Above and below: runners find it too hot NOT to trot at the Mighty Medford 5K.

Wintered whimpered in this January with warmer temperatures than even record setting 2006. This brought out record crowds for races. Last year through the first two weeks we had 2000 runners. This year more than 3600 runners came out to the warm sunshine. January 6th was a record setting 73 degrees. Yesterday was in the sixties at race time.

Some of the larger races maintained inflation type numbers, growing about 5 to 10 percent. The year began with 44-year-old Mark Stickley winning the Rotary Resolution 10K in 35:01. Farther south, the even older Steve Chantry (52) scolded runner-up Thomas Gounley (16) at the Sentara Days 5K, winning 17:07 to 17:25.

The first weekend in Virginia Beach, VA, Douglas Marshall (32) just held off Dai Roberts (45) in the TS 20K Tune-up 1:12:34 to 1:12:40. Meanwhile, in Kensington, MD, Mikias Gelagle (18) won the Al Lewis 10 Mile in 56:10.

This weekend, after missing a year, the DCRRC JFK 20K returned along with the MLK 5K. This race had been held at Hains Point with the torturous 4-loop course for many years. Then it moved to Anacostia along the river to find even fiercer, colder winds. This year the race began at one end of the gentler Capital Crescent Trail. Old guys got their revenge. 45-year-old Ted Poulos won the 20K in 1:16:26, proving that running an average of more than 2100 races in the past ten years does not slow you down. Dan Eddy (55) won the 5K in 18:22 over a trio of surprised runners photo finishing together in 18:28.

The smaller races went nuts. In Westminster, the Mighty Medford 5K, AKA the bathtub race, tripled from its traditional 24 finishers. (On the hill above the starting line is an old-fashioned stand alone bathtub landmarking the race.) The weather was so warm that some runners ran without shirts, including Karsten Brown. Brown's claim to fame was trying to battle Ted Poulos for the most colorful (read, outlandish) running tights. With no need for winter wear this year, Brown is going for runner faster. (In photo left, Brown is playing photographer for all the runners that followed him to the finish.)

The warm weather brought out Steve Ruckert (57) who tells us that, after sporadic racing the last few years, he plans to complement his duathlons by running enough races to get back in the Runner Rankings. Ruckert was famous throughout the 80s & 90s as a top flight masters runner who did much of his training on a treadmill. (That was long before Michael Wardian got the urge to set the marathon record on the "treads.") Ruckert would set the elevation higher and higher so that the limiting 6:00 mile pace would seem much faster. Naturally, there is a manual with speed charts by elevation.

If you think that does not work well for training, consider it took Jim Hage (45), running 31:34 in 2003, to finally best Ruckert's 32:37 at Pike's Peek the first year in 1996. Ruckert ran 33:33 at age 47 the following year. Hage managed 33:59 at age 46 his next year (2004), though he rebounded to 32:39 in 2005. Ruckert was the second qualifier at the Mobil Invitational vs. Eamonn Coglann back in 1993, topping all the local runners in a swift 4:38.65. Before the race, as we nervously awaited the start, I asked him whether he was ready. While most of us always have an excuse or three to offer, Steve said, "Oh yes, I am ready!" and he was.

This brings us back to Westminster, where strange things can happen. In 2003, Sherry Stick was the overall winner in 19:11. Masters runners often do well in Carroll County's smaller races. Last year in May, James Moreland won the Sandymount 4 Mile just three months before his 54th birthday, which would have only tied Joe Loveland's record for the oldest overall winner in a Westminster road runner Race. In the photo, Dee Nelson (63) has her third grandmaster victory of the year in 24:58.

Brown (32) was hearing about how fast Ruckert was but he too was confidant. He answered one query with, "I will be disappointed if I don't finish in the top three." Ruckert thought he might be ready for a shot at breaking Rick Platt's Best of 2006 5K time of 18:02. Dave Herlocker seemed sure we would have a new oldest overall winner in the race.

This set the stage for the battle at the Mighty Medford. At the starting gun, lots of racers darted out but only three looked relaxed. The taller Brown loped along eating up ground. Watching from behind as they pulled away, the shorter compact strides of Ruckert seemed to be staying right with Brown. By the mile, Brown was starting to pull away. Still, Ruckert was more a short distance sprinter. Brown had raced ten marathons in 2006 in his more than 110 races and nearly 1000 racing miles. Then, at the turnaround as we traversed the killer "speed hump" hill, we saw a determined Brown hurling himself down the hill. Ruckert let him go and settled in for a workmanlike 18:49 for second place while Brown came close to his PR with a fine 17:36 victory. At the awards ceremony, Herlocker commented, "Running is the one sport where people look forward to getting older."

For those keeping track, that makes two 55-59 runners who have laid down the gauntlet for 2007. For a preview of the Best of the Best for 2006 Runner Rankings, see the list of the top five runners, in alphabetical order. Pick who you think will be the top-ranked runners for 2006 in the Open and age group divisions, and check the March-April issue of the Washington Running Report for the answers.