By David Yon
It seems only a short while ago that Nadine Dexter barely knew what a 5K was. Soon we were seeing all these touching messages from Joe Dexter along the race courses we ran that urged her on. Nadine not only learned what a 5K was, she was running them and longer races. Now she puts together beginning running classes for 60 people and directs the FSUCares 5K, one of the fastest growing races in town. It is hard to imagine GWTC without her. In just its second year, the FSU Cares 5K, sponsored by the Florida State College of Medicine, had over 200 finishers. The race started at the FSU Wescott Building and finished on the FSU track, creating a fast downhill first mile and then two mostly flat miles to the finish. It is a PR-fast course.
And sure enough the crowd running the second production of this event was not only large, but it was also fast. Fred Deckert reported eight runners blasting by the mile mark in under 5:00 as a contingent of FSU cross-country runners took advantage of the fast course. Six of them broke the 16:00 minute mark, with Shawn Patterson raking in another winner’s trophy with a time of 15:31. Second place went to Chris Nickinson in 15:40. Bill McCord, new to Tallahassee, made an impressive local master’s debut winning in 17:54. Meredith Urban and Kara Newell battled it out for the women’s title with Meredith winning in 19:12 and Kara right there at 19:15. Julie Clark ran a very strong 20:37 to take the master’s title. Twenty-eight runners brook the 20:00 minute mark.
The mission of FSUCares is to support health services, including medical care, counseling, and education to those who would not otherwise have access to care. The emphasis is on medically underserved and underprivileged patient populations. The organization is made up of 1st and 2nd year medical students.