Not quite the Daytona 500
By RANDI LUDWIG
Blue skies, white sand and more than 500 joggers took part in this year's Daytona Beach Red Cross 5K Run on Saturday. Matt Leif (left) took first place covering the three mile distance in 18 minutes 22 seconds battling a 20 miles an hour coastal head wind.

A popular annual event, the 5K course follows the hard packed beach starting at the Daytona Beach Pier then heads inland at Baker Street ending on grass in Bourne Park, just a few block from the starting point.

"This is one of the most incredible short distance running event in Florida" says Debbie Marks, one of the participants. She adds "I've been running 5K's for over ten years and this is the one I look forward to every year. My husband died of a heart attack on 1995 and I promised my children I wouldn't die obese like Tom. So I went out and bought running shoes and have been running ever since. I still think of Tom every time I complete a race and cross that finish line. He was my soul mate. Now he's my inspiration." Wow! Talk about inspiring!

Much like most other runners, Debbie runs recreationally throughout the central Florida region. "I mostly go East-West. I do the Tampa Marathon, that's a hard one. Too many people do that one!"

A few steps behind Debbie came Elizabeth and Grace St.Pierre (right), wife and daughter of our senior photographer. Liz, a fitness specialist participating in this event for the first time was not expecting soft powder and ended up getting her money's worth. "Running along the water on packed sand was great except for the wind" said Liz. "But getting from the hard sand to the park was a nightmare!"

She adds "if not for the powder, I'm pretty sure this would have been my personal best running with Gracie. She screamed and laughed all the way and why not, it's gotta be so much fun to zoom along the water watching the other runners and sea birds everywhere. She kept waving and saying hi to everyone. She's so cute!"

The seven year old annual event raises funds for the Red Cross Foundation, a Christian based organization that truly makes a difference locally, nationally and even worldwide. Paul Hogg is has been the event president since 2001 and estimated this year's race revenue at nearly thirty thousand dollars, a great contribution to a great cause.

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