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Running: Stories cropping up about prized runner
By Joe Shafran, For The Capital
We have quick Ben Moore running stories for you.
One has to do with the Army-Navy football game and the other about the recent across-the-country running relay that ended at City Dock. We can’t pin point the exact date when Ben began running, but we know for sure that he was a good runner in December of 1947. He played halfback for Navy in the era of Army’s famed Doc Blanchard and Glenn Davis and Ben carried the ball on what the world now knows as the last play of the 1947 game in Philadelphia that Army won 21-0. Nobody on the Army team was willing to listen when Ben, after he was tackled, held the ball, insisting that there was time for one more play, and he did not give the ball up until he saw thousands of fans from the Army side of the field unload out of the stands onto the field headed toward him. Ben threw the ball up in the air and took off running back to Annapolis.
I had talked to Ben the first of this week to see if he had noticed the news item of the relay runners who ended their trek across the country at City Dock last week. He had. A van accompanied the kids and Ben could relate to that.
Some years ago Ben was part of a running team that did the 24 hour non-stop relay in Oregon from Mount Hood to the Pacific Coast through territory that Lewis and Clark never explored. There was a van, but only to shuttle the runners ahead. For those who never met Ben, now in his 70s, he is an academy graduate and a retired Marine Colonel who never lost his Mississippi drawl.
He was an Annapolis Strider before the Striders were cool and as a running instructor, to this day there are many of his Moore’s Marines who do very well in marathons. Though not at a 6-mile a minute pace any longer, you still see the names of Ben and Betty, his wife, as finishers in many races around here. Wherever I talk running, people test my credibility by asking if I know Ben Moore.
GOING OUT ON A LIMB: Here is a short narrative as a lead-in to two of my infrequent lectures on the rudiments of running:
There is the age-old question of whether there is sound when a tree falls over in a forest when there is no one around. Shirley Aronson of Annapolis became an eyewitness to a tree going over last Wednesday during those 49-mph wind gusts. She was on the phone looking out her window when she was reported to have said to the person on the other end of the line, "Uh oh, there’s goes one of my trees. Bye!", and hung up. Luckily, the tree fell away from her house and landed on a shed and a fence. She did hear a sound. At about that same time that day, I was driving my convertible in the heavily wooded area at the parking lot of the Tawes Building, that’s the Department of Natural Resources headquarters at Rowe Boulevard and Taylor Avenue in Annapolis, and seeing those swaying trees and branches, I was thinking I should get out of there and I did.
On the way out, I saw this male runner, all suited up, I suppose out for his lunch-hour exercise, oblivious to was happening with branches falling all around him. And therein is my first lecture point. When you have to jump over or run around already downed tree limbs and branches in 49-mph gusts, best you give up your noontime run for the day.
There may be no sound of a tree going over but you would feel the clunk on your head when it hits you.
I did a run the next morning and I did more bending over than running, tossing tree limbs out my path. I was able to shove aside the twigs, but the Asplundh and Lewis tree cutters were nearby sawing up the 6-inch limbs and downed trees. I’m also wondering if that guy running around Tawes last Wednesday had some I.D. on him. I hope he made it back to the office or wherever.
I was talking with Division Chief John Scholz, the voice and face of the Anne Arundel County Fire Department. He tells me that runners are the worst offenders when it comes to carrying I.D., and he said it presents a problem for paramedics. The Chief tells me that when they arrive at the scene of a downed runner, paramedics aren’t permitted to go through the pockets to get a name or needed medical information.
Chief Scholz suggests that runners wear an I.D. bracelet.
My next lecture was on the rudiments of proper cold weather running attire, which I gave at the Merritt Athletic Club in Annapolis to an audience of two trainers. One was Christian Pusateri, a recent St. Mary’s grad and the other was Brian Voith, both runners. Christian seemed to be absorbing more of my lecture, especially when I told him that in sub- freezing temperatures men need to protect the lower body part and women the upper. I explained there are garments on the market for both. I then hear in the background the more experienced Voith muttering, "And it should be fur-lined".
Both fellows seemed to accept my suggestion of having a covering over the mouth when running, because the human lung is not equipped to process frozen air coming straight down to it. After about 90 seconds, both trainers resumed benching what seemed like an eighth of a ton of iron and with their loud grunts, my lecture ended.
STRIDER BASICS: The Striders are offering a six-week Winter Beginning Running program designed to instruct non-runners in all aspects of running and to develop long term fitness habits. This low-key program will guide the participants from a walk-run to a 20 minute non-stop run.
The goal will be for all participants who finish the program to complete the Striders’ Valentine’s Day 5K (3.1 miles) on Feb. 12 at Kinder Farm Park.
The program includes a running schedule and group runs, information on finding the right shoes, injury prevention and treatment, heart rate training, running safety, motivation, keeping running fun and more. The program is free with a $15/individual annual membership to the Annapolis Striders.
Get your application from the Annapolis Striders web site at www.annapolisstriders.org, or call the hotline at 410-268-1165 or call Ginger Andrews; (410) 903-2363 , bgn86wc44@aol.com or Ron Bowman (evenings) 410-573-1929
Race Results
Camp Letts 5K Turkey Trot, Edgewater
Thanksgiving Day
Top Men: 1. Gene Severtson 28, 37:12; 2 William Shultz. 26, 37:59; 3. Tavis Cummings 27, 38:45; 4. Robert Cawood 36, 40:28; 5. David Fallon 33, 42:13; 7. Derek Miller 17, 42:44; 8. James Lundeen 46, 42:56; 10. Blake Flickner 28, 43:52; 12 Philip Granger 31, 44:06; 13. Rob Schultheis 26, 44:11
Top women: 6. Karen Grifiths 56, 42:31; 9. Sheryl Kline 41, 43:23; 11. Jennifer Sullivan 39, 43:58; 22. Kristin Buckley 27, 45:51; Danielle Pearson 30, 47:05; 38 Lisa Moylan 27, 48:24; 41. Rachel Peck. 16, 49:31; 42. Ellen McGee 48, 49:32; 48 Kon Delwiche 29, 49:53; 49 Patricia Hicks 29, 49:53
Oldest man: John Brennan, 65, 59:36
Oldest woman: 205. Linda Simpson, 62, 1:10
Youngest: 65. Spencer Doyle, 9, 51:47
Baltimore Running Festival
Oct. 16, Camden Yards
Local marathon finishers: 31. Robert Cawood 36, 2:56; 36. Eric Makovsky 31, 2:57; 177. Sean Boucher 29, 3:23; 210. John Kiessinger 30, 3:27:18; 239. Rick Foster 34, 3:30; 254. Winterson Hittle 52, 3:31; 292. Matt Thompson 28, 3:34; 327. Michael Breen 99 3:38 ; 365. Christos Philiopoulis 46, 3:41:31; 370. Kelly Moore 45, 3:41: 32; 427. Hank Lobe 46, 3:45; 456. Andrew Parker 34, 3:47; 462. Tom Carney 44, 3:48; 485. Kevin Lynch 43, 3:49:30; 486. David Brault 52, 3:49:41; 507. Timothy Boteler 33, 3:51; 548. Matthew James 23, 3:53; 556. David Vincent 35, 3:54; 632. G.Christopher White, 34, 3:57; 711. Tahir Rathore, 32, 4:03; 841. Dan Symancyk 57, 4:13; 851. Don Singer, 69, 4:14; 875. Glen Gilmor 45, 4:16; 901. John Kibby, 47, 4:18; 938. Michael Shevenell, 43, 4:21; 961. Eddy Schneider, 46, 4:22; 1006. Andrew Hanks, 37, 4:26; 1013. Charles Mutchler, 40, 4:26; 1076. Steve Mazzola, 33, 4:31; 1089. Bret Hicks 43, 4:32; 1138. Vassie Hollaman, 40, 4:38; 1151. Scott Thayer, 44, 4:39; 1227. Nicholas Holdgate , 23, 4:46
Local women marathon finishers: 29. Marjorie Boyd, 43, 3:26; 60. Katherine Carney, 44, 3:36; 121. Maureen Rohrs, 48, 3:48; 124. Heather Hetzeck, 32, 3:49; 175. Meridith Bonta, 58, 3:58; 188. Laura West , 46, 4:00; 197. Betty King, 59, 4:02; 236. Leah Ibrahim, 30, 4:08; 248. Eileen Griesser, 39, 4:11; 263. Jessica Keeny, 29, 4:13; 688. Judith Dixon, 99 , 5:40
Local half marathon finisher: 8. Clare Saxton, 27, 1:30
Calendar
Sunday: 10 a.m. Quiet Waters Park, Annapolis.Annapolis Striders 26th Anniversary race10K Starting and finish at the Blue Heron Room area.This is the 8th and Final leg of the Club Championship Series. 410-987- 0281
Sunday: 9 a.m. Ellicott City , Centennial Park, Jingle Bell 5K run and walk Arthritis Foundation.1- 410-654-6570, Ext.230.
Sunday: 2 p.m. Columbia, Jeffers Hill Center, Howard County Striders, Fall series, 2 Mile,10K,15K 410-964-1998; Sun. Dec. 19. 2 P.M. Columbia , Lake Elkhorn, Howard County Striders, 2 mile and 10K 410-964-1998.
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