| Author |
Topic: Cheryl Thomas Memorial 5K - Marlette, MI |
tselbs
Cool Runner |
 posted May-12-2007 12:51 PM
   
This is a special race as Marlette is the town where I taught for 34 years and Cheryl was a student of mine. Cheryl was an all round athlete in school and coached several sports for a number of years after graduating. She ran regularly and did at least one marathon. Cheryl passed away about a half dozen years ago leaving her husband and two young sons.I saw a number of ex-students, parents of ex-students, and several people I had taught with. There were people who fit in more than one of these categories. The couple who were race directors were also ex-students. I also saw davek who is a Cool Runner but not a boomer. We met at this race a couple years ago after being on the same VRAA team. The temperature was in the mid 40s with a little wind in our face for about the first mile of a loop that went out into the country and back with a few gentle grades a little past midway. The race ended at the finish line of the high school track. I started out with Bev, a Kingston gal who we've known for a long time while she worked her way through college as a waitress at a restaurant we went to for Sunday breakfasts when our kids were young. Shortly after the start, Bev dropped back a few steps and, while running into the wind in the first mile, hollered up to me that she was using me to break the wind and couldn't pass me anyway. As I passed the 1st mile, my GPS said about 8:30 and a little over a mile. I was hoping for better than 8:30 miles and hoped the excess over one mile would help. About 2 miles, my time was about 16:30 and the GPS was a tad over 2 miles. That seemed a little better. As I got to around 2.8 miles or so, it looked like I might get close to 25 minutes which would be great as my PR was 25:20. I crossed the finish line at 25:04 with Bev less than a minute behind me. Checking the GPS, I was disappointed to find the distance at 3.092 but decided that a discrepancy of .008 miles (42 feet or 14 yards) was close enough to call the race a legitimate 5K and give myself a PR. My GPS gave pace splits of 8:05, 8:04, and 8:09. The race was rather low tech and I don't know how many participated. I'd guess a little over 30 in the run and over 100 in the walk. As the only one in the 50+ age group, I got an AG 1st. A nice touch was when they announced Cheryl's son was the AG winner for 14 and under. A little more visiting after the race put the finishing touches on a nice morning. TomS
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hermosaboy
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 01:27 PM
Nice job Tom!!!
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ksrunr
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 01:45 PM
wtg Tom,
nice race and report. enjoyed it.ksrunr
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nowor
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 02:40 PM
Tom,Definitely that's a PR. I remember last year's RR. Glad you could do it again and meet so many friends, run so well for a good cause. Sue
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mcsolar99
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 02:58 PM
wow, congrats on a new 5k pr, and what a great race to hit a pr!! i always get a real sense of the community in which you run and live from your race reports tselbs; and we are certainly luck to have you in this virtual community with us. (just don't let ribs catch you quoting 3 significant decimal places from your garmin...  )
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roy c
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 04:22 PM
Well done Tom, that was fast.
Roy
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tomwhite
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 04:28 PM
......good running tselbs......
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FlyingFinn
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 07:30 PM
Great racing and fantastic PR! And I think it's perfectly fine for a former math teacher to read 3 decimal places from his Garmin.  [This message has been edited by FlyingFinn (edited May-12-2007).]
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predawnrunner
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 07:49 PM
Nice PR, Tom! And it sounds like it is particularly meaningful for you and this community. Thank you for sharing it with us. ------------------
Predawnrunner, aka mrs W.R.F. Beer
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Labduck
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 07:49 PM
Congrats on the PR Tom. This must be a special race for you given its background, and you just made it all the more special by PRing. Great effort!------------------
Labduck
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davidk
Member |
posted May-12-2007 07:56 PM
Tom,Great job on finishing first in the AG and getting a new PR! It was good seeing you again, even though I couldn't recall where I knew you from until I happened to see your post here. I missed my PR by 1 second but I was still more than happy with my consistent splits of 6:23, 6:18, and 6:20, which let to my best 5k since 2002. Now, I'll wait impatiently for the Bayshore marathon coming up in a couple of weeks where I'll get to run with my brother-in-law while he runs his first marathon. Is there a 5k planned for Fair Days? If so, I'll plan to be there. Otherwise, I'll go for that 5k PR again in June at Brown City during their festival. Take care,
Dave P.S. - Although I'm not a "Boomer" per se, I do meet the 40+ qualification! This is good since the guy that finished just ahead of me was a few years younger and not in my AG. Until I found this out, I was certain I was going to lose out on the medal for 1st AG even though I came in 3rd overall.
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SkipAZ
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 08:03 PM
Congrats on your PR Tom! Sounds like a nice community event - I'm glad you were able to participate and very sweet that you PR'd as well.
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Jim24315
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 08:07 PM
Congratulations, Tom, on a nice time and near perfect job of pacing. As always, I enjoyed reading about your overall experience on another of these special Michigan mornings.
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TMWIP
Cool Runner |
posted May-12-2007 09:07 PM
Nice PR and RR. Sounds like a great race where you got to see many old friends. Garmins are not 100% accurate - so I'm sure the course was legit!
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smpankowski
Cool Runner |
posted May-13-2007 05:47 AM
Tom, for me, the best part of racing is the fellowship...A new PR is right up there though. Well done and thanks for the RR------------------
Never regret anything that made you smile, SteveP My User Profile
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Elaine3112
Cool Runner |
posted May-13-2007 01:40 PM
My garmin is banned from races now because it often gives me readings that are not consistant with the course distance even though most courses I run are certified. You definately PR'd in my book Tom and well deserved too at a race that was special to you. Well done.
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Spareribs
Cool Runner |
posted May-13-2007 01:42 PM
Let's see, a PR, winning your AG, plus getting to run with just about everyone you know in Michigan, which seems to be half the state. You are really on a roll Tom. Very well done. Spareribs
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glidegal
Cool Runner |
posted May-13-2007 01:43 PM
A very special race and PR--you write a nice race report--always inspirational, tselbs. thanks for sharing it with us, glidegal
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UncleSteve57
Cool Runner |
posted May-14-2007 08:08 AM
Congratulations Tom. And what a great way to spend a day.Steve
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SLOjim
Cool Runner |
posted May-14-2007 08:17 AM
Very nice race! Congrats on the PR and AG win!We don't have many small races like that in So Cal..... it must be very special to know so many of the runners, running in memory of friend and ex student.
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rochrunner
Cool Runner |
posted May-14-2007 08:53 AM
Sounds like another great running experience for you, Tom. I didn't know that you had taught in Marlette -- it sounds like you had a very good career there. Being a teacher means that you have influenced the lives of more people than you might realize.The AG award is well-deserved and we promise not to tell anyone about the number of entrants . And I hope you realize that your Garmin will sometimes be lucky to be within a tenth of a mile of the actual course length, so I'm sure that your PR counts as a real PR! ------------------
- Runnin' in Rochester Rochrunner
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bobscamman
Cool Runner |
posted May-14-2007 09:09 AM
Nice job Tom, I am sure that running in this race means a lot to you. I am equally sure that many of the other participants who were former students and or co-workers are happy to see you there. You did a great job pacing a pretty even race, and an AG award to boot. Now how cool is that?------------------
My User Profile "Keep on Running"
Bob
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Ileneforward
Cool Runner |
posted May-14-2007 10:28 AM
Fantastic! I love your reports, you are such a wonderfual man. Woohoo on the AG win and a new PR.
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rosecoloredglasses
Cool Runner |
posted May-14-2007 10:32 AM
TomSelby,
All I can say is: You are my hero.Thanks for sharing this slice of Americana with me.
Some day....some day... I will run a 5K as fast as you...
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Tetsujin30
Cool Runner |
posted May-14-2007 11:18 AM
Tom - It’s always a thrill to get to read so about so many PR’s that get posted in rr’s but yours are especially thrilling. It’s almost like you just started running but when I try to glean rr gems that might apply to the rest of us, I think it might have something to do with your running with so many friends who encourage each other so much.
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