June 2002 Newsletter

FLRC Summer Meets: Fast Times at the Monsoon Meet

I arrived at the Moravia HS track to find (to my surprise and horror) two cars, one with a fast-looking guy who had driven all the way down from Pulaski, the other Diane Sherrer's van, with Diane and Tim Ingall conspiring in the front seat. I got into the van assuming that Diane and Tim were trying to think of how to tell the guy from Pulaski that they were going to cancel the meet. Tim was scribbling notes, which he handed me later:

"39 degrees.. flash flood .... ripped hole in tarp (how to reimburse Moravia HS?) ... guy from Pulaski - good & desperate ... 2 people on track in slickers picking worms .. 5:27 - Karen arrives in ear muffs and hip waders."

The guy in the other car was Syracuse Charger Bob Bolton (of Laconia, to be precise, an appropriate home town for the weather conditions). Bob is a former Hartshorne Mile competitor and a fine masters miler.

It took me a while to realize that Tim and Diane actually planned to go through with this meet. Before I could manage my escape, Jim Miner arrived with a bag of stale bagels, and shortly afterward Green Goon stalwart JOSH CROSS emerged through the mist. So we had TWO runners, both sub 4:30 1500 guys, who somehow had missed the Shackelton expedition and instead turned up in Moravia, N.Y. Just 15 minutes before scheduled meet start time at 6:15, Chris Brunner, another FAST MILER from Ithaca appeared with his spikes around his neck, wading through the mud. Tim hopped out of the car, put up the FLRC banner, Lorrie Marnell pulled in and put some good Cajun music on the sound system, Jim Miner got everyone signed up, and at 6:30 we started a single lap of the 1500. Josh Cross took the three lead runners out in a tight group though the first two laps. There was a fairly stiff north wind, but the rain let up during the race. Chris Brunner took over on the third lap, but Josh passed him back on the bell lap. The two of them fought it out in the backstretch, with Bob finally tucking in for second behind Chris's kick. The result was a PR for Bob (well, in his second 1500 ever), in unbelievably bad conditions.

As the weather got worse, Tim Ingall became steadily more insane. We ran a 200 meter heat for Karen Grover and Laurie's daughter Shealena, but I couldn't see who won through the rain. Tim then insisted on running a 4x400 relay, making up the teams as we went along. Lorrie and I ran in blue jeans and windbreakers, Jim Miner in his Carhart jacket.

Respectfully submitted,

-- John Whitman

Inaugural FLRC Track Meet
Date: 5/14/2002
Place: Moravia High School Track
Temperature at race time: 39 F
Weather: Driving rain
1500 meters

1. Brunner, Christopher (M 22) Ithaca 4:30:30
2. Bolton, Bob (M 41) Laconia 4:30:95
3. Cross, Joshua (M 27) Ithaca 4:31:33
4. Malczewski, Laura (F 25) Ithaca 6:05:55