## Chemistry Regains Title

We had a good turnout (30 people) and beautiful weather for this year\'s
McKee\'s Run. A few surprises made it more fun and a couple new awards.
Most surprising was the arrival of team IPNS, led by division director
Bruce Brown (host of \"Billy goat Run\" ). Their team gets the newest
award, oldest team (average age = 60) and also the new award, \"Oldest
Living Runner\" for Sandy Kern. This title was formerly held by John
McKee himself when he was here.

Chemistry came in force to take back the team trophy, which they did
with ease (1st, 3rd, and 7th). Chemists really know how to burn sugar
with oxygen to produce energy! If we do it in 2000, look for a new
travelling trophy for oldest team and maybe biggest team (quantity, but
not in pounds -- although that\'s an idea). Argonne\'s largest division,
APS fielded only 1 runner. I guess they are all too busy. There were
teams of 3 or more from CHM, ECT, PFS, NBL, and RA/RE, so it\'s good to
see some team spirit.

The tradition of this event goes back to the days when John McKee
organized an annual event for the old CT division people to kick up
their heels and party once a year. I used to love the intermediate
distance -- a loop around the CP-5 reactor, which was about 1 kilometer.
They also had a lap around building 301 - about 1/4 mile, for the \"not
so fit\".

I first got involved about 1986 after being burned out from distance
running. The running club offered to help out and in about 1990 sort of
took it over when John was getting ready to retire. Many of the old
timers were retiring too and workers were getting hard to find. About
that time, the division director, Bob Zeno retired with failing health.
He came back to officiate after he retired for a couple years and Dick
Weeks enjoyed the assistance.

Results from 1999:

1\) CHM (7 people) 11

2\) RA/RE (3) 35

3\) NBL (3) 36

4\) PFS (4) 44

5\) IPNS (3) 66

In the 5K run, Kelsey Forsythe finished first and Jean Smith was first
female. Second male was Todd Teel, team leader of the winning 1998
event.

We had 6 walkers, with first male Jim Regis of RE division and Kristy
wood (PFS) the first female.

Rich Lee

Comments from the new President

In case you were not aware of it, in July there was an election for new
officers for the running club. The winners, which are not surprising
since they were the only listed candidates, were: Karl Grimm
(president), Laurie Culbert (vice-president), Paul Eident (treasurer),
and Christie Wood (secretary). I have listed the officers\' names so
that if you ever have any questions or comments about the club, you know
whom to contact. I am sure that any club officer would be more than
happy to hear from any other runner concerning any aspect of the running
club, so don\'t be shy. We want to do anything we can to make the club
even better than it already is.

When was the last time you checked-out our homepage on the net
(www.chemistry.anl.gov/ARC/)? Chuck Jonah keeps the page up to date with
all the current information about upcoming runs, in addition to
including a lot of other really neat stuff. If you have never seen the
page, logon and check it out, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Furthermore, John Schlueter is constantly looking for running related
stories for the newsletter. So, if you want to let other runners in on
either a good or a bad race, or any other exercise related matter, write
a short story for John and he will gladly put it in the newsletter. (We
do not pay royalties for newsletter stories, so don\'t ask.)

Lastly, if you have any suggestions as to runs that would be exciting to
do, or want to help out at one of our fun runs, please give me or any of
the other officers a call. The club officers, in addition to a few other
unselfishly dedicated helpers, meet monthly to discuss and plan upcoming
events, and quite frankly, sometimes we could use some fresh ideas and
additional run organizers.

Karl Grimm

National Heritage Corridor 25K Race

On Sunday, September 19^th^, the National Heritage Corridor 25K (15 1/2
miles) Race was held in Channahon, IL (a little southwest of the
intersection of I-55 and I-80). This race is a nice race for several
reasons. First, it is run on the very scenic I&M (Illinois and Michigan)
Canal Towpath which is made of crushed limestone, similar to the path
around Waterfall Glen. Secondly, it is the perfect length for the
build-up to the Chicago Marathon. Thirdly, this race is an out and back
race -- thus, you can watch the front runners for a short time in
addition to doing your own race. (This aspect of the race is a double
edged sword; you get to see the front runners, but you also see how far
ahead of you they are.) Finally, this race always gives neat,
long-sleeved shirts (included in the \$25 entry fee).

That particular Sunday was perfect for running. It was cool to start and
never really heated up much during the race. There were plenty of
water/gatorade stops (approximately every 2 miles) and there was even
one porta-potty stop along the course. In addition, there were mile
markers at every mile. It sure seemed to me that the mile marker got
further apart during the latter part of the race - I think this effect
was due to oxygen deprivation on my part.

The entire race, except for the initial part in town, takes place on the
I&M towpath - very nice. If you have never seen the course, the I&M
canal is on one side of the path while the Des Plains River, or further
on, the Illinois River, is on the other side of the path. While running
we saw several great blue heron, some egrets, ducks, in addition to some
cows (not the Michigan Avenue type). Sometimes my wife and I bike this
particular part of the towpath. If there are no crowds around, you can
sometimes see muskrat and deer.

This year, in addition to a good looking sweatshirt, all finishers got a
medal to wear around their neck. Finally, there were the standard
goodies at the end (bananas, a variety of bagels, several types of
cookies, pop and water). For some reason the fig newtons tasted good to
me after the run, not as good as a Goose Island India Pale Ale, but good
nonetheless.

There was a strong contingent of Argonne runners in the 569-finisher
field. They included (in alphabetical order): Gloria Bannon, Pat
Dombrowski, Paul Eident, Karl Grimm, Keith Knepper, and Richard Page.
There may have been other runners from Argonne, but I did not see them.
Also on hand, but riding a bike, was John Koss; John said he was
recovering from an injury so he could only lend moral support. Jack
Picciolo was also there but he had to work the race - tough luck, Jack,
it was a nice run.

Karl Grimm

Tangled in the Web

Kristi Wood's pictures from the Avon 3-day walk against Breast Cancer
have recently been added as have pictures from the Team Run (John
McKee's Run). Also Rich Lee's article on back health and the
accompanying exercise sheet have been added. (Now you will know where to
find it when you need it!) Jack Picciolo continues to let us have the
Prairie State running calendar.

Jean Smith mentioned in the last newsletter about her surprise that
there aren't more Argonne people at races that have been written up by
Argonne people. Possibly if those people would let the newsletter or the
web site know in advance of the race, more people would know about them
before the race rather than after the race.

Chuck Jonah

NBL Director\'s Run

The ARC\'s October fun run will be held on Wednesday, October 27 at
noon. The 3.3 mile run and 2 mile walk will begin outside the New
Brunswick Laboratory (Bldg. 350). We hope that all of our Chicago
Marathon Runners and volunteers will show up at this event and tell us
about their big day in Chicago.

Rocky Mountain High

This fall, I had the opportunity to run a marathon unlike any I have run
before. The Canadian Rocky Mountain Marathon was being held in Canmore,
Alberta while Debbie and I were on vacation there. This year\'s race was
held on Sept. 12, which was more than a month earlier than my training
had allowed for. However, an opportunity like this doesn't come along
every day, so I decided to take advantage of it.

This race is much smaller than the large marathons that Chicagoans are
used to. This year there were only 155 finishers. However, one does not
run this marathon to set a PR -- this is a race to run at a comfortable
pace and enjoy the scenery. And let me tell you, the scenery is
spectacular -- especially for someone accustomed to the great plains.
For flat land runners, this race posses two immediate problems. First,
the high elevation makes breathing much more difficult -- which is
noticeable even after the first few miles. Secondly, as the
advertisement brochure said, you can\'t expect a marathon with \'Rocky
Mountain\' in the title to be flat. Even thought the course mostly runs
through valleys and the town center, it seems like one is continually
running up or down hills. Of course, these hills are nothing compared to
the mountains which loom on either side of you.

The start of this race is especially beautiful. It starts at the Nordic
Center where the Olympics were held several years ago. For the first two
miles, runners wind their way down a paved road into the town center.
The encouraging thing about this is that the race ends in the town, so
runners know that they can truly enjoy this down hill, because they
don\'t have to climb it again. There where two other adjustments I had
to make. First, after training all summer in the heat and humidity of
Chicago, it was a real shock getting up in the morning and preparing to
run a race with the temperature below freezing! But, with clear skies at
high elevations, the temperatures fall quickly at night. The other
problem, I realized only after starting the race was that because the
race was held in Canada, the race was measured in kilometers. I really
had no idea what pace I wanted to run in minutes per kilometers, but it
didn\'t matter because my watch froze up (with ice crystals) and didn\'t
work for the whole race. Rather than trying to convert 22.6 miles to
kilometers, I asked someone running next to me how many kilometers this
race was!

Regardless of all these minor problems, I really enjoyed this race --
especially having Debbie meet up with me a few times on her bike and
run/walk the last couple miles with me.

John Schlueter

Cool Down

The Argonne Running Club Newsletter is edited by John Schlueter. Please
send your stories, photos, tips, race reports, race entry forms,
comments, etc. to me. Mail: Bldg. 200, Rm. A185; Internet:
JASchlueter@anl.gov; Phone: 2-3588. ARC president: Karl Grimm, Bldg.
208, Rm. A205A, 2-6721, b23921@ra.anl.gov. ARC webpage:
chemistry.anl.gov/ARC/ webmaster: Chuck Jonah, Bldg. 200, Rm. B157,
2-3471, CDJonah@anl.gov. For membership information, contact Paul
Eident, Bldg. 200 Rm. L175, 2-3579, eident@anlchm.chm.anl.gov.