Lou LaFleur Honored with the President’s Award by the Greater Long Island Running Club

Lou LaFleur Honored with the President’s Award by the Greater Long Island Running Club

At the annual GLIRC dinner/dance on Februray 3rd, 2018, our very own Lou LaFleur was honored with club’s President’s Award.

GLIRC president, Mike Polansky acknowledged, “Lou has been a GLIRC Executive Board member for several years and the founder and guiding light of the Selden Hills Warriors, one of the most impressive and active grass roots running groups that has arisen on Long Island or anywhere else.”

Well stated by Mike, and I think we would all agree.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lou was accompanied by not just his club members, but his family as well.

“It was an honor I will cherish and I had my family there as guests of the club to celebrate with me.”

Lou with wife Nancy, son Brian, daughter Lindsay and son-in-law Matt

 

The annual GLIRC dinner/dance is an evening of dining, dancing, socializing with your running buddies. This year’s event was held at the Crest Hollow Country Club in Woodbury and included  cocktail hour and buffet, unlimited premium liquors, wine, beer available throughout the evening, sit down dinner, dessert with Viennese Table, plus an International Coffee and Cordial Bar.

If this sounds good to you, be sure to join your GLIRC and be ready for next year!

 

The Battle of the Selden Hills Warriors & the Seven Beasts- featured on longislandpress.com

This story was published on longislandpress.com, written by our own Jamie Franchi after the Run for the Hill of it Race. 

They call themselves the Selden Hills Warriors.

If you ask me, the word “warrior” gets thrown around a little too casually these days. This isn’t Sparta. We don’t wear armor or battle with swords. These are mostly corporate folks, after all, running in their spare time. Athletes, certainly. But warriors? Let’s just say I had my doubts, right up until I pulled into the parking lot that now houses a brand new Aldi’s on Middle Country Road, where runners crowded around a light pole marked with a Selden Hills sticker, their starting point for the most treacherous running course on Long Island.

Behind my sticker-less minivan, athletes decked out in matching red gear stretched their limber bodies, readying themselves to tackle the nefarious “Hills of the Seven Sisters,” the steep mounds that mark the tough terrain of this 10k course, known to these runners as “The Seven Beasts.”

“These are serious runners,” I texted my friend Mike “Chicken” Butitta, a runner whose boundless energy and enthusiasm for every single thing in the world, especially these hills, piqued my curiosity back when my running sneakers were safely in my closet, collecting dust. “I’m not getting out of my car. Let’s go to IHOP instead.”
Chicken has been a Hillbilly (as they call themselves) since October 2013. At first, he ran to take off excess weight and to get in better shape. He runs local races with his wife (and my friend) Kelli, setting achievable goals and then smashing them. But something about the Hills calls to him. Later I found out what.

Alas, that Sunday morning, Chicken didn’t have his phone with him, and would not receive my text until long after I’d finished the 6.2 mile run and was icing my sore knees on my couch at home. That turned out to be a good thing, because as delicious as Nutella pancakes are, had I turned away from the Selden Hills running group that morning, I would have missed out on a life-changing experience with some of the most incredible people living right here on Long Island.

“I love all the inspirational stories that people on the Hills have and I love that so many are just nice,” he texted me later when he had his phone. “Some of the best people I’ve met anywhere. They are so supportive at races or anywhere you run into a fellow Hillbilly.”

Humble Beginnings

Lou LaFleur, director and organizer of the Selden Hills Warriors, doesn’t have a long history of running. In fact, it wasn’t until 1999 when he was 43 years old and saw a sign for the Shelter Island 5k hanging in the post office where he worked as a federal agent that he decided to try it out. It was a tough race, but he was hooked. He currently competes in approximately 50 races per year and serves on the board of directors for the Greater Long Island Running Club (GLIRC).

By 2010, LaFleur was looking to increase his times with varied training: track work, some tempo runs, long runs. He’d read in Runner’s World that running on hills provides a complete training. The only problem? We live on a flat island.

Or do we?

Click here to read the rest at longislandpress.com!

Katy’s Kinetic Korner- September

September Katy’s Kintetic Korner:

September was a big racing month for everyone on the SHW team! Congrats to everyone’s accomplishments! What a super team to be a part of as I have enjoyed watching everyone’s gains this month!! My korner this month is dedicated to learning
some serious lessons! This month I spent much time making errors and analyzing them…..probably too much. :)As the group’s lab rat, I found this month I was somewhat of my own experiment as well. Read more

Katy’s Kinetic Korner May Update

Katy’s Kinetic Korner monthly summary for May, 2015
I completed 5 Selden Hills 10K runs in this my first month of my journey. I improved my times each and every time out! Thanks to some great runners I have met along the way that pushed me to go harder and thanks to the great coaching as well! Couldn’t ask for better then that right? So here is my summary chart. If you were following along and doing the same experiment, how did you make out?
Lou ‘s Reminder: you really should be out there once a week to develop and keep any gains you make.

Read more

December Warriors of the Month- Debra Franchi & Michael DiBartolo

We once again have co winners for the Warrior of the Month for the month of December! Congratulations to Debra Miccio-Franchi and Michael DiBartolo who both ran 90.4 miles on our hills courses to beat out all other challengers!! Hopefully last months winner Kristen Girardi and the both of them can make it down to the hills on Sunday at 8AM to complete the trophy hand off.

Thank you all who participated in the contest this year! Hopefully we will have even more hillbillies competing this year for the coveted trophy when we start anew beginning today for the January Warrior of the Month title!!

Debra MichaelDi

Warriors of the Year are Crowned

Warriors of the Year are Crowned

warriroroftheyearAt this year’s 4th Annual New Year’s Eve Run, the first Warriors of the Year were crowned. Congratulations for KC Brett and Joanne Styles for accumulating such impressive mileage on our challenging course! KC topped the men’s side with exactly 620 miles, while Joanne completed 475.9.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our friendly, motivating competition! Remember, to be eligible for Warrior of the Month (and Warrior of the Year) you must complete a monthly minimum of 24.8 miles (one 10k per week) AND report your mileage to Lou at the end of each month. Review the rules here.

Wishing everyone a happy and healthy running new year!