Milford High School Cross Country

It always feels good to get a little quicker, and fortunately Ol' Bloomie bested his Buffalo Stampede time by a second to cruise to a season-best 20:30 in Saturday's Dam Mill -- good enough for a third. Sorry, I couldn't stick around, folks (I had to make it Killens Pond for CC practice by 9 a.m. :) but I did pick up some quick news as I was leaving. Plus, some running mates provided some news tips. :) Congrats go out, first, to MHSCCer Jon "Pre" Luiken who busted out a snazzy 20:08. He continues to drop time, and his teammate Super Soph Matt Holloway shows he's well ahead of last year's pace by snapping off a 23:45 already. And finally, another veteran MHSCCer, Big Christian Dubsky, continues to make nice strides after mid-summer surgery -- nearly hitting his sub-30 goal with a 30:40. As for the Special Sauce mates, Jeepin' Joe Beman, stayed right on Bloomie's tail to finish strongly (Hey, Joe, I told you we would make the race on time. We had at least a minute to spare :). Also, Milford milers Randy Fisher (dropping a minute off his time!), John Yanacek and Gwen Guerke were smokin'! Great efforts! Special Sauce Insider saw Sussex Tech Coach Nicoletti zipping along with top Raven runner Chris "Just Make Those Legs" Singh. Lake alum Mike Hazeltine made a cameo and finished ahead of Bloomie. Wish I had more news for you, but I had to run and run. :) With CC season beginning, the race schedule becomes a bit more sporadic. I'm not sure of my next race, but I'm certain to be around in the fall in quest for that ever-elusive sub-20. :) Stay tuned for Special Sauce updates, and as always, Have fun!!! Run!!!

So, Ol' Bloomie went out in a 6:20 mile, feeling good pretty good about things, but then I got to thinking that I really couldn't make up any ground in the age group standings of the Strider Series . . . and then I got thinking about that Chinese food from last night . . . and before I knew it, I was chugging along in a lackluster 21:15. Well, at least I got to run with some Kenyans -- or, well, I ran in the Run for J.J. 5K and so did some Kenyans. :) At any rate, congrats to Milford residents John Yanacek and Tell Gwen Guerke (running back-to-back in a 10K-5K combo) and numerous other local Yokels cruising the streets and pacing with the Kenyas. Special Sauce Insider saw Cape's Evan Mock line up along side me. He looked strong and said he's aiming to break 17 this season -- we've got our worked cut out for us.

Ol' Bloomie and Sidekick Nick Boggs, CRCC alum and ST.Thomas More CC coach, celebrated the fruits of a great training summer as we nailed down a stellar 1 hour, 25 minutes and 47 seconds to win the male relay division of the Riverwatch Duathlon. We finished 22nd overall out of at least 176 and beat our nearest bracket competitors by nearly a half hour. Boggs got us a good start, running 18:05 in the opening three-mile leg, before Bloomie beasted the hills of Northeast, Md. Talk about 16 miles of hell -- Whew! I got done 47 minutes later (an average of about 20 MPH) as Boggs rounded out the final leg in just more than 19:30. Overall, we improved on last year's mark (with Uncle Vern) by about four minutes.

The 25th anniversary Buffalo Stampede 5K and 10K brought the runners out by the hundreds on Saturday. Ol' Bloomie put forth a banner day, yet didn't get the buffalo trophy to show for it. I ran a Stampede-best 20:31, placed 27th out of nearly 300, but took fifth in my age group (pretty stacked today!). Oh well, can't be bummed after a great couple weeks of training! Boy, I would've like to have a few more yards to catch St. Thomas More alum Sheena McIntire who took the women's overall in 20:30. A super big hooray for future MHSCCer Jon Luiken who completed his first-ever 5K with no training in about 23 minutes. He even brought out Morgan Linton who may have convinced herself of joining MHSCC with a sparkling run of about 26 minutes. :) Many, many Special Sauce friends made the race, so you'll have to check out www.trisportsevents.com in a few days to see how they all did. Congrats go out to Uncle Vern -- who finished his first 5K of '03, Joe Beman, Nick Boggs, Matt Lindell, Eric Payne, and Milford-area friends Brad Dennehy, Tell Gwen Guerke, Randy Fisher, Karl Katz and family and many more. Special Sauce Insider saw a host of current and former Henlopen folks, including Dover's Charles Gibson, Maurice Miles, Kevin and Jenna Kemmerle and Katie Walsh, the CR gang, such as the Swierzbinskis, Dobrinski, Kyle Luke, Ashley Johnson, Tara Winters, Brian Line, Jeff Miller and more, Smyrna's Joe Morman, Lake's Angie Brown, and even a host of upstaters including '03 high school CCer of the year Chad Darlington of St. Mark's and his Brandywine girl, Annie Hartnett.

What do you know? In a blind first attempt of kayak racing, Ol' Bloomie survived 7.5 miles of paddling and even won his short-kayak race class in one hour, 10 minutes and nine seconds. I held off about five or six tough guys in my class -- outdistancing the runner-up by more than four minutes. Whew! My arms are tired. :) Special Sauce Insider saw kayak aficianado Mr. McGroerty as race directory Saturday morning. One of his daughters assisted, but not Seaford CC senior, Caitlin.