By Villages TLC member Rick Riddle
Editor’s note: During an outstanding record of track accomplishments over the years, Coach Rick Riddle has enjoyed many “Hey, I Can Do This!” moments. Yet these peak experiences ultimately took Rick, our club’s official Deep Thinker, to a place that will surprise you. Leah Rewolinski The Villages TLC web wizard Rummaging around inside the brain of an older athlete can be tricky. Webmaster Lady Leah should know better. Maybe the result of the rummage is clarity, or maybe it’s a dense fog of forgotten feelings and random incorrect reminisces. Oh well, here goes. Leah asks, when did I first feel “Hey I Can Do This” about the sport of athletics? I have had that happen several times over the years. It happened when I made my first 100-meter final at a USATF National Championship. It happened when I first ran to an American Record at the Penn Relays with Houston Elite in front of 30,000 fans. It happened when I stood on my first USATF National Champs podium. It happened when Dr. Seuss recognized me on the street. Wait, Kathleen says that didn’t happen – but I wish it had. Or when Kathleen, being married to me, was asked for her autograph because I was busy on the field below. (The fellow didn’t want to miss his plane.) The awareness occurred on three separate World Record-setting relay teams, including one at the legendary Millrose Games in New York City; another in Boston’s Reggie Lewis Center, indoors on a brutally cold day; and the third indoors in Bloomington, Indiana. The realization also happened when I won an individual 400-meter National Championship, and again when I finished fourth in a 400-meter World Championship. It all added up to where it began to lose meaning. As I have grown older, the magic filter of self-awareness – A well-planned saving grace to failing speed – Gifted me with a better answer to Leah’s meaningful inquiry. Medals accumulated…and were forgotten. Memories of past days began to fog. Speed was no longer everything. I realized it has always been about the people Who took the trip alongside me And cared about me always, win or lose I wondered, is it possible To avoid defining success Only in terms of a time and a medal? I asked myself, Can I run with only joy Expecting no other award? Later I discovered that the joy of running fast Was all I ever really needed Moving as fast as I could through a turn Then down the straightaway with abandon As if it were recess in heaven And heaven knew nothing of medals Every joyful run blessed With an absence of consequence And on a beautiful clear day In October of 2015 Alone on a track in Texas With joy inside I confirmed Finally “Hey, I Can Do This!”
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I asked our members about their breakthrough moments in track and field, and they shared wonderful stories. Here’s the second set.
Leah Rewolinski The Villages TLC web wizard Walking Beyond Her Expectations My racewalking has consisted of middle and distance races, with the half-marathon being my preferred event. I would settle into my pace and just keep going. My muscle memory knew what to do. However, when I moved to The Villages and joined The Villages Track and Field Club, I found myself in unfamiliar territory. I quickly realized I needed a track and field glossary, a stopwatch, a conversion chart and a coach with patience. Things felt strange at first, but with the support and encouragement of the other track members, I became part of a special family. Due to my teammates’ gentle prodding and their belief in me, I accomplished something that seemed out of reach: I participated in both local and judged state games for the first time. Now I humbly and gratefully say to my track family: Hey, I can do this! --Pat Roam My 15 Seconds of Fame Some eight months after running my one and only marathon, I ran the Mount Washington Auto Road Race. This is a 7.2-mile switchback climb, all uphill, averaging 12% grade. It’s by far the hardest run I’ve ever done. For those unfamiliar with Mount Washington, New Hampshire: it has some of the most severe weather in the country. That June day it was 82 degrees F at the base and in the mid-40s with a 40-mph wind at the summit. Somehow I managed to make it to the summit. In the last 100m or so, I began to hear applause and voices saying “Go! Go!” and “Looking great!” Not wanting to disappoint my fans, I increased my effort. They in turn rallied for me even louder. It seemed the harder I tried, the louder the cheers were. Extremely proud of myself, I gave the final strides my best-looking effort. As I crossed the finish line, I noticed out of the corner of my eye another runner finishing with me. It was a woman, and I heard someone say, “You won.” Yes, she was the first female to finish. The reporters and other people flocked to her. Alas, I realized they’d all been cheering for her. Fame can be such a fleeting thing. --Art Bourgeois How Lucky We Are So many great memories at the track and hopefully more to come! The second day we moved to The Villages as snowbirds in April 2012, there were no organized running groups as we have today. Fortunately, John “the coach from England” showed me how to run track and helped me realize I was not a sprinter but a candidate for the 1500 meters. What a surprise to know I could run such an event and actually obtain some records. The help from John and all of the track participants was and still is my inspiration. They will always be part of my track family. Right now I only come to the track on Fridays because of the time I spend training for my long-distance running. The track is perfect for speed workouts! It’s hard to believe that the track runners’ mindset is already about the Nationals in 2022. How fortunate to have a top-of-the-line track facility and amazing runners to earn from and admire. Thank you! --Arlene Hanson Jumping for Joy I was always a good jumper. I had walked on tiptoes as a boy, which developed my calves. In junior high school we only did high jumping once per year, and I missed the competition in the seventh grade. So when the eighth grade competition began, I had no idea how I would do. When the bar reached 4’ 9”, the competition narrowed between one very tall kid and me. The coach’s money was on the tall kid, but I cleared the bar with ease and then cleared 5'. I then joined the track team and went on to win the Junior Olympics, and my winning jump was shown on TV. At 5’ 7” I realized I would never be a true Olympian, so after high school I put jumping aside and focused on my career. However, at 55, I saw a Senior Olympics competition in my area. I went for it and won. I then competed at the state meet in Florida, and finished second. --Sandy King Recently I asked members to share meaningful moments in their track and field journeys. They’ve come up with terrific stories – enough for several blog posts! Here’s the first; I’ll publish others in the coming weeks.
Leah Rewolinski The Villages TLC web wizard My “Aha” Moment In January 2009 I started to run track for the first time in my life. John Topliss was in charge, and he took me under his wing to teach me what he knew. For nine months I never knew he had a face, because I was always looking at his backside when we ran. In October 2009 the student beat the teacher in both the 100 and 200 meters in Gainesville. In 2017 I won at the national level. I had arrived. --Ray Jancso The Thrill of Helping Others I recall that John Topliss would have me work with the newbies (back in April 2017) to see what their interest, goals, and abilities were and how the club could help them. I quickly discovered some gals never competed in sports because they never had the opportunity. (Thank God that has changed.) In time, the desire to compete in an event developed, and we promoted that desire within the club and then to the Senior Games. I truly feel that’s when I got one of my greatest thrills and sense of pride, watching each gal get her first medal ever. It brought tears to my eyes and still does. I thank John and the club. They are a great group with positive goals. --Doug Cronkhite Running In and Out of Trouble I remember that I was always fast. When I was in grade school, we lived in an area with lots of wide-open fields and woods. I loved throwing rocks at the older kids and then getting away. Well, I never said I was the smartest kid, but I never got caught. One day when I was 8 or 9, my older sister was babysitting me. For no apparent reason, she wanted to catch me and give me a spanking. I’m sure it would have been completely unjustified. Just as she was about to grab me I reached the top of the basement steps. I took off. When I became airborne, I thought, This was a really bad idea. It seemed like I was flying forever. I finally landed safely on the last step and got away; that seemed to take the air out of my sister’s pursuit. (Maybe she was afraid to follow this idiot into an enclosed space.) In spite of that early jumping success, I was never very good at the long jump. --Tom Rewolinski Outrunning COPD After years of running bases playing softball and being told how fast I was, I finally decided to see if I could be competitive. Never having participated in track, I was a little apprehensive, but I signed up to run the 50-meter dash in the Villages Senior Games when I turned 80. Having COPD and shortness of breath, I didn’t think I could do more than 50 meters. I won the gold, and that made me decide to do more. I joined the track club and enjoyed a few years of successful competition and the camaraderie of the group. The pointers and assistance I got from John Topliss were a big help. --Ed Kenney My Surreal Mile The car radio played a dreamy ballad, “I’m Not In Love,” one of the hits from that summer of 1975. Late-afternoon humidity gave the passing landscape a misty quality. My nervous anticipation heightened all my senses and made my upcoming track debut feel like a weird daydream. My boyfriend Tom (who’s now my hubby) was driving us both to an open meet at UW-Parkside, where I would compete in the mile. Three other women lined up with me at the start. In the first lap, one of them really took off, and I knew enough not to chase her. But I did pass the other two and gave it all I had. Afterward, Tom said I ran “a smart race.” I was amazed that I’d run a race at all, and survived. We still have a photo of me crossing the finish line as the volunteer timer clicked my blazing speed (6:14.9) on his stopwatch. Fun fact: This volunteer timer was none other than world-class runner Lucian Rosa. The following December, he set a personal best of 2:14:31 at the Fukuoka Marathon in Japan, which was then considered the unofficial world championship. Sadly, political meddling stole his chance to compete in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. You can read more about this amazing athlete: just Google “Lucian Rosa runner” and follow the link to LetsRun.com. --Leah Rewolinski Villages TLC member profile: Fred Hirsh
It seems you started racewalking with our group and never looked back! Tell us about that. I joined the club to run, but when exposed to racewalking I was fascinated. It’s a vigorous activity which reduces the impact on my body. Being able to learn and train with Barb, Pat and Connie has been great. They’ve been very gracious in allowing me to join them. Learning something new at this stage of life is really fun. Did you run or do other fitness activities before retiring? I’ve always enjoyed sports and fitness. They helped me unwind from the demands of my medical practice, where I felt responsible for each patient, staying accurate and empathetic for 10 hours each workday. It was my goal to treat patients as if they were members of my own family. Each week I tried to run 5K three to four times, play tennis three times, and do strength training three times (push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and weight machines). When did you move to The Villages? My wife, Sharon, and I purchased a home in The Villages in 2017 but only came here for short periods, because I was still working. Owning a home here gave me the incentive to start cutting back at work and preparing for retirement. I retired at the end of 2019 after 43 years of practice. Now we are here five or six months of the year. I joined the track club about two months ago. What do you like about working out with the group? I enjoy the warm-up, as it brings everyone together before we break up into our individual areas of interest. Do you plan to compete? If I’m able to get my times to a state and/or national level, I would enjoy being part of our club in competing at the Senior Games. |
your choiceIf you don't run, you rust. Leah rewolinskiThe Villages TLC Word Nerd & webmaster Archives
January 2025
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