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April 2002 Newsletter
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Right In the Middle of Family Fun Day, A Serious Mile Broke Out (And Other Memories)
Family Fun Day was wildly successful -- as always, thanks to the
efforts of creator / track V.P. Tim "Apolo Ohno Elbows" Ingall & Co. (But
we weren't expecting so many serious milers to join the fun, too.)
Precisely, five heats with about 13 runners each came from hither and
beyond to get one more mile time trial under their racing
flats. Meanwhile, little kids were winning sack races in the infield.
The entire indoor track series has been fun! It reminds me of the
"good 'ol" days when Jim Hartshorne used to introduce running to everyone
he could find by luring them to a track meet at Barton Hall. Remember
those "slow" and "fast" heats?
What did you miss by hiding out 'til road racing season? You missed....
- 7-year-olds outkicking 50-year-olds;
- 60-year-olds outkicking 15-year-olds;
- The Molly Huddle Show;
- The Casey Carlstrom Show;
- Nationally-ranked age-groupers racing against rookies;
- Masters hitting All-American standards;
- The Ithaca United Track Club cheering everyone on;
- The Ithaca High boys' relay teams thrilled to win medals;
- Watching Kevin Thompson sprint the 400;
- Servings of bagels, Gatorade, candy -- and cookies by Victoria and Kevin's chocolate chip pancakes;
- The Finger Lakes School of Massage offering free massages;
- Tom Meyer's super-fast results;
- Photos by Sandy;
- Tim and Herb arriving first and leaving last;
- Adam Engst's angst and good humor;
- Sarah & Diane explaining registration procedures - over & over;
- Table chief Dave Jones explaining registration - over & over;
- Charlie, Gwen, Katie, Sandy and John clerking with precision;
- Alan & crew timing every tick of the clock;
- Our meets mentioned on dyestat.com, and in Track and Field News and The NY Times;
- Official starter Bruce;
- Recycled for track -- Wineglass Marathon race numbers;
- Coveted medals and ribbons;
- Parents running with their kids;
- Seeing students' surprised expressions when we said the meet was free;
- Tim's surprised expression when we said the meet was free;
- A borrowed sound system creating control out of chaos;
- The 2 x 800 couples' relay;
- Meets growing larger and louder every month.
Tim will introduce our "Tuesday Nite @ the Track" summer series in
this issue. We hope to see you there once a month from May through
August!
-- Diane Sherrer