Oktoberfest Bier Run Race Report

I'm getting there ever so slowly. On Labor Day I ran the Oktoberfest Bier Run in Berea, OH and had my highest age-graded performance of the year with an 18:08 (5:50 pace on the nose). My last better result was a 17:37 indoor 5K in January. I still have a lot of work to do but I need to be patient and it's certainly better to be moving forward than backwards. The ironic thing about running an Oktoberfest race was that I started a gluten-free diet on Sunday, August 28, so I haven't had a beer since that time!

I decided to go gluten-free because I was having way too many stomach issues lately from running. If I wasn't a runner, I probably wouldn't have noticed anything, but competitive running isn't easy on your body. When I was 19 I was actually diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, so these kind of ailments are something that have been with me for a long time, though I haven't had any major flareups since my early twenties, just minor issues like what I had been dealing with. Going gluten-free seems to be making a big difference already in just one week. I had stumbles across an article about the elite runner Amy Yoder Begley who has Celiac Disease and her symptoms were pretty much dead-on to what I had been experiencing, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

Moving ahead, I've decided that I want to run the Youngstown Peace Race 10K on October 23, so that's my next immediate focus. I'm doing a low key 5K as a tune up three weeks before that. I'm going to try to do a few slightly different things with my training leading up to that race and to Club Nationals in December. I'm going to do some Hansons type workouts like 2 x 3 miles and 3 x 2 miles as well as 8-10 mile marathon pace runs. While I don't plan on doing a marathon, I think running strength workouts like that will be good for me. In the past I've always approached cross country as a 5K runner moving up so training more like a half-marathoner may reap some benefits. I may even run the Fall Classic half marathon 3 weeks before Club Nationals!

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CSU Viking cross country update


Back on August 27, 2010 I wrote an account of the amazing Cleveland State cross country teams from the late 70s/early 80s. It can be found here:

http://rocknrollrunner.blogspot.com/2010/08/when-vikings-ran-wild-in-flats.html

Much of the information was found on a blog called Gone But Not Forgotten, which is published by a former CSU runner Mike Sajovie. He recently got back to me:

I think you posted "When Vikings Ran Wild in the Flats" a while ago, but I wanted to say thank you for the nice comments you wrote about my post "Gone But Not Forgotten" from Mike's Cleveland Blog. My name is Mike Sajovie and I graduated from CSU in 1990. I was on the cross country and track teams from 1986-87, before switching over to road racing and training full time for the marathon my last few years of college. I have fond memories of cross country at CSU and still can't believe that men's cross country hasn't existed since 1993 at the school. My blog is very inactive but I still check back from time to time, and that's when I noticed your blog. It is very nice. It's good to see people my age still out there competing. I no longer log the serious miles but I still read up on the local running scene as I still live in the Cleveland area with my wife and daughters. Keep up the good work on your blog, and keep running.

There is a nice photo of Marc Hunter running in the 1978 NCAA XC championship. Visit:
http://runningentertainment.com/runningshots26.html. It is the 11th photo on this page. He is running between Rudy Chapa of Oregon and Henry Rono of Washington State. I think it was from Sports Illustrated. Cool stuff! 


Thanks so much. The image Mike mentioned is posted above. Marc is the guy in the green singlet and green and white candy stripe shorts. Only guy wearing a singlet! It was 18F that day!

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