NINTH ANNUAL

Recover from the Holiday's 50k Run

January 7th, 2012 8:00 A.M. start

Our traditional running start to the New Year will be held on Saturday, January 7th, 2012. The course will traverse sections of Boyce/Mayview Park in Upper St. Clair. We will use the same fomat as in previous years, a single loop that you can run one, two or three times to get 50k in. The weather should be favorable for a winter run, so be prepared for cold, snow and ice. Perfect running weather. The course will be marked with surveyors tape, but even if you get lost it is no big deal as the park is not that big. You are also welcome to explore other trails within the park, the purpose of the fun run is to get in some early season miles and jump start your year.

Hope to see you all on the first Saturday of the New Year.

Here are the gps coordinates for the Boyce/Mayview Start Pavilion.

Don't forget to check out our other fun runs:

Dave and Sarah Micklo are hosting the Mingo Mingle

Wayne and Jan Kurtz are hosting the Greek Fun Run

2011 RECAP

It was perfect timing for the eight annual Recover from the Holiday's 50k fun run. Because New Year's Day fell on the first Saturday of the year, we waited a week, and held the run on January 8th. The weather on New Year's Day was rainy and gray, the weather a week later was cold and clear. We always hope for cold weather, as the trail sets up nicely when the temperatures are below freezing. We had a few inches of new snow and temps in the low teens, combining to make it a fine day to join a few friends for a run. Don, Chuck, Ken and Mark did an excellent job of marking the course, adding just enough hills and open sections to make the course challenging. It was a bit windy through the open areas, adding to the chill when one exited the wooded sections. Upper St. Clair Township continues to upgrade many areas of the park and each year there is a new twist to the route. This year, they added a new landscaped creek section along the Old Farm Road. The popularity of the run continues to grow. Just five years ago, we had twelve runners, this year we hosted over seventy. We had a few folks from out of town join us this year. Ted Ricci flew in from Texas, surprising us all. Thanks to everyone who came out and ran a few miles, and don't forget the other Pittsburgh area fun runs throughout the year. The next run will be the Mingo Mingle in February.

Here is a list of the folks who participated.

It was good to see everyone. Hope you all have a great 2011.

2010 Recap

What started a few years back with some friends getting together for a run to begin the new year, has turned into quite an event. Putting the "aughts" behind us, seventy-five (75) folks came out to enjoy the trails in Boyce / Mayview Park. We thought the turnout would be low, due to temperatures in the low teens, but we thought incorrectly. The trails were in great shape, although many were very slick, making running difficult for those with no special shoes to cope with the ice. The temperatures did not rise much throughout the day and the wind picked up, making it tough to stay warm as the runners got tired later in the run. There was lots of hot food and beverages at the start pavilion and Cam Baker brought a portable heater which was put to good use warming runners as they finished. A big thanks to Jeff Bowden who volunteered to help out at the pavilion, keeping the stove running and the runners smiling. Jeff did succomb to the cold, but only after standing in it for over five hours. Don Smith, Chuck Struble, Ken Eiszler and myself spent the three previous days marking the trail, making it easy to follow. Don Smith did a great job of redesigning the route so that we would not have to cross the busy road, or run on a lot of asphalt. The park manager even showed up in the morning to make sure the electricity was on and that we had everything we needed. Be sure and check back later in the year when the date for the 2011 fun run will be posted. Thanks to all who donated food, beverages, paper products and anything else I forgot. The run continues to be a great way to begin the new year.
Here are the names and distances for those who participated:

Hope everyone has a great year, see you all at the races.

Thanks to Chris Garber of the GPRRC for providing these links. He is really good with the GPS stuff.

2009 RECAP

The move to a new starting area was a big plus this year as seventy-one (71) people came out to join us for our yearly fun run. The park pavilion served as an aid station/gear drop for anyone who needed it. Many runners brought extra supplies and they were spread out for all to enjoy. We had PB&J sandwiches donated by the Struble's, stew from Cindy Sanchas and Joe Bertini. LaraBars donated by the local representatives, and various gels and electrolyte replacements by many folks. Although this is a fun run, we have a few friendly rivalries amoungst the group, making it an enjoyable day on the trails. I guess we forgot to tell Matt Mauclair that it was a fun run, as he smoked the course in a little over four hours (just kidding Matt). Once again we did a great job of policing ourselves, as there was not any trash to speak of on the trail. Don, Chuck and I only found one or two small items of trash as we were sweeping the course and removing the markings on Sunday morning. Thanks to all for being such great stewards. Due to ongoing improvements to the park we had to include some paved trails, which most runners did not care for. Every year we tweak the course a little, and next year we will attempt to make it so we do not have to run as much on the paved portions. We did have two small sections of trail that did not have markings on the first loop, and some of the lead pack missed a turn, causing them to bypass Sammy's Hill. We added new markers as we went, as we did not want anyone to miss out on the climb up Sammy's on subsequent laps. There were runners from all over the southwestern PA area and our friends from Ohio joined again. It was a great day to meet new trail runners and catch up with old friends. Thank you again to all who participated. Mark your calenders for the 2010 event which we usually hold on the first weekend of the new year.

Note: please let me know if I mispelled your name or got your mileage incorrect.

Special thanks to the following people:
Joe Bertini and Cynthia Sanchas for bringing the delicious hot stews. Jessica Etchen from Fleet Feet Sports for bringing electrolytes, shoe coupons and the big water cooler. Rich Vrboncic for securing the permit from Upper St. Clair for the pavilion. Don Smith and Chuck Struble for spending many hours marking the trail during the last week.

Here is a recap of the fifth running of the Recover from the Holidays 50k, held on January 5th, 2008.

WOW! What a turnout for the fifth annual Recover from the Holidays 50k Fun Run! We had a total of thirty-nine (39) runners participate, with sixteen (16) going the entire distance. We again had a slight course change, adding a few new trails so that we could eliminate the swampy area near Chartiers Creek. The day was wonderful for running with morning temperatures in the high twenties, rising to the high thirties by the time most folks finished. The course stayed frozen with just a slight thawing late in the afternoon. As in years past Don Smith hosted the run, providing snacks and fluid replenishment at the start/finish area. There were many new faces and lots of old friends running, we are blessed to have such a great ultrarunning community here in Pittsburgh. There were quite a few folks who called or e-mailed me to say that they wanted to run this year, but were sick, or had other committments. We also had a couple of runners from the Youngstown, Ohio area drive in for the run.

We place an emphasis on the "fun run", and this year was no exception. Many new runners were here to run trails for the first time, we hope you had an enjoyable day, and will return to run with us in the future.

A special thanks to Rich Vrboncic for securing a permit for our run. And thanks to the Upper St. Clair Parks and Recreation Department for maintaining such a wonderful venue to stage the run. It is hard to believe that there are trails of this quality so close to a major metropolitan area.

Thank-you to all of the runners who participated, even though some of the trail markings were missing, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I did not see any trash on the course, which is always a sign that we have runners who appreciate the parks and trails that are there for our use.

Here is a list of runners that participated this year, along with the distance each ran:

There were a few folks who wore GPS devices this year. I used the distance from Brian Ottingers GPS, as he wore two and they both showed the same distance. He also registered a total ascent of 4,425 feet and a descent of 4,388 feet. Since the course begins and ends at the same point, it is obvious that the elevation feature is not completely accurate. I used my Garmin GPS and have the MotionBased link. If anyone would like the MotionBased information, send me an e-mail and I will send you the link.

Please send me an e-mail if I missed anyone, or if there is anything you think I should add to this page.

Thanks again for participating, see you next year.

Please send me a note if you see any errors or ommissions in the recap information.

I put a link to this page on the Laurel Highlands home page, but I will only leave it up for a couple of weeks.

Here is a recap of the 2007 run.

The fourth annual "Recover from the Holiday's" fun run was held on Saturday, January 6th, 2007. The run was hosted by Don Smith, using the trail system throughout Upper St. Clair's Boyce/ Mayview park. The runners were treated to temperatures in the low 50's, with clouds and drizzle. An unexpected warm spell for early January. It had rained the previous day, leaving a sloppy track. Approximately 25 runners, representing three states, began the run, consisting of a loop type course. The loop was designed to provide 10.3 miles of fun, which runners could do up to three times to get the required 50k distance. Many arrived expecting to run just one loop, but nine people (and one dog) toughed it out, completing the entire 50k. The conditions remained about the same throughout the day, with the exception of a few sunny periods. An unexpected treat appeared after the first loop, when a huge tree fell over, blocking the course, and requiring the runners to climb over it in order to continue.

As last year's course was a little short, we added a few new sections and checked it with GPS devices. Each of the GPS devices that were used lost signal at least once during the loop, and never in the same spot. We had distances ranging from 10.3 to 10.93, so I just used the information from my GPS to get the totals.

Here is the list of folks who ran this year. If you participated in this year's run, and don't see your name here please send me an e-mail and let me know what distance (or how many loops) you ran.

Here are the folks who participated:

Rick Freeman - 31.23 miles
Dan Stolick - 31.23 miles
Ted Ricci - 31.23 miles
Don Smith - 31.23 miles
Dixie (Don's Poodle) - 31.23 miles
Ted Massa - 31.23 miles
Dave Micklo - 31.23 miles
Chuck Struble - 31.23 miles
Sue Weightman - 31.23 miles
Rich Vrboncic - 31.23 miles
Becky Fox - 26.3 miles
Cindy Sanchas - 20.82 miles
Donny Keller - 20.82 miles
Gary Sexton - 20.82 miles
Jim O'Kelly - 20.82 miles
Katherine Stephens-Bogard - 20.82 miles
Gary Wobb - 20.82 miles
Kristen Krempasky - 19.82 miles
Jesse Shearin - 15 miles
John DeLancey - 15 miles
John Warrick - 10.41 Miles
Dave Hartman - 10.41 Miles
Bob Walker - 10.41 Miles
Janet Hignett - 10.41 Miles
Joe Triglia - 10.41 Miles

Here is a recap of the 2006 Recover from the Holiday's Fun Run

The third annual recover from the holiday's fun run is in the books. The weather was ideal, with temps in the twenties all day and no sun. The trails were crusty, but not frozen solid, so the footing was excellent. We had a couple of new runners join us this year, and hope that they enjoyed themselves and will return for some other fun runs. The course ended up being a little short of 50k, but we all decided that we had enough after the prescribed three loops.

Here are the results of the 2006 Recover from the holiday's fun run.

Any Questions?
Contact Rick
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Copyright © 2006 - 2011 Richard Freeman