Month: January 2022

Financial Check-Up for Pacers and Families

by pagodapacers

Would you ever enter a race without knowing where the finish line is, or even how to determine your time and position?  Do you set the pace for a 5K, a 10K or an Ultra?   That’s how a lot of us feel about our retirement planning!

You probably have a 401k or some sort of retirement savings, but your life and financial goals may have changed from when you started it years ago.   Add to this the uncertainty of Social Security and the rising cost of medical care, and that retirement finish line may look like a dark and scary place!

For a limited time, members of the Pagoda Pacers and their immediate families can get a “retirement training session” through the Pacer’s newest sponsor, Grandview Financial Partners of Wyomissing www.grandviewfinancialpartners.com .

Reach out to Steve Hofmann at 610-780-0976, or schedule an in-person, phone, or Zoom consultation at www.calendly.com/stevehofmann .  

Race Results (January 2022)

by pagodapacers

Email race results to Race Results Coordinator Karen Rule at raceresults@pagodapacers.com.

January 2022
Phunt 50K
17Andy Styer5:53:26
Phunt 25K
53Karin Tursack2:50:55
190Jen Guigley3:42:15
191Lisa Domeshek3:42:19
192Blair Hogg3:42:21
226Donna Hey3:56:33
270Jim Demsko4:20:22
Chilly Cheeks
8Lou Donofrio59:551st M40-49
Delaware Open XC 5K Championship Race
Paul Makurath39:33.62ndM70+
Shiver #2, 5k
19Beth Kohl23:372nd Female Overall
39Andrea Thrush27:54
57Barb Raifsnider30:23
62Sandie Kincaid31:02
73Larry Drogo32:06
83Lamar Foley33:31
106Helene Horn43:27
Shiver #2, 10k
2Justin Kratz40:162nd Overall
9Matt Brophy44:17
19Jonathan Foley51:38
26Vicki Menet53:40
50Julia Hager66:41

Let’s Shiver Two More Times

by pagodapacers

Thank you to the 115 5K runners, 54 10K runners, and the many volunteers who braved the cold on Jan 16th!  It was sunny and there was no wind, but with single digits, it was still COLD!!!   We appreciate everyone’s flexibility and patience as we postponed the race from Jan 9th, due to the forecasted ice storm.  Once again, the Pacers came through to help!!!  We had several volunteers who were unavailable on the rescheduled date, but we had several Pacers jump in to help!  Thank you!!!!

Shiver #3 will be held on Feb 13th.  Come and join us!  Registration opens at 8:30; both races start at 10:00.  If you don’t want to run, we can use your help!!  We would like someone to volunteer to bring the Pacer trailer to the race, if at all possible.

Looking ahead, our 4th race in the series, will be held on March 13th.   The awards banquet will be at the Temple Fire Company immediately following the race.  It is free to all runners who completed 3 or more races and free for volunteers; there is a $10 charge for everyone else. 

We are always looking for door prizes to be given at the awards ceremony.  If you own a business, or know someone who owns a business, or you would like to donate something yourself, we would be very grateful for merchandise, gift certificates, gift baskets, or any small item that a runner would appreciate. Door prizes can be brought to either of the next 2 races or the February or March Pacer meetings.   We plan to send thank you notes to all of our donors, so if you donate or secure an item for us, we would appreciate knowing exactly what was donated, by whom, and an email address for the donor. 

We also need more volunteers during the March race so we can compile results for the awards. We very much appreciate the Pacers who come out month after month, year after year; however, we have a few hundred members in the club, so if you haven’t volunteered for a race lately, consider helping at Shiver #3 and/or Shiver #4.   

Volunteers for registration should plan to arrive around 8:00-8:15; volunteers for the road should plan to arrive by 9:15-9:30 and look for one of the race directors; or if you don’t want to come into the farmhouse, contact one of us and we can give you an intersection so you can just go directly there.    

Please help us by patronizing our sponsors: Dieffenbach’s Chips and Home Light Home Sales. 

Sue, Georgine & Tiffany

Minutes from the General Meeting (January 2022)

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General Meeting Minutes

Date: January 13, 2022

Time: 7 p.m.

Location: Mohnton Fire Company

Treasury Report – Shaun Luther—Account balances discussed. Insurance was paid in December. The target amount to have in reserve in the club’s account is based on non-race (NR) expenditures accrued in the previous year. (Target account balance = previous year’s NR expenses x 3.) The club did not use the NR amount from 2020, since our expenses that year were so low, which would have made the required reserve number too low. However, due to our current spending and accounting practices, our NR expenses have not reached the level of pre-COVID years. Media expenses have been going down—media, social events, and Pacer swag, postage expenses were negative (retrieved our postage account money), and application expenses with Pretzel City Sports are down. According to Shaun, if the club uses the NR amount from 2019, our account is currently at 121% of target. But if the club uses last year’s NR expenditures, we are at 191% of target. He will discuss with the executive board how the target amount should be calculated.

He received a letter from IRS that he has to file the club’s taxes electronically, which is something he will have to look further into doing.

Races:

  • Charlie Horse Half Marathon (Sunday, May 29, 2022) – Shaun Luther – registration is now live on UltraSignUp. The race is Sunday of the Memorial Day weekend. Brecknock Township still needs to approve the event. It will be the same course as last year—with a possible return of the Dirty Pony 5K.
  • Run for the Ages 10K Trail Run (Sunday, June 26, 2022) – Donna Hey – Registration will go live very soon. She signed the USA Track & Field agreement, so the event will be listed on their calendar. Swag will probably be shirts this year. 
  • Grings Mill 5K and 10K (Sunday, August 7, 2022) – Jason Karpinski. – Event is on Pretzel City Sports calendar. Registration will go live soon.
  • Blues Cruise 50K (Sunday, October 2, 2022) – no report
  • Oley Valley Country Classic (first weekend in November 2022) – Barry Goodhart – Changing the date to the first weekend in November. It will be at the Oley Valley Fair Grounds again.
  • Kris Kringle 5 Miler (Saturday, December 31, 2022) – Polly Corvaia – For the 2021 race, just concluded, total runners number was approximately 600, Polly is doing the finishing up activities. Thanks to Mike Whalen who stepped up to do the on-site medical evaluations. Date of next year is SATURDAY, December 31 (New Year’s Eve day), due to the day that Christmas in 2022 is falling. Cross Country donation is approx. $2500, due to some on-line donations. 
  • Shiver by the River 5K and 10K (Sunday, February 13, 2022, & Sunday, March 13, 2022) – Sue Jackson – January’s Shiver is this Sunday, delayed from last week. Need volunteers due to the date change.  Dieffenbach Chips and Home Light are this year’s sponsor. Help with the trailer is appreciated, but depending on the conditions, Sue can do things the old-fashioned way and load up items in her car. In March, she will be looking for door prizes for the on-site banquet, which as of now, is still scheduled. The directors will continue to limit the 10K time that the volunteers have to be on the course, meaning that runners need to be at a certain pace or continue the race on their own.
  • Jr. High Cross Country Fall Invitational —  no report

Committee Reports

Social Committee:

  • Christmas party – Dave ‘Swampy’ Feinauer – attendance down a little this year, which was expected. But otherwise had a good event.
  • Checking into the WR Pickle Ball Association, which has courts at the West Reading Playground.
  • Wilshire pool contacted Michelle Henry using the pool after 8 p.m. on evenings during the summer. Michelle is considering some Thursday evenings (not to conflict with monthly meetings or Thirsty Thursdays) to do a run or bike ride in the area, and then going to the pool – so, could be something a little different for a summer’s evening. Will look into the evolving details.
  • Bad asked about Wallyball at Colonial Hills – he will organize for Friday, February 25th, pending confirmation with Colonial Hills. Pizza, snacks, beer, cheap wine, etc. 
  • Velodrome Park, Breinigsville – Mike Whalen will look into this for a Spring/Summer time event.

Communications Committee:

  • Facebook – Jane Setley – has been doing the FB page management. Steve Vida will manage the weekly run FB updates. We will keep in mind the consistency between the web site, FB official page, and the FB public discussion page.

Community Service

  • Weekly runs – Michelle Henry – The club has been posting a short run and a long run offering, which has been going well for safety reasons and general knowledge. Matt Brophy has been doing this. The run courses are improvised as needed. Matt and Steve Vida are switching off leading the short and longer distances.
  • Trail Maintenance—Mike Whalen went through recently and it is clear. 

Charity & Scholarship Committee – Committee has room for one more person, and they have received one application so far.

Membership committee: Jason Karpinski is now the membership coordinator. They are putting a table out at Pacer race events. A QR code has been created that goes to the home page of the Pacers. In addition, they will have a table at “Guts and Glory”(?) – more details to follow. Then Fleet Feet in discussion about an “intro to trail running” event at Antietam Park – on the national trail day to have a Pacer group represent for trail running.

Old business: None

New business:

  • March meeting – doing BP checks and “quickie” CPR training and AED training – one hour before the meeting, so at 6 p.m. Mike Whalen and Karin Long are hosting.
  • At the May meeting, Stephen and Sandie Kincaid – Berks Trail Works – will talk about the work they do for that local organization. 
  • Next month’s meeting (February 10) will be a Mimmo’s Restaurant.
  • Race results – Karen Rule would like to possibly pass the race results updating along to someone else. She does not get a lot of input. Do we still want to have this feature in the newsletter?

Registration Is Open for the 2022 Run for the Ages!

by pagodapacers

June 26, 2022

8:30 a.m.

Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center

Come out for the only trail race with an age-graded start (that we know of) on the east coast!

Top age-group performers have a legitimate shot at the overall title!

Even if you aren’t out to win, the race is run on challenging, yet very runnable, trails in beautiful Nolde Forest; it also has great schwag and virtually no bottle necks.

Challenge your families and coworkers to come out and compete on a “level” playing field…

Hey ringers: Here’s a chance to show off a little by passing the whole pack! 

What’s an age-graded start? 

Those who have more than a few gray hairs or have yet to hit puberty will get a head start based on age and gender. Typically the oldest female wave starts first. Then the next wave will start, based on 5 year age groups, working back towards the younger (faster?) folks. Wave starts will bounce back and forth between sexes, as the handicap derived from the World Masters Association dictates. (The actual handicap for each division is posted at http://www.PagodaPacers.com.)   

This means you start with your age group (call them your competition if you like). Your handicap division may or may not start with another handicap division. For example, it’s possible that 60-64 year old men might start at the same time as 50-54 year old women. Or maybe not.

The first 10 overall finishers get Nolde Forest Pottery plates, and Chester County Running Store certificates go to the top three finishers.  Top age \-group medals will also be awarded.

Cool swag and goodie bag to all participants registered by June 8. 

Price: $30 until June 8; $35 after, including race-day unless participant cap is reached.

Part of all race proceeds will be donated to the Friends of Nolde for park projects and improvements.

To register online please visit: https://www.pretzelcitysports.com

Or print a mail-in registration that must be postmarked by Monday, June 20, 2022

**Current Nolde Forest COVID protocol: To participate in this program a mask is required if you are unvaccinated, and not required if you are vaccinated. Thank you.

Pacer Passport

by pagodapacers

Looking to own limited edition premium Pagoda Pacer swag? Here’s your opportunity to do so.

I introduce to you, The 2022 Pacer Passport. The Pacer Passport is an easy way to keep track of your club involvement and be rewarded for it! 

Here’s what you do…

  1. Print out the passport or pick one up at a monthly membership meeting. 
  2. Each time you complete one of the boxes, get it initialed by the appropriate person noted at the bottom. 
  3. Once all 10 boxes are initialed, turn in the passport.

**Participants are responsible for keeping track of their own progress.

Passports are valid January 1, 2022 – December 26, 2022. Why December 26th? That’s the last Wednesday Night Run of the year, and therefore your last opportunity to check a box off. 

All passports MUST be submitted by 12/26/2022. Swag item will be ordered once all passports are turned in at the end of the year. 

Submit your completed passport to Michelle Henry in person or take a picture of it and email to president@pagodapacers.com. 

** Michelle has a list of January WNR & monthly meeting attendees as well as January Shiver by the River volunteers. See her for initials on those. 

Lancaster Road Runners Take over Berks County Trails!

by pagodapacers

Lancaster Road Runners Club will be in our area twice over the next couple months during their First Saturday Winter Series Schedule.

March 5th at Blue Marsh (State Hill Boat Launch large parking lot) — LINK TO FACEBOOK EVENT

April 2nd at Hamburg Reservoir for a Pinnacle/Pulpit Rock jaunt. 

Their runs start at 9 and typically last about 2 hrs. They also pick somewhere nearby to get lunch. Let’s get a group together to join them!