Buffalo Chips Weekly News Update

Twenty-Five Years Is A Long Run-Nostalgia

This month, and somewhere here towards the end of the month marks the 25th Anniversary of our Club's Tuesday Night Workouts in the format we now enjoy. In the very early days of the Chips, there was a group of really, really, hardcore guys who met for a workout session on Tuesday evenings. While not a "closed club," it was only for the very fast and serious, as their warmup sessions were usually faster than 6:30 min/mile and their actual workouts the result of the most persuasive talker that night and what he wanted to do. In those early days, the slowest guy attending such workouts was running sub 2:40 for the marathon, so...clearly there were no women, and the sessions were very intense.Parrott had tried one of those meetings, after he was regularly comfortable at a "sub 3 hour" marathon finish, but he never did find out what the group ran for it's workout, as he was dropped in the warmup.In the summer of 1980, Parrott had been working with Heike Skaden (then still in high school) when she chose to switch clubs and run for a new elite group that was forming. Parrott and Bill Stainbrook decided to begin a formal "women's marathon group" with the Buffalo Chips. Bill Stainbrook was a low 2:40 marathoner and he was just finishing his teaching credential. He had been working with Bev Marx in her training, and there were 3 or 4 other "Chip women" who all wanted to run new PRs in the half to full marathon and who were all running solid mileage on their own. A "entry standard" was set for the women's group of being able to "run 10 miles under 70 minutes," and the first sessions were planned for middle or late September, 1980.Just as the Fall school term was starting, Bill took a full-time teaching position, and he decided he did not have the time to be actively involved in coaching with the women's group, and thus the new "Tuesday Night Training Program" became George Parrott and about 6 of the then fastest women in Sacramento.In that first year, only about three of the women could make the 5:30 p.m. workout start, so Parrott would run their session (often 3 x 1 mile) and then return to the "Graduate" (now gone, but near the Guy West Bridge on University Avenue) and meet the remaining 2 or three for a second session. It was also great training for Parrott's speed work.In that early group, we had Heidi Skaden (Heike's mom), Joan Reiss, Eileen Claugus, Bev Marx, Debbie Bispo (who won several of the local marathons in that time), and Nancy and Bill's sister, whose full names I currently cannot remember. The group goal was the "sub 3 marathon." We had every quarter mile marked on University Ave. and American River Drive...and still maintain most of those marks, and after the Tuesday night sessions got infiltrated by males and made formally "coed," we had up to 130 attendees during some of the Fall CIM buildups.Jeff Hayes, who still runs for the club and can be seen running along the American River Parkway, was one of the first males to join with the women's group, and was the regular training partner for Eileen Claugus, since both of them were about the same (super) speed.In the second year of the group, Kathy Pfieffer was recruited to join, and though she was still in college (later at CSUS), she elected to run road races regularly. Kathy went on to set the CSUS women's 10k record which stood for about 10 years, and she is still our club record holder for the 10k, as she turned a 32:59 on the track running later as a fully sponsored Reebok athlete.Eileen Claugus is still the club record holder for the marathon with several sub 2:40 finishes, and a 2:37 PR. Eileen won the Mexico City, Honolulu, and SF Marathons during her racing career and was first American and 3rd overall at Boston in 1982.Joan Reiss and Bev Marx also went on to "break 3 hours" in the marathon, as did Kathy Pfieffer and many later arriving regional women. In 1984 or so, Karen Coe was about our fastest female then competing (around 2:55 territory), and she won the October Sacramento Marathon while being chased closely in the first 15 miles by a Davis resident, Christine Iwahashi. Karen ran "sub 3" that day, and Chris finished some 20 minutes back, but appeared in late October at a club workout after a personal recruiting pitch by Parrott.During the time 1982-84, we also had a small set of really fast males at workout, perhaps because we had attractive, single, fast women there Jim Howard set the club's marathon record which stood for about 15 years with a 2:18:06 at the Avenue of the Giants, and Chris Turney went on to win the Napa Marathon (2:26). Howard, in a 3 month period as a Chip, won the AR50, the Avenue of the Giants Marathon, and intentionally tied for the win at the Western States 100, and 2 weeks after the 100 miler ran a 2:19 marathon at the SF Marathon (Parrott tried to keep him for doing this last race).In those early days, with the strong core of dedicated women racers, Parrott was running up Heartbreak Hill at Boston when he heard a bystander remark, "Look, there is a man in a Buffalo Chips singlet, I thought it was ONLY a women's running club!" Our women's open group has WON the Boston women's TEAM title THREE TIMES, the master's title at least once, or was it twice We have also won NATIONAL marathon championship Women's Open Team, and our club teams have won multiple national 100km awards in all divisions.Frequently during the early 1990's we would have the American record holder at 100 miles and 24 hours (Rae Clark, long time club member) and the U.S. 10k road and track record holder (Mark Nenow, still holder of the U.S. road record) both at Tuesday night workout at the same time. We have hosted several U.S. female international team members at Tuesday workouts including Robin Root, Linda Sommers, and Eileen Claugus and currently Jen Pfeifer has been a recent U.S. team member of the 100k squad, as, of course, has Rich Hanna.And it all started back in 1980, and we have grown with the times, expanded to be open to all levels of participants, and to be most PRO-active for runner safety on a year round basis. SPECIAL TUESDAY NIGHT WORKOUT-CELEBRATION SEPTEMBER 27th!September Marks the 25th Anniversary of the Tuesday Night Workouts.We would like to see as many Chips come out that evening to mark this occasion. Those that participated during the inaugural season are encouraged to attend and share a story or two. We will have some refreshments and desserts. Of course you are all welcome to run prior.

Zoo Zoom a Big Reward For Chips-John Nichols Doubles

John Nichols is THE story of this year's 5/10k races at the Zoo Zoom. Since these events go off sequentially rather than simultaneously, John opted to run, to run both and WON his age division in BOTH RACES ! His report is that he will do anything for a Aardvark trophy! Good Job, John !Other great performances in the 5k, Cindy Scott and Helga Miles both claimed division recognitions. For men, Andy Hitchings and Gordon Hall got called to the podium.For the 10k, Jenny Hitchings was third overall (1st 40-44), with division awards noted for Aaron Ferguson, Chuck Nichols, and Ron Peck, in addition to "greedy" Nichols.

Jamba Juice 5k, PA-USATF Championship Event, SF

Doug Braasch, William Pequinot, Barbara Miller, Joel Contreras, Jim Fischer, Roger Fong (1st 70-74 division), Bill Bommer, Lindsay Pears-Dickson, Linda Hall, Kate Sutherland, Karen Fischer, Claire Hanamoto, Carolyn Leung, and Johanne Christmas represented the herd at this event.

Coming-Paso Robles 10k, PA-USATF Scoring Race-Sept. 25

While this is a long drive, the 2005 hosting promises more prizes to all entrants, including random $$$ at the finish line. This is a true PR quality course, and it is a good venue for a new personal best effort. Check with Linda Hall about further race details and travel options.

National and International Running News...

Denna Kastor continues her pursuit of a sub 2:20 marathon, which she is hoping for at Chicago next month. In Philadelphi on Sunday, she set a new American Half-Marathon record (1:07:53) and turned the fastest ever female time run in this country ! Way to go Deena!A 59:05 won the Great North Run (Half-marathon) in the U.K. this past weekend, for a $10,000 new CR bonus ! YOU compute that pace!

Christopher Calfee Sets Endurance Run Record: 318 Miles !

Finishing on Sunday, Sept. 18, Chris Calfee of Virginia set a new standard for the sleep deprived of ultra-running. He turned 318+ miles nonstop to wipe out Pam Reed's 301 mile distance of this past Spring.

Calfee apparently ran this with the support of many in the Virginia ultra-running community on a loop course of 12 or 13 miles (unclear at this time), but the AMAZING detail is that his last 3.1 miles were run in a local 5k RACE where he turned a 19:15 finishing time and won his age division !!!!

Calfee has completed numerous regional ultras and is a math teacher in the school system there in Midlothian, VA.