St. Cloud River Runners 2022 Mid-Year Recap

February:

Destination Race. A group of 6 took a trip to run the Florida Marathon and Half Marathon in Melbourne. A great bonding experience for all and opportunity to support each other.

- To preserve our club’s history, Jill and Ryan met with Stearns History Museum head archivist, Steve Penick. Steve was very interested in our club’s history and stated that we would be a great candidate for a preservation “vault”, which is a preservation box that would house whatever items we felt are relevant to our history. We are starting with two binders full of old newsletters that have been passed from president to president. We will be looking for volunteer(s) to write the history of the club and make suggestion for the vault’s contents.

April:

- The Earth Day Expo was back and featured a River Runners booth coordinated by Deb Bemboom, as always, a great success. Thank you, Deb, and thank you to all who volunteered at our booth!

- We held a celebratory ‘welcome back to group runs’ breakfast at the Ultimate. There was excellent food, door prizes and a surprise for Rick Lind, knowing that Rick would not be able to attend our Annual Banquet, we graced him with the 2021 Memorial Award for his creative efforts to keep our club viable, safe and on track during the pandemic.

- After a year off, we were finally able to hold our annual Banquet at the House of Pizza in Sartell. We had a great turnout with 59 attendees. This was a night of appreciation. Bob Kovell and Pat Ross were recognized and presented trophies. Bob Kovell for his 15+ years as our Treasurer. Pat Ross for his gracious role as our Saturday Morning breakfast run photographer. Jeff Janssen was presented with the 2022 Memorial Award for his many years as a River Runner, and for taking over the role of Race Director for the Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon. Tonya Pick graciously accepted the dipstick award for misplacing her keys repeatedly during the summer of 2021. In her defense, she was training for Ironman while working full-time. Look out, will you be the next dipstick? The night featured door prizes, great food and amazing energy as we connected with friends new and old. A big thank you to all who attended!

- At the banquet Pat Ross provided us with a thumb drive with many pictures. This is priceless, thank you Pat! Eventually, a copy will be in the Stearns History Museum archive, but for now, we want to be able to share the pictures with all. Possibly Shutterfly? Any suggestions are welcome.

May:

- The Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon was a huge success! We had 196 finishers. This race would not be possible without all the hard work of the Race Director Jeff Janssen, Coordinators, and many volunteers. Thank you to everyone who had a part in this day.

- A group of volunteers met after a breakfast run in May and cleaned up a large section of the Lake Wobegon Trail. Thank you!

- The St Cloud River Runners scholarship program was headed up by Jodi Johnson this year. Thank you, Jodi, for owning the process and preparing the very comprehensive document describing how the program works. The scholarships were awarded to two students at Cathedral and one at Apollo.

June:

Wyoming was the location of another club planned destination race, this time to run the Grand Teton Half Marathon and 5K. The Airbnb was fabulous, we bonded over games of charades, Pictionary and great food and beverages. The scenery? Indescribable!

Miscellaneous updates:

USATF team at Brian Craft 5K

- The USATF team participated in several events, and there are still some upcoming races. We need more men to join! Let us know if you are interested.

- Additional trucker hats were ordered.

- Visors are being designed and ordered.

- As of July, we have 123 registered River Runners!

- We are looking for a new treasurer for 2023 as Andrea’s 2-year term will be up.

- We are looking for a new co-president for 2023 as Jill’s 2-year term will be up.

Best Regards,

Jill and Ryan

Monday Hill Runs are Back!!

Have you been itching to get back out on the hills for your training program. Join the River Runners group out there on various hills in the St. Cloud area.

Please check out the calendar for the up to date locations.

We are looking for ideas for hills in the future so let us know if you have them.

Saturday Morning Run Update

Greetings All. With the inevitable arrival of spring, we have booked out breakfast runs through April. Group picture at 8 am. No official run on the 16th as many in our club are participating or volunteering at the Earth Day Half.

3/26 Jimmy’s

4/2 Ultimate

4/9 Lincoln Depot

4/16 Earth Day Half/SCRR Banquet

4/23 Jules

4/30 Jimmy’s

Sundays: 8 am, Local Blend St. Joe

Lake Wobegon Marathon

Volunteers are still needed for the Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon on May 14th. They are still in need of race day volunteers, primarily water stop captains and early morning race day support (bus loading, finish line set-up). If you're interested, please fill out the interest form (it's quick). Or reach out to Carissa Schwinghammer directly.

Here is a link to the interest form:
https://form.jotform.com/220268269655161

History of the St. Cloud River Runners

When I became co-president I inherited two big binders full of old newsletters. I was looking at them again recently and wondering what I should do with them. This, along with seeing Pat’s old pictures being posted, I came up with an idea. I called the Stearns History Museum and talked to Steve, and explained to him what our group is and how long we have been in the area. I asked him if he thought this would be something worth archiving at the center. He said he thought it sounded like a great idea. He said to check with the group and see if I can get “buy in”. I am not sure exactly how this would look, if we would have physical things there, or if everything would have to be scanned/archived, but I thought I would check with the group to see what you think of doing something like this.

We would for sure include the details of our history, the old newsletters, and other items such as past events and volunteer projects, past presidents/board members, memorial award winners, etc. I don’t know if we would have a physical presence there, meaning a box full of things, but if we did we could put old SCRR our clothing, Wobegon medals, etc. Of course we’d have pictures from - Breakfast runs - Group trips - Races - Other events This was shared on Facebook, and the idea got good feedback. I plan to go forward with this unless I hear from anyone who has concerns.

Feel free to email me with any comments.

jillannsilvernail@gmail.com

Rick Lind - Turning the Page

Well, what I can say? The past two years were not what I was expecting. If I’m being polite, I’d say that my term as co-president was “unusual.” (I had other adjectives in mind, but this is for public consumption, so I’ll stick with “unusual.”) I came in with big plans of attempting to expand membership through fun runs and advertising at SCSU, St. John’s, and St. Benedicts, as well as with the local high schools. I’d hoped to get more people involved in trail runs and maybe even get regularly scheduled trail runs on the club calendar. However, as previously stated, things got unusual.

There was nothing in the manual for club operations during a pandemic. As a result, Don and I, then Jill and I, focused on trying to keep the club together via Facebook. I don’t think I’m speaking out of turn, when I say that our primary focus was to keep club members safe during this time. (To date, we aren’t aware of a single COVID case linked to a formal club activity.) It hasn’t been all doom and gloom. We’ve had many informal small group runs and activities, some actual club sanctioned group runs and meals, and the membership, thanks to Jill and others, is still fairly strong. Assuming there’s no further major spikes, setbacks, or lock downs, the future looks good.

Those of you who know me well understand how I feel about non-runners, A.K.A. - people. (This excludes former runners and family or close friends of club members.) To say that I have a slightly skewed view of those I don’t know might be an understatement. Joining the St. Cloud River Runners and becoming active in the running community has arguably made me a better person. I’ve gained more from this club than I could possibly give back. New friends, shared good times, and maybe even growing as a “runner.” I feel indebted to the club and hoped that I could give back by serving as co-president.

I want to say thank you to the club presidents that came before me, specifically for the examples set by Mark, Jody, Wanda, and Don. (I’m younger than all of them and haven’t been around that long, no offense meant to those that predated their terms.) I also need to thank Jill for coming in and taking the bull by the horns. Her organizational skills and motivation to move the club forward bodes well for the club’s future. Finally, I want to thank the club membership. Your dedication to our chosen sport/activity serves as an inspiration to me. To be honest, I have a hard time considering myself a runner compared to the bulk of the club membership.

I’ll still be active in the club and plan to continue organizing small group runs, but this is me signing off as co-president. Ryan Wateland is taking over as co-president effective January 1, 2022. He’s a lot nicer than I am and I’m confident he’ll do a great job.

I hope I get to run with all of you soon!

Sincerely,

Rick Lind

SCRR Florida Marathon Trip - February 2022

Some of the SCRR Members are going to Florida in February for the Florida Marathon.

A few of us booked our rooms at Crown Plaza. Rooms are fully refundable until February 2022, and need to be booked through the link below. When you pull up the site, the dates will be automatically populated, but you can change to the dates you want, then click “search”. Lodging: 1) The race “host hotel” is the Hotel Melby. This is more of a “downtown” location. 2) Crown Plaza Melbourne Oceanfront. I did some research about the hotels that are waterfront and this seemed to have good reviews, room fridges, etc.

They agreed to provide us with special rates which will be available until January 14th, 2022 (standard parking fees will apply). The discounted rate is $175+ for two queen bed standard rooms and $185+ for king bed balcony rooms over the race weekend (PLEASE NOTE that the balcony rooms are not necessarily oceanview, she said they can have partial view but they are not actual ocean front view rooms).

The direct booking link is https://www.crowneplaza.com/redirect?path=asearch&brandCode=CP&localeCode=en&regionCode=1&hotelCode=mlboc&checkInDate=12&checkInMonthYear=012022&checkOutDate=14&checkOutMonthYear=012022&rateCode=6CBARC&_PMID=99801505&GPC=FLM&cn=no&viewfullsite=true

Hotel Melby general info and race weekend booking link: https://thefloridamarathon.com/93-2/

Crown Plaza main website/hotel info(see above for booking link): https://www.ihg.com/crowneplaza/hotels/us/en/melbourne/mlboc/hoteldetail/hotel-overview

Getting There: The options are to fly into Melbourne and take an Uber to the hotel. The other option is flying into Orlando which is cheaper, and then rent a car.

Race website https://thefloridamarathon.com/?fbclid=IwAR3ZPtUIj5tvdddRclPTZwe6BXRMlKwpoMeZ3-qHERqBhCSxQ1HMlU5Hh9A

Pandemic Running by Wanda Gau

The month of February was a blur with my hubby’s heart event/ 17 day hospitalization which kept me from running consistently.  Then when all was on the upswing… Covid hit! Just as I am ready to get back into my groove- the gyms are closed. Now what! Those of you who know me-Wimpy Wanda- know that I am pretty quick to hop on the treadmill when the temps are dipping below 30 degrees or when the wind is stronger than 10 mph, or when the sky spits a few drops of rain, or if there is an “r” in the month. I only run 3 days a week but crosstrain and lift on the off days with one rest day a week. I have found that if I run more than three days a week,  I end up injured. What do I do? Suck it up, Buttercup! (heard by several SCRR friends over the years.)


In the spring I was distance teaching first grade and needed an emotional outlet and running was it. So I began running 5-6 days a week covering 30-50 miles. The races I was training for were being cancelled or switched to virtual. I needed to change my thinking about these events now that the race times were not going to count for any ROY points. This was huge for me! (did you know that I was a bit competitive?)


June brought a bit of reprieve as the school year ended and I had more time to figure out the future of running for myself. My gym membership expired and I decided not to renew. Can I continue to run 5+ days a week covering more than 30 miles and stay injury free? Bring on a new challenge! A challenge it was as I continued to run all alone and outdoors throughout the summer months.  I was missing my BRF’s in the worst way!  The mental challenge was to just run without a goal race/ time. This would be a first since I started running competitively over 12 years ago. 

Then fall came and a new school year with teaching a new grade level(kindergarten) with all the new guidelines for safety. I learned quickly that running after school was not going to happen as I am at school 10+ hours a day and bringing home 1-2 hours of work each evening. How will I continue running? Well, try something new- get up at 5:00 a.m. and run before school. Again I am all alone and outside logging in my 30+ miles a week.  


As the snow, ice, and slush start it is becoming very difficult to run outdoors at 5:00 a.m. because there is little light and I am unable to see slippery spots and black ice.  So time to invest in a treadmill. This has been a decision I have always been leary of as it is now so convenient to just hop on anytime. My fear, again, will I be tempted to overdo it and end up with an injury? My running times outside have been at a consistent pace.  In the past,  the treadmill is where I have enjoyed doing speed workouts or lose myself in 20 mile runs. Some of you know me as an overachiever at certain things.  I guess time will tell. 

In the nine months of this unique experience of running during a pandemic I have surprised myself in many ways. First and foremost I have learned that you can teach an old lady dog some new tricks.  Never in my wildest dreams would I have anticipated running 6 days a week, running outside in wind, rain, and snow, running 30-50 miles a week with no injury, running before going to work and... enjoying every minute of it!  I have been able to increase my muscle tone, lower my body fat, and lose 7+ pounds. I was not anticipating these results at all. All of this makes me happy and, of course, healthier. But I dearly miss my running friends from this great club.  I anxiously await the time when I can join everyone again on a run and social time. Staying connected on the FB club page has helped.  Until then I will stay positive and have hope.  This will end and we will be able to run together- my pace or yours!

The 25 Golden Rules of Long Distance - #16 through #20

Golden Rules of Running Long Distance:

by Bob Cooper (Runner’s World)

#16 The Refueling Rule- the rule states : Consume a combination carbohydrate-protein food or beverage within 30-60 minutes after any race, speed workout, or long run. Examples: low-fat chocolate milk, sports drink, yogurt, or bagel with peanut butter. The exception: On easy days, you still need a postrun snack, but you don’t need as many calories or as much protein.

#17 The Don’t-Just-Run Rule- the rule states: Runners who only run are prone to injury. Cross-training and strength-training will make you a stronger and healthier runner. The exception: The surest way to run better is to run. So if your time is limited, devote most to running.

#18 The Even-Pace Rule- The rule states: The best way to race a personal best is to maintain an even pace from start to finish. The exception: This doesn’t apply on hilly courses or on windy days, when the objective is to run an even effort.

#19 The New-Shoes Rule- The rule states: Replace running shoes once they’ve covered 400-500 miles. Buy a new pair and rotate them for awhile. The exception: A shoe’s wear can vary, depending on the type of shoe, your weight, your footstrike pattern, and the surfaces you run on.

#20 The Hard/Easy Rule- The rule states: Take at least one easy day after every hard day of training. “Easy” means short, slow run, a cross-training day, or not exercise day at all. The exception: After the most exhausting long runs and speed workouts, especially if you’re 40 or older, wait for two or three days before your next tough one.

The 25 Golden Rules of Long Distance - #6 through #10

Golden Rules of Running Long Distance:

by Bob Cooper (Runner’s World)

#6 The Familiar Food Rule- the rule states: Don’t eat or drink anything new before or during a race or hard workout. Stick to what works for you. The exception: If you’re about to bonk, eating something new is probably better than eating nothing at all.

#7 The Race-Recovery Rule- the rule states: For each mile that you race, allow one day of recovery before returning to hard training or racing. That means no speed workouts or racing for 6 days after a 10k or 26 days after a marathon. The exception: If your race effort wasn’t all-out, taking fewer recovery days is okay.

#8 The Heads-Beats-Tails Rule- The rule states: A headwind always slows you down more than a tailwind speeds you up. Start against the wind, so it’s at your back in the second half of your run. The exception: On point-to-point runs with the wind at your back, you’ll fly along faster than usual.

#9 The Conversation Rule- The rule states: You should be able to talk in complete sentences while running.One study found that runners whose heart and breathing rates were within their target aerobic zones could comfortably recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Those who couldn’t were running faster than optimal. The exception: Talking should not be easy during hard runs, speed work, or races.

#10 The 20-Mile Rule- The rule states: Build up to and run at least one 20-miler before a marathon. “Long runs simulate the marathon, which requires lots of time on your feet,” says running coach Gina Simmering-Lanterman. “And knowing you can run 20 miles helps you wrap your head around running 26.2”. The exception: some coaches believe experienced runners can get by with a longest run of 16 to 18 miles, while other coaches suggest runs up to 24 miles.

The 25 Golden Rules of Long Distance - #1 through #5

Golden Rules of Running Long Distance:

by Bob Cooper (Runner’s World)

#1: The Specificity Rule- the rule states: The most effective training mimics the event for which you are training. If you want to run a 10k at seven-minute-per-mile pace, you need to do some running at that pace.

This is the cardinal rule of training for any activity. The exception: It’s impractical to wholly mimic a race- particularly longer distances- in training because it would require extended recovery, keep the total distance covered shorter than the goal race, or run at your race pace in shorter segments with rest breaks (interval training).

#2: The 10% Rule- the rule states: Increase weekly training mileage by no more than 10 percent per week. When starting or recovering from an injury, increase mileage by 10% to prevent injury or re-injury. The exception: If you’re starting at single-digit weekly mileage after a lay-off, you can add more than 10% per week until you’re close to your normal training load.

#3: The 2-Hour Rule- The rule states: Wait about two hours after a meal before running. “For most people, two hours is enough time to empty from stomach, especially if it’s high in carbohydrate. If you don’t wait long enough, food will not be properly digested, raising the risk of abdominal cramps, bloating, and even vomiting,” says Cindy Dallow Ph.D. The exception: you can run 90 minutes after a light, high-carb meal, while you may need up to three hours after a heavy meal that is high in protein and fat. You can also grab a small snack that’s low in fat and protein but high in quick carbs 15-60 minutes before a run.

#4: The 10-Minute Rule- The rule states: Start every run with 10 minutes of walking and slow running, and do the same to cool down. “A warm-up prepares your body for exercise by gradually increasing blood flow and raising core muscle temperature. The cool down may be even more important. Stopping abruptly can cause leg cramps, nausea, dizziness, or fainting,” says Jerry Napp, a Tampa Bay Running Coach. The exception: It takes less than 10 minutes to rev up on warm days.

#5: The 2-Day Rule- The rule states: If something hurts for two straight days while running, take two days off. Two straight days of pain may signal the beginning of an injury. “Even taking five days of complete rest from running will have little impact on your fitness level,” says Troy Smurawa, M.D. The exception: If something hurts for two weeks, even after you’ve taken your rest days, see a doctor.