2014 Race Series Cup

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Written by Marty Mazur Marty Mazur

The 2014 Race Series is completed. The tallies for the Race Series Cup, which started with First Night on New Year's Eve 2013 and went and through the Nittany Valley Half-Marathon in December, are now available. Alan Effrig has won the Series again this year with 143 points. (Alan was actually the top point-getter in 2013, too, but was 'on hiatus' then due to a Series rule that does not allow winners to take the top prize in back to back years.) Tom Cali was the second point-getter with 131 points, but is on hiatus this year due to winning last year's Series.  Dan Craighead was the next highest point getter with 129 points and so takes second in this year's Cup. Third place goes to Tara Murray, who amassed 120 points. Full tallies to date are shown here. These three will receive awards at the NVRC Meeting on February 3. In addiiton, others who scored high in the Race Series will receive achievement awards, from gift certificates to NVRC logo magnets, according to the award point schedule here.

In addition to racing awards, volunteering awards are given based on accumulated volunteering points. (The volunteering awards are non-competitive based on the award point schedule.) This year we had one Gold level volunteer (Dave Eggler), two Silver level volunteers (Jaimie Wright and Mike Casper), and a Bronze level (Marty Mazur). There are other achievement awards to be given, and I'm sure the number of awards would have been greater if people bothered to report their volunteering! Full tallies to date are shown here.

Check your tallies here. If you ran or volunteered at a Series race as an NVRC member, your points should appear on the page for that race. If you spot an error, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The 2015 Series is under way. Check here for rules and here for the list of Series races. There are also numerous opportunities to earn Volunteer points: Helping out at NVRC races, at the NVRC/Centre Parks and Rec Youth Cross-Country Meets, Volunteer coaching with the Nittany Track and Field Youth Group, and donating blood at the NVRC Blood Drives, and many more. But to participate, you have to be an NVRC member to participate. Join the Club! More information on the Series is here.

Little Lion Lap For Kids At Next Penn State Indoor Track Meet

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Written by Martin Mazur Martin Mazur

Kids from kindergarten through 5th grade are invited to join the Nittany Lion mascot and the PSU track and field team for a 200 meter run on the indoor track in the Horace Ashenfelter III Multi-Sport Facility during the next Penn State Indoor Track and Field meet. The Little Lion Lap will be held at 2:30 PM on Saturday, January 31. You need to register beforehand (by 1/29). Details on this flier.

Thursday Track Report: Possibillities

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Written by Bwana Bwana

January 22, 2015

So this is the bye week of the Indoor Mile Series. Time to put in a hard workout. And we’re far enough from the Christmas break that most of the cholesterol has been blown out as blue smoke in three weeks of running the engine. Jim Myers, Lance Bland, Judd Michael, Marty Klanchar, Ken Davis, Mark Fedkin, Meira Minard, John Pringle, Michael Goldfine, Andy Maguire, Mike Renz, Mike Martin, Adam Ilgen, David Lloyd, and Marty Mazur were ready for action.
 
Bwana’s Bye Week Workout is 3-4-4-3: Run 3 laps in lane 5 at about your mile race pace. Take 2 laps rest, then run 4 laps at the same per-lap pace. After 2 more laps, move it out to lane 6, where you’ll go about 7 yards farther per lap and try to do it in the same per-lap pace. So try to get your 4 lapper in lane 6 done in the same time as the one in lane 5. After 2 more laps rest, do a 3 lapper in lane 6 pulling out all the stops, especially on the last lap.

There are still 2 more meets in the Indoor Mile Series. What do we have to look forward to? I’ve heard rumors that Dan Pszeniczny, a Masterrs runner who came in second in the fast heat two weeks ago in 4:32, thinks he may be able to go sub-4:20. That would get him our Indoor Mile Series Men’s Masters Record, currently at 4:24. We hope to see a return of our women’s open record holder, Megan Marshall (4:57). And Meira Minard, our Women’s Masters Mile record holder (5:37) may take a stab at the 3K Women’s Masters record. Lots of possibilities. And even if you don’t have a record in you, you still have lots of possibilities, too!

Marathoners For Medicine Kick-Off Potluck

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Written by Martin Mazur Martin Mazur

The Centre Volunteers in Medicine (CVIM) Marathoners for Medicine Team will hold our kick-off meeting on Monday, January 26 at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, and weɽ love to have you join us if you're running a half-marathon or full marathon this spring. CVIM is a fantastic community organization that provides free and assisted medical and dental care to low-income people in Centre County. It's a fantastic opportunity for you to combine your love of running with a chance to benefit our community.

Fundraising does not come naturally to me, but I have found that my family and friends are more than glad to help out CVIM. Even if you don't like fundraising, please consider coming to the meeting to learn more about the team. There is no minimum donation that you need to raise to be part of the team.

The meeting will be held on the third floor of the building that the church owns on Calder Avenue -- it's across the street from the church itself, which is located at 250 East College Avenue. We'll have a potluck dinner starting at 5:30 p.m.

If you're a student, weɽ love to have you -- please don't worry about bringing anything. Anyone else, if you're able to bring something, it would be greatly appreciated. You can sign up to bring something by going to the following link and using the password below.

http://www.PerfectPotluck.com
Coordinator Last Name: Wright Password: CVIM
Please sign up for the potluck or respond to Jaimie Wright This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you can come, so she can get an accurate count by Friday, January 23. CVIM is a fantastic cause, and I hope you'll consider joining us on January 26.

NVRC Winter Blood Drive Results

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Written by Mike Casper Mike Casper

Thanks to all who braved the wild winter weather, baked, volunteered, and came out to donate at yesterday’s NVRC blood drive. The drive collected 15 units, and we had two first-time donors! That and the unbeatable NVRC energy made the day enjoyable. If you weren’t able to donate at this drive, we hope to see you at the next one!

Special thanks to Bob and Kathleen Crowe for volunteering, Sarah Clements for child care and homemade treats (she took care of the Clements’ two children while Jake donated), and Jaimie Wright and Meira Minard for more delicious treats.

Winners of the prizes drawn at the drive were:

Rebecca Stewart – free entry to Arts Fest Races (5K, 10K, or 10 Mile)(7/12/15)

George Lesieutre – free entry to Crack O’ Dawn 5K (6/28/15)

Chris Menseck – free entry to Beidleheimer Sidewinder 10K (5/9/15)

Kassidy Colton – free entry to Linden Loop 5 Miler (5/3/15)

George Conrad – free entry to Allegheny Front Trail Run (20K or 50K)(7/25/15)

Kathy Moir – winter fleece or cap

Jake Clements – winter fleece or cap

It’s never too early to put the next installment of this unique drive on your calendar. The next drive will be on Thursday, Sept. 10, a few days after the 2015 Mount Nittany Marathon (Sept. 6).

Thanks for supporting the NVRC and the American Red Cross!

Weekly Hill Workout: For Hills: Four Hills

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Written by Mike Renz Mike Renz

January 13, 2015

Ben Tolton, Andrew Maguire, Meira Minard, Michael Martin, Randy Jepson, and Mike Renz braved the winter winds and headed to Four Hills for the start of a possible resurgence of hill workouts for 2015.  Seeing as how the holiday trimmings are still looming around my not so trim midsection, and how Ben Tolton was nursing his trail-legs from a hill workout just 2 days prior, and mike martin is nursing his knee that is on a doctor prescribed ease-back-into-it….us three not-so-power-housed only did one/fourth of the four hills for a short but fast (well, relatively) paced repeats.  Somehow we managed 6 repeats of this quartered workout. 

Randy Jepson managed the longest repeat of the group turning the hill into a long out and back with some hill mixed into the middle.  Maguire and Minard were the champions of the hill pressing out at least 3 repeats of the entire 4 of 4 hills.  For all I know, they did even more, but I was too busy huffing and puffing my way back to the car to end the hill workout as soon as possible so that I could plot out my nightly 8,000 calorie meal.

For the Hill Repeating Lovers of the group, we will try to give a little more advanced notice of where we’ll be charging up and down inclines next Tuesday.