April Fools Day Run - a different look

The 22nd annual April Fools Day Run and Walk will be held this Sunday morning, April 3, at picturesque Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes.

The race has all the usual things - registration begins at 9 a.m., awards for the top finishers in each age group, a midway water stop, refreshments, and a 10 a.m. start. It is following the 10 a.m. start that the event turns unique in its own way.

Let’s talk about surfaces, to start with. Runners may travel on bike path, grass, sand, road, dirt and a combo of multi-use trails throughout the park. Runners will travel up and down short and long inclines, through wide trails and single-track trails and up dunes and down dunes to make their way to the finish.

How far is the event? That is part of the fun. No one knows how far it is or where it is until the distance is revealed at the awards ceremony.

The closest guess to the correct distance wins the lucky runner a special Easter prize. Speaking of Easter, a jar of jellybeans will be displayed, and the closest guess as to how many are in it will drive home with the prize. I do realize Easter has come and gone, but it’s a part of the April Fools tradition.

Back to the race. Why do I do this? Runners are addicted people. Not addicted to cigarettes or alcohol, but addicted to the high of just plain running. This state has so many traditional 5K and five-mile events to choose from, and they are so similar that runners need a change.

This event gives the runner an early-season change in action, where they can test their fitness and just go run.

Are you going to get your heart rate up? Yes. Are you going to sweat and work hard? Yes. Are you going to hate me during the race? Most will. Are you going to hate me after? I hope not.

The runners who have attended the last 21 April Fools Day events have made it a point to tell me that it was a challenge, but also how much they enjoyed a different event.

I advertise this event like this: If you need to know your splits, distance and pace, this event is not for you ... you better stay home and run your out-and-back three-miler. If you love to just run and would like to have some fun and get in an incredible workout at the same time, this is your ticket. Have fun!

The College Loop

Many parents have experienced what I call The College Loop. From Delaware you can do the northern loop into Pennsylvania and back through the top of Maryland or the southern loop, which would take you into Virginia down I-81 and into North Carolina and back up I-95. Both of the loops will take you by some great colleges and universities, from large Division I schools like Maryland, Penn State and Virginia Tech, to smaller schools like Lynchburg, Catawba and Shenandoah.

This past week we took the southern loop and visited seven schools in three days and met with all seven coaches of the track and/or cross country programs. We started with Shenandoah and went south to Lynchburg, Roanoke, Radford, Catawba, High Point and Elon. All schools are very different, from the aspect of the small-town and small-school feel of the Division III campus to the larger Division I campus.

The difference in the D1 vs. D2 and D3 was very interesting to me in that the whole Title IX situation has really hit the smaller sports hard on the D1 and D2 level. One coach said it like this … "Some kids go to a D1 school and have a nice locker room, but regardless of how fast they run, the school won’t have the funding to send them to nationals.” In many cases when you factor in the merit-based scholarships, it seems to me that the D3 colleges seem to offer more if you're not the athlete with the best mile time in the country.

Roanoke is finishing a $40 million project this May of a new basketball arena and a 200-meter indoor track that was funded mostly by private alumni donors of the school. Most of the D3 schools we visited seem to have the support of the administration and the alumni, and want to see the student-athletes grow, improve and graduate on time, while the D1 schools have a more businesslike approach where it was more of a "This is what we have and this is how we do things at this level ... we hope you can hang with the program.” It is early in the search for my son Ben to continue his academic and athletic career, but it was great to get many different perspectives on the different programs - academic and athletic - and the training philosophies and training facilities that are out there. Next stop, the northern loop.

Upcoming races

• Saturday, April 2, inaugural Tie Dye 5K for Public Radio, Gordons Pond, Rehoboth Beach, races2run.com

• Sunday, April 3, 22nd April Fools Prediction Challenge, 10 a.m., Cape Henlopen State Park, Lewes, seashorestriders.com

• Saturday, April 9, 3rd Kim Miller 5K Run & 1-Mile Walk, 9 a.m., 16 Mile Brewery, Georgetown, seashorestriders.com

• Saturday, April 9, 2nd Georgetown Middle School Run for Color 5K Fun Run/Walk, 1 p.m., Georgetown Middle School, Georgetown, seashorestriders.com

• Sunday, April 10, 4th Oy Vey 5K Run & Walk, 9 a.m., Seaside Jewish Community Center, Rehoboth Beach, seashorestriders.com.