Give your Valentine a race
By Fred Deckert
The Tallahassee area has its share of unusual race themes. For the Christmas Season we had the Jingle Bell 3K with a cast of thousands downtown. The Flash 12K features Superhero T shirts and pies for prizes, Springtime 10K heralds Spring and the big downtown parade and celebration, The Cookie Run satisfies your craving for Girls Scout cookies, and there are a multitude of critter theme runs, mostly porcine in the surrounding area. If you are a theme runner or looking for unusual T shirts, your hunt doesn’t require a lot of travel.
If you’re looking for something else a bit different in your racing or running repertoire, you should try the “Couples Caper 4K Relay” this coming Sunday. This is the only local event especially for couples. The female half of the couple starts the race and runs 4K (2.5miles) and upon her return she tags her partner who then runs another 4K to the finish. Besides the overall winners, there are a number of age group categories from 30 through 140 in ten year increments. Ages are combined for the couple competing. In other words a 40 year old man and 37 year old woman would total 77 and compete in the 70 – 80 age group. In addition, there will be 1st married couple, 1st sister/brother, father/daughter, mother/son, grandfather/granddaughter, grandmother/grandson categories. “Couples” T shirts are awarded to all participants.
Since the ladies start first, this is the only race other than “Women’s Distance Festival” that the women have the starting line exclusively. Uniquely, the male runners start at widely varied times and will find themselves in strange running company during the race. The faster males will find themselves playing catchup much of the time and slower ones may be desperately trying to hold off a fast closing speedster. Of course the run isn’t just about “who’s first”, it’s a nice way to do a “together” race or perhaps become better acquainted with the guy or gal you have seen running around your neighborhood or at the races. Singles will be randomly matched with partners of the opposite sex, so don’t let the lack of one keep you away.
Don’t neglect the “Bowlegs 5K” the day before which is run to benefit the FSU University Club Scholarship Fund. This race features some unique categories like 1st American Indian, 1st student, and 1st educator.