halfpace

September/October 2015
Dying Light
Weird Training
Time Travelling
Returning to Running
Reducing Runner Hate
Tweaking Boston, Part II
Legion Profiles
Eric Ashe
The Fallons
Rosa Moriello
Regina Loiacano
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Table of Contents
issue 28: September/October 2015
The Warmup
Editor’s Note
6
LVL Communications 8
Electronic Epistles
Lane 1: Performance
10
Lane 2: Body Shop
14
Lane 3: Nutrition
16
Legion Profiles
18
LVL Infographics
27
Club Spotlight
28
Lane 4: Commentary
30
LVL Bits
33
Lane 5: Fiction
38
The Warmdown
39
Half Marathon
Weird Training
Returning from Injury
Protein Pancakes
Rosa Moriello
Eric Ashe
Mimi & Jimmy Fallon
Regina Loiacano
XC
State Marathon Data
Wampanoag Runners
Reduce Runner Hate
Time Traveler
Tweaking Boston, Part II
Music
Dying Light
Learn the Legion
The women’s lead pack at this year’s Falmouth Road Race included (L to R) Sarah Hall, winner Diane Nukuri, Sentayehu
Ejigu, and the tongue-wagging Amy Cragg. For coverage of the
race, click here. Photo by Joe Navas.
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Editor’s Letter
Running as False Metaphor
Often when we see running portrayed in
film and literature, the subject is running
away from something. Let’s face it: it’s an
easy metaphor to make—even a bit lazy
as it requires little work for the creator to
make and even less for the audience to
understand. This banal metaphor has
taken the place of real running—running
that isn’t metaphor but the thing itself, to
borrow a line from Wallace Stevens.
running to metaphor has an abstract
noun at the end of its preposition. We
run to intangible entities such as selfworth, knowledge, and goals. Many are
jealous of this or can’t fathom it and,
thus, distance themselves from it and
perhaps even direct hate toward us.
Admittedly, hate is a strong word, but it’s
precisely the word Dan DiPiro uses in his
somewhat satirical and absolutely comical debut column for this magazine. DiPiro gives us seven concrete examples
Instead of running from something, let us that we can employ to reduce the runner
consider the idea of running to somehate in this world and increase the love.
thing, for I believe that is what most real If you follow just one of them, which is
runners are doing. What are we running completely doable, then you’ll be doing
to? Well, for starters:
the running community a significant favor.
 Improved Fitness
 Peace of Mind
Enough about hate. Let’s focus on love. In
 Spiritual Awareness
this issue we have four great athlete pro Self-improvement
files that are aimed to spread the love
 Faster PR’s
and make our subculture more connect Recognition
ed.
 Transcendence
We first met Rosa Moriello at the Level
 Discovery
Renner 10K. She took the race by storm
Each of the above does have a counterand cruised to a victory. Expect big things
part (improved fitness has gluttony; faster from this recent Boston University graduPR’s has sloth), so I suppose the “running ate.
from” argument still works, but I want to
Turns out we have two BU alums in this
flip this dialogue on its head, make the
issue. Eric Ashe, who has been dominatconversation about running to and not
from. We are running to better ourselves ing the roads for several years now, is
gearing up for the Olympic marathon
—not from some tangible threat. The
trials. Find out how, what, and who
running from metaphor almost always
helped him achieve this goal.
involves a concrete enemy or nemesis.
Take a look at just about any horror movie ever made. The teenagers are running If Rosa and Eric are the young guns on
from Jason, Chucky, Freddy, the man with the scene, Jimmy and Mimi Fallon are
the mainstays. This super fast couple has
the chainsaw. If you want to get postbeen kicking asphalt for years as you will
modern, I suppose you could argue that
see in our new Then & Now feature.
Hannibal is a symbol of the hero’s own
self but that argument is tenuous and
Lastly, meet Regina Loiacano. This
often lost on the masses.
“Glosta Gal” turns in fast times and is still
chasing open PRs although she is now a
The running to metaphor, of course, remaster. That’s motivating stuff—as I hope
quires a bit more work because it isn’t
the rest of this issue is.
easy to see. Only a small percentage of
the sedentary can grasp why we run. The
issue 28
Sept/Oct 2015
levelrenner.com
Masthead of
Contributors
Writers
Ray Charbonneau
Muddy
Ian Nurse
Dave Dunham
Rich Stiller
Carly Bergenholtz
Paul Clerici
Kristin Barry
Nate Jenkins
Dan DiPiro
Photographers
Scott Mason
Joe Navas
Allison Lynch
Kevin Morris
Krissy Kozlosky
George Ross
Joe Viger
SNAPacidotic
Web Contributor
Mike Giberti
Web Producer
EJN
[email protected]
Ed/Pub
Kevin Balance
[email protected]
Level Renner is a free digital magazine and website. Interested parties can subscribe directly on the
Level Renner homepage.
run on the ground
read the underground
Run. Read. Peace.
On the cover: Rosa Moriello donned Brockton colors (red and black) en route to her 2015 LVL10K victory. She also set a new course record, which we thought that worthy of a cover. To read more about Moriello, turn to page 18. To read more about the LVL10K, click here. Cover photo by Krissy Kozlosky.
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LVL Letters: Electronic Epistles
Letters
From @RAWseries: @levelrenner you never know where you’ll appear
I just skimmed this [Issue 27] and two things pop out at
me right away. Dana [DeIngenis] going to Lewis’ after a workout
in Norwood. She is my type of runner. Lewis’ has been going
strong for 40+ years. I used to eat lunch there when I worded in
Norwood. Great place at a reasonable price.
The second thing is about the Falmouth Road Race. In the
beginning it was a tough start for them. The TAC (The Athletic
Congress) which was the governing body for running in those days
did not recognize the race. The head of the TAC back then was
Fred Brown and for some reason he just didn’t like the race. Funny how things change.
—Scott Graham
Dear Level Renner,
Well done on the latest issue. I especially liked the profile
of my old friend Gary Allen!
I was intrigued by your map of annual marathons per
state in the US. While interesting, this seems to me to be the
wrong way to look at the data. Surely marathons per capita would
be a better indicator: for example, Texas' population of 29.96 million gives it 3.34 marathons per million people per year; the figure
for Massachusetts would be 2.22, and for Florida 5.53. Total marathon finishers per capita would be another good way to look at it.
Yours sincerely,
David Wilson
[Editor’s Note: The Legion talks and The Level listens. We enlisted
Wilson to compile the data for marathons per capita and he did.
See page 37 for the results.]
About the #LVL10K
From @sub3chekal: @levelrenner great job today with #LVL10K.
Great race!
From @IanHHudson: @levelrenner Thanks for posting those videos, and for hosting such a great race!
From @rleduc123: hospitality & after party at #Level10K are always great, even when I run poorly. Thanks @levelrenner
@kevbalance @EJN_OnTheLevel
From @MeaganNedlo: Hot, muggy, brutal run at #LVL10K but
stoked to win the inaugural team competition! #craftconceptracing
@levelrenner
Tweets
From @MrMcDonough: …and just like that, @levelrenner submits
one of the most poignant illustrations of the beauty of racing for
love
When we race, we engage in a bout
of mental and physical acumen. One
man’s track repeats vs. another’s hill
workout. One woman’s visualization
techniques vs. another’s attention to
recovery. One man’s diet vs. another’s foam rolling. One woman’s
minimalism vs. another’s maximalism. One man’s mind vs. his own
body. An unnatural competitive advantage does not exist. We create
the advantages ourselves through
what we do. If we work harder and
smarter than our competition, we’ll
probably win. This is liberating. You
are competing against your fellow
runner, the clock, and perhaps even
yourself. None of which are
lying. None of which are injecting a banned substance
into their bloodstream.
From @kaceroni: Is it possible to suffer #onthelevel? @levelrenner
#LVL10K was hot and humid but a beautiful course and great
event!
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Lane 1: Performance
A Half Marathon Workout
by Nate Jenkins
Wi
th so much emphasis placed on 5K’s and marathons,
many runners are often left wondering what specific
preparations they can make to run their best half marathon.
Though it’s true that you can run well in a half by doing your regular long runs and track workouts, to run your best you must do
workouts that target the distance specifically. These types of
workouts are plentiful; my favorite is an amalgam of tempo and
muscular work packed into one nice and neat session.
The Jay Johnson Leg Circuit is a great because it focuses on improving muscular strength and balance while using only your body
weight. Each exercise should be done quickly but with control and
you should move as seamlessly as possible from each exercise to
the next.
The Tempos
The tempo sections should be run at your goal half marathon pace.
I do 5 kilometer stretches but you could adjust the distance to anything between 2-4 miles and get a well-targeted workout. I love
setting this workout up as a point to point session, but you could
also do it as a loop, on the track, or just go by the GPS that is attached to your body.
The Workout
3x5k tempo with leg circuit recoveries
After a light warm up, start this workout with a leg circuit. This
circuit is adjustable, but my favorite is a Jay Johnson routine that I
When to do this workout
call the Jay Johnson Leg Circuit (creative, I know). Go through the
exercises with no breaks between them. Then proceed straight into Do this session a few times during your half marathon buildup or
a 2-4 mile tempo at your goal half marathon pace. Without taking early in a marathon training cycle. Keep in mind that this is a tough
any rest, hop into another round of the leg circuit routine. Then,
again without any rest, start your next tempo. Repeat until you
finish your third tempo rep. Try to finish with one last leg circuit.
A session like this is a little bit different from what most of us are
used to doing. Generally when we do a workout we work hard,
then we rest, then we work hard again. This workout has you
working hard in one way, then working hard in another way; it’s
relentless. Depending on your personal fitness skill set you will find
either the running or the circuit to be easier, but you won’t find
either very easy, and you will likely find yourself ready to switch at
the end of both the exercises and the tempos.
The Leg Circuit
A video of the full circuit can be found on levelrenner.com.
10x mountain climber (legs in)
10x half squat
10x mountain climber (legs out)
10x Russian hamstrings (5 each leg on top)
10x mountain climber doubles (legs in)
10x single leg squats (5 each leg)
10x burpees
10x overhead body squats
workout and you’ll need to recover from it. Do not complete this
session within 10 days of your goal race. Furthermore, only attempt
this workout once every couple of weeks during a training cycle.
Why should you do this workout
Half marathon success is most directly tied to your aerobic
strength. This workout obviously has a huge aerobic strength component. That said anyone who has run a good half marathon knows
that in the last few miles you are not generally held back because
you are gasping for air. You are instead fighting through dead legs
and extreme muscular fatigue and this workout directly prepares
your body to overcome that to reach your full potential. Ω
Nate Jenkins is a 2:14:56 marathoner and middle school math teacher who
represented the USA at the 2009 IAAF World Track and Field championships
and once survived an ice bath with Chris Solinsky and Matt Tegenkamp.
He also has a beautiful wife and an amazing dog.
Connect with us. Early and often.
Keep it #onthelevel
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29th Annual Bobby Bell 5-Mile
Road Race/Walk
Sunday, October 11, 2015
The Lasting Room Grille in Downtown
Haverhill, MA
10:30 AM Walk
11:00 AM Race
$31 Pre-entry
$36 Post-entry
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BOBBY BELL
5 MILE ROAD RACE
*No gender divisions, women and men compete as equals”
T-shirts to first 260 Runners and 70 Walkers
Awards in various age, weight, and specialty categories
*Gender Graded Scoring
Huge buffet to follow
DJ, raffle prizes, fun, SPECIAL finisher’s award!
Benefits:
 2 local scholarships
 Haverhill Police Auxiliaries
 Haverhill Brightside
 Andover Striders
Contact:
David P. LaBrode
978-373-3408
978-376-8289 Cell
[email protected]
www.yankeetiming.com/bbell
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Lane 1: Performance
Weird Training
by Rich Stiller
Ba
ck in 1970's and 80's my training was always pretty
straightforward. The more miles I ran the faster I raced.
At 40 miles per week I could barely break 17 minutes for 5k. On a
steady diet of 60-65 miles per week I came close to breaking the 16
minute barrier. When numerous attempts over two years failed to
get me under that mark, I finally set aside four months and trained
at 75 miles per week.
Somewhere near the end of those 16 weeks I ran 15:46 on a tough
course. If someone asked me what the formula was for faster times
my answer was simple: train more. But don’t cross train
more. Run more. I thought this was the golden rule.
We got to talking about his training one day. Due to a hectic job,
he only ran 2 miles a day during the work week. On the weekend
he ran 12-15 miles on Saturday and a race on Sunday. He probably
managed an unconventional 30 mpw.
"Whoa Joe," I said. "You aren't training enough. Your weekly mileage is too low! Those two milers are a waste of time.”
He shrugged, "It's all I have time to run." He then he looked at me
thoughtfully and said, "But you're right. I need to change something."
Several months later he crushed his marathon PR by 17 minutes
with a 2:58! I collared him after a race and asked him how he had
But in my quest to become locally ranked, I kept bumping into runadjusted his training.
ners who broke the golden rule, debunked my formula. I had discovered weird runners, a silent minority of iconoclasts who still
"I dropped those two milers," he said. "I took your advice.
managed to flourish while bucking the traditional
You were right. They weren't helping me."
system.
Exhibit A: Ted. He was an odd duck who
festooned himself in thick dark framed
glasses, a white cotton undershirt, and
matching shorts. He looked like he
belonged in the recesses of a budding
Silicon Valley computer lab, not the
starting line of a 10k. Yet, he was a low
32 minute 10k runner, and I couldn’t
best him. He wasn't very chatty, so it
was only through a conversation with a
friend of his that I found out how he
trained: Ted didn't count miles. He counted
440's.
"What did you replace them with?"
Exhibit A: Ted
Exhibit B: Joe
Exhibit C: The author,
himself
"He runs 40 of them on the track every week," his buddy told me.
"He runs them somewhere in between 5k to 10k pace." As he
talked, I did the math: that’s 40 quarters between 74-77 seconds.
"Nothing.”
For Joe, less was more. He ran long on
Saturday and raced on Sunday. He had
cut back to two days a week!
Joe raged on, running a number of
PR's in the next several months. He kept
to the same weekend-only training
schedule. Like Ted, Joe figured out what
worked for him.
He learned that to improve he had to either run his
weekend jaunts faster or add in more miles. Joe, eager to improve,
did both. He took his Saturday long run up to 20 miles. This is what
he had to do to get those PR’s.
"You mean he goes out and 40 x 440 in a workout?" I asked. "That’s In the early 1990's, in my mid 40's, I began training every other day.
I ran 8-12 miles one day and took the next day off. Running every
incredible!"
day for so many years had put me in a real slump and I needed to
mix it up. Inside of six months I was back to winning my age group
"No," he went on. “He just tries to get 40 total in over six to seven
days each week depending on whether he's racing or not. So seven in local races. I was competitive with runners my age who ran 60 to
70 miles a week. Like Ted and Joe, I had become weird. I am Exhibto eight one day, maybe nine to ten on another until he hits 40 of
it C.
them. By the way, he has no idea how many miles he runs in a
week. Just how many 440's.”
Turns out, weird worked. These days I still run 3-4 days a week,
Ted was strange but not the strangest runner I knew. That accolade which weirdly enough is more than many of my competitive contemporaries. Ω
would have to go to Exhibit B, Joe. Back in the day breaking 3
hours for the marathon was a BFD. I did it in 1974 on 40 mpw.
Most of my friends were training north of 50 to accomplish the
Exhibit C, Rich Stiller, has been weirdly on the run since 1968.
same feat. One of those trying to clear this hurdle was a sawed-offrunt-of-a-guy named Joe. Despite his build, he ran low 5:00's for
the mile and was under 6:00 pace for five and six mile races.
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Congratulations to 2015
race champions Glarius Rop
and new course record
holder Laura Nagel.
Thank you to everybody
who participated in this
year’s race.
See you next year!
The 20th Annual
Monson Memorial Classic
Sunday, November 8, 2015
12:00 pm
Certified half marathon & 5k + 2 mile fun walk
Great Things for Our 2015 Race
 New registration process
 New timing company
 Better weather
Wonderful Runner Perks As Always
 Individual & team prize money
 Great food & entertainment
 Tech shirts for the first 200
www.monsonmemorialclassic.com
Come celebrate our 20th anniversary with us. We’d love to have you!
For more information email Lee at [email protected]
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Lane 2: Body Shop
Returning from Injury
by Ian Nurse, DC
As
runners, we can all agree on one thing: being injured
sucks! We’ve all been there at some point in our running
careers and have experienced the despair of not knowing when we
will be able to run again.
So how long does it take to get back to regular training? Unfortunately, the answer to that question is a moving target with numerous variables. So, while we can’t consult a table where we run our
finger from injury to elapsed time, we can adhere to a few guidelines that can help you get back into shape and avoid re-injuring
yourself.
some damage; however, with chronic injuries some amount of pain
should be expected as you return to running and break down the
scar tissue that has formed. It’s important to talk with your
healthcare professional and agree on how much pain you should
tolerate.
While you will most likely feel out of shape, returning to running
after an injury should be a fun and motivating experience—if done
correctly. If it is not pleasant and you are running through too
much pain, continue cross training until you are excited and happy
about your running.
4. One Day at a Time
As we examined a few months ago in my article about the psychological component of healing, the most significant deciding factor
in how well you can come back from an injury is perspective. Being
patient and positive is tough for
everyone, especially runners. Sometimes the only
way to retain
sanity is to focus on the now
and take it one day at a time. Rather than focus on how long it will
take to return to your old runner-self, look at what workouts and
goals you can achieve for that day or that week. Set smaller goals
each week and check them off as benchmarks along your route to
making a full comeback to running.
When returning from
injury, focus on
minutes not miles.
1. Come Back Slowly
Giving your body a chance to get back into training slowly is the
number one rule. Never thought of yourself as a “Couch to 5K”
type of runner? Well, when you are coming back from injury that is
the mentality you need to adopt. Begin slowly and increase distance, time, and intensity gradually and only as your body feels
ready for it. Instead of thinking about mileage, focus on minutes
spent running using a run/walk combo.
2. Limit the Impact
When you are coming back from injury, you need to treat your
body with as much respect and care as you can. Think of your body
as a fragile statue. Limiting the amount of impact is crucial. Since
we can’t all afford an anti-gravity treadmill, this means doing little
things like buying new shoes and running on softer surfaces such
dirt paths, the treadmill, or even a track. Try to avoid asphalt
(roads) if you can and stay off concrete (sidewalks) for the first few
weeks back. Ground forces transferred to your body are quite significant with just walking and increase significantly when running.
After a long break, you need to stop comparing your current fitness
to your runner-self pre-injury. You will only feel frustrated, and if
you constantly reflect on what great shape you were in pre-injury
(and how now those workouts seem impossible), this will delay
your comeback. Track the progress you make post-injury in a journal and savor every small victory (i.e. 5 extra minutes, one more hill
repeat, a few strides at the end of a run) as it comes. Eventually
you'll return to your pre-injury workouts and times, but before you
hit that mark think of yourself as a tabula rasa.
After weeks or months of dealing with an injury, the return to running can be both a joyous and frustrating endeavor. It’s so hard not
to compare your current fitness to that of your pre-injury self and
become overwhelmed. Similarly, now that you are finally able to
run, it’s tempting to jump back into your regular training despite
your body’s preparedness for such a thing. Hopefully, by following
these simple guidelines, you will be able to slowly work yourself
back into shape and stay injury free in the process. Ω
3. Listen to your Body
Your body will most likely tell you whether you are doing too much Dr. Ian Nurse was recently named the chiropractor for the John Hancock
or if it is just right. Pain is your body’s main warning signal, so listen sponsored elite runners of the Boston Marathon ®. Learn more about his
practice here.
to it. In most cases, pain usually indicates that you are causing
Finger illustration courtesy of http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Finger-pointing-icon.png
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Third Annual Bird Park Trail Run 4 Miler!
Francis William Bird Park, East Walpole, MA
Saturday, September 26th 2015 / Fun Run Start 9:00am / Race Start 9:30am
Advanced registration $25 / Day of $30 / Children’s 1/2 mile fun run $5
Run over hill and dale
with us...
Photo by Scott Mason
August 22 - NH XC Festival, Manchester NH
September 13 - GBTC XC Festival, Wellesley MA
October 11 - Wayland XC Festival, Wayland MA
October 25 - Boston Mayor's Cup, Franklin Park
November 8 - New England XC Championships, Franklin Park
www.usatfne.org/cross
facebook.com/usatfNE
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Lane 3: Nutrition
Banana Protein Pancakes
It
by Carly Bergenholtz
er. These are a staple workout recovery food in our house. Make
some ahead of time for a midday power snack.
’s a cool fall morning and you’ve finished another long run in
preparation for your upcoming marathon. The first thing
you want, desperately, after putting on some dry clothes, is fuel for
the furnace. What better way to replenish after an intense morning
effort than some delicious pancakes? Pass on the traditional boxed
pancake breakfast that makes you feel bloated, unfulfilled, and
starving after 30 minutes. There is a better alternative to your runof-the-mill pancakes. What you need right now is a stack of Banana Protein Pancakes.
Banana Protein Pancakes
Yields: 4 cakes
1 banana
2 eggs
½ cup gluten free rolled oats
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash of cinnamon
Coconut oil
As runners, we are always on the hunt for something tasty, but the
question always remains, “Will it help me recover from my
workout?” These pancakes are packed with everything our bodies
need: potassium, protein, and carbohydrates. Three simple ingredients (banana, eggs, and oats) are all you need to get your post-run
day going.
With a fork, mash up banana in a mixing bowl. Crack and whisk in
eggs. In a food processor, pulse oats until fine like flour. Mix oat
flour into egg mixture. Set aside. Heat coconut oil on skillet and
drop a heaping tablespoon of batter for each pancake. Flip when
bubbles form, about 2 minutes each side. For an extra protein
boost, add hemp hearts or chia seeds into your mix. Ω
Potassium-filled bananas, along with water intake, keeps cramping
at bay. High protein from the eggs (local farm raised are best) promotes muscle growth and repair, which is crucial for endurance
athletes. Finally, the carbs from the rolled oats keep us fuller, long-
Carly Bergenholtz is a certified health coach and can be reached at [email protected]
2nd Annual Gansett Half Marathon
Sunday, October 25, 11am
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Fast, flat, scenic course
Group training runs available
Race-day pacers
Cash prizes for top M & F finishers
Age-group awards
Team competitions & awards
Custom finishers’ medals
Spectator-friendly finishing area
Plentiful, free race-day parking
Visit our website: www.gansetthalfmarathon.com
Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/pages/gansett-half-marathon
Register online: www.lightboxreg.com/gansett-half-marathon_2015
Banana image courtesy of http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Banana-Single.jpg
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All Things Running and More

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Full–service PT for the Hardcore Athlete & Weekend Warrior
Board Certified Orthopedic Specialists
Video Gait Analysis & Footwear Prescription
Orthotic Analysis & Fabrication
Alter-G Anti-gravity Treadmill
Bike Fitting by the Cycling PT
Dry-needling treatments
Massage & Cupping Therapy
Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization
110 Florence Street
Malden, MA 02148
781.321.7000
Injury Prevention - Coaching - Training
www.runstrongstudio.com
500 West Cummings Park
Suite 2100 Woburn, MA 01801
781.305.4656
www.fitzgeraldpt.com
Thank you to all the runners,
sponsors, and volunteers who made the 3nd
Annual LVL10K a smashing success.
See you next year!
Tentative 2016 race date: July 17
Registration to open in March 2016
run on the ground
race the underground
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LVL Dossier: Rosa Moriello
Legion Profiles
Name: Rosa Moriello
Age: 23
Height: 5’3”
Residence: Boston, MA
Day Job: Tracksmith
High School: Naugatuck (CT) High
School, 2010
College: Boston University, 2015
Club: None yet!
Average Miles per Week: 65-70
Notable PR’s:
XC: 20:18 for 6k and 16:52 for 5k
Track: 16:03 for 5k, 9:19 for 3k, and
4:25 for 1500
Favorites
Races: I can’t say I have any specific
races that I love, but I definitely
have favorite places to race. My favorite season is cross country, so my two
favorite places to race are Franklin
Park and the Lehigh cross country
course. I also love racing at Boston
University’s track more than any other
track. And for the past few years I’ve
been racing a 5 miler back home, the
Torrington Road Race, and have grown to
absolutely love it.
Workouts: My favorite workout I’ve ever
done was a combination of a treadmill
and track tempo. For the first three
miles I was on the treadmill alternating between 1% and 3% incline. Immediately after that, no rest, I headed
over to the track for the remaining two
miles at a faster pace, if possible.
Besides that I’m always down for some
mile or 1k repeats.
Rosa Moriello FTW at the 2015 LVL10K. Photo by Krissy Kozlosky.
Places to Run:
1. The Bridle Trails back in my hometown, Naugautck
2. The Minuteman Trails in Lexington, MA
3. Fresh Pond in Cambridge, MA
Running Shoe: Lately I’ve been on a big Nike Pegasus kick. I really like that shoe and
they seem to be working well so far, but I’m also a big fan of the Brooks Defyance.
Workout Songs: I never listen to music when I run, but I like to count numbers. For whatever reason, it calms me down and makes my workouts a bit easier.
Book: I love reading so it’s really hard to pick just one favorite, but I’ll have to go
with The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I first read it in the summer of
2006 and have read it every summer since. But I also love any and all books by Wally Lamb.
Hobbies: Most of my hobbies change depending on the season. When it’s nicer out I love going to parks and museums. When it’s cold out (or there’s 9 feet of snow on the ground) I
love just staying home and doing a puzzle.
profile continued on the next page
18
LVL Dossier: Rosa Moriello
Legion Profiles
Running Intangibles
Training Philosophy: My training philosophy is pretty simple: if you’re feeling bad then
take it easy; if you’re feeling hurt, then take it off’ if you’re feeling great, then keep
doing what you’re doing.
Prerace Ritual: I always like to pack everything up and lay everything
fore my race, even if the race isn’t until 9pm the next night. I never
my singlet and I wear the same socks in every race. And the two things
since I’ve started running in high school are stretching my arms right
line and jumping up and down 3 times once I’m on the line.
out the night belike to warm up in
I’ve done ever
before going to the
Career High/Lowlights: My career low was during my junior year at Boston University. I
started off the year with an Achilles injury that I couldn’t shake. After that it was a
hurt hamstring, a sprained ankle, and then bursitis. I didn’t get to race much and when I
did, it was nowhere near my PRs. Luckily, my career high came the next year. During the
outdoor season of my senior year I had qualified for the NCAA Championships for the 5k and
ran a PR. Then when I came back in the fall for my fifth year, I qualified for the NCAA
Cross Country Championships which was my #1 goal since my sophomore year.
Goals: I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do with post-collegiate running so I
don’t have too many goals set just yet. My biggest goal is always to stay injury free and
become a stronger runner: physically and mentally. If I had to name a specific goal it
would probably be to finally run sub 16:00 in the 5k. It’s been a goal of mine for the
last 3 years and I’m hoping to finally achieve it in the upcoming track season.
Proudest Moment: My proudest moment was at the Patriot League Cross Country Championships
in 2013. BU had just switched over to the Patriot League from the America East Conference.
We had no idea what to expect from these runners since we’ve never really raced them leading up to the meet. Many of the schools competed in the Mid-Atlantic for regionals, so we
weren’t sure what we were going up against. Somehow we pulled it all together and came
home with a conference win. It was the first cross country conference win I had been a
member of since being at BU. It was a pretty awesome moment.
Best Distance Runner of All Time: There are way too many amazing runners now, in the past,
and in the future to ever just give one the label of being the best.
Local Running Role Model: Although she’s no longer a runner but a triathlete, my local
running role model would have to be my former teammate Monica Adler. She came onto the
team our sophomore year and I’ve looked up to her ever since meeting her. She was someone
who always worked so hard no matter what. Whether she was hurt, sick, or life just got in
the way, she was always gave running her all. It was amazing watching her run; it came so
naturally to her. She made running a 4:34 mile look like a jog in the park, and the best
part about her is her humility. She can make anyone feel like they are the best runner
this world has ever seen. If there is anyone I would want to be like, as a person and a
runner, it’s Monica.
Oddest Thing That's Ever Happened to You on a Run: There was one run in the winter of 2012
-13 where 3 former teammates and I saved a baby hawk. We were running on the Charles River
doing the Museum of Science loop when I saw this baby hawk in the water near the CambridgeSide Galleria. I thought he was trying to swim so I pointed it out to the girls. After watching it for a bit we realized he was trying to get out of the water but was hurt.
We ended up finding a stick and the hawk eventually realized we were trying to have him
grab on to it so we could pull him out of the water. We were able to convince someone to
buy a blanket for the hawk so we could wrap him up while we borrowed someone’s phone to
call animal control. We called the shelter the next day and luckily he (we decided to call
him Henry the Hawk) was okay.
Advice for The Legion: Some pieces of advice I like to give others and myself are: be patient, find the positives in everything, and make sure to reflect on your racing and
training because I think that’s the best way to learn how to improve. Oh, and of course,
always look your best for the camera. Ω
19
Day in the Life: Eric Ashe
Legion Profiles
Believe it or not, Eric Ashe used to be a football player. Perhaps for reasons of self-preservation, he realized in his junior year of high school that
his 145 lb. frame might be better suited for the red oval around the football field than the field itself. Combine that realization with two other key
cogs, attending Foss running camp (he attends now as a counselor and
hasn’t missed a summer since 2004) and being a pupil of legendary
Whitman-Hanson coach Kevin Black, and Ashe morphed himself from
linebacker to front of the pack.
Fast forward to this year and you’ll see that Ashe’s life is immersed in the
running culture. This past year he started coaching cross country at Simmons College and also starting working fulltime at Tracksmith, a locally
based running apparel company.
After just missing an Olympic marathon trial qualifier in the half marathon in January 2014 (Houston; 65:01) by one second, he got his revenge
on the same course a year later. He flew to a time of 63:33 to punch his
ticket to LA.
Ashe at
the 2015
Falmouth
Road
Race. He
placed
16th in a
time of
35:55.
Photo by
Kevin
Morris.
In the last twelve months, Ashe has proven his qualifying time at the half
marathon distance was legitimate. At the Twin Cities Marathon in October, 2014 he ran a qualifying time of 2:17:56 (the standard is 2:18). He
followed that up with a return trip to Minnesota in June, when he ran
Grandma’s Marathon. There he clocked a respectable 2:17:06 in less than
ideal conditions.
Turned out June was quite a busy month for Ashe as he also proposed to
his girlfriend of three years, Lindsay Shields (she said yes). Congrats
guys!
On the next page read insights from Ashe’s current coach and training
partner, Terry Shea and Brian Harvey, respectively.
And if you’re really curious, you can keep track of Ashe’s daily runs on
logarun.com.
Day in the Life
Weekday - Fall Season M/Tu/Th
0530: Wakeup, plug in percolator, get dressed.
0545: Drive to Simmons College for XC practice, drink coffee along the way.
0615: Simmons practice at Fens track.
0730: Run cooldown w/ team, continue on for 60' total run around Jamaica Pond.
0830: Clif Bar, quick shower, change, head to work at Tracksmith in Wellesley.
0915: Arrive at Tracksmith. Eat bagel w/ PB and banana at my desk.
1200: Lunch — large salad w/ about 20 ingredients.
1430: Ice coffee (either Peet's, Starbucks, or Dunkin, all 3 w/in a block of the office).
1530: 35’ shakeout around Wellesley HS Fields. I work on the grass legs year-round.
1615: Snack while finishing up work - yogurt with almonds.
1830: Get home. Snack on chips and hummus.
1900: Dinner — salmon, rice, broccoli.
2000: Get coffee, breakfast, lunch, and snacks ready for tomorrow.
2030: Catch up on coaching emails, enter workouts on Athleticore, read others, TV, ice cream.
2200: Sleepy time.
Weekend
0615: Wake-up, coffee.
0700: Jog 20’ to meet Brian Harvey on Charles River; do drills/strides.
0730: Long workout, jog home.
0930: Arrive home. Drink juice w/ protein powder.
0945: Roll out, light stretch, request pancakes from fiancé, shower.
1030: Feast on chocolate chip banana pancakes loaded with syrup and peanut butter.
20
Day in the Life: Eric Ashe
Coach’s Curve
Legion Profiles
sometimes it takes one cycle to advance fitness to a certain point
but a few shots at racing to see the finish time actually come.
On training partners (aka Brian Harvey): As fortunate as Brian
and Eric might consider themselves for the situation where they
Terry Shea coaches Eric Ashe. We caught up with the coach to
have each other for nearly every workout (and most races), I feel
gain some insights on one of his fastest pupils. Read what he had
just as lucky to be able to coach the two together. A few years
to say.
back I would not have guessed that the three of us would end up
On attitude and self-confidence: In our very first meeting to for- in the situation we are. But we have and it’s awesome. I worry a
mally discuss the prospect of coaching (December 2014) Eric made lot less about those two than I might others who are on their own
it clear that his goal was to not just qualify for the Trials but to be for a particularly challenging workout. I know that if one is off his
game that he will have help from the other. So many times I have
competitive at a higher level. Weeks later he ran 65:01 in Houston, missing the standard by a mere second. He came out of that read their logs for a given workout, have seen identical times run,
not thinking "how do I find one or two more seconds." He want- and known that it was truly a matter of teamwork in coming together as it did. These two have also been incredible of late with
ed to race up closer to his potential. One year later he clearly
nailing workouts as intended (I can be pretty specific with target
demonstrated that he meant it by putting himself more into the
thick of things and lopping of nearly 90 seconds. He raced that in paces) and not going crazy with exceeding the goal times just besuch a way that showed he believed in his abilities, and further he cause it might be coming easy on that particular day. I think their
growing marathon experience has helped them to understand the
came out of it pleased but knowing there is still more out there.
importance of control and patience and knowing that there will be
special times when going to the well is required.
On marathon racing: Eric is evolving as a marathoner. He has
learned an enormous amount over the course of the three marathons he has done since we started working together. As mentioned earlier he has always believed himself capable of big things,
but he is now also learning that there can
be so many other factors in a marathon
race besides just getting into great shape,
racing smart, and then being tough. Over
lunch in Duluth after Grandma's, and in
reference to being in 2:15 shape but coming up short (in a still nice PR of 2:17), he
reminded me of a very true statement: It is
one thing to be in a certain shape for a
marathon but another thing to have it all
come together. He rightly noted that
The view that most people see when Ashe (left) and Harvey are racing. Photo by Ian Nurse.
Teammate’s Perspective
Eric Ashe and Brian Harvey do almost all of
their training together. Find out what Harvey has to say about his
friend and teammate.
The highlight of our training together is no doubt when we both
qualified for the Olympic Trials at the Twin Cities Marathon in October of 2014. I had pulled a little ahead of Eric around mile 20
Eric and I have done ~90% of our workouts together over the last when he got a pretty bad cramp. As soon as I finished, I immediyear and half. We've trained for three marathons together: Boston ately looked back, hoping I'd see Eric come rolling through soon. It
2014, Twin Cities 2014, and Grandma's Marathon this past June.
seemed like several minutes passed in what was actually just ~45
He's an excellent training partner: extremely reliable and flexible. seconds, but eventually he came through just under the 2:18:00
We work well together and complement each other's strengths
cutoff! Being able to push through that cramp over that last hilly
and weaknesses. He also has taught me to have larger and more
10K is a testament to his mental strength.
aggressive running goals.
21
Then & Now
Legion Profiles
Jimmy & Mimi Fallon
apples & unicorns
On
e way to define humility is to describe yourself as a
“dime a dozen” even though your story and accomplishments are more like one in a million. That’s what happened
when I sat down and asked Jimmy and Mimi Fallon if I could profile
them in these pages. It took some cajoling but they eventually
agreed. Once we got passed the “we’re boring; it’s okay if you decide to nix us,” it turns out that both Fallons are pretty interesting
people that embody what Level Renner stands for: selfimprovement through hard work.
Jimmy’s story starts in Ireland
where he first learned that perseverance opens doors. One
such door that opened was
that of Providence College. The
first one in his family to attend
college, Fallon graduated from
PC and even earned an MBA.
This was in 1983.
way that every person has her own story. Sure, she started off because she recognized that “instead of going out for a few beers
after work, I needed to go out for a few miles” but this led to an
atypical action for a coach potato: she applied for the New York
City Marathon lottery. Well, she got in and ran 3:10.
Upon running the 3:10 at NYC, she realized, “OMG I qualified for
Boston.” Now, at this point in the interview, she was very sure to
attribute her future successes to her mentors and coaches. Top on
that list were Larry Olsen and Bob Sevene. These men, among
others, helped her to three
Olympic Marathon Trials (1996,
Jimmy & Mimi Fallon after this year’s Beach
2000, 2004) and one World
2 Beacon. They both won their age groups.
Marathon Team (1999). This is
Photo courtesy of the Elliott family.
such a “typical” and “dime a
dozen” interview, isn’t it?
Post-college Fallon worked and
trained with a who’s who of
top-end running talent, including the famous Bobby Doyle
among others. He raced competitively into his early thirties
and then took a 15 year hiatus
to put his MBA to good use in
the financial sector. He credits
his wife for his return to the roads: “I would likely not be running
today if it were not for Mimi getting me back into the sport. For
that I am grateful because running now is more enjoyable and less
stressful.” His comeback as a master included joining the HFC Striders. He did some coaching for Hurtin for Certain but now mainly
just races for the apple-logoed team. About his present day running he says, “I’m just happy be out and getting in a run.”
I suppose now is an appropriate time to mention that both
Mimi and Jimmy accomplished
their feats while working full
time. In fact, current day Mimi
works two jobs and is the caretaker for her legally blind
mother. Now, I’ll drop in that
she is 3 for 3 in her new AG (50
-59) and is running 60 miles a
week in hopes of making it 4
for 4 at Beach 2 Beacon.
Before I get off the phone with the Fallons I have three more essential questions to pose.
Q: What do you do that keeps you running so fast?
A: Nothing. No yoga. No cross-training. No diet. No stretching. We
barely drink enough water. We just run.
Q: What’s the biggest difference between open and masters running?
Despite living in the New England since the late 1970’s, Fallon still
A: It’s so different! It’s tough to get in the work. The quality. As an
keeps his Irish family ties tight. He is currently coaching his nephew
open runner, 100 miles per week was not that big of a deal. Now,
Jamie who hopes to follow in his uncle’s footsteps to a prosperous
that’s not doable. As an open runner, running well meant you just
running and professional career here in the states. When he arrives,
had to work hard. Now, it’s more difficult to get in the hard work.
the Legion will readily welcome him.
Q: How did you meet?
A: Two people like to take credit, so we’ll give it to both of them:
’m the total opposite of Jimmy,” Mimi Fallon abashedly con- Randy Thomas and Kathy Franey. We all trained together and
fesses to me over the phone, “I have no running backmet that way. Ω
ground. No high school. No college.” “So how did you get started
in running,” I ask. “Typical runner’s story,” she keeps saying, but as
Turn the page to see the training of Jimmy & Mimi—then & now.
we keep talking, I keep thinking that her story is only typical in the
“I
22
Legion Profiles
Then & Now
Mimi Fallon
THEN
Open PR’s
5K – 16:40
10K – 34:20
26.2 – 2:40:42
Jimmy Fallon
NOW
THEN
Master PR’s
5K – 17:20 (Hollis)
10K – 36:56
13.1 – 1:23
Open PR’s
5K – 14:10
10K – 29:44 (track)
26.2 – 2:17:29
NOW
Master PR’s
5K – 17:49
5 miles – 29:10
10K – 37:45
A Week of Training
Monday: 8 easy
Tuesday: track
workout, 13
Wednesday: AM 4
PM 10
Thursday: 14
Friday: 12 @ predicted
marathon pace
PM 6
Saturday: 21
Sunday: 10
Monday:14
Tuesday: 5
Wednesday: track
workout, 9
Thursday: either 0, 5
or 10 (5/5) depending
on how my double shift
falls
Friday: 8-10
Saturday: tempo, 9
Sunday: 8-10
Monday: 10
Tuesday: AM 5
PM 10-12
Wednesday: 15
Thursday: AM 5
PM 10-12
Friday: AM 5
PM 10
Saturday: AM 5
PM tempo
Sunday: 18-20
Monday: 4-5
Tuesday: 8-10
Wednesday: AM 3
PM club work out
Thursday: 8-10
Friday: 6-8
Saturday: tempo 3-4,
maybe 4-5 later in the
day
Sunday: 12-14
Miles per Week
About 100
I try to get in 60 but that
rarely happens now
90-100
60 if I am lucky (can
vary a lot from 30-70)
Running Trends
Anything related to
physiology to make be
become a better runner.
Trends? No trends
Don’t really follow
trends. Just happy to be
able to run.
Must Do Workouts
Workouts at PMP
(predicted marathon
pace)
Half marathon tempo
run: 3-4 @ half pace
then 3-4 miles ~30 sec
faster per mile
I always view all runs as
important as they are
part of a jigsaw puzzle.
Just happy to be running. I try to get in a club
workout and run on the
weekends and get in
what I can during the
week.
23
10 x 10
Legion Profiles
Regina Loiacano
Proud Member of Team Gloucester
Gloucester native Regina Loiacano is one of long distance training will work for the upthe region’s elite masters runners. Learn
coming cross races. I'd like to qualify for
more about her in this issue’s 10 x 10 profile. Boston and might give a fall marathon a try,
1. How did you become a runner?
I was first introduced to running in elementary school. It was a field day and my friend
Lenia and I were running around the school
playground racing to the finish. At the time,
we had no idea that our future coach was
watching, and that we would one day be
part of the best women's cross-country team
in our high school's history. Later, during my
freshman year of high school, I truly started
to become a runner. I was encouraged by
my friend Lenia to join the team. The coach
who spotted us on the field that day was JD
MacEchern, and he has remained my coach
and dear friend ever since.
2. Describe your training philosophy and
how it has evolved over the years.
My training philosophy is to listen to my
body and run in the moment. To have fun.
Give 100% and finish what you start. I try to
never walk during a race except to grab water. I was cautious and often afraid during
high school to take risks or “go for it." Now
that I am older and wiser my philosophy is
"Go for it. You have nothing to fear and
nothing to lose.” This evolution has been the
result of more confidence and knowledge of
how to run a smarter race. I'm still learning
and evolving. I especially love to learn and
take advice from other runners. Training with
friends makes running more enjoyable and
keeps me loving the sport!
3. What does your training look like on a
daily basis?
My training on a daily basis is up by 0400,
coffee, bathroom, get dressed, get in the car
by 0500, and drive to meet friends for a
workout or daily run. Usually, we’re done by
0630. The group I am training with are getting ready for a marathon in October. I am a
big cross-country runner but the dirt trails
are dark at 0500 so the roads are best. I love
to run with my friends, so I am hoping the
especially since I’m doing long runs anyway.
The hardest workout I’ve done recently was
6 x 1200, mile, 6 x 200. It was one of the
toughest workouts I've had in a long time.
But I loved the challenge!
4. What do you think is the hardest thing
about the sport of running?
the state title. It was such a great moment
for us as a team because it was a buildup of
improvement over three years and finally the
big moment had arrived and we reached our
goal. Working hard on our own individual
goals to improve the overall team goal is a
very cool thing. We were a small school and
it took every member to win. Our coach, the
aforementioned JD MacEchern, was so
proud of us that day! It was so memorable.
We still talk about it.
I think the toughest thing, at least for me, is
being mentally tough. I admire runners that
can dig deep and put it all on the line. My
best races are when I have been mentally
tough through the challenging parts of the
race. Training is harder as you get older. I
find it challenging to fit in a training run or
race with a busy schedule, husband, kids,
home, and work. If I hit the alarm to snooze,
I lose!
The second proudest moment was a couple
of years ago at the Mt. Washington Road
Race. It was my third time running the race
and Team Gloucester was hoping for a women's win. We had recently lost our dear Team
Gloucester leader Peter Watson to cancer
and were hoping to make him proud. He
had a dream of a women's team from
Gloucester to one day win. This race was
particularly a proud one for me as well as my
teammates because we did just that. We
Staying injury free has also been the hardest
won. We all worked hard to place as high as
thing lately. When injuries hit, resting or
we could to score as our women's numbers
slowing down can be a tough pill to take.
were low. Everything fell into place that day.
5. Speaking of mental toughness, what do Team accomplishments are exciting to me.
They motivate me to try even harder. Dig a
you do to keep the pace honest or on
little deeper. Individual bonus for that day
some days just get out the door when
your body is telling you otherwise? Or
too: I unexpectedly finished as third overall
better yet, stay in the race when your
in the women’s division. You never know
body wants to tap out?
what can happen on any given race day.
Running with friends and having friends to
meet in the morning is my motivation. Getting up at 0400 is not easy but knowing that
I am meeting others helps. The phrase “No
pain no gain” has always stuck in my head
for getting out there, too. Listening to what
my body tells me during a race or hard
workout is important. I try my best and tell
myself not to quit, to keep putting one foot
in front of the other until the finish.
6. Describe your best performance and
proudest accomplishment.
One of my proudest accomplishments is
from high school and the other from a couple of years ago. The first one was during my
junior year of cross-country at Gloucester
High School when our women's team won
7. Are there things that you do differently
now as opposed to when you were an
open runner?
Now that I am in the masters category, I find
myself trying to beat my 20 year old self. I
race against the younger me and her times.
It is exciting to get a PR now as a masters
runner. Sometimes, I can't believe it. Experience, knowledge, and especially great running friends/training partners have helped
make it happen.
8. Do you run doubles?
I have never run a double in my life. I'm not
sure I could fit them in?! I’m lucky to be able
to get a run in once a day (at 0500). My philosophy on this is do what works for your
24
10 x 10
own body. I know mine would fall apart if I
doubled. Plus, it sounds scary to me.
9. What are some things you do outside
of running?
I'm a busy mom of two very busy and athletic boys under the age of seven. A wife to
a big- hearted, hard working, Gloucester
Guy named Joe. I'm also an owner/ designer/seamstress of a recycled sail bag business
here in Gloucester, MA called Again and
Again. My family keeps me happy and very
busy. The job does too!
Legion Profiles
10. What’s next?
Training for cross-country and a fall marathon are on my radar. I'd love to complete a
running series, just not sure on which one to
focus. There are so many great ones. I'd also
like to assist in coaching one day and give
back to my local running community.
Bonus 2. What do you do when you have
a cold, ache, or pain?
My theory is to sweat it out with a run. Even
if it is for 20 minutes. For aches and pains, I
have been cautious lately. Cross training
helps.
Bonus 3. Describe your diet.
Bonus 1. If you weren’t a runner, what
would you do with all of your free time?
Well rounded. I eat pretty healthily. Not a
huge sweets eater. Love sushi and more
If I wasn't a runner, I would love to train as a savory meals. A lot of fish...I'm a Glosta Gal!
dancer. I love to watch dancing shows and
Ω
especially love the costumes.
Regina Loiacano. Photo by Lisa Nogello.
25
10 x 10
Legion Profiles
Simple math tells us 10 x 10 = 100. Thus, we have 100 shorts that should allow us to get to see the many sides of Regina
Loiacano, Gloucester native, fast runner, mom, and newly minted Legion member.
True or False
Fill-in the Blank
I’ve run in a foreign country. True
I’ve been flirted with post race. True
I subscribe to Level Renner. True
I do barefoot strides in the summer. False
I pray before a race. False but I should
I’ve left work early to go running. False
Beer is an acceptable post race replenishment. True
Burgers are better than burritos. True
I’ve Googled myself. True
A dog has jumped on me during a run.
True
I’d rather be taller.
Leaving St. John IV is my biggest regret.
Staying positive is my inspir ation because it helps me in tough situations.
Stretching is needed more.
The LVL can be improved by not sure.
Katie Misuraca doesn’t get the recognition she deserves.
If I could only listen to one song while running, it would be Pandora.
I sleep with lots! My husband and then my two boys jump into bed midway through
the night and then the cat!
26.2 is the most miles I’ve ever run in a day. (NYC Marathon, 2003)
1 - 10
Numbers
Yes or No
I’ve run 100 miles in a week. No
I log my miles with pen and paper. Yes
I drink coffee prerace. Yes
I ice my legs postrace. No
I own a treadmill. No
I have taken a selfie. Yes
I look up race results of my rivals. Yes
I have run through injury. Yes
I have gone skinny dipping. Yes, many
times
I read a book to fall asleep at night. No
Height & Weight. 5’2” & 102 lbs.
Miles before retiring a running
shoe. When a hole forms
Most laps ever on a track. 40
5k PR. 18:00
26.2 PR. 3:15
Shoe size. 7
Preferred racing distance. 5K XC
MPW. 40
Minutes per day online. 20
Texts sent per day. 10
1 is the least/worst. 10 is the most/best.
Desire to run in all 50 states. 5
Priority I place running in my life. 7
My fear of injury. 7
Pearl Jam. 5
My ability to get out of my comfort zone
while racing. 10
Casinos. 2
Banksy. 2
Shakespeare. 5
Importance I place on my eating habits. 8
Runner’s World. 5
Word Association
Either Or
Favorites
Ice Cream. Moose tracks
Athlete. Kristina Folcik. She’s so positive!
Running shoe. Asics Fuji
Seinfeld character. George
Band. Many
Board/card game. Candy Land! Can you
tell I’m a mom!
Color. Green
Season. Summer
Tattoo. No
Book. Right now it's Harry Potter with
my son, next it will be Fifty Shades of
Grey on my own:)
Front runner or late surger? Front
Trail runner or road burner? Trail
Short distance specialist or long distance
grinder? Middle
Tea or coffee? Coffee
GPS junkie or run on feel? Run on feel
Beach house or ski chalet? Beach house
Track or treadmill? Track
Facebook or Twitter? FB
Downton Abbey or Big Bang Theory?
Abbey
Wine or beer? Both
1 word
Twitter handle? ??
College? Albright
Car model? Toyota
Nickname? G
Carn-, herb-, or omnivore? Omnivore
Occupation? Designer
Hardest race course? Mt Washington
Easiest race course? Fiesta 5K
Underground Legend? ???
Training philosophy? Enjoy/Fun
$50 5K. Award
Obama. Care
USATF. Team
Minimalism. St. John VI
Boston 2024. Olympic Possibility
Bill Belichick. Patriots
LVL. Renner
Going Green. Recycled bags
Color runs. Fun
Jack Daniels. Never had it
Hodge Podge
Zodiac sign. 1973? Don’t know
Fav #hashtag. #lovemykids
Hours of sleep per night. 4 if lucky
Percent of day spent thinking about running. 15%
Paper, Plastic, or Canvas. Canvas
Refrigerator essential. Milk
Best article in the history of this mag. Just
subscribed
Rather step in gum or dog poop. Gum
# of bumper stickers on my car. 1
# of minutes spent answering these questions. 20
26
LVL Infographics by Allison Lynch
27
Club Spotlight
The WAMPS
by Fiona Murphy
Club Skinny
Founded: 1984
Membership: 212
Homebase: DB Sports, North Attleboro
Motto: This humorous observation pretty much sums up our
obsession: "Those Mad People That Run."
Marquee Event: OFTM
Website: www.wampanoagroadrunners.org.
We
aring our team singlets with
our club logo on the front
and “WAMP” on the back always draws the
question from fellow racers, “What’s a
Wamp?” Our favorite acronym answer:
Wicked Awesome Marathon People, but
really Wamp is short for the Wampanoag
Road Runners.
Rhode Island). Saturday winter runs during
Boston training can draw as many as 50-60
runners, almost a quarter of the club. A
weekly Sunday run starts at DB Sports. We
have coached track workouts on Wednesday nights in the summer lead by member
Mike Atwood (Boston College track alumnae).
The club is dedicated to creating a supportive community of runners. We organize
group runs, train together, volunteer, and
have fun. The many miles training together
on the roads and trails forge some incredible and lasting friendships. We are inclusive
to all runners at all levels: long time road
warriors, beginners, front runners, somewhere else in the pack runners, trail runners,
ultra-runners, triathletes/Iron(wo)men,
tough mudders, relay racers (100 on 100,
Cape Cod Marathon Relay, etc.) and marathoners chasing the 50 states. And that
original spirit from 1984 to run fast and
competitively still remains strong! Current
up and coming members to watch include
Rob and
Missy Norcross, Sean
In 2004 a local group of competitive women Powers, Joe
runners, The Bettys, lead by Sandy Sheehy Keenan and
Rachel Phil(now our current Wamp President) and
brick, just to
Deirdre Bird, joined the Wamps, and from
there the club began to steadily grow to our name a few.
Wamp memcurrent size of 212 members, just about
bers also
evenly split between genders. Homebase
placed in the
continues to be at DB Sports. Our weekly
top 10 in their
long run on Saturdays is hosted by club
members from their homes, which provides age groups at
Boston in
a great variety of running routes
2015: Kevin
(membership now covers towns north and
Downing (4th,
south of the ‘boros, including many from
Our club began in the early 1980s, back
before GPS, GU, and zero drop shoes weren’t even a thing. We were founded when
fast, competitive, olde school running was at
its best. Two groups of friends began running informally together and when Kevin
Downing and his brother Lou opened their
running store, DB Sports in North Attleboro
in 1984, the plan for the Wampanoag Road
Runners was hatched. The original founding
members (Kevin Downing, Jim Morris, Roger Stebenne, Bill Dunphy, Michael Touloumtzis and Jim Limperis) had a mission:
form a club for runners from the ‘boros
(Attleboro, South Attleboro, North Attleboro) who could train, race, and enter team
competitions together.
65-69 AG, 3:23) and Terry Tattersall (7th,
70-74 AG, 4:45).
Our Wamp Grand Prix Series encourages
club participation at local races, and increases club camaraderie. We have 5 teams of 10
runners each that compete in one race per
month on our GP calendar. The team with
the most number of runners at the events is
the winner. Many local race directors are
very grateful for the large number of runners that we bring to support their event.
The sea of WAMP shirts is hard to miss!
Often there are many Wamps on the podium at these events, sometimes completely
sweeping age group categories. We affectionately refer to this as being “sWAMPed.”
Our marquee event is the Old Fashioned
Ten Miler (OFTM) held every February in
Foxboro. This race draws seriously competitive runners as well as runners tackling the
distance for the first time. A big part of the
Wamp vision is to give back to the community, so 100% of the OFTM proceeds go
Photo by Sandy Sheehy.
28
Club Spotlight
Great turnout for a Wamp Grand Prix race this June , the Mansfield Boosters 5K. Photo by Sandy Sheehy.
directly to local charities. We also have the
Wamp Way, where we donate time, money,
food, etc. to help those hit by hard times.
Beneficiaries have ranged from the relatives
of teammates to the Attleboro Area Council
of Churches’ food bank.
The Wamps have also been recognized by
the BAA®, Eident Racing, and Finish at the
Fifty (DMSE) as a dependable and reliable
running club who will manage their volunteer assignment from start to finish with the
utmost professionalism while having fun
and loudly cheering the racers! Volunteerism is a large part of what makes this club
great, and we love to give back to the running community in this way.
ning successes for the year.
For more information about the Wampanoag Road Runners, please contact Sandy
Sheehy at
[email protected] or
visit our website at
www.wampanoagroadrunners.org. Ω
The Wamps also have times throughout the
year when we get together to see what we
all look like “cleaned up” and in street
clothes. We have a summer soiree each
Fiona Murphy is a loyal member of both the
August at a local pool and a Christmas party Wampanoag Road Runners and the Level Legion.
in December where we celebrate our run-
29
Lane 4: Commentary
With Runner Hate on the Rise, Why
Not Spread Runner Love?
by Dan DiPiro
A
lot of people are hating runners
these days. Runner hate has been
mainstream for at least a couple years now,
as this Wall Street Journal article attests. A
recent study funded by the Pew Charitable
Trusts* says hating runners is now widely
regarded as wholesome, communitybuilding, pro-family-values fun.
Purportedly decent people everywhere are
bonding with one another over a shared
hatred of our big watches, our bright
clothes, our bumper stickers, our compression sleeves, and the stupid faces we make
while crossing finish lines. The study also
shows that runner hate has been trending
upward within certain key segments of the
American population:



Sedentary brothers- and sisters-in-law.
Colleagues who routinely bring baked
goods into the office.
Guys in vans and trucks who veer toward you at high speed and then pass
you with their side mirror 20 or fewer
inches from your elbow.
runners, they may also help you improve
your personal relationships with nonrunning colleagues, family, and friends.
Tactics and Insights
non-running thing by yelling, “We’re on
course! We’re on course! This is where I ran
down that bastard from Somerville and set a
new PR!”
INSIGHT: Audience is everything. If you are
with a carload of your running buddies, by
all means, yell away. But if you’re with nonrunners, it’s inappropriate. Non-runners, you
Hey!! We’re on
see, don’t understand the glory that can
my PR course!!
take place on, say, an ordinary, cigarettebutt-strewn street corner in Revere. They
think these Earth-shaking, sporting things
take place only on TV. They’re incapable of
understanding how much pain you were in,
how scared you were, how you were in the
SITUATION: You’re heading out to dinner.
process of injuring a toenail that would take
You and your spouse are in the backseat
while another couple, non-runners who are 10 ½ months to turn black, fall out, and
regrow, and how you still kept pushing and
friends of your spouse (you don’t know
pushed right past your nemesis from Somthem very well), are in the front. Suddenly,
erville, and how damned amazing and unyou realize that you have raced in the
neighborhood through which you’re driving. likely and unbelievably glorious it all was
and how it made you happy and high for
DON’T: Interrupt the guy from the back of
the rest of the week.
the car as he talks about some mundane
DO: Allow your spouse’s friend to continue
Tactic 1 – Know your audience
Help Stop the Hate
Let me say, upfront, that I am not suggesting that we runners stifle ourselves or
stop flying our runner flags freely. We are
runners. This world is as much ours as it is
anyone’s, and we’ve gotta be who we are.
Period.
But I am suggesting that there are a few
simple, easy things we can do to reduce
runner hate in the world, and that a world
with less runner hate would be a better,
safer world.
We runners just need to equip ourselves
with a few tactics and insights to help us
on our way. You may even find that while
the following tactics and insights help
you to make the world a nicer place for
*This study does not really exist. If it did exist,
I’m sure the Pew Charitable Trusts would not
come within a mile of it.
30
Lane 4: Commentary
saying whatever he’s saying about radiocontrolled airplane rallies, while you silently,
privately enjoy the memory of one tremendously glorious day.
Tactic 2 – Hide your “S”
Jim: You’re a
Good Husband.
had a big day of yard work and came down
with a foot problem. The pain didn’t go
away, so he went to a doctor, who diagnosed him with a condition called “plantar
fashititus.” He’s now hobbling around on
crutches, and says he’s enduring constant
knife stabbings to the undercarriage of his
foot.
BONUS INSIGHT: While personally guilty of I
-I-I runner blogging, I have lately found that
people actually want to read my posts when
I cut out the egomaniacal I-I-I routine and
DON’T: Say “Ha! You big baby! I’ve been
write about running in general, rather than
running with on-again-off-again P-F for
years! I once raced with a fractured metatar- just my running, my training, and my racing.
sal, without knowing it, and I placed third in DO: Dwell a little less on your running prowmy age group! I’ve chronicled 643 foot and ess, when you’re online. Maybe even try a
little self-deprecating humor.
leg injuries in my running log over the last
23 years and have gone through countless
Tactic 5 – Keep your food weirdness to
night splints, foot massage balls, cortisone
yourself
shots, corn and callus shavers, orthotics,
podiatrists, and orthopedists.”
SITUATION: You’re hanging out with nonrunning family members when your brother
-in-law mentions that he is tired from his
uber-productive day. He then boasts a little
about waking up at 0600 (on a weekend!) to
surprise his wife by cleaning the kitchen and INSIGHT: People generally take offense to
being called a big baby.
presenting her with breakfast in bed.
DON’T: Say, “Wow, you’re a regular Marine,
Jim. By the time you were getting up, I’d
already run 18 miles in a cold rain, 7 of
them at half-marathon pace.”
INSIGHT: Running, over the years, has accustomed you to extremes to which many
American adults are unaccustomed. Extreme
discomfort. Extreme effort. Extreme weather.
Extremely early hours. Many non-runners
will simply never understand or appreciate
the strengths you’ve developed, and you
cannot and should not try to force them to
understand. To minimize runner hate in the
world, you should be like Superman and
keep your “S” hidden under your regular
working stiff’s clothes. To put it more plainly: be a little modest. Oh, and, by the way,
your brother-in-law has no effing idea what
you mean by “half-marathon pace.”
DO: Tell Jim he’s a good husband.
Tactic 3 – Lay off the B-word
HA!! You Big
Baby.
SITUATION: Your neighbor tells you that he
I.” Your narcissism is increasing runner hatred in the world with each of your hourly
posts. And, uh, by the way, even your running friends are getting tired of your incessant, online boasting.
MMM...Bacon!?!?
AHH...GROSS!
DO: Say, “That can be painful. Sorry to hear
it, Bob. What did your doctor recommend?”
Tactic 4 – Check that online ego
I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I,
I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I...
SITUATION: You’re on social media, rabbiting on about your running.
SITUATION: You’re out to lunch or dinner
with friends from work. They are inactive
folk.
DON’T: Make a big show of your not eating
the butter-sautéed bacon-wrapped scallop
appetizer that everyone else at the table is
digging into and announce that the bacon
and butter are evil and could cost you a
second or two per mile in your upcoming
race.
INSIGHT: Relative to you, the other folks at
the table are overweight and out of shape.
The last two things they want to hear as
they scarf down fattening, delicious food
and try to forget how they are neglecting
their health and fitness are: 1) how the slender, fit gal or guy at the table is worried
about some incomprehensible, miniscule
drop in athletic performance; 2) that you
INSIGHT: The themes of 93.4% of runner
have the willpower to resist the baconsocial media posts can be interpreted as
wrapped scallops, while they clearly, embarfollows: “I am fast, I won, I placed, I am real- rassingly do not.
ly fast, I am fit, I get up early, I train hard, I
endure bad weather, I am really TOUGH, I
DO: Surreptitiously avoid the food in quesam amazing, I am amazing for my age, I am tion, without making a show of it or discussfar more amazing than you are, I am alling it. Or, better yet, take the opportunity to
around awesome.” Of course, all of this can enjoy some delicious, less-than-perfectlybe more simply interpreted as: “I, I, I, I, I, I, I, healthful delicacy you wouldn’t ordinarily
DON’T: Present your online audience, every
hour, with a new blog, tweet, or Facebook
post about your races, your race times, your
incredible training run, the amazing number
of miles you ran that weekend, your long
lunch-hour run, the incredible weather you
braved on a run, etc.
31
Lane 4: Commentary
allow yourself to enjoy. In other words:
lighten up! Eating a little bacon isn’t really
going to slow you down. And if any of your
colleagues sat down at the table expecting
food weirdness from you and were poised
to hate you and all runners for it, you may
surprise them by digging in and thereby
help to turn the runner-hate tide.
Tactic 6 – Let kids have their turn at
sports
parents find tiresome to drive. Oh, and if the
youth sporting event happens to be a cross
country meet, beware the temptation to tell
other parents that you could outrun most or
all of the kids there. Under no circumstances
should you jump into the race yourself.
Tactic 7 – Pee discretely
I’ve really go to
go sooo badly!!
I am faster than
you & your kid!
SITUATION: The starter’s pistol will fire in
just a few minutes. Suddenly, you sense that
another thimble-full of urine has found its
SITUATION: Your kid’s travel team (soccer,
way into your bladder from your very well
baseball, lacrosse…whatever) is playing at a hydrated blood, despite your recent trip to
field that’s 22 miles from your house. You’re the port-a-potty. You can feel it there. It’s
scheduled for a long run of exactly that, so, irritating you...it’s actually bugging the hell
yes, you guessed it…you run to the game.
out of you. You can’t race like this! YOU’VE
GOT TO PEE, AND YOU’VE GOT TO DO IT
DON’T: Make a glorious, sprinting entrance
NOW!
into the youth athletic complex, four
minutes before the start of the game, with
DON’T: Drop trou, right then and there, and
eighteen empty water bottles strapped to
pee on the sidewalk, exposing your bits to
your sweaty body—like an ammo laden
fellow runners and spectators alike. Or even
soldier emerging heroically from the junjump into that nicely manicured, nearby
gle—and then casually saunter over to the
hedge. Or jump into the start crowd to take
usual parent gang with which you routinely a knee (or squat) and pee at the feet of felwatch these games, and respond to their
low runners.
“Did you go for a run?” with a nonchalant,
“Oh, I ran from home. Mike drove Suzie
INSIGHTS: 1) It’s time to be calm. That thimhere. Have you seen them?”
ble-full of urine in your bladder isn’t going
to hurt your race performance. You’re feelINSIGHT: Most other parents your age have ing it only because you’re nerved up about
given up all claims to athletic prowess and
the race, and if you just stay calm and start
competitive glory and are now trying to
racing, you’ll forget all about it by the time
latch onto these things through their kids’
you get a few hundred meters down the
participation in sports. While they hate it
road. 2) Many of the non-runners watching
when your kid outperforms their kid on the you at this moment subscribe to the twisted
field, there’s one thing they hate more: YOU notion that obeying the laws and customs
performing at all.
governing public urination and nudity is
more important than your competing well
DO: If you must make your trip to the game
against the 46 other runners entered in the
and your long run one in the same, skip the
inaugural Pleasantville School Field Trip
Chariots-of-Fire entrance onto the field. Go
Snack Fund 5K. Should you cast your pale,
straight to your spouse’s car in the lot. Towyellow stream before these people, should
el off. Change up. And be discrete about
you expose your parts to them, should you
your ability to run distances that most other
go leaping into their favorite hedge—the
one they spend all summer lovingly trimming and shaping—the runner hate in this
world will wax. 3) Finally, as I stand waiting
for the gun to go off, I do not want you
whizzing on, or within splashing distance of,
my racing flats. (Should you notice my own
pee darkening my race shorts and dripping
down my leg and onto my racing flats, don’t
let it bother you; this is my business.)
DO: Pee away, my friend. Just keep your
distance from me and try to not let nonrunners see you.
And, Finally, A Little Common
Sense
While these tactics and insights will help
you stamp out runner hate, you’ll be presented with situations not described
above—pivotal opportunities to make a
difference for the better.
You’ll do just fine, so long as you remember
the general operational theme of modesty
and use common sense. Deep down in your
heart, you know, for example, that ridiculing
a passing jogger’s form while you’re in the
company of non-runners is…well, in bad
form. In some corner of your being, you
know you shouldn’t announce, “Whoa, I
guess Loping Larry has never heard of 180
steps per minute!”
So listen to your gut. And maybe we can all
work together to make the world a little bit
better place for this generation of runners
and generations to come. Ω
Dan DiPiro lives in Bedford, NH with his girlfriend
Carol, her four fantastic kids, a superaccommodating dog and a murderous but friendly cat.
Who is the Level Renner? What is the Level Renner? We are a digital magazine. We are a website. We are a platform for
runners. We are the Level Renner. You are the Level Renner. Magazine 6 times per year. Website daily.
run on the ground. read the underground.
32
LVL Bits
Renner Music
by Arthur Besse
"Fire Woman" by The Cult
Reminds me of my senior year of high school cruising Tatnuck in my buddy Demetrios "Jim" Galanis' Chevy Citation. When this
song came on the radio, Jim would say, “Shut up! The Cult is on!” and threatened to kick us out if we didn’t zip it. The song still kicks
serious butt 26 years later, and I love the fast pace of the song to get me going early in a run and before a race.
“Possum Kingdom” by The Toadies
Brings me back to my rollerblading days long before I got into running. I recall 'blading on the Minuteman bike path with this song
playing on my yellow Sony Sports Walkman which originally belonged to my beautiful Aunt "Bette" Elizabeth Persinger who now
knows where it ended up. I'd see the runners and think to myself how much cooler I was because I had wheels. Boy, was I wrong! This
song has motivated me in my fitness goals for many years; it has a great buildup and finishes strong like we all hope to do in training
and racing.
“Bulls on Parade” by Rage Against the Machine
This one harkens back to my days as a journeyman butcher (get it: bulls) trying to learn the trade. This song rocks hard from start to
finish like all my CMS teammates do, and it is a great late run song for a pick-me-up on those rare days when I wear a Walkman for a
long run. If I don't have the Walkman, I just play it in my head.
I have all three tracks in regular rotation on my mix that I listen to before a race or long run. I don't really pay attention to bpm and all
that technical stuff; I just like what sounds good. For me it's a combination of the memories and that all three songs just sound awesome
and continue to do so over two decades later.
Send your Renner Music nominations to [email protected]. Put Level Music in the subject line. Pick your three best songs
and write two sentences explaining why you picked each one. It’s a good way to get your name in this rag. Consider it a publishing
credit.
33
Lane 4: Commentary
Time Traveler
by Dave Dunham
Ru
nning and time travel have always been linked in my mind.
While running down present day Canal
Street, I often find myself meandering back
in time to my high school days when my
team would venture upon the remnants of
the defunct Middlesex Canal. As I tromp
Middlesex Canal Aqueduct.
route 3A and head
onto the dirt road
paralleling Alpine
Road. This will bring
you to Canal Street
which is a dirt road
that traverses a scenic section of marshland with remnants
of the canal. Retrace
your steps and do
The sign at the site of Thoreau’s “house.”
your post-run
stretching in the
small park on the
banks of the Concord River at the Faulkner
National Historic Park. The homes of EmerFalls. This is a great run for fans of turn of
son and Hawthorne and the location of the
the century (as in 1700 to 1800) architecture “shot heard round the world” are in close
and innovation.
proximity. With a little bit of running on
Monument Street through Concord Center
Later that
and then Walden Street, you can get back
year my
onto trail and loop Walden Pond. Circumhigh school navigating the pond allows you to see the
crosssite where Thoreau spent two of his most
country
famous years. Of the place he said, “I wantteam would ed to live deep and suck out all the marrow
often meet
of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as
up on week- to put to rout all that was not life.” A pile of
ends for a
rocks marks the spot of Thoreau’s cabin,
long run in
toss a rock on as you run by.
along the banks of the canal I
can picture ox driven barges
being maneuvered from
Charlestown to Lowell. I am
instantly transported to the
early 1800’s when after 10
years of planning, blasting,
and digging the canal became
Faulkner Falls.
the way to transport freight
and people from Boston Harbor to Concord, NH. Amazingly the canal
Concord. Not
pulled passengers and freight for 50 years
much of an imagbefore being put out of business by the
Boston & Lowell railroad. The B&L had the ination is required
to drop you back
advantage of moving at a faster pace and
being able to remain open year round. The in time to 1775.
We’d run around
canal couldn’t be used in the winter (water
the Minuteman
freezes at 32 degrees).
National Historic
Walden Pond.
To get a feel for the history of the canal,
Park, Great Meadstart with a visit to the Middlesex Canal Mu- ows National
seum, open 12:00 to 4:00 on weekends.
Wildlife Pond, and sometimes even Walden
Inside you can learn more about the 27 mile Pond. With the numerous Revolutionary
long canal that had 20 locks and 8 aqueWar era homes dotting the landscape, I’d
ducts. Outside you can see where the canal lose myself to the days of yore.
crossed the Concord River. This would be a
great place to start a pleasant out and back You can capture some of the feel of the late
1700’s through the mid 1800’s and get in
five mile run on a mix of roads and trail.
some spectacular trail running in Concord.
Head down Faulkner Street, Old Elm, and
Check out the Old Manse and Old North
continue on Lowell Street where you will
Bridge when you park at the Minuteman
find obvious remains of the canal. Cross
Fast forward 35 years
and I find myself in the
Boxford State Forest on a
hot and humid afternoon. The woods are
alive with bugs but more
interesting to me (and
less frustrating than the
deerflies) are the old
Old North Bridge.
34
Lane 4: Commentary
war veteran who cleared 50 acres on the
south slope of Bald Hill. In the mid-1800’s
the Hooper family cleared the summit of
Bald Hill where they grew fruits and vegetables. The final logging of the forest was
done in the late 1800’s when the wood was
used to manufacture matches at the local
Diamond Match Company. By parking at
the end of Sharpener Road you can visit
some interesting sites in a 6 mile loop.
Heading out north on the trail you’ll see
some recent history. In 1968 the DepartHouse remnants at the former ABM site.
ment of Defense took 300 acres for an AntiBallistic Missile radar site. The 12’ deep hole
stone walls which form a network throughthey dug for the foundation remains, and is
out the forest. I’m still fascinated by history sometimes used as a swimming hole by
and try to picture the ancient open fields
locals. The ABM radar was never built and
marked by these stone walls. There is plenty the land was returned to the state. Heading
of history to see in the forest which was
over to Bald Hill you can find a few apple
farmed by the Russell family in the late
trees that remain on the summit; there you
1700’s. James Russell was a revolutionary
can envision the orchard that stood there
200 years ago. On the south side of Bald
Hill you can also find the Revolutionary era
cemetery, cellar holes, and a stony chimney
from when the area was farmland.
These are just a few of my favorite history
lessons but there are countless others out
there. So, fire up the Flux capacitor, step
inside the TARDIS, disrobe, get into the time
displacement sphere, turn on the jets, and
slip into the Hot Tub Time Machine. Better
yet, put on your running shoes and head out
the door. Become a time traveler and lose
yourself to the past! Ω
Dave Dunham has run over 100,000 miles. Many
of them on the routes described in this article.
35
Lane 4: Commentary
Tweaking Boston, Part II
charity runners
By Ray Charbonneau
In
ities get. Then the lucky charities hand out
the July/August edition of Level
those numbers using whatever means they
Renner, I proposed some tweaks to want, as long as the recipient pledges to
the Boston Marathon® registration process meet a fundraising goal set by the charity
for time qualifiers. In this issue, I’m taking a (taking into consideration the minimum
look at the process for charity runners.
amount required by the BAA®).
where you’re the only one competing for
donations from that charity’s supporters?
Boston has a large invitational runner program that makes up about 20% of the race
field. The BAA® gives many of those numbers to sponsors, cities and towns along the
course, running clubs, and other groups.
The remainder goes to runners who get in
by collecting donations for charity.
Then the deadline comes. Uncertainty will
drive runners to whip out their own credit
cards to ensure they qualify, but since they
don't definitely know how much they'll
need, they'll give even more just to be sure.
In my proposal, potential charity qualifiers
would be allowed to submit an application
at any time during the year. When they apply, they would pick a charity from a list
approved by the BAA®, a list that could
easily be made open to expansion if desired.
That competition will drive people to greater fundraising efforts and can only add to
the excitement surrounding the race.
Getting access to a charity number is no
Each applicant would get an online fundrais- longer as much about who you know. It's
Registration for charity runners has two
ing site modeled after Kickstarter and com- about how you do compared to an objective
standard, just like for time qualifiers.
goals: to allocate the available numbers, and pete to get potential donors to submit
to use those charity slots to maximize the
pledges (and their credit card info) online. If
Sure, wealthier runners will drive out some
benefits to charitable organizations.
the runners take in any cash, they deposit
of those with less money. But today's $5000
that amount to their account, adding to
minimum is already too much for many
Entry slots for Boston are limited. So even
their total. Those totals would be visible
people. And on the time qualifier side, physfor charity runners registration is, by neces- online.
ically gifted runners have been taking slots
sity, a competitive process. But that process
is much less open than the process for time Just as with our proposal for time qualifiers, from fanatical runners with immense desire
but lesser ability since qualifying began.
qualifiers. Inevitably people with personal
the BAA® would track how many charity
Competition, like life, isn't fair. Besides,
connections to the charity, maybe because
runners have applied. Once the maximum
they’ve run before or because they know
number of applicants is reached, the BAA® more money for charity will roll in. Isn’t that
someone who works there, end up with
would sort charity qualifiers by the amount the point?
most of the charity entries, whether or not
currently pledged and post a running upOf course, any significant shift from the exother runners have a greater desire to run or date showing the minimum amount that
isting charity registration procedure is exthe ability to raise more money.
gets an applicant into the race.
ceedingly unlikely. The enormous success of
And inevitably, some runners decry that for The registration deadline arrives. If the char- the current program, the millions of dollars
that come in every year, has created powerevery charity runner, one fewer time qualifi- ity slots haven't filled, everyone gets in.
ful vested interests. And the race numbers
er gets into the race, and that charity runMore likely, there will be more applicants
themselves are currency, buying not only
ners can gain entry without demonstrating
than slots, so entries would go to the top
money, but favors, prestige, and attention.
they can successfully run at all, let alone
fundraisers until all the slots are filled.
For the current beneficiaries of the program,
complete a marathon.
Once a runner's entry is confirmed, the
changing the Boston Marathon® charity
Solution? Last issue, we used the power of
credit cards are charged and a new charity
registration process would be like waking an
computers and the internet to change race
qualifying period begins. Of course, the
enormous bear from hibernation—you
registration for time qualifiers. Why not use fundraising pages for everyone who got a
might not like the result. So why not leave
that power again, and turn the allocation of number would stay up, so successful charity well enough alone?
charity numbers into a competition?
qualifiers could continue their fundraising
But it would be more fun for the rest of us,
efforts through race day.
Currently, charity runners have a seemingly
wouldn’t it?
simple goal: collect a certain amount of
With these changes, charity qualifying bemoney. But before a runner can do that,
comes a competitive event. Just like racing
Ray Charbonneau has been the editor of two
they have to get a number, and that process for time, the more effort you put in, the
charity projects for runners, The 27th Mile and the
is not at all open. First, the BAA® and their
more likely you are to get a number. And
Runner’s Book Bundle. Neither required registration to participate. Find out more at y42k.com.
partners choose among the potential chari- just as in racing, there's strategy—what
ties and decide which ones get numbers
fundraising methods do you use? Do you
and how many numbers each of those char- pick a popular charity, or a smaller one
36
LVL Data
Notes: State populations play a big role in determining the data in this infographic. Alaska has the most marathons per million inhabitants with 17.65. It has one of the lowest state populations at ~736k, second only to Vermont (~626k) for the smallest state. Second is
New Mexico with just over 11. As for the states with the fewest number of marathons per million, Alabama is the lowest with 1.24
(population ~4.8 million), followed by New York with 1.47 (population ~19.7 million) and Illinois with 1.55 (population 12.8 million). To
see a complete state list, click here. Data complied by David Wilson.
15th Annual Shawn M. Nassaney Memorial
Cross Country Race/Walk
Saturday, September 12th, 2015
9:00 am
Bryant University
1150 Douglas Pike
Smithfield, RI 02917
Prizes & Awards
Top 3 Male & Female
Top Overall Bryant University Alumni
Top Overall Team
For details visit www.shawnmnassaney.org
37
Lane 5: Fiction
Dying Light
by Muddy
Th
ree weeks ago, when I turned
eighty, my family celebrated by
throwing me a small part—and taking away
my keys. As we age, we expect to lose such
items (along with eyesight, strength, recall),
but it is the unexpected losses that can be
the most crushing. After our quaint little
party, my children and their spouses sat me
down for “the talk.”
Now as I stand
near the window
and peer out into
the inky blackness
of the early morning, a morning
that only small
babies, new parents, and aging,
arthritic senior
citizens ever truly know, I feel an array of
emotions. Waves of melancholy swirl with
devious excitement. You see, “the talk” started with not driving and ended with me not
running. Funny, I don’t remember talking
much during “the talk.” They’re concerned
about me falling, breaking my hip, hitting
my head, or, God forbid, getting lost! ‘You
torn, and faded running shoes. I haven’t
purchased a new pair in over nine years. As
my twisted and gnarled fingers, although
barely able to complete the shaky double
knots, complete the chore sans shoehorn,
my feet feel like they have returned home.
These sneakers are as much a part of my
family as the ones with which I just celebrated.
DYLAN THOMAS
Do not go gentle into that good
night.
Living in the attached in-law apartment with my
daughter and her
family, I still have
complete control
over my assisted
can still go for walks! We can bring you to
life. I get to do
the park!’ they argued. Just as the privilege what I wish, within
of driving disappeared like a fart in the
reason of course. I
wind, my running is now ripped from my
still cook my own
grasp as well? Although at this stage of the meals, shower by
game my running has been reduced to a
myself, wipe my
slow shuffle, I still savor it. Memorialized in
own hind parts (for
my leg muscles, atrophied in my upper
now). That’s why, as
body, and emblazoned most soundly in my I struggle to pull on
mind, running is engraved in me like letters an extra long sleeve
on a tombstone. Decades upon decades of shirt and slip on my
running still define me even if my body, at
head lamp (now
times, does not. It’s actually funny, you
hidden in my unknow, to think that I began driving and run- derwear drawer so
ning at the same time: two lifelong activities they cannot steal
that helped shape who I was. Who I am.
that from me too), I
And now they are both lost because I’m
feel no remorse or
“old?” Am I expected to accept this?
angst as I quietly
slip out the door. In
My body knows the forthcoming routine—
fact, I feel a giddiover sixty plus years of conditioning, both
ness that harkens
operant and classical at the same time. Arback to adolesthritis and darkness shall not impede my
cence—sneaking
actions. I lean over and lace up my worn,
out in the dark underneath the noses of
authoritarians.
My body requires walking for ten minutes to
get moving before I can even begin my now
venerable running. The air is chilly and I can
just make out the hint of a dawn on the
eastern sky. I begin to settle into a rhythm
and pick up the pace ever so slightly. There
are the usual creaks, pops, and groans from
tightly wound ligaments, tendons, and
muscles but I cannot help but smile.
I will run on, all the while murmuring lines from Dylan Thomas under
my breath. Ω
Muddy experiments with existentialism
while running. We print the results.
16th Annual Edaville Rail Run
So. Carver, MA
November 14, 2015
10:00 AM
To benefit the Dorine Merritt Memorial Fund
5 mile Run/ 2 mile Fun Run/Walk
shirts guaranteed to first 700 runners
Entry fee $25.00 until 10/30/15 $30.00 thereafter
Family Friendly Event! Register at www.active.com
Course: Unique course which traverses the gravel bog
trails in and around Edaville Railroad
Amenities: Chowder, Little Red Smokehouse,
Ernie’s Restaurant & much more for all participants
Visit us at www.edavillerailrun.com or contact: Donna M.
Nolan 508-317-5359 /[email protected]
38
The Cooldown
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Level Legion Web Highlights
Laura Nagel’s summer has been so fast that we just had to give her a bit of
space in these pages before we ran out. Two of her more impressive feats came
within a week of each other. First was the Run 4 Kerri where she blitzed the
course FTW and a new course record. She took down two-time Olympian Amy
Rudolph’s record and established the new mark at 21:38 for the four mile course.
Six days later, Nagel showed up at the USATF-NE GPS 5 mile championship, the
Bobby Doyle Summer Classic. Again, she came in first place and set a new CR.
This time she ran 26:40 and defeated Heather Capello, who owned the old mark
of 27:20 (Capello ran 6 seconds under the old CR too). And to top it all off, Nagel
travelled out of state to MA for the Falmouth Road Race. There she placed 8th
overall in a time of 38:20. Congrats on a great summer, Laura.
Nagel is pictured here winning the Bobby Doyle Summer Classic.
Photo by Scott Mason.
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