Spartans Track and Cross Country Club

Hey everyone! Long time no update. At least on the home page that is. Just wanted to let eveyone know what if you haven’t been informed about the SVM please contact Jerome.

Here is the following message from Jerome:

Hi Spartans,

It’s time for some Spartans road race teams to toe the line. Many of you know about the races and have been on our various division teams. If you want to join the fun, or need more details, contact Jerome at jeromewoehl@yahoo.com, cell phone #408 230-0689.

Sunday, 10/30/05 – Silicon Valley Marathon/Half – $1K cash prize to the winning club/team, the team must have three runners competing in the half-marathon with the fastest overall time.
Web Site – http://www.svmarathon.com/

Saturday, 11/12/05 – Home Run 5K/10K.
Be a part of history: this is the last race to finish in Stanford Stadium. After the stadium “improvement”, there will be no track.
Web Site – http://theschedule.com/EventInfo.cfm?EventID=11045

Sunday, 12/11/05 – The 32nd Christmas Relays
4×4.46 miles relay around Lake Merced in SF.
Web Site – http://www.allsportrunning.com/EventInfo.cfm?EventID=11655

In the 4.19 mile race in the sand and hills of the Presidio, the Spartans added lots of excitement at the front of the race. With less than five minutes until the race start, the last carload of Spartans finally drove up. Everyone else is already down at the start while the Spartans are doing race registration and nature calls. But with under a minute to go, even the Spartans are at the line. The starter raises the gun. All runners are tensed for the blast. Oh wait, lookie there, across the field, here comes a lone runner, dashing towards the mass of guys at the other side. He is going to get trampled! The gun goes off. Our very own Frank, veers to the side and circles in at the back of the field.

The Spartans 40’s team of David Woodruff – 25:03; Brian Conroy – 25:40 and Nick Butterfield – 28:12 were able to field a team for the second time in five races with help from 50’s runners Leroy Daleen – 32:56 and Francisco Verduzco – 33:38. They are ninth in the overall standings, hurt in part, by the paucity of runners.

The Spartans 50’s team, consisting of Salvador Martinez – 26:03, Paul Tjogas – 26:38, Art Sanchez – 27:37, Steve Radigan – 28:49 , placed third and are third in the standings.

The Spartans Super Seniors team, Bill Bengivino – 28:34, Leno Fabela – 29:06 and Frank James – 30:35, also placed third and are also third in the standings.

A cramped leg didn’t allow the writer to run. It was interesting to be on the outside looking in – I never have seen how fast some of the masters can run. Even guys as old or older than me. Some guys that I used to beat, ran times that I no longer believe are humanly possible. By watching from the center of the roughly figure eight, two lap course, much of the race could be seen. Here they come, charging down the hill on the way to loop back up to the big hill! The intensity at the front of the pack was incredible. Wild eyes, sweeping the uneven decent, frantically looking for the next turn, warily watching as runners pressed too closely together. Huffing and puffing, coughing and snorting like stampeding horses. It didn’t seem possible they would be able to run another lap at that intensity.

The fire subsided as the faces and backs that I generally see, trotted into view. These guys were obviously slower. They didn’t seem to be working as hard, but you could still see the effort and intensity in their faces. Apparently, many older runners no longer have bodies that allow them to train as long and hard as they once did, so racing performance suffers. Older, slower runners, simply do not have the muscle to sustain high intensity effort, so they do not need as much oxygen to fuel muscles working at lower levels.

The womens’ race was another exciting one. Our team, consisting of Susan Hu, Susan Hu, Susan Hu, Susan Hu and Susan Hu, was not scored because of a lack of name diversity. Some of you other ladies really should join in the fun. At the start, 43 year old Rosemarie Lagunas, a frequent overall woman’s winner, was twenty yards back, in about 6th place. She apparently was beginning to show her age. But around mile three on the long downhill, there she was, in second, only 20 yards behind 25 year old Kathleen Gosnell of Humboldt. Rosemarie was gaining ground. This was going to be exciting. Coming out of the woods with a half mile to go, Rosemarie was already 20 yards ahead, slowly opening the gap. As they ran the lap around the athletic field to the finish, rolls were reversed – Rosemarie, over 50 yards ahead, looked young and lithe with her long open stride and high knee lift. In comparison, Kathy was looking old and tired, plodding along without much spring in her steps. She still would have easily beaten many of the men.

The 4 mile Folsom race was important for the Spartan Super Seniors. Needing to score teams in two more races out of the three remaining, the lightly attended Folsom race was the place to do it – we could place/score higher. Our Seniors team, having run EVERY race, saw a chance to replace a lower earlier score with a higher one. They jumped on it. Here is Paul Tjogus’s report:

“It’s not official, but by my calculations, our Seniors team took fourth at Folsom. All of three of the teams that finished ahead of us are well behind our team in the season standings. Empire did not field a team, so the 4.5 points that we picked up (10.5 points for fourth place replacing the 6 point finish for Golden Gate) allows us to move ahead of the Empire team which was three points ahead of us. With their second place effort, the Rebels have tied Empire for second overall.

In 480 B.C., in one of the most famous last stands in history, a small band of 300 Spartans, outnumbered more than 40 to 1, held off the Persian army led by Xerxes.

In 2005 A.D., more than 2/3 of the way through the PA X-Country season, the seniors team for our small running club of 60 odd members is holding first place against much larger clubs (Tamalpa has almost 900 members).

Like the ancient Spartans, we probably will not emerge victorious. But there will be no free passes into the winners circle for Empire, the Rebels or Tamalpa. They are going to have to run their butts off in the last three races if they expect to beat us.”

You got it Paul! Enjoy it while you can. Having shown outstanding faithfulness, the Spartan’s 50’s are the only team in that division to have run all six regular races. The five best races are scored; any other, lesser scores are tossed out. Empire and the River City Rebels are tied for second, with only FOUR races completed. IF they score in either of the final two regular races, they could pull ahead of the Spartans. The next four teams have been inconsistent. If they manage to score in two more races, there will be SEVEN teams in close contention when the finals roll around on November 8th. After three months of racing, it could all come down to being decided at the finals.

In the 60’s series, we again failed to score a team. To have any chance at all, we MUST score in the final two races. The Pacific Striders and Empire RC, have already scored in five races and are now tied for first place; they seem to be the powers of this division. IF the Spartans 60’s get it together, they have a good chance at a third place final standing, maybe second.

Complete results are at pausatf.org. Here’s how we finished:

Men 50’s were: Salvador Martinez – 27:11; Paul Tjogas – 27:20; Steve Radigan – 28:04; Art Sanchez – 28:30; Francisco Verduzco – 34:35.
Men 60’s were: Leno Fabela – DNF; Frank James – 29:43; Jerome Woehl – 30:12.

The highlight of the race was watching Francisco’s finish. His grace and athleticism inspired an excited bunny to jump out and run alongside him to the finish. No, no, contrary to what you would expect, it wasn’t yet another of the Playboy Bunny types that are usually chasing after Cisco. This time it was a cute little cuddly REAL bunny. He beat her to the finish.

Our lowlight of the race was Leno getting ill and dropping out with a mile to go. Since there was only one 60’s team that scored, he could have WALKED to the finish and we would have gotten a second place. So our efforts were for naught – now we must run the last two (more competitive) races to have five scored. Leno is doing O.K. now, except for the lingering bruises from himself and us kicking him. Shortly after Leno bailed, I came across another failed fellow, bending over, retching, reexamining his breakfast. Must have been something contagious.

Shoreline on 10/22, San Rafael on 10/29 and Golden Gate Finals on 11/6. See you there!

Golden Gate Race Report??? Between slow web posting of results, being too “busy” and my lack of enthusiasm because our “Golden” 60’s team was one short, the report is finally here – late and brief. At least the two old guys that were there were able to help fill out a men 40’s team to reel in the last scoring place, tenth, for 1.5 points – David Woodruff, Brian Conroy, Nick Butterfield, Jerome Woehl, and Lino Fabela. In the men 50’s we faired a little better, scoring seventh for six points – Paul Tjogas, Salvador Martinez, Steve Radigan, Art Sanchez, Leroy Daleen. Women? Susan was there.

Jerome

Yes, a fine Spartans turnout at the Hayward Cross country race. Must be the “Start of Season Spirit”. But what women??? We had a sort of Spartan woman there. Last Monday Jennifer Miller, with the Humbolt TC, being new to the area, stopped by our track workout. And again today! This time, she did half our workout and half her own thing – a true Spartan. Jennifer, you found your place in life.

Competition was tight. By my unofficial scoring, we may have second place in both the 50’s and 60’s. In the 50’s, there are three runners for whom no club affiliation is shown. If one of the faster ones is with the River City Rebels, they could move us down to third. The Striders appear to be solidly in first. In the 60’s we were helped by three guys new to the series – Bill, Leno and Frank. This old hand only acted as a “displacer” by being 4th on the team. It was a vital position – it moved the Pacific Striders’ third man down one place. This gives them 20 points to our 19 (lower is better). First place appears to be held by Empire with 17 points.

Playing the “if only game” makes cross country fun. In the close 60’s division, if Bill had run just 11 seconds faster, he would have taken 3rd place from an Empire runner. That would have brought both the Spartans and Empire into a tie at 18 points. Or, if Leno and Frank, who were having their own little race, had improved their times by about 12 to 17 seconds, they would have beaten the non-Empire 60’s guy ahead of them. Each of their places would have improved by one. That would have brought our team score down two points to 17 – another way to tie with Empire. THEN, if I, as a lowly “displacer” had run 20 seconds faster, beating Empire’s third place guy would have moved him down one spot, growing their score by 1, giving the Mighty Spartans first place.

Oh yes, about the course. After the lawn swamp crossing, there was a pretty little shady lane beside a pond. Then we went up a hill. Then we went up a hill. Then we went up a hill. Then we went up a hill. I don’t remember ever coming back down. We must have – we got to run through the muddy lawn again to the finish. Like this:

MEN 40’s
1 Woodruff, David – 20:35; 2 ??; 3 ???; 4 ????; 5 ?????

MEN 50’s
1 Tjogas, Paul – 21:29; 2 Sanchez, Art – 22:47; 3 Radigan, Steve – 22:58; 4 Daleen, Leroy – 26:25; displacer – Verduzco, Francisco – 28:05

MEN 60’s
1 Bengivino, Bill – 22:44; 2 Leno, Fabela – 23:55; 3 James, Frank – 24:00; displacer – Woehl, Jerome – 24:33

In true Spartan form, someone got lost. I forgot his name. In driving from Sacramento, he decided to take a short-cut on Mission Blvd through Hayward. Bad decision – no Mission Street, no good map and no one that you would want to ask for directions. Back onto the freeway. Use the race directions, exit at Tennyson Road. Done. Heading east. NO! NO! It says West. U-turn at the light. After a mile or two, it sure didn’t seem right. Ask that guy walking. U-turn again. Finally found the way. The climb up to the park is steeeeep. Would make a great hill climb. I would prefer a bike to running. Finally the displacer gets there – after the obligatory “rest” stop and registration, he strips off his sweats and toes the line with 45 seconds to spare. Ah, Spartans!

Thanks guys! Who’s in on 8/27/05 at UC Santa Cruz? Carpool?

Jerome

Saturday, August 27, 2005 – 4 miles cross country at UC Santa Cruz. A pleasant sunny morning, beautiful redwoods, intimate trails and near nude guys and gals frolicking. What more could one ask? Even the mile climb at the start had flatter portions to help recovery from the three or four steep pitches.

Thanks to a turnaround at about mile 1.5, I can even give an account of the front runners as they returned. For that matter, I strategically positioned myself so that I could see almost the entire field as they returned! Well there isn’t much of an account, they went by so fast and so numerously, it was just a blur. I did see some tall, lanky, gazelle cruising effortlessly, well in front of a pack of hounds. The results suggest that it was Steven Springhorn, a 23 year old from Sacramento. He ran a 20:19. I think I remember hearing the cheering – I was about 1  miles back at the time. But then again, he might have gotten caught and been one of the three guys with the same times at 10 seconds back: Eric Mencarini, 25 of Sacramento; Scott McClennan, 28 of Mountain View, and; Jared Scott, 22 of Davis. Another ten seconds back was 25 year old Tylor Graff of Los Gatos. Continue reading →

Keep the comments on the intervals venue change coming – we are still weighing the move. Is the place important? What would REALLY motivate some of you to come out?

Tonight at the Lincoln track was priceless. It was sunny, warm and calm – a shirtless sun tanning evening. Coach Carlos was there and opened the restrooms; too bad the caffeine users weren’t there to enjoy the relief. On the infield was an adult league soccer game. They were good. We stuck around after the work-out to watch that battle. They had about 50 friends and family spectators in the stands, so when our first interval took off, I noticed the pace was pretty quick – we were all thinking, “gotta look good in front of these people.” As if they were going to watch us. We did two sets of one 800 and four 400’s. Old guys Frank and Jerome bailed before the end.

The last 400 turned into a spectacular race for us old guys to watch. Huy Nguyen had been dogging it with legs deadened by a fast bike ride the day before. But for this last one, as he passes Benton Wong in the first 20 yards, he shouts, “Let’s go for it!”

Benton looks at him and can only think, “I’m toast. I’ve been leading all these #@**# intervals … now he wants to sprint…” Carlos Roblado, being out of shape, had been jumping in and out of the intervals. He decides to cruise behind Benton. Leno, the old guy of the group, has to settle for watching younger legs fly. Huy has a 10 to 20 yard lead as he hits the 200 mark in 27 seconds.

As I’m waiting for Huy’s bike trashed legs to question his exuberance, Carlos, thinking, “What’s this? I just wanted to play. Now it’s a race. O.K.!” quickly passes Benton. On the back straight, three girls are in lane one watching the soccer game. Huy looses concentration and speed as he tries to figure out their next move. And Carlos accelerates by, making Huy look like he has stopped for phone numbers. Huy struggles to get going, but it is lost.

Carlos, thinking he now can coast, eases into the turn only to be surprised by a sprinter friend who jumps in to pull for the last 50 meters. Carlos, laughing, rises to the challenge and hangs on to finish in 57 seconds. Huy is is bit back in about 62, Benton around 65 and Leno wraps up the three miles worth of intervals with a fine sub 70 400. Four exhausted, laughing faces out there; now it’s time to rehash the fun. It was good to be 60 and out there watching that lap but … Oh! To betwenty-something again!

On April 24, 2005, the “SPARTAN A” team placed third in the masters relay and 5th overall. Since the first place team was running as a non-competitive show (they ran 2:13), we actually placed 4th overall. Good going guys!

This year we picked and scraped to finally get a team together. I don’t know what is special about the Spartans, but many of them cannot commit to anything… whether it be a race, a group practice, a marriage, or… Carlos Siqueiros registered the team and got both Leonard and Alex “semi” committed. We needed some young talent; with Alex and Leonard, we felt we would have a pretty decent team. We then need to fill around these guys. Nick and I basically said that we were in. Carlos ended up on the other side of the world, so getting another person committed at the last moment was not easy…. and then, we also needed an alternate. Special thanks to Nick for securing Greg Burke and Dave Prince (alternate).

I felt that this year’s team would be slightly faster than last year. As it turned out, I think our time of 2:53:56 was around a minute faster than last year. Last year the weather was very good but this year didn’t look promising – it was overcast and looked like rain much of the day but the wind was not a factor and the rain showed only as sprinkles. Good weather for running.

Nick “butterball” Butterfield lead off. Running uninjured, he was much better than last year and sent us out right. Before he knew it, his 4 miles were over and Alex “smoke” Gonzales, smoked the 2nd leg, putting us up with the relay leaders! Alex wanted the 3rd leg but Leonard “animal” Marufo had already asked for it. This is the longest and toughest leg – Leno ran a much appreciated strong 3rd leg. I think Leonard found the leg to his liking but maybe tougher than he anticipated. The one-two punch of Alex and Leonard set us up! Thanks guys! I started the 5.8 mile 4th leg possibly in the 4th relay place. In spite of problems the last few weeks with a cold/allergy and my Achilles tendon, I ran O.K. – no one passed me. I love the 4th leg. It is a rolling leg with three pretty good hills and a few nice downhills. Also, the scenery is fantastic! The wrist band went to Greg “Closer” Burke for the 4 mile final leg. It starts with like a 0.5 mile hill which Greg, in the excitement, took out too fast. Anyway, Greg hung on and kept us in position for a good finish.

I am proud of everyone for having run so well. Without everyone’s committment, preparation, and event performance, our solid 3rd place would not have been achieved. Congratulations to everyone. It was a pleasure running with everyone on this team.

patrick

The SPARTANS are now at the Lincoln High School track. Our 6:00 P.M. Monday and Wednesday interval sessions are there on a trial basis. If we miss the good parking, solitude and clean rest rooms at Bellarmine, we will return to those old haunts. The track is a fantastic all weather surface, smooth, level and medium firm. For security, you can park on the streets, within sight of the track. There is no track lighting, only spill-over street lighting. The appropriately spartan womens’ restroom is frequently open.

Lincoln High is in Central San Jose, off Hester Avenue, between Dana and Olive. The track entrance is on Olive Avenue, by the bleachers through the revolving pedestrian gate.

Driving directions:

— From Hwy 880 southbound —
Exit at The Alameda
Cross over the freeway, southbound, go two blocks
Right turn onto Hedding Street
Go four blocks, left turn (south) onto Dana Avenue
Go three blocks, pass the Muni Rose Garden and cross Naglee Ave
After two blocks, Lincoln High is on the right

— From Hwy 880 northbound —
Exit at Bascom Avenue, South
go South two blocks
Left turn onto Hedding Street
Go two blocks, right turn (south) onto Dana Avenue
Go three blocks, passing the Muni Rose Garden and crossing Naglee Ave
After two blocks, Lincoln High is on the right

— From Hwy 280 eastbound —
Exit at Bascom/Leigh onto Moorpark Ave (San Jose City College)
Left turn onto Leland Avenue from Moorpark
After five blocks you will reach Olive Ave and Lincoln High

— From Hwy 280 westbound —
Exit at Leigh Ave onto Parkmoor (San Jose City College)
Right turn onto Leigh from Parkmoor
After three long blocks, left turn onto Dana Ave
Lincoln High is on the left, at the next corner

— From Hwy 87 —
Exit at Taylor Street, West
go west 15 blocks (cross Coleman and The Alameda)
Left turn (south) onto Dana Avenue
After two blocks, Lincoln High is on the right

Jerome

We are ready to take advantage of a special invitation to work-out on a brand new all weather track. It should be great on the legs – it isn’t as hard as a similar track at San Jose City College and it isn’t as lumpy as our current track at Bellermine High. The details:

First work-out – Monday, March 21, 2005
Start time – 6:00 P.M.; be early to warm up
Facility – Lincoln High School
Location – At Dana and Hester, three blocks south of the San Jose Muni Rose Garden

Parking and Restroom facilities are available.
Lincoln track coach – Carlos Robledo

Call Jerome Woehl via his cell phone if you get lost – 408 230-0689