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Drop in temperature sign of running times?
By JOE SHAFRAN
In all my years of running along Bestgate Road in Annapolis, I‘ve passed by every type of sign there is. However, the other day, amongst all the others, , there was one in the grass strip across from the Mall advertising a race, the Key School 5/10K on Sunday, October 21 and I was so impressed that I came back with a camera and took a picture I would hope that the runners at the Key School event get a break from the hot weekend weather we’ve had the past few weeks. This past Sunday, the afternoon temperature at BWI Marshall got got up to 91 with high humidity. It was just as hot in Chicago, and after one person died(possibly heart related ) and dozens of runners in the Marathon had collapsed, officials stopped the race. Close to 40,000 were running. There was also a report of a fatality Sunday at the Army Ten Miler in Washington DC. Nearly 25,000 started that race. But apparently the Steamtown Marathon at Scranton, Pennsylvania, went off without too many problems on Sunday Locally, I stopped by two races Sunday morning and was told that attendance was down from last year and the directors did think it was due to the heat. One was the Jody Reitz memorial run at South River Colony at Edgewater, with close to 200 runners and/or walkers. The other was the Cliff Roop Heartsmart at Kinder Farm Park also, with about 200.
The race of the week (next week) is that well-publicized Key School 5K/10K Run and Family Fun Run at the school in Hillsmere Shores in Annapolis on October 21st. They invite runners of all ages and experience levels. I did that 5k and can say that the route is picturesque, in the fall especially, as you get a look at the South River. Proceeds go the school parents’ association.
The runner of the week is a high school cross-country athlete, Hillary Lee, from South River High, who was first across the finish line in 20 minutes in the girls AI race at the annual Doc Jones invitational at Annapolis High last Saturday. I admired the determination on this girl’s face as she burst out of the trail in the woods and into the chute.
At the Chicago Marathon, there were some local runners, including a group of midshipmen, men and women, on the Naval Academy Marathon Team. They seemed to have come through the race without problems. In a radio interview last Saturday from Chicago, their coach, Nathan Nudelman, had said that he expected the hot and humid weather would slow his team, but predicted that the mids time would be in the 2:40 to 3 hour range, well before they canceled the run. The Chicago winner was from Kenya who grueling did it in 2:11. The Navy team was in Chicago on Sunday, just a week after winning a meet against Army and Air Force at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and opted for Chicago this year, rather than their usual run at the Steamtown marathon at Scranton, Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Oh, yes… Scranton, did you happen to see the episode of The Office TV show last week where Michael Scott, the Scranton office manager of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Supply company, organized a 5K race to raise funds to conquer rabies. They raised $300. The show is a comedy of sorts, so the race was a dysfunctional 5K. They had start and finish lines and did have a a water stop, but some of the office staff started the race in street clothes, then hopped into a cab, which they had wait outside a restaurant while they ate, and then had it drop them off around the corner from the finish line. Some of the others, in running outfits, did some shopping along the way. Michael, who organized and ran it, collapsed at the two mile mark, but managed to pull himself together and finish the race, but in full view of the entire crowd, bent over and threw up.
Running Calendar
Sun. Oct 21, 9 A.M. Annapolis, Key School 5K/10K Run and Family Fun Run, Hillsmere Dr.
Go to www.keyschool.org for information.
Sun. Oct. 28, West Annapolis, 9 A.M. Annual Halloween 5K Run and Fun Run for the Kids., 108 Forbes St.
Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Center
Prizes for the best costumes.
For info call 443.688.5011
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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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