Club Elections, Prediction Run and Annual Potluck Brunch

14 January, Sunday, University Park Clubhouse

Here's what it is:

This is a fun, free, club-only 5k race that anyone can win. When you register, you put down your predicted time and surrender your watch. Whoever finishes closest to their predicted time wins!

Here’s the schedule:

Registration and food drop-off: 7 am to 7:50 a.m.
5k Prediction Run: 8 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Potluck Brunch: 9 a.m. to 10 a.m.
Club Elections: 10-10:15 a.m.
Cleanup of clubhouse: 11-11:30 a.m.

Here are the directions:

Off Howe at Swarthmore enter parking lot of office building, turn left/north to end of parking area…enter through gate to clubhouse for registration and food drop-off.

Board Election Details

Have you wanted to help keep the Buffalo Chips the best club in Northern California? Have you noticed my eyes glaze when you suggest the club could do something better? Here’s your chance to step up and make something happen. Be a part of the “sausage making” that is the management of the club. We’ll be holding elections for the Board of Directors after the Prediction Run this January 14th. You must be there to vote, but you needn’t be there to be elected. Send me a note if you want to put your name on the ballot!

John Blue, High Dunger

PS: I know it says January 6th in the Buffalo Bible but we couldn't use the clubhouse on that date!

Weekly News Update

Coming….Xmas Relays…The BEST way to get your workout in for this coming weekend is to join with a group of friends and run 4.4 miles around Lake Merced! This is one of THE oldest and most traditional events for runners in all of Northern California. It originally was sited along Hiway 1, but then was moved for safety concerns to the Lake Merced setting where it is on sidewalks and mostly free from cars.

Four person teams with various age and gender combinations are required for team competition scoring. It is great FUN !

Past Weekend…Honolulu Marathon

Men’s winner 2:13; women’s winner 2:27…new COURSE RECORD and a $67,000 total payday for that racer ! And she was not in the “invited runner” group, as she decided to do the event after all the funds for such athletes were distributed, so she paid her own way there and covered her own expenses…easily with those prize winnings !

Honolulu is about the most enjoyable that any 42km challenge can provide. It is almost always too warm for ideal racing, but …who cares….you ARE running “in paradise.”

Be sure and put the Honolulu Marathon on your “to do” list. 17,000 out of the field of 28,000 were visiting Japanese, so clearly they KNOW where the “fun” is.

NOTE: It was a small, but dedicated group that showed up this past Sunday at the Fish Hatchery ! What has happened to many of you? Rain “trauma?”

Weekly Workout Update

Reflective Upper Body Apparel at all evening club sessions !

Week of Dec. 11-17

Tues. 5:30 pm	Thurs. 5:30pm	Sat. 8 a.m.	Sun. 8 a.m
251 Commerce Circle off Expo Blvd.	Univ. Park on Univ. Ave.	Univ. Park on Univ. Ave.	Bella Bru, Arden & Fair Oaks
Groups: A-D:4(1.25),1 E-F:3(1.25),1 G-H:2(1.25),1	Track type sharpening session on Kadema 8(200), 4(400) 100m; jog recovery	Option: Base Building of 5-7 mi. or Tempo run of 4-6 miles	Any distance from 5-6 miles to 18 miles.

Week of Dec. 18-24: Note that from University Park, there will be a warmup jog to CSUS parking garage near the tennis courts and the workout will be INSIDE THE PARKING GARAGE with lights and no weather issues while there !!!!!

Tues. 5:30 pm	Thurs. 5:30pm	Sat. 8 a.m.	Sun. 8 a.m
251 Commerce Circle off Expo Blvd.	Univ. Park on Univ. Ave.	Univ. Park on Univ. Ave.	Rescue
Groups: A-D:4(1.5) E-F:3(1.5) G-H:2(1.5)	Track type sharpening session in CSUS parking garage 14x 2 straights, 1 straight jog recovery	Option: Base Building of 5-7 mi. or Tempo run of 4-6 miles	NEW COURSE, Any distance from 5-6 miles to 18 miles.

Week of Dec. 25-31

Tues. 5:30 pm	Thurs. 5:30pm	Sat. 8 a.m.	Sun. 8 a.m
251 Commerce Circle off Expo Blvd.	Univ. Park on Univ. Ave.	Univ. Park on Univ. Ave.	Fish Hatchery, Hazel
Groups: A-D:5(1) E-F..4(1) G-H..3(1)	Track type sharpening session in CSUS parking garage 20 x 1 straight @ 1 min. See previous week for venue details.	Option: Base Building of 5-7 mi. or Tempo run of 4-6 miles	Any distance from 5-6 miles to 18 miles.

Upcomming Races

December 17, 2005 - Christmas Relays (San Francisco)
December 31, 2006 - Midnight Run (Sacramento)
January 1 - Resolution Run 10M/10K/5K (Auburn)
February 3 - Jed Smith Ultra Classic 50M, 50K, 30K (Sacramento)

USATF Officiating is Fun!

by Ann Gerhardt

Anyone interested in becoming a USATF certified official has a chance to learn how on January 13 at American River College or January 20 at UCDavis Hickey Gym.

Go to www.pausatf.org and click on Officials, then calendar, to get more details.

You DON”T HAVE TO KNOW ANYTHING about officiating. They teach you all that. All you need is a desire to give back to sport and some time to donate.

I’ve been an official for almost 10 years. It’s fun to get to know the area T&F coaches and officials, who are uniformly great people, if sometimes quirky. One can specialize in a particular event (mine are racewalk judging and horizontal jumps), or do some of all of them. The coaches always need officials for local track meets and show their appreciation, at least with a sandwich and chips for meet-day lunch.

Athletes need competent officials in order to keep competition fair and results accurate. It’s impressive to see the growth of athletes as they learn the respect for rules and discipline to follow them, as they mature from rather unruly high schoolers to collegiate stars. We contribute to that growth. We level the playing field so that it is fair for all. You, too, could be a part of it.

Rumors circulated in 2000 that many Chips were going to become certified so they could officiate at the Olympic Track and Field Trials. Most didn’t follow-through and missed a great experience. Actually, becoming certified in January 2000 didn’t qualify anyone to officiate the Trials by summer. It might have qualified someone to be a marshall or to escort athletes to the pee station.

But by 2004, after 4 years of officiating, I was asked to be part of the field event set-up group: You know, the ones who laid the (perfect) white-tape arcs for the hammer, discus, shot put and javelin. Pretty cool being on the field and getting to hang out in the official’s tent, watching competition on closed-circuit TV when it was too hot to sit on the complementary athletes bleachers.

ASICS World Distance Summit

The ASICS World Distance Summit may be of interest to our Buffalo Chip members. It is scheduled for Thursday, December 7, 2006, 6 to 8 pm at the Holiday Inn Fisherman’s Wharf, 550 North Point St., San Francisco, CA 800/942-7348. Some of the top speakers on running are featured at this event: Steve Scott, US Mile record holder at 3:47, current coach at Cal State San Marcos; Dr. Armando Siquieros, past winner of Warf to Warf race, coach at Mission Prep HS in San Luis Obispo which Jordan Hasay, defending Footlocker Nation Champion runs; Jim Spivey, Former Women’s coach at Vanderbilt University and 3:50 miler; Dr. Joe Vigil, 1988 US Olympic Coach and 2004 Olympic coach for marathoner Deena Kastor; and Mike Fanelli, Moderator and commentator on the history of competitive distance running and physiology of training.

This event is absolutely free as a Christmas present from Asics to the coaches and fans of distance running in California. More details can be found at the California Track & Running News website.

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park will also host the Club Cross Country National Championship Meet on Saturday, December 9, 2006 just east of the polo field. The scheduled start times are: 10:30 am for the Masters Women, 11:30 for the Masters Men; 12:45 pm for the Open Women; and 1:30 for the Open Men. This is a great venue for cross country running. A lot of hard work goes into putting a meet like this together so we are fortunate to have a couple of top quality events for runners and fans in Northern California.

Joel Contreras