From: Ole Agesen
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2000
Subject: Tuesday 9K
Today was a remarkable day on the 9K loop. For the
first time in the new millenium, we had 3 runners within 10 seconds
of 31:00 minutes and a fourth runner at 32:10.
The above statement is mostly thrown out onto the
list in the hopes that someone will dig through dusty training logs
and tell tales about prehistoric times... Certainly can't be that I'm
trying to get more runners out, can it?
Best regards,
Ole
--- Stephen Beebe wrote:
I recall a particular Tuesday in 1992 (I
think...I'll have to check my running
log for the exact date) when a bunch of us were up
for a really fast 9k. Just
as we were about to start Alex Tilson pulls up on
his bike, tosses his bike
and shirt into the bushes, and joins us. Alex
informed us that he had just
biked from Santa Cruz via Highway 9.
In those (pre-spare tire) days Ronald Goossens could
almost give Alex a run
for his money, so he and Alex took off immediately
in pursuit of a course
record. I believe I ran most of the way with, and
finished with, Paul Skokowski,
and I'm fairly sure Tim O'Rourke was ahead of us. As
for others...John Hale
may have been there, ahead of Paul and me, and Glen
may have been close behind.
The only thing I can say for sure is that Paul and I
broke 30:00, and Ronald
and Alex were both under 29:00, perhaps even
low-28's. With at least Tim ahead
of me, I'm going to say there were at least five of
us who went sub-30:00, and
I think Glen would have been sub-31:00. I'm almost
sure it was the best
Ancients performance in history.
Anyone else remember this particular day?
Steve
_________________________________________________________________
Paul Skokowski wrote:
I found the diary entries for that historic day:
December 8th, 1992. I'm not convinced they're complete
- maybe Glenn or Ronald can weigh in. I seem to
remember at least 7 runners that day, though I only
recorded 5 times - the ones that I was sure were below
30 mins.
Performances:
Alex - 28:09 (Old Millenium 9K World Record)
Ronald - 28:16
Paul - 29:28
Steve B. - 29:29
Glenn - 29:52
This group was highly unstable, and went
super-critical soon after the top of college. Ronald
and Alex gave the rest of the group a one minute head
start. They caught us just before college, with some
of us hanging on to them for approx 1/2 mile after
that before they disappeared again.
Humbly submitted,
Paul
Disclaimer: These results are completely accurate and
cannot be gainsayed, recounted, resorted,
hanging-doored, argued about, or ruffled in any
manner, without severe penalties being applied by the
law firm of Carpenter, O'Rourke, Hale, Nat, et. al.
Please send all payments to the author. Donations to
the author exceeding $5000 are encouraged and will be
posted on a website somewhere at sometime to the
extent allowable by Florida law.
___________________________________________________________
(forward in time from the year 2000 to 2010)
_______________________________________________________________
From: alistair@stanford.edu
Sent: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 -0700 (PDT) 22:20:58
Ancients,
In case you didn't know already, the Santa Maria to
Campus Drive East portion of Gerona is impassable for the next
several days. There will be construction on Gerona until mid-October but the
major work is going on now. We cannot run from Frenchman's to Campus
Drive. I ran there today and the road was dug up when I got to Santa Maria.
I was told we may be able to run there after Wednesday next week, but
they will be doing work on Gerona until mid-October.
Al
_____________________________________________________________
From: Glenn C Carpenter
Thanks Al.
I guess this seals the deal, namely, that all prior records on the 9k course
are
now frozen in time and can never be surpassed.
And just to be clear, those blasphemous attempts at the 9k course records
that
occurred at 6:30 in the morning never counted, never will.
And so, let the new era of record setting begin, and, as you run the 9k,
there
can be no better way of paying homage to all the permanent record holders
than
by heading down new Gerona at sub 5:00/mile pace!
Glenn
_____________________________________________________________---
Date: 10:38 PM PDT, 10/24/2010
From: Tim O'Rourke
Grtgs,
When Glenn sent out his email a while back marking the end of an era for
the Himmelberger, I recalled that he had long ago memorialized one early
morning 9k effort under the heading "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". I did
not,
however, think there was any chance I still had the message. But, what do you
know, I got around to some weeding of "hoarded" emails and there it was, the
very last and oldest of the bunch.
So, for the historically inclined, you will find an email
exchange from almost a decade ago, July 2001.
Respectfully,
Tim
___________________________________________________
from: Glenn C. Carpenter
date: July 13, 2001
We interrupt our regularly scheduled 24/7/365 coverage here at CNN (Condit
News Network) to bring you the following bulletin:
Two blurs were reported to Palo Alto police this morning coursing through
the College Terrace neighborhood. Upon further investigation, the blurs
turned out to be Alex Tilson and Tim O'Rourke, who decided to do an
impromptu Himmelberger 9k time trial commencing at 6:15 am. Reports are
sketchy, but they may have also been joined by Don Hogue. Alex: 29:17 and
Tim: 29:21. This represents a new personal best for the latter. The 29:17
establishes a before noon all-comers record as well as representing a
year-to-date best. for all hours of the day. It also represents the
fastest debut time for a new year.
Now back to our regularly scheduled programming:
In Modesto today, a Starbucks barista confessed to having a six year
affair with Congressman...
Glenn
----------------------------------------------
Received: 08:28 AM PDT, 07/13/2001
From: tim.orourke
Subject: Re: Fast Times at Ridgemont High [9k course]
Thanks Glenn. To establish historical context, I would refer to
Paul's account of the events of 8 December 92 [see above in email exchange
intitiated by Ole), more than 3000 sunrises ago, very possibly the last
occasion on which the 29:30 threshold was breached.
Although Steve Beebe is generous to recall that I was ahead of him, it was
not true on that December day. I remember the occasion and I got dusted.
Paul's records are accurate so far as not including me in the top finishers.
That accounts for the fact that I did not set my PR for the course until
today, almost nine years later.
And as for this morniing's activitie, while I appreciated the opportunity
to PR, I was disturbed to discover the number of people out and about and
"boot camping" at 6:15 a.m.;
all the more disturbing because there were no open restrooms available for
them or us.
See you out there,
Tim
__________________________________________________________
From: Glenn C. Carpenter
Date: Oct. 25, 2010
Tim,
When I delivered that smackdown back on 9/16, I was hoping to provoke a few
sleeping dogs. And by god, you finally responded, unlike the Phillies and
unlike Alex.
Those were good times back then-literally and figuratively. And we wrote
better, too. More Hemingwayesque.
I still claim to hold the world "reverse Himmelberger" record-- run
counterclockwise from the crow's eye's view--low 29's.
Thanks for digging up those old emails. You have a new title, "AFA Archivist",
not to be confused with the "AFA Anarchist", nor with the "AFA Antichrist"
both of which are up for nominations.
Best,
Glenn