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Running: Runners show they can beat the heat
By Joe Shafran, For The Capital
A few years back when I would run the annual Key West marathon in February, the start gun went off at daybreak, about 5:30, and the course would close about 9:30 to avoid the Florida heat. Those days, 85 degrees was considered oppressive. However, the human body must have developed greater tolerance. I didn´t see anyone gasping at the John Wall mile at the Broadneck High School track Saturday when the heat index was about 104.
And as if the mile run wasn´t enough for one day, the winner, Scott Koehler, a Broadneck graduate and now a Salisbury student in his early 20, was headed to Rockville that evening to run the twilight 8K.
Several others were headed to Rockville as well, including Davidsonville´s Maria Shields, in her early 50, who used the mile as a warm-up to the upcoming JFK 50-miler.
And Don Singer, who may well have turned 70 by the time this column is on his downtown Annapolis doorstep, said he had no ill effects from doing the mile. In fact, this past April, it was about the same temperature when Singer ran his first Boston Marathon in a little over 4 hours.
The mile race memorializes John Wall, the local runner who made the 1936 U.S. Olympic team.
So, let´s quit talking about how hot it is.
Runners are out whatever the temperature.
BRUSHING UP: A few month ago, when I gave a pep talk to Cindy Barney´s cross-country team at St. Anne´s Day School in Annapolis, the thing that seemed to impress them most was the pair of Chuck Taylor tennis shoes I brought along to show what I started running in. I explained that until the early ´60s, there were few if any of the name brand shoes that we have today.
I didn´t tell the kids that I still kick myself that I hadn´t opened a shoe store for runners many years back. I thought of what has happened with running shoes the Sunday before last, when the Athlete´s Foot store at Westfield Shoppingtown was getting a new coat of paint after 10 years. The owner, Gary Lidard, was "helping" the painters. They had given him a brush and a ladder and told him to go dab here and there. I´m sure Lidard was there by necessity. Someone had to remove the more than 300 different shoes from the wall displays, then put them back up once the yellow paint had dried.
In my day there was one shoe, Chuck Taylor, and you had a choice of color as long as it was dirty white. Lidard and his staff handled 300 and that was just part of the selection these days.
Lidard and Bob Bridges opened a running store many years ago in downtown Annapolis, then moved to the Mall when it opened about 20 years ago. The two, both long-time runners, have expanded their operation both at the Mall and the Baltimore area.
They have have been fitting shoes for 25 years and I believe Lidard likes to stay put next to J.C. Penny´s because there is a built-in running track, the length of a football field, adjacent to his store on which people can test-drive their shoes.
Lidard always kept running in the family. He met his late wife when she called on him as a running shoe representative.
RIGHT OF WAY: Not at all unexpected, the Annapolis lawyer who I accused of running the wrong way on a one-way street downtown last month left me a voice mail saying he was there before the street. So, how could there be a violation?
I had mentioned his name, Gill Cochran, who I have come to find is one of the more prolific runners around Annapolis, as head of the 6:06 running club. Some of his fame comes from his having been interviewed on Good Morning America, but I actually heard him say emphatically it was Sixty Minutes.
And I will not retract my statement that he´s still in trouble because he didn´t have his City-issued License to Sweat around his neck the day I saw him and on that, he muttered some excuse also on the voice mail message.
I´ll run it back and see if there´s any legitimacy to what he says. And speaking of the License to Sweat, let me clear the air. I´m getting some questions about the license and perhaps those at City Hall are also, asking if Annapolis actually has the gall to require a license to sweat. The so-called license is a tongue-in-cheek thing and is neither a requirement nor another revenue source.
It started as a spoof a few years back by then City Clerk, with a sense of humor, Patti Bembi, a runner, and the issuance of the license is now an annual event, continued by former Mayors Hopkins and Johnson and carried on by the present Mayor, Ellen Moyer.
It is issued to a deserving Annapolis runner, with a warning not to wear down the streets and sidewalks or drip sweat on patrons of the downtown sidewalk cafes when they run.
Running results
Severna Park Mile Fourth of July
Top female runners: Danielle Siebenhaar 6:50; Clara Saunders 6:53; Karen Cyr 6:56
Kiwanis MARC Train 5 miler
Bill Burlison, race founder, has run it since 1995
First Kiwanian to cross the finish line was Michael Rafter of Odenton
Male winner of the 5 miler was Mikias Gelagle, 16, Greenbelt, 29:15
Female winner, Gloria Santarpia, 44, Odenton, 34:52
Age class winners:
15 and under _ 1. Ray Turish, 15, Wheaton, 39:35, 36th overall; 1st female, Veronica Salcido, 14, Rockville, 35:48, 17th overall
16-19 _ 1. Donald Lockhart, 16, Greenbelt, 31:04, 4th overall; 1st female, Nayda Pirela, 18, Beltsville, 37:30, 29th
20-29 _ 1. John Ritchie, 24, Woodbridge , Va., 33:00 11th; 1st woman, Jaime-Leigh Joroff, 24, Crofton, 36:35, 23rd
30-39 _ 1. Eric MacMakovsky , 32, Hanover, 30:21, 3rd; 1st female, Karen Kalber, 39,Crofton 38:55, 34th
40-49 _ 1. Steve Morrell, 41, Arlington, Va., 31:06, 5th; 1st. female, Laurel Bell, 43, Crownsville, 40th
50-59 _ 1. Marc Sengebusch, 51, Catonsville, 32:09, 9th; 1st female, Maria Shields, 54, Davidsonville, 39:18 , 35th
60-69 _ 1. Imants Celtnieks, 60, Wheaton 38:41, 32nd
70-79 _ 1. Milt Taylor , Odenton, 72, 45:15, 62; 1., Jeanette Chambers, 70, Odenton, 55:19, 91
Women´s Distance Festival 5k and Run After the Women 5k, July 9:
OVERALL _ Women: 1- Jill Hargis 19:49; 2- Sheryl Kline 20:08
Men: 1-Andrew Madison 16:33; 2-Scott Koehler 16:54
14-under _ Women: 1-Hannah Rivers 21:28; 2-Emma Podolin 23:40; Men: 1-Stephen Guth 20:34; 2-Spencer Robinson 20:43
15-19_ 1-Emily Nagle 21:17; 2-Stephanie Kurth 24:32; Men: 1-Charles Robertson 17:29, 2-Matthew Gelety 18:23
20-24 _ Women: 1-Lindsay Vecchio 23:39, 2-Eileen Fisher 24:05; Men: 1-Craig Schmidt 17:01; 2-Joshua Monthei 18:01
25-29 _ Women: 1-Heather Dutton 26:41, 2-Kim Johnson 27:57; Men: 1-Brad Bower 21:18, 2-Ryan Polk 21:20
30-34 _ Women: 1-JoAnna Goger 21:19,
2-Jennifer Schoenberger 21:57; Men: 1-Danny Bennett 17:06; 2-Nathan Nudelman 17:48
35-39 _ Women: 1-Holly Marcum 21:12, 2-Paula Loucas 23:47; Men: 1-Thor Young 19:30; 2-Greg Behrmann 19:40
40-44 _ Women: 1-Marjorie Boyd 20:46, 2-Theresa Kaufman 21:03; Men: 1-Tom Hattar 17:58, 2-John Gygax 18:51
45-49 _ Women: 1-Carole Rosasco 20:45, 2-Ellen McGee 22:53; Men: 1-Lee Kaufman 17:50; 2-Paul Serra 18:57
50-54 _ Women: 1-Maria Shields 22:52, 2-Patricia Snodgrass 24:11; Men: 1-Mike Lord 19:57, 2-Mike Higgins 20:33
55-59 _ Women: 1-Rose Malloy 21:37, 2-Meredith Bonta 24:11; Men: 1-Jon Palks 23:12, 2-Peter Boice 24:35
60-64 _ Women: 1-BJ King 24:18, 2-Judy Gilbert 24:56; Men: 1-John Kirkpatrick 19:46; 2-Thomas Beitinger 22:17
65-69 _ Women: 1-Tami Graf 28:06, 2-Patricia Rich 40:07; Men: 1-William Rogers, 29:21, 2-Barry Hoffer 30:52
70-over: Women: 1-Yvonne Aasen 35:22; 2-Betty Moore 41:55; Men: 1-Brad Chapman 32:03; 2-William Douglas 34:57
Calendar
Aug. 13-14: Noon to noon, Annapolis High School Track. Annapolis Striders second 24-hour relay, named the MD DC RRCA 24 Hour Relay Team Championship. Contact Richard Hillman, coordinator, 410-263-1844 or 443-994-6601.
Aug. 6: Dewey Beach, Delaware, 4th Venus On The Half Shell 5K run and walk. Benefits Dewey Beach lifeguards. Visit racestorun.com. There are a 10K and a 5K run/walk on Aug. 20, also noted on the same web site.
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