Community Award 2010 - Chuck Goodheart and Jimbo Herring

As my good friend Dana Stetson is credited with saying “It’s not a matter of if, but when.” Dana, of course, was referencing taking a fall on the trail. How about “interfacing on a website”? This refers to the first person running on a single track trail early in the morning who does not see the spider web bridging the trail. Some of the best impersonations of Curly from the Three Stooges are usually done at that time. Here’s another axiom. “What said on the trail stays on the trail!” There are some conversations on long runs that are best not repeated. Enough said!

We owe a great deal of gratitude to our recipient tonight. For without our awardee, our local trails might not exist. Our entire community of walkers, joggers, runners and cyclists would be relegated to the streets of Tallahassee, and that would not be good or healthy.  I owe my prolonged running career, as pitiful as it is, to them as well. My friends in other cities are falling to joint, knee and back injuries because they lack an alternative to pavement.

There are over sixty-one parks in Tallahassee: Red Bug, Elinor Klapp-Phipps (Home to Miller Landing Madness and the Pot Luck Bash), Lake Heritage Trails I and II, and San Luis Ridge, to name a few. Olympic and professional runners come to Tallahassee to train on our trails in the winter. Nike and Zap Fitness coaches call Tallahassee the “best kept running secret.” The design and maintenance of these trails is no easy task. It takes a great team to pull this off. Our honoree also has a great passion and love for his work. For seventeen years, his dedication to the local trails has benefited the entire community.

I would like to thank Chuck Goodheart, City of Tallahassee, Parks and Trails Management Specialist, for his outstanding work in making Tallahassee a truly “running friendly” town. Also a special thanks goes to Jimbo Herring for all of his work, especially at the Elinor Klapp-Phipps Park, a beautiful six- hundred acre park of pure running pleasure.

I would like to ask Chuck Goodheart and Jimbo Herring to come forward at this time. We all benefit from their hard work and dedication, which epitomize the GWTC Community Award.