It's been a long time

It's been a long time since I've posted anything about the Gophers. There's many tidbits of information since the last post, but I cannot remember them. Here's what I do remember:

Steve Codner became the Gopher elite runner by qualifying for the Boston Marathon at the 2008 Wineglass Marathon in Corning.

Ron Moore became the Gopher with the most marathons under his belt by running 2 a year, while the rest of us concentrate on 1 or fewer.

Ray Wagner became President of the Gophers by having a few beers instead of running on a cold weekend day.

Theo Moore always wanted to beat the Gophers in a race, so we spoiled his goal by making him a gopher before he accomplished the feat. Congratulations Theo.

This one went out on the Finger Lakes Runners Club listserve. I think most of us can relate. Enjoy.

The Title is "The day after the Marathon"

The Groton Gophers had three well trained people represent them in the 2007 Cortland Leaf Peeper 1/2 marathon. The YMCA supplied a great day for a fantastic run. The temperature was perfect. The sunshine bright, and the leafs were in peak color. The Gophers responded well to the conditions.

Nancy Jacoby came in first of the Gophers. Her training strategy was to become sick the week before the race. It seemed to work well for Nancy and she ran a strong race. The second Gopher to cross the finish line has a very unique method. Ray Wagner utilized the extended taper method. He tapered all summer, and ran just 14 seconds shy of his own PR. Way to go Ray, keep tapering and you'll qualify for Boston. The final Gopher to finish was Steve Gallow who choose the sprain your ankle, take 4 weeks off, don't do a lot of long distance runs. This worked somewhat for Steve and he arrived with a fairly good time.

Keep up the good work Gophers.

2007 Wineglass Marathon a Humbling Event.


The 2007 Wineglass Marathon started out as a great event for the Gophers. Ron Moore and Stephen Codner had worked on a summer full of training. (Mostly by themselves.) Would it pay off?




We also had a relay team made up of a new Gopher-want-to-be Hal Coghill, and long time Gophers Ray Wagner, and Steve Gallow. All three of the relay team didn't have the training to run the whole marathon this year. Hal suffered from a broken ankle in July, and Steve a sprained ankle in August. Both are recovering nicely. Ray suffered from overrunning during his training for the Green Mountain Relay. He deserved a rest for this year.



The morning started out very cool, and clear with some fog around the hills. A perfect morning to start a marathon. Ray was running the first leg of the relay. Steve Codner's plan was to start out slow with Ray for the first five miles, and then start to pick up the pace. Ron's plan was to run how he felt. The gun went off. Ray, Ron, and Steve all looked great at the start. Hal and Steve G. got on the buses to be at the hand off points.
Ron was in the lead at first. Steve C picked up his pace after mile 5. Ray who had hoped to run around an 8:30 pace for the first leg of the relay came in after 9 miles beating his predicted time. Now it was Hal's turn. Meanwhile Steve C caught up to Ron at about mile 14. Ron was beginning to have blister problems. Steve C told him he was still on schedule to do well, and continued past. Hal then caught up to Ron and ran along side to make sure he was ok. Steve G was at the second relay stop ~mile 18 where he was able to see the leaders come through. He was also looking for Steve C, Ron, and Hal. Steve C came through and stated that he was ahead of schedule by 4 seconds, but wasn't going to be able to maintain the pace. A few minutes later Hal arrived at the second relay ahead of our predicted schedule. Steve G took off. All along the route he began to hear people cheer for him, "You look Great!!" He would respond with "I just started." To which one person responded, "That's the attitude." After that Steve G just said thank you to the people who cheered. Around mile 22 Steve G caught up to Steve C and ran with him about a 1/4 mile. Steve C was beginning to struggle but felt he was still on his way to a PR. Steve C told Steve G to go ahead. As the race progressed so did the heat. Steve G struggled the last mile, and was glad he wasn't running the full marathon. The relay team came in with a 3:35 which was better then their prediction. Meanwhile Steve C's quads began to cramp on him. He arrived at a 3:50 minute marathon struggling to finish.
Further back while Steve C struggled with cramped quads, Ron calf had locked up with cramps of his own. Ron stuggled to finish the race. Ray said it best, "The Marathon is a humbling experience." Now comes the time of rethinking our training and how will do it differently.
Ron's going on to run another marathon in Philly in November. Go get them Ron!!!

2007 Utica Boiler Maker

The Groton Gophers had a large showing at this years Boiler Maker. The veterans Steve Codner, Ray Wagner, Ron Moore, Audrey Moore, Kyle Gallow, Kari Gallow, and Steve Gallow showed the rookies Allen Gallow and Derek Wright how to run a race. A good time was had by all. Way to go Gophers!!

Mountain Goat 2007

The weather was perfect. The Gophers were ready. The gun went off. Immediately Ron Moore and Stephen Codner took off. Stephen thought he might be able to take it easy this race, but Ron wouldn't let him. "Everytime I thought that I had passed Ron, I would look up and he was ahead of me." Codner commented. After the first 4 miles Stephen Codner overtook Ron to stay ahead of him. Meanwhile further back Wagner and Gallow battled. For a long time it was back and forth. Wagner would charge up the hills and get in front of Gallow. Gallow would use his long lags and overtake Wagner on the downhills. Finally Wagner overtook Gallow on Colvin Hill, Gallow caught up to him after that hill, but couldn't keep up with him on the final hills. Gallow had Wagner in his eyesight waiting for Wagner to slow down, but it never happened. All the gophers went on to preform their own Personal Records in the grueling 10 mile hilly race. Codner finished with a (1:15:30, 7:33 min/mile). Despite vomiting at the top of one of the hills Moore had a (1:16:52, 7:41 min/mile), Wagner had a strong showing with a (1:20:19, 8:02 min/mile), and Gallow finished with a (1:20:46, 8:05 min/mile). A Good time was had by all.

Skunk Cabbage 1/2 Marathon and 10K, April 1, 2007

Several of the Gophers ran the annual Skunk Cabbage Race this year. Steve Codner, Steve Gallow, Nancy Jacoby, and Ray Wagner all ran the 1/2 marathon. Gideon Gal and David Jung ran the 10k.

As was typical fashion for the Skunk Cabbage, the weather was quite cold and windy. The good news was the wind was coming out of the South East, which put it at the runners backs when on the second part of the course.

Steve Codner wanted to take it easy on the 1/2 , and he still finished several minutes before any of the other gophers. He's in great shape! Codner finished with a 1:43:52. Steve Gallow has been having some problems with his right hamstring, and he started conservatively. He was feeling very good and picked it up at the 10 mile mark to finish strong with his own personal PR for the course a 1:49:01. Ray Wagner is also viewed the race as a training run for the Green Mountain Relay. He still finished very strong with a 1:55:58.

Nancy Jacoby has he own story to tell. She met the Gophers recently. One day she hopes to
join us for some runs. She did very well and here is her story:

"My goal was to finish in 2 hours, and I did: 1:59:48! Considering that
I've only done two 10-mile runs since I started getting back into shape
after an injury (slipped on ice, fell onto a bent knee, and suffered a
concussion during a marathon training run in Feb 2005 and it ended up
knocking me out of any real training for almost a year), I was very
pleased.

I started out very conservatively and then made a conscious shift to pick
up the pace about mile 7. My last 2-3 miles were clipping right a long. I
love that feeling of a negative split!"

Congratulations Nancy on a fantastic job.

In the 10k David Jung and Gideon Gal battled it out. Part way into the race Gideon lost his timing chip, and had to stop and pick it up. David used this advantage to come in 8 seconds before Gideon. The both broke the 7 min/mile average. David had a 42:44 and Gideon had a 42:52. They both did very well.

Great Job to all the gophers. The next big race for many of us will be the Mountain Goat 10 mile race in Syracuse in May. We should be in great shape for that race for some more PR's.

Two Gophers do well in the Run for Pete's Sake 5k on February 17, 2007

Gideon Gal (the international Gopher), and Steve Gallow both participated in the 1st annual Run for Pete's Sake 5k on February 17, 2007. It was a cold morning, but most of the roads were clear for this event. We were told that Pete Wadach was a man about relationships, and participants were asked to give each other a hug before the race. Gideon's response was, "Only in Ithaca would this happen." Neither one of use knew Pete, but from the sounds of it he was a great guy very dedicated to community.

After the gun went off Gideon and Steve took off. It was a flat course, so Steve thought he could run his PR for the 5k. The first mile Gideon and Steve were side by side at 7 minutes. The next mile had a little hill, and some slippery roads with snow and slush for about a 1/4 mile. They came in with a 7:05 for the second mile. Shortly after the 2nd mile, Steve started to fall behind Gideon. Gideon encouraged Steve to keep it up, but he couldn't hold the pace. Gideon continued on and passed more people and finished in 19th pace with a time of 21:44. Meanwhile Steve passed a couple of people. Then a battle emerged between Steve and one of the runners. Steve passed the other runner, and the other runner passed Steve almost immediately. Steve continued behind this runner, until the slight hill going over a bridge on Cayuga Street. Steve passed the runner for the last time and had a 5 second lead at the end. Steve finished in 22nd place with a PR, 22:08.

After waiting around for the results, there was some good news and some bad news for Steve. The good news was, he won his age group. The bad news was, they had entered Steve into the wrong age group.

It was a great event, and Gideon and Steve and their families went on to the Chili fest being held on the commons for a celebration.

Photos of the event can be seen at http://www.deweyneild.com/index.html