Local runners far flung
By Dana Stetson
Tallahassee’s runners are scattered to the four corners of the world this weekend. Among our sport travelers; Felton Wright is in Hawaii for the Ironman, in iron shape. His performance is bound to be his best.
Jeff Bryan is in Virginia, ready to undertake an insanely hard, mountainfull, Mountain Masochist. The event, this year, features some of our country’s best trail runners. Bryant has been training for a long time for this one. He has raced enough of these long ones to the point where he knows much more about pacing, which could make the difference in a Herculean effort, such as this.
Gary Griffin is at the Grand Canyon Marathon. This race will run parallel to the canyon on an Indian reservation and sounds like a visual treat. He also hits this event in great shape. Jean D’Alemberte and Bob Keller are at the World Duathlon Championship in Georgia this weekend.
In Clermont Florida, this weekend there is an Ironman and a Half-Ironman race. Some of the local participants for the full Ironman are Wallace Randell, Tom Rowland, Rob Roller, John Matthews, Carlos Veigas and Jay McVann. The local Half-Ironman participants are Jeff Bowman, Carol Hageseth, and Kate McFall. These people are in for a real treat as the event will be held in the first decent cool snap of the year and this should assist in good times and good conditions.
In addition to these events, and held elsewhere, there are two local running events. Shaw’s 5 mile and 1 mile walk/run and the Carl Sandburg 5K walk/run held at Maclay Gardens.
When you add to the local participants of the races, the people who run, but not in organized events, such as Overstreet, Munson Hills, or the Cadillac Trail, then, you’ll realize almost all of us runner-types are going to grab our share of this glorious cool weather. This is our reward for rigorously running right through the heat. Enjoy it!