13th Annual Pilgrimage Track Club Mug Mile

The Pilgrimage Track Club held its annual race of the Mug Mile. The Mug Mile celebrates the most coveted of all accomplishments that any middle distance runner desires, the Four Minute Mile. Every May, the Pilgrimage Track Club assembles a group of runners to commemorate this event by running the mile to get as close to 4 minutes as possible.

Last night at the Germantown High School track, runners from all ages were tested to run the mile. The first ever kids heat was held and the youngest runner to toe the line was little Miles Sullivan 4 years of age with a finish time of 12:48.15. Gotta love the first name, "Miles" how appropriate to have one running to celebrate the 4 minute mile. The winner of the kids heat was his older sister, Claudia Sullivan with a finish time of 6:42.49. Our oldest runner was Bud Joyner, 72 years of age, who is a local running legend in the Memphis running community, and his finish time was a 7:38.96.

The closes runners to get into the 4 minute barrier were Scott McNeil and Michael Morelli. Scott posted a time of 4:49.99, and tucked right behind him most of the race was Michael Morelli with a finish time of 4:53.47. Running a very impressive race and time of 5:25.32 was 12 year old Zachary Brazil, who I need to say ran in the men's heat. Clint Daniels was dueling it out with the youngster too, with a finish time of 5:27.88.

Click here to view all the results. 13th Annual Mug Mile

A special thanks to the Memphis Runner's Club for timing the event, and Germantown High School, and the Healthy School Team Initiative for allowing us to use their facilites.

Submitted by:Steve Skinner

The Heat, Ruby Red Sneakers and Boston Cream Pie, oh My!

"For days Boston Athletic Association officials had known that they likely would be dealing with a midsummer day’s nightmare on Patriots Day. Cloudless skies, temperatures in the mid-80s and nearly 27,000 registrants who were determined to get to Copley Square if it killed them. Yet all but 328 of the 22,863 entrants who collected their numbers started Monday’s 116th Boston Marathon and 21,603 of the starters - almost 96 percent - finished." Despite the heat the Pilgrimage team took on the challenge. Running the race were Frank Buscher, Bradley Cordts, Darrell Croft, Rick Carrasco, Alison Hammersla, Sarah Harris, Kris Huff, Jan Jensen, Steve Skinner, Ashley Spriggs, Tim Verner, and Maria Williams. The highlights of the trip for the Pilgrims was going to the Boston Red Sox game, Timaaay and his everywhere Wizard of Oz Ruby Red Sneakers photo opt, and eating the famous Regina's Pizza after the race. And of course, SteveO's camos and crocs with soxs was a sight to see each day.

The race strategy was different for each Pilgrim. Some went for it, some went conservative and some went out only to survive. "The Boston Athletic Association went as far as to inform those running that they should adopt the attitude of "THIS IS NOT A RACE, it is an experience" for this year's event. Whatever you want to call it, every runner from the most elite on down felt the affect of the extreme temperatures, which reached 89 Fahrenheit as some of the runners in the final waves trekked down the Boylston homestretch."

"So yes, while this was one of the hottest and toughest days to embark on the 26.2 miles endeavor, the majority of these Boston Marathoners embrace this challenging condition, similar to their quest to gain entry into the exclusive annual event. A symbol of a past Boston marathon participant is the official Boston Marathon jacket; with this year's color a bright ORANGE. How appropriate." And maybe next year the Boston Creame Pie will taste a little better than the agony of defeat for SteveO.

Check out the Team Results: 2012 Boston Marathon Pilgrimage Team Results

Sources: The Boston Globe, Yahoo Sports.com and Steve Skinner"  

Germantown Half-Marathon

Pilgrims Ice the Field in Bartlett Valentine's Races

Pilgrims Ice the Field in Bartlett Valentine's Races despite the weather.

Pilgrims took 1st, 4th, 6th and 10th places overall in the Bartlett Valentine's 10k this Saturday morning. In addition, Pilgrim Ashley Spriggs was the first female and 4th runner overall in the 5k race. Pilgrim Michael Barnes and his wife, Courtney (who ran a personal best), won the couples division.

Five Pilgrims overcame a rough February 11th morning in Bartlett with temperatures in the upper 20's, a stiff north wind and swirling snow flurries. The weather prevented a repeat of the fast times clocked in the 2011 race. Despite the weather, Frank Buscher led the 10k race wire to wire, winning by 36 seconds over a second place runner 20 years his junior. Frank's time was 39:19. Ashley Spriggs won the 5k by an even wider 92 second margin over the second female. Ashley finished in 22:01. Here's how the remainder of the Pilgrimage contingent did:

4th Place: Michael Barnes (40:08) and 1st place Master 6th place: Scott Peatross (40:43) and 1st place in 40-44 age group 10. Adam Sommers (41:32) 2nd place in 15-19 age group

Submitted by:Scott Peatross

Mike Cody 4 Miler held at Rhodes College

Sat. Feb 4th began with a bolt of lightening and clap of thunder. Fortunately, come 9am there was little more than an inconsistent drizzle and temps around 60 at Rhodes College. Over 200 people lined up to run this annual trip twice around the beautiful campus. The relatively flat course makes for a good tune-up to the Spring racing season. Several Pilgrims were right in there in the mix, led by the veterans Frank Buscher and Tim Verner. They finished 7th and 9th respectively. Congrats to Tim for making good on his resolution to race more this year. They were closely followed by one of our newer members, youngster Adam Sommers, who finished 12th overall. Joel Lyons and Bruce Keisling came next and both finished well enough to grab age group awards. The women’s contingent included Ashley Spriggs and Padma Lyons who ran well enough to finish 1st and 4th in their age groups. Notably tardy was our illustrious grandmaster, Brenda Walton, who unfortunately thought the race was still being run at 10am, which it had done for years. Despite this she took off a good 15 mins late but pushed herself hard enough to run in the 29 min range. Great race team. Good luck this year!

Submitted by: Joel Lyons

MRTC Awards Banquet for the 2011 Road Race Series

Houston and Louisiana Marathon and SwampStomper- Race Report – Jan 15, 2012

This weekend was highlighted by many outstanding Pilgrim performances.

The Pilgrims sent a select crew down to Houston to scout out potential new members for the team at the Olympic Marathon Trials. Hopefully they signed up several to help with this year’s Tour d’Esprit! Saturday they got first hand viewing of the top marathoners the US has to offer.

The Washington Post reported:

Nobody messed around here Saturday. There were no flimsy challenges or stupid moves at the front of the pack during the men’s and women’s U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. No foolish pretenders or wimpy miles once the races got underway.

On a day of huge stakes and high nerves, it was all business in the front of both fields. Meb Keflezighi, the 2004 Olympic silver medal winner, won the title in the men’s race with a finish in 2 hours 9 minutes 8 seconds. Shalane Flanagan, the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist in the 10,000 meters, claimed the women’s title in 2:25:38.

The pair ultimately took charge in two professionally executed, respectably paced, coolly run races that rewarded the athletes that pushed hard from the start and left no doubt about who deserved tickets to this summer’s London Olympic Games.

U.S. marathon record holder Ryan Hall, who led for most of the men’s race, finished second in 2:09:30 and Abdi Abdirahman, a three-time Olympian, claimed third in 2:09:47 to secure the other two men’s Olympic slots. Desiree Davila (2:25.55), the 2011 Boston Marathon runner-up, and Kara Goucher (2:26:06), the 2007 world bronze medalist in the 5,000, earned the final two women’s slots.

The Pilgrims had one entry in the Sunday’s Houston Marathon, Ashley Spriggs. She reported she was pleased to finish this one. Her 3:32:03 qualified her easily for the 2013 Boston. She’ll be working on 8 consecutive Bostons. Amazing! Way to go Ashley.

In the half, Vince Perryman led our contingent with a 1:27:48. Scott Peatross followed closely with a 1:31:30, then came Brad Cordts (1:41:42) and Christine Cordts in1:50:19. Great weather and a great venue.

Notably absent, John Geiger had quite a scare that kept him from the competition. Friday night he began choking on a steak. Joe Coffelt came to his aid with the Heimlich Maneuver. He was able to dislodge it enough for John to breathe. Thinking the saga was over, John slept through the night only to find himself choking the next morning at breakfast. After more than 5 hours in the ER with Joe by his side, the doctors pulled out one hunk of steak and pushed another into his stomach. John says he’s fine now and glad to have a second lease on life.

In the inaugural Louisiana Marathon, Pilgrim Gary McCraw had quite a day himself. After pacing a friend in a marathon about a month ago, Gary went to Baton Rouge to run one for himself. Out to just “have fun”, Gary put out an amazing effort and finished in 3:19:00. A PR of 17 mins and good enough for 4th in his age group!! Glad you are on our team Gary, excellent race.

Also on the calendar this weekend was the wildly popular trail race, The Swampstomper. In the 25K Jim Slaba defeated all comers. His time of 1:58:17 was only 2 min off Nick Lewis’ course record and only the 2nd person to go under 2 hours on this course. Bruce Keisling also fared well and knocked 14 mins off his last year’s time. Laura Jaggar also ran the Swampstomper 25K with a PR over 28 minutes better than her course record! Go Laura!

In the following Jim shares his experience:

The big differentiator for me time-wise was running with an Alpha male group all talented enough to win, that, in retrospect, functioned as aggressive set of pacers on key stages of the course.

First guy tried to drop the lead group pushing an unsustainable pace from the starting line until the big hills at 3.5 miles. I hung on. When we hit hills, he faded out. The next guy tried to break away on the red loop (big hills). I hung on for those 3 miles. He subsequently faded out post hills, as he could not fire up the pace. It was down to me and an ultra runner type from Missouri. I upped the pace to the turnaround, which had a big climb leading up to it (mile 9.5). He was breathing heavy and less reckless than me on the downhills, so put the foot on the gas on the way back down and did not look back, and he was unable to follow. Then, it was all about keeping the legs moving to the finish. The last two miles had to be willed, but got it done, and I won by 2-3 minutes. I fell four times, two of which were good rollers. Fortunately, there was no structural damage today...only a couple of nice holes in my new compression tights.

Also, I did not wear a watch. Ran purely by feel. I don't really have any trail racing experience and certainly not at 25k. So, I was concerned all along about melting down. That written, we just kept the foot on the gas and let it ride.

Great efforts to start off 2012. Keep it going Pilgrims.

Submitted by: Joel Lyons

Inaugural Eurocross Event at Shelby Farms

Just a quick note on the unique event this past Sunday afternoon. We had several pilgrims participating between kids running (Michael Hecht, me), running themselves (Clint Daniel, Scott Peatross, me), working (Joseph Coffelt, Wade Lewis), and cheering (Brenda Walton). The < 18 yr old wave went off at 1pm, and had 20 kids running with a solid contingent of high school cross country runners. The adult wave went off at 2pm, and had ~40 runners with a good cross-section of running and triathlon clubs represented. Even though 60 runners sounds like a small number, I believe everyone came away thinking it was a solid turnout between runners and spectators. Plus, the weather was great and course was perfect for viewing all the action. Feb and Ben did a spectacular job setting up and managing, with a lot of help from Joseph & Co., of course. Big kudos to Fleet Feet for making it happen. I would definitely recommend, and I expect the event to grow over time.

The course was natural by design - the Euro aspect of the Eurocross. It was a 1.5k loop we traversed six times -- high cut clump grass, some decent elevation changes, lots of ruts/holes, and a solid dose of man-made obstacles (e.g., fencing and hay bales) strategically located on uphills and downhills to temper the pace and boost the heart rate. From an effort standpoint, I was running at a clip better than marathon pace, but it felt like half marathon out of the gate and was more like 10k for the last two laps.

The top three finishers, all college cross country types, were led by our friend Nate Spears. These three walked away with the race coming home in the 32-33 minute range, which after going after it pretty hard myself, was an impressive performance. They were off like rockets from the start - and I was happy to not get lapped. After the leaders, we had a small group finish at 37-38 minutes (Slaba 5th), followed by a small group around 40 min (Daniels 8th, Peatross 11th). Of course, like most races, we all stood around the start and said how this was for fun, let's keep it easy on the pace, etc. Then, the gun goes off and the sprint starts! That lasted about a 1/10 of a mile for me, and I decided I would hold back, taking counsel from Joseph in the first turn - "let them go and pick them off one by one with steady pacing." Of course, holding back was about all the legs could muster after the marathon last week. Fortunately, the strategy worked as the course gobbled up a good number runners by laps 3 and 4, and I was able to overtake all but one. And, I caught this guy at lap 5 only to have him turn on the boosters. I gave him chase but that was all I could muster.

Was a fun Sunday afternoon workout at the farm.

Submitted by:Jim Slaba

Kiawah Island Half-Marathon

Runners who are familiar with Edgar Allen Poe's short story 'The Gold Bug' know that the islands off the South Carolina coast near Charleston were once mysterious places, featuring skulls, buried treasures, exotic insects, dense vegetation, and misanthropes. Kiawah is one of these islands. Home to a golf resort, the island hosts a marathon and half-marathon in early December. The setting is beautiful, as the flat course leads the runners through tastefully designed and developed neighborhoods. The pre- and post-race events are classy affairs.

However, caught up in the beauty of it all Frank went out way too fast. If this had been a 10-miler, he would have set a PR. But it was not, and thus Frank paid a heavy price for his lack of discipline at the beginning. In the end, Frank Buscher who placed 2nd in his age group at the Kiawah Island Half Marathon on Saturday, earned him a "Proud Pelican" with a time of 1:24:39 and was proudly wearing his Pilgrimage jacket in Hawaii. One would think it should be warm year around in Hawaii, apparently that is not the case.

2011 St. Jude Marathon and Half Marathon

Spectacular Day! Pilgrims were everywhere in this amazing race. The PTC was well represented as participants, volunteer workers, and course supporters for this very worthwhile event. The kids of St. Jude will benefit to the tune of over $3 million after all the proceeds are collected.

The day started with temps in the upper 40s, light clouds, and 60% humidity. By afternoon it had climbed to the mid 60s with mostly sunny skies. Runners seemed to have mixed feelings on how this affected their efforts. Some said it was perfect while others said way too hot. All in all it didn’t seem like there were too many complaints though; least of all from the dynamic duo of Jim Slaba and Alison Hammersla. Both finished the marathon with PRs ( Jim’s was an astonishing 40 min improvement!!) This husband and wife team also had matching 3rd place masters finishes: Jim in 2:56:09 and Alison in 3:23:43.

The rest of the Pilgrims had very respectable efforts. Tim Verner fought off queasiness (possibly from dehydration) to grab the 2nd place grandmaster title. His time of 3:07:39 was his best in several years. Other PRs were nabbed by Tammie Skinner and Alison Sullivan. Tammie ran a 3:34:51. Her perfect pacing netted her 7th in the 35-39 age group, while Alison finished only 5 places back in the same group in 3:39:24. Way to go Boston Qualifiers!!

Michael Barnes and Steve Skinner were two of the Pilgrims not too fond of anything approaching a warm day. Despite this, they both ran excellent races. Michael finished in 3:12:01 (11th in 40-44) and Steve in 3:21:45 ( 8th in 45-49).

Michael Hecht and Ashley Spriggs both gave valiant efforts but ailments got the best of them. Michael gutted out a finish while walking more than 6 miles. Ashley wisely decided another day would be best for her to run again.

In the Half Marathon Jeff Haushalter dominated the masters field yet again. His 1:20:39 was almost 3 mins faster than the next closest competitor in that category. This also beat his Thanksgiving day half ran just 9 days before in Atlanta (1:21:06)!

Rachel Arthur returned to form this year with an age group win of 1:30:26. That was good enough for 7th overall female. Lori Sokoloff placed high among the over-40 runners. Her 1:39:26 got her 3rd in that age group.

They were followed by a couple of our newer Pilgrims, Bruce Keisling and Laura Jaggar, two great additions to the club. Bruce paced a friend while running a 1:36:58. Laura, coached by local expert, Kevin Leathers, was able to set one of many PRs this year with a 1:44:26. This beat her road race series half by over 90 seconds.

If you are familiar with the term “It takes a village…” then you could tell that the Pilgrims really take this to heart. Official race volunteers were all over the place led by Start/Finish line director, Joe Coffelt, who put in countless hours again. Others included Wade Lewis, Danny Greer, Clint Powell, Brenda Walton, Kelley and Chloe Willis and Joel Lyons. Even Sergeant Whitten Ortega was working the streets in an official capacity.

Course supporters are also a vital part of the event. John Geiger and new comer Gary McCraw were most supportive by cheering their friends for many miles right in the race. Also on the scene were Clint Daniels, Curt Arthur, Christine Cordts, Scott Peatross, Michelle Mallory, and Padma Lyons just to name a few. Even Jeff Haushalter’s son, Grant got in on the action. He followed in his dad’s footsteps by winning his age group in the 5K with a 19:14.

A BIG congratulations to all on a job well done!!!

Submitted by: Joel Lyons

13th Annual Tour d’Esprit

13th Annual Tour d’Esprit – Sep 30th thru Oct 1st, 2011 The Pilgrims were out in full force at this year’s 24 hour relay. The event featured an amazing campsite for the team for the first time. Organized by a group led by Jim Slaba, the site had all the amenities one could ask for capped off by a top of the line Recreational Vehicle. Special thanks to Tammie and Steve Skinner for making this happen. The team worked together to prepare for not only the strongest effort possible, but for a really fun time.

Ideal weather made for a carnival-like atmosphere. The two teams fielded by PTC, an all male and an all female team, took advantage of the conditions and pushed themselves to the limit. It was obvious that they weren’t holding anything back. The result was a record performance for both teams for the second year in a row.

The women’s team was comprised of Katie Balthrop, Peggy Butze , Christine Cordts, Maryland Croft ,Vicki Ezell-Rodgers, Jennie Fields, Valerie French, Alison Hammersla Kris Huff , Laura Jaggar, Michele Mallory, Eva Rehkopf, Jennie Vee Silk, Tammie Skinner, Lori Sokoloff ,Ashley Spriggs, Sandra Wahlquist , Brenda Walton, Maria Williams, Padma Lyons, Allison Sullivan, Nanette Farris, Caryn Heintzelman, and Lisa Pollock. They broke the previous record by 5 miles to end up with 184 miles.

The men’s team also set a new men’s record of 230 miles, eclipsing last year’s mark by 8 miles. Team members included Tim Verner, Steve Skinner, Chuck Jones, Whitten Ortega, Vince Perryman, Frank Buscher, Michael Hecht, Jim Slaba, Bradley Cordts, Michael Barnes, Glenn Hudnall, Mark Newman, Ben Knoerschild, Nate Spears, Darrell Croft, Gary Giles, Gary McCraw, Greg Thompson, Will Armstrong, Eric Butze, David Haskins, Joel Lyons, Rook McKinney, and John Owen.

Scott Peatross ran a hard fought 46 miles in the individual competition. Although he hoped for more, it was good enough for second place in his age group. Congratulations Scott.

Final REPORT Canadian Derby Edmonton Marathon – August 21, 2011

EDMONTON, CANADA – We had some partying young people who apparently were locked out of some poor young lady’s room at 3 a.m. After the security people came up, it quieted down. That and the recreation of the Fast and Furious racing the lights on 101st Street also at 3:15 a.m. This was crazy since we were on the 20th floor. After all this we drifted back to sleep for another hour and forty five minutes. I didn’t want to get up. Cookie made one cup of real coffee. I had one power bar and some Gatorade and water. That got me up. I got all geared up and we took off for the race at 6:00 a.m.

We arrived at the race start. This is a relatively small race so there was no problem with using the facilities, etc. In fact, they opened up the horse racing club house, which was awesome. The temperature was 59 degrees. We were getting all the gear ready, double knot shoes, put on body glide, I got in the chute that had the 3:30 time zone area and the crazy old guy with the pink rabbit ears who was to be the pacer was to my far right. They play Oh, Canada. Cookie was giving me thumbs up and soon we were underway.

I tried to adjust my pace, but I didn’t see the small kilometer signs until I spied one at 3K. I was already ahead by quite a bit so I dialed it back. I was running pretty smooth, but let’s face, my shape is suspect. I was running scared. I was talking with these two guys who were chatting about running 3:20 pace at about 10K, and they asked me what I was going for. I told them 3:30. One guy said, “Ah, I think you are going too fast.” I took the smart road, and let them go. I kept hearing John-Boy saying, “You are going too fast.” I went through 1Ok in 46:56. This was 7:33 per mile pace. Much too fast.

Cookie was able to drive around like a maniac and find me at various stops. This was critical because the water and Gatorade stations were not as frequent as I needed. I learned from Joel Lyons to carry water. One effect, however, is my elbow and arm is weirdly sore post race. Cookie met me at 6K, 10K, 16K, 27K, 33K, 39K and 41.5K. All of them were critical. All of these meetings were critical for me.

The half marathon follows part of our course, but they started a little later. However, we meet up with them about 16K. It was a bit of challenge because they are driving and racing and it was throwing off my pacing. I think it cause me to start picking it back up. Even though I had dialed back, I did pick up, and came through in 1:40:46, which now was 7:41 pace. I was ahead of the plan by about 2 minutes. I was trying to do the math in my head because I had figured a fade starting at 30K to 5:13 per kilometer pace. It was starting to get hot. Sunday was the hottest day in weeks here. I got to 84 degrees. Once we were out of the city center, there was not much shade. It also got a bit hilly after we went past the finishing area to handle the last 16K of the race. I was doing fine at that point, and I tried to break it up mentally into two 8Ks – one out and one back.

Christine met me at 27K and gave me water. I was hanging in at sub-5 kilos at this point. I began to fall off at 29K with a 5:04 and then 30 K at 5:06, but I was still on 7:47 overall mile pace and if I could survive the heat and keep moving, I would make it. Christine saw me again at 33K. I told her I was suffering. She gave me some water and one cube of Cliff Block. It helped. With the refreshments, I was able to get to 35K as I went through in 2:51:48. This was now 7:53 overall pace. I sensed I was getting into trouble, but I kept telling myself that with 7.2K left, it was under 5 miles and if I just keep shuffling, I would make it. I actually was brain dead as far as figure pace at this point. I somehow thought I had a lot of time in the bank because the pace bunny never passed me. In fact things were spread out. Lots of people were crashing. There was also a big hill, the only one on the course. It was cruel. I did walk a few seconds at the top. I shook it off and starting slogging along again. Then at 39K I saw Christine who was very animated. She said she did the math, and I would have to do 15:30 or 5:10 per Kilo to the finish so that was for 3.2K or two miles, which is better than 7:15 mile pace with the .2 which figured in as it takes about a minute to cover that part. I wasn’t sure that Christine remembered to give me the 59 second grace period, which is still on for 2012. (Again, the move the time up to 3:25 and no grace period starting in 2013 for 40-49 age group for me. All age groups move up 5 minutes.) My watch did not record my final three splits, but as near as I can extrapolate, I did 5:30, 5:20, 4:40 and a 58 second .2.

Christine was there at about 350 meters to yelling at me to sprint. I sprinted like a maniac. I weaved through the half marathon stragglers and there was a huge finish chute that was deceiving since it just split up the half and marathon. A wild eyed volunteer was waiving me toward the marathon side. Not that I could tell as my eyes were rolled up in my head. I could see the time flipping over to 3:30:40…..There was a slight uphill to the official finish line. All I know is that I looked up at the clock as I crossed, the time still said 3:30:….?

Christine helped me recover, walking me around, and then went back to make sure. She came running out, yelling, “You did it! You did it!” Soon the iPhone was buzzing with Cookie’s emails and texts from confirmation from many Pilgrims who confirmed it was so online.

25 77 2992 Male 40-49 Bradley Cordts Germantown, TN 3:30:57 3:30:49

79 72/369 25/94 Male 40-49 2992 3:30:57 3:30:49 5:00 Bradley Cordts Germantown TN 46:48 1:40:38 2:25:00 2:51:41 3:30:57

My gun time was 3:30:57 and my chip time was 3:30:49. I made it!

Bradley Cordts, a.k.a. Boston B.

38th Annual Overton Park 5 Mile Classic

This year’s event featured several famous track stars to give talks and hand out awards. Australian James Bailey was the first person to run a sub 4 minute mile on American soil. He now lives near Seattle, Washington. Legendary Peter Snell drove in from Dallas. This New Zealander won the gold medal in the 800m 1960 Rome Olympics and 2 additional golds in the 800m and 1500m in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Our now Memphian, Dave Wottle, along with these other two men, was gracious enough to take question from the audience on a special pre-race presentation Friday night at CBU. Of course, Mr. Wottle ran one of the most memorable come from behind 800m races to win the gold in the 1972 Olympics. Paul Sax put together some exciting video clips of these star’s races for all to view before the Q &A portion. It was an amazing night!

Saturday’s runners were treated with a slight variation in the course’s last 2 miles. With a bit more trails and shade most runners seemed to like the changes. Pilgrims Frank Buscher and Ashley Spriggs won the master’s division this year. Ashley, who just recently moved into this category outpaced her closest rival by almost 50 seconds. Frank continued his success in this division while competing with others that are up to 12 years younger than him. John Fields, Scott Peatross, and Joel Lyons were able to place in their respective age groups while Padma Lyons ran a minute and a half faster than last year’s event despite the significant heat and humidity. A memorable event for sure!!

2011 Green Street Mile

Congrats to the Pilgrims on this hot and humid 4th of July day on running the historic Green Street Mile in Tupelo Ms. As you can see the Pilgrims faired well. Ashley Spriggs came home with the Overall Female trophy. Her named will be forever engraved on the coveted Green Street 1st Place trophy. John Geiger still battling issues with his lower back was able to nab second place. Joel Lyons, Tim Verner, and Padma Lyons all placed in their age group. Good Job to all who woke up at the crack of dawn to run in the sleepy town of Tupelo.

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USA Track & Field (USATF) is the National Governing Body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking in the United States. USATF encompasses the world's oldest organized sports, some of the most-watched events of Olympic broadcasts, the #1 high school and junior high school participatory sport and more than 30 million adult runners in the United States. All Pilgrimage Track Club members need to be signed up each year as members of the USA Track Field (USATF). The PTC is an official USTAF club thanks to Bradley Cordts, but each individual needs to sign up or renew their membership. Especially for those individuals that are running the 2011 Boston Marathon. Technically, if each person isn't signed up, they could disqualify our team from any of the team results. To sign up go to www.USATF.org Click on the tab that says "product/services", go to "individual memberships". If it's your first time fill-out the information that it asks for. Our Club Membership number is 159.