By David Freeze
Wipe Out Colorectal Cancer 5K Run/Walk
Next Saturday, March 21st, is the renewal of the Wipe Out Colorectal Cancer 5K and Fun Run. The race first happened in 2024 during the biggest downpour I have ever seen during a race. There was flooding on the course, a just before the start course change and our finish line clock shorted out, all firsts in history for SRR races. Rowan Diagnostic Clinic had a staff member who was battling colorectal cancer, and they wanted to honor him while bringing awareness to regular colorectal checkups. Those same purposes are back again after missing last year.
The race is unusual, as it was in 2024, because the course for the 5K starts offsite at Overton Elementary School and finishes there. But the 5K finishers and their spectators then head back to Rowan Diagnostic Clinic at 611 Mocksville Avenue to celebrate the run/walk with awards, refreshments and much more. We’ll have the half-mile fun run on site there too.
All proceeds from this event will go towards helping to fund free colonoscopies to those in need within Rowan County. Rowan Diagnostic Clinic is a multi-specialty clinic that includes primary care, gastroenterology, allergy, rheumatology, pulmonology, and sleep medicine. Their Digestive Health Associates office has partnered with the Checkit4Andretti Foundation to provide free colonoscopies through the Community Care Clinic of Rowan.
Several of these free colonoscopies found life threatening issues during the last year. Please consider participating in this event to support this program. In 2024, Rowan Diagnostic had the best swag bag seen in Salisbury and they have fun surprises planned. Race organizers promise a fun event.
Salisbury and Rowan County have been lacking an athletic watch supplier since Back Country and Beyond closed. Today’s athletic watches are complicated, especially for those of us used to the simpler models of the past. Garmin watches are my favorites, and I have had various models since satellite watches came out. The early models were very simple and admittedly a little less accurate than those of today. Most watches do way more than I want them to do. There are a few Garmin athletic watches now priced over $1,000 although mine is nothing near that.
I currently use a Garmin 265, which does a very good job with pace, distance, elapsed time and heart rate, all I want a running watch to do. But my 265 has had a recent habit of rearranging or hiding the four things mentioned that I want to see on the screen. I have tried to figure out how to fix this, but I get hung up without the resolution I am seeking.
My best friend in these situations is Porter Baker, owner of Skinny Wheels Bike Shop on Innes Street. Porter actually sold me the watch when he worked at Back Country and Beyond and he set up the watch face how I wanted it. Porter is very good with these watches, which is good for the rest of us, as he becomes the new Garmin dealer in town. Skinny Wheels will soon be stocking running watches and bike computers from Garmin. If you are looking for one of these products or need help, stop to see him at Skinny Wheels.
And finally for this week, with temperatures reaching 90 degrees at the recent Los Angeles Marathon, organizers gave participants a chance to earn a medal without crossing the 26.2-mile finish line. Race organizers had announced that because of the weather, medals would be given out to runners who completed just 18 miles of the course that began at Dodger Stadium and ended in the Century City section of Los Angeles. The McCourt Foundation, which organizes the race, gave participants who were “having a tough day” the chance to take a turn and head to the alternative finish line early.
So, is it still a marathon? No, it isn’t, and by awarding these medals early, they dishonor all the others who did the whole distance. Is this just another part of the participation medal craze?
Anyone interested in joining the beginning runners class that started at the PD last Tuesday can still join this Tuesday by showing up at 6pm..
The Mt. Hope Church 5K is on March 28th. Look for this and other upcoming events at www.salisburyrowanrunners.org
