(1) O Canada!
As I am closing in on 20,000 miles of running over the next few weeks I will post
stories here and on Coach Will's Athletes FB page about epic runs or races, interesting people I have
met or unique coaching experiences.
I will start with one titled; "O Canada"
In March 2004 as the club coach of the Chattahoochee Road Runners I was the
contact point when someone, usually from out of town, emailed the club about
locations to run. I received an email from an athlete from Canada that was
training for a marathon and was coming to Georgia for a conference and was
looking for a good place to run.
I responded back and asked her how far she was needing to run.
When she responded back I not only told her where was a good place to run, but
that I would get a few of us to come and run with her so she wouldn't have to
run alone.
So on 3-21-2004 a few of us, male & female, met up with her
at Cochran Shoals and ran together.
Do you remember Tracey Sullivan ?
(2) Clarence May
Story #2 in Epic Runs, Rides & Adventures. Closing in on the 20,000 mile mark.
There is a belief in Eastern Philosphy that as long as someone
speaks your name out loud your spirit will live on for eternity. So today's
story is about a dear friend of mine Clarence W. May Jr. who sadly passed many
years ago by a stroke at a too young age.
Clarence and I ran many races together.
Clarence was a fixture at numerous events as a volunteer for the
Atlanta Track Club, so many in fact that he was awarded the Community Service
award by the ATC in 2000. After he passed away the ATC renamed the Community
Service Award to the Clarence W. May Jr. Community Service Award in 2001 and it
is still awarded by the ATC to the outstanding volunteer each year.
Clarence was also an avid cyclists and always encourged others
to ride. For about 8 months each year he would seek out used bikes that he
would store in a warehouse. Then for a couple of months he and dozens of
volunteers would repair, rebuild, and if needed, repaint the bikes so that at
Christmas he would see that these bikes found their way to children who would
not have an opportunity to own a bike otherwise. For several years after his
death others continued to carry on this tradition.
As runners we often find money as we are running.
My friend Clarence was an avid runner and cyclist and would also pick-up money
he found but he was more deligent than me because he kept ledgers of what he
found, when he found it and if he was running or riding.
Since I moved to Colorado it is harder to find money on the road
because of the snowplows, but occasionally I do. No matter where I am when I
find money, as I pick it up I say outloud, "Clarence, buddy, how are you
doing?'
During my 12 mile run this morning I found 2 pennies within
a short distance and I spoke to Clarence each time. I truly believe that the
money I found this morning was "Pennies from Heaven"
(3) Hogpen &
Bobbie
As I close in on 20,000 miles of running with only 236 miles to go, another running story.
First let me describe the Hogpen Hill Climb Race that takes
place in Helen, GA each January. In 1992 this was a 10.74 mile race that
started in downtown Helen and ran to the top of Hogpen Gap with over 2500 ft.
of elevation gain. The real leg killer of the race happens between miles 7 and 9 where the road grade is over
12%.
I was just getting back into running coming off of a hip injury and had been training with a very fast female runner,
Bobbie Inginito. She had a good chance of winning the race but knew the section
between 7 and 9 would be a struggle to keep up a faster pace. Since I was not
planning to run the race but was going to be there to support friends who were running, Bobbie asked me if I would pace her in the 7-9 mile
section.
Once the race started we drove up the mountain to the 7 mile
mark and I got out. We had estimated the time it would take Bobbie to reach the
7 mile mark so a little before that time I started down the mountain to do a
warm-up. I had gone about 3/4 mile when I saw the male leader coming up the
mountain. I turned around and started jogging back up to the 7 mile mark. Just
before I got there one of the others yelled at me, "Will, here comes
Bobbie!"
I started running so that I would be at pace by the time
she caught me, but she zoomed by. I yelled out to her to slow for me to catch
up. She was on a strong pace and I knew I couldn't hold that for 2 miles at 12% grade. I looked over my
shoulder and didn't see another female within sight so I got her to slow down
for a minute. Once I had my legs under me we picked up the pace again.
As we were approaching the 9 mile mark I told Bobbie I wasn't
sure how much longer I could pace her. She said she felt strong and it was
okay. I stayed with her for about a quarter of a mile past the 9 mile mark
where the course takes a very slight downhill before it kicks up again to the
finish. I ran a total of 3.74 miles but felt like I had run the full race.
This is where my memory has failed me, and long before online
result tracking, but I believe that Bobbie won the female title. Someone from
the old CRR group might be able to confirm.
That's Bobbie on my right in the attached photo.
The picture is from the 1992 Georgia Long Distance Relay but I
posted it to show who Bobbie was.
(4) GA Long Distance
Relay
Another story as I close in on 20,000 miles running, just 251.55
miles away. This is a long story but I think you will enjoy.
When I began running it was for health
reasons. Like many of my generation when we got out of school we hung out in
bars, ate too much good southern fried foods and didn't get enough exercise. So
when I began running I never thought about actually running races.
As the years past and I made friends with other runners, the
idea of running races began to interest me. I will talk later about all the
Peachtree Road Races I have run (24 so far) but the race I want to tell you
about is the Georgia Long Distance Relay Race. A 125 mile race through the
North GA mountains, beginning and ending in Helen, GA.
The race conisted of 8 person teams and each runner had to run 3
legs of approximately 5 miles each for a total of 15 miles. Each team had a
name and our's was "The Magnificent 7 Plus One."
There were 2 support vehicles, my son Clint had just recently
got his drivers license so he was one of the drivers. The first runner started
the race then the other runners and the 2 support vehicles went ahead to the
exchange point. When the runner arrived they would touch hands with the waiting
runner and that runner would leave, followed by one of the support vehicles.
The 2nd vehicle would pick-up the finishing runners then procede to the next
check point. This leapfrog action continued until each runner had run their 3
legs.
This would be just another running story except for 2 big
issues. There was close to a hundred teams and since all the roads were 2 lane
through the mountains and some of the race would be run at night, you couldn't
have everyone start at the same time. To decide when a team would start they
used a unique system. The first teams would start at 10:00 AM and then every 15
minutes (memory might be wrong) the next team would start. To determine your
team's start time when you registered you supplied the 10K finish time for each
of the runners on the team and the total time was used for placement, which
meant that slower teams would start first and faster teams would start later
with the hope that all teams would be finished by a certain time the next day.
As I said the first team went off at 10:00 AM but because we had
good runners with fast 10K times we didn't start the race until 4:00 PM.
I was the 2nd runner on the relay. By the time I had started my
2nd leg of the run it had gotten dark so I was running with a flashlight (this
was before all the new running headlamps had been developed). The support
vehicle pulled up beside me as I was running and asked if I needed anything. I
had been climbing a hill for what seemed like a long time so I asked them to
drive to the top of the hill so I could see where the climb ended. A BIG
MISTAKE!!! I watched as the red taillights climbed and climbed until they were
just little dots before they stopped. I wouldn't do that again.
Each support vehicle had 4 runners, one of which would switch
off as driver, except for the vehicle my son was driving. When we stopped at a
store to use the bathroom as I was getting out my foot got tangled in the
straps of a backpack and I slightly pulled my right hamstring. I limped around
for awhile before we left and when we got to the next exchange point for one of
our runners, I didn't know it but the others had been talking about who could
run my last leg, which by the way was a 7 mile leg up the climb toward the
visitor center on Blood Mountain, where the Appalachian crosses.
When it came my turn to run I told them I would do the leg, if I
had an issue then someone else could finish the climb. It started raining and I
put on a rain jacket but within a mile I took it off and handed it to the
support vehicle because I was sweating so much that I was wetter with it on.
Keep in mind this was June in GA and 100% humidity coming down. As I progressed
up the climb the batteries in my flashlight died just before sunrise.
I finished my leg and handed off to the next runner to finish
the climb to the visitor center. After he had reached the peak and started down
we pulled up beside him and asked if he needed anything. He said he would wait until
he reached the top. We told him YOU ARE RUNNING DOWNHILL!!! This was his last
leg of the race and was definitly totally spent.
We went on with each runner
finishing their last leg and we placed 1st in our division of Mixed Masters in
a time of 16 hours 39 minutes 21 seconds.
(5) Disney
As I close in on 20,000 miles of running (251.36 miles to go/ i.e. math correction) another running story.
In 2001 I was running the Walt Disney World Marathon on
January 7th. Normally that time of year you would have a low temperature in
Orlando of 48 degrees and a high temperature of 61 degrees, almost perfect
weather for a marathon.
Because they close the roads into and around the park for the
first few milesof the race they
want you in the staging area a couple of hours before the
start which is at 5:30 AM which means you are there at the coolest/coldest time
of day.
In 2001 Orlando set a record low for January 7th at 32 degrees
and with a slight wind the wind chill was in the teens. There are a few tents
at the start for dropping running bags that you will want at the finish
but with over 8000 marathon runners and a few thousand additional runners in
the half-marathon and the 10K there is not enough room for everyone to get out
of the cold.
As we got closer to the start time there were some runners who
were already beginning to suffer from hypothermia. The medical people became so
concerned that more than an hour before the race start they handed out the
mylar space blankets that they normally give you at the finish of a race.
If you have ever seen a documentary of the Emperor Penguins in
Antarctica they group together and the ones on the outside of the group
occasionally moved to the inside and those on the inside move to the outside so
that no one penguin is left totally in the cold. This is what we practiced
until time to walk to the start.
Here we were at 5:00 AM all wrapped in space blankets walking to
the start line. When it was time to start the race everyone took off the space
blankets and tossed them aside, but most, including myself, kept on the warm-up
clothing that we had been wearing under the space blankets that would normally
be tossed aside at the start.
I wore this clothing through the first 5 miles before it had become wet with sweat.
After I had discarded my warm-ups I immediately starting looking at other
clothes that had been dropped as I ran along and wondered if any of it was dry
and if it would fit !!
As you approach the half-marathon point there is a place where
the half-marathon runners turn left and head to the finish about a mile away
and the marathoners continue on straight. As I was approaching this area there
was an argument going on between my brain and my body trying to decide to make
that left turn or continue on.
About 50 yards past this turn was a timing mat. I forced myself
to run past the turn and across the timing mat so now I am committed. It's
either finish the marathon or stop and be recorded as a DNF (Did Not Finish) in
the results.
I can tell you that it did eventually warm-up but I had spent so
many calories just trying to stay warm that those last 13.1 miles turned out to be some of the toughest
I have ever run.
(6) Ron & Lady
As I close in on 20,000 miles of running, only 237.46 miles to go, another running story.
In 1995 when I ran the Big Sur Marathon for the first time I was
with a group from the Leukemia Society. One morning at breakfast as several of
us were sitting together a very good looking woman walked up to the table and
thanked Ron for his assistance the night before and stated that she was so
embarrassed about what had happened. Ron said no problem and glad he could
help. She turned and walked away.
There was no way we were going to let that lay and not know what
had happened, so we pressed Ron to explain.
He said about 1:00 AM someone knocked at his door and when he
opened it there was a woman standing there wrapped in just a bath towel. She
quickly explained that she had opened the door to place a room service tray in
the hall and when she bent over she lost her balance and stepped into the hall
and the door closed behind her. Now she was locked out.
She asked Ron if she could use his room phone to call the desk
and get someone to come and unlock her door. Ron agreed and let her come in and
make the call. He said he stood at the door and waited until he saw the staff
coming with a key to unlock the door so she wouldn't have to stand in the hall
wrapped in just a towel.
They unlocked the door and she went to her room. We told Ron
that we didn't believe his story and that he had maybe provided other
assistance.
After breakfast the 3 of us who had shared breakfast with Ron
decided to pull a crank on him. We dressed in just a towel and went to his room
and knocked on the door and when he answered we asked if he could help us
because we had been locked out of our rooms.
Ron got a kick out of this and as you can see in the attached
picture he even joined in the fun.
(7) Chicago Marathon
As I close in on 20,000 miles of running, only 196.71 miles to go, another running story.
On Sunday I watched the Chicago Marathon and saw Galen Rupp win
the men's race, setting a new personal best and the first American to win the
race in 15 years.
I also saw Jordan Hasay, running her 2nd marathon, finish 3rd in the
women's race, setting a new personal best and becoming the second fastest
American woman in history.
In 1996 I was one of the mentor coaches for the Leukemia Society
and took 33 runners to Chicago to run the marathon. I also ran the race that year.
Watching the marathon on Sunday it brought back many memories as
I remembered running through the different neighborhoods,
but a comment by one of the commentators of the race is what triggered this
memory. He stated that the course at Chicago is almost "pancake
flat", and that is correct.
While training the runners for Chicago we laid out courses
around Atlanta that started in Buckhead. Some of these courses would head west
and included areas around Peachtree Battle and Mt Paran Road. One of these
courses included an area around the Atlanta Water Works off of Mt. Paran Road
with some really long and steep hills. These runs were usually in the 20 mile
range.
After
one of these hot, humid runs in September one of the runners asked me, "Coach,
why are we running these brutal hills when Chicago is
flat except for the bridges?" My response was that when they reached the
20 mile mark in the marathon where a lot of runners hit "the wall"
they would realize they had felt worse than that in training.
We had perfect marathon weather the morning of the race, 40
degrees and no wind !! I am happy to report that all of the runners finished
and many, myself included ran a personal best.
(8) William’s Run
(Gail Devers)
As I close in on 20,000 miles running, only 179 miles to go,
another running story.
During my time as a runner I have run in hundreds of races. As time passed
and I trained harder I was able to achieve some success.
One of the perks is that in later years I have been able to run with some of the legends of running
including Frank Shorter (1972 Olympic Marathon Gold Medalist, 1976 Olympic
Marathon Silver Medalist), Bill Rodgers (4 time winner of both the New York
City Marathon and the Boston Marathon), Dick
Beardsley, famous for his "Duel In The Sun" with Alberto Salazar at
the 1982 Boston Marathon where they ran shoulder to shoulder for almost all of
the 26.2 miles until Alberto was able to pull away in the last 100 meters and
beat Beardsley by 2 seconds!!! 2:08:51 to 2:08:53.
There were certain races that I would run on more than one occasion where I
would have some success, one of those was the William's Run 5K, dedicated to a young boy who died
of brain cancer. In 2003 I placed 3rd in my age group and went back in 2004 and
placed 3rd in my age group again. What makes the award in 2004 special is who
awarded the plaque to me, Gail Devers (1996 Olympic Gold Medalist in the 100m
and the 4x100m)
(9) High School Race
As I close in on 20,000 miles of running, with only 171.79 miles
to go, another running story.
I have been certified by USA Track & Field during each
Olympiad to be a USA Track & Field Official. I
have volunteered to work events at high school, college and post-collegiate
events. I have been witness to many outstanding and even record
accomplishments. But the most inspiring race I ever watched was between 2 young
high school girls.
At the high school level track and field events cover a wide
range but almost all high school meets end with what is know as a
"distance medley relay". This is a team building event because it
takes athletes from different distances and puts them together as a team. There
are 4 runners on the team and each runs a different distance, this allows
athletes that normally only compete in a single distance to be a part of a
team.
The race consists of a 1200 meter, 400 meter, 800 meter and 1600
meter distance run in that order. I was working a high school event between 2
high schools in Cobb County, GA and all the other events had ended so I was
free to watch the last race. As each one of the distances was run the lead
changed based on which school had the best runners for each distance.
By the time the race entered the 1600 meter distance it was
clear who would challenge for the win. As each team's runner crossed the finish
the size of the field grew smaller based on who still had laps to run. As the
last 3 runners approached the line, one of them had run her last lap but the
other 2 continued on past the finish line for their last lap.
By now everyone in the stadium was watching these 2 young women
run stride for stride down the back straight and into turn #3. As they rounded
turn #4 with only 100 meters to go it didn't matter the position in which they
finished, the winner had been determined, their finish would have no bearing on
the race results. But in their mind it was still a race and I saw one of the
best races I have ever witnessed as these 2 ran their hearts out to the finish
line. The spectators rewarded their effort with the longest and loudest
reaction to any event of the day.
This is what sport teaches, drive, determination, respect for
the other competitors, goal setting, and always doing your best, no matter if
you will finish first ...or last.
(10) Twisted Ankle
As
I close in on 20,000 miles of running, with only 141.96 miles to go, another
running story.
As I mentioned before there are a few
races that I ran more than once, some of these were really hard courses and a
real challenge. One of these was the Twisted Ankle Half-marathon that was run
in the Sloppy Floyd State Park outside of Summerville, GA.
I had known some runners who had done
this so I decided to take on the challenge. Before I ran the race the first
time I went onto the race website to get some info on the course. The race
director was named Becky and on the course profile there were comments about
"is this Becky's Bluff?" (See attached photo).
As you can see the race starts and runs
up the side of the mountain until you reach the crest then you run up and down
along the ridgeline to a turn-around then back to a point where you drop off
the ridge and back to the finish.
The race is run in May so the weather
can be hot & humid. I ran this race 3 times, 2006 (3rd Age Group), 2008
(2nd Age Group) & 2011 (2nd Age Group). The race I want to tell you about
is 2006.
We made our way around the lake,
through the campground and started up the ridge. I was with a group that
included two Army Rangers. As we struggled up the trail toward the ridge
someone told us that the incline at that point was 28% grade. Oh my aching
quads!!! When we finally crested the ridge and turned left we had a slight
downhill to recover.
During the ensuing miles there were
about 5 of us running together. The 2 army guys in the lead. As we went into
the downhills we would string out slightly, but then regroup on the uphills, we
were kind of like a "slinky". When we reached the turn-around point
at about 6 miles we were still running together.
As we retraced out route back along the
ridge we continued to spread, then gather back together. When we reached the
last water stop just before you drop off the ridge, the 2 army guys and myself
grabbed a quick drink then started down the trail. The others who had been
running with us lagged behind and we didn't see them until the finish.
The trail off of the ridge was very
steep and the 3 of us were using gravity to our advantage. These guys were
flying and I was just trying to hold on. I was so close behind them that I
couldn't see the trail so I just watched the footsteps of the guy in front of
me and put my foot where I saw him put his foot.
There is a place on the route that
going up you pass by a waterfall and on the return the trail down from the
ridge connects back to the main trail at that point. As we rounded a bend in
the trail I heard the army guy in the front call out, "Oh $hit" then
jump up. Since we couldn't see what he saw the army guy in front of me and then
me we both jumped as well. When we landed I saw that we had just jumped over a
very wet and muddy section at the trail junction. Since we were on a steep
downhill and really booking it if we had landed in the mud we would have been
on our asses and in a pile!!
We continued down the trail until we
reached a junction and saw one of the course arrows pointing off to the right,
at this point we were pretty much alone. Since this was my first time running
this race, and I later found out their first time running the race we followed
the arrow. We started up a fairly steep hill for some distance until we saw a
runner heading down the hill back toward us yelling, "this is not the
course!!!"
We turned around and headed back down
to the trail junction and one of the army guys took a misstep and twisted his
ankle. I asked if he was okay and he said to go on. His buddy stayed with him,
so the other runner and myself continued back to the trail junction where we
had taken a wrong turn.
By the time we got back to the trail
junction there were other runners running past so we followed them and got back
on the proper trail. Found out later that the sign had fallen off the tree and
landed pointing in the wrong direction.
The race finishes with you running
across a bridge that crosses the lake, and when I finished I was totally spent.
Determined later that we had run about an extra one quarter mile, but I was
still able to finish 3rd in my Age Group.
When I came back in 2008 & 2011 I
knew the course so I didn't make that mistake again, and knowing how I needed
to train for that particular course I placed 2nd in my Age Group the next 2
times I ran the race.
Not too long after I finished the race
the 2 army guys came in and I went over and told them thanks for "pulling
the train" today because I know it was what helped me to have a good race
and that I knew that I would not have finished before them if one of them had
not had a misstep.
The
race "medals" were hand made by a local artist, see attached.
(11) Monument Valley
As I close in on 20,000 miles of running (only 111.55 miles to
go) another running story.
I have been posting stories about epic runs, races and
adventures and have shared my experiences of running in some of the most
beautiful places in America, I ran the Big Sur Marathon in 1995, 1996 &
2015, I ran the Avenue of the Giants Marathon held in the Humboldt Redwoods
State Park in 2016, but probably the most moving and spiritual race I have ever
run was the Monument Valley Half-marathon I ran in March 2017.
I had traveled through the area in 2013 as one of the coaches
and part of the crew for Dani Grabol & Kacie Darden when they broke the 2
Person Female Record during the Race Across America (RAAM). Traveling through
the area just after sunrise was a very moving experience. The changing colors
of the rock formations and driving up "Forrest Gump Hill" was a real
treat.
When I found out about the race in the fall of 2016 and read
about the details I knew I had to run this race. It is held on the Navajo
Indian Reservation located in northern Arizona in Monument Valley.
I traveled to the area with my friend Pat from Georgia who had
come to go with me to the race. We arrived at Monument Valley the night before
the race for me to pick up my race number and to attend a blessing ceremony and
a native dance (see video). Because there is Cherokee blood in my family I felt
a connection to what I was watching and understanding the meaning of the
ceremony. The night ended with a Navajo prayer to keep all runners safe during
the race the next day.
We arrived before dawn to cloudy conditions and 40 degrees.
I studied the course info and knew that since it was a
"valley" and with the eons of time that had worn down the
"monuments" there would be loose sand. I knew that I would need to
wear gaiters (cloth covers that attach to your shoes and bind tightly around
your ankle to keep out the sand) but I never imagined that there would be so
much loose sand!! It was like trying to run in a sandbox!!
The race starts with a descent off the plateau down into the
valley (see course profile). As you proceed you run past and around the red
sandstone cliffs. (see photos). You cannot run through this area and not feel
the magnitude and the spiritual significance of this place to the Navajo people.
We were running through areas where tourists are usually not allowed to travel.
One of our water stops was at a Hogan of one of the tribe members (see photo).
As we continued on there were climbs and descents as we ran
around the main rock formation known as Sentinel Mesa for the final climb out
of the valley back up to the plateau. The sand on this climb was so deep that
you would take a step forward and slide halfway back, this really saps your
energy. At the top of the climb there is still 3+ miles to go and lots of ups
and downs and lots of loose and deep sand.
When I crossed the finish line I had my friend Pat and two other
friends from GA, Stan and Tracie, who had traveled up from their camp 5 hours
away to be there at the finish. I walked over to the fence and said, "I
have just one thing to say, DAMN !!".
After the race results were posted I discovered that I had
finished 4 minutes behind the first place finisher in my age group (who had
passed me on one of the sandy climbs in the last couple of miles) but 34 and 42
minutes ahead of 3rd & 4th place.
This was one of the toughest races I have run even though it was
only 13.1 miles long, but it was also one of the most inspiring.
(12) Total Races
As I close in on 20,000 miles of running (with 95.55 miles to go) another running story.
I have been asked on occasion how many races I have run since I
began tracking my running miles since May 1990. As I have mentioned
before I'm not sure how many miles I had run before I started keeping running logs, but I had only run in one 5K
race before that time.
I went through all of my running logs yesterday and counted the races I
have run since 1990. Below is the list broken down by
distance:
5K - 101
4 mile - 3
5 mile - 3
10K - 92
15K - 28
10 Mile - 19
17K (11 mi) - 13
Half-marathon - 32
Marathon - 11
Odd Distance (3 mi to 11 mi) - 19
Total - 321 races
I did not run any races in 1993 & 2013.
In 2013 I was focused on coaching Kacie Darden for the Race Across America (RAAM) where she and Dani Grabol broke the 2 Person Female Record for the 3000 mile race.
4 mile - 3
5 mile - 3
10K - 92
15K - 28
10 Mile - 19
17K (11 mi) - 13
Half-marathon - 32
Marathon - 11
Odd Distance (3 mi to 11 mi) - 19
Total - 321 races
I did not run any races in 1993 & 2013.
In 2013 I was focused on coaching Kacie Darden for the Race Across America (RAAM) where she and Dani Grabol broke the 2 Person Female Record for the 3000 mile race.
I am running a 5K Cross Country Race tomorrow and
plan to come to Georgia in July to run my 25th, and probably my last, Peachtree
Road Race.
I have a few big races on my radar for next year but not sure
how many races I will do after 2018.
This list is only for running and does not include cycling races or
rides or triathlons that I raced.
Just a little note to all who think they are too old to
exercise, yesterday at the Highlands Ranch Turkey Day 5K here in Colorado, 97
year old (legally blind) Bob McAdam set a new world record for the distance in
the 95+ age category. The fitness coordinator from the retirement home where he
lives served as his guide runner.
McAdams said to him, it's not about the world record or the
recognition, it's about getting exercise and living each day to the fullest.
That's my mantra as well.
