The Groton Gophers welcome their newest gopher, Polly Case-Codner, at the Cazenovia Chilly Chili.

Once again many of the Groton Gophers began their season at the Cazenovia Chilly Chili.

Veteren Ray Wagner stated that he was going to go out strong the first mile, and die after that. (Ray, the wisdom of Walt Stack is start slow and taper from there.) Ray hit the first mile at 7:35 followed by Ron Moore and Steve Gallow at around 7:45.

After that it wasn't until mile 2.5 that Ron and Steve caught Ray. From there Ron and Steve battled it out until the finish line. All the running Gophers came in strong:

Steve Gallow placed 151 out of 734 with a time of 23:55 a 7:42 pace.

Ron Moore placed 153 out of 734 with a time of 24:03 a 7:45 pace.

Ray Wagner place 161 out of 734 with a time of 24:09 a 7:47 pace.

All Three shattered their previous times from last year.

Judy, Polly, and Kris all said that the time doesn't matter and sugguested that we get a life.

Stephen Codner becomes the elite Gopher

Stephen Codner not only traveled to the west coast for the Pacific Shoreline Marathon, but he also shattered all Gopher records. He has set quite a bar for the rest of us this year. Let's hope that we can hang on to his shirt tail this year.

View his adventure on his web site.

Also view the professional photos of him.

Pacific Shoreline Marathon

February 5, 2006

Hey Everyone!!

I am in my final stages of training for the Pacific Coast (half) marathon! I fly out on Friday morning and will be on the beach by noon PST on Friday. I will probably get settled in and run an easy 2 miles that afternoon. Saturday I will attend the running exposition right at the Hilton Hotel where I will be staying and possibly drive 16 miles north and see the Queen Mary - unless I take a surfing lesson. Sunday is the race. Over 7000 runners will participate. The course runs right along the coast and back. My plan is to run between an 8min/mile to an 8.30min/mile to bring me in at at personal best of 1 hour 45 min to 1 hour 50 minutes. Training has gone real well and I am now sporting a weight of 169lbs and feel great! Big party on the beach after the run where I expect to drink heavily and party hearty with the California Girls ;) (sorry Polly) Fly home on Monday :(

Wish me luck and you may get a phone call from the beaches of southern California this weekend!!

Steve

(picture is Huntington beach - where the course runs)

Message from Steve Codner

Welcome to the Groton Gopher Blog Site.

This site is dedicated to all those runners who consider themselves a Gopher. The requirements are very stringent. If you would like to become one, raise your right hand and repeat after me. "I'm a Groton Gopher". Congratulations, you're a member.

Last year we used a wiki to keep everybody updated. (http://seedwiki.com/wiki/groton_gophers/groton_gophers.cfm) This year we're trying the blog format.

Hopefully Stephen Codner will return with his great newsletters.

Have a great year of running Gophers, and remember to start slow and taper from there.