Stuber's 2007 goals go beyond race series

 

 

A four-peat in the Playmakers Greater Lansing Race Series will not be a high priority for Eric Stuber of Lansing in 2007.

“I want to do more longer runs this year like half-marathons,” he said.

But the winner of the last three men’s overall titles in the race series came up short of saying he won’t compete at all.

“There’s still so many of them (series races) that I like to do. And I could use some as training runs.”

HE STILL MIGHT WIN

Recent history indicates Stuber could scale back his participation and might still receive his fourth straight male overall trophy at the Playmakers Greater Lansing Race Series Awards presentation on Sunday, Oct. 14 (from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at Playmakers).

In 2006, his margin of victory was 39 points over Dan Dixon of Jackson.

In 2005, he won by 72 points over 2002 runner-up Roland Hensley of DeWitt.

And in 2004, his final advantage was 46 points over 2002 race series champion Ryan Kelly and 48 over early leader Scott Norman.

OR FINISH IN THE TOP 3 LIKE ALWAYS

And even if one or two runners can pull past him by competing in more events, Stuber will likely compile enough points to keep his string of having finished in the top three in the men’s overall standings in each year of the existence of the race series intact.

In 2003, Stuber tied for second place with Hensley behind Chris Hughes of Lansing.

And in the inaugural race series in 2002, he finished in third place behind Kelly and Hensley.

(For year-by-year final race series totals, go to www.playmakers.com, click on results, and click on archived results.)

CROSS COUNTRY NATIONALS

Stuber’s main goal in 2007 is to improve his performance in the USATF Fall Club Cross Country Championships.

He ran a 35:20 10K and grabbed 43rd place out of 429 runners to help his Front Line Racing Team take first of 27 masters men’s teams on Dec. 9 at San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

Other scoring Front Line team members were Tracy Lokken of Marquette (1st in 32:44), Mike Scannell of Grand Blanc (10th in 33:27), Paul Aufdemberge of Redford (19th in 34:01), Patrick Lencioni of Ann Arbor (22nd in 34:06), David Watkins of Birmingham (36th in 34:59), David Peterson of Farmington (107th in 36:48), and Doug Ogden of Chelsea (125th in 37:20).

(For complete results, see http://www.usatf.org/events/2006/USATFClubXCChampionships/results/mm.asp. And for more on Front Line Racing team and its results, see http://frontlineracingteam.com.

“I didn’t particularly have a very good day,” he said. “But I pushed the guys in front of me, and the team pulled an upset victory.”

It was the first time Stuber had competed in the cross country nationals. He was planning to race two years ago before an injury sidelined him.

“So the cross country nationals are what I’m really shooting for in the fall,” he said. “If I do a fall marathon, it’s going to be early October. That way, I can have a couple months to recover. But I don’t have too much planned out yet.”

MARATHON IN NORTH CAROLINA

His immediate plans are to continue running an average of 10 miles per day while training for the Ellerbe Springs Marathon (http://www.mangumtc.org) on March 24 in North Carolina.

“I have been training with Matt Wilson, another masters marathoner,” Stuber said. “Matt’s doing Virginia Beach (http://www.shamrockmarathon.com) the week before. So it’s helping a lot.”

Stuber picked the small, hilly marathon in North Carolina because it was fairly near Myrtle Beach, S.C., where he and his wife Brooke have arranged for some vacation time that week.

A GOOD WEEKEND IN FLORIDA

Stuber feels he is healthy and in good shape.

He took 12th overall and third among masters runners at the Naples Daily News Half-Marathon on Jan. 21 in Florida (http://www.napleshalfmarathon.net/results/07/07ndn_2.html) with a time of 1:14:16.

So he likely won’t be winning a total of 12 races and 10 of the 12 Playmakers Greater Lansing Race Series events in 2007 like he did in 2006.

But if the 16:21 5K he ran for sixth place out of 2,680 finishers at the Seasons 52 Park Avenue 5K on Jan. 20 in Orlando, Fla., and the 1:14:16 half-marathon the next day are any indication, 2007 could still be a very good year for Eric Stuber.

DECKER 12TH AT USATF WOMEN’S MASTERS

In the masters women’s 6K race that preceded Stuber’s race at the USATF National Club Cross Country Championships, former MSUFCU Dinosaur Dash 5K champion Laurie Decker of Cadillac placed 12th overall and third among 45-49-year-olds in a time of 23:27.

(For complete results, see http://www.usatf.org/events/2006/USATFClubXCChampionships/results/mw.asp.)