2007 Features Archives Index

Presented by Tony Guillen This award is given to a GWTC triathlete, active in the club, whose love of triathlon is demonstrated not only in competition, but also in commitment, service & inspiration.Competition: Completed The Redhills Triathlon, St....

Presented by David Yon It used to be said that a woman's place is in the home. As I watched so many women run off and leave me in races and on trails, I have to laugh and wonder what coach potato thought that one up. There are of course still glass...

By Bonnie Wright and Jane Johnson B: Here at the Academy Awards of the Gulf Winds Track Club, Jane and I felt this award was too important to let just one person present the award. J: The Cleveland-Caldwell Advancement of the Sport Award recognizes an...

By Gary Droze It makes perfect sense that the volunteer of the year cannot be here tonight to accept his award. As club members, we should not feel slighted by his absence, any more than the producers of the hit movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" should feel...

By Jay Wallace I have known this year's men's runner of the year for about a year and a half of Saturday morning races. In that short time, a few things have become apparent. He has an infectious enthusiasm for the sport, a fierce competitive spirit, a...

By Nancy Laux Good evening everyone! It is really a pleasure to be here tonight with all of you.Due to the busy lives that many of us lead today, what with work, family, and other obligations people take upon themselves, so many have little time, if any at...

From a giddy Race Director… Jay Silvanima, 2007 Tallahassee Marathon Race DirectorIt's hard to know where to start.... I'll start with thanks to Jack McDermott, Gary Griffin, Fred Deckert, Felton Wright, and Mae Cleveland for insider information on what is...

Breeda’s Secret Training Tips-How to Reclaim & Retain Fitness Yes, it has been awhile since GWTC has rolled out a quest speaker, so why not start with someone who has been to the mountain. That is what Fred & Margarete Deckert thought when they...

Lake, Woytalewicz run into Palace Saloon 5K history Herb Wills,  On a perfect Tallahassee morning for distance running, Chris Lake ran away from a field of 1200 runners to win the 36th annual Palace Saloon 5K on Saturday, 10 April 2010. Lake made the dash...

David Yon, I knew something special was happening when the lot around the Palace Saloon was filled with cars at 7:00 a.m., more than an hour before the start of the race. Race directors Herb Wills and Reid Vannoy have found the right formula for this race...

Women's Distance Festival 2007 Wrap Up Lisa Unger, Saturday, September 15, 2007 was a great day for running in Tallahassee. The Women’s Distance Festival hosted 176 runners and walkers in the 5k and 32 participants in the mile (28 scored finishers). The 10...

A Good Thing Comes to an End – Pine Run 1977 to 2006 David Yon,  I have run the fastest Pine Run I will ever run. And I have run the slowest Pine Run I will ever run. I have run it healthy and with good courage and I have limped through it with injuries. I...

New Management Excels at WDF 2007 David Yon,  Lisa Unger and Jo Lena Pace are fast becoming GWTC rising stars as race directors. In their second year as directors of the Women's Distance Festival they looked like experienced pros. Their efforts have this...

Breakfast on the Track – From My (Ad)vantage Bonnie Wright, Photo by Fred Deckert  I have a different view of the race in my tucked away corner compiling results, hoping that I don’t make a mistake, being guided quite ably by Judy Alexander, a long-time...

Breakfast on The Track - 2007 David Yon, Fred's pictures at: http://picasaweb.google.com/Freddecka/Breakfast7/Somewhere in the middle of the night Volunteer Extraordinaire, Bill Lott woke to the sound of thunder and flash of lightening and heard the down...

On Running a Race  By Lisa Unger,  Running a race has taken on whole new meaning as I begin planning my second year as Race Director of the Women’s Distance Festival. Nine years ago, running a race meant huffing and puffing and hoping to make it to the...

Yell "On Your Marks" and They Will Come David Yon, Photo by Fred Deckert Keep in mind that you can go to a meet at Mike Long Track for the FSU National Champion team and see fewer than a dozen or so spectators who are not either participants on one of the...

Fragments – It Is Our City so Tell the Story!  David Yon,  I hope you got a chance to read Jim Lamar’s piece in the Thursday edition of the Tallahassee Democrat. Lamar is the sports editor of the Tallahassee Democrat and he received an email from a reader...

Gary Griffin,   NY Times writer Kirk Johnson begins his book entitled “To the Edge – A Man, Death Valley and the Mystery of Endurance” (in which he describes his year of preparation for the 135 mile Badwater Ultramarathon), in this way: “At 4:30 on a...

David Yon, Muddy Buddy,  I started a journey where precise distance was unknown, whose rules I poorly understood and whose obstacles I did not fathom. Along the way I found great fun, camaraderie and a challenge. But most of all I found good fun.Before I...