JTV Running Group

Team Jewelry Television will be sending a team to run the New Year's 5k on a nearly flat course in Tennessee believe it or not. It's hard to imagine a flat course in Tennessee, but it is possible if you look really hard. Stay tuned for more updates.

This will be a beautiful race course in Townsend TN that will showcase the Great Smokey Mountains scenic views for all the runners. Such beauty doesn't come without a tough hilly course, that's very typical of East Tennessee terrain so the runners will feel right a home.

Some of the JTV alumni will be there to enjoy the sights and take in 9.3 miler to add to their marathon or ultra training mileage. The race should see plenty of competition in the Open Team divisions with the top teams a few points in separation. I'll be cheering on our friend Bob Adams for team EBS and all our other buddies competing.

Good luck to those running the race and I expect photos!

Bob Adams shear drive inspires others to excel in their respective sport or goal in life for that matter. Over the past years Bob has added significant milestones to his running resume to likes of inspiring runners like myself, winning marathons, running ultra's and even setting a new 72 mile Appalachian record. He's an active member of the Knoxville Track Club, while he currently runs on the EBS Open Team he trains heavily at the weekly KTC training workouts.

He's even inspired nicknames like "Bradu", that's our friend Radu's ultra runner name that knows no limits and does whatever it takes to meet his goal.

Bob's new challenge is being part of the KTC 12 man team competing in the Hood 2 Coast 197 mile relay tomorrow starting at Mt. Hood and finishing at Seaside, Oregon. The team have trained for months prior to the race, so their going out there to represent Knoxville well and do their best in bringing home the title. You can follow the race on the KTC twitter or on Facebook page.

To read more about Bob's running highlights and up to date postings from him visit http://runbobrunbob.blogspot.com for the latest scoop.

Good luck at H2C!

The Knoxville Track Club has compiled a strong 12 man team to compete in the 197 mile Hood to Coast 2009 relay on the West Coast this coming Friday, August 28th! The team consists of Elijah Shekinah, Bill Kabasenche, Andrew Press, Bobby Adams, Stuart Moran, Daniel Hughes, Michael Mentz, Bobby Holcombe, Stewart Ellington, Chad Newton, Andy Baksa, and Joseph Goetz. They've worked hard to prepare themselves physically and mentally for the challenges Mt. Hood might bring. KTC is seeded #2 out of all the teams and their confident that they'll finish ahead of the pack.

You can follow up to the minute KTC team twitter updates at http://twitter.com/ktch2c or support them on Facebook at the "Knoxville Track Club Hood to Coast Team 2009" group page.

Good luck guys and have a safe trip!

The title says it all...Brad Adams won the 12th Annual VMC 5K Race on Volunteer Landing this past August 8th. He set a quick PR of 17:08, averaging a 5:30 mile. Brad said that his long term goal is to break the 17 minute barrier. This PR comes in the middle of a 70 mile week for Brad and knows that he could of gone faster. Congratulations Brad on winning the VMC 5k!

The VMC 5k race results can be found at www.vmcorg.org/.

The Carter Mill 10k is a typical East Tennessee rolling course that has it's downhill rewards, but with the price of short challenging hills. In July Travis Honeycutt, Ramesh Balasubramania, Brad Adams and myself (Jose Salas) set out to take on the Mill and enjoy the refreshing swimming pool after the race. Brad and I ran respectable races that day to tune up the gears. Brad ran a fast time finishing in the top 10 and I finished in the top 30.

For Travis and Ramesh Balasubramania Carter Mill was the site of their new multi-minute 10k PRs, remember that this isn't a PR course and compared to the last 10k we ran at Expo this course was much more challenging. Travis improved his 10k PR to 56:22 and Ramesh did the same with a 58:13. Both ran smart races with strong finishes and are getting stronger every day. Way to go!

Can't wait to jump into the pool next year!.

Expo marks the first team appearance of 2009 since the Autumnfest 8k in 2008. We've lost some friends to other companies and economy set-backs, but that hasn't dulled our bound in running and friendship formed over the years.

At Expo JTV was represented by Robin Auerbach, Radu Stoica, Ramesh Balasubramania and Jose Salas. This year also introduced the new race course that had a good mix of hills and flat sections for everyone. The conditions couldn't of been more perfect for Radu, he ran himself to a new 2:00 PR of 57:39. Both Robin (56:56) and Ramesh (59:15) also managed to break an hour while conquering the tougher than expected course.

From what I hear Robin, Ramesh and Radu agreed to run together at the start line, but one can't tame the running spirit at times as Robin and Ramesh witnessed when Radu charged down the hill as the gun blew. All in all they ran together through-out the race, just not all together at the same time. This was a great team building opportunity and hope to get the rest of the crew out there next time.


JTV Alumni Brad Adams, Bod Adams, Mary Regan and Travis Honeycutt we're at Expo as well. Bob didn't run from still recovering from his 72 mile record setting gaunt across the Tennessee Smokies, while his brother Brad smashed his old PR and led the TVA blue to a 2nd place team title with a new PR of 35:36.




Travis also ran alongside Radu finishing with a 58:12 time. From what I saw at the finish line Travis was all smiles...I think he could of ran faster. Next year we'll see where he finishes, but I'm sure it will be faster. Mary Regan (27:53) and son Reed Haugh (23:42) placed 2nd in the Mother-Son 5k team event with a combined time of 51:35. Last year Mary and her daughter Alison placed in the Mother-Daughter event, so it was only fair for Reed to do the same this year.




Expo was a fun event and I hope to have the team out there next year. In the meantime keep moving forward.



























Before I sign-off I had to show this picture of a guy I thought was Radu. I'll let you decide if he looks like Radu.

The Knoxville Marathon had most of the elements to challenge all of the runners to test their limits. You'd think the hilly course would be what everyone was talking about that day, rather it was the blistery start with wind gusts up to 22mph. Noelton hill looked like a breeze from what I saw on the run. It seemed as the runners were glad to be within tree cover.

The JTV running alumni set out to reach their individual goals of completing a 1st marathon, setting new PRs, leading a pace group, running a good race, volunterring and making a comeback from injuries.

Travis Honeycutt successfully completed his 1st marathon in 5:08:29 with some added support from Radu Stoica who said this about it, "Having a 3 minute PR while injured - $67, watching Travis's glorious suffering at the end of his 1st full marathon - PRICELESS! :)". Travis worked really hard these past few months by training countless miles and sacrificing time to meet his goal. There is more to say about it, but all I can say is we're proud of you Travis!

Brad Adams set a 30 second PR in the half marathon with a 1:21:40 time, he finished in the top 20. He was also featured in the KnoxFocus publication that you can read at http://www.knoxfocus.com/pdfarchive/wk1.pdf. Let's not forget about his brother Bob Adams who was also listed on the half marathon elites list finished a fast half in 1:16:49, that's 5:52 minute miles and a top 15 finish! The Adams brothers will be running the Boston Marathon this coming week.

Robin Auerbach just seems to run every race in the Knoxville area. That's why she's been labeled the "Human Metronome" by Knoxville Marathon pacing team coordinator Nicole Howe. This was Robin's second year to pace the 5:00 group, she even passed the 4:45 pacer. She help runners achieve their goals by leading them to a 4:57:26 marathon. I'm sure she was all smiles as usual! Her next race will be the Flying Pig in Cincinnati where she ran an official ultra last year with running friend Wayne Lambert.

Wayne decided not to run the race this year in hopes to be 100% for the Flying Pig, but he did volunteer at the Expo and answer running questions by edger first timers. Good luck at the PIG Wayne.

Radu Stoica the human training cog seems to find time to train with his busy work schedule, budding family and recent injury. Radu set a 3 minute PR in the half marathon with a 2:07:52 time. From what I hear he rather enjoyed watching "watching Travis's glorious suffering at the end of his 1st full marathon - PRICELESS! :)". Radu is continually running, biking, swimming and motivating runners like myself. He'll probably run another Ultra or something, just as a training run you know. ;)

Ramesh Balasubramania decided to run a half marathon on a whim, he received invaluable advice from his running friends Shahin Hadian and Radu Stoica. He finished the half marathon in 2:16:11 and finished within the first 100 of his age category. Congratulations Ramesh and keep up the running!

This ends my short recap and I'm sure I left off valuable information and details, I hope I represented all of the runners accomplishments.

Safe travels.

In 2008, the JTV running team showed determination and dedication on promoting a healthy lifestyle to fellow Jewelry Television employees while competing in the KTC Corporate Division races. The year was filled with countless acts of the team coming together to represent JTV well at local KTC races. The group would get together for groups runs snow or shine to encourage one another. Some even took up training beginner runners to help them meet their running goals. The team has numerous Allstar runners that should be acknowledged for their hard work, but one runner earned “JTV Runner of the Year” for 2008.

That would be Wayne Lambert, our team captain. Brad Adams was asked by the Knoxville Track Club to nominate one of the JTV runners for the “ROY” award in the Team Corporate Competition division and he said this about Wayne in his nomination: “I nominate Wayne Lambert from Jewelry TV. His accomplishments included coaching track workouts for his team, making his long time goal of qualifying for Boston and making a PR! He is truly an inspiration to his team.”

Shahin of Fleet Feet said "I know Wayne has been the backbone of our running at Fleet Feet. As a matter of fact, he and Robin are the reason we now have a thurs night group! Way to go Wayne." Shahin also said this, "Wayne & Robin have been active with JTV to get many of their co-workers into the sport of running. The year we opened our doors, they had already talked a group to train with them for the Knox 1/2 and they were doing a Thurs group run leaving from the bank near us. We met one day and I offered to host their runs. They did and that is how our Thurs group runs started."

Radu a fellow team member said this about Wayne and Robin "Without a doubt, Wayne and Robin changed my life, literally. Their initiative and inspiration sparked a fundamental change in my way of life, period. I keep repeating life-changing without any exaggeration, it's not just the love for the sport, I had that before, it's everything you do to be on a harmonious path. For me, that might translate into a rocky trail! But that's just me being over-driven at times... :)"

Congratulations Wayne and thanks for being a strong motivation for us!