We all moved up in the standings, so it was a good day after all.

Jan has moved up to 8th place (top 5 receive honors in each age group at the end of the year). Eileen is tied for 5th, I am in 6th, Mike in 8th and Pete in 2nd. There are five races left in the series and you must race a minimum of four with the best six counting for points. Personally, I will be skipping the half-marathon as I am not in shape for that distance. I hope the temperatures and humidity levels go down so we can all do some great training and race well beginning in October.

September 4	Oak Tree Half Marathon	13.1 Miles
October 15	Finish Strong 15K	9.3 Miles
October 22	Scare Brain Cancer Away 5K	3.1 Miles
November 5	East Avenue Grocery Run	3.1 Miles
November 24	Race with Grace 10K	6.2 Miles

Jenny Kuzma Memorial 5k Bergen Race

A perfect summer morning for a fast 5k greeted runners in Bergen, New York on Saturday, August 10. The race director, Eric Boyce, does a great job of enticing really fast runners to his hometown event. This year the race also served as the USATF Niagara 5k road championship. Female repeat champion (3x) Maegan Krifchin took home over $900 with her winning time of 16:22. The overall winner, Michael Fout, ran a scintillating 14:27, just missing the course record by three seconds and a $200 bonus.

Runners had to be under a 5:38 per mile pace to even make the top 50. 367 people completed the distance, 8:00/mile would buy you no more than a 211th place finish! In most area 5k's that kind of time would place a runner in at least the top 40%.

Our local Sal's oldsters did great, led by Mike Weinpress's 3rd place in age group, 21:30, a 6:56 pace. Eileen ran a 25:32, Jan McCullough a 25:49 (about the same time as last year when she won the age group, this year finishing 8th), Joanne Katz nearly pr'd with a 27:21, 8:49 pace. Pete Leonard was 2nd with a 23:31 (7:35 pace), not bad for being 2 weeks shy of 70!