JK8K
Dedicated to Jim Kurtz
Jim was a very dear and great friend. He was always thinking of others. Gave his free time constantly. He was a fellow runner who was quite competitive and always humble with his successes.
To honor his life we established the JK8K cross country race to celebrate his kindness and generosity and his undying devotion to his family.
Striders in Action
RUN WITH THE TURKEYS TROT 5K
Robert with 50-9
#2 Roddy Rieger
Keller, TX 11/27
Robert Fanjas (62) returned to Keller to defend his 60-9 win from 2025, but came up a bit short; with 47 runners in the division, 2nd was still pretty good…In his words:
I only got 2nd place in 60-69 at the Turkey trot in Texas last week. Legs still tired from sprinting out for 4th place at Mission Bay! 21’59.
BLACK MOUNTAIN TURKEY BURNER
1/2 Marathon 11/30
Aleks Avakova gave a strong effort in the Black Mountain trail recently, finishing in 2:27:55 (10th F overall, 5th F 40-9, 2nd F 40-4 – but for some reason was given a 3rd place award…). She had this to say afterwards:
Reporting from the finish line. Ended up doing an ERS race this morning : Turkey Burner 13.1 up Black mountain around/down all the technical trails. Last minute decision. Left with a 3rd place in age group time of 2:28 and some change.
Alan’s World
Age 38 | SDSU Aztec Invitational 800 Meters Debacle
I was 38 years old when I tried my best to break 2 minutes in 800 Meters at an All-comers T&F meet at Southwestern College. I didn’t succeed but a new lifetime PR was acquired: 2:03.4 which was about the same time high school boys in dual track meets that won ran.
I was faster than any other 40+ male in the San Diego Track Club could run so I was proud of my feat. The feeling I had was confidence that I could compete well in 800-meter races.
Therefore, when the announcement was made by San Diego State University (SDSU) Athletic Department for the annual SDSU Aztec Invitational T&F meet implying anyone was eligible to compete, I jubilantly signed up for the 800 Meter men’s event. The race went off in the late afternoon on the new SDSU track. The guys in the race were all college age, but I wasn’t daunted…I figured I could hang with the slower runners.
To your marks, SET, BANG and we’re off. At the end of 300 meters when I raced into the 2nd straightaway of the first lap, I was surprised that the entire pack was 75-80 meters ahead of me. As I approached the 1 lap to go mark the split timer had stopped yelling splits for the runners. Of course, I desperately wanted my split time also so when I neared the 1 lap mark, I yelled loudly with irritation in my voice “TIME !!”
From the 200-odd spectators in the stands near the finish line a loud voice rang out: “7 PM !” The crowd’s reaction was immediate and loud LAUGHTER.
I was chagrined to the max ! I did finish the race way after the last person in the pack had finished. Fortunately for me, the race officials still had the auto-camera timer on but I don’t remember my time.
I do remember the entire pack had all finished under 2 minutes with the winner under 1:50. Post race people were kind and complementary, most likely because they felt sorry for me.