MP Striders

Last modified 08/31/10

Announcements

September

Injury report: Dave was spotted at Saturdays run.
Deana is so clever instead of doing the Sat run she did the Sat ride. Thanks for coming back for me on my slow long run.
Rida is back on Saturdays, Kelly is out while she is Coaching Soccer.

June

Mission Peak Striders have been added to the drop down menu on registration for the Silicon Valley Marathon & Half Marathon. If we participate in the 5th annual Running Club Challenge! Gift certificates will be provided among other great prizes awarded to the top clubs. Prize packages will be awarded this year in three categories: Speed (Overall), Speed (Women’s), and Size. All Club members receive a 10% discount on race registration (use code: rcc10). To qualify for the Club Challenge, each club must have at least 10 runners sign up for any combination of the three races: Marathon , Half-Marathon, and 5k run/walk. For the Speed Competition, at least three club members must enter the Half-Marathon race because the Speed winner is determined by the total time of the top three.
If you plan to run California International Marathon here is a reminder, $80 by August 1, $100 until 7,500 limit is achieved or by Nov. 1 deadline.
Andrew McIntire again this year is going to ride 100 mile to raise money for the fight against cancer. If anyone would like to donate to the Lance Armstrong Foundation here is his link or you can contact Clancy McIntire. Ciick Here
Predict your time 5K

The schedule for summer track

May

Gordon's 70/70 S.F. Bay Trails Odyssey
Bay Trails Odyssey kicks of this Sunday, May 30. I will run 10 miles a day for 7 consecutive days = 70 miles to celebrate my 70th birthday. I welcome my running friends to join me on some or all of the following legs:
* Sunday, May 30: Fremont (Alameda County) -- Alameda Creek Trail, north side. Meet at the Alameda Creek Trailhead at 9 a.m.
* Monday, May 31: Moraga (Contra Costa County) -- Lafayette - Moraga Trail.
* Tuesday, June 1: Mill Valley (Marin County) -- Matt Davis & Coastal Trails (Mt. Tam State Park).
* Wednesday, June 2: San Francisco (San Francisco County) -- S.F. Waterfront from Ferry Building to Fort Point.
* Thursday, June 3: San Mateo (San Mateo County) -- Sawyer Camp Trail, beside Crystal Springs Reservoir.
* Friday, June 4: Palo Alto (Santa Clara County) -- the Stanford Dish, from the Roche campus.
* Saturday, June 5: Fremont (Alameda County) -- Morrison Canyon & Vargas roads, from our house.

Some particulars: -- for simplicity purposes and to allow travel time, all runs will start at 9 a.m.
-- each course will be out and back.
-- with one exception, there are bathrooms and water at or near the start of each run.
-- I will run about an 11 minute per mile pace, slower at times, maybe even some walking (significant hills on Stanford Dish and Morrison Canyon courses).
Please let me know if you can join me on any of these runs, and I will provide directions accordingly.

At the completion of the final run on Sat. June 5, we will host a beer, soda, and pizza party at our house. Runners, non-runners, and their families are welcome. We should finish the final run by 11:15 or so; so come then if you are not participating in that day's run. If you plan to come to the party, please RSVP by Thurs. June 3, so that I can ensure we have appropriate food and drink on hand. This is a running party, not a birthday party, so please, no gifts. Gordon (gillmouth@yahoo.com)
From our dear friend Fernando: ClickHere
We have two races this weekend Tilden Tough Ten and Bay to Breakers, we have carpooling opportunities. The conversations strings are on FB.
Abe is looking to carpool to SF for Bay to Breakers.
Ohlone 50k is quickly coming upon us. Deana is going to be at the Backpack Area station and Jolene is going to be at the Laurel Loop . Marie will hiking into Backpacking/Sunol aid station than will meet you all at the finish. We are all willing to take a few supplies in for you. I will take anything you want at the finish.

April

We have fundraiser for Lisa Moreno’s school CSUSJ on April 10. You can either register on line via Active.com for $25 plus fee or we can get a group of 20 people and pay 20 a piece. If you would like to participate complete the attached form and forward to me. You can pay me at any run. I will pass it on to Lisa Moreno. Click Here for registration form.
Anyone interested in jumping in on TheRelay from Calistoga to Santa Cruz? You've heard of TheRelay, but wondered what it is all about? Team Yo...TAXI is looking for 1 more runner to round out this year's team. All additional fund-raising requirements have been met, so registration and shared costs is all that is required. We are a noncompetitive, mixed team (6 men, 5 women so far) just looking to have fun and enjoy the experience. This is my team's 6th straight year, so we have all the logistics figured out. Please email me at tkeisic@yahoo.com if you are interested in learning more. Thanks/Terry Keisic

March

MPS Finances / Dues

These are tough economic times with budgetary woes at the national, state, and local levels. In keeping with the times, MPS will lower its 2010 dues to the following levels:
* individual dues: $10 per year (down from $15 last year)
* family dues: $15 per year (down from $20 last year)
We have adequate money in the club treasury. We ended 2009 with $1,855 in the bank -- $882 in the lights fund (for the use of James Logan track Wednesday evenings) and $973 in the general fund.

The lights fund is managed by Regis Amann, collecting money from track users and approving the bills from the New Haven School District for payment. We are awaiting a billing from the school district for the last 6 months, so most of the amount in the lights fund will soon be paid out.

Money in the general fund is used to pay the annual registration fee for the club website and for club activities (such as last summer's "Adios Amigo" & mileage recognition party). We have taken in more dues than we have spent, so the obvious answer is we need more club funded functions. Let us hear your ideas.

Dues for 2010 are now due. They can be paid by check (made payable to Mission Peak Striders) or cash. Give your dues to club co-president Dave Finck, track director Regis, or club treasurer Gordon Gillmouth. As in the past, payment of dues is at club members option; i.e., we won't hound those who choose not to pay dues. However, only dues paying members are eligible for the MPS Mileage Recognition Awards, since the cost of the awards is paid out of the club treasury, which is fed by dues.

Some of you have already paid 2010 dues at the 2009 rates. Gordon will give you a refund.

January

NJ New Year Update from pal Fernando

I want to wish you and your loved ones, happiness and good health in this new year and always. I wrote earlier some updates and a bit of humor, I hope I was able to bring a smile to your faces. Let me start by saying that NJ, is not that bad and can even be good. I feel more alive in here, let me explain a little. Your nose runs all the time, you can see your breath, you can hear the howling wind, your hands, ears and toes freeze, your lips crack, your feet slip, your teeth rattle, etc. As you can see, plenty of things here remind you that you are alive. My commute now is about 10 Km or 20 min by car, maybe I can try to run to work in the summer. When I leave the house in the morning, my hands are frozen and even with gloves they are still very cold when I get to work, to stay positive I tell to myself that I have a very, very short commute and not that it’s very, very cold in here. When I just moved, I thought that the GPS was going to be my best friend ever, the device has been very handy, however, I need to confess that I have a new best friend (or BFF for the younger audience) my thermal underwear. Now that the winter has started, I have became very attached to it, so attached to it that didn’t realize that needs to be washed at some point, thanks to Carmen for pointing that out. Seeing the first day of snow was very enjoyable, that Saturday I took several pictures during the 6 hr process until everything was covered in white. Next Monday’s storm wasn’t fun at all, it snowed overnight and rained early in the morning. I came outside to a thick layer of slush, my feet got wet just walking to the car. The rest of my body got wet while removing the snow from the windows and roof of the car. Then I, a warm weather trained driver, drove to work on a very slippery road, taking twice the regular time to get there. No more snow pictures were taken!!! Family is doing good, Fernando was in the honor roll in Verona High School for the first quarter of the school year. Martha, after finishing college in UC Davis, has been working in a one year contract with the California’s government. Carmen, when we moved to NJ, started walking 2-3 miles per day, after all this time, she was last seen near the border with Pennsylvania. Recently, I went a beautiful hike close to home at South Mountain Reservation, a place with plenty of leaves-covered paths, weather was sunny, temperature very comfortable, the area was peaceful, a scene almost impossible according to the Hollywood standards. Movies always have something wrong happening when there are such beautiful moments. Although I don’t believe on those silly movie scenes, I still made a fast jump move every 2-3 minutes and landed facing backwards in a combat pose just to let, Chucky, the scissor handed dude or the guy with the chainsaw know that I was prepared and ready for anything. Fortunately, nobody came to say hi or to chase me to death. I’m planning to keep writing these updates, as a way to stay in touch and to share my gratitude for the gift of your friendship. If after 25 years of writing this updates, they get deleted without reading, that’s OK, I wont get offended, 25 years is a long time to remain loyal to anything. All the best in 2010 and always,

Fernando

December

There are many many of the MPS that are either running CIM or Santa Barbara this weekend. Our meet on Saturday and Sunday might be a bit slim, but is still meeting. See you out there AND good luck to all our runners representing!
For the CIM runners, please get back to Marie Chavez regarding her hosted pasta feed this Saturday 5th in Sacramento clickhere
Gordon came across a website for South Valley Endurance events (www.svendurance.com) that may be of interest to some of you. This group sponsors endurance events, similar to that sponsored by Pacific Coast Trail Runs. However, SVE is more encompassing in that their events include trail runs, road cycling, triathlons, and duathlons. Check out their website to see if you have any interest. Thanks Gordon!

November

News From Fernando

Dear Friends,

I hope this email finds you and your loved ones healthy and happy. We are getting settled more and more in our new home and exploring the area. About 30% of our belongings are still in boxes but we have enough now to be fine and maybe those boxes will remain unpacked for a while. Few days ago, I found my leaf blower (I owned one in California, Yes!) and was very happy and proud to get it out and look like a local. I pulled it out immediately and started blowing leaves, well, my pride only lasted for the time it took me to fill out 4, well packed, bags of leaves (city takes leaves in brown paper biodegradable bags, the size of a big black plastic trash bag), and that was only the front of the house. Don't get me wrong, is not a huge property, but has for sure plenty of leaves mainly from 3 big threes. For the back of the house, I used the lawn mower and was taking the leaves and cutting the grass very nicely but the bag filled out quite quickly, but this procedure broke the leaves in small pieces that can be packed more efficiently in the bags. Every thing was going great until I hit a big rock underneath the leaves. The mower stopped and I realized that the blade was completely bent. I took it apart and after hammering it for several minutes, I couldn’t put it back close to the original shape. It’s OK, nice way of meeting new people (from the hardware store).

Two weeks ago, I had a terrible pain in my lower back that kept me in bed for 2 days. The pain was severe and Doctors were thinking that I had kidney stones, a CT urogram discarded that possibility (unless they cleared before the study) and a potential reason was muscle spasm. I couldn’t think on the way I injured it, other than doing what the “dog whisperer” does to discipline bad behaving dogs. I tried it while watching the show (just to be ready and knowledgeable). The technique consists in having the dog on a short leash and kicking with the opposite leg and behind the knee (of the leg proximal to the dog) to just tap the dog slightly. This is supposed to teach the dog who is the “pack leader”, powerful isn’t it? Yes, powerful and put me on bed few days. Halloween was fun, I tried to take advantage of the wealthy neighborhoods in Upper Montclair. While Carmen stayed home handing candy, I asked Fernando Jr to get ready with a big, heavy duty, bag and we drove to the “big houses”. We parked on the street and walk up the first drive way, after knocking for few minutes we saw the curtains moving but nobody answer the door. I asked Fernando Jr not to get discouraged. We walked to the next house, the old short lady that answered the door pulled a basket and ask Fernando to grab one, he hesitated while looking for the less dry celery stick in the basket, meantime the lady open the peanut butter jar and asked him to dip it, he kindly said no thank you. Walking to the next door, he handed me the celery (he did a good job, the celery was still crunchy inside). We walked to the next home and Mr. Boccanelly, guessing the name from the “for sale by owner sign” opened the door and offered Fernando some apples, “they are from my tree in the back, all organic” he said, and then explained in case we didn’t know what he was referring to “No insecticides or fertilizers”. Fernando picked a good colored one although it was not bigger than a golf ball. He continued explaining “the seeds are from Italy, they are very sweet”. While he was explaining I glanced at his suspenders that were pulling his pants so high that his very light and thin legs were showing, almost to the knees and the combination of the shoes and socks, I’m sure are worthed more than $7,000 in the antiques show. Any way, at that point with such big houses and long drive ways, I think we walked probably 4 miles, visiting only 3 houses. Fernando got tired and didn’t want to go to the next house. I went by myself, and when the door was opened I said, “the orange thing you see by the side walk, is my son in a pumpkin costume, he’s very cute, I promise. Then I chanted, “trick or treat”. The lady believed me handed me a couple of red vines and asked me “make sure you give one to the little boy”. After the “successful trick or treating” we went back home and found (hiding in a bush) few unopened boxes of raisings. I’m guessing kids don’t share the same healthy thinking of one of the neighbors. Watching NYC marathon last weekend was fun, I was hoping to see the participants from Fremont, too bad I missed Russ and Marie at mile 16.5, spotting someone within 44,000 runners is hard. The good think is that the course allowed me to go and meet Marie at mile 24.5 and thanks to cell phones, I saw Russ at the Finish. It was very nice to see both of them and talk with them for some time. Warm regards,

Fernando