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DEL.ICIO.USFour Runners
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The countdown is on for Sunday’s ING Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon.
Every serious marathoner has a story that speaks to their love or respect for running. Here are four participants in Sunday’ run.
Race start time is 7 a.m. Runner’s are staggered by estimated finish times. Take note of their bib number, follow the map on the race website and cheer them on.
Rendell Jackson, 33, Atlanta
Race: Half marathon
Running Story: Students at King Middle School set the stage for Jackson’s half marathon run. The physical education teacher guided 170 students as they logged 12 running miles in ING’s Run for Something Better Program.
The program, for middle school students in Atlanta and Dekalb, was set up to help children become more physically fit by running the distance of a half marathon over nine weeks time. Atlanta Falcon Keith Brooking will lead nearly 400 middle schoolers from the program on the final 1.1 mile at the ING race.
“I want to run to further inspire them and lead by example,” said Jackson. The former CFL and Arena football player said any run over 200 meters is a stretch for him.
Cheer him on: His bib number is 20433. At Seven minutes per mile Jackson will likely reach his halfway point at the Carter Center between 7:45 and 8 a.m. and finish the race about 8:30 or 8:45 a.m.
Sherry Coulombe, 30, Dacula
Race: Half marathon
Running story: When it comes to endurance, The Dyer Elementary School teacher is well-equipped. She started running after gastric bypass surgery in 2003, when her weight had reached nearly 350 pounds. Now she competes in triathlons and is 170 pounds lighter.
“Running is something I never thought I’d be able to do,” she said. “When I first started I didn’t think I could get to a half mile but I made it to two miles.“
Coulombe decided to change her lifestyle through exercise after the surgery. She ran the Strong Legs 10K in November 2004. And jumped to the Chicago Marathon in 2006. “I got that runner’s high and from that moment on I felt, if I can do a 10K, what else can I do,” she said.
She can do triathlons. Her most recent was Ironman Florida last November, where she swam 2.4 miles, biked 112 miles and ran 26.2.
Cheer her on: Her bib number is 18388. Running 10 1/2 to 11-minute miles, Coulombe should reach Carter Center just past mile 6 between 8 and 8:15 a.m. and finish the race about 9:15or 9:30 a.m.
Todd Sherwood, 50, Anchorage, AK Race: Marathon
Running story: Adjusting to Atlanta’s hilly unfamiliar streets should be a piece of cake for Sherwood. He and his 18-year-old daughter have jogged along Anchorage running trails at night with flashlights, he said.
And there’s the bears to think about.
“I have personally had to do a 180 on a running trail in an Anchorage park because a black bear stepped into my path,” said Sherwood, a municipal attorney for the North Slope Borough in Alaska.
He’s currently on active duty as a Judge Advocate General (a military attorney known as a JAG) at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City, Fla.
When Sherwood learned about his 60-day assignment, he searched the internet for marathons in close proximity. In April he plans to compete in the Beach Blast Triathlon in Mexico Beach, Florida.
Sherwood started running six years ago. He runs year round, often in Alaska’s snowy climate. “Running on fresh snow is like beach sand,” he said. Some folks put spikes on the shows to manage icy terrain, he said.
Cheer him on: His bib number is 1682. Sherwood’s goal is to run a nine-minute mile. At that pace he should run past mile 12 on the Agnes Scott College Campus at about 8:45 a.m. and finish the race just after 11 a.m.
Helen Klein, 85, Sacramento, Calif.
Race: Half Marathon
Running story: A six or 10 mile morning run is routine for Klein, a retired nurse. She started running at age 55 and has run nearly 100 marathons and 140 ultra marathons.
Klein followed her husband Norman into the sport to avoid worrying about him during races, she said. She trained for her first ten-miler on a track that Norman mowed for her on the side of the house.
“I was embarassed to go out [in public] in running shorts,” she recalled. “I ran twice around it the first day. I had good strong quads and back from lifting heavy patients. Aerobically I had difficulty breathing but I added one lap every day. At the end of 10 weeks I could run 12-minute miles.”
She continued running to stay healthy. Her running career includes a 145-mile stage race across the Sahara Desert and a five day 100-mile stage race in the Himalayas. Norman, 70, runs less often because of injuries, Klein said.
“I have no health problems whatsoever except for allergies,” she said. Klein, who will appear at the ING Expo, said she had planned to run the full marathon but has felt hampered by allergies that flared up during the Napa Valley Marathon earlier this month.
As much as Klein runs, she’s certain that her pace has slowed in the last year. There’s a difference between age 84 and 85, she said.
Cheer her on: Her bib number is 3606. Running about 11-minute miles Klein should pass Carter Center just past mile 6 about 8:15 a.m. and finish the race about 9:15 or 9:30 a.m.
MORE: PEACHTREE ROAD RACE INFO. State of the Art Marathon Training. USA Fit/Team Spirit. Active Trainer. Atlanta Track Club. Road Rules. ING Georgia Marathon.
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Comments
By John Tackett
March 27, 2008 11:00 AM | Link to this
Looking forward to running with all of you. Best of luck. Looks like the weather will be cooperating and shorts and singlet are the item de jour.
By Brian
March 27, 2008 9:13 PM | Link to this
Why to go Rendell! I hope you continue to inspire young people!
By rose
March 29, 2008 9:58 PM | Link to this
Go Mrs. Klein!! What an inspiration you are! You motivate me and have my respect and admiration!
Rose Anchorage, Alaska
By Frannie Craig
April 11, 2008 1:56 PM | Link to this
this is really great. there are too many kids over weight and are need of help. how can i get my middle school involed?