Club News Hartshorn and Oswald Hammer at Richmond, while Baird and Ward Take 1-2 at Columbia; Nasdaq Results; WRC Holiday Party Slated for Saturday, December 16th; Jeff Stratton vs the WRC Phoenix - the Tale of the Tape

New Members

Victoria Cosgrove, of DC. A native of Bristol Connecticut, Vicky graduated from Yale University in 1998, and spent two years in Boston before moving to DC in September to take a job at the American Psychiatric Association in their Office of Research. She intends to race Cherry Blossom with us in the Spring. We welcome Vicky to the club, and look forward to running with her.

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Race Results
Richmond Marathon, November 18th, Richmond, VA

At the Richmond Marathon November 18th, runners were graced with almost ideal conditions. Little wind, dry conditions and cool temperatures. The race was well administered, aside from the fact that the mile markers were not exactly accurate. Here is a list of performances by WRC runners

11 Chris Hartshorn 2:42:19
91 Robins Oswald 3:06:39
470 James Scarborough 3:35:15

Said Chris about his performance

"I couldn't even break 2:40 and barely beat my time from Boston. I have no idea what happened but my legs felt like lead from about mile 10. Went through there at 59:00 so nothing too quick given the times I had done in preparation. Went through the half at 1:17 but by then I certainly knew that things were not going to hold up. I thought the feeling earlier might be one of things that could be run through, but by the half I knew it was something more serious. So then it turned into a mental battle, and believe me, 13 miles is a damn long way to have to do that. So it was a slow fade from there to end up averaging 6:30's for the second half. Sure, I guess it could have been worse, but it should have been a whole lot better. Maybe I can take something out of the fact that I fought it well enough to finish....only 2 or 3 guys passed me and one guy crashed so badly I passed him which provided a wee lift. Still, little consolation when I saw that 2:35 would have good enough for 5th ($$). What could have been."

Rockin' Robin Oswald bested her time of last year by two minutes. Way to go Robin!

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Columbia Metric Marathon, November 19^th, Columbia Maryland
WRC fielded four masters runners for the Howard County Striders Metric Marathon (16.6 miles). Kirk Baird won the entire Enchilada, while training partner Steve Ward, fighting a very bad cold, took second. Not far behind were venerable masters Jon Thoren (17^th) and Robert Platt (28^th)

Said Kirk about the race: "It was a really tough course. Lots of hills. I was really pleased with my performance though. I wanted to average 5:40 per mile, and that is what I did."

Adds Robert Platt:
"It was great seeing Kirk Baird and Steve Ward out there. They certainly set a high standard for master runners and won the race outright! I ran about 4 minutes faster than last year, and managed 7 min miles except for the hills were I did at 7:45 to 8 min pace. It is a very demanding course.
The T-shirt and post race pizza makes it worthwhile. I have done three metric marathons in my career, and I set a PR. (I don't set PRs very frequently these days.)"

Below are the times of our runners

Kirk Baird 1:32:24
Steve Ward 1:39:29
Jon Thoren 1:54:03
Bob Platt 1:59:39

Steve and Kirk intend to run the Memphis Marathon on December 3^rd. The club wishes both of them the best of luck in the Bluff City. We kid you not – Memphis is really called the Bluff City. We speculate that this is because there are wonderful views of the Mississippi -- or else that Tennessee sports a large number of obsessive-compulsive gamblers.

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Nasdaq Veterans 10K, November 12^th

Quick field this year this year at the Nasdaq 10K.

Women

5) Donna Moore 37:49
9) Kim Robinson 38:57
22) Janet Murray 42:03

Men

8) Frank Sprtel 32:18
56) Jasha Fields 38:04
71) Jon Thoren 39:03
114) Farrell Malone 41:14

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News of the Club
Club Meeting, November 16

12 members attended the club meeting at Armand'son November 16^th. A few items were agreed upon, that are of general importantance to the membership at large.

It was decided that the WRC holiday party will be on December 16^th, at Katherine Turner’s house in G’town. The party committee was formed of the following members

WRC Holiday Party Committee

Barb Fallon
Adina Siegel
Yancy Hall
Vicky Cosgrove
Becky Orfinger
Katherine Turner
Jim Wadsworth.

WRC members are encouraged to attend the holiday party. It is the highlight of our social calendar. The party represents an excellent opportunity to eat, drink, and be merry. It is also an excellent chance to catch up with friends you have not seen since they "dropped you like a bad habit" at mile 22 of Marine Corps Marathon. We will also be giving awards to members who have distinguished themselves in the club’s service over the past year.

Charity Donation
At the November meeting, WRC also voted to give Scott Douglas $150 for his fundraising effort for Roads Scholar. Scott, a former editor of Running Times Magazine, is raising money for the Road Runners Club of America's Roads Scholar program by running the entire length of the C & O Canal, from Washington to Cumberland, Md.--184.5 miles--over seven days beginning Nov. 18.

The Roads Scholar program raises money for emerging American distance runners. Douglas hopes to raise $4,000, the equivalent of one full Roads Scholar stipend. Montgomery County Road Runners is also contributing to Scott’s efforts.

Kudos to Adina Siegel who suggested this contribution.

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Blasts from the Past
Last week we heard from, Kim Nutter, now living in Charlotte, NC. Kim was a member of WRC back in the mid-1980s, when he was Marine, stationed at the Capitol Hill barracks.

Kim grew up in West Virginia, and in the early 1970s when in high school, he used to run insane mileage with Carl Hatfield, one of the best distance runners to ever emerge from the Mountain State (yes, that is a Hatfield of Hatfield and McCoy legend). Back in 1974 when they were both 19 years old, Carl ran 2:17 at Boston, while Kim posted a 2:24.

Kim catches us up on the past 15 years.

"I was in combat in the Persian Gulf with an artillery unit from Camp Lejeune. I spent most of my time in the Marines after leaving DC. Theresa and I now have 3 great kids(Katherine-11, Alyson-8 and Christopher-5). I coached a local boys high school xc team in Charlotte this fall and it was a lot of fun. None of these kids were runners-I had 3 swimmers, 2 tennis players and a golfer(smile), but everyone of them improved EVERY meet-it was great. One kid went from running 34+ for 5k to 23+. They really were a joy to coach.
By the way, The WRC is really a great organization."

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Jeff Stratton vs the Phoenix - The Tale of the Tape

And finally, we leave you with a picture of Jeff Stratton, at mile 22 of the Marathon in the Parks juxtaposed to the WRC Phoenix. Now, this is just one opinion, but it does appear that their expressions looked markedly similar

It is not exactly suprising that they look alike, as both Jeff and Phoenix are in the first stages of meltdown. Anway as a public service, we thought it necessary to provide for our devoted readership

WRC'S JEFF STRATTON VS WRC'S PHOENIX - THE TAPE OF THE TAPE.

	Phoenix	Jeff Stratton
Description	A legendary bird from Arabia	A legendary runner from Pocatello, Idaho
Symbolizes	Immortality and resurrection	Tenacity when racing
Method of Reproduction	A spark from the dying sun sets its nest afire. The phoenix is consumed in flames, as another phoenix immediately springs from the ashes	Uh, we don't think this is the forum for telling Jeff the sordid details.
Where it Lives	Phoenicia, on the eastern edge of the Mediterranean	Capitol Hill, on the eastern edge of DC
Physical Description	A scarlet plume, with brilliant wing feathers and an azure tail	SWM 6"1", 150 lbs, N/S, 26 y/o, Glasses
Known as	Guardian of the terrestrial sphere	Spud
Explodes in Flames of Glory	After 500 years of existence	About mile 25 of the marathon

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