Two Gophers do well in the Run for Pete's Sake 5k on February 17, 2007

Gideon Gal (the international Gopher), and Steve Gallow both participated in the 1st annual Run for Pete's Sake 5k on February 17, 2007. It was a cold morning, but most of the roads were clear for this event. We were told that Pete Wadach was a man about relationships, and participants were asked to give each other a hug before the race. Gideon's response was, "Only in Ithaca would this happen." Neither one of use knew Pete, but from the sounds of it he was a great guy very dedicated to community.

After the gun went off Gideon and Steve took off. It was a flat course, so Steve thought he could run his PR for the 5k. The first mile Gideon and Steve were side by side at 7 minutes. The next mile had a little hill, and some slippery roads with snow and slush for about a 1/4 mile. They came in with a 7:05 for the second mile. Shortly after the 2nd mile, Steve started to fall behind Gideon. Gideon encouraged Steve to keep it up, but he couldn't hold the pace. Gideon continued on and passed more people and finished in 19th pace with a time of 21:44. Meanwhile Steve passed a couple of people. Then a battle emerged between Steve and one of the runners. Steve passed the other runner, and the other runner passed Steve almost immediately. Steve continued behind this runner, until the slight hill going over a bridge on Cayuga Street. Steve passed the runner for the last time and had a 5 second lead at the end. Steve finished in 22nd place with a PR, 22:08.

After waiting around for the results, there was some good news and some bad news for Steve. The good news was, he won his age group. The bad news was, they had entered Steve into the wrong age group.

It was a great event, and Gideon and Steve and their families went on to the Chili fest being held on the commons for a celebration.

Photos of the event can be seen at http://www.deweyneild.com/index.html