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Race focuses on life-saving
By JOE SHAFRAN
Some of my fellow columnists and others at the Capital have a great interest in running and make sure I don’t miss a step. Crownsville columnist Elaine Nagey’s yearly reminder of the memorial race for her late husband grips my heart. He was the world renowned physician, and a runner, who collapsed and died of a heart attack a few years ago in a fund raising race near their home almost in sight of his wife and family. That race of remembrance is in the future.Then there’s Jo Jones, known as the Green Hornet lady at Severn Park who has taken on a cause that concerns all of us. Each year for the past few years, she has helped to promote the Heart Smart 5K, coming up Sunday, October 8th, at Kinder Park at Millersville. When I think of this race, my mind returns many years back to the Tylenol incident in the Midwest that changed the world of packaging, so that now everything is tightly sealed. The Heart Smart race is helping in a world-wide change also, but in a different and life- saving matter. It’s a movement that may have gotten some of its momentum right here in Anne Arundel County. It was in the ante room outside the County Council chambers in Annapolis not too many years ago, that a member of Council, Cliff Roop, collapsed from a heart attack. Precious seconds ticked away as the then-available treatment was tried. Cliff died on the floor of the Arundel Center. If it happened today, there needn’t be a Cliff Roop situation. Within arms reach at the Arundel Center there is now a computerized hand-held device called an AED, automated external defibrillator. Today, around the world, especially in public places, thanks to the legacy of Cliff and the work of Jo Jones and others, you will see a sticker pointing to the wall- mounted AED. It doesn’t require a certified medical technician to operate it. It saves those precious seconds and has saved many lives. On October 8th, most all of the $20 registration fee for the 5K run/walk will go the Cliff R. Roop Foundation, committed to increasing the chances of surviving sudden cardiac arrest with the placement of the defibrillators. Call Brenda at 410.990.1050.
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This happens to me quite often. When I start spinning tales about all my running , people ask if I know Ben Moore of Annapolis. When I answer that he’s my running mentor and that I know him from way back, it lends a sort of legitimacy to my work. Just the other day, a couple sitting next to us at Bagels And..., possibly spotting the Marine lanyard I was wearing for my I.D. tag, asked if I was Ben Moore. Ben, a contemporary, also has a shaved head. Turns out that the couple now lives in England and was visiting here. They are runners, thanks to Ben. Several years ago, when they lived here, they joined up with Moore’s Marines, and trained under Ben and ran and finished a Marine Marathon . They said they will never forget it. So, when people mistake me for Ben Moore of Annapolis, I guess I’ve come of age. I do know of this about Ben. He’s so into running that when there’s snow or ice on the ground, you’ll find him at the rubberized track inside Halsey field house at the Naval Academy. Sixty years ago, Moore, a midshipman, was an outstanding running back for Navy. And here’s something he taught me just a couple of years ago. I never could understand how he could withstand the marathon pace at a somewhat advanced age ( I think he’s in his seventies and at his side most anyplace in running or volunteering, is his wife Betty). As for his secret, he tells me that in a race these days, he walks. He runs for several minutes, then walks for a minute or two. He does save his knees doing this and I predict he’ll be out there running in his nineties. I offer Ben’s tip, but remember, it’s only for runners in their seventies.
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Some of the odd things one sees or is told about along the running routes. Mike Fuller, the Sergeant in Security at the Anne Arundel Medical Center reminded me of the story Sunday in the Washington Post about the runners in Southern Maryland, whose final timing is determined by the number of Dunkin Donuts they consume before, not after, their runs. And runners in Edgewater get their kicks each day by watching the price of a gallon of gasoline drop precipitously at the Xtra Mart Fuels station on Solomon’s Island Rd., sometimes twice a day. Other runners in Northern Virginia are doing likewise, watching a station in Gainesville where by this time this week ,the price of a gallon of regular should be well under $2.
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Running Calendar:
Saturday Bowie/Crofton and Severna Park,8 and 10 A.M.. Walk and 5K run, sponsored by the Pregnancy Clinic.Walk at Allen Pond in Bowie . Run the 5K on the /B&A Trail in Severna Park. For the finite details . Call 301.262.1330 .
Sunday, Oct. 1 Southern High School, Harwood, 8 A.M… Strider’s Metric Marathon (26.2K, about 16 miles). Call John Gallagher at 301.855.0744. Sixth in championship series.
Sunday, Oct. 1 South River Colony, Edgewater. 9 A.M. 3rd Annual Jodi Reitz Commemorative 5K. Call Ginny Meerman at 410.798.0124.
Sunday Oct 8 Kinder Farm Park, Millersville, 10 A.M. The Cliff R .. Roop 5K run/walk. Roop Foundation and Comcast Cable. Call Brenda at 410.990.1050. Great warm-up for the Baltimore Running Festival.
Saturday, Oct 14 Baltimore. The running festival, marathon, half marathon, 5k, 4 person relay, kid’s fun run. On line at thebaltimoremarathon.com . Deadline for mail or faxed entry is Oct. 1.
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