RUNNING: Running with a spirited boost | Maryland Gazette (HometownGlenBurnie.com)

There aren't many sports as low-cost as running.

It's said that all you need is a pair of shorts, possibly a top, a scrunchie and shoes. Races come cheap. The entry fee usually covers expenses. No one is making out. The runs that pay big money to winners have deep-pocket sponsors who charge it off to advertising. Expenses, for instance, might cover the cost of printing the numbered race bibs.

However, the people who direct the annual Annapolis Bridge Run for the Maritime Republic of Eastport are clever. Every runner gets the same number, 21403, the Eastport Zip Code, and no pins are needed. It's got a stick-on backing. And runners tend to keep the bib, year after year.

So how do running races keep it so cheap? The answer is "volunteers." The formula is that a volunteer is needed for every 10 runners.

And this must hold true. The Annapolis Ten Mile Run, scheduled for Aug. 24, usually shuts off registration at 5,000, it is said that 500 volunteers are needed. And there has been an official call for them.

The lady in charge of getting these 500 volunteers is Donna Cogle, who is confident she'll come up with them.

The Strides have the right person for this job. In running, we all know Cogle. She's been a runner for many years. She looks young, but she boasts she's a mother and a grandmother. Volunteering runs in her family. At one race, I inquired and found that every other volunteer was a Cogle or a relative. For years, no one in the Cogle family has slept in on race day.

What makes the job of volunteering for the A-10 somewhat difficult is there is no pay for a job that has you getting up at the crack of dawn on race day or spending a Saturday handing out race packets at the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

A-10 volunteers work a good eight hours. However, they do get fed, goody bag and a handsome printed T-shirt that tells the world that you worked the world-famous race.

And, if by chance, a volunteer gets assigned to one of the water stops way out in the middle of nowhere, Cogle loads them onto her rental truck and transports them.

It's lots of fun.

E-mail Cogle at rundonna1@aol.com or call her at 443-823-6628. Tell her Joe sent you.

Tip of the week: It is best not to run at a time when thunderstorms are in the forecast. They produce lightning that can come out of nowhere and strike sometimes 10 miles away. There was the story last week of the young female runner, struck and killed running alone on a Virginia beach.

Added to the tragedy was that she carried no identification.

Runner of the Week: Milton Taylor, 75, of Odenton, who finished the recent John Wall Mile at Severna Park in a little over nine minutes, wearing a piece of cloth tied around one of his legs just below the knee.

This is the man who in the past 30 years has run close to 200 marathons and never needed any type of brace. When I asked him about the brace, he almost forgot he was wearing it.

If Milt Tayor, long with the Maryland State Police and the Howard County safety department, were to wear his running resume on his lapel, it would read that he has run marathons in the 50 states three times, on each of the seven continents and the Canadian provinces. He tells me he will stay home from now on and do local runs. In years past, when one would visit with Milt and his lady at their home, you would see opened on the top of all the papers on his desk, the 3-inch thick Official Airlines Guide.

Parked in his driveway was the trusty VW beetle that carried him to many runs on the North American continent.

Race of the Week: This one is in Lewes, Del., this weekend, one that attracts a large Anne Arundel following. It's officially called the second Grog Shop 5K, part of the Seven Sisters and Four Brothers of the Dewey Beach Running Series.

RUNNING CALENDAR

Tomorrow: Lewes, Del. 8 A.M. Grog Shop 5K . 301-654- 6400

Aug. 2: Dewey Beach, Del. Venus of the Half Shell 5K. 8 A.M races2run.com / 302-654-6400

Aug. 3: Anne Arundel Community College 8 a.m. Striders's Dog Days 8K Cross Country, annapolistriders.org

Aug. 10: Lewes, Del. J.D. Shucker's 5K. 8 a.m. races2run.com / 302-654-6400

Aug. 10: Annapolis, 7:30 a.m. The Ben Moore Memorial Half Marathon/10K. Park and Ride lot, Truman Parkway . Go to runannapolis.com

Aug 24: Annapolis Striders Ten Mile Run, 7:50 a.m. Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.

RACE RESULTS

John Wall Memorial Mile, July 6

1. Matt Fortin, 24, 4:40. 2. Zach Sullivan, 17, 4:45. 3. Nathan Bickel, 17, 4:46. 4. Chris Hart-Moynihan, 18, 4:57. 5. Cody Vernon, 14, 5:00.6. Jim Anderson, 48, 5:03. 7. James Blackwood, 24, 5:06. 8. Noah Wood, 25, 5:07. 9. Erik Westlund, 23, 5:09 10. Elmer McPhail,52, 5:12

1st Female, 24th overall, Sheryl Kline, 45, 5:43. 2nd Female, 125th overall, Susan Noble, 42, 8:15

Women's Distance Festival 5K, Annapolis, July 12

1.Kerri Robbins. 37 , 18:40. 2. Sheryl Kline, 45, 19:45. 3. Ashlyn Sinclair,19,19:58. 4. Katie Powell, 20:25.5. Pat Wilkerson, 49, 20:35. 6. Gloria Roberts, 16, 20:41. 7. Jennifer Lundeen, 48, 20:56. 8. Christina Patrick,14, 21:15. .9. Coleen Carroll, 35, 21:19. 10. Debbi Young, 37, 21:28.

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Running results and items of interest can be mailed to Joe Shafran at the Capital , P.O. Box 911, Annapolis MD 21404, faxed to 410-280-5953 or e-mailed tojoggingjoe@letsshapeup.com. Joe is the co-host of local radio and tv shows and is a member of the Maryland State Advisory Council on Physical Fitness.