Fellow club members celebrated today’s royal wedding in their own special way: competing in a USATF-NJ team championship race in London-like drizzle.  (How ironic that perfectly blue skies graced Londontown.)  Read all about the splashy results here.
 
Next up in the 2018 USATF-NJ Club/Team Grand Prix is the Ridgewood 10K on Memorial Day – Monday, May 28.  Details appear below.  SAC MASTERS LADIES: regretfully we had no teams at today’s Our House 4-mile race.  Let’s make up for it with a MASSIVE SAC ATTACK at Ridgewood!!!

• Monday, May 28, 8:20 am: USATF-NJ Ridgewood 10K, Ridgewood, NJ: Masters Men & Women
  • Race web site here.
  • Registration here.  $27 for USATF members.  On-line registration ends 5/23 at 11:59 pm.
  • Participant listing here.
  • 10K course map here.

 
SAC Open Runners:
 
Your next USATF-NJ Team Championship race will be the Lager Run 5K on Sunday, June 24.  Our goal is to enter two men’s teams and two women’s teams.  Mark your calendars now!  Here are details:

• Sunday, June 24, 6:15 pm: USATF-NJ Lager Run 5K, Glen Ridge, NJ: Open Men & Women
  • On-line registration here.  $27 for USATF members.  Price increases 6/15.
  • Paper registration here.
  • Participant listing here.
  • Course map and video here here.

 
GOOOOOOOOOOO SHORE AC!!!!!

​Shore AC Results for the 2018 USATF-NJ Newport 10K Race in Jersey City, NJ
May 5, 2018, Jersey City, NJ: Members of the victorious Shore AC women's open team beam with pride, while supporting cast men share in the joy. Front L-R: Lindsay Ritchings, Kellee McEwen and Kendal Hand. Rear L-R: Tim McQueen, Justin Scheid, Bob Skorup.

Race Date:  May 5, 2018           
Results from CompuScore

SHORE AC TEAM RESULTS:

OPEN WOMEN:

  1.   SHORE AC "A" OPEN WOM          3:23:02.70 AVERAGE:    40:36.54
  29.  Amanda Marino       Asbury Park,NJ   28 F 336    U   28     35:00.41*
  68.  Lindsay Ritchings    New York,NY       29 F 336    U 1384   38:47.52*
  91.  Ashley Hart             Jersey City,NJ     30 F 336    U  669    40:36.32*
 113 .Kellee Mcewen       Howell,NJ            30 F 336    U 1058   41:56.53*
 208. Jayne Condon        Wall,NJ               30 F 336    U  354    46:41.92*
 222. Kendal Hand          Howell,NJ            24 F 336    U 1843   47:15.47
 374. Laura Donnelly       Princeton Jct,NJ   52 F 336    U 1888   50:48.11

OPEN MEN:

  7    SHORE AC "A" OPEN MEN          3:21:02.30 AVERAGE:  40:12.46
  23.   Justin Scheid  Succasunna,NJ    32 M 36     U 1471   34:05.42*
  67.   Robert Skorupski   Rockaway,NJ     45 M 36     U 1558   38:44.14*
 106.  Timothy Mcqueen    Ogdensburg,NJ   46 M 36     U 1069   41:30.39*
 138.  Donald Schwartz    Manalapan,NJ   57 M 36       1478   43:20.33*
 139.  Scott Linnell      Colts Neck,NJ    61 M 36     U  962   43:22.02*
 292.  Mike Washakowski   Monmouth Bch,NJ  66 M 36     U 1737   49:06.30
1543. Eliot Collins      Raritan,NJ       66 M 36     U  351 1:19:39.33

Shore AC Women Sail to Victory at Newport 10K

Excitement lit the faces of the Shore AC ladies as they prepared for the third USATF-NJ team championship race of 2018: the Newport 10K in Jersey City. Was it the cool breeze that buffeted the waterfront?  The dynamism of a revitalized metropolis?  The prospect of post-race beer on Cinqo De Mayo?  Whatever motivated them, it filled their sails and drove them through the concrete canyons with foam seemingly spraying from their blazing shoes.  In fact, these outstanding gals sped down the streets so fast that they won the team championship!

Their victory did not come easily.  The Shore AC ladies edged out a superb crew from Garden State Track Club by a mere 4 seconds!  Leading the SAC armada was Villanova and Jackson Memorial star Amanda Marino.  She shredded the 6-mile course in a jaw-dropping 35:00.  Point Pleasant Beach star Lindsay Ritchings deftly rode the waves in Amanda's wake, surfing to a superb 38:47 as sencond team scorer.  The third team slot was filled by a newcomer to USATF-NJ team championship racing: Ashley Hart.  Well-known to attendees of the yearly Shore AC Cross Country Series, Ashley debuted on the state-level stage with a heart-pounding 40:36.  Fourth across the finish line was SAC veteran Kellee McEwen.  She returned to action with a magnificent 41:56 -- all the more remarkable considering this was her first team championship race after a matriachal sabbatical from running.  Team scoring wrapped up when Jayne Condon jolted the clock in 46:41.  Jayne's performance was no doubt enhanced by the brand new running shoes that she had purchased at Target 30 minutes before the start of the race!  Former Shore AC summer intern Kendal Hand(47:15) and ubiquitous Shore AC masters competitor Laura Donnelly (50:48) provided all-important insurance.  CONGRATULATIONS, LADIES!!!

I think, therefore I am.

I think about running, therefore I am a runner.

If you’ve thought about the word “running” beyond its primitive role of “running away from something,” you are, indeed, a runner. Your own objective for being a runner is insignificant, for you decidedly chose running over all the other -ings. 

For the travel-on-foot type, what makes running more than just any other old verb?

It is not a comfortable endeavor, at least in the true sense of the word. Sure, one day’s mileage can feel more comfortable than another’s, but running is by no means a cozy evening by the fireplace, warm mug of herbal tea in hand. If it is not comfort we seek, then some other form of pleasure must be at stake. Is it the satisfaction of overcoming a competitor at the finish line? Is it the sinewy, toned reflection in the mirror, the stellar vital signs? Is it the “feeling of euphoria coupled with reduced anxiety and a lessened ability to feel pain,” more commonly known as runner’s high?

Regardless, the thread that weaves us all, whether one runs a 40-minute or a 20-minute 5k, is the complex understanding of comfort--the foresight to know that what is uncomfortable in one context is actually comfortable in another, the fortitude to persevere through discomfort in order to enhance one’s comfort thereafter.

No matter the duration of time between the start and finish line, every runner fights the same battles. Your relative success depends on your courage, resolve, and strength of character--in simple terms, your ability to grit it out. How do you improve your ability to grit it out? You practice being gritty. How do you become gritty? You tell yourself things.

-----------

On a recent weekday, I headed over to the track at 6:00am to complete a 8x600m speed-endurance workout. While packing for work the night before, I concocted a half dozen different ways to perceive the workout to make it seem easier in my mind. Put simply, I told myself things.

It’s just running fast for two minutes, then getting a break!

If I think about it as 2 sets of 4, or 4 sets of 2, it’s basically not even a workout!

It’s really just an easy run with some spurts of faster running!

I’ll finish before I would’ve normally woken up--not even a dent in my day!

I ate extra dessert last night--I have so much energy to spare!

In the grand scheme, I won’t even remember this workout!

Whimsical in nature, the things I told myself were somewhat therapeutic; they masked the things I could have told myself that would have brought worry instead of relief. 

Upon my arrival, I threw my hair into a high bun, tightened my shoelaces, and promptly began my warm up jog. Within minutes, I knew it was going to be a “grit it out” kind of day. 

There will always be times when discomfort is not as easily conquered, and that is when the things we tell ourselves are better left short and sweet.

Warm up done.

Water. Workout flats. Strides. High knees. A few quick stretches. Go.

Legs heavy. Run through it. Eyes on the finish. You’ll get a break. Zone out. Grit it out. Repeat.

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Approaching the finish line of a hard workout or race is the definition of bliss; it is the moment you realize you have won the battle against discomfort. That very moment, that feeling, that sense of accomplishment--that is why you are a runner. But this version of success does not come easily. In order to get there, you have to grit it out. You have to tell yourself things. There is just no other way.

What will you tell yourself today?


Written by Amanda Marino