Posted on 21 September 2010. Tags: 5k, dallas smith, jill white, komen race for the cure, margie stoll, running, uber marathon, ultra marathon
Two women of different generations, different backgrounds, will join in common cause next Sunday when the Upper Cumberland’s second annual Komen Race for the Cure 5K kicks off. Hundreds of runners will join them. The 5K starts at Tucker Stadium at 2:00 p.m., September 26. Race village opens at noon.
Local runner Jill White is half the age of Nashville’s Margie Stoll. Mrs. White was reared in rural Smith County and has always lived in Tennessee, while Mrs. Stoll lists the urban locations of St. Louis, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. as her past homes. Both women are seasoned athletes. Their paths converge next Sunday.
Mrs. White attended the Komen 5K last year. Her blond hair was just then growing back out, and she wore a baseball cap for cover. Despite her recent bout with breast cancer, she may have won that race. She thought she was the first cancer veteran across the finish line. Then she realized she’d failed to put the timing chip on her shoe. “No chip, no time,” is the warning all racers know. “I was so mad!” she says.
Don’t count on her making that mistake this year.
She learned competition early, when she was growing up on the family farm near Gordonsville. Her father put up a basketball goal. He showed her how to shoot a hook shot. The hook shot didn’t take, but other shots did……
Posted in 5K
Posted on 17 September 2010. Tags: dallas smith, elite, marathon, run, running, story, the king of caribbean marathons and a boy who wanted to watch
(Below is an excerpt from a short story by elite runner Dallas Smith. Click the link at the bottom of this post to read the rest full story.)
The King of Caribbean Marathons and a Boy Who Wanted a Watch by Dallas Smith
It seemed likely I’d never find Jason. A couple months after I’d sent an e-mail inquire to the race director, I quit thinking about it. Then a message suddenly arrived from Gail Jackson. “I know that kid,” she said.
Gail owned the hotel in Negril where I’d stayed and she’d worked on the marathon’s registration committee. “I was at his school yesterday…and asked if after the race did he go for a swim and talk to a white man?” she wrote. The boy’s answer had been yes. He was the one. His real name was Oraine.
I promptly mailed one of my 100-lap Ironman watches to Gail to give to the boy. It was a watch I’d actually used in an Ironman triathlon. Sending him a watch I’d used seemed more personal than buying a new one. I put it in the original box with it’s instructions along with a note of good wishes from me.
A month later, Oraine sent a letter thanking me. He liked to draw, and he included a pencil-drawn portrait on green paper. In his letter he said, “If there is anything you want me to do for you in drawing don’t be afraid to ask.”
Read the Full Story by Dallas Smith on his website by Clicking HERE
Posted in Marathon
