August, 2006

Teammates & Friends:

The Mass Velocity Track Club might have been called the Mass Velocity Sprint Club because the club is built around a core of Master sprinters. As it turns out, I'm glad we're a track club. My vision was a club for every sprinter, regardless of ability. Therefore we are not an elite track club. But in recent months I have been fielding questions from potential members, all with the same concern - if they are not sprinters can they still join Mass Velocity? I see no reason why not and I hope you agree.

We now have a number of middle-distance runners with the potential of even more joining. We have lots more people involved in field events along with their track events but we have the potential to add new members who are field-event-only competitors. I cannot imagine that our emphasis will ever change from sprinting but if Mass Velocity is to become the nationally and internationally-recognized powerhouse club it's destined to become, we must encourage and invite everyone to join us, regardless of what events they compete in or how well they do it.

Unless I hear substantial objections, our tagline will change from A Track Club for Master Sprinters to A Track Club for Master Sprinters - and Everyone Else.

Jeff Morrison, M40 from Londonderry NH - "Larry ( and all others) Thanks for the warm welcome to MVTC! Hopefully the next pictures you see of me I'll be upright somewhere near the finish line. I'm looking forward to working with you all and making great improvements!"

Karan Parkin, W45 from Springfield, MA - specializing in discus and other throwing events.

This season has taken it's toll on many of us. I'm one of the walking wounded (quads and knees) and here, a few others report on their problems:

Lee Hess: "My accident occurred Sunday morning (July 9th). The top section of a pine tree snapped off (26 feet) during high winds in late winter. With the ladder against the barn, I cut away branches and several foot long sections of the trunk. The ladder was then repositioned against the fork in the maple to make one last cut on the pine. As the last cut fell away, the pine shifted and it pushed the ladder away from the maple. As the ladder began to fall forward, I jumped and reached for a branch of an adjacent pine tree. The branch was parallel and tight to my chest with my arms securely locked over the top of it. The branch snapped at the trunk immediately as it bore my full weight. I fell approximately 20 feet to the ground.

Impact point was my left gluteus maximus. The wind was knocked out of me. 911 was called and I was transported to Elliott Hospital in Manchester, NH. X-rays and CAT scans were taken. Result was a left posterior acetabular fracture. Ten to 12 percent of the rim of the left rear hip socket was broken off. I was then transferred to Boston Medical for 4 days. They advised against surgery as the broken section is in very close proximity to where it should be and is less than 15 percent of the total load bearing surface of the hip socket.

X-rays taken last Tuesday confirm that the piece is stable and not moving. Six to 8 weeks for new bone to fill in the gap between the 2 sections. I am required to stay on crutches during that time frame. Current therapy is with a CPM (constant passive motion) machine for 4 hours per day. It cycles the knee and hip joint while lying on my back. Barring unforeseen circumstances, a complete recovery is foreseen. I will be running again late fall, early winter."
Bob Marchetti: "I was unable to attend (The Easterns) due to a prior family commitment. It turns out that I strained by right Achilles last week, so even if I had planned on attending, I would have been a DNS. I guess if I had to miss a meet, that might have been a good one to do so (I drove through some downpours in southern Maine that day that were biblical in nature!)"

James Morton: "I'm writing to inform you that I went to a physical therapist this morning and was told that running next week would place me at risk for additional injury to my hamstring. I have restored most of my flexibility and was not sore to physical manipulation; however, when asked to run on a treadmill, the pain was immediately present and intense. I am scheduled to begin PT next week, but recovery is projected to be slow.

All in all, it appears that my season has come to an end. As I ponder that reality, I must consider myself incredibly fortunate. After having major surgery in the fall, I only dreamed of being able to run this season; in fact, I ran four races (including the Penn Relays) and set three PR's (200M and twice in the 400M). Most important of all, I connected or reconnected with the five of you and the remaining collection of fine human-being I have come to know as the Mass Velocity Track Club.

Each of you have purposefully and warmly welcomed me into the fold, and have inspired me to drive long distances for practices (smile) and to run confidently in meets. I was looking forward to running at Nationals, simply because you guys convinced me that I could break 54 seconds in the 400M this summer - that will have to wait until next season, maybe at BU where I'm told the track and competition are fast. I have a lot to look forward to if this season is any indication of what's to come.

Anyway, I will miss you guys, but we'll be back at it before you know it. As for those of you headed to Charlotte, good luck and have fun; I will keep you in my thoughts."

Cochise McBride: "Sorry to receive the sad news and to add to that sadness, I am also shutting down the remainder of the outdoor season for the same reason. My recurrent injuries have limited my effectiveness and by continuing to 'push through' the injuries, my healing process is being compromised and retarded. I won't completely lay off as I will maintain fitness and continue with flexibility and other requisite training.

It has been a particularly fun and gratifying season and I look forward to the indoor season and an all MVTC 400/200 meter heat; at which time we will all be BACK!!!"

Bob Segal: "Yikes, what a meet! On the one hand, I'm sorry I missed all the excitement. On the other hand, I was hoping to really run another PR in the 400 and would not have come close in that weather and probably reinjured my leg anyway. BTW, the non-MVTC guy with red top and dark bottom is Mike Needham and I think that was him in the first relay photo too. Ankle is slowly getting better and I hope to be at Granite State."

Charlie Kelley: "Thanks for the great commentary! I felt like I was at the meet. Unfortunately I sustained a rather severe back strain on Friday( I actually could not get out of bed Sat. AM) and was not able to attend or participate. It will be a few weeks before I can run again."

Tired of sending out e-mail as goofball345@aol.com or IRunFast765@Hotmail.com? How about an e-mail address like Larry@MassVelocity.org or L.Libow@MassVelocity.org or LarryLibow@MassVelocity.org? You too can have a MassVelocity address. Let the world know you belong.

Let me know your preferred prefix to @MassVelocity.org and your preferred password. I'll set up the account for you and send you an e-mail (to your original address) providing you with details on how to set up and use your new e-mail address. With your new address you can use any POP3 e-mail client (like Outlook or Outlook Express) or you can access your mail via any Internet browser (anywhere in the world you can get onto the Internet).

Interested? Let me know at Larry@MassVelocity.org

POLL: PATCHES / PARTY

Once again I'm looking for feedback from the membership. The first has to do with MVTC patches. A number of people have inquired as to the possibility of obtaining a club patch (just like the one that is part of our speedsuits and singlets) that they could sew onto existing red uniforms. I have found a source that could provide us with these patches at a cost of about $5.00 each - but I need to place an order for at least 20.

Perfect for anything red including singlets, jackets, sweatsuits, hats, etc. If we get close to twenty I'll place the order and I'll mail it to you, probably in Sept. or Oct. So, who's interested? Click Here If You Are

At the Easterns, the new MVTC T-Shirts were going like hotcakes. We ran out of the mediums. I will have a new batch of shirts, possibly before Nationals and if I do, I'll try to find a way to get them out there for those who didn't get theirs. I'll also have them at our season-ending gathering. They're $15.00 each and profits will go back into the club.

A USATF Open meet was held early in July in Albany. Laura Barre writes "Hi Larry
Here are some results from the USATF open meet in Albany this past Saturday. Didn't finish great in the standings for the sprints but did improve over 2 weeks ago - a good day for me. I enclosed a picture of myself doing my favorite thing at the track......running as fast as you can and then launching yourself into the air."

Good News - 8 of the top 10 of the men's 400 were from MVTC.
Bad News - It was a similar finish for the 200, but that result is missing online. I sent them a message and left a comment. I know they didn't post the complete results at the meet either (only one heat), so those online results may have disappeared into a cyber black hole. But maybe they'll find them and post them online later, who knows.

(Editors Note: The results are properly posted now at: CoolRunning)

Good News - 6 of the top 7 in the Men's 100 were from MVTC.
Bad News - Just like last year, they ran it 5 minutes after the 400!

Good News - There was a sea of MVTC red at the meet.
Bad News - But it was only our bottoms because we were required to wear the Bay State Games singlet with the color of our region.

Good News - The MVTC and MVS women (Gail, Paula, Becky) ruled in the 800, 400, 200, and 100.
Bad News - None!

It was a combo Open and Masters meet. They ran an Open heat or two in certain events followed later by a final. The Masters groupings were by time; no finals. Hand-timed.

It reminded me a bit of the USATF-NE Masters Championships in Springfield last summer in that it was a blazing hot day, very little shade to be found, and not that big a turnout. The relatively low turnout was even more surprising to me given the much more densely populated NY/NJ area to draw from. Maybe there were other meets or people were just on vacation.

The Shore Athletic Club was a presence much in the same way that MVTC "made" the Ocean State Senior Games last month---if neither club is there, there's practically no meet. SAC didn't seem to have that many master sprinters though. Ones of note that I recall were Archie Gaspy (50-something) and Paul Henry (60ish), but I'm not sure if they were members.

There were very few masters women there, especially for sprinters. One I recognized from the national indoors in March at the Reggie was the tall, very muscular woman with the blonde ponytail who placed in a few events--800 and 400 I think.

We had three brave souls from MVTC who made it to the meet: Cochise McBride, Dick Camp, and me. We combined for a total of 8 medals though!

The results aren't posted yet but to the best of my recollection:

Dick (age 65-69) - Gold in the 100 (13.8) and 200. Bronze in the discus!

Cochise (50-54) - Gold in the 100 (12.3) and gold or silver in the 200 (all this with a bad leg!)

Me - Bronze in the 100, silver in the 400 (63.1) and 200 (on the way home, it occurred to me that this 200 silver medal might have been given to me by mistake, because they mixed age groups in two heats and might have lost track of who was who---I had thought I was third or fourth time-wise across the two heats, but who knows. Posted results online will reveal all!)

While we don't do this just to scoop up hardware to put on the mantle, when you drive for 5 hours to a meet, it is indeed nice to get back in the car with something other than a sunburn and dehydration. :)

Times weren't that spectacular overall as I recall (they don't post them there; you have to look at them in a loose-leaf binder) and Cochise and Dick did run good 100's, but for most of the meet there was a fairly strong headwind in our faces on the straightaway.

But we all ran hard, had a good time, and did the MVTC red machine proud.

The photo essay has already been published and can be found here. Some additional thoughts and photos.

Carroll Blake and his wife are all smiles while keeping dry under the canopy.
Note the Mass Velocity umbrella!

Here's a photo of yours truly in the background (wearing the new Mass
Velocity T-shirt) while Tom Cunningham holds the canopy up.


Also seen under the canopy, Dave Neumann (in red) talking to
Ian Smith. Says Dave, "Ian is is from GB, very talented and personable."

Roger Pierce adds " Ian Smith is a British National (Scottish) and won the British National 800m for 45-49 year olds 2 weeks ago with a time of 2:06...a strategic race. He also won the Indoor US Championship this past March. He is 47 years old and lives in Wenham, Mass. (near me in Essex). I have trained with him a few times and he is ferocious and fast!!!!!"

[Editors Note: Wouldn't Ian look good in red and white?]

---

WHO'S WHO IN THE BLOG

It seems like every time I get mentioned in Ken Stone's Blog I get one of his backhanded compliments. Fortunately for Mary Roman, Ken's "W70 Roman gets royal writeup in Connecticut" was a very nice piece. For those of you who missed it, click here to read the reprint of the July 23 article in the Stamford Advocate.

---

"Well…. It was the first time I've been at a masters meet and heard anyone cheering for me. (Warren's usually too busy taking pictures). In the 200 I could hear someone yelling my name and I kept wondering “is there another Kim in the race?” It was one of my new MVTC team mates yelling for me and I ran a 200 PR so that was nice. And as I already told them - it was like finding water in the desert to have other women sprinters to hang around with." - Kim Williams

"Larry, Great write-up and pics. They really show the appalling conditions for the 400. The Roger P in the rain pics really should be sent to some magazine. It either shows how dedicated, or stupid we are" - Spencer Parrish

"Larry, Thanks, this is a very nice report about the East Regionals. While I watch the pictures I get to know the athletes." - Hillen Von Maltzahn

"Hi Larry, I met some of the club over at the Bay State Games. Everyone is really nice. Anyway, even though I am not a Mass Velocity member (being very active in the Greater Framingham Running Club for many reasons, among them because we have a lot of attractive young women to run with), I just completed my bio for the site." - Arnie Pollinger

"Larry, I'm jealous of your gift for leadership. I used to think I had a flair for it myself, but my ducklings aren't following close anymore. Mass Velocity is a case study -- a real gold standard." - Mike Fortunato

---

OLD TRACK PHOTOS

Arnie Pollinger gave me an idea when he attached an old photo of his high school days:

Arnie says he's 'the short one.' Perhaps you have some old photos from your school or college track days. If you can scan them and send them as a JPG attached file that would be great. If you want to, mail the photos to me and I'll scan them and I'll mail them back to you. Perhaps I'll put them up without indicating who it is so we can try to guess.

On behalf of all of us in Mass Velocity, may I wish the best of luck or those of you heading to the Outdoor Nationals. Injuries have reduced our representation but I still expect our club will do well. We all look forward to reports of the meet and photos from our team.

On behalf of myself and the kids from the High School of Commerce where I volunteer as a track coach, I wish to thank all of you who brought spikes and flats to the Easterns as donations. I also want to thank Steve Vaitones from USATF-New England who has set aside a dozen pair of shoes and a set of starting blocks. James Morton (former Boys Head Coach at Commerce) and I are working hard to create better track opportunities for all the city's kids. James wrote "Steve, I want to thank you for your support of the High School of Commerce. It is a school full of promising student/athletes. In fact, our ability to assure success in the classroom is to persuade as many students as possible to stay in school; track is one vehicle we've used to give students a reason to attend class regularly and to consider college."

I never imagined that Mass Velocity could touch as many people as it has - and will. Thanks to all of you!

The Mass Velocity Newsletter is an open-access publication under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. Users may freely copy, distribute, and display its contents, but must give credit to the original publication source and author.