Black Girls Run chooses Outlet Liquors 5K for annual run

Chapter and verse - I am well versed in the sport of running. Just open the book to any chapter and I am the human search engine. On Sunday morning, I stopped Damali Thomas at the Outlet Liquors 5K for a pre-race photo because she was repping Black Girls Run, a national organization with chapters in each state. Damali, a Delaware grad from the Bronx who works for Bank of America, gave me the skinny on the organization. The motivation is improved health and overall weight reduction. The Delaware Chapter comes together and runs one race a year, usually in Dewey Beach. Below is a column item I wrote in 2013.   

(2013) Black Girls Run - I know Black Girls Run. I’ve seen the T-shirts, and if I had a double-X one in my closet, I’d yell at the cat, “Get off!” and wear it because that would be cool. The BGR “preserve the sexy” movement was founded in 2009 by Toni Carey and Ashley Hicks to lower the percentage of Afro-American women with chronic diseases associated with an unhealthy diet and sedentary lifestyle. The girls who ran last Saturday in the Dewey Highway One 5K or 10K are all from Delaware. I found it an incorrect assumption that all Black girls who run are members of the Black Girls Run movement. I also discovered that not all BGR members run in all races, and some bike to offer support to others. I do know that fun and inspiration were in the house of harriers (runners). There was harmony and diversity, and veteran runners seemed pleased that a new group had chosen the sport of running as a path to fitness.

Triple R - The Roving Riedel Report. Kenny Riedel sends me sports stuff, which is useful and would be silly for me to paraphrase as if I thought of it, because melding with Kenny’s mind would be like entering “The Matrix” starring Keanu Reeves. Here’s Kenny’s message from the matrix: Cape cross country coach Matt Lindell: "This freshman class is unbelievable." Jude Peacock, 11:28; Dylan Harp, 11:35; Ryder Uszenski, 11:48; Brandt Kuklish, 12 flat, in the two-mile at the state park. For context, Nick Petito was 11:50 last year there, and we know how that ended up. Other times were Jason Baker, 10:12; Riley Stazzone, 10:26; Brayden Redd, 10:58; Petito, 11:00; Andrew Radka, 11:50, with minimal summer work. If after reading, you are responding with a little of the “what, what”? Realize that cross country was a happening sport in Seaside Sussex since before consolidation 60 years ago.

The Lucky One - Lyric: “The next best thing to playing and winning is playing and losing.” Sounds nice but doesn’t work for me. I’d argue that football is the worst sport to play hard and lose because you carry the bad baggage for an entire week. And the giddiness of winning a game you were predicted to lose is tempered with the knowledge that a rubber mallet is waiting in the wings to knock your block off. The term long season is always reserved for losing teams. You never read: “That dream run to the championship was certainly a long season.” All psycho drama aside, Cape opens at home Thursday night versus Saint Mark’s, a 3A team that dropped down to 2A, but over the years going back to 1978, the Spartans have mostly owned the Vikings, sometimes emphatically, other times dramatically, as in last-minute touchdowns. Saint Mark’s is coached by Bill Denardo (Sallies-Middletown), so you know this ain’t no rollover rover program. Cape has beaten Saint Mark’s the last two meetings 22-17 (2023) and 21-7 (2024). Keys to a Cape win under head coach Chip Knapp are protecting quarterback Jameson Tingle and stopping the running game. Home football games at Cape are a happening, so get there early.

Snippets - Tuesday is mental cruelty in the NFL, the day they need to cut down to a 53-man roster. The most cruel part of making the final cut process is that you can still get cut if some final cuts from other teams are better than you. Also down low – teams save money because of mandatory minimum salaries – so it's not if you're better than another player, but are you hundreds of thousands of dollars better? My face is my credential, but I wear one around my neck anyway just in case I am hassled on my way through the fieldhouse tunnel where there's a plaque with my picture but no QR code, whatever that is. Check beforehand and make sure you’re smart and savvy enough to purchase tickets on your phone. Delaware State at Delaware is set for Thursday, Aug. 28. There are no Las Vegas odds on the game, but inside Delaware, the Hornets are long odds to stay within three touchdowns of the Blue Hens. As an owner of a football team, how would you handle a star player under contract holding out for a better contract arguing he had outperformed the original contract? Parsons is scheduled to make $24 million this season. I’d tell him to sit and would keep the $24 million for myself. Go on now, git!