St. Paddy’s races, track season highlight the coming of spring
March is one of my favorite months of the year for a couple reasons. First, it's the start of track & field season and I will coach the Beacon Middle School team again with sidekick Gilbert Maull, who can still tell me his 100-yard low hurdle time from the 1977 state championship. The month is also highlighted by the start of what I call the theme races on the road race calendar. Let's take a peek.
Races2Run will team up with Milton Irish Eyes to host the inaugural The Lucky Leprechan 5K Sunday, March 10. It's a noon start from the Milton Irish Eyes Pub & Restaurant. The race will kick off the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, which has quickly become one of the most popular events in the town of Milton. Tom Jones and his staff do a great job hosting several events at his Milton and Lewes Irish Eyes locations.
The Seashore Striders will host the sixth St. Patrick’s Day 5K and Fun Walk Saturday, March 16, in Denton, Md. Nearly all the runners dress up in costume, and the event quickly turns into one big party. I would not say Denton is a party hot spot, but when a few hundred people get together in costume with lots of food, drink and music, it quickly turns into a fun time.
Seashore Striders will also host the popular seventh Shamrock Shuffle 5K & 15K Saturday, March 23, from the Junction & Breakwater Trail in Rehoboth Beach. See the preview below.
The question I always have is, what kind of costume will Nike Jack come up with for the events?
It is a fun month to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, and there are thousands of races throughout the country doing the same thing as we are. Run straight and don’t look back - the Bunny Palooza and April Fools races are right around the corner!
Shamrock Shuffle 5K
The seventh annual St. Paddy's Day Shamrock Shuffle 5K & 15K combination, along with a kids' quarter-mile Clover Dash, will take place beginning at 9 a.m., Saturday, March 23. The event will start from the Junction & Breakwater Trail behind the Tanger Outlet Center on Route 1. The 5K event will be an out-and-back course to the trail bridge, while the 15K will continue to the Lewes end of the trail along Gills Neck Road in front of the high school.
St. Patrick’s Day plaques will be awarded this year and presented to all age-group runners placing in the top three. The age groups will be as follows: 5K - 9 & under, 10-13, 14-19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70 & over; 15K - 19 & under, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69, 70 & over. Runners can register race day from 8-8:45 a.m. with race-day registration at $20 for the 5K and $25 for the 15K.
Short-sleeve tech T-shirts are guaranteed to the first 100 participants.
The kiddie Clover Dash will be a quarter-mile distance with medals to all the finishers. T-shirts will not be available in the kids' dash, but there is not a cost for the kids to compete. Volunteers are always welcome for both events. Call the Seashore Striders at 302-644-8952 for more race information or visit www.seashorestriders.com.
Little Mac arrives
My dog Murphy lived 17 years, and we put him to rest on Jan. 1 of this year - one of the hardest things I ever had to do. My wife Monique got to February and went on an East Coast research expedition speaking to, emailing, printing pictures, downloading videos of what was available in the land of shih tzu breeders. I wanted to wait till summer, but my friendly principal Jenny smiled and said, “You’re going to lose.” She was right, I lost. So last Saturday morning, there we were, driving around northern Virginia looking for a breeder’s home, finally found it and walked inside. There were 10 or 12 dogs and a new litter of pups. The breeder opened a pen and before I could sit down, a black and white three-pound male came to me and fell asleep in my hands in about two minutes. “I want this one.” An hour later we were driving home with a new, seven-week-old pup and discussing - or arguing with - our teenage boys about a name. Our wonderful friends in our Lewes community sent us 297 suggestions on Facebook to give us a few more choices. We tossed around Domino, Bailey, Nike, Miler, Gizmo, Bamm and the winner by Sunday night was Macintosh, aka Little Mac, which Monique has always had in her mind for another dog name. He is also named after my buddy and Surf Bagel’s specialty, Danny Mac. So far all is good, and he is a great addition and a playful friend to Rondo the cat, named by my 14-year-old Boston Celtics fan. Mac was born Jan. 2. I guess Murphy said, “Hey, I did 17 years with them. Tag, you’re it.”
