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Running: Oh deer, what running story
By Joe Shafran, For The Capital
Wildlife often keeps local runners company
I noticed in the paper the other day that the state is using sharpshooters to try to thin down the deer herd at Sandy Point State Park and it reminds me of the true running story that is going around about the annual Sunday 5K Mother’s Day race at Westminster, in nearby Carroll County. The long-time race director, Joe Loveland, whose name sort of goes with the day, presents live plants, usually with flowers, as the awards.The floral shop that donates the plants ,delivers doubles of all the plants. They put one set at the finish line and the other in Joe’s van and there’s a reason for it . For the past few years just as the race is concluding, it’s been noticed that a white tail female deer saunters out of the woods, oblivious to the runners, walks over to the award plants and begins chomping away. This seems to be an annual tradition and the people don’t make a big deal about it. Sort of a secret of their own. They don’t encourage television and don’t want large crowds. They figure it’s the same deer each year which just looks forward to a meal of fresh petals. And I quote the mention in the recent issue of Runner’s Gazette about this past year’s race and it’s ending…" the deer is there to greet everyone at the finish line. Everyone sort of keeps their distance. The deer seems unafraid of humans and Joe and the gang like to think it’s free of ticks. Since Bobby Ward, the winner, got the biggest prize, it only made sense that the deer tried to eat part of his plant and when Ward escaped with plant in hand, the deer proceeded to socialize with the rest of the field, both on the road and in the area of their cars. Since no one wanted to take it home as a random prize, the deer was finally left alone near the finish line as the last runners drove away. Bobby, the track and cross country coach at Liberty, won the run in 24.55, . Tina McCubbin was first for the women at 27:42. I do need to tell you that beside Bobby and the man with Love in his name and Tina, , there were exactly ten other runners, one dog and of course the surprise guest at the finish line? . I think I did mention a few months ago about the five friendly deer that from time to time come out of the Annapolis Garden Farms woods to the edge of one of my running paths., gawk at me for a few seconds then bound back into the woods. But these guys are on this ( west ) side of the Severn River and must not be of the same tribe as that burgeoning band on the other side of the river in Broadneck and Sandy Point, the ones that keep on procreating and are to be contained by the sharpshooters. By the way, I’ve talked to some of the rangers at Sandy Point and they, too, say that they become familiar with some of the critters for three or four years and then are replaced by others.
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I need to talk about running shoes. In this era of scientific discovery, some of us cling to old superstitions and tend to resist change. I look at change in different ways and like to keep an open mind. Take for instance, today’s pick-up trucks. Not too many years ago we thought of a pickup as a light truck, a bench seat cab and an open box at the back. Nowdays we see a huge gold gilted SUV, with the rear window and trunk space out making it a "pickup" of sorts. And so it goes with running shoes. We tend to stick the ones that have been around for years maybe with some slight color variations. But now we begin to see the ones that have springs in them .I recently read that the power bounce shoes are not illegal in competition, according to a fellow named Herb Townsend who has run all this by the USATF. Herb, a runner, and now the owner of a start in shoe manufacturing, did an experiment a few years ago and compared our typical running shoe that he says has the conventional EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate) mid-sole to a pair of shoes in which he had stuffed a packet of dilitant compound in a cutout that he made in the mid-sole beneath the heel. The compound was a polymeric material similar to silly putty. which is soft and squishy when squeezed slowly , but bounces elastically when dropped on the floor. Herb thought it intuitive that such a material would be ideal for a running shoe, soft and cushioning at slow speeds but elastic and bouncy at a faster pace. And his experiment proved him right , that wearing the shoe with the dilitant implanted knocked 1.9 seconds off his time in a tenth of a mile run. Herb invites a visit to www.powerbounce.com for further information.
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This time of year when I want to get a running fix, I head to the Naval Academy as I did last Saturday to see the college teams at the track and field Invitational at Halsey Field House. There, too, one gets a preview of what’s new in track shoes .I talked with a sprinter from the University of Pennsylvania and asked if he would continue running, meaning distance , after college and he said probably not. He was more into getting an advanced degree and be on with his profession. He did say he entered a few 5K’s and did very well, but had no interest in distances. Earlier in the week, I never expected to talk running at a basketball game, but I guess one can’t escape the subject in this town. This was the Navy-American University game. Seems like the major-domo at Alumni Hall events in which the basketball arena is located, is the long-time former runner, Ron Wolf, I say major domo, because he seems in charge, spiffily dressed in coat and tie and and wearing one of those official Naval Academy I.D. tags.I saw him at half time and he just loves to talk running. He reminds that he was one of those pioneers who used to do the 24 hour marathons at Fort Meade many years ago before running was as popular as it is today and the proceeds to reel off the names of the living and dead distance runners around here. I understand that Ron was long into education and sports in these parts .I say used to be a runner. He admits that his knees gave out some time ago from all that running, but now with two knew ones, goodness knows what new records may be set.
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Al Cantello, the legendary cross country coach at the Academy was definitely at the track meet and was reported to have been at the game, but having missed him Wednesday night, I was in touch the next day and he reminds of the second annual memorial walk for Willie McCool… Commander Willie McCool, the Academy graduate and champion cross-country runner, who was pilot of the space shuttle Columbia that blew apart over Texas two years ago February 1st, just 15 minutes from a Cape Canaveral landing killing all aboard. The walk is on the cross country trail at the U.S. Naval Station,
February 1st , at 8:30 A.M. It’s entitled" Fifteen Minutes From Home". Be in touch with Coach Cantello at 410-293- 5574.
Running Calendar
Sat.Jan 22, 8 A.M. Frederick… FSRC . John and Mike Lewis Memorial 10 miler.Call 301- 663-0712.
Sunday, Jan. 23, 11A.M. Wilmington, De 16th Bankshots Road to the Super Bowl 5K, Contact Wayne Kursh (302) 654-6400.
Sat. Feb.5 and Sun. Feb.6. Tampa, Florida. Bank of America Gasparella Distance Classic. Marathon, half marathon, 15K and 5K. (813) 254-7866.
Fri. ,April 15, The 12th Dead Sea Ultra Marathon. "Run To The Lowest
Point On Earth". 50K, 42K and 21K, Jordan. Internet www.deadseamarathon.com
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