I was co-captain of the cross country team in high school, but didn’t do much running after that until my late 30s. I did keep in good shape playing racquetball at the old YMCA on Lenawee Street in Lansing when I was working downtown for the Department of Social Services. I continued playing after I took a job with Farm Bureau Services out on west Saginaw, but a few months after I got fired there (summer of 1979), my savings began to melt away and I decided I could no longer afford the membership fees at the Y. I took up running to keep in shape. I was living in the Heritage Arms apartments on S. Washington at the time, so I jogged around the track at nearby Everett High School.

Through an agency, I found a job in New Orleans and moved there. My first race was in December 1980 at age 38, and it was not a 5K, but a 15K. My time was 62:38, a pace of 6:43 minutes per mile. That race was in New Orleans City Park, as was the next, a 25K in January 1981. Time: 1:48:15, a pace of 7:00.

In April 1982, I ran the Crescent City Classic, a 10K that started in the French Quarter (photo from Times-Picayune at left) and ended uptown in Audubon Park (next to the Audubon Zoo). There were 9412 runners and I finished 363 with a time of 38:24, a pace of 6:10.

I ran it again the next year. This time, I finished 393 of 15,000 runners, but my time wasn’t recorded due to a breakdown of the chutes at the finish.

I was working for Gulf Systems, Inc. at the time and Paul Freese, my boss, was an enthusiastic supporter. He is in the middle below, and at his left is co-worker Harris Segal.

Here's a picture of me running in one of those races:

And here are photos of the posters I won in the 2 races (I still have them).