Phantastic - Phinally - Phabulous

after 28 LONG years the Phillies have finally brought a World Series Championship back to the city of brotherly love. They broke the curse of William Penn and beat the formidable Rays of Tampa Bay.

I remember the 80 championship against the Royals - the Phillies won that series 4-2. I was 14 years old and in 10th grade. I distinctly remember watching one game while at the skating rink (must have been on a Friday) and I remember the parade. The early 80s were a decent time in Philly for sports team - in 1980 the Flyers, Phillies, 76ers and Eagles all made it to the championship game (only the Phillies won) and in 83 the Sixers won the last major championship in Philly.

Right after the 83 championship a building was built in downtown that was higher than the William Penn statue and the drought began! 1993 the Phillies made it to the WS and lost when Mitch "wild thing" Williams gave up a game winning homer to Joe Carter - I still have bad feelings toward Wild Thing to this day (I did see a "I forgive Mitch" sign last night)

It was a crazy World Series but the Phillies proved to be the best team and won some great games. I am very thankful for not having to go back to Tampa to play more games. It is going to be a crazy couple days in Philly and I see that they are rioting in the streets already - hopefully common sense will prevail and no one will get hurt and just have fun. Highly unlikely - PA fans are known for over the top celebrations - PSU fans rioted after beating OSU this weekend and it was a regular season game. However, I am sure absenteeism rates are up all over Philly and the surrounding areas today - enjoy it!

Who would have thought the heroes would have been - Goeff Jenkins who had not had a hit in over a month, or Pat Burrell who in his last at bat as a Phillie hit a double and his pinch runner came around to score the winning run - or Pedro Feliz who is a defensive specialist who had the key RBI. However, the play of the game had to be turned in by their best player - Chase Utley - ground ball in the hole - fake the throw to first and nail the runner at the plate - saved the game and won the world series - remarkable!

To the Tampa fans who gave me the finger, cursed my Mom, told me to go cry in my beer, and generally were not too polite - GOOD LUCK NEXT YEAR - come by and see the trophy any time - it resides in Philly

Team Hendryx athletes score big weekend

Here were more results from this weekend (besides our winning relay team and awesome Disney team)

Epic Challenge coached by Team Hendryx - all 4 of the athletes finished the 1/2 Ironman - Mandy was 4th woman overall and Darrell was second in his age group. Telethe finished her first 1/2 Iron and Ralph battled a flat tire and his diabetes but still finished the race.

Neal was a FF marathon runner - he ran his first marathon (Marine Corps) in 3:47:00 -overall a very good time for a first marathon - Neal had never run over 7 miles until this year

Kevin Johnson - 1st AG at 1/2 Ironman this weekend - and a huge improvement in time from the last time he did the same race (and the bike course was 2 miles longer)

Coach Bill - lucky enough to squeeze out a 6th place overall (1st Masters) finish at Daytona 1/2 Marathon

Debbie - 3rd AG in Tower or Terror - 16 minute improvement over last year - that is 2 minutes per mile

Dr Allen - did the Tower of Terror (8 miles) at 10:00p on Sat then drove to Daytona and did Daytona Half on Sunday at 7:00a - wow!

Disney Cast Member Team "Running Wounded" wins big at Tower of Terror

"Running Wounded" a Disney cast member team that is being trained by Team Hendryx entered the Tower of Terror 13k this weekend and ran (literally) away with 2 awards. The team was awarded 1st place for the most cast members and was awarded 1st place for best combined time for a cast member team (can you say - FAST).

The team was captained by Lena A and had 17 addition cast members. A majority of the 18 runners had personal best times for the 13k race. The team was lead by Miriam D (1:10:06)who took 15 minutes off her time from last year (almost 2 minutes a mile)

Above is a picture of the two awards that the team won and then presented to Sean and I - it has been a pleasure and an honor for us to coach this team of motivated and talented runners.

Look for us to take multiple awards at the Disney Marathon too - this team will be ready and motivated.

Team Hendryx Relay Team Can't Be Caught

Team Hendryx sponsored an All Star relay team for the Florida Challenge this weekend and they did not disappoint. The Team of Amy Lo, Steve Griggs and Chris Sadowski beat all other relay teams in the race - their closest competition came from the Gear for Multisport team. Team Hendryx relay beat Gear by over 6 minutes and the third place team by over an hour.

Amy had the fastest swim of the day - covering the 1.2 miles in 28:44, Steve had the fastest bike of the day - covering the 58 miles in 2:44:29 and Chris has the second fastest run of the day - covering the 13.1 miles in 1:32:07. Amy and Chris handed off to Chris with over a 9 minute lead and he cruised to the finish.

Congrats to them

The rest of the race weekend results for Team Hendryx will be posted soon.

good luck this weekend

lots of races this weekend and lots of luck to give -

Good luck to all the Team Hendryx athletes tackling Florida Challenge - Tower of Terror, and Daytona Half Marathon - race well. Plan your races and race your plans!

Good luck to all the TH athletes in their last BIG training weekend before taper time for Miami

Special shout out to - past TH athlete Mike Tully - getting married on Sat

Good luck to the Phillies who are returning home to finish the quest for the WS

Everyone else that is racing - good luck to you too - have fun and be safe.

The twisted world of running

so there seems to be some outrage about the results of the Chicago Marathon and Nike Marathon - seems that age groupers placed in both of these races and were denied their awards (and cash in Chicago) because they were not entered as "elite"

blogs I link to have posted the article and Endurance Sports Bar (see link to right) is going to do a piece on it tomorrow.

I wish I could see the official rules of either of these races or the official race entry to see if it says so something on the entry about being entered as an elite to get prize money or overall awards - if it does then there is zero controversy on this issue - if the rules or entry do not say anything about that then we have to go to USATF and see what their rules says. I scanned the rule book and could not find anything that addresses this issue. There was a USATF official at both Chicago and San Fran and it sounded like he made a ruling but did not state a specific rule for his decision.

The ruling by the official was that since the runners did not start with the elite field then the elites did not know their competition and were not racing against the age groupers - that is pretty damn flimsy if you ask me. This is done in triathlon all the time - the first person across the finish line is not always the winner - usually but not always.

I remember a race in Clermont one year and the elite women finished early because they were in the first wave - however 2-3 age groupers ended up having better overall times and won the overall awards for the race - FASTEST TIME WINS - i could care less if the elite folks knew they were there or not.

I do feel bad for both of these runners - what we do not know is - did the rules state this before they ran? If the race rules stated this (I bet Chicago does) then they have no gripe at all.

However, I do have one overriding questions - since when does a women's "elite" race get won in 3:06:00 - that is a good age grouper not an elite time. I could not find the times needed to qualify for elite in San Fran but I guess it is slower than many of the big marathons because this one is more of a niche marathon than one of the biggies like NY, Chicago, Boston, London, Paris?

No matter what you think about it - Nike was definitely caught off guard by this and they blew a huge opportunity for some great publicity - can you see the headline - "Age Group Woman come from no where to win the Nike womans marathon - are you next?"

Giving back a little

I was able to help my outstanding coach, Sean, a little this morning. Sean is training for an upcoming marathon and had a long run schedule for this morning. His plan was to run from his house to the dirt road - then a lap a round the dirt road at a quick tempo.

I volunteered to meet him at the dirt road with some replacement fluids for him, attempt to pace him through his tempo workout, and give him a ride home. The plan was to meet around 7:45-8:00a - I got there a little early so I could do some warm up miles. I did not think I could show up cold and roll right into a tempo run.

The plan was to run somewhere around a 7:00 min pace for the 10 mile loop. No easy feet on the dirt road since it is dirt and pretty hilly. I knew we could get through it though.

Sean showed up about 8:00a with 75 minutes of running under his belt. We filled up his water and fluid replacement and were off. Boy, were we off. I could tell he was feeling decent because we were definitely running faster than 7:00 min pace.

First mile - 6:45, second mile 6:44, third mile 6:43, when we reached mile 7 we were about a 6:43 pace and rolling along. We reached mile 9 in a tad over 1 hour and then ran the last mile (the end point was not clearly marked so we might have gone a little long) but we stopped our watches at 67 minutes - 6:42 pace for the 10 miles. We jogged a cool down of 2 miles and were out of there.

Sean's total day was 2.5+ hours of running - probably about 20 miles - this will set him up nicely for his upcoming race. My day was so much easier - 14 miles - with 10 at 6:42 pace - maybe i can rip off a good half marathon one of these days.

Total run time for me this week - 7.75 hours with 2 doubles. Some fast and some not so fast stuff!

Happy Training

List Friday - coolest people in rock and roll

I saw some footage of a singer the other night and thought - "man that dude is cool" so i started to formulate a list of of rock and rollers that I consider "cool" when you see. You know the ones that can really just stand there and ooze coolnes? You can identify them by one name and everyone knows who you are talking about. Unfortunately, no women came in to my mind (except for maybe Pink) but here is my list of cool.

1. Morrissey - he was super cool with the Smiths and now that he is older he just looks and acts cool.
2. Elton John (Elton) - like him a ton better out of his "pinball wizard" days but he has always been cool - if you have not seen his Red Piano tour you should - it is all about cool
3.Eric Clapton (Clapton, Slowhand)- ok, so he had a hit about stealing George Harrisons wife - but he just looks cool, has a great accent, and his music spans generations.
4.Prince - how cool is Price? Way Cool is the answer - from his assless pants (not a fan of those) to his motorcycle riding, to not leaving his roots in MN, to putting out terrific music for many years - COOL.
5. Elvis Presley - (Elvis, The King) - no need to say anything about Elvis - corny movies that everyone watched, concerts sold out, wouldn't show below his waste on TV, chicks throwing themselves at him = COOL

Honorable mention - The Edge, Dicky Barrett, Sting, Taj Mahal, Stevie Wonder

Who is on your list?

World Series - here come the Phillies

Phils go to the WS for the first time since 1993 - it is about time!

weekend predictions

ok - so i was off a little - Macca did not repeat (supposed bike problems)- Potts did win the swim but did not get the bike premium - I could not remember how far into the bike course the prem was - but Norman won it.

Crowie ran super duper fast again and won the whole dealio! He is the first guy to hold the IM and 1/2 IM World Championships! Awesome.

Wellington won again - she won the bike prem, run prem and overall - not a bad payday. I think that leaves her undefeated at the IM distance dating back to her win last year in Kona. She won by over 15 minutes, ran the fastest womens marathon ever in Kona and overcame a flat tire (with a little help form her friends) to still get off the bike first.

Congrats to both the mens and womens champions.

The Chicago marathon was a let down - no record - only a 2:06:00 marathon - instead of running 4:44 miles they ran 4:48 miles - what slackers!

The Smithereens

last night we met some good friends at Epcot to eat/drink for Food and Wine and to see The Smithereens. we had some good grub and drinks - my favorite being the etoufee in Louisiana and funnel cake in the good ole USA. The Octoberfest brew by Sam Adams was decent too.

The Smithereens were playing as part of the Food/Wine festival - they are playing along with a bunch of other washed up acts like - Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, En Vogue, David Cassidy and others - although there is one top notch act playing - Los Lobos (if you have never seen them live you should check it out).

The Smithereens show was short - 30 minutes - but it was tight and the old songs brought back some cool memories from seeing them during my short stint at the U of D. They played all the classics - A Girl Like You, Blood and Roses, Only a Memory. However, there was one shock of the night - Pat DinIzio is huge 0 he has to weigh 300+ lbs! I read that he has a serious nervous disorder so maybe that is the reason for the weight gain. His voice was still super crisp and they group rocked - and they were super nice to meet after the show.

I have heard that Pat is playing a "living room" tour - you can book him to come play at your house and he will play whatever the crowd shouts out - that would be freakin cool!

Kona and Chicago

two huge events this weekend - Kona IM and Chicago Marathon - here are my predictions

Kona - repeat of last year - both champions repeat (look for Craig A to run super duper fast and make it interesting) - look for Andy Potts to be the first out of the water and collect the Timex bonus (duh!) he might even collect the bike bonus. I think the P3 becomes even more popular after it wins again this year - go Chrissy.

Chicago - the weather looks perfect - I predict someone goes under the new record of 2:03:59 - why not? People smarter than me have been making dumber predictions all their life :-)

Good luck to Lauren - she is racing in Kona and will be on our Ragnar Relay team in November.

Good luck to Mike - he is taking another shot at Chicago after last years boiler!

Everyone else attending these two awesome events - good luck to you all.

List Friday - fave 5 Phillies

In celebration of the Phillies advancing to the NLCS and winning game one (how about Pat B. - the bum has actually homered 3 times in the last two games) here are my favorite Phillies of all time.

1. Jimmy Rollins - if we ever get a Jack Russell his name will be Jimmy Rollins - they are both fast, smart and I am sure a Jack R would be an awesome ball player.
2. Richie Ashburn - a member of the Wiz Kids - this dude could play centerfield. He once hit a foul ball that pegged a lady - as she was being carried away he hit another foul ball that hit her again (she is ok)
3. Bake McBride - just love the name Bake (like bake me a cake Bake)- nicknamed Shake n Bake (like Ricky Bobby) and he had one heck of a fro!
4. Greg Luzinski - The Bull! nough said.
5. John Kruck - The Krucker - man could he make things happen!

Honorable mention - Steve Carlton - one of the best pitchers of all time, Pete Rose - should be in the Hall of Fame (not as a phillie but he had a stint in Philly),Bob Boone - my second favorite catcher behind Thurmon Munson, and Tug McGraw - he was the nicest dude you will ever meet.

Keep your fingers crossed for the Phillies!

Coaching Perks

I truly enjoy coaching and helping runners and triathletes exceed their goals. The other things I enjoy are the small perks you get every once in a while - like this awesome apple crisp that one of our Disney Runners made for us! It was delicious.

Race Results

Team Hendryx Athletes were at races spread all over the state this weekend. We had 4-5 of our marathoners testing their speed at the Maitland 5k, 6 athletes in Jacksonville at the Marine Corp half marathon, 6 athletes in Melbourne for the Health First Tri, and several running the Race for the Taste 10k.

There were many PR's set this weekend - all the half marathoners set a new PR, some of the 5k and some of the triathletes set new PRs in their race distance.

When we have the final placements and times I will post them but it was an awesome weekend for all of our athletes.

Congrats to everyone on Team Hendryx - you all did awesome.

Happy Training - call us to help you reach your goals.

my training week

my week consisted of 6 days of running and 9 runs - totaling about 7 hours of running - I did not get in the gym to lift but I did get in 3 days of core and stretching. I had some knee issues left over from the trampoline event a week ago but they seem to be ok now.

i mixed in a 5k to try and get a little speed in my legs and see what would happen - it was not bad - 18:20 overall and the first two miles were in 11:00 - I think the course was long but I might have just gotten super duper slow for the last mile? 2nd place overall is not bad for an old dude.

this week will be about 7.5 hours of training with a longer run of 1.5 hours on Sunday.

Bruyneel: Armstrong, Contador will have to work together

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Lance Armstrong may have to accept a supporting role to Astana teammate Alberto Contador in next year's Tour de France, the team cycling director said Thursday.

Blah, Blah, Blah - I will believe that when I see it. Alberto and Levi are getting a raw deal and should find teams where they can be number 1

If anything - the comeback has people interested in cycling again and blogging about it - back in the press - mission accomplished.

reunited and it feels so good...

word in the pond is that Phish is getting back together and starting off a tour in one of the best venues ever - Hampton Coliseum - if you like the Jam Bands then you have to see these guys - it could be the never ending show.

this is HI - larious

I am not saying I am for or against this person or want to enter the world of political blogging - but this is HI - larious.

Meet 3 - cancelled because of bad weather

we were rained out yesterday so our next CC meet will be next Tuesday - however some of my kids are running the Maitland 5k this weekend - hope i can beat them :)

warning - do not try this at home

this Saturday the owners of Fleet Feet, Stacey and Eric, invited their staff and Team Hendryx coaches to a nice team building meal and some fun afterwards. The fun was Rebounderz in Longwood, FL. This place is wall to wall trampolines and and you basically bounce all over the place for an hour - or as long as you can stand the heat and the bouncing - 30 minutes would have been good for me.

Any way - since there were about 15 of us we nicely took over our own little area and bounced away - it was a blast. The floor is a trampoline and so are the walls - so you are basically like a big pinball bouncing wherever you want.

By 15 minutes in I was soaked with sweat and getting pretty tired. There are kids everywhere in this joint and some of them are pretty talented - back flips, front flips, running up the walls and rebounding (hence the name rebounderz) off the wall and back flipping on to the floor. Crazy stuff in there - I was happy to get out in once piece.

Word of warning for anyone doing this - I was so sore Sunday, Monday and Tuesday that it hurt to run and even walk some times - my joints are not used to bouncing up and down for 60 minutes. Today was my first day of pain free running.

Fun time for all!