Fellow club members this is my “state of the club” message to you.  

-A huge GOAL for the board is to acquire a CHIP TIMMING SYSTEM.  As of this moment, we are diligently working on plan “A”, which is to get funding from a large company. Failing that, we move on to plan “B” and we will keep moving on, even if it takes a plan “Z”. The importance of getting a chip timing system is it will provide us the ability to do larger races (1,000 plus runners/walkers), as well as the smaller race. Presently, we are nearing the point of loosing some of the large races as they grow.  

-Our COMMUNICATIONS has improved greatly with Tim Roman’s weekly updates of the clubs’ plans and activities for each week. 

-We are PROMOTING the club with the sales of T-Shirts by making them available at every race possible.

   

 -For WALKERS, the club is in the planning stage of a ‘walkers only’ race to be held some time in the fall. The race will mirror the many 5k races that exist for runners. There will be age group awards and different walking categories such as race-walkers, baby-strollers, fun-walkers, etc.  Please give any input to the board that you believe will contribute to this being a great event.

 - The club is currently searching for any company that would like to help SPONSER any of the clubs races.  Please send me the company name and contact information of any organization interested in supporting the community in this manner.

      The clubs’ FUTURE is definitely on the up swing and you will notice this at the Otters Race on Sunday, July 27th at 5:00 pm.  The club has lined up more sponsors than ever before for this race. And, we have a few extras planned for after the race. Then, it’s off to the ball game!!!

     Let me say in closing “the club is changing”.  Changing in ways to include more people, such as walkers and beginning runners.  Also, we are incorporating more fun into events that the club is involved with.

Thank you,

Your President,  Chris Thomas

Remember “It takes a little more to be a FREAK”

Answer: It takes you. Have you ever really stopped to think about everything that needs to happen for you to get race results? Some of you know what it takes because you have volunteered to work at the finish line of an event. Others may need to take a moment and think about the whole process. When the GERWC is contracted to time a race, we need to provide adequate help at the finish line to insure the results are tabulated quickly and efficiently. This is where you can make a difference. We need to have a recorder, a caller, a bib puller, a stringer and a runner and a minimum one or two people on the time machines. The larger the race, the more help is needed. Additional, help such as bib checkers, pushers, more recorders, callers, bib pullers and stringers are needed for these races. We owe an awful lot to the men in blue, better known as the “A” team. The “A” team is a group of men (Bob Lauderdale, Ray Pritchett, Bob Christmas and Jim Effinger) that have spent countless hours timing hundreds of races. Whenever you run or walk a race, you can usually count on seeing these guys at the finish line. 
   

Unfortunately, these good men can’t make every race and that’s where you come in. This year, we have made things better than ever for our volunteers. Volunteers can earn bonus points in the Grand Prix by lending a hand. That’s right!!! If you volunteer at the finish line, you will be awarded 3 bonus points that count in addition to the points you received in Grand Prix Series races. Timing races is a major responsibility of the runners/walkers club. The income received from race timing enables us to keep alive the clubs tradition of rewarding scholarship awards to locale high school runners. Each year GERWC awards two scholarships to deserving young high school seniors that plan on attending college. This ’timing’ income also provides funding for events like the club picnic, the club banquet, club giveaways and the newly formed pizza-runs, and more.

Get information on how to become a volunteer on the GERWC web site home page and I’ll see you at the finish line.

 Bob Head
Finish Line Manager

You Can Either Grow Old Or Die Young   Reprinted with the permission of Lisa Bell

     My 10-year old son surprised me last week. He started to cry when I told him that he was growing up. “I don’t want to get older,” he sobbed, “because I like being ten!”

     His reaction launched me back 30 years to a long-forgotten conversation I had with my grandmother when I was about his age. The prospect of growing older did not appeal to me either, especially when it meant harder schoolwork, more responsibility, and ultimately leaving home for college. I wanted life to stay as it was. “Nene,” my beloved grandmother whose many years of heart problems left her frail and weak, lived in a retirement home close to my house. Although delicate and soft-spoken, her advice was extremely powerful and has stuck with me all these years. “You have two choices in life. You can either grow old, or you can die young. The decision is yours.” 
 

 

     Fortunately, my son thought about these choices and decided that he wanted to live beyond the age of 10. But the truth is that life keeps marching on whether we are ready or not. If we are fortunate enough to continue living, we must prepare for inevitable changes: children growing up, parents getting older, and our own bodies continuing to age until they ultimately wear out.

     My grandmother knew that aging was inevitable. But she didn’t know that how we age is not. Scientists used to think the process of losing bone, muscle, and function over time occurred at a preset rate for everyone. But recent studies have shown that it is highly dependent on what we do to prevent it.

     Who has ever approached mid-life without experiencing weight creep and belly fat? The 5% drop in metabolism per decade that begins at age 20 catches most of us by age 40. In addition, the annual half-pound drop in muscle tissue that begins in the second decade usually manifests itself in sagging body parts by middle age.  

     More insidious changes occur without reflection in the mirror: the loss in bone mineral content that begins for women at age 35 and peaks at menopause, slow losses in balance and flexibility, and the gradual decline in the body’s ability to use environmental oxygen for physical work. Many times these changes are not obvious until a person engages in a new activity that makes them completely winded or unstable on their feet. Then the reality of aging becomes painfully obvious. By understanding these physiologic changes, we can develop a plan to prevent or postpone negative consequences of aging. Two of the most important strategies in this plan involve exercise and diet.

     Aging is not synonymous with obesity or debilitation. I wish that Nene knew this because it may have improved the latter years of her life. A sensible strength-training program effectively combats age-associated loss of metabolism, muscle, and bone. Weight training also preserves balance, movement, and basic human functions such as standing up from a seated position and lifting weight overhead. Daily cardiovascular exercise such as walking or swimming helps maintain body weight, mental capabilities, and the health of major organs. Activities such as yoga and tai chi improve flexibility and balance, which diminish with age.

     But exercise is not enough. Without learning portion control and sensible eating strategies mid-life obesity is inevitable for most time-strapped Americans. Instead most dieticians recommend limiting refined sugar intake, substituting whole grain foods for those made with white flour, and consuming lean proteins, fresh fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy for long term health and weight control.

You really need to check out the Summer Track Program.
You can find the particulars by clicking here. 

And, you can attend just to watch, to enjoy.

 

New Jersey Marathon
Long Branch, N. J.
May 4, 2008 

Day 1:  After spending a few days in Pittsburgh with my father, my brothers, and my sisters I’m back on our nations’ highways heading east towards New Jersey. Long Branch, which is situated on the

shores of the Atlantic Ocean, is the host city for the 12th running of the New Jersey Marathon. Normally I’d already be ‘stoked’ for this event knowing I was about to knock of another state (my 40th) but I can’t seem to muster even a modicum of enthusiasm. Part of the problem being, my body has not yet recovered from my last race, which was held on March 30th. Much worse, I haven’t even begun to recover mentally! To this point I seem to be totally drained of my energy reserves. My hope is that on race day, when the gun goes off, the adrenaline will kick in; otherwise, it’s going to be a loooong day. Well I think it’s time for me to launch a search for a place to park/sleep for the night – see you in the morrow.