Join the PRMH Running Club!

Runners/walkers/joggers (past/present/future),

Yes, The Providence Ronald McDonald House Running Club has to be the most unwieldy name in the Rhode Island running community. I’ll get back to that, but first:

Who we are The club is people - roughly 100 men and women of all shapes, sizes, ages, abilities, professions, and outlooks. We have members who can show you their Olympic Trials mementos (Carter administration, but still...) and others who never ran past a refrigerator before joining the club. We include triathletes and non athletes. A few of our runners are nationally competitive within their age groups; another few participate in practice and group runs but rarely compete in races. Some members are veterans of other clubs, while others have trained independently for years. And PRMHRC boasts the volunteer services of legendary professional coaches. (How many walking groups are led by a Brown University Hall of Fame track and field coach?) We’re diverse.

What we do Mostly, we run. Stretching, fitness, and speed workouts once a week, group runs/walks weekends, and (optional) individual workouts with the coaches. Broken into goal and ability groups so the ~nine-minute milers training for a marathon aren’t running sprints with the <6-minute milers training for an indoor mile. Club members support each other with experience, advice, motivation, camaraderie and, (as needed) empathy for injuries. Oh, and we’ve been known to counteract workouts by imbibing in unhealthy food and beverages together...

Now, back to that mouthful of a name -- we help the House. The people at the Providence Ronald McDonald House do fantastic work that is largely dependent on contributions from outside their corporate namesake. Every member of the PRMH Running Club raises visibility for the House simply by wearing a PRMH shirt at local races. Club volunteers prepare dinner for the residents once a month; others have raised thousands of dollars in pledges for races like the Falmouth Road Race and the Boston Marathon. And, of course, we put together this unique race -- all proceeds from the Women’s Classic go the Providence Ronald McDonald House.

To learn more about the running club, visit www.prmhrunningclub.org or drop by the Brown University Stadium 6 pm on a Wednesday (while the light/weather holds) to talk, run, walk or observe.

And ENJOY YOUR RACE!

Rick Ripley
President, The Providence Ronald McDonald House Running Club

Amy Rudolph on Providence, Team Racing and her experience as last year’s winner in the PRMH Women’s Classic by Nich Haber

“I just think it's wonderful that you are putting on this race and that it's a women's race.” - Amy Rudolph

Providence College grad (’95) and Former Olympian (’96 and 2000) Amy Rudolph sat down this past Spring with Race Committee member Nich Haber to talk about her life as a runner, how she ended up in Providence and about the Providence Ronald McDonald House Women’s Classic – held the first weekend in October.

Rudolph’s glittering resume also includes breaking the American record for the 5,000m in 1996, 2006 US National Champ in the 10,000 meters, as well as being part of two world cross country teams that won medals.

She was able to fit the inaugural run of the PRMH Women’s Classic into her busy schedule last year and ended up winning!

On Team Running….

AR - The sport is very individualized, so World Cross is one of the only places (aside from something like an Ekiden) where it is a team effort. You are running for yourself, but also there are a lot of other people depending on you. Those medals were pretty cool, to be a part of a group of wonderful women.

PRMHC - It's great that you mention that, because we're also trying to increase participation in team running and have started a grand prix team competition between Rhode Island running clubs called the pRIx (www.theprix.com).

AR - I just ran Gate River and it was the first year that they instituted a team event structure. Women were running individually but also part of a team. I wasn't part of a team, but Team USA Minnesota won the women's competition and the men's I think was a tie between Minnesota and the Hansons. It brought a whole new element to the race and I thought it was pretty cool.

PRMHC - Now the RunProvidence group you are a part of, do you consider yourself a team?

AR - I don't think we're necessarily a team because we’re different nationalities. We've got two girls from Ireland, one from New Zealand, a couple of Americans and so we couldn't necessarily run in an event as a team. But I would consider those girls my team and my training partners, because when you are part of a team, they really become like your family. Yet in terms of competing, we really wouldn't be able to compete as a team.

PRMHC - If we wanted to do something in our race and have you guys challenge Team Hansons or Team USA Minnesota...

AR - As long as the race had it's own rules for that, it would be totally fine.

PRMHC - Would you be interested in doing that?

AR - That would be awesome!

PRMHC - Kick it around with your group, because, we would love to do that.

AR - That's exciting.

On the past year…

PRMHC - We'll you've been busy this year. Came in 5th at Aramco Houston Half in 73 minutes. I listened to your interview on Flotrack. Your goal was to hit 73?

AR - Wanted to be between 70 and 72, so we were a little outside of that. As far as the first time over 15k, I think at first we were a little disappointed, but the funny thing about racing is you really have to let the race soak in a little. If it was a good race or a bad race you need to give it time to sit and stew with it. The more we thought about it, I was going up against women who were all marathon experts - that's what they do, they are really good at it, and I learned a lot and left with a good feeling in that I definitely want to try another one. We've been playing around with the training, seeing what I can handle and what I can't.

PRMHC - And you did the Gate River Run 15k recently? (finished 13th in 51:54)

AR - Which was a bad one! but that happens. It's part of what we do and you have to learn to accept it, you have to move on and realize you put the work in and sometimes have to put it behind you. We looked at a couple of things that could have been the reason, but sometimes it just happens

PRMHC - It happens on every level, it's just tougher when it's your job!

AR - Exactly!

PRMHC - You mentioned that you are thinking about a Fall Marathon?

AR - Thinking about a Fall Marathon. But we're going to go back now and do some shorter stuff. I have a 10k road race planned in Dublin, Ireland. It's the Great Ireland run. It's a series that BUPA puts on. I think it's one of the first ones of the year and we'll do that and come back.

I'm actually doing something that wasn't part of the plan, but it seems like a great opportunity, it's called the More Magazine Half Marathon in New York City in mid April. After that I'll jump back into some 3's and 5's and just play around with that and see how that goes, but for the marathon , I really want to do it, but I completely and utterly respect the distance. You can do everything right for four months preparing for it and if you wake up that morning and are just a little bit off, it can go pear shaped for you. I really want to do it, but I know that I will not go on the line unless I am really sure that I can do it well. I'm still mentally and physically trying to figure that out.

PRMHC - Ryan Hall describes training for a marathon to be like training for a boxing match.

AR - Yeah, it really is.

PRMHC - Folks seem to take that path where they start on the track and then go up in distance later in their careers.

AR - I think my career is sort of winding down a bit and I've been chasing after track for so long it can leave you a little bit stale. So I thought if I could try something different, it would stimulate me a little bit more in my running and it has done that. There's also a part of that wants to see if all of this longer training will help my track.

PRMHC - Are you changing the amount of mileage you are doing?

AR - We're coming a little back down a bit now. It's been pretty hard training for the half marathon. So were coming back down and having a bit more intensity to the workouts. A bit more speed based. Trying to find a balance between the two. The most important thing for me now is to have fun. And when you are not having fun doing it, it becomes a job and not your passion. Just want to keep it fun and finish every day looking forward to the next one. That's what we're trying, mentally to keep everything up.

PRMHC - Have you run some of the other women's only races?

AR - Yes - Freihofers - 5k in Albany. Done that a couple of times. It's a great event. Amazing numbers. As the events grow, the expos grow with it and it becomes a community event, not only in running, but for people trying to promote health in general. That's what Tufts is like, that's what Freihofers is like. Those are the only two that I have done that are women only. They are just wonderful events and there's just something about bringing a lot of women together! It's pretty amazing. Being at the starting line for those races is pretty awesome.

PRMHC - In terms of the actually racing itself. Can you describe the difference between being in a mixed race and a women's only race? Certainly the vibe at the event is different, but in terms of the athletic event, do you feel a difference?

AR - In the CVS race, the men and women start together and I think the women's race sort of gets lost amidst the men. So when you are in a women's only race it really is about the women and the top women in the race and the racing is focused on them. It's pretty cool. That would be the only real difference. Sometimes in the mixed races, the women kind of get lost. When you have women only race they really get to do your thing.

In the Tufts race, the course does a 180 at about half way and you are coming back on the field. The women in the middle and latter parts of the field just go crazy for the elite runners that are leading the way. It's pretty cool it gives you an extra boost. You dig down a little bit more because you have all of these women cheering for you thinking you are great.

PRMHC - In Gate River, they have a battle of the sexes?

AR - Yes. They call it "The Equalizer" The women start 5 minutes ahead of the men and it’s a race to see who can get to the finish faster. I think Deena (Kastor) is the only woman who has gotten it. This year the men caught the women in the first couple of miles because I think the women were watching each other and not going as fast. It's a pretty neat experience, except when you're in the back and all these guys fly by you. That can be a little humbling.

PRMHC - Running is the number one participation sport in America. You can count track and field fans in the hundreds, but there are millions of baseball fans. What can we do to connect participants more and make them fans of the sport?

AR - As far as track and field goes, the big meets are on TV, but there's never any follow up on the athletes that are competing. There are web sites now, like Flotrack, where you can see more of the behind the scenes, but it's got to be on TV more, that's where most people watch sporting events. I think the athletes that do well are not promoted as well as athletes from other sports like basketball.

Kim Smith (RunProvidence member from New Zealand) and I were talking about this last week and she said that if she had done what Shalane Flanagan had done in the Olympics this year, winning a Bronze medal (in the 10,000 meters) she would have been brought over to New Zealand and done a three week tour of the country, just going from venue to venue. News stations to news stations, speaking at schools and she would have been so promoted that everyone in New Zealand would have known who Kim Smith is. If you ask "who's Shalane Flanagan", unless you are part of the running community, you wouldn't know. It's almost shameful.

They are not only great athletes, they are great people. Most athletes are giving back to the community, giving for the schools. They are giving back to the sport, but it's never really documented or in the public eye, unless you are at that place where that person is speaking.

It's a hard question. I think it involves promoting the athletes more. The USATF has used the athletes in their commercials, but the commercials are only on during track meets. The bottom line is promoting the athletes in the sport and shine the light on the great things that they do both inside and outside of their sport. I don't know if it will ever change, it's not a big money sport.

I think if you could get the people who run the road races, who run marathons to get interested in the track as well and connect the two - road and track, it becomes much bigger than these two separate entities.

PRMHC - Well we are hoping that everyone who comes to our web site will get to know you! We're all doing the same thing - running. And elite athletes are just so much better at it then we are. But you just don't know what you are personally capable of doing until you see someone taking that next big step up.

On how she ended up in Providence…

PRMHC - Can we talk a little bit more about Providence? You came here for college, primarily for the running coach?

AR - When I was looking at colleges, I had an advisor in the running community in Boston and he had said to me and my parents, you really need to sit down and make a list of what you want and what you don't want. As you are looking at a school you should have a checklist ready. I didn't want to be more than 10 hours from home, because my parents were going to have to drive me. I grew up in Pennsylvania, a very small town. At the time, we couldn't afford to fly me back home every time I wanted to go back, I knew we would be driving. I came from a very small school system, a little more than 30 people in a class. Some of the schools I was looking at, you would look at this massive hall and you would watch the professor on a videotape. He had videotaped his lecture earlier. I saw that and thought, that's not going to work for me as far as education went. I wanted small classes - intimate. I wanted to go to a team where I wasn't going to be the best runner instantly. I was going to have to watch and learn and work my up. That's exactly what happened when I came to PC.

It came down to Villanova and PC - both very similar schools. The coaching philosophies were a little bit different. The coaches themselves were a little bit different. I think I just meshed really well with Ray (Treacy) at Providence. In my heart I always thought I was going to go to Villanova. When you are young you are impressionable. Villanova is promoted very well at the time, but when I came here, I knew in my gut that this was the place for me. Freshman year was hard. I'm the oldest and so it was a big eye opener. There was nobody telling me, "you have to study now, you need to go to bed now". It was an adjustment. I went home at the end of Freshman year, I was injured, I was about 20 pounds overweight and I just said, you know what? I am getting this really wonderful opportunity, I am getting a full scholarship to a wonderful school and this is what I want. Once I got back and started running, I just became very single minded, and sophomore, junior, senior year, every year I got a little stronger and a little more confident and by senior year I was number one on the team. It was a great experience. I learned so much. There were ups and downs, but everything worked out the way I had hoped it would have worked out (and my parents hoped it would have worked out as well!)

My mom was the first one to graduate college in our family, two years before I did. I was the second one to graduate, so it was a big deal. I ended up staying here. I had seen runners come out of college and have a rough time adjusting to life outside of college. I thought if I can minimize the changes in my life, maybe the transition won't be so difficult. That turned out to be one of the best decisions I had ever made. I stayed in Providence and live around the corner from college, I'm running the same loops I did in college. In '96 I had an amazing year - made the Olympic team, broke the American record in the 5k. It was a great year and that shot my professional career and here I am today! Still in Providence and still doing it!

The winters are tough here. We've primarily spent our winters in Florida training. This year was one of the first years we stayed and it was hard. It really tested your will.

PRMHC - At one point I had to take a hammer to my driveway because there was three inches of ice on it.

AR - Other than the winter, we don't have a lot of soft-surface runs, but there are the bike paths and Lincoln Woods and a lot of great places for running. It's been enough to keep us here over the years.

On her plans for the Fall…

PRMHC - We'll see where you'll end up in your fall marathon. Have you thought about where you would want to run?

AR - I think my heart has always wanted to do New York. I've been doing New York Road Runner's events my whole career and they just treat you so well. They make you feel like you're one of the guys on the Red Sox or one of the guys on the Patriots. Like you are one of the best ever. Mark (Carroll, Amy's husband and elite runner) ran his debut in New York and ran amazingly there. I got to sit on the sidelines and watch that. The city is buzzing at a normal time, but during race weekend, it's a whole other level. My heart is there, but I know the course is probably not the best course for me. I'm more of a rhythm runner, so something like Chicago would probably be more suited to me. We'll look at all of those factors. You can always train for the terrain in New York. I've spent a lot of time in Lincoln woods and have gotten used to the hills. So we'll see. It will probably be one of the two.


On the PRMH Women’s Classic…

PRMHC – Tell me a little bit about your experience at our race - the Providence Ronald McDonald House Women's Classic 5k.

AR - Well I had hoped that you would have gotten a better day weather wise, unfortunately it wasn't the best day, but the turnout was great for the first year. It reminded me a lot of how the Tufts 10k for Women started out. I saw that day, just watching the women in the field and at the starting line how I can see this race becoming like that one. Seeing women support each other and get behind each other and what better way to do it than at a running event. I can see this race becoming something really special. That's the feeling I got from the race that day. This could be something really amazing.

AR - I just think it's wonderful that you are putting on this race and that it's a women's race. I hope that this race becomes what I think it can become and I think it's on the right path. The fact that the people who are putting on the race actually run themselves, makes it even better. You know exactly what you would want.

It's the people that work jobs and train on the side - those are the people that I admire. It's a hard sport at any time, but when you are doing it along side everything else, it's definitely a test of your will and I totally admire people out there doing it.

There's something about road racing that is really great, there's a lot less pressure and you get out there and there are people from all over the world in all shapes and sizes doing it for all different reasons, but when the gun goes off we're all going in the same direction. It's a pretty cool concept. I think road races are really a lot of fun. If we didn't have road races, I don't think you could have as long a career. Road races really make you want to keep running.

Follow Up

We caught up again with Amy last week to follow up on this interview from last Spring. Several major news items here:

PRMH - Will RunProvidence be competing as a team this year in the Women's Classic? I know that some teams from New York and maybe Boston are coming together to give you some competition!

AR - I am still working on putting a team together for the PRMHClassic. It's a tricky time of the year as some of the girls are on their break and others are finishing out their season with planned road races. But I am doing my best to get a Run Providence team together and hopefully we'll have three on the line come race time.

PRMH - Any more thoughts on a Fall Marathon?

AR - I have had to put the idea of a marathon on hold and it could be a permanent one. It has been one of those year's where a lot of little things have popped up. There has been a lot of inconsistency to my training and my body just is not responding the way I would like it to. I am enjoying being able to get out for a run every day and I have been jumping in and helping the girls with workouts. It has been fun not having so much pressure with a huge planned race right in front of me.

PRMH - Providence is a small town. Heard some rumors about a move for you and Mark. Can you set the record straight?

AR - The rumors are true, Mark and I will be leaving Providence. Mark has taken the Head Cross Country and Assistant Track coach position at Auburn University. His team is in full cross country swing at the moment. We will miss Providence as it is all we have known since we were young adults, but it is an amazing opportunity for us and we are so excited. I am looking forward to getting down there after we sell our house here. It will be a great place for us to start the next chapter in our lives and we both look okay in "orange and navy!"

PRMH - Did you watch the World Championships in Berlin? Any races stick out in your mind?

AR - The World Championships this year were very exciting as usual. Obviously Bolt's performances were just amazing. The womens 800 was full of controversy as well as the medals for the 1500. The distances races were surprisingly slower than normal, but that comes with the "Championship" name. I still get nervous watching these races, you know how much time and commitment these athletes have put in and you want to see them reach their goals. Overall, I think American distance athletes have put themselves right at the top and shown that they can compete with the best, so it is a very exciting time in the sport.

New Course in 2009 and Shakycam Video

We've updated the course from last year. Main changes are that the 5k runners will remain on Blackstone down to Upton Avenue and then take a left on to Westford Road. This was done to remove some congestion between the 5k runners and the 3k walkers towards the finish. The course has been remeasured to be an accurate 5k.

Lena and I videoed the new course. Check it out!



Music by The Who.

A Fast History of Women's Running by Nich Haber

In the heat of the Beijing Marathon, right at the halfway mark, Constantina Dita-Tomescu took off with her characteristic mid race surge. Many of us had seen this trick before. The chase pack was still pretty formidable. Pre-race favorite Catherine “The Great” Ndereba pushed on, as usual saving her best for the second half of the race. By her side were two local favorites Chunxiu Zhou who had beat Dita by 3 minutes in London last year and her compatriot Xiolin Zhu. Also in the pack were the ever dangerous Kenyan Martha Komu and the world record holder Paula Radcliffe of the UK. Ladies, we had a race worth watching.

How did we get here, then? For the longest time, it was thought that distance running was unhealthy for women. They weren’t built for it. Their uteruses would fall out. They would simply break.

The grandest stage for track and field, the Olympics, did not have a distance event for women until the 1972 Games in Munich when Ludmila Bragina of the Soviet Union ran a then world record 4:01.38 in the metric mile. Road racing was unthinkable.

Boston, the most prestigious and longest annually run marathon in the world, simply did not allow women to compete. In 1967 Katherine Switzer decided to break that taboo. Registered as “K. Switzer”, she had an official number and toed the line in Hopkington. When the race official, Jock Semple, saw a female coming down the course, he literally tried to rip her number off of her jersey and throw her out of the race. Katherine surged ahead and didn’t stop until the finish line.


Katherine Switzer slowed by Jock Semple 1967 Boston Marathon
AP/Wideworld Photo

Back then, running professionally as a woman wasn’t an option. If you won a serious road race, you’d be lucky to get anything more than a firm handshake. If there was cash, it was almost always less than what the guys got.

The signature event of the Olympics, the marathon, did not become a women’s event until Los Angeles in 1984. Joan Benoit, the pocket marvel from Maine surged at the halfway mark and never looked back.

This year, Contantina Dita-Tomescu, held on to win the marathon in Beijing. Her tactics came from Joan Benoit, her opportunity came from Katherine Switzer and her inspiration came from all of the other women runners before her. So when you toe the line at the Second Annual Classic this year, feel the inspiration that comes from these women, as well as from the women around you, then put in that surge around the halfway mark and don’t look back.

The Story of My Run with Bill Rogers by Talia Ringer

I was reading the sports section of the Providence Journal, and as soon as I thought "there's not going to be anything about running" I saw "running." Haile Gebrselassie had attempted another one hour world record, and National Running Day was tomorrow and Bill Rodgers was pacing six minute miles at MIT.

Wait, what?

The next day I found myself on a train to Boston with a bag full of running clothes. I had never been to a track meet before. I didn't know what to expect. I met with my friend Danielle who had also never raced on a track, and we walked to MIT from BU. We were 45 minutes early. We expected a huge crowd of runners eager to meet Bill Rodgers. Nobody was there except a meet official and two men from the B.A.A.

Once the other runners finally showed up, we filled out entry forms and got numbers. The B.A.A was waving everyone's entry fee for the day. It was small, intimate. A lot of the runners knew each other from the other mini-meets. Bill Rodgers gave a short speech, and then we all ran a warm-up mile with him.

The mile was the second event. Almost everyone who showed up entered it, 34 if you don't count Billy. He made it clear he didn't want to run 6:00 miles, said he hadn't actually done that in a really long time. I got up to run in the second heat, and just before the start the B.A.A guys asked Bill to stand in front of the pack and take a picture. He put his arm around my shoulder which kind of made the reality of the situation sink in. And then the gun went off.

I was kind of excited because of the whole Bill Rodgers thing and went out at an 80, much faster than I intended. So for the rest of the race I just focused on finishing sub-6. At the beginning of the second lap I thought about how cool it must've been to be in the first heat and have Bill on the side cheering for me. Then I finished the second lap, and Bill was on the side cheering for me. He'd dropped out of the race. We could forgive him, but only because he was 61 and had won Boston four times.

I finished in a 5:59.28... Barely did it. Danielle and I warmed down a little and then went to talk to Bill. He was completely shocked that neither of us had run a track race before, and talked about the advantage you have in road races if you do track work. Then we took a picture with him, and he turned to us and asked "did I make a funny face? Because I always do." Sure enough, this is what we saw:



We all laughed for a good ten minutes, Danielle and the B.A.A guys and Billy and I. One B.A.A guy handed Danielle his card and said to send the picture. It was really, really cool to experience firsthand that a running legend wasn't a superhuman. Shortly after I was talking to Danielle about race photos, and how I always look like I'm dying, and Bill Rodgers joined in and said "But you ARE! And that's what's so beautiful." And that's when I knew the guy who had just made a really goofy face in a picture with us was in fact a 2:09 marathoner.