Footprints

by Budd Glassberg

Reprinted with permission from the Zionsville Times Sentinel on November 7, 2007

Five Runners Go Under World Record in Zionsville

“Sounds like a great idea. I can’t make it this year. Put me down for next year.” – Dozens of emails received sending regrets for the Squealing Mitch invite.

The idea came to me on the first morning of daylight savings time. The day before, my morning running group was just beginning to see some daylight at the end of our run. Normally, that trend would have continued until the summer hours when we would be running the entire time in the light. Instead, we were thrust once more into the dark side. After an entire winter of running in the dark, we were subjected to more of the same. Instead of cursing the dark, my idea was to use this time change to our advantage. I planned to put on a race in the fall just minutes before the time change.

The race name was to be the My Man Mitch Guaranteed PR 10 Miler named for our esteemed Governor Mitch Daniels who brought us Eastern daylight savings time. I would be able to guarantee a personal record (PR) based on the starting time of the race. Ten minutes into the race, the clock is turned back one hour. If you started at 1:50 AM, you might finish the ten miles at 2:20 AM thus you would have completed 10 miles in 30 minutes (a new PR and probably a world record). Last fall, I was required to be out of town during the time change and could not put on the race nor could I put on the Squealing Pig 10 mile race that I had directed the prior three years. With my time limited this year, I decided to combine the two races and call the combination the Squealing Mitch.

The Squealing Mitch was by invite only. I emailed runners who I thought might enjoy it and expected very few to attend. Last Sunday morning at 1:40 AM, eleven humans and three canines appeared at the Boys and Girls Club of Zionsville. Two of the humans; David Ide, the executive director of the club and my daughter Josie were there to support the race. The remaining people and dogs were there to run in a very unique race and make history.

There is a plethora of races where you pay a registration fee, line up to start along with hundreds or thousands of other runners, run the race of varying distances, receive aid during and after the race, receive a tee shirt and/or award, are provided with facilities for your elimination needs, and are given results to see where you placed among your peers. The Squealing Mitch was none of these. There was no fee, no shirts, no aid or restrooms, no whining and no wimps. It was just a small group of us ready to participate in a simple footrace in the middle of the night.

At 1:40 AM I went over the course with the runners. It was mostly on the rail-trail. It was a flat , fast course, measured by wheel twice to the exact 10 mile distance. There was enough light reflecting off the cloud cover to see and on one elected to bring a flashlight. It was 35 degrees with no wind. Three of us ran in shorts. I programmed the big race clock to count down and the race began at 1:50 with the big clock counting backwards from 60 minutes. At zero, the clock reversed and began to count forward.

Five runners completed the 10 mile race while the others ran varying distances winning their own self-defined divisions. All of us running the 10 mile distance were able to break the existing world record for 10 miles of 44:45 set by Paul Koech of Kenya on September 21, 1997 in Amsterdam-Zaandam.

Josie wrote down the runner’s names and times as they finished. David Ide turned on the parking lot lights for us, brought some water and cups for the finishers and gave each finisher a stuffed toy rhinoceros that we would each name Mitch. As each runner finished, they thanked us for the race and left to get some sleep. I was asked if this delightful, unique little race was to become an annual event. I think not. I kind of like the one-time aspect of it and I think trying to duplicate it might tarnish it in some way. Besides, I don’t think I want to give up my world record.

Squealing Mitch 10 Mile Race
		November 4, 2007
Place	Foot & Paw Notes	Name	Starting Time	Finish Time	Race Time	Distance in Miles	Pace/Mile
1	*	Budd Glassberg	1:50 AM	1:59:35 AM	0:09:35	10	0:00:57
2	*	Mark Doctor	1:50 AM	2:01:13 AM	0:11:13	10	0:01:07
3	*	George Durham	1:50 AM	2:01:53 AM	0:11:53	10	0:01:11
4	*	Lisa Scott	1:50 AM	2:15:08 AM	0:25:08	10	0:02:31
5	*	Perry Scott	1:50 AM	2:15:08 AM	0:25:08	10	0:02:31
1	**	Ro Haycox	1:50 AM	2:49:37 AM	0:59:37	11.5	0:05:11
1	***	Madison Said	1:50 AM	2:21:33 AM	0:31:33	6.5	0:04:51
2	****	Jim Said	1:50 AM	2:21:35 AM	0:31:35	6.5	0:04:52
3	***	Georgia Said	1:50 AM	2:21:40 AM	0:31:40	6.5	0:04:52
1	*****	Barb McLaughlin	1:50 AM	1:26:32 AM	-0:23:28	4	-0:05:52
1 & 1A	******	ALogan McLaughlin	1:50 AM	1:26:32 AM	-0:23:29	4	-0:05:52
	*	Ran the exact distance of 10 miles and as far as we know all broke the world record for that distance
	**	At mile 9 lost concentration and added an extra loop to finish with 11.5 miles
	***	Dog running 6.5 miles on the shortened course.
	****	Human running 6.5 miles on the shortened course.
	*****	Human running 4.0 miles on the shortened course and finished more than 23 minutes before she started
		she was warned about going back in time and has not been seen by any of the runners since.
	******	Man/dog runner in many of the Zionsville running events, always in his own division also went back
		in time and friends believe he looks much younger.

 
 Budd Glassberg lives and works in Zionsville and is a 23 year resident of the community. Visit www.runz.com for reprints of all his columns. You can reach him by email at budd@runz.com.