The first Nittany Valley Running Club Indoor Mile of the season 2005-6 had a nice turnout. As usual, there were a few scratches, first timers who either got cold feet or missed the time change. Despite the scratches, we ran two heats with a total of 18 runners. Ian McLaren took the first heat in 4:54 and might have run faster with a push. Ken Poli, who just barely missed breaking 5:00 last year, looks poised to take a good shot at it this year. If he takes a second per lap off and has a nice kick, he can bring his 5:08 down to a 4:59. Lance Bland ran a fine race to finish third and gain the top Masters finish in 5:09. Andy Mazur showed the advantages of both youth and experience. A District Champion 2 Miler in high school last year, Andy, with minimal training but dead even lap times ran a nice time of 5:15. The rest of the heat were all a bit slower than their times of last year, giving them targets to shoot for in the coming weeks.

The second, 'slow' heat was nearly an all-Masters event, and had the interesting finishes. Tim Spigelmyer led for the first half mile, then looked like he was a sure 2nd place finisher as Meira Minard (an accomplished 5K runner who is giving the mile a try this year for the first time) grabbed the lead and stretched it out. But Tim  ran a very even race and barely caught Meira, the only youngster in the heat. Both runners finished in 5:53 and change, and Meira posted the top female time of the day. Marty Klanchar and Eric Silver battled it out down the final stretch, with Silver capturing the Bronze in 6:04.33 and Klanchar 0.27 seconds behind. Marty Mazur was in second place most of the race but faded to fifth in the last two laps. Jon Lacombe and Jerry Steffy both want to make a stab at sub-6 later this year and will be chasing Mazur down as the season progresses. Two newcomers, Jill Keeney and George Myers, ran fine times.

Relive the experience! Jayson Jackson video taped both heats. (His batterey died for the last lap of the second heat.) Visit Jayson's blog for more thoughts and reports on running and training.

Results

Heat 1
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Place  Name                      Time
-----  ----                      ----

 1.    Ian McLaren              4:54.18
 2.    Ken Poli                 5:08.81
 3.    Lance Bland              5:09.55 (M)
 4.    Andy Mazur               5:15.54
 5.    Mark Fedkin              5:22.67
 6.    Peter Flemings           5:41.90 (M)
 7.    Erin Wyble               6:02.51
 8.    Tim Brenza               6:02.64
 9.    Morgan Windram           6:11.13

Heat 2
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Place  Name                      Time
-----  ----                      ----
 1.    Tim Spigelmyer           5:53.65 (M)
 2.    Meira Minard             5:53.94
 3.    Eric Silver              6:04.33 (M)
 4.    Marty Klanchar           6:04.60 (M)
 5.    Marty Mazur              6:12.86 (M)
 6.    John Lacombe             6:23.41 (M)
 7.    Jerry Steffy             6:27.36 (M)
 8.    Jill Keeney              6:46.30 (M)
 9.    George Myers             7:05.34 (M)

 (M) - Designates Masters (over 40) runners.

Tim Spigelmyer, Portrait of Intensity and Winner of Heat 2.	The fast heat gets ready.
Meira Minard, 2nd Place in Heat 2 and Fastest Woman	Andy Mazur about to lap Tim Brenza in Heat 1.