JRunners Saturates Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Arizona, and New York City

JRunners was once again all over the place on 11/18/12, most notably taking up 3.2% of the field at the Sophomore Brooklyn Marathon. Practically everyone PRed on the tough course, as home field advantage was a major, comforting factor. Also consistent was at least a half dozen JRunners reported leg cramping at mile 19. That's approximately near the wall and on a flat portion at the Southern end of the park. But another consistency is that everyone had a blast, pulled and rooted for each other and motivated one another to sterling finishes.

Some highlights from members of our club:

Moishie Gamss destroyed the course, flying tzitzis and all, and his own PR by an astonishing 36:45. That's the reward for picking up bibs for his fellow runners. Mordechai Ovits and Martin Bodek heckled him in the first mile. You need to join the JRunners Yahoo group to know why exactly they did that.

Mordechai Ovits reported to no one, but this reporter knows, that he lambasted his own PR by 31:20. He will now go into race hibernation for the winter.

Matt Katz, in his 15th(?) marathon, set a new standard for himself and might continue to do so for years to come.

Aaron Rosenfeld, Abe Piekarski, Michael Weber, Yisroel Pupko (whose sister joined him for a spell), and Michael Wilhelm all bested their best by various margins. Michael did so by the slimmest of margins (53 seconds!) of all those that PRed.

Martin bodek PRed despite a nasty, painful spill at mile 4.

Chaim Backman enjoyed running with his son Sruli (his first marathon! Go Sruli!) and partaking of free beer that Martin Bodek missed for the second year in a row.

Shia Itzkowitz and Avi Blisko were also marathon virgins and performed capably.

Finally, closing in on AARP status were Mark Sanders and Jerry Gross, the latter of which - and the most senior JRunner on the course - clobbered his PR by an admirable 11:36.

The final times and standings, including PR statistics:

Moishie Gamss 3:10:32 PR by 36:47
Mordechai Ovits 3:16:02 PR by 31:20
Matt Katz 3:27:25 PR by 01:30
Aaron Rosenfeld 3:29:16 PR by 13:32
Abe Piekarski 3:42:25 PR by 04:53
Michael Weber 3:46:23 PR by 05:04
Yisroel Pupko 3:49:46 PR by 02:05
Michael Wilhelm 3:58:16 PR by 00:53
Martin Bodek 4:08:36 PR by 01:47
Chaim Backman 4:33:25 Son PRed instead in 1st marathon
Shia Itzkowitz 4:34:16 1st marathon
Mark Sanders 4:37:53 Missed it by this much
Avi Blisko ~4:38 1st marathon ("~" because of malfunctioning bib)
Jerry Gross 4:50:46 PR by 11:36

It is noteworthy to mention Yossi Pancer, who was back for a long distance run following a slow recovery from a debilitating injury. He had planned to do nine miles of the course, but he did 13.1 in 2:03. Way to tough it out, brother.

Over at The Philadelphia Marathon, the PR train kept right on rolling. If anyone didn't PR, it was missed merely by a hair. Yitzy Mittel just keeps getting better and better, Rachel Mittel kept pace with her husband, Joel Mandel ran his 5th marathon of the year, Eva Rothberg represented nicely, Moshe Lewis took the PR crown for the day (by nearly an hour!!! Wow!!!), Glenn Pfeiffer got in sub-4 for the first time, while David Colman and Moshe Kaufman were exceptional in their first ever marathons.

The final times and standings, including PR statistics:

Yitzy Mittel 2:53:28 PR by 02:22
Rachel Mittel 3:39:55 Missed by 04:17
Joel Mandel 3:39:59 Missed by 04:14
Eva Rothberg 3:46:25 PR by 23:19
Moshe Lewis 3:50:32 PR by 58:14
Glenn Pfeiffer 3:54:15 PR by 21:05
Moshe Kaufman 3:59:25 1st marathon
David Colman 4:03:24 1st marathon

Over at Ironman Arizona, Mark Izhak joined the vaunted hall of JRunners greats who can claim Ironman status. To the club started by Chaim Backman and expanded with Yaakov Bressler, we now add another. Congratulations Mark, your accolade is well earned:

Mark Izhak 13:29:28 1st Ironman, bravo!

Finally, in Central Park at the Race to Deliver 4-miler, rounding out the day and putting four more JRunners into a total of 27 known JRunners in competition were the following faithful:

Jacob Vorchheimer 30:46
Chanan Feldman 35:06
David Balassiano 35:33
Jacob Granek 41:06

JRunners, representing everywhere. Let's all be in the same place in Prospect Park on 12/2/12, as we gather to assist Sea Gate with their devastation.[*]

Martin Bodek,
Beat Reporter, JRunners.org

[*] Please help me do my part: http://tinyurl.com/BodeksPageforSeaGate