Nike 26.2 Elite Start

"Ladies, take your marks."



"Get set."



"Go!"



And, they're off!

Top 1000

Check out the top 1000 women's marathon times for 2005. More importantly check out the number of Impalas who ran under 3:15 to make the list:

Caroline
Megan
Betsy
Lisbet
Jodi
Ginger (2x)
Sara G.
Karen R.

(add a comment if I missed anyone!)

Now, who's gonna make the list for '06?

Yoda, yt?

Every great champion has one...Luke had Yoda, Daniel-son had Mr. Miyagi, Kevin Costner had the mystery voice "If you build it they will come." And, tonight as I was cooling down, the Impalas' equivalent emerged...from within the darkness, outside the gates of Kezar the voice of a child said:

"If you cannot-be-fast, you cannot win"

Out of the mouth of babes...turns out our "Yoda" is a young "Impala-in-training."

Of course, if we can't beat them with speed, we'll simply have to out last 'em!

Keep on Keepin on, Impalas.

Impala 2005 Year in Review

We had great attendance a the 2006 Impala Annual Meeting and the agenda was chock full of accolades, success stories and inspiration to last us throughout the year. For those of you who could not attend here's a little re-cap on whatcha missed:

2005 AWARDS

Stockton Cup: Lisbet Sunshine

Runner of the Year: Caroline Annis
- 2nd American 2005 Boston Marathon
- 17th fastest US women's marathon in 2005
- Nike 26.2 cover model ;)

Track Racer of the Year: Megan Daly
- USA Nationals 10K Qualifier (33:57: She PR'ed in the 10K and 5K in the same race!)

XC Racer of the Year: Sally Daganzo
- 2005 PA XC Grand Prix Champion

Master of the Year: Lisbet Sunshine
- 5K, 17:35; Marathon: 2:50:24...need we say more?

Senior of the Year: Irene Herman
- National Marathon Champion, Age 55-59
- National 10K Champion, Age 55-59

Super-senior of the Year: Eve Pell

Rookie(s) of the Year (Impala newcomer)
- Kathryn Krieger
- Betsy Keever (US Marathon Nationals, 15th, 2:47:39)
- Janet Cain

Andrew Carnegie (improvement)
- Liz McMillan
- Jodi Dailey (2nd place Nike 26.2)

Cal Ripken (consistency)
- Karen Ribble
- Lorna Thomson

What’s Up Doc (return from injury/illness)
- Suzanne Franco
- Shaluinn Fullove

Captains Courageous (leadership)
- Marisa Beck (Impala Race Director)
- Gowri Grewal (Cross Country Captain)

Double Trouble (performance and service)
- Tara Hillier
- Nelda Williams

Hit the Road Jack (travel planning)
- Terri O’Brien
- Kate Sweetman
- Katie Wasilenko

May I See Your ID (special achievement)
- Teresa McWalters (2005 NCAA XC Team Champion; 2005 NCAA 3rd place 5000M, and one of the boldest moves in NCAA 5K history)

Fast Momma (return from pregnancy)
- Maggie Visser

Hostess with the Mostest (travel host)
- Sarah McGowan

Unsung Heroine (overlooked contribution)
- Flora Lee

Calculate

"In short, it is not always about how fast we can run, but, how controlled we can run at speed. Sometimes we have to run slower in order to run faster!"
- Coach GP

In honor of tomorrow's festival of miles, I thought it would be a good opportunity to highlight 2 calculators on the blog: Pace calculator and, recently added, Age-graded calculator (Thanks, Janet for passing it along!)

These tools are permanent fixtures on the blog under "Useful Links" in the sidebar.