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New runners would do well to reach 'addiction point'
By JOE SHAFRAN
This is Thanksgiving morning and If you would like to see a genuine live wild turkey, have your breakfast and drive or bike to the YMCA’s Camp Letts, on the waterfront near Edgewater. They’re having their 7th Annual Turkey trot 10K run and 5K run/walk and the race brochure claims that on their wooded scenic trails it is possible to see wild turkeys. There’s one catch. When the first race starts at 8:30, they close off the narrow seemingly mile-long one lane road to the camp and the start line and if you are even a half-minute late, you’ll have to park near the entrance and hoof it, which isn’t such a bad idea at that. The race brochure also says Letts has been around in the woods on the tributary creek of the South River for a hundred years and, noting that sponsoring a race or walk is a neat way to raise money, they joined in on the craze seven years ago and have done very well each time.
I’m sure with good weather this morning, the Chase should attract a nice crowd and help swell the YMCA coffers, just another indication of the growth of running. And one thing for sure, runners are going to need shoes and something to wear, and there should be an ample selection around here. For the past year and a half, among others, we’ve had the Gotta Run store and haberdashery in downtown Annapolis. Very soon, Marty and Scott Broerman of Annapolis will open a Fleet Feet running store just over the Spa Creek draw span in Eastport and the other day at the Annapolis Mall, I could see through an opening on the paper covering the windows that they were unpacking running shoes at what will be Finish Line dot com . And with all this running business, it’s only natural to be getting an association of running stores, but this one,called the IRRA, will represent only independent non-franchise running stores, like Gotta Run. IRRA stands for Independent Running Retailers of America and will represent several hundred members nationwide. Andre Williams, one of the partners of Gotta Run was reported to have been first in line to write a check for membership at the recent meeting in Dallas. He doesn’t boast about it, but Williams is a world-famous record-setting runner from the University of North Carolina and the store manager, Jon Line, who may have run the Philadelephia marathon last weekend ,often comes in first or among the first few in many of the local runs.
As for a hint for all this running, I defer to a fellow named Joe Henderson, who back in the early sixties, when many of us took up running , was about the only one who offered any advice . Joe, a prolific writer was in his early twenties then,and had been running for about 7 years, and has been both running and writing ever since. However, in the current issue of Marathon and Beyond, Joe, now in his sixties, says that having typed his fingers off, he will do less writing and instead will pontificate from joe henderson dot com. But he offers a hint and it’s this: the goal of a new runner should be to reach the addiction point, the 3-3-3 level. Promise to run 3 months, build toward 3 miles, 3 days a week. Running he claims, will then shift from an obligation to a habit.
And as for the runner of note – I need to mention Milton “Milt’” Taylor of Odenton. Five years ago, when I visited with Taylor at his townhouse, open and prominent on the desk in his den was the three inch thick Official Airlines Guide that he used to book flights to marathons on the world’s continents and the Canadian provinces. Now at age 73, still fit, having been running for thirty some years, having done all the continents and provinces, having done marathons in all the states almost three times around, having done 191 marathons and certainly not needing the print version of the Guide any longer, he tells me, that he’s going to wind down a bit. Oh, yes he will finish the 50 states and then concentrate more on local runs and continue with his daily 4:30 morning runs around his Odenton neighborhood. Possibly this weekend, or before Christmas, he and his lady companion will get into their VW Beatle and drive to Biloxi where MIlton will do a marathon in Mississippi, number 40 for the states, hopefully in under 5 hours, and then do the countdown to the fiftieth. He did number 39 in South Dakota in June. A string bean of a fellow with a silver beard, he’s a retired ranking officer with the Maryland State Police. A modest type, he says he’s not the marathon champion. Among others, he says there’s an “old timer” , now in Florida, who must think is in this eighties, who has done twice his number of marathons. And speaking of doing many marathons, there’s a young fellow coming along where Milt leaves off, Dean Karnazes, who is reported to have run 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days. But he’s nowhere near Milton’s age or that of that so-called “old timer” in Forida.
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Running Calendar:
Sat. Nov.25, Sparks, Maryland 9:30. If you can’t make Camp Letts this morning,, there’s the 17th annual Northern Central Railway Trail Marathon and 2 person relay. Contact The Baltimore Road Runners at brrc dot com.
Sat. Dec.2, 8 A.M. Greenbelt... Wright Stuff 5K run and walk. At the Youth Center. Commemorates the 102nd anniversary of the first powered flight. Call Austin Conatey, at 301.982.9246.
Dec. 11th. (Monday) , On-line entries open at 10 A.M for the 35th annual , Credit Union Cherry Blossom Ten Mile Run Washington D.C. Limited to 10,000. cherryblossom.org
Jan. 4 to 7th. Buena Vista, Florida…Disney World Marathon Weekend, Visit disneyworldmarathon dot com
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