Last year CPTC had a great showing at Grete’s Great Gallop:

  • overall Women’s winner Lauren Esposito
  • Men’s team finished 2nd, only 18 points out of first
  • Women’s team finished 2nd, only 4! points out of first
  • 40+ Men won
  • 40+ Women finished 2nd

We interviewed a couple teammates and asked how this race fit into their training plans. Thom Little is racing in Grete’s Great Gallop for the first time, “I will taper for this more than other half marathons since this is a scoring race. I am also in the heart of my marathon training program,  so I am close to peaking.” Susan Strazza, who finished 4th in her age group at this race last year, echoed his sentiments, “Grete’s is on my way to November 2nd (NYC Marathon) but I am looking at it as a serious stepping stone. For me that means actually taking a rest day for the first time in a while and easing up on the miles and workouts (will only do Tuesday’s track workout), instead of ‘training’ through it as I’ve tended to do in the past. ” All races are important but Dan Seidel points out, “Most important for me, though, is that Grete’s is a scoring race and we’re in a tight race with West Side — a victory here could be crucial. We’ve got a great bunch of guys ready to go this weekend. It should be exciting.”

Thom was concerned about having to do two loops of Central Park infamous hills, but Susan likes the familiarity of the course and all the support, “There aren’t any surprises as far as the course is concerned, 2 loops is 2 loops, I think you just have to be a little patient on the first loop or at least I do.  The crowd and especially the team support is always wonderful.  If Joe Kennedy and Tony are standing somewhere around mile 12 like they were last year their exuberant encouragement is especially helpful!  I hope more than anything we get a lovely crisp autumn morning.” Tony has his guys and girls training hard and ready to race. Dan said, “Tony has had us run some intense tempo runs in preparation, along with plenty of hill work, so I think CPTC will be confident running in the north end of the park. In a sense the difficult course in Grete’s helps to run a smarter, more conservative race at the beginning.” Both Susan and Dan are going to go out patient and plan to attack in the second half of the race.

So before you plop down infront of your High-Def TVs to soak up college football, come out to Central Park, our home field (so to speak), and watch what is sure to be a great race.

Time: 9:00am start
Start: Central Park’s East Drive at 70th Stree
Finish: West Drive by Tavern on the Green

LINKS:
Race Information
Course Map [pdf]
Last Year’s Team Results