One More Mile - Cape Cod Athletic Club

Cape Cod Athletic Club - July/Oct 2007
Pete’s Postscripts
15 September 2007
One of the special qualities of our sport is that we can pass it
along to our kids, pretty much age and gender-free. One of
my cherished memories is of my nine year old daughter Kerry
running the Osterville Road Race with me back in 1979 in her
darling pink terry-cloth running outfit. (then, 18 years later,
coming from Oregon to run Boston with her dad!) Amongst
the various 226 participants at last weekend's Falmouth Main
Street Mile was five year old Caleb Gartner, streaking across
the line in 10:27. Not wanting to be a sissy spectator, his two
year old brother Henry trotted along soon after, completing
the distance in 28:11.
Both showed they may have inherited some solid running
genes from their father, who has been known to do pretty well
himself on the Cape Cod roads over the past 25 years.
19 September 2007
Scotty Carter, arguably the greatest of all CCAC runners,
passed on to the final finish line Saturday night. He was 90,
and the disease that finally stopped him was brain cancer.
During his running career, which did not begin until his
50s, he had captured multiple age group world records for the
1500 meters and mile run, some of them astonishing to this
day. Timed in 5:32 in a mile at Brown University as a 70 year
old, he was still able to cover the distance under six minutes
as a 75 year old. He ran many road races on the Cape in the
blue and white of the CCAC, and even at 68 and 69 could
post 10K times under forty minutes. But his forte and great
love was for track running, and there he made his lasting
mark.
I was fortunate enough to get to know Scotty well in the
1980s as we attended the same weekly interval track workouts
at Falmouth High School, and what forever struck me about
the man was his sense of humor and basic humility. He
seemed not at all impressed by his amazing track running, and
forever seemed younger than his chronological age because of
his ebullient and enthusiastic spirit. I remember one winter
indoor meet in particular, at Harvard University, when he was
asked to produce his driver's license (for age identification)
after a typically amazing race which had humbled not only his
age group, but runners as much as 25 years younger. (One
Pete Stringer (gulp) included.)
A grade school teacher and principal for almost 40 years,
Scotty remained tied to his profession by teaching swimming
at the Sandwich pool right up to a year before his death. The
man knew how to give back. When all is said and done, I
shall remember how encouraging Scotty was to one and all,
and how he always seemed to be "up" on everyone else's latest
accomplishments, and let them know that. I have always
thought that that is what I most hope to copy as a worthy legacy.
We went to the same allergy clinic in Hyannis during the
past few years, and I was always pleasantly surprised that he
had heard ultra racing info that seemed so foreign to others.
Like all great teachers, he genuinely enjoyed celebrating victories
other than just his own.
He was an extraordinarily gifted, special runner, but even a
more special man.
26 October 2007
Where I ran this morning was a nondescript six miles in the
woods, but this thread allows me the chance to say last night's
run was as a gorilla in my full body ape suit for my Wed.
night running class. Every year near Haloween week I have a
Best Costume contest to keep things interesting. Best costume
was awarded Lucille in her Groucho Marx getup and corresponding
jokes. And Saturday was exciting, for I was returning
from watching the Green Mountain Marathon (spectator)
with my daughter Kerry. I had her let me out of the car about
eight miles from her mountainside home in Fletcher, Vermont,
and said I'd run home on the long dirt road that is
Metcalf Pond Rd. She did, and when I was about two miles
from her house, she comes running up the road to get in a
quick three miles with her dad (she ran Boston with me in '97,
before her kids).
Well, we go about a half mile in the gathering twilight and
guess what? Right in the middle of the road is this huge
moose! Big rack, the first one I had ever seen out in the wild
other than many years ago while doing the Sugarloaf Marathon
in Maine.
Whoa! He wasn't moving, just stared at us from about 25
yards away. Kerry says, "let's backtrack, Dad."
But no, fearless Dad says let's wait a bit, I don't feel like
going way back. Then the moose decided we were no longer
of his interest and moves into the woods. So we went on our
way, and noticed he was just gazing at us as we trotted on by.
The cool thing about it is the whole time she and her hubby
have lived there, about five years, they had seen all kinds of
tracks, but never a moose. So see, it is all good. Keep it diverse.
Roads, trails, track, etc. Ape-acting, moose-meeting, or
just plain running, it helps to keep it changing.
29 October 2007
In these days of the world wide web we find that ace Clydesdale
runner Wilhelm Kadunc returned to his hometown digs
in Slovenia yesterday to run the Ljubljana Marathon in an
even four hours and 17 seconds. This is an outstanding effort
by a truly big man who ran the same time last month at the
Clarence Demar Marathon in Keene, NH.
Sort of serendipitous that the day I discover this, our Wil is
featured in the Hanlon's Shoe ad in the Cape Cod Times.
(page A5)
Also should point out that locally, Geof Newton finally
touched his toe into the virgin waters of the 26.2 mile distance,
racing the Cape Cod Marathon to the tune of 2:44,
while club prez Bob Eckerson signaled his more total recovery
with a 3:40, Jane Lovelette proved there is life after Chicago
with a 4:02, and Dave Fravel recorded a courageous
4:04.
31 October 2007
Other CCM finisher mentionabubbles:-
3:20 Franco Bonfini - so fresh after the race I thought he had
just run the relay..
3:22 Wayne Nichols - champ triathlete who dabbles in marathons
3:33 Tim Cronin - celebrates good Red Sox name
3:39 Chris Bonelli - Brewster denizen toiled on Nickerson's
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