by Lara SouthgateDuring the evening of Thursday, June 26, runners of all ages gathered at Goucher College for the Baltimore County Road Runners All Comers' Meet. Events included the 1500-, 800-, and 3200-meter runs, the 400- and 100-meter dashes, and a 4 x 200-meter relay.
From runners young enough to still be in diapers to those old enough to sport white or graying hair, all were given an opportunity to compete. The first heat of each event was for athletes who could finish the race in a certain time; the following heats were more loose. It was not unusual to see children racing alongside their parents, or to see a parent lead his or her racing toddler down the home stretch from the infield during the shorter races.
"We just started this year," said Tiffany Creutzer. She ran the 400- and 100-meter dashes with her best friend Tara McGarvey. Both start high school next year and plan to continue running.
Many of the middle- and high school-aged runners have been running in meets like this one to stay in shape over the summer.
"I've just started to do track meets, and it's been good to keep in shape over the summer doing different races," said Brandan Scarff, who ran (and set PRs in) the 1500-meter and the 3200-meter run. Scarff has been running since seventh grade, but because his high school, Redeemer Classical Christian School, has no track team, he trains and races unattached in meets during the school year.
"This's a training run, so I just wanted to see how fast I was going to run it," said Brittney Rooks, who ran the 800-meter run. Her situation is similar to Scarff's because her middle school does not have a track team, so she also trains on her own. Her older brother Del'Vaughn ran the 3200-meter run at the meet; he runs for Digital Harbor High School during the school year. Both of them set PRs.
However, not all of the runners present were in their teens or used the meet as training for the next scholastic season.
Rob Douglas, 39, began running his sophomore year in high school, then stopped for a while, then started again seven years ago.
"I just felt out of shape, and I just wasn't doing anything to keep myself healthy, and I really just got kinda depressed about it and said, 'I want to do something about it.'" said Douglas. He started running ten-minute miles and began paring time off of that so that on May 6, 2004, the anniversary of the four-minute mile, he was able to break six minutes himself.
The next Baltimore Road Runners Club meet will be the Meet of Miles and will take place on July 10. When asked if he would be running at the next meet, Douglas replied, "Absolutely."