When Bob Briggs turned up among the top master's runners in local races last summer, more than a few runners took note. Bob Briggs, the racewalker? He can run that fast? Yes. And yes. Bob's master's win (16:09) in June's Race for the Cure 5K and his second-place master's finish (26:26) at the Rockville Rotary Twilight 8K in July came as no surprise to the Springfield resident, who is perhaps better known in the area for racewalking in the 1992 Olympic Trials at both 20K and 50K.

Briggs, in fact, was a runner long before he took up racewalking, and this year as he turned forty he celebrated his 25th year in the sport. "I started running in high school, when we'd run a lap around the school during P.E.," he said, recalling his prep days in Dickinson, Texas. "A couple of us finished too soon for Coach Dickey to smoke his cigarette, so he sent us to the track coach."

The highlight of Briggs' high school track career was a 1:56 half-mile split in the 2-mile relay. Yet he was only an alternate on his team, which ranked second in the country in 1975. "We had an awesome 2-mile relay team." After a spotty career at Southwest Texas State that included gymnastics, wrestling and trampoline, Briggs returned to distance running seriously. In 1979 he ran 2:29 for 14th place in the AAU national marathon championships in Houston.

"That was my real introduction to road racing," he said. He became a regular on the Houston running circuit, lowering his marathon PR to 2:25 and his 10K to 29:54 before moving to Reno, where he married his wife, Tracey, in 1984. The Briggses moved to the Washington area in 1986, and Briggs took up racewalking in 1987. "My plantar fasciitis was so bad at that point that running wasn't much fun," he said. In his third year of racewalking he was competing nationally, finishing fourth in the Olympic Festival 20K. Briggs went on to win the 1991 Olympic Festival 50K and to qualify for the 1992 Olympic Trials at 20K and 50K. Sadly, they disqualified him for a form break in the 50K trials with only a half- mile to go. By then, his nagging running injuries had been replaced by nagging racewalking ones.

Though he competed at a high level, "I was never a natural racewalker the way many of the top guys are," Briggs said. "I was never able to just relax and walk. I always had to really concentrate on form the whole way." Briggs turned his energy elsewhere, starting In-House Printing, a T-shirt printing business, in 1993 and fathering his first daughter in 1994. Nevertheless, he gradually started running again, partly motivated by a friendly rivalry with Footsteps of Reston owner Paul Zink, who turned fifty this year.

"Paul has never beaten me at anything over a mile," Briggs said, smiling. "Paul may dispute that. We talk a lot of trash, but we both run better for it." That is, when Briggs is able to run. Injuries are still a big problem for him. Although he stayed below 45 miles per week all summer and did not do much speed work, he still developed back and groin injuries that kept him from running the Marine Corps Marathon.

As he juggles his business with being an at-home dad for two young daughters, Briggs has also found that running is not the priority that it once was. He does not make many big Sunday races because they do not fit his family's schedule. Still, what he lacks in time, he is gaining in training knowledge and patience. "I'm training more efficiently now," Briggs said. "It'll come."