The Mile Race
If you are not on the GWIND e-mail list, you may not have known that August 14, was showdown day. The internet has been lit up by Gary Kenney and Greg Waddell in one of the fiercest trash talking, verbal wars Tallahassee has seen since Deon Sanders left. With tongue planted firmly in cheek, Gary Kenney assured us that he would teach the young whippersnapper from Bainbridge a lesson. He even found a nick name for him – Spud. With prose fit for Mohamad Ali, they have flung barbs back and forth keeping the rest of us in stitches. Well the results tell the story and the final poem belongs to Greg.
It started early this summer, when you called me a spud!
And today – I remind him that he drew first blood.
Early this week, my phone started to ring
Kenney was there complaining of his pulled hamstring.
I didn’t believe him and that filled him with rage
Then he started giving me more excuses, including his age.
As I said – Kenney you drew the first blood,
And we now know who is the real spud.
So Gary as you sit there with pancakes on your plate,
It was Kenney 5:19, and Waddell 4:58.
And it was a great morning for Breakfast on the Track, as Felton and Bonnie Wright pulled off a superb event. Fourteen runners broke 5:00 minutes for the mile, exactly the same as last year. The total number of runners was up, as 123 finished the mile. Once again pancakes and music were served as well as fast times on the track. And for the second straight year, no one left their breakfast on the track.
Lee Willis broke the event record, running a 4:26 to win the first heat and record the fastest time. Jane Johnson had the fastest woman’s time – 5:27. Kim Wynn interrupted last year’s mother daughter domination, just staying ahead of Jane’s daughter Kara Newell (5:32) with a time of 5:30. While Kara dropped one place from last year she improved her time by 17 seconds and, I think, set a P.R. Rob Pautienus was a couple of seconds slower than his winning time from last year, but still fast enough, 4:39, to claim second. Fourteen-year-old Ryan Deak led a strong group of high school participants, running 4:42 for a 20-second improvement over last year. Doug Gorton and Fran McLean were the masters winners in times of 4:45 and 5:52.
There were six heats of races run and some great races in each heat. Then everyone got a second chance to run as the 5K was replaced by 4×400 meter relays. Runners sprinted around the track with batons and pancakes in what was the most fun event of the day. Bill McGuire kept the music going, while the cooks, Kathy Mora and Chris Haas keep the pancakes flying out of the kitchen. If you have stayed away from this event the first two years, you are missing a great event. Running a mile on a track is really a lot of fun. In addition, because there are six heats, you get to watch five other races. And it is over before you know it. Of course those last two laps are a heck of a long way!