Glassboro 10 miler

[jeff]

The Glassboro 10 miler has been around for many years. How many, I don’t know. I just know that it had already been around a while when I first ran it in 1984. The 10 miler was the concluding race of what was known as the winter series, weekly races sponsored by olympian and  distance running founding father  Browning Ross. The supporting races were shorter, 5k, 5 mile, or 10k. Cost was minimal, couple bucks. Five dollars is the current rate. The shorter races were held in various locations in Gloucester County, southern New Jersey.

The concluding 10 mile race has always been held in Glassboro, near the high school, across from the college (Rowan) track/football field, and always towards the end of February. Last time I ran it was in 1998. A few months later Browning passed away after a morning run. Another Olympian, Ringo Adamson, took over directing the series. And he’s still directing as of this past Sunday when I showed up and signed up on a blustery, raw day that brought out 60 hardy souls for the 10 miler and a bunch more for the concurrent 5K.

Although it’s called the Glassboro 10 miler, only about a mile of the out and back course is actually in Glassboro. The route primarily travels through Pitman circling by Alcyon Lake of Superfund fame and then winding and rolling out into the ever endangered Jersey countryside. Definitely a lot more cars to contend with on the county roads than what I remember from last century. And the run downhill to the creek turnaround point still exists meaning there is a mile grade to shuffle back up which is reminiscent of a similar stretch on the Boogie course.

Back in the Browning years, finishers headed to a local pizza shop. Currently, Ringo furnishes a Caribbean feed. But it’s the awards over the years that have made the series special. You never know what you might get. Tin of cookies, dish detergent, maybe some fishing tackle. When Buffalo was losing all those super bowls, I usually merited a Bills’ toboggan. Age group winners usually got the actual super bowl winner’s logo’d cap.

This race would never make a Runner’s World greatest ever list , but at least for one afternoon I enjoyed the low key event. I also wondered if I looked as old as the somewhat familiar but weathered faces of runners I hadn’t seen in a slew of years.