November 2006 - February 2007 Event Calendar - Michigan Runner

37th Annual 

© Carter Sherline / Frog Prince Studios 

presented by 

Sunday, December 31, 2006 

3:00 pm, Belle Isle Casino, Belle Isle Park 

Events 

3:00 pm - Children’s & Open 1 Mile Run/Walk 

3:05 pm - 4 Mile Racewalk / Fitness Walk 

3:30 pm - 4 Mile Run 

Registration and packet pick-up 

• Belle Isle Casino 

Thursday, December 28: Noon - 3:00 pm 

Race Day: Noon to race time 

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Race Entry Includes 

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Race entry before December 31 . . . . . . . . . . . . .$20 

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Waligorski Roofing 

M I C H I G A N R U N N E R 

1

In This Issue 

November / December 2006 Vol. 28, No. 5 

Calendar 

November 2006 - February 2007 p. 27-30 

Features & Departments 

Editor’s Notes: Infinity Loop By Scott Sullivan p. 4 

Beyond the Chip: I Am A Runner By Ann Forshee-Crane p. 8 

Running Phobias By Doug Kurtis p. 9 

Running Shorts By Scott Hubbard p. 10 

Book Review: ‘TheGift, a Runner’s Story’ By Ron Marinucci p. 11 

Mackinac Island Race Supports St. Ignace Track p. 12 

Murphy Must Be a Runner By Dave Foley p. 12 

Skipping Runs, Runner Skips Ahead By Riley McLincha p. 15 

Wally Ypma: In the Long Run By Scott Sullivan p. 20 

Donnie Andersen Logs 100,000 Miles p. 22 

Running Birth By Daniel G. Kelsey p. 25 

Running with Tom Henderson p. 31 

GLSP TV - Fall Schedule p. 32 

At the Races 

Veteran, Rookie Blaze to Wins at 30th Crim By Charles Douglas McEwen p. 5 

Crim: Still ‘Cool’ After 30 Years By Scott Sullivan p. 7 

Fox Rocks for Rookies, Veterans Alike By Don Kern p. 13 

Capital City Champ Goes Extra Half Mile By Charles Douglas McEwen p. 13 

Dexter Tops Pinckneyfor Elite-Meet Portage Crown By Scott Sullivan p. 14 

Priess, Singer Hung Down Red October Crowns By Charles Douglas McEwen p. 16 

Somerset StampedeHolds Inaugural Half-marathon and 5K p. 16 

Crystal Lake Team Marathon By Grant Lofdahl p. 17 

Rono Storms to Record on the Waterfront p. 18 

Records Fall, Turnout Soars at Labor Day 30K/10K Race By C.D. McEwen p. 19 

Costescu, Robison Lead Pack at PAC By Charles Douglas McEwen p. 21 

Muturi Runs Wild at Detroit Zoo By Charles Douglas McEwen p. 23 

Gardynik Scores Hat Trick at 29th Melon Run By Charles Douglas McEwen p. 23 

Tiffany OfiliWins Bronze at World Juniors p. 24 

Jazwinski Makes It Three in a Row in Hell By Charles Douglas McEwen p. 24 

2 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 6 

Cover: Run Like the Dickens, Holl, Michigan, December 10, 2005. 

Photo by Carter Sherline / Frog Prince Studios

Publisher and Chief Executive 

Officer 

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Editor 

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Columnists 

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Scott Hubbard 

Doug Kurtis 

Laurel Park 

Contributors 

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Paul Aufdemberge 

Ron Baker 

Joe Baldwin 

Brenda Barrera 

Jack Berry 

Marc Bloom 

Tim Broe 

Tom Cocozzoli 

Travis Clement 

Tracey Cohen 

Ann Forshee-Crane 

Peter Derby 

Sara Deuling 

Larry Eder 

Sherlynn Everly 

Stewart Healey 

a member of 

Michael Heberling 

Hal Higdon 

Jeff Hollobaugh 

Steve Hulst 

Greg Janicki 

Bill Khan 

Daniel G. Kelsey 

Don Kern 

Scoop Kuipen 

Rick Lax 

Chris Lear 

Grand Lofdahl 

Richard L. Magin 

Ron Marinucci 

Pamela Joy McGowan 

Riley McLincha 

Paul H. Marcotte 

Charles D. McEwen 

Greg Meyer 

David Monti 

Gary Morgan 

Stephen Paske 

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Jack Strausman 

Anthony Targan 

Ryan Towles 

Lisa Urbach 

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Editor’s Notes 

Infinity Loop 

By Scott Sullivan 

Acure goes 

in search 

of illness. 

Say you're afflicted 

by love of 

running. 

The cure 

is doing it and 

undoing it - 

indulge yet let go 

its claim on you. 

The hard thing is it's so easy. 

Mindful it's mindless, step out and go. 

*** 

We are born with answers and spend 

our lives trying to learn the questions. 

Why is our vehicle our obstacle? Why 

does the body we live in kill us? 

We get out of ourselves to know ourselves. 

Into the out-of. Running, for me, 

is a means of transport. 

Left, right, left. Heart pumps blood 

to extremities … blood comes back. 

*** 

God and The Devil are in the details. 

So's life's fullness. Physicists try to 

explain the universe studying atoms. 

Split the tiniest structure known and 

blow up the world. 

*** 

We are one and whole. Why divide? 

For knowledge of good and evil? So we 

distinguish. 

We all want to be distinguished, but 

none cast out. 

*** 

Segregate ends in gate; integrate is 

great. Good and bad need each other like 

light and shadow, friction and fusion, disease 

and cure. 

So goes transformation. 

*** 

We stress our bodies to make them 

stronger, tax minds for payback. We 

love/hate hardships that make us harder, 

pose as selves till we understand they are 

self-imposed. 

*** 

Iraq and Iran are too much. I run. 

Inhale, exhale, sweat … 

Because the universe is everywhere, 

so its center must be. 

Right here. MR 

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4 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 0 6

Crim Festival of Races 

Photo by Victah Sailer / photorun.net 

By Charles Douglas McEwen 

Veteran, Rookie Blaze 

to Wins at 30th Crim 

FLINT (8/26/06) - Entering the Crim 10- 

Mile, defending women's champ Alevtina 

Ivanova, 31, of Russia, had won this year's 

Border Uptown 8K in Texas, Parkersburg 

Half Marathon in West Virginia, Falmouth 

7.05-Mile Road Race in Massachusetts and 

other major U.S. races. Samuel Kosgei, 20, of 

Kenya, had never run a road race in the 

United States. 

Both, however, knew the secret to winning 

in Flint this year: Run really, really fast. 

And don't get beat on the bricks over the last 

100 yards! 

Kosgei blazed a time of 46:50, the fastest 

on this course since 2003. Ivanova sprinted 

through women's race in 53:07, 27 seconds 

faster then her winning time last year. 

Both had plenty of speed - and they didn't 

stumble on the Saginaw Street bricks 

either. Kosgei beat his closest rival in the 

8,252-runner field by 22 seconds, while 

Ivanova won her race by 19 seconds. 

Altogether, the 30th annual Crim Festival 

of Races enjoyed a record turnout of 15,367 

runners, walkers, wheelers and handcyclists. 

Of this year's $42,550 purse, Kosgei and 

Ivanova took home $5,000 each. 

The day started well for Kosgei. At the 

three-mile mark, the Kenyan - who described 

the race as “easy, very easy” - broke away 

from a pack that consisted of about a dozen 

other Kenyans. 

He opened a sizable lead initially, but 

Wilson Chebet, 21, closed that gap a bit 

toward the end of the race. Chebet finished in 

47:12, with Ernest Meli, 19, taking third in 

47:32. 

Not far off the lead pace in 21st overall, 

Paul Aufdemberge, 41, of Redford, captured 

the masters crown for the second-straight 

year in 50:35. Last year, Aufdemberge ran 

52:51. 

Ivanova raced most of the 10-mile shoulder-to-shoulder 

with Asmae Leghzaoui. Last 

year, Leghzaoui, 29, from Morocco, bolted to 

a monster lead early, then faded and dropped 

out. 

This year, Ivanova, Leghzaoui and Lineth 

Chepkuru, 18, of Kenya, stayed together 

through the Bradley hills, with all three going 

through the five-mile split in 26:24. 

Ivanova and Leghzaoui then pulled away 

and stayed together till the final mile, when 

Ivanova made her move. Leghzaoui took second 

in 53:26, Chepkuru third in 54:01. 

Tatyana Pozdnyakova, 51, of the Ukraine , 

was masters queen with a time of 59:01. 

Wearing Hansons-Brooks Distance 

Project singlets and shorts, Jeff Gaudette, 23, 

and Dot McMahan, 29, were the top state 

finishers. Gaudette, who timed 49:47, edged 


5


Samuel Kosgei won his first road race 

in the US with a Crim 10 Mile 46:50. 


Alevtina Ivanova, no. 41, defended her Crim 10 Mile title with a 53:07. Lineth 

Kepchuru (behind Ivanova) was third in 54:01;Asme Leghzaoui finished second 

in 53:26. 

fellow Hansons star Marty Rosendahl, 28, by 

eight seconds. 

“This was my first time running the 

Crim,” said Gaudette. “My race plan was to 

go out easy for the first five miles, then really 

attack the hills. 

“At five miles, our lead guy (Rosendahl) 

was 30 or 40 seconds ahead of me and I didn't 

think I would catch him,” Gaudette continued. 

“But I ran with some Kenyans and 

passed him with a half-mile to go, then ran 

hard down the bricks.” 

McMahan checked in at 59:21, ahead of 

Denisa Costescu, 30, of Wixom (59:58), who 

gave birth to her first child just four months 

before this race. 

“I started out kind of conservative,” said 

McMahan. “I picked it up through the hills, 

looked up and saw Denisa ahead of me at 

about six miles. I caught and passed her with 

about a mile and a half to go.” 

Like Gaudette, McMahan was running 

Crim for the first time. “I grew up in 

Wisconsin hearing about the Crim, but I 

never made it over until this year,” she said. 

“It was awesome!” 

South African-born Krige Schabort, who 

now lives in Cedartown, Ga., won the wheelchair 

competition (38:34). Ian Rice, of 

Pittsburgh, was the top quadriplegic finisher 

(51:45). 

Christy Campbell, of Kitchener, Ont., 

was the first female wheeler (1:29:27). Glen 

Ashlock, of Ann Arbor, won the handcycle 

race (35:33). 

In the 8K, Cory Reed, 17, of West Point, 


Michigan’s own Paul Aufdemberge 

won the Master’s title for the second 

straight year in 50:35. 


Tatyana Pozdnyakova, 51, of the 

Ukraine , was masters queen with a 

time of 59:01. 


Crim: Still ‘Cool’ 

After 30 Years 



Top Michigan finishers were Dot McMahon, 9th, 59:21 

and Jeff Gaudette, 14th, 49:47. 

N.Y., raced to big lead early and held off the Frontline Racing 

Team's Eric Green, 37, of Pontiac, for the overall victory. Reed 

timed 26:26 to Green's 26:41. 

The women's race went to Danielle Hobbs, 24, of Shelby 

Township (31:16), with Kelsey Carmean, 17, of Ortonville, second 

(32:22). 

“This is my first 8K ever,” Hobbs said. “It was a little humid. 

The downhills were nice. The uphills were a little mean, though.” 

The 5K was won by Kyle Smith, 18, of Linden (15:41) and 

Ramzee Fondren, 16, of Detroit (19:32). The Crim also included a 

Teddy Bear Trot for kids. 

The festival annually raises funds for local charities including 

Crim Youth Development, Shelter of Flint Inc., Area XIII Special 

Olympics and Fair Winds Girl Scouts. The Crim has helped raise 

more than $2 million for these charities. 

For complete race results, go to www.Crim.org. MR 

Michigan Runner TV 

http://michiganrunner.tv/2006crim/ 


“Thirty Crims” has a ring. Like 

“One Good Man,” “$2 Million 

for Charities,” “15,369 

Participants” … 

All are multiples of things, 

complete in their own right, that 

fuse in Flint the fourth August 

Saturday to make street music. 

Every age, race, gender join in 

energy to launch fitness, hope and 

selves … and return to friends, celebration 

and knowing that much 

more what it is to live. 

Crim starts with a step taken 

- Who knows how many 

months, years or lifetimes ago? - 

toward happinesss, health, selfsufficiency; 

then a second … 

you're off and running! 

It isn't easy - you walk, plod, 

struggle while others seem to 

stream without effort. Don't be 

fooled; they've paid dues. Do 

more - you're in charge of this in 

your life - and see. 

You sign up for Crim; what 

seemed forever away now faces 

you. Feeling fitter, you enter 

Flint's Character Inn, where the 

beehive of next-day competitors 

lifts and deflates you. Each seems 

supremely confident. 

Don't be fooled; they are on 

on the lip of a journey too. 

A backbone greets you inside 

the expo, courtesy Renaissance 

Chiropractic. Stroll through a 

maze of amazing people and 

products to pick up your chip 

and bib. 

Perhaps you'll encounter Bill 

Rodgers or Greg Meyer in the 

elevator climbing while the 

Vehicle City dims, out the glass, 

in humidity mists below. 

The Legends of Crim panel: 

Rodgers, Meyer, Herb Lindsay 

and Bobby Crim himself - limber 

as a pretzel at 74, revved to 

run 10 miles “as hard as I used 

to, just not as fast” - swap memories 

in a lobby surrounded by 

taxidermied beasts. 

Depart and pasta-load. Rest 

and fidget. You're as ready as 

you can be for tomorrow's 10- 

mile test of will. Pre-race dreams. 

Dawn. Fuel, stretch and 

covertly eye other bodies: some 

steely hard, others more assuring. 

Will pre-start ceremonies 

never end? BANG! The gun at 

last. 

Ease into it. Let it out. Flow. 

Silky Kenyans charge, trailed by 

lean-jawed elites. Admire them, 

then - if you're not one of them - 

forget them. The only race you 

control is yours. 

Crowds and street bands 

thin … Bradley hills … reach 

inside yourself … silent stretches 

with rhythmic footfalls. They 

call Crim “the Coolest Race In 

Michigan,” huh? Ha ha. Today's 

only 70° - August mornings can 

get much hotter - but the dew 

point is like a steam blanket. 

Dew point, due point, do … 

they all point ahead. 

Last turn down Saginaw 

Street to the best finish in all racing, 

where cheers crescendo and 

gravity sucks you across the line 

in spent, sweaty rapture. 

Nonstop peeping as chips 

cross mats. Medals, draped over 

arms, clank as volunteers thrust 

them into hands. Hoses hiss in 

the spray-down zone as 

announcer Scott Hubbard booms 

names of thousands more 

streaming down the last battered 

bricks of Saginaw. On anon. 

A costumed bee hugs Teddy 

Bear Trot tots near a tattoo parlor 

on a side street. Mountains 

of orange rinds and banana peels 

overflow trashcans like fruit volcanoes. 

Mitch Ryder and the Detroit 

Wheels - back from when cars 

were king - carom oldies off 

building fronts: “Oh see, see-see 

rider …” Your back hurts, your 

feet are blistered. 

Join the human carnival 

milling under a vast striped tent. 

Tattooed beer men pour pitcher 

after pitcher. Pizza boxes stack 

high as the giant balloon arch in 

the plaza, topped by a silver “3- 

0,” that bobs and sways in the 

wind. MR 


7

Beyond the Chip 

Race Directors: 

New! 

Running Network 

and 

Michigan Runner 

International - Searchable 

Online Calendar 

List your event online 

with a user-friendly form: 

rncalendar.com/creator/login.asp 

Michigan Runner or 

Running Network staff 

will upload your listing 

Calendar links to 29 regional 

& specialty running publications: 

michiganrunner.net 

runningnetwork.com 

I Am A Runner 

By Ann Forshee- 

Crane 

Long before I 

became a wife, 

mother or 

coach, I was a runner. 

As a 12-yearold 

doing the first 

workout of my life, I 

connected with running. 

Three quartermile 

repeats on the 

cross-country course in my white Keds sneakers 

and I was hooked. 

Running immediately gave something 

back. I felt strong and powerful. I felt free. 

Although I was a part of a team, I owned my 

running. From that first day, I understood 

haven't seen in a long time and they ask, “So, 

are you still running?” it's best to answer 

with a simple “yes.” Trying to explain the 

true meaning of running, and the why we 

run, to a non-runner is a hopeless cause. 

Then there are the less-tangible, and 

most-significant, things that being a runner 

means. 

Being a runner means we embrace physical 

challenge in a world of adults who are 

focused on getting a promotion, buying a bigger 

house and planning for retirement. It's 

not that runners don't share some of these 

life goals, but we also strive to run that first 

5K, marathon or 50-miler. 

These running-related goals help us get 

up in the morning. Reaching the finish line 

enriches our lives and empowers us in other 

areas of life. Once I'd run a marathon, I was 

“Reaching the finish line 

enriches our lives and empowers 

us in other areas of life.” 

For print listing only, send the following: 

Event Date:____________________ 

Event Name:___________________ 

Event City:____________________ 

Starting Time:__________________ 

Starting Location:_______________ 

Distances:____________________ 

Website:_____________________ 

Contact Name:_________________ 

Phone:______________________ 

Email:_______________________ 

Street Address:_________________ 

City:________________________ 

State/Province-Zip:______________ 

Email, FAX or mail to 

3588 Plymouth Rd., #245 

Ann Arbor, MI 48105-2603 

jennie@glsp.com 

(734) 507-0251 

(734) 434-4765 FAX 

what it meant to be a runner. 

Thirty-seven years have passed. My body 

has changed in a multitude of ways. My PRs 

are distant memories. I'm at the half-century 

mark, yet running is still a constant in my life. 

While my other roles are very much a 

part of who I am, I wear those labels because 

of my relationship to other people. To be a 

wife, you have to have a husband. To be a 

mother, you have to have a child. To be a 

coach, you have to have runners who'll listen. 

Being a runner is still all mine, and that 

label still carries great meaning for me. 

Other runners understand that being a 

runner goes deep. They know running isn't 

just a hobby like collecting rocks or being a 

jigsaw-puzzle junkie. Being a runner lies at 

the very core of who we are as people. 

Being a runner means knowledge of the 

sport's basics, like knowing a marathon isn't 

just any ole long distance, and losing a toenail 

is a rite of passage. 

Runners also take a certain stubborn 

approach to the sport. If a runner falls and 

scrapes the heck out of an elbow three miles 

into an 18-mile trail run, he or she will stop 

the bleeding with a wad of toilet paper and 

continue the run as planned. 

Runners know it's impossible to explain 

to a non-runner why we head out the door in 

a driving rain to get in our run, just because. 

We know when we run into someone we 

sure I could do anything. 

Being a runner means we take time in a 

drive-through world to move our bodies. In 

addition to the physical benefits, this time 

helps us make sense of everything else in our 

lives. On a run, I've figured out what I wanted 

to be when I grow up, how to help my 

child stop sucking her thumb, how to 

respond to a challenging teenage child, and 

about a gazillion other things. 

And while I've often solved the world's 

problems on a run, sometimes it's simply my 

time out during a busy day. 

Being a runner means you're a member 

of a club. A club whose membership is not 

based on age, race, body type, or socioeconomic 

factors. Anyone is welcome in this 

club. All you need to join is a spirit of adventure, 

dedication and positive attitude. The 

club benefits are too numerous to mention. 

Call yourself a runner and you'll feel 

strong and powerful. You'll feel free. You'll 

set goals, reach them and set new ones. You'll 

share running with other runners, but you'll 

still have something all your own that no one 

can take away. 

Being a runner means a lot of things. 

Running isn't just something I do, it's who I 

am. I am a runner. 

Ann Forshee-Crane is a wife, mother 

of five, Team Playmakers coach 

and a runner of 37 years. MR 


Running Phobias 

By Doug Kurtis 

Watch the start 

of any road 

race and you'll 

see rituals. Runners have 

many habits and superstitions, 

and are not 

immune to phobias. 

One runner told me she was concerned 

about running over the Ambassador Bridge at 

the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon. 

Being afraid of heights myself, I assured her the 

bridge's wide walkway would give no opportunities 

for looking over the edge. 

Some runners worry about bridges collapsing 

from thousands of pounding feet. 

Cables and expansion joints prevent this from 

having an impact on bridge vibration. 

I also asked Dr. Suzanne McAllister, a 

former New York City Marathon psyching 

team member, for advice. Members are psychologists 

who calm runners' fears and prepare 

them for the race. 

“The bridge phobia is an interesting 

dilemma,” McAllister said. “A couple things 

come to mind: 1) Find a buddy or someone 

she trusts to run with her, at least until she is 

over the bridge; 2) do a practice run/walk or 

drive over the bridge with that person or 

someone else; 3) warm up to the crossing by 

mentally rehearsing running over the bridge. 

“It might help her to use a charm, wear a 

special article of clothing or any item she can 

easily carry or attach to her clothing, that she 

uses as protection. 

“The key is she has to confront her 

avoidance behavior by actually going over 

the bridge. If she's committed to running the 

race, she'll want that more than giving in to 

the avoidance behavior.” 

When McAllister was on the psyching 

team at the Verrazano Bridge, they handed 

out tiny swatches of the finish-line tape from 

the previous year. 

“We pinned the swatches onto the shorts 

of runners for good luck,” she said. “People 

really got into it. It helped them to visualize 

crossing the finish line.” 

Runners can make pinning bib numbers on 

their uniforms an art form. Years ago, elite runners 

were known for trimming their numbers to 

the smallest size possible. Race directors got 

smart and required the name of the race and 

sponsor logo be visible for identification with 

the event. But some runners still crumple the 

numbers to make them feel softer. 

Pinning on a number or tying shoelaces 

has become a comforting ritual. Some runners 

will always use the same number of 

pins to attach the number on their chest, 

stomach and shorts, or just on their shorts. 

A few try to get away with pinning it on 

their back. Before a race, watch runners 

retie not one but both laces, even if they 

feel fine. 

My sub-2:20 marathon nemesis Kjell Erik 

Stahl was superstitious about wearing the 

same shorts and socks for his important 

races. While we were sharing a hotel room I 

threatened to throw away his shorts, which 

were falling apart at the stitching, but he 

would have none of that. 

At the race starting line, he smiled and 

pointed to his racing socks, which had holes 

in both heels. I couldn't stop laughing 

because Stahl could get all the free equipment 

he wanted from his sponsor. 

Doug Kurtis of Livionia has made it over a 

few bridges as a runner. He holds world 

records for most career sub-2:20 marathons 

(76) and marathon victories (40). Contact 

Doug at dkurtis@earthlink.com. MR 


9

Running Shorts with Scott Hubbard 

Trivia: What are 

the nicknames for 

the sports teams 

at Bessemer High 

School (in the 

U.P.)? 

NEW POSITION. 

Twice this summer 

I received mail 

from race directors 

who themselves 

had received notes from runners who'd covered 

their race courses wearing global positioning 

system units. In both cases, mileage totals compiled 

by the units exceeded the advertised race 

distance. 

Since I'd measured the courses for certification, 

the directors wanted my take on the 

GPS-generated numbers. At first I cringed 

because I knew this could or would become a 

widespread problem, then groaned because I 

knew how the “wow” factor of new technologies 

can blind users to their limitations. 

Having measured courses for certification 

for 25 years, I have every confidence in the 

process and my ability to get things accurate. 

There aren't any better, more practical ways 

to certify a course than those adopted years 

ago by USATF. 

When a course I've certified gets questioned, 

I usually dismiss it, although I did 

remeasure one 5K to appease a race director 

who'd heard from a disgruntled “elite” runner 

and the course turned out to be just fine. 

Unless a certified course is run differently than 

it was originally measured, people are pretty much 


wasting their time questioning the length. 

Uncertified courses are another story. 

We've all run courses that made us question 

the real distance. If the course wasn't 

certified, it probably isn't accurate. Some 

uncertified courses are more accurate than 

others, but only a small percentage are PRworthy. 

Most uncertified courses are short. 

A certified course is a guarantee your PRs 

count for something, although I'll accede 

what you count as your best is your business. 

It's instructive to point out records can only 

be set on certified courses. But I digress. 

GPS units are big kids' toys capable of 

providing lots of useful info. Numbers generated 

lean toward scientific interpretation vs. 

an artsy approach that operates more on feel 

and instincts. The makers of GPS units 

acknowledge a plus/minus accuracy variance, 

affecting pace and distance. 

Although I admit to being impressed with 

their accuracy, I've heard about too many 

instances where, for reasons known and not, 

the distances recorded weren't right. While it's 

fair to herald their overall value, some figures 

should be viewed with a degree of flexibility. 

Longtime columnist, observer and author 

Joe Henderson teaches a running class at the 

University of Oregon. “In my little world (of 

teaching) GPS's are alternately making me 

laugh and scream,” Joe says. 

“I haven't measured courses for certification, 

but by using a calibrated bike they're 

close enough for training purposes,” he continues. 

“Yet the GPS-wearers in my groups 

tell me their own distances as if they're accurate 

and mine are wild guesses. Funny thing 

is, three different GPS's can yield three wildly-varying 

lengths - for the same course, the 

same day and time. 

“For instance, yesterday's marathon 

training run was a few hundredths over 17 

miles by my count. A GPSer insisted it really 

was 16.56 miles and I'd cheated him out of a 

half-mile. He hadn't accounted for trees and 

bridges disrupting his signal. Another example 

of too much faith placed in technology.” 

A major reason GPS units measure long 

on certified courses is because the wearer 

failed to run the shortest possible route - the 

path course-certifiers are required to follow. 

Imagine a string laid loosely over an entire 

course, then pulled taut against road edges 

and curbs, and you have an idea how tightly 

certified courses are measured. 

David Howell, who sells a good number 

of GPS units at his Total Runner stores, came 

up with 10.09 miles for the recent Crim 10- 

mile course. That's pretty good agreement 

and demonstrates how accurate the technology 

is. It's very good. You would, however, be 

way wrong to think the course is .09 long 

because it's been validated for accuracy at 

about 50' long (a difference of 425'). 

In general, I'd guess current GPS units 

are accurate to within about one part in 100. 

As an example, if you came up with 5.63 

miles at an average pace of 8:10 per mile, the 

course was probably between 5.57 and 5.69 

miles and your pace was between 8:05 to 

8:15 a mile. 

What numbers you accept as reality are up 

to you, but you'd be wise to view GPS figures 

less as gospel and more as reasonably accurate. 

ONE DAY AT A TIME. Three weeks into my 

40th year of running, I reached my 1,000th 

consecutive day of running and/or cycling in 

late September. The streak started Jan. 1, 

2004, and I've biked 17,400 miles and run 

2,350 miles since then. There've been several 

stretches of a month or more where the bike 

was my sole exercise and preservation 

because I couldn't run. 

In a column earlier this year I described 

how I'd evolved into more and more cycling 

after many years of running. The cycling has 

complemented running nicely and I'm sure 

time in the saddle will prolong and enhance 

the quality of future run miles. The kind of 

aches that prevented running were tolerable 

on the non-weight-bearing bike. 

Another streak, all run miles, ended more 

than 15 years ago at just over 2,000 days. 

Since streaks seem to have lives of their own, 

growing as much by plan as luck, I make no 

predictions how long this one will last. 

CYBER SITES. There are a couple Web 

sites I've enjoyed following and happily 

endorse here. 

Alphabetically, the first is by Amby 

Burfoot, longtime executive editor at 

Runner's World, 1968 Boston Marathon winner 

and all-around good guy. I was initially 

introduced to Amby's “Ambling Along” at 

Ambyburfoot.blogspot.com and discovered 

he also contributes good stuff at Rodale.typepad.com/footloose. 

The second site, by 1996 U.S. Olympian 

Joan Nesbit Mabe, can be found at 

Runningland.com and is called “Songs of 

experience.” Joan ran in five Olympic track 

trials between 1984 and 2000, coaches a 

moms-only team called “See Jane Run” and 

has three daughters. 

Both sites feature pieces about friends, 

family, philosophical and political musings, 

and assorted topics that strike the authors as 

important enough to share. Each has an 

experienced and discerning eye and more 

than capably translates what they see into 

words. Joan has been at it for two years and 

Amby since summer 2006. 

I mentioned Joe Henderson above. Those 

who'd like to catch up with the respected and 

humble running writer and coach can do so 

at joehenderson.com. Nobody sees and 

describes the sport for it's worth like Joe. 

Answer: The Speedboys and Speedgirls. 

Bessemer's track has an unusual configuration: 

a square with rounded corners. MR

Book Review 

By Ron Marinucci 

“The Gift: A Runner's Story,” by Paul 

Maurer. 247 pages. $14.99 paper. PCM and 

Lulu Publishing. 

If you are looking for a good way to pass a 

couple nights or a few hours kicking back 

after a long run or tough workout, pick 

up a copy of “The Gift,” available for purchase 

at www.pcmaurer.com. This novel, 

although predictable, is entertaining and 

offers insights into running, training and 

competition. 

Brent (not “Bill”) Rodgers is a graduate 

student and runner with Olympic 5000-meter 

hopes. But he carries baggage: Rodgers has 

bounced around and been bounced from the 

college track scene. Family problems lead him 

to alcohol and parties to escape his pain. 

None of this helps his Olympic dreams. 

He is “saved” by words from the late 

Steve Prefontaine: “To give anything less than 

your best is to sacrifice the gift.” Given 

another chance by a gruff old track coach in 

Milwaukee, Rodgers works to make the most 

of this new opportunity.The novel follows his 

progression, leading to the exciting climax at 

‘The Gift: A Runner’s Story’ 

the Olympic trials. 

By coincidence Rodgers meets three 

University of Milwaukee runners who are modestly-talented 

and quite raunchy. They introduce 

him to their coach, Wickers, who knows of 

Rodgers' past but sees something in him that 

warrants another chance. And, of course, 

Rodgers meets his “love,” Marie, who has little 

understanding of the running spirit. 

Other minor characters include trainer 

“Dog,” who dispenses wisdom and philosophy 

along with rehabilitation; aging running-store 

owner Tony, who sacrificed his own “gift” and 

inspires Rodgers not to do the same; and “The 

Kid,” the despised 5000-meter glamour boy 

who provides a surprise in the end. 

The four running buddies, under Wickers' 

watchful eye, train hard. They draw strengths 

from themselves, each growing as a runner. 

They become foils, driving and inspiring each 

other to reach their own individual “gifts.” 

Along the way snippets offer insight into 

why we run, train hard and race. Although 

we gain some of this through exchanges 

between the buddies, most comes from 

Rodgers trying to explain his quest to Marie. 

She wonders why he puts himself through 

such workouts, watching uncomprehending 

as he nearly passes out from exertion and 

exhaustion. Tony and trainer “Dog” also 

offer philosophical insights, especially about 

not sacrificing “the gift.” 

As is custom in running novels, runners 

will identify with descriptions of training and 

racing: “the burning quads,” “blackened toenails” 

and so on. They will recall the same 

aches and stiffness suffered by Rodgers and 

his friends, but also relish the feelings of 

accomplishment after a hard workout and the 

joy of an easy run. Of course, they will marvel 

at the capacities for work and pain possessed 

by our sport's elite. 

There is more. Depending on readers' 

views, Rodgers' experiences with yoga will be 

humorous or smack of smugness. His running 

buddy's urinating on a heckler's leg will 

strike some as hilarious, others tasteless. 

In the end, it's a quick-reading, entertaining 

novel. Maurer's own experiences make it 

a realistic story. 

Perhaps I quibble, but tighter editing is 

needed. Nonetheless, most runners will enjoy 

“The Gift.” 

Ron Marinucci can be reached by e-mail at 

ron_marinucci@comcast.net. MR 


11

Photo courtesy of Janet Peterson / St. Ignace Visitors Bureau 

Photo courtesy of Janet Peterson / St. Ignace Vis Bur. 

Mackinac 

Island Race 

Supports St. 

Ignace Track 

For thirty-six years, thousands of Michigan runners, walkers 

and kids have enjoyed the Mackinac Island Eight Mile Road 

Race every September. 

The host St. Ignace Kiwanis Club not only help out at the aid 

stations, but they also use race proceeds to promote the sport 

of running. In recent years, the St. Ignace Kiwanis have built a 

new high school track and supplied uniforms for the high 

school track teams. 

Murphy Must 

Be a Runner 

By Dave Foley 

that can go wrong will go wrong,” aka 

Murphy's Law, clearly applies to running, as my 

“Anything 

experience bears out. For example: 

If there's a choice of race distances, all the fast guys in your 

age group will choose the same race you do. 

The number of age group medals awarded will be one less 

than your finish position in your age group. Corollary: The guy 

standing just ahead of you in the finish chute is always in your 

age group and will claim the last award in your division. 

When you change age groups, your birthday will always 

occur on the day after a major race. Corollary: Most of your 

injuries will occur during the first year you are in a new age 

group. 

Your once-a-year bout with flu will always commence on 

the week before you're scheduled to run a marathon. 

Virtually all winter snowstorms will occur on days you run 

20-milers to prepare for the Boston Marathon. Corollary: 

Autumn 20-milers invariably coincide with storms bringing 

freezing rain. Sudden wind shifts always create headwinds. 

On winter days when you postpone your workout until the 

weather improves, the temperature will continue to drop, wind 

velocity will increase and snow will fall even harder. 

When you travel south seeking a moderate climate to run a 

winter marathon, you will compete on a day with a sub-zero 

wind-chill. 

When you race really well, a scoring mistake will leave you 

out of the official results or your name will be horribly misspelled. 

Corollary: These mistakes are never corrected until the 

award ceremony is over and results have been published. 

The only way to learn that European running shoes run one 

size smaller than U.S. sizes is to order a pair through a mailorder 

catalog. 

When you finally find a shoe that satisfies you in every way, 

the model will be discontinued. 

The availability of parking places at a race is based on the 

weather. The worse the weather is, the farther you'll have to 

park from the start. 

All the great race t-shirts will get stained the first time you 

wear them, while the ugly shirts will remain unblemished for 

years. 

Fast point-to-point race courses run toward prevailing 

headwinds. 

Shoelaces are most likely to break in the last minute before 

the race starts. 

The only time you will fumble a water cup at an aid station 

is during the hottest day of the summer. 

The quality of your race will depend on how many of your 

loved ones are there to watch you. The more family and friends 

on hand, the worse you will race. Corollary: If you run an 

awful race, everyone will ask how you did. If you run a great 

race, no one will ask. 

If a photo of you appears in a newspaper or magazine, it 

will show you throwing up or collapsing in the finish chute. 

Your triumphant sprints across the finish line are never captured 

on film. 

Dave Foley, who edited Michigan Runner 

magazine for 14 years, admits ruefully all these 

Murphyisms have happened to him. MR 


Community First Fox Cities Marathon 

Fox Rocks for 

By Don Kern 

Rookies, 

Veterans Alike 

APPLETON, WISC. (9/24/06) - “Want me to call for 

help?” the course monitor asked the woman at the 18-mile 

mark. I ran past, then turned to offer encouragement. 

Her name was Erinn and she having a rough time in 

the midst of her first marathon. I walked with her for a 

minute to help her regroup. Neither of us knew at the time 

her boyfriend was winning his first marathon. 

The 16th annual Community First Fox Cities 

Marathon and U.S. Cellular 

Half Marathon were held on a sunny course that winds 

through small towns along the Fox River Valley. 

First-time marathoner Phil Skiba of La Crosse, Wisc., 

won in 2:32:24, with 

second place going to Craig Ottman from Forth Worth, 

Texas, in 2:37:15. For the women, Sue Pierson of Neenah, 

Wisc. (also 2003 winner here) won in 2:56:42, with Alisha 

Damrow of Appleton second in 3:09:56. 

Cool but comfortable early-fall temperatures greeted 

nearly 3,000 runners Sunday morning. Events included the 

marathon, half harathon, half marathon power walk and 

marathon relay. 

“This is my first marathon and my first marathon 

win,” Skiba said. “So I guess you could say I am one-forone. 

The course wasn't bad, but the hill around mile 16 

was tough and the hill at mile 24 was a nightmare.” He 

was alone from 22 miles on. 

While the rookie was winning in his first attempt, veteran 

Pierson was cruising. “I just decided to run this two 

days ago,” she said. But her base was solid, as was her 

performance. 

Neither winner felt seriously challenged by other runners. 

“They told me I was in seventh earlier, but the first 

six (women) split of at the half-marathon turn,” Pierson 

said. 

While that was all going on, Jason Ryf of Oshkosh 

won the men's half in 1:08:17. Wendi Ray from Sister Bay 

led the women with a 1:16:03. In the power walk, Bob 

Tervonen of Ironwood, Mich., came in at 1:56:24, with 

Gloria Bubolz of Reedsville at 2:17:12 for the women. 

Catherine Tierney, president and CEO of title sponsor 

Community First Credit Union, was extremely pleased. 

“This is a special place,” she said. “The Fox Cities, our 

companies and our people are known for their volunteerism 

and community spirit. People love success; they 

want to get on board and be a part of it." 

Indeed they did. Running down the finishing chutes, it 

seemed like every company in town had its banner displayed. 

Erinn and I finished within a minute or so of each 

other at around 4:40. There was a still lot of food, beer 

and post-race amenities to go around. Fox Cities is a great 

place to go for a marathon. 

And the adventure continues … 

Check out “Marathon” Don Kern's 

latest at www.cooladventures.net. MR 

Capital City River Run 

Capital City Champ 

Goes Extra Half Mile 


LANSING (9/24/06) - He may have run the longest 10 miles in the history of the 14th 

annual Capital City River Run, but Jason Jaloszynski still triumphed by two minutes. 

“The (lead) biker took a wrong turn at the five-mile turn-around,” remembered 

Jaloszynski, 28, of Clio. “I noticed there weren't any arrows on the road, so I whistled at 

the biker, we turned around and got back on course. I probably ended up running an 

extra half-mile.” 

Jaloszynski finished in 54:49, with masters champ Eric Stuber, 43, of Haslett, second 

(56:50) and Tim O'Hara, 22, of East Lansing third (59:54). 

“It was a nice, cool day with a sprinkle or two of rain,” Jaloszynski said. “I enjoyed 

the race.” 

A downpour pummeled runners just before the start of 10-mile and 5K races, but 

after that conditions were perfect for running. All events were run on the Lansing River 

Trail, with starts and finishes at the Impression 5 Science Center, which hosts the race. 

Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero was on hand at the start of the 10-mile, and Michigan 

First Gentleman Dan Mulhern competed. 

“Dan has run this race many times,” race director Dick Miles said. “He's a very good 

advocate for running and fitness.” 

Marybeth Reader, 37, of West Bloomfield, won the women's 10-mile race in a personal-record 

1:01:58. Shannon Stanglewicz, 22, of Lansing, was second (1:07:12). Beth 

Homan, 42, of Haslett (1:07:27) held off Gayle Kuipers, 41, of Holland (1:07:46) for the 

masters title. 

Reader impressed women's 5K winner Laurie Decker, 47, of Cadillac. “She's awesome,” 

Decker said. “She is not just a 

good runner, she is also a good ambassador 

for running. 

“Marybeth is dynamite,” Decker 

said. 

Decker was explosive herself, 

breaking 19 minutes for the first time 

in a couple years with an 18:43. “I 

told my husband I was going to bust 

19 today and I did,” she said. 

Claire Mull, 33, of Lansing, was 

second in 20:40 and Sarah Murdoch, 

13, of Dewitt, third in 20:57. 

Jerome Recker, 23, of Lansing, 

was men's 5K winner in 15:59. Next 

came last year's champion, Patrick 

Wehrman, 25, of Pinkney (16:20) and 

this year's masters champ, Tim 

Lambredit, 44, of Alma (17:24). 

Recker, a Saginaw Valley State 

University graduate, recently moved to 

Lansing. “Every race I've been in here 

has been awesome,” he said. “At this 

one, they had a band playing at the 

starting line and a big turnout. It was 

great.” 

Emily Caskey of Lansing, niece of 

veteran race managers John and Anne 

Gault, ran her first-ever 5K. “All I 

wanted to do was beat the first 10- 

miler to the finish. I did,” she said. 

More than 900 runners competed 

in two races. Another 100 children ran 

the quarter-mile Slime Dash and the 

Smile Mile. 

Complete race results are available 

at www.ccriverrun.org All proceeds 

went to the Impression 5 Science 

Center (www.impression5.org). MR 

Sat, December 9 

9:00 am 

8K Run • 5K Run • 

5K Walk • Tiny Tim Trot 

FREE BABY SITTING • FAMILY 

DISCOUNT • Carols by Holly 

High School Choir • Homemade 

Treats • Get a Massage 

Dickens Festival Parade 

Runlikethedickens.com 

(248) 328-3200, x 5279 

Rob.basydlo@HAS-K12.ORG 

Karl Richter Campus, 920 E. 

Baird Street, Holly 48442 


13

Photo by Scott Sullivan 

Portage Invitational 

By Scott Sulllivan 

Dexter Tops Pinckney for 

Elite-Meet Portage Crown 

When the thunder of spikes cleared, it was 

Dexter, with 62 points, topping Pinckney (100) 

in the 38-school race. The Dreadnaughts had 

three runners finish in less than 16 minutes and 

five under 16:10. The Pirates' top five were in 

under 16:19. 

Next came Hilliard Darby (221), Fremont 

Addis Habtewold, St. Clair, no. 2144, leads the Division I race on the way to a 3rd 

place finish. 

Grand Rapids in their showdown, 135-180. 

Parma Western sophomore Meggan Freeland 

prevailed in the day's fastest girls time, 17:56. 

The absence of Dexter, Fremont and Fenton 

from the Division 2 boys race opened the door 

for Forest Hills Eastern, in just its third season 

as a program, to top Three Rivers 128-156. 

FHE senior Nate Bjorle nipped Three Rivers 

junior Nathan Martin for first, 16:04-16:05. 

Hillsdale, led by senior Adrienne Pastula's 

first-place PR 18:17, led her team past 

Jackson Lumen Christi in the Division 3 girls 

race, 72-97. 

State No. 5 Erie Mason served notice to 

Williamston and other Division 3 boys teams, 

winning its race with 65 points. No. 2 Lumen 

Christi scored 155 for a distant second. 

Manistee senior Aaron Simoneau led all comers 

with a PR 15:45. 

Maple City Glen Lake ace Marissa Treece 

ran unchallenged to win the Division 4 girls 

race in 17:59. North Pointe Christian, led by 

second- and fifth-place sisters Becca and 

Grace Campbell, topped Battle Creek St. 

Phillips for the team title, 61-92. 

The ninth annual invitational, founded and 

directed by Portage coaches Bill Fries and 

Dan Wytko, also offered reserve, middleschool 

and open races, attracting future and 

several past stars. 

“We expect our 10th anniversary to be special,” 

Fries said. “But today we're celebrating 

the effort our sponsors and volunteers have 

put in, the great competition and perfect 

weather.” 

“This,” said Wytko, “is what cross country 

is all about.” 

Complete results are available online at 

portageinvite.com. MR 

PORTAGE (10/7/06) -Bobby Aprill might 

change his name to Bobby October after leading 

Dexter to the Division 1 boys crown at the 

Portage Invitational, one of the nation's premiere 

high school cross country meets. 

Aprill, a junior, scorched the turf with a 

15:16, fastest time of anyone in this 18-race, 

187-school mega-meet. His teammates weren't 

far behind, as the No. 2-ranked Midwest 

Dreadnaughts topped a loaded field on a brilliant, 

Indian-summer day. 

Dexter, eyeing a fifth-straight Division 2 

state title in November, joined several smallerschool 

powers moving up to challenge defending 

Division 1 state-champ and No. 5 Midwest 

Pinckney, state No. 2- and 3-ranked Division 1 

Ann Arbor Pioneer and Rockford, plus Ohio 

powers Hilliard Darby and Cincinnati Sycamore, 

last year's Portage champ. 

Joining the Dreadnaughts were No. 2- and 

5-ranked Division 2 Fremont and Fenton, 

defending Division 3 state-champ and No. 1- 

ranked Williamston, and Division 2 St. Clair, 

whose junior star Addis Habtewold is among 

top prospects in the nation. 


http://michiganrunner.tv/2006portage/ 

(256), Fenton (258) and Pioneer (269). Fenton 

senior Joe Dimambro ran a 50-second PR 15:25 

to finish individual runner-up. Habtewold 

(15:27) brought home third. 

Dexter coach Jamie Dudash and Pinckney 

mentor Tom Carey were Hillsdale College teammates, 

the schools are 10 miles apart and their 

athletes run together sometimes during summers. 

But because they're in different divisions, the 

two powers rarely compete. 

“Portage gave us an opportunity,” said 

Dudash. “We have tremendous respect for 

Pinckney. 

“We compete hard, but our guys are good 

friends,” he said. 

In the Division 1 girls race, it was No. 6 

Midwest Rockford, led by three in the top 10, 

beating formerly Midwest-ranked Okemos 92- 

110. Grand Haven sophomore Becca Addison 

edged Saline freshman Kate Leptich for the individual 

title, 18:14-18:16. 

Michigan's topranked 

Division 2 girls 

champ, Grand Rapids 

Christian, bested 2003- 

04 state queens East 


Meggan Freeland, Parma Western, 

had the fastest girl’s time of the 

day: 17:55. 


Skipping Runs, Runner Skips Ahead 


Riley McLincha starts 

with 30 year Crim 

veterans. 

By Riley 

McClincha 

Isurvived 

the first 

Crim in 

1977 with 

575 others. 

With a noon 

start and 

temperatures 

and humidity 

in the 90s, it 

was one hell 

of a race. 

Kind of like 

Flint's version 

the 

Bataan Death 

March. 

More than 

700 entered 

and 20 percent 

did not finish. I'd guess half the 20 percent 

were M.I.A.s. That is, they did not cross 

the starting line let alone the finish line. 

Surely, 10 percent of the 700-plus had 

enough sense not to show up under those 

conditions. 

After recovering from the first Crim, I fell 

back into a “no run” mode. Running just 

wasn't fun - not yet anyway. I still planned to 

run the second Crim, but I'd wait a while 

before training again … like till next July. 

I skipped the next six months and did 

not lose one heartbeat of aerobic fitness. 

How can that be? Not wanting to lose the 

cardiovascular gains I'd made that summer, I 

bought a jump rope. I skipped running and 

skipped rope. 

At first it was as exhausting as climbing 

stairs. Probably because I had to jump high 

enough to ensure the rope would not snare 

my legs. Soon enough I became a more-proficient 

skipper and used less energy. Eventually, 

I needed only jump an inch off the floor. 

More speed now was needed to get the same 

heart rate as before. 

By Christmas I felt I had mastered rope 

jumping. I could swing the rope every which 

way but loose and never miss a beat. But by 

February, I had become bored with the jump 

rope and it began hanging on wall more and 

more. 

As fate would have it, that same month 

for my birthday I received a book that would 

change my life. 

*** 

Jim Fixx's “The Complete Book of 

Running” was number one on the New York 

Times nonfiction bestseller list at the time. By 

the time it left the list it had broken all sales 

records for nonfiction hardcover books. 

Pretty impressive for a running book. But 

today the major fact people remember about 

Jim Fixx is he died while running. 

Running did not kill Fixx. His family, 

doctors and most others agree that it added 

years to his life. His son, John, said, “running 

added not only years to his life but life to his 

years.” 

According to Jim Fixx, his father, Calvin, 

had a heart attack at age 35 and, “until he 

died eight years later, he lived the life of an 

invalid.” 

Through his book, Fixx has added thousands 

of years to countless human lives. And 

I'm guessing to my life; both my parents died 

from heart disease. 

Once I began reading “The Complete 

Book of Running,” I could not put it down. 

When I finished it, I was hooked. I needed 

another Fixx. 

I traveled to the nearest Herlich's drug 

store, searched and found it in the racks of 

magazines: Volume 13, No. 3, March 1978 

Runner's World. I gave the pharmacist working 

the counter what he wanted, $1.50. I 

took the magazine home and devoured every 

word, including the masthead. 

I was all revved up and ready to go. One 

thing stopped me: the white stuff that covered 

the ground outside. Fixx's book had a subchapter 

about coping with snow, but … run in the 

winter! I thought that was crazy. I had never 

seen anyone run in the snow and I wasn't about 

to be the first. Spring was just around the corner; 

I could wait a week or two. 

*** 

March 27, 1978 was the day I became a 

runner. I'd run many times before, but just went 

through the motions. Never did I think of 

myself as a runner, even during or after completing 

the first Crim seven months earlier. I 

also call myself a juggler, a musician, a writer, a 

pessimist and a jerk, but I can't give a specific 

date to when I became any of those things. 

Why do I know the day I became a runner? 

It says so in my running log. I bought it 

while waiting for the snow to disappear. 

Coach Fixx told me in Chapter V, “Most 

runners keep a journal in which to record 

their running experiences.” 

I'm a firm believer in logs. They are 

handy measurement tools, even if all you 

record is distance, which is my main use for 

them today. When I began, I measured heart 

rate, weight, times and more. 

Today I still record race information, 

who I ran with and new people I meet. When 

I browse my logs from 20-plus years ago, it's 

like looking at old photo albums. 

Next year I will be starting my 30th log. 

I'm closing in on 28,000 miles. When I tell 

that to some people, they gasp - but it's a 

modest number, less than 20 miles a week. A 

high-mileage runner could reach my total in 

10 years. 

My very first log entry stated, “ran hard 

and got sore.” That may be true, but to this 

day what I remember most about when I 

started running again was how much easier it 

was than the year before. I started enjoying 

my runs; I didn't get as winded and they no 

longer were a pain. 

I hadn't run in six months, yet it felt easier? 

Aerobically, I was in better shape because, 

although I had skipped running, I'd skipped 

rope. 

Jumping rope is not a good replacement 

for running while injured, mostly because the 

same muscles are used. But it can be a good 

cross-training tool to improve your aerobic 

level, as it was for me. And a rope is much 

cheaper than a stairclimber or membership to 

fitness center, where other aerobic equipment 

can be found. 

Seldom does anyone take advice from 

me, but if you happen to bite, take this: 

Don't let people see you while you are learning. 

Until you learn skipping technique, you 

will look ridiculous and people will snicker at 

you. Not that I'd ever let that stop me. MR 


15

Photo by Carter Sherline / Frog Prince Studios 

Red October Run 

Priess, Singer Hunt Down 

Red October Crowns 


WAYNE (10/7/06) - Katie Singer stayed up until 

2 a.m. celebrating the Detroit Tigers' win over 

the Yankees in the baseball playoffs, then woke 

up bright and early for the 16th annual Red 

October Run, presented by Oakwood Annapolis 

Hospital. 

That wouldn't seem like the ideal way to prepare 

for a 10K. But it worked for her. Singer, 26, 

of Detroit, finished first-place woman in 40:46, 

beating Elizabeth Putti, 35, of Shelby (41:45) 

and masters queen Robin Sarris-Hallop, 50, of 

Ann Arbor, who was third overall in 42:23. 

“I partied after the game,” Singer said. “We 

were out till 2 a.m., then came home and made 

french toast. But I got a sound sleep and was 

ready to go this morning.” 

Thomas Preiss, 37, of Whitmore Lake, won 

the men's race as he's done many times, including 

the very first Red October Run when it was 

a five-mile. 

“He looks exactly like he did when he won 

it 16 years ago,” said Cindy Cook, longtime race 

director. 

Preiss (34:31) topped two 43-year-old masters: 

Andy Muchow of West Bloomfield (35:02) 

and Doug Ogden of Chelsea (36:43). 

“I can't believe that this is the 16th year for 

this race,” Preiss said. “Cindy always does a 

Candice Watson, no. 688, and Sherri 

Dean, no. 21, of the Stone Steppers 

compete in the Red October Run. 


Adam Wheeler won the 5K in 

16:21. 

great job putting it on. It's organized well, starts 

on time and has a flat course with lots of turns, 

but still very fast. It's good to come back each 

year.” 

Adam Wheeler, 29, of Westland, won the 

5K in 16:21, followed by Parker Roth, 26, of 

Grosse Pointe (16:53) and Paul Mayer, 39, of 

Ann Arbor (17:05). 

“I've been sick for a while and decided it 

was time to jump into something,” Wheeler 

said. “It's a really nice race. Even though I live 

near here, I've never run here before.” 

Loree Spencer, 28, of Ann Arbor, led the 

women for only 200 yards of the 5K, but they 

were the last 200 yards, therefore all she needed. 

She won in 21:36, just ahead of Marian 

Epinosa, 19, of Ann Arbor (21:43). Next came 

Brandie Fitzsimmons, 26, of Belleville (22:31). 

Spencer was in third place most of the race. 

“I followed about 10 paces behind the other two 

women,” she said. “When I came around the 

last corner, I had a good kick and took the 

lead.” 

Wally Drogt, 58, of Jackson, tied Gary 

Hanafee, 51, of Detroit, for first in the 5K walk; 

each finished in 46:28. Ernestine Howse, 53, of 

Detroit (46:48) was the women's winner. 

“We had perfect weather,” said Cook, “and 

excellent registration, with 693 in the 5K and 

10K. That's up from last year, when the weather 

was also beautiful.” Red October also has a children's 

fun run. 

For complete results, go to www.gaultracemanagement.com. 

MR 

Somerset 

Stampede 

Holds Inaugural 

Half-marathon 

and 5K 

Photo courtesy of David Parham 

SOMERSET (8/26/06) - Sarah 

Hinckley won the inaugural Somerset 

Stampede half marathon. Runners 

found the course varied, beautiful and 

challenging. For comments and complete 

results seehttp://www.somersetrun.com/ 

Half Marathon Results 

Men - Open 

1 Eric Hartmark 1:12:44 

2 David Chomet 1:20:03 

3 Tom Kuntzleman 1:22:38 

Men - Masters 

1 Brian Olsen 1:24:19 

Women - Open 

1 Sarah Hinkley 1:24:34 

2 Wanda Gunderson 1:39:17 

3 Leann Jackson 1:41:02 

Women - Masters 

1 Wanda Gunderson 1:39:17 

5K Results 

Men - Open 

1 Mike Holik 17:43 

2 Philip Van Dyke 18:39 

3 Eric Swager 19:31 

Men - Masters 

1 Philip Van Dyke 18:39 

Women - Open 

1 Allison Varney 22:52 

2 Pam Harpst 24:03 

3 Lisa Denny 24:24 

Women - Masters 

1 Pam Harpst 24:03 


Crystal Lake Team Marathon 

Crystal Lake Team Marathon: 

Tradition Renews on Sun-Dappled Day 

By Grant Lofdahl 

BEULAH (8/12/06) - Whether prepping for 

cross-country season or a marathon, Michigan 

runners can always tell fall is around the corner 

when the Crystal Lake Team Marathon comes 

around. 

The 26th annual edition of one the state's 

most popular and unique runs saw 97 five-runner 

teams complete the scenic 26.2-mile circuit 

of Crystal Lake. 

“We like to get about 100 (teams), so we're 

happy,” race director Paul Szymanski said. 

He praised the efforts of the Hansons 

Olympic Development Program team, which 

broke the course record set by a different group 

of Hansons runners a few years back. 

“The Hansons are amazing,” Szymanski 

said. “They knocked down their former record 


Kevin Hanson coached the men's 

(record-setting) and women's winning 

teams, then ran the last 10K himself 

by 30 seconds.” 

Coach and program co-founder Kevin 

Hanson was pleased with how his team performed. 

The squad - Jeff Gaudette, Marty 

Rosendahl, Todd Snyder, Pat Rizzo and Josh 

Moen - ran four five-mile legs, followed by a 

10K, in 2:09:14. Hanson was particularly happy 

with Gaudette's 24:06 first leg and Rosendahl's 

24:30 on the hilly second leg. 

“The first two legs ran really well,” he said. 

“The team was in 'nowheresville' after that; they 

were only running against the clock. 

“We knew our old record was between 

2:09:50 and 2:10, so if we got under 2:09:50 

we'd be set. 

“There have been more past teams finish 

around 2:11 or 2:12, but you never know what 

shape everybody's in or which teams they're 

bringing. It's more of a fun thing for everyone,” 

Hanson said. 

Most participants would concur. While the 

Hansons had fun running solo, the next three 

teams staged an epic battle. 

The B.O.B. Actuators, from the University of 

Notre Dame, held second for much of the race. 

Knights Track Club, made up of alumni from last 

year's Division 3 NCAA runner-up Calvin College, 

kept them in sight until the last 10K, in which Kris 

Koster ran his second race of the day. Meanwhile a 

team of current Calvin runners, Knights of the 

Dupe, closed the gap on them. 

On the final leg Koster, who had already 

run a solid leadoff leg for his team, caught the 

Notre Dame anchor. The two ran together for 

most of the closing 10K. Behind them, Knights 

of the Dupe's Harrison Jorritsma drew a bead 

on both. 

The Actuators prevailed for second in 

2:16:10, just one second ahead of the Calvin 

alumni and five seconds clear of the current 

group. Still, with their team of Jorritsma, Dan 

VandenAkker, Nate DeHaan, Tyler Zwagerman 

and Tad Hulst, plus their entire top-seven 

returning, Calvin should be in the D-3 title hunt 

once again. 

My own team, jokingly called Large Butt 

Cheeks (our running club is called the L.B.C. 

and we try to come up with unique names each 

year using that acronym) found itself in a similar 

position to the Hansons, i.e. nowheresville, after 

the first three legs. 

Our first two legs performed well, but by 

the time I got the handoff for the 10K the best I 

could hope for was a decent time. I finished with 

negative splits in 34:20 to make our total time 

2:24:07. It was good for fifth, well behind the 

Knights but nearly three minutes ahead of the 

sixth-place squad. 

The next team behind us was A.Q. Crew, 

which won the mixed-division title in 2:27:03. The 

interestingly-named team Crash and Her Driver's 

Ed Teacher was second in 2:31:37, while Chelseas 

Metroparks came in third in 2:37:23. 

In the women's division, Team Hansons 

won again, although not in record time as the 

men did. Still, their 2:41:16 was nearly 10 minutes 

clear of Not Just Buns and Sports Bras 


(2:50:11). RATPAC took third in 3:00:53. 

The team marathon's founder, legendary 

Benzie Central cross country coach Pete Moss, 

was on hand as usual to start the race and help 

hand out prizes. Moss said that he hopes to keep 

the event simple and low-tech. 

“We have an honor system,” he said. “We 

don't have any bib numbers, nothing fancy. 

Derek Thomasma anchors Team 

Alewife. 

None of those doggone (computer) chips. We're 

cheap and I think most people have fun. I've 

talked to a lot of people who have never been 

here before and Crystal Lake blew their minds. 

“We could get fancier, have numbers and all 

that stuff, but if you can't trust people anyway … 

well runners, most of the time, are pretty honest.” 

“The time goes fast,“ Moss said of the 

CLTM's 26-year span. “It's like coaching; 

today's the first day of practice, tomorrow it's 

ended, then you start thinking about next year. 

“There are times at these races you think, 

'I'm never gonna do it again, I'm done!' Then 10 

minutes after it's over you say, 'Well, next year 

we better do this,' and you're ready to go.” 

Time flies when you're having fun. That old 

adage applies to the Crystal Lake Team 

Marathon. MR 


17

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 

Rono Storms to 

Record on the Waterfront 

Photo courtesy of Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 

The large lead pack of both marathoners and half-marathoners hardly notice the waterfront scenery. 

TORONTO (9/24/06) - Kenyan Daniel Rono 

ran his marathon winning streak to three, 

defeating a quality field in challenging, windy 

conditions at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront 

Marathon. 

Rono's 2:10:15 took a 1:42 off Simon Bor's 

previous course record 2:11:57, set last year. It 

was only 20 seconds off the Canadian all-comers 

mark (2:09:55) and was the third-fastest 

marathon ever on Canadian soil. 

Rono, who entered the race with a 2:12:02 

PR, won his marathon debut in April 2005 in 

Madrid, coming within 10 seconds of a 14-yearold 

course record, then followed that up with 

January win in Mumbai, where he ran another 

2:12 in tough, hot conditions. 

After an excitable 2:49 first kilometer, a 20- 

plus athlete pack tucked in behind four pacemakers, 

who created a barrier to the wind between 3K 

Running Canada TV 

http://michiganrunner.tv/2006scotiabank/ 

and 12K, at times having to bend into it to maintain 

momentum. They passed 10K in 30:50, then 

halfway on target pace in 1:04:37. 

At this point, there were still 15 in contention, 

including Rono, Bor, 2006 

Commonwealth Games champion Samson 

Ramadhani of Tanzania, and Moroccan 

Abderrahime Bouramdane, winner of the 

Ottawa Marathon in May. 

By 25K the group was down to six, with 

Kenyans Laban Moiben (who trains in Ann 

Arbor) and Festus Kioko joining the four above. 

Ramadhani and Bouramdane were pushing the 

pace to the point where a 2:09 looked likely. 

By 33K the race was down to Rono and 

Bouramdane. Turning into the wind (gusting 

to30K per hour) just before 34K, they ran shoulder 

to shoulder, no quarter given. However the pace 

dropped to 3:12 per kilometer and chances of 

earning the $20,000 

bonus for breaking 

2:09:55 slipped away. 

At 39K Rono 

surged and never let up. Bouramdane crossed 

less than a half minute back in a PR 2:10:41. 

Ann Arbor's Moiben took fifth in 2:16:46. 

A new course record was also set in the 

women's race, as Poland's Malgorzata Sobanska 

(a former London Marathon winner) overhauled 

long-time leader Elizabeth Chemweno of Kenya 

in the last quarter to cross the line in 

2:34:31.This eclipsed the 2:36:20 mark set by 

Russia's Lyubov Morgunova in 2003. 

The indefatigable Ed Whitlock set another 

age-group world record with his 3:08:35 at age 

75, taking 10 minutes off the previous mark set 

by American Warren Utes. 

Michal Kapral brought the Guinness 

World Record for running a marathon while 

juggling three objects back to Canada, with 

his 2:57:53. “I managed to do it! I can't 

believe it! I love 'joggling,'” he said after 

crossing the line. 

A lot of other folks also went home happy, 

as runners for 50 local charities raised a record 

$750,000 on the day. MR 



Milford Labor Day 30K and 10K 

Records Fall, Turnout Soars at 


MILFORD (9/2/06) - They came. They ran. 

They conquered. And they set course records 

too. 

Laban Moiben, 22, and Emmanuel Kibet, 

28 - Kenyans now living in Ann Arbor - picked 

up cash as well at the sixth annual Labor Day 

30K/10K Race. The event gave $3,000 to top 

finishers this year. For winning the 10K, Moiben 

took home $250. Kibet received $500 for his 

30K victory. 

The Kenyans also broke course records set 

last year by the Usher brothers. Moiben shattered 

Aaron Usher's 34:04 10K mark by almost 

three minutes with his 31:20. Kibet bettered 

Nathan Usher's 1:39:39 30K standard with a 

1:38:06. 

Moiben ran the first two miles of the 10K 

with Ovidiu Olteanu, 36, of Novi. “Then he 

took off,” Olteanu recalled. “I knew I couldn't 

stay with him.” 

Olteanu finished second in 32:43. Omar 

Laban Moiben’s 31:20 won the 10K. 

Labor Day 30K/10: Race 


Marybeth Reader won the 30K in 

2:02:11. 

Hafez, 30, of Windsor, took third (35:21). 

Moiben wasn't overjoyed with his 31:20 

finish. “Not a good time,” he said. “I have run 

29 (minutes) many times. My best time: 29:27. 

It's a tough course. But good!” 

Kibet had to battle another Kenyan, 

Stephen Muturi, 30, who currently trains with 

the Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, in the 

30K. Muturi led most of the way. 

“He was very strong,” Kibet said of 

Muturi. “At about 15 miles I decided to chase 

after him. At 17 miles, I passed him.” 

“The last two miles are mostly downhill 

and I'm not good at downhills, so he passed me. 

I wish that the finish had been uphill,” Muturi 

said. 

Muturi was runner-up in 1:38:26, the second 

fastest 30K in race history. Nathan Usher, 

23, of Lansing, took third in 1:39:57. 

The women's 10K mark also tumbled this year. 

Laurel Park, 43, of Ann Arbor, ran 36:17 to 

break Gayle Kuipers' 41:37 record set last year. 

“I felt awesome,” said Park, who took 

home $250 for her victory. “The course was 

gorgeous. 

“You go up a hill, then you have a beautiful, 

gentle downhill,” she said. “You can really 

pick up momentum. If you don't go too fast, 

you can recover and be ready for the next hill.” 

Denisa Costescu, 30, of Novi, who gave 

birth to a daughter four months before the race, 

came in second (37:14). Amy Wisneski, 30, of 

Dearborn, was third (40:04). 

Kuipers, 41, of Holland, put up a valiant 

fight as defending champ, 

finishing in 40:50, 47 seconds 

faster than her recordsetting 

time last year. “I just 

Photo by C.D. McEwen 

Nick Stanko and Gayle Kuipers were 

presented with their Michigan Runner 

of the Year awards. Nick ran a 5:23 

pace to finish 4th in the 30K. Gayle 

was top master and 4th overall in the 

10K with a time of 40:50. 

tried to stay strong and mentally tough,” she 

said. 

Another impressive performance came from 

Samantha Brish, 14, of Milford. The young teen 

finished sixth overall in 42:10, the best time for 

any woman under 30. 

In the 30K, Marybeth Reader, 37, of West 

Bloomfield, topped Sarah Plaxton, 38, of 

Highland. Reader, fifth last year in 2:04:44, 

improved to 2:02:11. Plaxton was runner-up in 

2:04:13. 

Krys Brish, 43, of Milford, Samantha's 

mother, took third in 2:09:14. 

“I got lost in the inaugural (2001) race,” 

remembered Reader, who received $500 for her 

victory. “I ended up running about 23 miles. 

Today I knew exactly where I was going.” 

Winning the 10K walk were Larry Brandon, 

65, of Novi (1:16:11) and Judy Jackson, 48, of 

Flint (1:14:30). 

The event, directed by Doug Klingensmith, 

had a record turnout of just over 600 participants. 

Adding to festivities were a kids fun run, 

bike tours of 5, 10 and 50 miles, and non-competitive 

in-line skates of 5, 20 and 35 miles. 

Event proceeds went to Down's syndrome 

awareness and the Milford Recreational Trail. 

For complete results, visit 

www.LaborDay30K.com. MR 


http://michiganrunner.tv/2006milford/ 


19

Wally Ypma: In the the Long Run 


Wally Ypma remembers driving 

through fog to Hell. The retired 

trucker was hauling a friend to the 

southeast Michigan settlement's infamous 

Run Thru Hell. 

“There was so much fog he about passed 

out, but driving was nothing to me,” says 

Ypma. Eager to go, do, race, he blazed 

through the pre-dawn steam. 

Life's been one odd odyssey for Ypma, a 

runner for 63 of his 80 years. He looks back 

on stints as a sailor, Teamster, racing 

Christmas tree, pioneer, legend … the latter 

“only because I am so damn old,” he says. 

Much is razor-clear. “Other times it takes 

me 20 minutes to remember my name,” he 

says. “Don't believe a word I say and you're 

safe.” 

It's as if his long run was launched in - 

and sure to return to - mist. 

Ypma, son of “a God-fearing mom” in 

then-very-much-Dutch Grand Rapids, never 

played sports in school. He joined the Navy 

at 17, during World War II, and his eyes were 

opened. 

“Everywhere we went, we had fun,” says 

Ypma, who fought and played in European 

and Pacific theaters. 

“When you're 17, you're afraid of nothing,” 

the veteran says. 

“I had a brother-in-law killed in 

Germany. He had a wife and two babies - 

one he had never seen. I asked myself, 'How 

fair is this?' But life wasn't like that,” he 

says. 

Ypma started running on deck and land. 

“It was nice,” he says, “as far as working the 

mind and body, so I kept going. 

“I'm going to run for as long as I live. 

Why not? There's no reason to quit,” he says. 

He came home, got married, had six children 

and drove big rigs for Armour Meat, 

hauling potted pig brains “to every port in 

four states,” he says. 

Ypma parked and would run at rest 

stops, wearing pantyhose winters to keep his 

legs warm. “People looked at me like I was 

crazy. I didn't care,” he says. 

The 1970s running boom turned “crazy” 

into a craze. “Road races started and I 

entered them,” says Ypma. 

“They didn't have age divisions then. I 

was in my fifties, running head-to-head with 

young guys like Bill Rodgers, Greg Meyer, 

Brian Diemer and the Reed City guy, Herb 

Lindsay. They would pass me so fast on loop 

courses they'd yell 'Hi, Wally' and it sounded 

like they were yodeling.” 

The sport spread and age groups came 

into being. “Whenever they added one - 50- 

plus, 60-plus, 70 and so on, they called them 

'The Wally Division,'” Ypma says. 

“My wife, Donna, wasn't crazy about me 

running. I'd come home from races and 

throw my medals in 

the trash so she 

wouldn't see them. 

“She was also 

my biggest fan. She 

kept scrapbook after 

scrapbook of stories, 

race results … We 

never argued over 

anything,” Ypma 

says. 

He and his children 

rigged up a 

Christmas-tree costume 

to wear during 

jingle-bell runs. “It 

had green felt, lights, 

packs of batteries, a 

hoop base and hat 

with a star on top. 

Must have weighed 

25 pounds,” says 

Ypma. 

“I wore it handing 

out candy canes 


during night races in 

the neighborhoods. 

One year it snowed 

so hard the children 

would not come out, 

so I ran up to porches 

to hand out candy.” 

Knock-knock. 

“Mom, it's a running Christmas tree. 

Should I take candy?” 

“Most did,” says Ypma. “After races we 

stopped at hospitals to sing carols. People 

asked Rodgers and Meyer for autographs 

because they were them; they asked me for 

autographs because I was the Christmas 

tree.” 

He ran in a pumpkin costume for 

Halloween races. “I was leading my age 

group in the Aquinas Apple Run 20K when a 

reporter stopped me on the corner of Bird 

and 4-mile,” he remembers. “He couldn't 

believe he was seeing a running pumpkin. 

“As we talked, all the guys in my age 

group passed me. I resumed and passed them 

all back. When you're running good, that's 

what happens. 

“That was then, this is now,” he says. 

No one ever mistook Ypma for an 

Olympian. But he loved running. “In my 50s 

and 60s, 80- to 90-mile weeks were nothing,” 

he says. “I did so many marathons I lost 

track, then got into ultras.” Some proved 

eventful. 

He remembers a 100-miler in Ohio. “I 

was 50 miles in, in the dead of night, when I 

heard on the radio, 'Everyone's packing up to 

go home.' I didn't want to get lost in the jungle 

and have to hitchhike home. So I stopped. 

“I don't lift my legs so high anymore. I 

have to watch extra hard for roots and rocks 

on the trails, which means, with my head 

Wally Ypma celebrated his 80th birthday on August 5 with 

the Grand Rapids Running Club at the Streets of Fire 8K. 

down, I miss direction signs. I go the wrong 

way each time.” 

He found himself running a lot at night. 

“If you're scared of the dark,” Ypma says, 

“forget it.” Wildlife advice? He throws stones 

at dogs and backs off from skunks. A raccoon 

was his closest and worst encounter. 

“I was 10 miles into the North Country 

Trail Run 50-miler when I tripped on the 

largest 'coon I had ever seen. He was big as a 

hound dog,” Ypma says. 

“I fell and skidded about 10 feet. Threw 

me out of balance. When I got up, I couldn't 

run straight. Using a stick as a crutch I made 

it through the night, but at age 74 it was 

pretty hard. 

“With three miles to go I came to a wood 

bridge and thought, 'I'll be lucky as hell to 

make it.' I was almost there but decided to 

take a ride back. Not finishing didn't matter, 

not at my age. I had to laugh. 

“I'd still enter ultras if I wasn't so slow. 

They have time limits. I'm afraid I'll hold 

people up.” 

Much has come and gone. Ypma had a 

son, 44, drop dead suddenly at work. “He 

was a good Dutchman; he punched out 

before he died,” Ypma says. 

“I see humor in everything. What choice 

do I have?” he asks. 

He saw death as a teen during war. 

Healthy runner friends felled by heart attacks 

and in accidents. “You won't go a second 

before your time,” he says from the vantage 

of his ninth decade. 

“If you hear the bullet, it's already by 


you. It's the one you don't hear that gets 

you,” Ypma says. 

“I remember the Run Thru Hell that one 

foggy year. Dave Hulst rode with me. The 10- 

mile course is on washboard roads - I told 

Dave, “Run on top of the bumps” - and has 

hellish hills. 

“It was so hot our shoes filled with 

sweat. We had the time of our lives,” he says. 

“I don't always run. I do paying back: 

volunteering at races, cheering up people, 

walking with beginners. I'll never leave anyone 

on the course; if they're hurt, I'll help 

them. 

“You can't take all of the time; you've 

gotta give back,” he says. 

The furnishing in his house is spare, 

almost bare. 

“Donna died two years ago after eight 

years of being sick. She couldn't do nothing,” 

Ypma says. “After that, the kids hauled 13 

tall pickup trucks full of stuff away to 

Goodwill. 

“There was tons of stuff she crocheted 

and t-shirts from my races. Trophies? I kept a 

couple. 

“I gave the coin collection I'd started 

when I was 10 to my daughter, and all 

Donna's stamp books to my son. What do I 

need that stuff around for?” Ypma asks. 

He is not inside that much anyway. There 

are places to go, uncollected coins, coffee 

shops and diners in which to banter, drives 

down once-dirt roads today asphalt, fourlaned 

and lined with chains that don't serve 

cheddar cheese with your apple pie like the 

ma-and-pa diners always used to; runs without 

time limits; all the glories of an aging and 

ageless universe still to see. 

A cuckoo clock chimes the hours. In and 

out pass grandchildren, children who live 

nearby and don't need to bother knocking. 

How many great-grandkids? “Four, I 

think,” Ypma says. “The little ones keep on 

coming.” 

For years he ran as many miles on his 

birthday as his age: 70 at age 70, 76 at age 

71 (“Because someone mismeasured the 

course. It was hot that day too,” he remembers.) 

But that was then. When the Grand 

Rapids Running Club marked his Aug. 5 

birthday at its Streets of Fire 8K, he called it 

“The Run of Slow Embers, for me.” At 80, 

8.0 kilometers was enough. 

“I'd do more, but they'd close the course 

on me. I'm too slow anymore,” he said. 

Friends sang happy birthday before the 

race. After finishing, several ran back to 

walk/jog alongside Wally. The youngest and 

fastest ran cool-down miles scarcely noticing 

the old man making his way to another finish. 

Once the first to begin was the last to finish, 

the party started. Burgers, brats and 

brews flowed - Ypma eschewing the latter, 

keeping clarity in the dreamscape that rose 

around him. 

“I have to get up tomorrow. Go for a 

run,” he said. MR 

Photo by James Sherline / Frog Prince Studios 

Playmakers Autumn Classic 

Costescu, Robison Lead 

Pack at PAC 


HASLETT (9/17/06) - “She has such a desire to 

run fast,” said Ovidiu Olteanu of his wife, 

Denisa Costescu. 

Costescu, 30, of Novi, demonstrated that 

desire at the Playmakers Autumn Classic, as she 

sprinted away with the women's 8K in 28:39. 

The native Romanian hopes to compete for her 

national team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In 

the meantime, she is winning races in Michigan. 

Olteanu and Costescu had their first child, a 

girl, in April. Since then Costescu had piled up 

half a dozen victories (as of Sept. 17) this year. 

“It is very good to be in shape again,” said 

Costescu. “I competed here two years ago (and 

won). It is a very beautiful course.” 

Costescu, who took home $500 for her victory, 

faced off against formidable women here. 

Marybeth Reader, 37, of West Bloomfield, who 

has won races right and left this year, received 

$250 for second place (30:20). Laurie Decker, 

46, of Cadillac, was third overall (30:58) and 

received $150 as top master. 

Next came Regina Visocchi, 21, of Okemos, 

who won $125. Grand masters champ Jackie 

Blair, 51, of Detroit (34:04) took home $100. 

The Classic, part of this year's Michigan 

Runner Race Series, drew more than 600 participants. 

The course starts at Lake Lansing Park- 

North, zooms downhill for one-third of a mile, 

circles the lake on gently-rolling terrain, then 

returns to the park and climbs a third of a mile 


http://michiganrunner.tv/2006playmakers/ 

to the finish. 

“You don't really feel that last uphill,” said 

men's champ Grant Robison. “You're already 

hurting so much that a little more hurt seems 

negligible.” 

Despite it, Robison, 27, of East Lansing, 

collected $500 for his 24:02 finish. Nick Stanko, 

25, of Haslett, earned $250 for second (24:23) 

and Nathan Usher, 23, of Lansing, $125 for 

third (24:39). 

Finishing sixth overall, Patrick Lancioni, 40, 

of Ann Arbor, won $150 as masters champion 

(26:25). Grand masters winner Timoth Emmett, 

50, of Royal Oak (29:44) received $100 and 

was 22nd overall. 

Robison, Stanko and Usher ran together 

until the three-mile mark, when Robison took 

command. “I gradually accelerated my pace to 

put the crunch on,” he explained. 

The winner, who ran 3:35 for 1500 meters 

and 3:58 for the mile while at Stanford 

University, generally feels more comfortable in 

shorter races. 

“I'm happy doing 5Ks,” he said. “I'm not 

quite as happy doing 8Ks, but they provide a 

good test. They let me know where I'm at.” 

“I just moved to Haslett, not far from 

Grant,” said Stanko. “Hopefully, we can train 

some together. I'm more of a marathoner and 

he's more a miler, but I think my distance will 

help him and his speed will help me.” 

Proceeds from the Classic go to Area 

8 Special Olympics. Complete results can be 

found at www.playmakers.com. 

MR 


21

Donnie Andersen 

Logs 100,000 Miles 

Jeff Gaft, of the Traverse City Running Fit store notified us that another Michigan runner, Donnie Andersen, that has 

joined the very exclusive 100,000 miles running club.. Donnie Andersen, pictured here with his log books, Hillsdale singlet 

and trusty running companion Luke, joins the U.P.s Bob Figuli in the ultimate Michigan frequent runners club. 

Donnie has been running for nearly 40 of his 53 years and says it was his Jr. High coach at Garden City, Bill Pinnel, 

that started him logging his miles. He has logged an average of six miles a day in 45 of our 50 states for the past 39 

years. He drives a big moving rig for Allied Van Lines, thus allowing him to experience so many states. He became 

an All American while attending Hillsdale College (1971-1973) by finishing 11th at the Nationals held in Kansas. He 

was runner up in the Detroit Free Press Marathon in 1973 and 1984. His time in 1973 was 2:22:58 and in 1984 he 

slowed considerably when he clocked in at 2:23:36. His favorite races include the Freep, his hometown National 

Cherry Fesitval 15K, Hartwick Pines and the Trail Marathon. His shoes for the past 10 years have been Brooks Beast 

and he buys them at the Running Fit store in TC. 


Run Wild at the Detroit Zoo 

Muturi Runs Wild 

at Detroit Zoo 

Howell Melon Run 

Gardynik Scores Hat 

Trick at 29th Melon Run 

By Charles Douglas 

McEwen 

Photo by C.D. McEwen 

Ovidiu Olteanu, 2nd in the 5K and Denisa 

Costescu, 1st in the 5K, pose with their baby 

daughter. 


HUNTINGTON WOODS (9/16/06) - Stephen Muturi took home a lion's 

share of victories at the LaSalle Bank Run Wild for the Detroit Zoo. 

Muturi, 30, a Kenyan who lives in Rochester, started the day by winning 

the 5K in 15:17. Ovidiu Olteanu, 36, of Novi, led until the end of the 

first mile. Muturi then passed him and took control, winning by 10 seconds. 

Adam Wheeler, 29, of Westland, placed third in 16:08. 

Muturi moved on to the 10K and triumphed in 30:55, three seconds 

ahead of Travis Laird, 24, of Rochester. Laird, who recently joined the 

Hansons-Brooks Distance Project, is originally from Flagstaff, Ariz. 

“I stayed with him (Muturi) for the first mile and a half,” Laird said. 

“Then he inched away from me.” Eric Hartmark, 28, of Rochester, was 

third in 31:27. 

“It was a good race,” said Muturi. “It has a flat, very fast course. If 

you are in good shape, you can surprise yourself on this course.” 

The lead women in 5K took full advantage of the flat course and the 

60-degree morning. 

Winner Denisa Costescu, 30, of Novi, broke 17 minutes for the first time 

this year, running 16:58. Costescu, married to men's runnerup Olteanu, ran as 

fast as 15:33 for 5K for the Romanian national team. But having given birth to 

a daughter in April, this marked her fastest 5K this year. 

Right behind her, Suzanne Larsen, 28, of Fenton, established a PR with 

her 17:05 clocking. Her previous best had been 17:13 earlier in the year. 

Larsen said tried to stay close to Costescu. “It's such a fast course, I 

didn't want to go out too fast and die at the end,” she said. “I closed the 

gap on her on the last mile, but I ran out of real estate.” 

Danielle Hobbs, 24, of Utica, was third in 18:28. 

Like Muturi, Larsen also ran the 10K. She again took second, this time 

behind Hansons-Brooks star Desiree Davila, 25, of Rochester. 

Davila led the women in 35:40, followed by Larsen (38:21) and 

Cortney Kosmala, 26, of Clinton Township (40:34). 

“I felt a little heavy and sluggish today,” Davila said. “But it's always 

nice to win.” 

“I was getting nervous earlier in the year when they were talking about 

closing the Detroit Zoo,” Larsen said. “I was glad to see the zoo remain 

open and that they continued this race.” 

Along with LaSalle Bank, sponsors included the Detroit Zoological 

Institute, the Detroit Zoological Society, New Balance, Gatorade and Coca- 

Cola. 

For complete results, go to www.runwilddetroitzoo.com. MR 

HOWELL (8/18/06) - Ashley 

Gardynik romped unafraid 

through a cemetery toward the end 

of the 29th annual Melon Run 5K, 

knowing her rivals had less than a 

ghost of chance of ending her 

three-year win streak. 

Gardynik, 18, a Howell High 

School graduate who now attends 

Saginaw Valley State University, 

jumped out to a big early lead. But 

as she entered the graveyard midway 

through the second mile, Katie 

Singer, 26, of Detroit, crept up on 

her. 

Singer didn't say boo, but she 

pushed Gardynik to her limits as 

they raced through the tombstones. 

“She passed me at the twomile 

mark, then I passed her back 

down the final stretch,” Gardynik 

said. 

Turns out Singer was competing 

in the 10K, whose course consists 

of two loops of the 5K. So 

Gardynik's streak wasn't in jeopardy. 

She finished in 19:53, 14 seconds 

ahead of Stephanie Giegler, 

18, of Brighton. Kelly Passino, 28, 

of Howell, took third (21:20). 

Maggy Zidar, 56, of Pontiac was 

first masters woman and fifth 

overall in 22:24. 

“It has a few rolling hills, but 

nothing tragic,” Gardynik said of 

the course, which starts and finishes 

on a steep slope in Howell City 

Park. She won here with a 20:35 

in 2004 and 19:31 last year. 

Singer continued to capture 

the women's 10K in 41:11, her 

first win ever. “I went out way too 

hard and slowed down quite a bit 

at the end,” she said. “I kept 

expecting someone to fly by, but 

no one did.” 

Laura Portis, 19, of 



Katie Singer won her first 

10K in 41:11. 

Mark Wehrman ran 35:30 

to win the 10K. 

Kalamazoo, almost caught Singer, finishing five seconds back in 41:16. 

Mary Dorazio, 38, of Brighton, took third in 44:09. Fourth in 45:30 was 

masters queen Julie Ledford, 43, of Howell. 

Steve Walke, 24, of Marshall, repeated as men's 5K champ in 16:36, 

topping Patrick Wehrman, 25, of Pinckney (16:53) and P.J. Blain, 19, of 

Flint (16:57). 

“I beat my time last year (16:42),” Walke said. “I've been training 

hard, putting in some long runs and doing speedwork.” 

Mark Wehrman, 19, of Pinckney, claimed the 10K in 35:30. Next 

came Ryan Grau, 19, of Kalamazoo (36:09) and Jason Pridmore, 24, of 

South Lyon (36:12). 

Wehrman finished fifth in the 10K last year. “Training with my 

Eastern Michigan (University) team, I've improved a lot,” he said. 

Top masters were Virginio Martinez, 45, of Jackson, in the 5K 

(18:04) and Michael Suski, 45, of Grand Blanc in the 10K (39:43). 

Complete results can be found at www.gaultracemanagement.com. MR 


23

Photo by Kazu Eguchi / photorun.net 

Photo by Jiro Mochizuki / photorun.net 

IAAF World Junior Championships 

Tiffany Ofili 

Wins Bronze at 

World Juniors 

University of Michigan freshman,Tiffany Ofili, set a personal best 

13.37 in winning a bronze medal in the 100 meter hurdles at the 

IAAF World Junior Championships in Beijing, August 15-20, 2006. 

The opening ceremonies, IAAF World Junior Championships, 

Beijing, August 15, 2006, provide a preview of the 2008 Olympic 

Games to be held in Beijing. 


Run Thru Hell 

Jazwinski Makes It 

Three in a Row in Hell 


HELL (8/12/06) - An angel (not a fallen one) must have 

blessed this year's Run thru Hell. 

Known for its heat, humidity and hills, the Pinckney 

Running Club-sponsored event enjoyed a heavenly 60-degree 

morning. 

The 2,069 entrants still had to deal with the hills. (The 

first-mile monsters could make a Himalayan Sherpa wince.) 

But many, like Katie Jazwinski, 27, of Dexter, thrived on the 

humidity-free weather. 

Jazwinski won her third-straight Run thru Hell 10-mile, 

whittling her time from 1:02:52 last year to 1:01:54 after 

surviving a challenge from Sarah Hinkley, 24, of Reading. 

“She was right on my tail the whole way,” said 

Jazwinski. “She had me running scared.” 

Hinkley, a recent Western Michigan University graduate, 

finished 33 seconds behind Jazwinski in 1:02:27. “For about 

four miles, we were together,” said Hinkley. “Then she started 

to pull away. My hamstrings were screaming on those 

hills.” 

Marybeth Reader, 37, of West Bloomfield, took third in 

1:04:32. Krys Brish, 42, of Milford, was women's champ 

(1:05:04). Jackie Blair, 51, of Detroit, was the top grand 

master (1:15:32) and Nina Bovio, 60, of Ann Arbor, the senior 

master queen (1:28:12). 

Last year Hansons-Brooks Distance Project runner 

Marty Rosendahl won the men's 10-mile. This year another 

Hansons star, Bob Busquaert, 31, of Rochester, triumphed in 

53:39. Next came Andy Hass, 28, of Royal Oak (54:50) and 

Wade Wines, 20, Pinkney (55:03). 

“I wanted to get under 54 minutes,” Busquaert said. “So 

my time was great. I like hilly courses because they make 

you work hard. I'm training for a marathon, so I look for 

this.” 

Other winners included master Eric Stuber, 43, of 

Lansing (57:52), grand master John Tarkowski, 53, of 

Northville (1:03:34) and senior master Gerard Malaczynski, 

64, of Bloomfield Hills (1:04:37). 

James Gale, 21, of Allendale, and Andrea Osika, 40, of 

Waterford, took home victories in the 4.8-mile race. 

Gale, a Grand Valley State University runner, battled 

Mike Hanlon, 21, of Ann Arbor, for almost four miles before 

winning in 24:36. 

“There were tough hills that almost broke me,” Gale 

said. “Having someone with me helped a lot. After three 

miles I put in a couple surges, but he stuck with me. 

Eventually I got a little room, but he ran tough and did not 

give up.” 

Hanlon finished 10 seconds back in 24:46. Timothy 

Howse, 19, of Livonia, claimed third in 25:13. 

Osika's 31:57 in the women's race was almost a minute 

better than Amanda McKenzie, 17, of Dexter, second in 

32:44. Karen Miller, 21, of Montpelier, Ohio, bagged third 

(32:55). 

Osika, who came with her 15-year-old daughter, Alyssa 

(36:12), had modest goals entering the race. 

“I was just going for the masters win,” she said. “When 

they told me I was the first woman overall, I was shocked.” 

Masters champs in the 4.8-mile were Jeff Kavalunas, 41, of 

Big Rapids (29:25) and Julianne Budd, 44, of Hillsdale (36:00). 

John Newton, 57, of Curtice, Ohio (29:54) and Nancy 

Munson, 53, of Dexter (36:03) captured grand masters titles. 

Jim Carlton, 63, of Union Lake (31:27), and Kathleen Morse, 

60, of Linden (41:06) grabbed the senior masters. 

Harrison Hensley is the longtime Run thru Hell race 

director. Complete results can be found at www.michiganrunner.net/results/searchable.html. 

MR

By Daniel G. Kelsey 

“The law of the forest is birth, change, death. 

The law of the world is birth, change, death.” 

-David Quammen, “Monster of God” 

She boarded the ferry at Mackinaw City 

in the company of a woman who bore 

her a family resemblance, a sister with 

two children in tow and fitted out, like the 

man by her side, in fashionable running 

apparel that broadcast her objective, tomorrow's 

race. The first woman, dressed in street 

clothes, sat apart on a bench on the ferry's 

port side, its Mackinac Bridge side, with a 

five- or six-year-old girl at her elbow. 

On Mackinac Island, coming out to the 

street from the dock, looking thin and frail, 

almost breakable, she boarded a horse-drawn 

carriage, settling in the back seat, her daughter 

tucked under her wing. Along the road to 

Mission Point the carriage passed the sister, 

who'd set off on foot beside her man for the 

same destination, one walking a daughter, the 

other carrying a son. 

From my seat behind the carriage driver I 

turned to ask the first woman if she planned 

to run the next day. She said she did. I told 

her I'd come to treat myself to a race on my 

birthday in scenic surroundings. It would be 

my furthest race from home. 

We struck a note of unguarded fellowship 

common among runners. She said she intended 

to join her sister in the half marathon. I 

told her I would run the 5.7-miler, then grab 

my camera and notebook to record the finish 

of the longer race. 

Another passenger called my attention to 

the little girl, who was frowning. “She doesn't 

think you should be talking to her mother.” 

“Am I a stranger to you?” I asked the little 

girl. 

But I couldn't charm her. The driver succeeded 

where I failed, mixing an eccentric 

patter with a commentary on a pair of 

Belgian horses drawing the carriage. 

At the resort, the woman winked out of 

sight like a sorceress, the little girl going with 

her like a witch's familiar, while I took the 

Belgians' picture. I next saw the little girl late 

the following afternoon at the start of a 

Halloween festival, sticking to her mother's 

shadow as if wary of all the little monsters. I 

next saw the woman before that, about noon, 

late in the racing hour. 

After finishing my run I'd put on a jacket 

against a breeze off the straits, shouldered a 

camera and walked back along the course to a 

bend in the highway at the island's easternmost 

point to wait for the leaders of the half marathon. 

Like a fairy voice out of the air, someone 

spoke to me as I tested photographic angles. 

The woman had walked past me in the 

direction of the finish line before greeting me. 

She was evasive about her results, but her 

time had to have been good, or she wouldn't 

Running Birth 

have been retracing the course so soon. I 

asked how her sister had done, but she didn't 

know, because of course her sister had miles 

to go in the half marathon. 

I'd forgotten the two had planned to run 

together. 

Maybe out of a need to explain herself, 

or a desire to warn off a too-attentive man, 

she gave a striking reason for running the 

shorter race. 

“I'm four months pregnant.” 

Which came first, chicken or egg? Hunter 

or hunted? Egg or sperm? Birth or death? 

It might come as a surprise that natural 

history trains an answering light on such 

questions, really a single question in a mixed 

bag. Observation focuses a laser's little red 

dot on a reply that blasts a creationist fallacy 

about nature as a system of clear distinctions. 

All natural phenomenon came first, last 

and at once. It's counterintuitive but demonstrable. 

Separate things are never as distinct 

as divinity, as intelligent design, would have it 

seem. Richard Dawkins, in his essay, “Gaps 

in the Mind,” gives a sample of natural progression 

in ring species, the herring gull and 

the lesser black-backed gull, two types blending 

into one: 

“In Britain these are clearly distinct species, 

quite different in colour. Anybody can tell them 

apart. But if you follow the population of herring 

gulls westward round the North Pole to 

North America, then via Alaska across Siberia 

and back to Europe again, you notice a curious 

fact. The 'herring gulls' gradually become less 

and less like herring gulls and more and more 

like lesser black-backed gulls until it turns out 

that our European lesser black-backed gulls 

actually are the other end of a ring that started 

out as herring gulls.” 

Which ran first, mother or fetus? 

Both ran as one, without distinction, on 

an island at Halloween. 

Runners everywhere must have wondered 

whether they logged the brutal miles in a subconscious 

race to stave off aging, to cheat 

death, or to turn back the clock toward 

youth, toward birth. Maybe, deep down, they 

hoped to live out the magic of Merlin, King 

Arthur's sorceror, who lived backwards from 

old age to childhood. Maybe they understood 

better than philosophers that beginnings and 

endings blend together in a single ring. 

Of course, as everyday wits know, somewhere 

around the ring another element joins 

the start and the finish to form a unity of 

three certain things in runners' lives. 

Birth, death and taxes. 

Birth of a Lover, or the French Kiss 

Cherie Charieux, a prominent runner 

most of her life, was a teenager when she first 

went on daily jaunts through central 

Michigan farm country, eating up miles, an 

uncommon thing for a girl to do in the 

1960s. Her high school had no running programs 

for girls. So she ran before school, 

before most teenagers woke, loping along, 

smiling, wearing cast-off boys' gym shorts 

because she couldn't find workout gear of an 

agreeable trim for a young woman. 

One summer morning, at a sound of 

puffing and a heavy tread, she looked back to 

see Tony St. Quentin bearing down on her 

like a bear run amok. 

“Hi, Frenchie,” he called. 

Tony was a classmate. Cherie knew he'd 

done well in cross-country and track his 

freshman year but couldn't figure out how. 

She thought he carried too much Chippewa 

pudge for a runner. She considered him homely, 

with his nose from the Gallic side of his 

family. She considered him too much of a 

smart-aleck, fooling around as a cover for 

being ticked off. 

He said nothing, catching his breath, as 

he slowed beside her. 

“You're going to give yourself a heart 

attack,” Cherie said. 

“You run pretty good for a girl. I had to 

hump it to catch up.” 

“How come you're out so early?” 

“Going to driver's training.” He was 

enough older to get into the course a year 

ahead of her, which didn't make her like him 

any better. “I'll run home afterwards.” 

“That's gotta be 15 miles altogether. 

Aren't you a little fat for that?” 

“Hardy har har. If I don't put the work 

in, I don't get anything out of it.” 

“Sure, like you get much from running, 

other than a lot of sweat to stink out your 

driving partner.” 

“Score one for Frenchie. If you'd work 

your legs half as hard as your mouth you'd 

be a speed demon. You're not even breathing 

hard. Maybe you ought to ask the school to 

let you run on the boys' teams.” 

About then she fell in love. But just like a 

boy he didn't notice. 

“No pain, no gain,” he said and ran 

ahead, puffing like a dog having a nightmare. 

She chased him but didn't have the legs or 

wind, not until she got older. 

But then she ran right past him to sleek 

womanhood and trophies, while he graduated 

to a desk job in a tribal office and to mounting 

pounds. 

Birth of a Bushloper, or the French Fry 

Etienne Brulé ranked in the first order of 

coureurs de bois - runners of the woods, or 

bushlopers. 

Born and raised near Paris, Brulé, then a 

teenager, came to North America in 1608 as 

servant to Samuel de Champlain. He soon 

broke away from his master, stealing a march 

on everyone by living among the first 

Americans, particularly the Hurons. He 


25

learned their language and followed their lead 

in exploring the Great Lakes in vain for a 

water route to the Pacific Ocean. 

In about 1622 he was the first European 

to see lands that would become part of 

Michigan. 

He was a sportive young man, hunter, 

drinker, lover, taking his pleasures where he 

could, fathering several children with Indian 

women during his 24 years in North 

America. Gabriel Sagard, a friar and early 

missionary, denounced Brulé's loose morals, 

opening a chism between Brulé and 

Champlain. Brulé never ceased his wild ways. 

No records survived of his travels. So no 

historian could verify a forgotten tale of his 

greatest exploit in bushloping. 

Brulé and his companion, Grenoble, after 

crossing the St. Marys River near present-day 

Sault Ste. Marie with Huron guides, became 

the first Europeans to sight Lake Superior. 

They pitched a camp on the southern shore. 

A party of Ojibwa fishermen did not take 

kindly to an incursion by Hurons. 

Brulé, anxious to patch things up, ready 

as always to learn from strangers, eager to try 

his interpretive skills, went alone with the 

fishermen to their settlement in the bush 

some eight or 10 miles away. 

There he cast his eye on an Indian maiden. 

Her name has been lost to history. She 

was slender as a fawn and bright-eyed as a 

crow. She was the equivalent of a princess. 

Her brother, an early riser, discovered her 

at the side of Brulé in the morning, asleep. 

He woke the happy Frenchman. “What is the 

meaning of this?” 

Brule misread the brother's controlled 

face and tone. “I have been studying an 

aspect of cultural overlap. It has been a most 

satisfying exercise, if somewhat belabored.” 

The brother walked away, returned with 

a fishing net, and tried to haul out a mansized 

catch, startling the Frenchman. Brulé 

ran from the Ojibwa settlement, the brother, 

first invoking his princely right to whip up a 

posse, soon on his trail. 

Brulé had an idea he must bear north to 

the lakeshore and east to camp. He kept the 

sun on his right as he ran downhill through 

the bush. He thanked his lucky stars he'd 

walked so many miles in the lands between 

here and Quebec, keeping himself in fine fettle 

for daytime as well as nighttime exertions. 

Not that he went as straight as an arrow to 

the big sea waters, or found easy footing on 

the shore, but he approached camp with no 

signs of pursuers behind him. 

Thus Brulé followed up discovery of 

Michigan with the first half-marathon in state 

history. 

He needn't have bothered. The princely 

brother and his fellows had gone straight to 

camp and clashed with the Hurons, who had 

driven them off. 

Huron protection of Brulé lasted another 

10 years until, back east in New France, they 

killed him in a quarrel, whether over an 

Indian maiden is not told. By some accounts 

they had him for dinner. 

Birth of a Mystery, or the French Dip 

Here's an arrowhead to draw blood from 

white supremacists up in arms about racial 

mixing. The Ojibwa princess cozying with 

Brulé was his long-lost cousin. Descendants 

of the Solutreans of southern France and 

northern Spain began running 5Ks around 

the Great Lakes while an ice sheet shrank 

away to the north some 13,000 years before 

the lovers looked into each others' eyes. 

That's right. The princess had an old 

strain of French in her DNA. 

Solutreans saw almost as much of the 

globe as a dedicated Michigan marathoner. 

Paleo-archeologists, finding Solutrean markers 

in the gene pool of east-coast tribes, have 

theorized that the Europeans came to North 

America along an ice shelf in skin boats at 

the end of the last ice age. Some claim their 

genes made it all the way to mid-continent, 

where, it must be supposed, they mixed with 

genes from Asia. 

Maybe the theory sounds like a fever 

dream of crackpots, who've been known to 

spell the word “Salutrian,” but Solutreans, 

the stone-age version of frequent flyers, were 

a questing, innovatng kind of people. They 

did cave paintings at Lascaux and Altamira 

and other famous places in France and Spain. 

They made the natural world their study. 

They or their ancestors left cave art dating 

back 26,000 years. 

David Qaummen in “Monster of God” 

wrote an account of la Grotte Chauvet, a trove 

of prehistoric art discovered in 1994, probably 

of Solutrean vintage. Quammen called Chauvet 

the cave of dangerous beasts, of rhinos, bears 

and maneless lions. He saluted the Chauvet 

artists as advanced in technique. 

“Whoever painted these images - the best 

of them, anyway - did so with a skilled hand, a 

calm heart and an attentive, reverential eye,” he 

wrote. “Their skills and their vision were 

already sophisticated, and would scarcely 

advance further over the next 20,000 years.” 

Quammen, casting his eye back to prehistory, 

looked in the wrong direction to note 

the doings of a band of early Potawatomis on 

a landscape just uncovered by receding ice. 

One late Pleistocene evening the band 

gathered around a campfire in what would 

later be southwestern Michigan. Their purpose 

was to whip up feeling for a hunt the 

next day. Bear Guffaws, a hunter, an up-andcoming 

headman, directed a quip at She Baits 

Bear, a budding artist, a slender girl. 

“Some would run while others stoop to 

stones like children, drawing pictures in red 

and yellow ocher,” he said. 

“Some would waste their breath on talk, 

waste their manly vitality, while others leave 

lasting marks,” she said. 

“Our fathers who journeyed with coyote 

and raven out of the wide land in the west 

never meant their daughters to smear themselves 

with paints.” 

“Our mothers who skipped with giants 

over the big water in the east never meant their 

sons to weaken their minds with boasts.” 

The shaman had little patience for an old 

debate over the band's origins beyond the wide 

waters in the west or the east. “Give it a rest. 

Drop it for a few thousand years.” He lifted a 

hand to his eyes as if to block a vision of a far 

time that promised answers to mysteries. “I see 

a blood test in both your futures.” 

Overnight She Baits Bear tossed in 

dreams of an ancient grandmother in a cave 

with torches to light her drawing. Every animal 

a people might admire or worship, some 

in European shapes no Potawatomi had ever 

seen, circled the stone walls around the 

grandmother as if alive in the flickering firelight. 

Next morning the dreams haunted She 

Baits Bear as she readied for her race. 

When she and Bear Guffaws met, she in 

scant clothing for running, he shouldering a 

spear, both went weak in the knees. Each 

recovered with the showy dignity of a bear 

chased off a kill by wolves. 

“You could strip naked and not keep up 

with the runners,” he said. 

“I'd go naked if it'd help you - I mean 

the hunters -I n the chase,” she said. 

Later, when the mastodon fled, maddened 

by a first blood-letting, She Baits Bear loped on 

its right, ululating with the other flushers, the 

women and children in a crescent driving line. 

The hunters followed in the rear. She had no 

breathing room to think about the images of art 

welling up in her mind as she passed rocky outcroppings 

along the route. 

When the mastodon tumbled down a 

slope into the shallows of Lake Chicago - 

Lake Michigan to later tribes - and when the 

hunters came forward to finish the kill, she 

stood back in a flush of pride, catching her 

breath. Her descendants would have said 

she'd run a 5K over rough ground in about 

25 minutes. They'd have given her a championship 

trophy. 

But she had thoughts only for a picture 

she wanted to draw of Bear Guffaws delivering 

a coup de grace, thoughts of what an 

ancient grandmother might have done with 

such an inspiration, thoughts that left her dissatisfied, 

muttering. 

“When will I find a cave of my own?” 

French Toast 

Cherie Cherieu, competing year after year 

in an early-season race popular with hardcore 

distance runners, never noticed the rocky 

outcroppings in the hills above the river valley. 

Etienne Brulé never got anywhere near 

the place. Nothing distinguished the rocky 

outcroppings because the art of She Baits 

Bear, cousin to rock drawings that survive in 

the desert Southwest, washed away in 

Michigan weather centuries ago. 

But She Baits Bear got the last laugh, 

starting, with Bear Guffaws, a bloodline featuring 

a pinch of Solutrean DNA, a questing, 

innovating line known for its artists, hunters 

and runners. 

Her progeny bore out a family injunction 

to never say die even in tax season. 

Stay tuned for Parts 2 and 3. MR 


November 2006 - February 2007 Event Calendar 

April 14, 2007 

Dearborn Heights, 

MI 

Trail Marathon & Half Marathon 

trailmarathon.com 

May 6, 2007 

Road Ends 5 Mile 

Trail Run May 5 

BIGFOOT BOOGIE 

SNOWSHOE RACE 5 & 10K 

January 27, 2007 Traverse City, MI 

No experience necessary, we’ll even loan 

you snowshoes. 

runsnow.com 

www.runningfit.com 

The Running, Walking 

& Snowshoe Store! 

Ann Arbor (734) 769-5016 

Ann Arbor Jackson Road (734) 929-9022 

Novi (248) 347-4949 

Northville (248) 380-3338 

West Bloomfield (248) 626-5451 

Traverse City Airport (231) 933-9242 

Traverse City Downtown (231) 932-5401 

November 

Thursday, November 2 

Night of the Day of the 

Dead 5K 

Ann Arbor 7:00 pm 

Glazier Road and Huron 

Parkway 5KFR 

Kathleen Gina 

(734) 369-2492 

thebigdog@twodogsrunning.com 

twodogsrunning.com 

Saturday, November 4 

Buck Rut Cross Country 

Race 

Minocqua 12:00 pm 

Minocqua Winter Park 5KR 

Gary Kmiecik 

(715) 614-5366 

kmiecik@luhs.k12.wi.us 

Iceman Cometh Mountain 

Bike Race 

Traverse City 

(810) 487-0954 

gaultracemanagement.com 

Jingle Bell Run/Walk for 

Arthritis 

Kalamazoo 9:00 am 

Kalamazoo Valley CC 

Acadia Commons 

5KR/W, Kids' Run 

Scott Cleven 

(248) 649-2891 

scleven@arthritis.org 

jbrkalamazoo.kintera.org 

Michigan High School 

Cross Country L.P. State 

Finals 

Brooklyn 10:00 am 

Michigan International 

Speedway 

(517) 332-5046 

mhsaa.com/sports/bxc/ 

Randy’s Festival of Races 

Monclova, OH 10:00 am 

10 MR, 5KR, 1M Kids 

(419) 360-3709 

wearinthgreen17@aol.com 

Tim Horton’s Casablanca 

Classic 10 Miler / 1 Mile 

Grimsby 10:30 am 

Casablanca Winery Inn 

(905) 562-8669 

instride.ca 

West Haven 5K Run for 

Shelter 

Edgewater, OH 9:00 am 

(216) 623-9933 

hermescleveland.com 

Sunday, November 5 

Angus Glen Half Marathon 

Markham, ON 10:00 am 

13.1MR/W, 10KR/W 

Sara Sterling 

(905) 887-0766 

racedirector@angusglenhalfmarathon.com 

http://angusglenhalfmarathon.com/ 

ING New York City 

Marathon 

New York City 10:50 am 

26.2 MR (212) 423.2249 

www.nyrrc.org 

Inland Trail Marathon/ 

Half Marathon & 5K 

Elyria, OH 8:00 am 

Murray Ridge School, 

North Coast Island Trail 

26.2MR, 13.1MR, 5KR 

Rick Cadwell 

(440) 933-8075 

rick@ncnracing.com 

ncnracing.com 

James Dominic’s Run for 

Wildlife 

Bay Village, OH 9:00 am 

5KR, kids’ races 

(216) 623-9933 


Margaret Peruski Memorial 

4 Mile Run 

Dearborn 10:00 am 

Ford Field (248) 544-9099 

racebreak@aol.com 

PACE Race 5K 

Auburn Hills 10:00 am 

5KR/W, 1MR 

Sonja Hanson 

(248) 475-9944 

sshoudy@hotmail.com 

pacerace.org 

Souper Run - Dash for the 

Daily Bread 

Adrian 9:00 am 

Running with E's 

10KR, 5KR, 1MW 

Clarke Eric 

(517) 266-6344 

eclarke@ini.net 

Turkey Trot Cross 

Country Run 

Mt Pleasant 3:00 pm 

Deerfield County Park 

6KR X-C Harry Plouff 

(989) 772-0323 

hplouff@edzone.net 

www.edzone.net/~mphsstr/ 

Woodhaven Run in the 

Park 

Woodhaven 9:00 am 

Woodhaven Cmty Center 

4 MR, 2MW, 1MFR 

David Flaten 

(734)675-4932 

cityadmin@woodhavenmi.org 

showard@woodhavenmi.org 

woodhavenmi.org 

Wednesday, November 8 

Hash Run 

Toledo area 6:30 pm 

Bob Ampthor 

(419) 882-1711 

www.mudhenhhh.com 


ANG Road Hawg Race 

Battle Creek 9:00 am 

Battle Creek Air National 

Guard Base 

10KR, 5KR/W 

Jim Downey 

(269) 969-3403 

road.hawg@mibatt.ang.af. 

mil 

Don Dansereau Memorial 

Scholarship 5K Run/Walk 

Bay City 10:00 am 

Bay Arenac ISD Career 

Center (989) 832-2267 

barc-mi.com 

Glen Lake Turkey Trot 

Glen Lake 12:00 pm 

Glen Lake Schools 5KR 

Running Fit 

(231) 932-5401 

Gobble Gobble Gallup 5K 

Run 

Oak Park 8:30 am 

Shepard Park 

5KR, 1MFR/W 

Scott Pratt 

(248) 691-7555 

spratt@ci.oak-park.mi.us 

www.ci.oak-park.mi.us 

Grand Mere Grind 

Stevensville 8:30 am 

Grand Mere State Park 

10KR 

Dave Clayton 

(269) 923-5338 

dave_l_clayton@whirlpool. 

com 

www.grandmeresports.com 

Meijer Turkey Trot 

Oxford 10:00 am 

Seymour Lake Township 

Park 5KR, 2KW 

(248) 628-1720 

philcastonia@oxparkrec.org 

www.oxparkrec.org 

Muskegon Turkey Trot 5K 

Muskegon 10:00 am 

5KR Orchard View MS 

(231) 894.6189 

jdwolters6436@wmconnect.com 

NCAA D I Cross Country 

Regionals - Great Lakes 

Bowling Green 11:00 am 

Forrest Creason Golf 

Course (419) 372-2401 

http://ncaasports.com 

Scarecrow Sprint XC Race 

Fremont, OH 10:00 am 

5KR Marc Glotzbecker 

(419) 334-5906 

mdglotz@fremontohio.org 


Ann Arbor Turkey Trot 

Dexter 8:30 am 

10KR/W, 5KR/W, 1MFR, 

200mFR 

Hudson Mills Metro Park 

(734) 623-9640 

tortoiseandhare.com 

Avalanche Bay’s Turkey 

Trot Splash & Dash 

Boyne Falls 10:00 am 

5KR/W, 1/2K kids run 

Boyne Mountain 

Brenda Walli 

(269) 549-6838 

bwalli@boyne.com 


27


Hannukah Hustle 5K 

Hamilton, ON 9:30 am 

10KR, 5KR, 1KW 

(905) 639-8053 

www.vrpro.ca 

Julie Zajac Memorial Run 

University Hts, OH 

9:00 am 5KR 

(216) 623-9933 


Paris Grand Half Marathon 

5K and 1K Kid’s Run 

Paris, ON, Canada 9:00 am 

13.1MR, 5KR, 1K kid’s 

run Debbie Jones 

(519) 442-1056 

runnersden@elim.ca 

eventsonline.ca 

Roseville Big Bird Run 

Roseville 10:00 am 

10KR, 1MR/W, 4KR 

Tony Lipinski 

(586) 445-5480 

alipinski@roseville-mi.com 

The Burg Run 

Laingsburg 2:00 pm 

8008 Woodbury Road 

10KR, 5KR/W 

Scott Danek 

(517) 324-1266, ext. 3 

email@tdwealth.com 

www.leaf4Kids.com 

Tuesday, November 14 

Wayne County Lightfest 8K 

Fun Run/Walk 

Westland 7:00 pm 

Hines Park Tony Mifsud 

(734) 261-1990 

waynecountyparks.org 


One Hill of a Run 

Grand Rapids 9:00 am 

1800 Tremont 10KR, 5KR 

Dan Droski 

(616) 260-2669 

droskidan33@netscape.net 

Semper Fi 


Navy Marine Corps 

Reserve Center 5KR/W 

Joe Rossi (616) 363-1601 

joe@classicrace.com 

www.signmeup.com/55410 

TRRC Turkey Trot 

Toledo, OH 9:00 am 

Ottawa Park's Open Air 

Shelter House 

10KR, 5KR 

Chuck Hinde 

(419) 841-2909 

Turkey Trot and Mashed 

Potato Mile 

Reading 10:00 am 

Reynolds Elementary 

School 5KR, 1MR 

Mike Richardson 

(517) 283-3144 

richardsonmike@gmail.com 


Crazy Run 

Ann Arbor 9:00 am 

5-8 MR Barton Hills 

(734) 995-0961 

aatrackclub.org 

Heidelberg College Track 

& Field Turkey Trot-CAN- 

CELLED 

Tiffin, OH 

(419) 992-4743 

Run/Walk for Shelter 5K 

Jackson 1:00 pm 

5KR/W, kid’s run 

Ella Sharp Park Museum 

(517)784-6620 

runjackson.com 

Trail &Tarmac Run 

Milford 9:30 am 

Rollerski Pursuit Series 

Kensington Metropark, 

Boat Rental Parking Lot 

5KRun, 5KRollerski or 

both 

http://nordicskiracer.com 

Monday, November 20 

NCAA Division I Cross 

Country Championships 

Terre Haute 11:00 am 

Wabash Family Sports 

Center 10KR, 6KR 

(812) 237-4040 

ncaasports.com 

Southwestern Michigan 

College Turkey Trot 

Dowagiac 1:00 pm 

Southwestern Michigan 

College 8KR, 5KR, 1 MR 

Ron Gunn 

(269) 782-1209 

rgunn@swmich.edu 

Wed, November 22 

Hash Run 


Bob Ampthor 

(419) 882-1711 

www.mudhennhhh.com 

Thursday, November 23 

Fifth Third Bank 

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot 

Detroit 7:15 am 

10KR, 1MR 

The Parade Company 

(313) 923-7400 

detroitturkeytrot.org 

FSN Ohio Turkey Trot 

Cleveland, OH 9:00 am 

5MR, 1MR 

(216) 623-9933 


Galloping Gobbler 4 Miler 

Fort Waye, IN 8:30 am 

University of St. Francis, 

Hutzell Athletic Center 

4MR, 2MW Mitch Harper 

(260) 436-0739 

FtWayneRun@aol.com 

allsportcentral.com 

Grand Rapids Turkey Trot 


East Grand Rapids Library 

10KR 

grturkeytrot@gmail.com 

grturkeytrot.googlepages.co 

m/home 

KAR Thanksgiving Day 

Turkey Trot Prediction Run 

Kalamazoo 9:00 am 

5KR Kalamazoo Valley 

CC, Texas Corners Campus 

(269) 679-2351 

sctaylor75@verizon.net 

Lansing Turkeyman Trot 

Lansing 9:00 am 

Lansing Community College 

5KR Chuck Block 

(517) 702-0226 

cblock@lcc.edu 

runningfoundation.com 

Niles/Buchanan YMCA 

Thanksgiving Day Run 

Niles 9:00 am 

NIles/Buchanan YMCA 

10KR, 5KR, 1MFR 

Bret Hendrie 

(269) 683-1552 

bret.hendrie@nb-ymca.org 

Smoke the Turkey 5K 

Sylvania, OH 9:00 am 

St. James Club 

(419) 841-5597 

eliteendeavors.com 

Thanksgiving Day 5K 

Alpena 9:00 am 

5KR/W 

Alpena County Fairgrounds 

Joe Gentry 

(989) 354-7314 

jgentry@first-federal.com 

Turkey Dash 

Avon, OH 9:00 am 

5KR/W Red Tail Golf Club 

(449) 937-6712 

nakonfoundation.com 

Turkey Trot 

Gladstone 9:00 am 

Gladstone Kids Kingdom, 

Van Cleve Park 5KR/W 

Dan or Joan Paul 

jpaul4213@sbcglobal.net 

Zingerman's Ann Arbor 

Turkey Trot 


Univ. of Michigan's 

Football Stadium 

5KR, 1MR 

(480) 226-4729 

info@theturkeytrot.com 

www.active.com 

Friday, November 24 

Fantasy 5K 

Howell 6:00 pm 

Sarah Johnson 

(517) 546-3020 

bpilot@cac.net 

Holiday Hustle 

Maumee, OH 5:30 pm 

Maumee Indoor Theater, 

Downtown Maumee 5KR 

Edward O'Reilly 

(419) 360-3709 

wearinthegreen17@aol.com 

toledoroadrunners.org 


Big Brother/Big Sisters of 

the Lakeshore 

Muskegon 9:00 am 

121 Randall Rd 

10KR, 5KR/W 

(231) 728-2447 

marian@bbblakeshore.org 

www.bbblakeshore.org 

The Downtown Mile 

Fremont, OH 9:00 am 

1 MR Rodger Young Park 

Marc Glotzbecker 

(419) 334-5906 

mdglotz@fremontohio.org 

www.fremontohio.org 


Drumstick Dash 5K 

Warren 10:00 am 

Warren Community Center 

5KR Denise 

(586) 268-8400, ext. 1123 

hbowman@cityofwarren.org 

www.cityofwarren.org 

Jingle Bell Run, Walk & 

Wheel 

Essex, Ontario 9:30 am 

downtown Essex 

5KR/W/Wheel 

Bob Blair (519) 776-6447 

communityliving.ca 

December 

Friday, December 1 

Dashing through the Snow 

Fowlerville 6:00 pm 

Fowlerville 4 corners 

5KR/W Denise Tefft 

(517) 223-3098 

cdtefft@cac.net 

fowlervillesports.com 

Saturday, December 2 

Christmas Stocking Run 

Flushing 10:00 am 

4 MR/W 

(810) 487-0954 

GRaceMgt@aol.com 

gaultracemanagement.com 

Dickens of a Run 

Mt Pleasant 8:30 am 

Morning Sun Office 

5KR Harry Plouff 

(989) 772-0323 

hplouff@edzone.net 

edzone.net/~mphsstr/ 

Hash Run 


Bob Ampthor 

(419) 882-1711 


Jingle Bell Fun Run / Walk 

Port Huron 9:00 am 

YMCA 5KFR, 1MW 

Ann Shaw (810) 987-6400 

annshaw_ymca@yahoo.com 

www.bluewaterymca.com 

Life Time Fitness Reindeer 

Run 

Troy 

LifeTime Fitness of Troy, 

4700 Investment Dr. 


5KR/W 

(248) 267-6620 

www.lifetimefitness.com 

Reese Winter Road Race 

Series 

Reese 10:00 am 

10KR, 5KR/W 

Reese High School 

(989) 693-6558 

badefrain@hotmail.com 

Run Like the Dickens 5K 

Run and Walk 

Tiffin,OH 9:00 am 

Seneca County Commission 

on Aging 5KR/W 

Matt Combs 

(419) 448-8594 

mcombs@oldfort.k12.oh.us 

hfpracing.com 

Salomon/Moosejaw 

December Chill 

Milford 9:00 am 

Proud Lake Rec. Area 

8 hr sprint: canoeing, MB, 

orienteering, trekkking, 

fixed ropes 

Zac Chisholm 

(810) 569-1026 

www.infiterrasports.com 

Salomon Smith Barney 

Reindeer Run 

Lakewood, OH 9:00 am 

5KR 

(216) 623-9933 


TRRC Slip ‘n Slide 5K/10K 

Prediction Runs 

Toledo, OH 9:00 am 

Secor Park, Nature Center 

5KR - prediction run 

Tim McGranahan 

(419) 472-8435 

Sunday, December 3 

It's a Wonderful Mile 

Rochester 1:45 pm 

Downtown Rochester 

1MR Laura Murphy 

laura@runmichigan.com 

Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis 

Northville 9:00 am 

5KRW, 1/4 M Snowman 

Shuffle 

(800) 968-3030, ext. 233 

mlanigan@arthritis-mi.org 

www.arthritis.org 

Thursday, December 7 

Run Through the Lights 

Kalamazoo 6:30 pm 

5KR Gazelle Sports 

Rob Lillie (269) 342-5996 

rlillie@gazellesports.com 


Run Like The Dickens and 

Tiny Tim Trot 

Holly 9:00 am 

5KR/W, Tiny Tim Trot 

Karl Richter Campus 

Rob Basydlo 

(249) 328-3200 

rob.basydlo@holly.k12.mi.us 


Jingle Bell 5K Run 

Burlington, ON 9:00 am 

5KR Emmas Backporch 

(905) 639-8053 

www.vrpro.ca 

Jingle Bell Run 

New Baltimore 4:00 pm 

5KR, 1MW 

Ric Wellman 

(586) 725-4726 

www.jinglebellrun.com 

Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis 

Birmingham 9:00 am 

Pierce Elementary School 

5KR Scott Cleven 

(248) 649-2891 

scleven@arthritis.org 

www.arthritis.org 

JIngle Bell 5K for Arthritis 

Sylvania, OH 9:00 am 

Lourdes College 5KR 

Jane Hopkins 

(419) 537-0888 

New Las Vegas Marathon 

Las Vegas 6:00 am 

26.2 MR 

(702) 731-1052 

www.lvmarathon.com 

Tucson Marathon 

Tucson, AZ 7:00 am 

26.2MR, 13.1MR, relay 

Marilyn Hall 

(520) 577-6344 

marilyn.tucsonmarathon@y 

ahoo.com 

tucsonmarathon.com 

Tuesday, December 12 

Hansons Grosse Pointe 

Christmas Lights Run 

Grosse Pointe 6:30 pm 

Hansons Running Shop, 

20641 Mack Ave. 

6 MR Sonja Hanson 

(248) 616-9665 

sshoudy@hotmail.com 

hansons-running.com 


Bay Area Runners Club 

Holiday 5K Run/Walk 

Bay City 10:00 am 

5KR/W Bay County 

Community Center 

(989) 832-2267 

jmetevia@yahoo.com 

barc-mi.com 

Calvin College Candy Cane 

Run 


6MR, 3MR, 1.5 MR 

3201 Burton SE 

Ellen Dykstra Wilcox 

(616) 891-9249 

grandrapidsrunningclub.org 


Crazy Run 


5-8 MR North Parks 

(734) 995-0961 

events@aatrackclub.org 

aatrackclub.org 

Wed., December 20 

Hash Run 


Bob Ampthor 

(419) 882-1711 


Tuesday, December 26 

Boxing Day 10 Mile Run 

Hamilton, ON 11:00 am 

10MR YMCA 79 

James Street South 

James Van Dyke 

(905) 971-6040 

james_van_dyke@hotmail.com 

hamiltonharriers.com 

Boxing Day Fun Run and 

Fitness Walk 

Sault Ste. Marie, ON 9 am 

Algoma’s Water Tower Inn 

10KR, 5KR, 2KR 

Sault Ste. Marie Stryders 

saultstryders.com 


HUFF 50K Trail Run 

Huntington, IN 8:00 am 

50 KR, 3 person 50K 

relay,10.8 MFR 

Mitch Harper 

(260) 436-4824 

info@huff50k.com 

www.huff50k.com 

New Year’s Resolution Run 

Flint 2:00 pm 

8KR, 5KW 

Anne Gault 

(810) 659-6493 

GRaceMgt@aol.com 

riverbendstriders.com 


Midnight Special 5K Race 

and Prediction Run 

Whitehouse, OH 11:45 pm 

5KR/W 

FallenTimbers MS 

Ed O’Reilly 

(419) 360-3709 

wearinthgreen17@aol.comtoledoroadrunners.org 

New Year’s Eve Family Fun 

Run/Walk 

Detroit 3:00 pm 

4MR/W, 1MR, 

Belle Isle Casino 

Jeanne Bocci 

(313) 886.5560 

jeannebocci@excite.com 

michiganrunner.com/belleisle/ 

Resolution Run and Walk 

Sarnia, ON 3:00 pm 

Lambton Mall, 1380 

London Road. 5KR/W 

Sarnia Running Room 

(519) 541-9860 

sarnia@runningroom.com 

runningroom.com 


Thunder Bay, ON 4:00 pm 

Thunder Centre, 379 Main 

10KR/W, 5KR/W 

Thunder Bay Running 

Room (807) 344-7575 

thunderbay@runningroom.com 


Wolverine Boots and Shoes 

Resolution Run 

East Grand Rapids 3:00 pm 

4MR/W 

East Grand Rapids HS 

Joe O’Brien 

(616) 458-7888 

joe@classicrace.com 

www.classicrace.com 

January 

Monday, January 1 

Harbor 1/1 5K Run/Walk 

Harbor Springs 9:00 am 

Bay & State 5KR/W 

Peter Sears 

(231) 526-2939 or (231) 

526-0747 

John Daley Memorial One 

One Run 

Parchment 1:00 pm 

Spring Valley Park 

4.4M, 2.2M 

Shari LaBrenz 

(269) 342-5996 

slabrenz@gazellesports.com 

www.gazellesports.com 


Kitchener-Waterloo, ON 

Noon 

A.R. Kaurman Family 

YMCA, 333 Carwood 

10KR/W, 5KR/W 

Waterloo Running Room 

(519) 747-4800 

waterloo@runningroom.com 



Whitby/Pickering, ON 

Noon 

Durham Family YMCA, 99 

Mary St. N., Oshawa, ON 

5KR/W, 1KFR Whitby/ 

Pickering Running Room 

(905) 665-2060 

whitby@runningroom.com 


Three Dolla Bill Run 

Waterloo 8:00 am 

5KR - 50KR 

Sybille Tinsel 

cfasports@gmail.com 

www.clubfatass.com/events/ 

Saturday, January 6 

24 Hours of Telemark 

Cable, WI 

Telemark Resort 

3,6,12, & 24 hours of telemark 

XC ski, relay teams 

Dennis Kruse 

(715) 798-3571 

kruseski@cheqnet.net 

24hoursoftelemark.com 

Walt Disney World® Half 

Marathon 

Orlando area, FL 6:30 am 

13.1 MR 

Jon Hughes 

disneyworldspors.disney.go. 

com 

Winter Trails Day 

Roscomon 10:00 am 

HIggins Lake 

XC Ski Cinic 

nordicskiracer.com 

Sunday, January 7 

Walt Disney World® 

Marathon 

Orlando, FL 6:00 am 

26.2 MR Jon Hughes 

disneyworldspors.disney.go. 

com 


Portland Winter Run 

Portland 10:00 am 

Portland HS 5KR 

Dave Hoort 

(517) 647-7873 

dhoort@hotmail.com 

portlandrunningclub.homestead.com 


29


Sunday, January 14 

P.F. Chang's Rock 'N' Roll 

Arizona 

Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe 

7:30 am 

26.2MR, 13.1 MR 

Elite Racing 

(800) 311-1255 

www.rnraz.com 


Paint Creek 50K 

Rochester 9:00 am 

Duck Pond, Rochester Park 

50KR, 25KR 

Craig Mulhinch 

(248) 646-7277 

cm@boscospizza.com 

Subaru Noquemanon Ski 

Marathon 

Ishpeming 8:45 am 

Noquemanon Trail - 

Ishpenming to Marquettte 

51K, 25K XC Ski 

(866) 578-6489 

ssyrjala@up.net 

www.noquemanon.com 

February 

Saturday, February 3 

White Pine Stampede 

Mancelona 9:00 am 

Mancelona High School / 

Shanty Creek 

10K / 20K / 50K ski classic 

& freestyle 

Jack McKaig 

(231) 587-8812 

wps@torchlake.com 

www.whitepinestampede.org 

Sunday, February 4 

Jr. White Pine Stampede 

Mancelona1:00 pm 

Shanty Creek Summit 

Village 

10K ski, 20K ski, 50K ski 

Jack McKaig 

(231) 587-8642 

wps@torchlake.com 

whitepinestampede.org 


Bon Soo Lantern Ski 

Sault St. Marie 5:00 pm 

Lookout Trail 

ski tour Soo Finnish 

Nordic Ski Club 

(705) 759-0626 

contactus@soofinnish 

www.soofinnishnordic.com 

Maple Syrup Stampede 

St. Joseph Island 10:30 am 

St. Joseph Island, Jocelyn 

Township Office 

20K XC Ski-skating; 7K 

XC Ski-classic 

Soo Finnish Nordic Ski Club 

(705) 759-0626 

contactus@soofinnishnordic.com 

www.soofinnishnordic.com 


Grand Traverse Cross 

Country Classic 

Traverse City 9:00 am 

Timber Ridge Resort 

16K / 5K XC Ski 

Pete LaPlaca 

(231) 938-4400 

vanguard@gtii.com 

http://nordicskiracer.com 


Hiawatha Invitational - 

Classic 


Hiawatha Highlands 

1,2,5,7.5,10,15K XC Ski 


(705) 759-0626 


www.soofinnishnordic.com/ 

event/Hiawatha 


Hiawatha Invitational - 

Freestyle 


Hiawatha Highlands 

5,7.5,10,15K, 20K XC Ski 


(705) 759-0626 


www.soofinnishnordic.com/ 


American Birkebeiner 

Hayward, WI 8:20 am 

Cable to Hayward 

57K, 23 K XC Ski 

(715) 634-5025 

birkie@birkie.com 

www.birkie.com 

C/Ville Chill 5K 

Coopersville 10:00 am 

Peppino's Pizza 5KR/W 

Don Pratt 

(616) 837-6601 

cjannen@hotmail.com 

www.runbroncos.com 


Mardi Gras Marathon 

New Orleans, LA 7:00 am 

26.2 MR, 13.1 MR, 5KR 

Bill Burke (866) 454-6561 

bb@pem-usa.com 

mardigrasmarathon.com 

- MR- 


Running with Tom Henderson 

By Tom Henderson 

Oct. 7, 2005. There we were, me, wife 

and dog, 20 miles into our 600-mile 

trip from the tip of the Keweenaw 

Peninsula to Detroit, always sad to be leaving 

the U.P., always a bit intimidated by the drive 

ahead. When, SUDDENLY, ding, ding, a bell 

goes off and a light flashes on the dashboard 

saying to turn off the engine, and the oil light 

is flashing too. 

I pull over, open the hood, check the oil. 

It's two quarts low. The city of Calumet is 

just two miles up the road, so I take a chance 

and drive slowly into town, buy some oil, top 

it off, turn on the engine and pray the pinging 

is gone and the lights are out. 

It is. They are. Hooray. It was just low 

on oil. 

Five miles later, the pinging starts anew. 

The warning lights on the dash start flashing. 

And ... the pinging stops and the lights go out. 

And start again. And stop. I pull into a 

BP station in Hancock where a guy is putting 

a tire on a rim. Another hooray, a mechanic 

working on a Sunday. 

Turns out he's not a mechanic. He's just 

a kid who does tire work on weekends. His 

best guess is it's probably just a sensor going 

bad. Might be fine. Might not be. But we 

won't be finding any mechanics in town on a 

Sunday, so unless we want to wait a day ... 

Which we don't since we've both got to 

get back to work, me to a new job at Crain's 

Detroit Business where I have no personal 

days accrued yet, and where I'm still sort of 

on tryout. 

We start the car back up and head out U.S. 

41, trying best we can to ignore the pinging. 

Eight miles later the pinging seems louder. I 

look down and see the tachometer has suddenly 

gone down to zero. The engine has stalled. I 

coast to a stop and try to restart it. Nada. 

Luckily, we have coasted to a stop in 

front of the only motel in the small town of 

Chassell, the only motel for the next 30 

miles. The owner tells me they don't take 

dogs, but he's not going to turn me away 

under the circumstances, so we're all welcome 

until we can figure out what to do with 

the car. 

Chassell doesn't have cell-phone coverage. 

He loans me his phone and phone book 

and it turns out the nearest weekend towing 

service is the BP station I'd just left. A little 

while later, the same kid is hooking up the 

Chrysler van and hauling it off. 

If we have to be stuck, this is the place. 

Behind the motel is a rails-to-trails path, and 

past that is a park and beach. It is hot and 

sunny and even though it's October in the 

U.P., the summer and fall have been so hot 

we have no trouble getting into Portage Lake. 

Later, we discover across the highway 

and on the other side of the two blocks that 

constitute Chassell, there are miles of ski 

trails though thick forests. 

Monday, we get the news. Blown bearing. 

Maybe they can find a used engine. 

Probably they have to order a new one. We 

can either buy a used car or fix this one. 

We go for the fix. They'll let us know 

what they find. Which, good news, is a lowmileage 

used engine that will cost $2,000 

instead of $4,000, but the car won't ready till 

Thursday. 

Monday, too, the weather turns. It gets 

gray and blustery and rainy and stays that 

way till we leave. There's no restaurant in 

town. The last one burned down a while 

back; all that's left is a concrete slab by the 

pay phone that rarely works. 

Thank God for the bike path and trails. 

We walk or run three or four times a day, 

whenever we can't stand another minute in 

the motel room. 

The trails are beautiful, tough and anything 

but boring. There are a lot of squirrels 

for the dog to chase as we do our miles. 

(The owner of the motel has a day job 

and is rarely around. Such is the nature of the 

U.P. that there is a sign on the office door, 

and next to it a bunch of keys. The sign tells 

what each room costs and advises that if no 

one is around, take the room you want and 

leave the money in the top drawer of the 

nightstand when you depart in the morning.) 

Aug. 26, 2006. We're back in the U.P. 

Haven't blown the new engine, yet. It's 

Kathleen, the dog, me, her daughter, Jennie, 

and the grandson, Daron, who had 

announced to me at the Corktown race in 

Detroit in March that he wanted to do a 5K 

before the summer is over. 

And we're back in Chassell. We're in the 

U.P. for two weeks' vacation and staying in 

the beautiful, postcard-pretty town Eagle 

Harbor. To our delight, the newsletter that 

arrived from the U.P. Road Runners before 

we left had an entry form for the Carl Olson 

Memorial Run in Chassell and - what do you 

know? - it's on the same ski trails that saved 

our sanity. 

Daron was planning to do the mile here, 

but on a two-mile trail run earlier in the trip, 

his longest run ever, he'd had so much fun he 

suggested doing the 5K instead. 

It's a freaking bear. The first mile is all 

uphill, some gradual, a lot steep, with lots of 

roots and the usual trail trippery. I have 

Maddie on the leash, the happiest trail racer 

you've ever seen. 

I keep telling the kid at least the last mile 

will be easy, to hang in there, the pain in his 

lungs and legs really will get better. He finishes 

like a champ, passing folks on the long 

downhill of the loop course. 

We both win age-group awards, he competing 

with 13 and under at age 11, me in the 

55-59 geezer division. The 35 minutes won't 

get us in the Guinness Book of World 

Records, but each of us wearing our matching 

t-shirts all day and winning awards? 

Magic. Worth having blown an engine in the 

same place a year earlier. 

The next Saturday Daron wants to do 

another 5K, and shaves two minutes off his 

time at Chuck Block's Run Like the Wind in 

Westland. 

** 

When is a 5K run tougher than a 

seven-miler? When it's at the glorious, 

fantastic, man-oh-man-youcan't-believe-the-views 

Harvest Stompede 

through the Leelanau wine country northwest 

of Traverse City. 

I use all those adjectives by way of trying 

to entice those of you who haven't done it yet 

to do so next year. Those of you who have, 

like John Wehrly of Madison Heights, know I 

exaggerate not. 

This year's run Sept. 16 had the same 

cobalt-blue sky and endless vistas the race 

seems to have trademarked. I was there to do 

the seven-miler, getting to some semblance of 

shape for the first time in a few years in hopes 

of surviving the Detroit Free Press Marathon. 

Last year I ran 61 minutes here. This 

year - those 30-mile weeks are paying off - I 

finished in 57:37. The course really is too 

cool. It starts at Ciccone Vineyards, Tony 

being Madonna's dad. Yep, that Madonna. 

The vines are lush with grapes bulging with 

juice, just days away from harvest. 

A long downhill leads to Mawby's 

Vineyard, where a series of steep ups-anddowns 

get the heart soaring. Then comes a 

mercifully-long flat trail stretch to Black Star 

Farms, where more short, steep ups-anddowns 

await, followed by a killer mile-long 

climb up and up through loose sand. 

The course loops back to Ciccone's and 

up the same steep hill we ran down to start, 

going up now, and there - finally! - is the pit 

filled with grapes we get to jump in at the 

finish line. 

The course doesn't lend itself to running 

with a dog on a leash - too many narrow 

stretches through rows of grapes - so to thrill 

Maddie and add on some miles, I take her 

out on the now-empty 5K course. 

And find out it may be the toughest 5K 

course I've seen. And one of the prettiest. It is 

relentless. Not a flat spot to be seen. Nearly 

everything at what seems like 30- or 40- 

degree angles. 

Which is why later, after the awards, I 

approached Ken Flannery with even more 

heartfelt congratulations than usual. He's 46, 

now, but his chiseled torso and unlined face 

belie his master's status. For the third-straight 

year he's won. Once again he's broken 20 

minutes, finishing in 19:48. 

Sub-20 on that course? Better check his 

pee. MR 


31

GLSP Television Network 

http://glsp.com 

Mt. 

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282 

steps 

Fall Schedule 

Michigan Travel 

Destination Windsor 

Touring Saugatuck 

Flint and the Crim Festival of Races 

Chateau Chantal 

Collegiate Clash 

Michigan Skier Television 

History of Nubs Nob 

Skiing in the Upper Peninsula 

National Ski Hall of Fame 

Michigan Runner Television 

Grand Island Marathon and 10K 

ING Edmonton Marathon 

Crim Festival of Races 

Milford Labor Day 30K, Relay & 10K 

Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon 

Portage Invitational 

Niagara Fallsview Casino International 

Marathon 

Detroit Free Press / Flagstar Bank 

Marathon 

Playmakers Autumn Classic 

Mt. Baldhead Challenge 

NCAA Division I Cross Country 

Championships 

Roseville Big Bird 

Michigan Runner Television 

The Heather Golf Course at Boyne 

Highlands 

Native American Cup II 

Gaylord Golf Mecca 

Harbor Point Golf Club 

League Championships Series II 

Upper Peninsula Golf

November 2006 - February 2007 Event Calendar - Michigan Runner

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