THE LOOP October—November 2018 Endless Summer 5K & 10K As the sun rose over Anastasia Park and our beautiful ocean, it also began baking the sandy beach and over 600 athletes prepar- ing to challenge themselves on one of two demanding courses. This was the largest Endless Summer run in history. The two courses shared the beach for two miles. It was difficult to find a comfortable rhythm on the undulating terrain left by the outgoing tide. As runners left the beach Photo Courtesy Jim Wauldron they had to negotiate a soft dune and a narrow boardwalk. The 5K was done In This Issue: but the 10K runners headed toward the wooded trails of the park. Though some of the 10K course was shaded, the day’s heat continued to build. The President’s Message 2 heat and humidity caused many a runner to briefly walk. Some were happy ACRR Calendar 2 to survive, the toughest thrived. Spotlight John Webb of Fleming Island outlasted Bill Phillips to win the men’s 10K Don Hollingsworth 3 while Rashida Hakeem of Ormand-By-The-Sea narrowly defeated Katelyn Tracy Vann Lee 4 Lawrence to win the women’s division. Andy Nicol won the men’s 5K and Deanna Reich won the women’s division. Many ACRR members overcame Laurie Graham Barnhill 5 the tough conditions and walked away with awards. Jim Powers 6 The ACRR also shone in the quality of the event. Compliments were heard Mike Chismark 7 throughout the post-race festivities. Such a successful event takes considera- Race Calendar 8 ble planning and expertise. It also takes the effort of many volunteers. Be- Destination Gasparilla!! 9 tween the ACRR and the Friends of Anastasia over 60 volunteers supported the race and its two great causes - Don’s Friends and Friends of Anastasia. New Members Photo Caption 10 Oh, and we all got the best shirt ever! Gluten Free Goblin Goodness 11 For full results go here The Finish Line 11 Ancient City Road Runners: Volunteers needed for the St. Augustine Half Marathon Weekend. November 11th, 6:30am-10am. If you aren't running please sign-up here. If you are running we will be cheering you on!! 1 THE LOOP A message from our President Club Calendar I am pleased to announce that, after several years of ab- sence, our newsletter, The Loop, has returned. This will Weekly Runs help us stay in touch with one another, keep aware of Tuesdays 7:00am OFC Cafe 11 Run running related events, and share training tips, recipes, 6:00pm Publix Run and motivational messages. This newsletter also pro- vides an opportunity for us to communicate various club Wednesdays 5:15pm Oldest City Run accomplishments, news and needs. Here are just a few: Jim Powers has taken on the responsibility of Thursdays 6:00am Lighthouse Loop Run maintaining our website AncientCityRoadRunners.org 7:00am OFC Cafe 11 Run and our Facebook page is now updated regularly to pro- vide you with the most current information possi- Saturdays 7:00am Publix Run ble. We encourage you to visit both! Special Events Exciting additions that I just have to mention - 1. We have a new run, the Wednesday Night Oldest City Run October 4 5:30pm Birthday Social @ which meets in the Lightner parking lot at 5:15. Mike Dan Murphy’s and Gail Cullum have done an amazing job starting and growing this Historic loop. Kudos to you both! And 2. October 13 3:00pm Hash Run @ The Miami Tri Events, the race promoter for the St. Augus- Mission Parking Lot tine Half Marathon, has reached out to ACRR and asked us to help promote this awesome race. They have gra- October 16 7:30pm Monthly Meeting @ ciously named us as the event’s charitable organization Growers Alliance and will be making a sizable donation to our club. Thank them by signing up to run or by volunteer- November 11 6:30 - 10 St. Augustine ing with ACRR to work the water stations. Remember Half Marathon - 20 Volunteers Needed ~ we rise by lifting others! ACRR Officers & Directors President - Tracy Lee Matanzas 5000 Director - Reuben Franklin [email protected] [email protected] VP - Lauri Barnhill Hash Master - Andrea Giovanni [email protected] Members at Large - Jamin Rubenstein, Jay Mike Chismark Floyd & Deb Powers [email protected] Club Merchandise - Deb Powers Angel Baer [email protected] [email protected] Floatmeister - Fred Schmidt Membership - Jim Powers [email protected] Newsletter - Tim Buckley [email protected] 2 THE LOOP SPOTLIGHT Don Hollingsworth, Founding Member At 71 years young, Don is sill a force to be reckoned with. He was one of the six founding members of Ancient City Road Runners back in 1981 or thereabouts. They were approached to take over the running of the Matanzas 5000 in it’s fourth year. He and his wife Nancy still par- ticipate in the organization of this great local race. Although you won’t see him at any of the organized club runs these days, he still keeps up a religious regime of running three to four times and 30 miles a week, “whether I want to or not”, he laughs. He could still show Don is on the right. some of us up with his 9 to 10 minute pace. He says that he prefers to run alone these days 99% of the time “because I am so busy and like to get runs in before my day starts”. “How long have you been running?” I asked him. “I can’t remember when I didn’t run.” He chuckles. He competed in the Junior Olympics in high school and being short at 5.0’ tall his coach had to find him size 4 ½ running shoes. He wrestled in junior college and used running to get his weight down for wrestling, which he said helped to sweat pounds off. Don attended the University of Florida where he was working on a five year mechanical engineering degree, but the Vietnam War effort interrupted his studies. He spent his working life as military per- sonnel for 4 years; a farmer in Alabama for 8 years; then 32 years at FSDB as an electronic technician and Apple technician. Now retired, his days are still busy with going to the gym 3 x week, where he works complimentary muscle groups with 32 different sets of weights; fishing on the Atlantic and St. Johns River; riding Harley Davidson motorcycles (his dad opened a Harley Davidson dealership in 1946 and he used to race the bikes to promote the business.) I asked him if he still ran races and he said yes, but mainly the smaller races with his Godchildren, and the Gate River Run. He ran 13 marathons, the last being in Boston in 1987 at age 40. He had an obses- sion to run 2:40 marathons. (He used to fly to Boston on Peoples Airline for $50, when you paid when you got onboard). I asked Don what he thought was the best about running with a group, and ACRR? “The best part is being with fun, optimistic people, the camaraderie and talking while you run.” Finally, I asked him “Don, what else would you like to add?” “If you see a new runner, introduce yourself to them. I’m an introvert, but you have to force yourself to do it.” Great advice, don’t you think? by Andrea Giovanni 3 THE LOOP SPOTLIGHT on Tracy Vann Lee, ACRR President Meet Tracy Vann Lee (aka Bama Mojo – Hash Name) At 55 years young, she is a woman of many skills and wears many hats. She moved from Alabama to Florida and married Drew in 2008 (celebrating their 10 year anniversary in August of 2018), and shortly after joined ACRR in 2009. Tracy started running in 2008 and jumped into her first 5K in February of that year. She felt like she needed to take charge of her mid-life lifestyle and improve her health. Tracy found that travelling between Alabama and Florida and having her husband gone with his job, made it difficult for her to get to know anyone, so the running group was a great way to become in- volved with a community and to make new friends. She says that “All of my relationships have evolved from running, and that it is my touchstone to St. Augustine.” Tracy and her ever smiling face can be seen at the Thursday morning OFC run, the Saturday morning Publix run, and alternating Tuesday OFC morning and Tuesday evening Publix run, and sometimes the newly formed Wednesday evening downtown run. Tracy does not run in many races (she often volunteers) but enjoys the destination races such as Key West Half Marathon. She ran a Marathon in Albany GA in 2012 with an impressive time of 4:18 at age 49. That race was run entirely in rain from and included a tornado!!! (No wonder she ran so fast)! Running a second marathon is on her bucket list. Let’s hope she has better weather for the next one. Tracy is not a fan of 5K’s “because they are too fast for me!” She likes to run a steady and more com- fortable 10+ minute pace on her regular runs these days. She also does weight-lifting, enjoys bike rid- ing on the beach and is a member at Bailey’s fitness. But finding time for these pursuits is challenging as she has a very active lifestyle with her jobs. When she is not running around selling real estate, or doing bankruptcy para legal work, she is reno- vating flip houses and performing ACRR president duties.