Touchstone Blog Archive
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wendy Georges: The Ultra Runner
Wendy Georges runs. Georges runs a lot. The 53 year old Berkeley resident took up running 24 years ago and began racing when she was 42. Since then she’s competed in dozens of road races including many marathons and ultra marathons.
“My favorite is 50 miles. It takes 8 hours. It feels like a solid day’s work- long enough that you’re really glad its over but you get such a feeling of accomplishment.” The female grandmaster of last year’s Oakland marathon aims for three ultra marathons a year with a number of shorter races as training. Georges races 9 to 10 months out of the year.
Georges with ultra running legend and BIW member Ann Trason
On Feb 6th, George ran the Jed Smith Ultra Classic, sponsored by the Buffalo Chips running club. Georges placed 3rd at the race flanked by women 20 years younger than her. Needless to say she won her age group. The 50k race headed through much of Sacramento and prepped her for the American River 50 mile run on April 9th. The American River race is a hybrid of road and trail with 31 miles following the Jed Smith course, 19 miles on trail, and the final 3 miles, a fierce uphill fight.
When not busy running, Georges has worked for the past 25 years at the Alameda County Health Care Dept as a social worker helping the homeless. For the past 15 years, Georges also instructed a cycling class at Ironworks.
Georges and Marc "El Jefe" Trotz at the Falmouth Road Race in MA in 2010. Trotz, the president of the Touchstone runners also teaches cycling classes.
Georges currently coordinates the indoor cycling program, working her 25th year as an instructor. There’s an old saying that goes, “Running can hurt cyclists but cycling can’t hurt runners.” Georges reiterated the fact adding that “It really aids runners. It’s great cross training. Cycling is very good with running because it’s low impact; you’re not constantly pounding asphalt. It’s really good for the cardiovascular system and shifts the burden away from the overused running muscles.”
Georges winning the City of Alameda's 4th of July race in 2010 as the first woman overall.
Georges spoke about the cycling program at Ironworks saying, “The program at Ironworks is highly developed. It has been raised to a higher level. New people go through an accelerated process of becoming fit because the classes are so demanding.”
Stop by Ironworks and catch one of the many great cycling classes that the awesome athletes teach.
“My favorite is 50 miles. It takes 8 hours. It feels like a solid day’s work- long enough that you’re really glad its over but you get such a feeling of accomplishment.” The female grandmaster of last year’s Oakland marathon aims for three ultra marathons a year with a number of shorter races as training. Georges races 9 to 10 months out of the year.
Georges with ultra running legend and BIW member Ann Trason
On Feb 6th, George ran the Jed Smith Ultra Classic, sponsored by the Buffalo Chips running club. Georges placed 3rd at the race flanked by women 20 years younger than her. Needless to say she won her age group. The 50k race headed through much of Sacramento and prepped her for the American River 50 mile run on April 9th. The American River race is a hybrid of road and trail with 31 miles following the Jed Smith course, 19 miles on trail, and the final 3 miles, a fierce uphill fight.
When not busy running, Georges has worked for the past 25 years at the Alameda County Health Care Dept as a social worker helping the homeless. For the past 15 years, Georges also instructed a cycling class at Ironworks.
Georges and Marc "El Jefe" Trotz at the Falmouth Road Race in MA in 2010. Trotz, the president of the Touchstone runners also teaches cycling classes.
Georges currently coordinates the indoor cycling program, working her 25th year as an instructor. There’s an old saying that goes, “Running can hurt cyclists but cycling can’t hurt runners.” Georges reiterated the fact adding that “It really aids runners. It’s great cross training. Cycling is very good with running because it’s low impact; you’re not constantly pounding asphalt. It’s really good for the cardiovascular system and shifts the burden away from the overused running muscles.”
Georges winning the City of Alameda's 4th of July race in 2010 as the first woman overall.
Georges spoke about the cycling program at Ironworks saying, “The program at Ironworks is highly developed. It has been raised to a higher level. New people go through an accelerated process of becoming fit because the classes are so demanding.”
Stop by Ironworks and catch one of the many great cycling classes that the awesome athletes teach.
Labels: Jed Smith Ultra Classic, Touchston Running, Wendy Georges
¶ Thursday, February 17, 2011 0 Comments
Friday, June 25, 2010
Touch 'Em All: Touchstone Runners Make 125 Relay Run
A few weeks ago, a large crew of Touchstone members joined forces to run to every single Touchstone Gym. Vaughn Medford, the manager at Sacramento Pipeworks, wrote about their 125 mile quest to Touch 'Em All.
Sunday June 6th, 3am: If a driver of one of the few cars cutting east through the darkness on highway 80 that morning happened to look off to her right, at exactly the right spot, on a lonely stretch of frontage road just outside of Vacaville, she saw a bizarre sight. A group of nine people in running shirts and shoes stood in a circle, wearing headlamps and conical birthday hats blowing noisemakers, throwing an impromptu surprise birthday party.
Several months earlier it had started the way most unlikely endeavors do; as a joke. A group of friends were sitting around drinking wine, talking about the event they had recently completed, a 200-mile, 12-person relay foot race from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. Scott Clark, the most organized person in the group said, “We could coordinate a run like that and add our own twist!” Ideas were being tossed around, when Sacramento Pipeworks manager Vaughn Medford said, “We could do a run that would tag all the Touchstone gyms. Starting in San Francisco at Mission Cliffs, we could run to Oakland’s Great Western Power Company, Berkeley Ironworks, Concord’s Diablo Rock Gym and then end in Sacramento at Pipeworks”. We laughed at the absurdity. I have a name already said Will Harris, “We’ll call it Touch ‘Em All!” This garnered the biggest snicker. The next day, several hours of pouring over Google Maps produced a rough sketch of the possible route. After driving sections of the route and thinking about it for several weeks, we were convinced that it could be done. On the third scouting trip, we drove the entire 125-mile length with a GPS unit and finally had an official map. Though the spring had been mild, summer means hostile temperatures in the Central Valley. If we were going to run, it had to be soon. Within a couple weeks, we had assembled a ten-person team, with seven out of ten being veterans of the prior Calistoga to Santa Cruz relay run.
Driving to the start at Touchstone’s flagship gym in San Francisco, Mission Cliffs, the runners in the big 15-seat van were charged with excitement. Promptly at 2pm, on Saturday June 5th our first runner set off up Harrison Street, headed for Sacramento, 125 miles away. Using BART to cross the bay (this being the only section that couldn’t be covered on foot), an hour later the runner showed[MM1] up at Touchstone’s Oakland gym, Great Western Power Company. From there, Diane Ortega took over for the short 3-mile jaunt to Berkeley Ironworks. “Having the van "stalk" me the whole way down San Pablo Blvd. was one of the highlights of this run” said Diane. For the rest of the relay, the van was generally following the runner, lagging behind, then passing with the riders cheering or harassing and then cruising ahead to wait for the runner to pass again until the handoff. Three gyms down, two to go. It took 7 different runners and a lot of hard climbing up the Berkeley Hills to reach the next gym, Diablo Rock Gym in Concord.
Night fell as we tagged DRG at about 9pm. Four gyms down, one to go. All night long, without stopping, the runners passed the baton, through rural and urban landscapes, crossing the Benicia bridge, braving industrial districts, following a frontage road flanking highway 680, passing over highway 80 and cutting east through Fairfield. On the highway between Sacramento and Fairfield, we threw the surprise birthday party for Touchstone CEO Mark Melvin, who turned 50 that day.
As we skirted Vacaville and turned northward, Robin Frank, who had vowed to fight to the death for the sunrise leg, got to see the sun peak up over the Sierras. “Seeing places that I have seen before, but not at less than 70 mph was cool.” Said Robin. Just before the town of Winters we turned east into the sun, for the final leg of our journey. This portion began outside Davis, and was given to Kent Gillis, a disabled athlete who rode his hand crank bike on the final stretch into Sacramento. Just outside Raley Field (home of AAA baseballs Rivercats) everyone abandoned the van for a group crossing of the iconic Tower Bridge into downtown Sacramento and a symbolic two and a half mile team trot to the final gym, Sacramento Pipeworks.
A beautiful BBQ spread awaited us, 20 hours after starting in San Francisco, 125 long miles away. We had managed to arrive one hour ahead of schedule. When asked for his reflections, event organizer Will Harris said “Great mix of silly fun, solitary effort, collaboration, contemplation, and teamwork. Lack of sleep is the biggest hurdle.” Pipeworks desk staff Diane Ortega felt that ”Overall I had an awesome time and would do it again and again. The memories are worth the pain. Thanks to everyone who put so much work into this thing. I was glad to be along for the ride!”
Be sure to watch for another Touch ‘Em All run sometime in the future. There is talk of opening up the TEA to teams of runners from other gyms, as a competition, in addition to possibly making the contest a fundraiser for disabled athletes. Thanks to Touchstone Climbing And Fitness for complete support and finance of this very unconventional event!
Photos of the run can be found at The Photo Gallery
Sunday June 6th, 3am: If a driver of one of the few cars cutting east through the darkness on highway 80 that morning happened to look off to her right, at exactly the right spot, on a lonely stretch of frontage road just outside of Vacaville, she saw a bizarre sight. A group of nine people in running shirts and shoes stood in a circle, wearing headlamps and conical birthday hats blowing noisemakers, throwing an impromptu surprise birthday party.
Several months earlier it had started the way most unlikely endeavors do; as a joke. A group of friends were sitting around drinking wine, talking about the event they had recently completed, a 200-mile, 12-person relay foot race from Calistoga to Santa Cruz. Scott Clark, the most organized person in the group said, “We could coordinate a run like that and add our own twist!” Ideas were being tossed around, when Sacramento Pipeworks manager Vaughn Medford said, “We could do a run that would tag all the Touchstone gyms. Starting in San Francisco at Mission Cliffs, we could run to Oakland’s Great Western Power Company, Berkeley Ironworks, Concord’s Diablo Rock Gym and then end in Sacramento at Pipeworks”. We laughed at the absurdity. I have a name already said Will Harris, “We’ll call it Touch ‘Em All!” This garnered the biggest snicker. The next day, several hours of pouring over Google Maps produced a rough sketch of the possible route. After driving sections of the route and thinking about it for several weeks, we were convinced that it could be done. On the third scouting trip, we drove the entire 125-mile length with a GPS unit and finally had an official map. Though the spring had been mild, summer means hostile temperatures in the Central Valley. If we were going to run, it had to be soon. Within a couple weeks, we had assembled a ten-person team, with seven out of ten being veterans of the prior Calistoga to Santa Cruz relay run.
Driving to the start at Touchstone’s flagship gym in San Francisco, Mission Cliffs, the runners in the big 15-seat van were charged with excitement. Promptly at 2pm, on Saturday June 5th our first runner set off up Harrison Street, headed for Sacramento, 125 miles away. Using BART to cross the bay (this being the only section that couldn’t be covered on foot), an hour later the runner showed[MM1] up at Touchstone’s Oakland gym, Great Western Power Company. From there, Diane Ortega took over for the short 3-mile jaunt to Berkeley Ironworks. “Having the van "stalk" me the whole way down San Pablo Blvd. was one of the highlights of this run” said Diane. For the rest of the relay, the van was generally following the runner, lagging behind, then passing with the riders cheering or harassing and then cruising ahead to wait for the runner to pass again until the handoff. Three gyms down, two to go. It took 7 different runners and a lot of hard climbing up the Berkeley Hills to reach the next gym, Diablo Rock Gym in Concord.
Night fell as we tagged DRG at about 9pm. Four gyms down, one to go. All night long, without stopping, the runners passed the baton, through rural and urban landscapes, crossing the Benicia bridge, braving industrial districts, following a frontage road flanking highway 680, passing over highway 80 and cutting east through Fairfield. On the highway between Sacramento and Fairfield, we threw the surprise birthday party for Touchstone CEO Mark Melvin, who turned 50 that day.
As we skirted Vacaville and turned northward, Robin Frank, who had vowed to fight to the death for the sunrise leg, got to see the sun peak up over the Sierras. “Seeing places that I have seen before, but not at less than 70 mph was cool.” Said Robin. Just before the town of Winters we turned east into the sun, for the final leg of our journey. This portion began outside Davis, and was given to Kent Gillis, a disabled athlete who rode his hand crank bike on the final stretch into Sacramento. Just outside Raley Field (home of AAA baseballs Rivercats) everyone abandoned the van for a group crossing of the iconic Tower Bridge into downtown Sacramento and a symbolic two and a half mile team trot to the final gym, Sacramento Pipeworks.
A beautiful BBQ spread awaited us, 20 hours after starting in San Francisco, 125 long miles away. We had managed to arrive one hour ahead of schedule. When asked for his reflections, event organizer Will Harris said “Great mix of silly fun, solitary effort, collaboration, contemplation, and teamwork. Lack of sleep is the biggest hurdle.” Pipeworks desk staff Diane Ortega felt that ”Overall I had an awesome time and would do it again and again. The memories are worth the pain. Thanks to everyone who put so much work into this thing. I was glad to be along for the ride!”
Be sure to watch for another Touch ‘Em All run sometime in the future. There is talk of opening up the TEA to teams of runners from other gyms, as a competition, in addition to possibly making the contest a fundraiser for disabled athletes. Thanks to Touchstone Climbing And Fitness for complete support and finance of this very unconventional event!
Photos of the run can be found at The Photo Gallery
Labels: Touch 'Em All, Touchston Running, Vaughn Medford
¶ Friday, June 25, 2010 0 Comments
