Friday, August 29, 2008

RRCA Run@Work Day - Friday September 19, 2008
The goal of the RRCA National Run@Work Day is to raise awareness about the importance of daily physical activity for adults. Please run or walk at least thirty five minutes on September 19, 2008 in support of the RRCA National Run@Work Day. Also, get your coworkers, friends and others to join you for your 35 minute run.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Bob Roncker's Running Spot Thursday Group Run
With the RCGC Cross Country Series coming to a close and needing to spend my Thursdays somewhere, I went to the Thursday Group Run at Bob Roncker's. About 5-10 people typically meet on Thursday at 6:30 PM at the store in O'Bryonville for a relatively long run usually 5-8 miles. On August 21 I was a little late, and it was a special Thursday in O'Bryonville so parking was more of a challenge. There were about 5 people stretching and getting ready to run. Most of the runners that I met were getting ready for a fall marathon as I heard much talk about the past Saturday long run of 17-18 miles. The heat probably was a factor due to the low turnout. This week, they decided to go for about an hour since some of them had plans on a Thursday. There are several courses to choose from the Store as it has been there for over 25 years. This time we ran through Hyde Park, one of the more popular, safe and scenic areas for running in Cincinnati. We ran about 50-60 minutes and finished by the store. Overall a nice experience and they will get more people on Thursday when Bob's Thanksgiving Day Race Training Group begins.
Brian Rohne Race Recap
Over 150 runners covered the course on the NKU Campus. Congratulations to the overall men's winner Drew Harris with a time of 15:36, and overall woman's winner Michelle Thomas with a time of 18:36. For a list of overall results, go to our website at www.cincinnatirunning.com.

Monday, August 25, 2008

New Running Spot in Loveland
The Runner's Depot, in the historic district of the city of Loveland, occupying the old train station on the Loveland Bike Trail, opened as a Bob Roncker's Running Spot this past weekend. It will be the third Running Spot in the Greater Cincinnati area. They have a location in Glendale and the original store in O'Bryonville.
The new Running Spot will provide extensive footwear solutions in running, walking, cross training, and hiking to meet the needs of the growing Loveland area and surrounding communities.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Nike+ Human Race Training Group Run
I attended this running group last Wednesday August 20 at the Finish Line in Kenwood Towne Centre. The heat probably kept the number of runners down as they were about 8-10 of us who decided to run in the heat with half of them staff. We ran only 30 minutes due to the heat and needless to say I struggled with the heat among other things. I did finish in one peice and they did have water, powerade, cliff bars. For showing up, I got a t-shirt for participating and I won a pair of socks. They meet every Wednesday night at 6:30 PM and Saturday morning at 8:00 AM at the Finish Line at Kenwood Towne Centre through the month of August to prepare you for the Nike+ Human Race. For participating in either the Group Run or Human Race, you get a t-shirt and the opprotunity to win fabulous door prizes like a finish line gift card, a Pair of Nike Socks. Hurry there are only two runs in the training group left before the Nike+ Human Race. This Wednesday at 6:30 pm and next Saturday at 8:00 AM. The Nike+ Human Race will take place on Sunday August 31 at 8:00 AM at the Kenwood Towne Centre.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Nike+ Human Race - August 31
The Nike+ Human Race is the world's largest running event. Nike has organized 25 physical race cities around the world, but the Nike+ Human Race is truly open to everyone.
Cincinnati will also participate and there is a training group for it. The training group is free, includes a few freebies and meets every Wednesday Night at 6:30 PM and Saturday Mornings at 8 AM at the Finish Line Store in the Kenwood Towne Centre through the month of August. You can show up on Wednesday Eevning or Saturday morning to run with the group.
The race (more a fun run than a race) will be on Sunday,August 31 at 8 AM from the Kenwood Towne Centre. It is free, and includes a t-shirt, and doorprizes. To guarantee a T-shirt, please sign up online. Nike+ Human Race Information.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

RCGC Summer Picnic - August 24
This Sunday August 24 is the Runners' Club of Greater Cincinnati Summer Picnic. Please bring something to share with other club members. We have cornhole, frisbee , wiffle ball and much more
  • Location: Swaim Park
  • Date: Sunday, August 24, 2008
  • Time: 3:00 - 8:00 pm
Last names beginning with:
  • A-K: bring a dessert
  • L-Z: bring a side,salad, or appetizer
  • Club provides meats, drinks, plastic ware, condiments...
If you need directions, get them from the club website.
Summer Prediction Run
As part of the summer picnic is the Summer Prediction Run at Swaim Park. See how fast you think that you can run 2.5 miles.

Race Details:
  • Location: Swaim Park
  • Date: Sunday, August 24, 2008
  • Time: 3:30 PM give or take 15 minutes.
  • Rules: No watches allowed during the race. Awards given to the runners closest to their predicted times. Special award given to one who really needs help with their prognostication.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Fleet Feet Tuesday Group Run
I was planning to do the Runners' Depot of Loveland 5k on Tuesday night at 6:30 PM but due to a late start and slow traffic on Interstate 71 between Norwood Lateral and Blue Ash forced a change of plans to hit the group run at Fleet Feet. The group meets on Tuesday and Thursday at Fleet Feet in Blue Ash at 6:30 PM. When I got there, I was shocked at the number of people in attendance. They had at least 50 or it seemed like 50. Later I found out that they have training programs that meet on Tuesday for the Fall Marathons so everybody runs together. With so many runners, the training plan for today was intervals. After breaking us into to groups, we went down Kenwood Road to Belleview Avenue to Donjoy. Although the day was comfortable, they had water and gatorade for replenishment. The interval was from Donjoy to Kenwood Road and back. You could do it 1-4 times. I did it 3 times. It was quite a different workout than I normally do. I did about 5.5 miles of running with a few hills. Overall, it was nice to get out of the running that I usually do. Even though I know about intervals, I typically do not do many of them unless I am on a track. Many are training for a fall marathon, but they will gladly welcome another runner.
Crazy 8 Race Recap
About 50 runners braved the hills, the fallen trees and the steps last Friday at the Crazy 8 on 8-8-8 Trail Race in Mount Airy Forest. Nobody got lost on the trail that we laid or least that I know about and we had only a few scrapes and falls. Congratulations to our overall men's winner Tom Lee with a time of 30:25, and overall woman's winner the appropriately named Kristen Mudd with a time of 45:00. The Runners' Club of Greater Cincinnati first attempt at a trail race was a success. A big thank you goes to our volunteers Tom Glasscock, Katie Jadeed, Nick Kleiner, Jenny Rudy, Doug Ruedesil, Mike Smith, and Ryan Woolley for helping make it a success. Crazy 8 Race Results.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Summer Cross Country Series Race #8 - August 7,2008
The weather was comfortable for a Thursday Night in August as over 50 runners showed up for race #8. Although the weather was comfortable, race director Stacy Osborne still set up the two waterstops for the course - one at the start and one at the finish. Stacy gave the first time runners some running advice(Ignore your coach's advice about going out slow and sprint out at the start as fast as you can. When you collapse on the hills in back, you will know not to go out so fast the next time.). He also recognized the current president of the Runners' Club of Greater Cincinnati and got everybody to do a Men in Black 2 cheer (All Hail T! All Hail T!(name omitted to protect the guilty)). Over two months of running, the course was still in good shape. I had to leave early so I did not know who the winners were for this race. This Thursday, August 14 is the last race of the series. Come out and see how you will do on the course.

Saturday, August 02, 2008

To Chip or Not to Chip
The Downtown Dash featured chip timing which was the primary cause for registration problems as the volunteers had to enter the chip number and race number into only one computer so 2 volunteers had to service one runner at a time. Chip Timing might be overkill in this case as they gave awards to the top 5 males and top 5 females and had 230 runners( I was at a seminar where the speaker basically pointed out that to purchase much less rent chip timing for a race with less than 300 runners/walkers is not the best use of time). Two of Cincinnati's larger races, The Reggae Run(with over 6,000 runners/walkers) and Run Like Hell(with over 2000 runners/walkers) give awards to the top 50 males and top 50 females and do not use chip timing as the party is the main draw. They use a couple of people to determine the winners as they finish. However to promote the race, chip timing may have gotten the Downtown Dash a few more people to run the race than they otherwise would have gotten. Also, runners from competitive to recreational want more accurate timing even if the race has only 100 runners. Chip timing is the most accurate, but it is more manpower intensive than bib pull tags(direct a race and see how much manpower it takes to make a large race much less a small race to be successful). If a race featured chip timing, are you more likely to run it?(see poll question)
Downtown Dash - Recap
This race was part of St. Xavier's Block Party on Friday night August 1 and also the first year of the race. Over 230 people(click here for results) attended the race which was more than they expected as they ran out of shirts and had some issues with registration. It seems like many first year races underestimate how many people show up for a race and registration turns into a nightmare. I waited about a half hour in 90 degree heat to get my bib and champion chip. To make matters worse, only two people handled registration so they used the same line for both race day registration and preregistered runners. As a result, some preregistered runners did not get their shirt. Hopefully, the race organizers will send it to them(some races will send you a shirt and some races won't send you a shirt depends on the organization handling the race). The problems at registration delayed the start by about 15-20 minutes. Some of the runners were actually disappointed with the race due to registration but also there were no mile markers on the course to let runners know how they were doing and the course was longer than a 5k. According to the course on the website, runners were supposed to run to the intersection of Ida and Eden Park and turnaround but actually ran up to the roundabout in Eden Park which added about .2 to the course. The post race party was okay with energy bars, vitamin water and one free drink. If they do the race next year, hopefully the problems with registration and course will be fixed.

Runners' Conference 2008 - Myths and Truths about Running


Commonwealth St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine will host the 2008 Runner's Conference. This conference provides competitive and recreational runners with key information about injury prevention, training and conditioning guidelines, the psychology of running and nutrition for the runner. Author Hal Higdon is the keynote speaker.

2008 Runner's Conference Details
  • Date: Saturday, August 9
  • Time: 8 a.m. - Noon
    *Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. with breakfast provided.
  • Where: Thomas More College - Holbrook Student Center
  • Cost: $25
  • Presented by: Commonwealth St. Elizabeth Sports Medicine
  • Sponsored by: St. Elizabeth Medical Center, Commonwealth Orthopaedic Centers, Meters & Miles, Fleet Feet Sports, Florence Chiropractic, Gaitwell O & P, Five Seasons Sports Club, Brooks, Pearl iZumi, GU Energy Gel, Elations, Volkswagon, Gateway Community and Technical College, Thomas More College, Egelston-Maynard Sports