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Moore's legacy lives on with distance runners
By JOE SHAFRAN
It’s considered by the City of Annapolis to be a tongue-in cheek-type award. It’s the License To Sweat, given these past few years by the City to an exemplary Annapolis runner. The first one went to John Astle. At a City Dock ceremony this past summer, Mayor Ellen Moyer presented the 2007 license to Ben Moore, and he may have taken it seriously. Two of the stipulations of the license require runners to vary their stride and route so as not to wear a groove in the sidewalks and streets of the historic city and that runners are prohibited from dripping sweat on patrons and their food at the sidewalk cafes. It is said that in recent months, Ben, a Naval Academy graduate, was doing some of his running on the indoor track at Halsey Field House and also riding a stationary bike there at top speed with the resistance set at the tightest level. In my previous column, January 3rd, Ben was named the Runner of the Week, not because he was sick in bed but, as I said in the column, that anytime the subject of running comes up, it usually includes Ben Moore. The column appeared on a Thursday... Betty Moore, Ben’s wife and the consummate runner and fitness person herself, said the column was read in the Moore household. Ben passed away in his sleep that night. He was 82. Betty tells me that an Academy memorial is planned, but that the process takes time and that an announcement will be made. At the license presentation last summer, Ben was in his running outfit. He may very well have run to City Dock and then ran back home to Admiral Heights.
In the late ‘70s, Ben, a Marine Lt. Colonel and an advocate of running, was all for the beginning of the Marine Marathon. It is on record that as a young Marine he once ran a hundred miles from the top of Mount Hood to the Oregon coast. Also, as a star half back on the Navy football team, legend has it that he once contested the timing near the end of one of the Army-Navy games in Philadelphia, refusing to hand the ball to the referee and with 50,000 Army spectators charging onto the field toward Ben, Ben ran off the field with the game ball and supposedly ran all the way back to Annapolis with it . Ben ran those early Marine marathons as did I, and it was impossible not to get to know him. I did take notice, of all the people who came to Washington wearing those Moore’s Marines tee shirts. I was a District resident at the time. He thought so much of running, that he began Moore’s Marines here in Annapolis and trained hundreds to complete those 26.2 miles. Ben thought beyond the Marine run, and in some years would take some of his Marines to Ireland to do both the Dublin Marathon and what many called the pub run. In one of the Marine runs, in 1978, a young college-age kid from Annapolis, Scott Eden, outran both Ben and me and the 6,000 others and won the race in 2:18. Eden became a medical doctor here in Annapolis and has never given up his love of running. Ben, in his later years, did a lot of running, and as life would have it ,would seek medical advice from that upstart kid, who in 1978 wowed the world and us in winning the Marine Marathon in a time very seldom matched these days.
And for many, the legacy of Ben Moore will live on. This coming Saturday morning, January 19, Ron Bowman and others who conduct the current Moore’s Marines have arranged a 7:30 memorial run from the Conte professional Building on Defense Highway (MD Rte 450) in Annapolis . It’s especially for all those who are Moore’s Marines’ graduates of the past 25 years and other who might want to honor the man. Betty Moore plans to be there but she tells me she will not do the run. She is needed at the Naval Academy that morning to help time a track meet. For more details call Bowman at 410.573.1929.
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Runner of the Week... Arnie Henderson. He is being nominated and seconded by Don Singer of Annapolis, also in his 70’s who was mentioned recently in this column and who claims Henderson is a far better runner than he ever was. Hearing no objections, Henderson, long in the Strider’s hierarchy, is hereby voted Runner of the Week.
Hint of the week. In his Sunday Capital column, the Diet Detective suggests that by drinking chilled water rather than hot or water at room temperature , one gets two benefits. It furnishes hydration, great for runners, but also causes the body to use energy to bring the cold hydration up to 98.6 degrees, causing one to burn calories and thus lose weight.
Race of the week... the run into and out of the chilly Chesapeake Bay at Sandy Point State Park on Saturday, January 26th, the Polar Bear Plunge supporting Special Olympics. They say that some participants do a 4 minute mile running into the water and out.
There is a new marathoner in town, James (Jim) MacKay II, of Edgewater, who shows the Road Runners Club of America symbol on his business card. He will teach runners how to get ready for a marathon. MacKay is a helicopter pilot who served tours of duty in Iraq and now flies one of the Maryland State Police medical helicopters. He is just getting settled in, but his e-mail is james.mackay@comcast.net.
Running Calendar
Sat. Feb. 9th. 10:A.M. Valentine 5K (1st leg of the Annapolis Strider’s championship series) Kinder Farm Park, Severna Park, 26th year. visit www.annapolisstriders.org.
Sun. Mar. 2, 7:30.A.M. B&A Trail Marathon & Half Marathon…
Meet at Severna Park High School. www.annapolisstriders.org .
It’s the 17th year for the marathon and the 13th for the half.
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If you have a suggestion for the runner of the week,
please e-mail me with a contact number.
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