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Cops on the run
By Joe Shafran, For The Capital
I watch COPS on TV and in almost every episode there’s a foot chase and of course on TV the cops most always catch the bad guy, but each time I see a chase I say those cops would do well in an actual distance race. There they are running with a gun belt that with all the accouterments that Officer Don Clime of the Anne Arundel County Police Department estimates must weigh 15 pounds and that’s not counting a vest that weighs a couple of pounds, but that also severely restricts mobility, and to boot, the cops are in their street shoes. So that’s why I say each time I watch the show, that there ought to be a race where they can downsize to shorts and sneakers and run to a finish line. And would you believe that there is such a race coming up next month and it’s just up the road from us the 12th of May at the U.S. Secret Service Training Center at Beltsville? Close to eight thousand law enforcement officers from around the U.S. will be doing relays in what is known as the 50K challenge. These will all be qualified runners. No joggers. It’s not open to the public. I’m reminded there’s a similar run in Howard County each year that is open . And according to Corporal A. Joe Hatcher and Lt. Tom Wheeler of the Anne Arundel County Police department, who will be running , the Anne Arundel contingent at Beltsville will be 10 men and women officers, plus two alternates. Corporal Hatcher is the Captain of the team.
Then earlier this month, the winners of another Challenge called the Stairwell Challenge, put on by the Anne Arundel County Department of Health in which employees are encouraged to walk the steps of the County office buildings rather than doing the elevator. I hope I’m not giving away any secrets when I note that one of the winners is a marathoner, Kathy Hanson, the court reporter, who did 3100 steps in the six week contest. One of the other winners was Claudia O’Keefe who did 3200 steps. More than a couple thousand steps in this contest is the equivalent of climbing some of the world’s highest mountains.
Not too long ago, I was having breakfast in Eastport, I ran into a reader of this column, Chris Kaminoff of Annapolis, who is known more of a tennis player than a runner, (her husband Bill does the running ). Chris was telling me about her running sister in Connecticut, Karen Morgan, in her fifties, who is getting major attention by doing a race in each of the more than 200 towns in Connecticut. Sounded like a good story, so I did talk with Karen Morgan, a physical education teacher and a marathoner. You’ve read in this column about people who run marathons in all fifty states, but finding someone who will run a race in every town in her state that has a race is something else. She got the idea about six years ago and will no doubt finish up the last 40 runs in the next year or so.
A note about some local runners, who want it to be known that their timing in the recent Cherry Pit 10 miler at Edgewater was a bit slower than usual and for which there was a compelling reason. Peter Salmon-Cox, who once ran a marathon on the A-deck of a cruise ship when the ship could not dock in time for the marathon on land, had knee surgery and thus his slower time and his odd running style. And then there’s Will Myers, the Severna Park principal, who has never found a marathon that he didn’t like. He’s had a bit of an eye problem and didn’t want to jiggle anything loose, so ran at a slower pace at Edgewater. but did finish in a minute or two less than two hours. But better than that, it was his 16th year for running that race and detached retina or not, he wasn’t about to break the string.
In the previous column, I predicted that many of our locals would do well in the Boston Marathon and they did. I don’t have a list of all the finishers, but I did get a list of the runners on the U.S. Naval Academy Marathon Club, all of whom ended up among the first thousand of the 17,000 runners. They are now in training for another difficult marathon in Chicago later this year. They will be among the nearly 35 thousand in that one. Also in training for that one is a former Chicago winner, Khalid Khanouchi, who ran the London in 2:05:38 four years ago at the age of 24 and is boasting already that he’s going to break the two hour mark this time at Chicago. His record was broken at the 2003 Berlin Marathon by Paul Tergot who did it in 2:04:55. I would imagine that all eyes in the racing world will be on Chicago that day, knowing that the Naval Academy runners will surely be breaking the 3 hour mark, and watching to see if Khalid can break the 2 hour mark. I predict that if the wind is right , he will do it.
And if you missed the first sessions of the Annapolis Striders training class for runners, you might try to still get in by calling 410-268-1165. Also, keep in mind that the Maryland chapter of the Lukemia and Lymphoma Society is starting its Team In Training sessions throughout the state for half and full marathons coming up in the next few months. One of the informational sessions will be at the Annapolis West Street Library, next Wednesday, May 4th at 6 P.M. For information and the locations of other instructional sessions , call Jessica Suriano at 1-800-242-4572.
Race Results
Boston Marathon, Mon. April 18th. , Naval Academy
Marathon Club, who list Annapolis as their place of residence, these are what the marathon officials list as net times…
1. Jordan Jones, 22, 2:46;46
2. Wallace Miller. 20, 2:47:38.
3. Curtis Prentice. 24, 2:51:40
4. Douglas Marsh, 20, 2:52:05
5. Patrick Reed, 23, 2:53:35
6. Walter Dickson 22, 2:55:59
7. James Cathro, 23, 2:57:04
8. Timothy O’connor, 20, 2:59:13
9. Jacob Montoya, 20, 3:03:09
10. John Rashap, 20, 3:03:49
11. Paulstephen Cherico, 24, 3:05:05
12. Nathan Nudelman, 29, 3:05:59 ( the coach)
13. Brian Richards, 22, 3:06:18
14. Michael Moorse, 20, 3:07:11
15. Mosi Smith, 22, 3:11:49
16. Patrick Johnsen, 20, 3:13:19
17. John Burger, 22, 3:15:03
18. Judd Baker, 36, 3:15:58 ( the Navy O Rep)
19. Elizabeth Kealey, 22, 3:20:34
20. Joshua Faucet, 22, 3:28:23
21. Brad Reed, 21, 3:30:55
22. Lindsay Duncan, 19, 3:35:51
23. Jaime Brant, 22, 3:36:37
24. Stephanie Hoffman, 22, 3:39:30
Running Calendar
Sunday, May 1st, Frederick, 7:30 A.M - 3rd Annual Marathon and 5 K . Visit frederickmarathon dot org. for information.
Sat May 7th, 9 A.M. Downs Memorial Park, Pasadena., “Pop Trot” , .7th Annual David “Pop” Warner Memorial 5 K run and 1 mile fun walk. Rain or shine. Call Wendy Warner at 410-437-3981. Pop Warner, teacher, coach, mentor and friend was killed in a tragic accident in North Carolina in January 1999. Races benefit Memorial Baseball Fund.
Sat May 14th, Pimlico Race Track, Baltimore. Preakness 5K Sorry, but to avoid weather- related problems, rather than on the dirt track, the race will be run on nearby streets ,but will finish through the tunnel and on the infield, where a party atmosphere will prevail. Call 1-837-3030 for details.
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