Can't Everybody Run A Small-Town Race?

As many are aware, I don’t sit still for too long.

I have people tell me they have a hard time keeping up and my response is always, “I’m just trying to stay busy and encouraging others to do the same.”

One of the things that I wish my fellow runners would do more of is to participate in a small-town race.

Not because they can “podium” or take home “hardware”, but just to slow down a little bit and enjoy a race that – more often than not – is put on by a group of people who are passionate about their community and/or a cause … yet still produce a quality race.

I’m not saying that races in large cities don’t.

There’s just something different.

And until you experience it a few times, you can’t separate the hustle and bustle of a large race and the appeal of a small community race.

I’ve run three races so far this weekend and will run in one more in the morning on Memorial Day.

It will be in my hometown of Tyrone, Pennsylvania.  I think I will run past two places – 802 and 809 Park Avenue – during the race where I lived as a child.

Friday night’s ninth annual Mayfest 5K in Fryburg had 111 timed finishers.  This race was about two hours away from where my grandmother lives in Tipton, just south of State College – the home of Penn State University.

Saturday morning’s 12th annual Dr. John Yellenic Memorial Day 5K in Blairsville had 44 timed runners and walkers.

And this morning’s Gabriel Lee Friedline Memorial 5K Run in Schellsburg, just outside of Bedford, had 56 timed runners and walkers.

When I registered in Fryburg Friday night and was offered a chance for a drawing for a prize, I declined.

I was just being polite in that I didn’t want to possibly win anything that I wouldn’t have been able to use.

I explained to the woman that I was from Texas – and up to visit my grandmother about two hours away – and she just couldn’t get over that somebody from that far outside of their community would participate in their race – and visit.

Again, not that I’ve ever not been appreciated for participating in somebody’s race, but this was different – and I don’t think it was just a Pennsylvania thing.

Although, one of the state’s slogans over the years has been, “You’ve got a friend in Pennsylvania.”

Saturday morning in Blairsville, I thought the race started at 8 a.m.

There weren’t too many people around as I walked toward the middle of the park at about 7:30 a.m.
I made the comment, “Everybody will show at the last minute, huh?”

Then I quickly learned that the race – as it was seen on the flyer – would begin at 9 a.m.

I went back to the hotel and walked a little bit around downtown after I returned, but when I finished I enjoyed a conversation with two or three gentlemen about how the race went.

One was with Blairsville’s Parks and Recreation Department and I told them about my involvement at home and that they seriously checked off all of the boxes for a well-produced race.

A good bit of the race was run on the Blairsville Riverfront Trail that was developed along the north side of the Conemaugh River.

It was really a pretty, peaceful place to be and run a race.

This morning didn’t disappoint either.

Bedford is almost an hour south of where my grandmother lives.  To the west, along Highway 30, is Schellsburg and Shawnee State Park.

I had two sets of plans, given that there was a threat of thunderstorms.

If it was continually raining, my plans were to go to church in either Altoona at Calvary Baptist Church (their services were at 10:30 a.m.) or at Northwood Baptist Chapel, which I guess you could say was the very first church I regularly attended as a child.

The latter was also the church in which my parents were married in.

The rains held off – and pretty much didn’t materialize too much throughout the day today; so, it was run that I did.

The loop around Shawnee Lake was 3.4 miles and more than half of it was on a nice trail and the rest was on park roads.

So we walked .3 mile to where the start line was and took off from there.

Before the race, I met a gentleman named David Addison from Norman, Oklahoma.

He was wearing a “Boomer Sooner” bandana that was positioned on his head like those who participate in Spartan races. 

Before I talked to him directly, I said earlier, “As long as they beat Texas.”

He and his wife, Dawn, were running their fourth race in five days in four different states and they were heading to New Jersey to run a Memorial Day race tomorrow.

He shared with me that he lost a lung and his doctor made a comment that he wouldn’t run again.

He said that running a race in all 50 states was his way of proving his doctor wrong.

Wednesday, they were in Stamford, Connecticut for the Boys and Girls Club Corporate Challenge 5K where he ran 28:52 and his wife finished in 32:55.

Yesterday in Richmond, Virginia, he told me they ran the Virginia War Memorial They Gave All 5K and said that it was a very hilly course where the winning time was just 19:37.

He covered the distance in 33:23 while his wife stopped the clock in 37:43.

Today, they finished in 33:01.51 and 37:08.84, respectively.

Unfortunately, I didn’t catch where they raced on either Thursday or Friday.

He said his goal was to finish the Honolulu Marathon in 2020 in under four hours.  He believes that it would be the fastest time in the marathon for a person with one lung.

The course had a little roll to it, a good portion of it was shaded and some was on the roads, but overall it was an enjoyable race.

I had hoped my times would be a little bit better, but hey, it is all about the experience of getting out and doing something different.

Friday -- 9th annual Fryburg Mayfest Fun Run 5K (Fryburg, PA) - 31:06.18
Saturday -- 12th annual Dr. John Yelenic Memorial Day 5K (Blairsville, PA) - 32:40.23
Sunday -- Gabriel Lee Friedline Memorial 5K Run (Schellsburg, PA) - 32:24.91

One more race in the morning, the Joshua House Memorial Day 5K in Tyrone.

It starts at 8:30 a.m. and then I have to come back here to my grandmother’s house, shower and drive to BWI to fly home tomorrow evening.

Another good trip.  Always good to spend time with and around my 93-year-old grandmother, who has lived by herself for a little more than four years after my grandfather passed away in April 2014.

To me, that’s the most amazing thing of all.