Chris Glowacki's 59:26 in the Crim Festival of Races 10-mile made him third-place master.
Chris Glowacki made it all look so easy for another year. Glowacki, of Freeland, parlayed his low-mileage regimen and pared- down racing schedule into a Michigan Runner series title for the second time in three seasons. He captured Senior Male Runner of the Year in his first go-about of division eligibility at age 50. In 2003 he captured Masters Male Runner of the Year at age 48 in a division dominated by younger runners. And through it all he remained one of the good guys in competitive racing in Michigan. He could hardly believe he won another title, since he began racing only in April. "I really got a late start this year," he said. "By April I was still trying to get in shape. I really don't like to race unless I'm in good enough shape to compete." Even as late as July, at the Volkslaufe, Glowacki eschewed series points in the 20K to hone his speed in the 5K. He seized the title with 23 points in two of 10 events. In logging a time of 1:05:27 (age graded to 59:03) in The Legend 10-mile trail run at Laingsburg Aug. 6, he finished as first senior and second master. His 59:26 in the Crim Festival of Races 10-mile run at Flint Aug. 27 made him third-place master. His series points beat out division rival Scott Liversedge's total of 17. Yet Glowacki spoke as if in awe of Liversedge, whom he's known for years. "That guy, he can really fly." Glowacki stuck to a low-mileage cycle of workouts. In a typical training week he logged 30 to 35 miles, mixing in speed work and one day off for recovery. He took several weeks off early and late in the year, training intensely in between to build aerobic capacity for the summer races. When he trained, he ran at a high pitch. "I try to do every mile under seven minutes. Even then, I'm very seldom injured because I don't put in the high mileage," Glowacki said. He began serious running 35 years ago as a freshman at Shepherd High School. In 1970 the Class C school placed second in the state in cross country. Glowacki said Shepherd's coach, Duane Rinckey, had a great running program for many years. He credited Rinckey, who died long ago, with instilling in him a love of running. "I never got a chance to tell him that," he said. Through the years since he began his romance with running at age 15, he had a few periods of wandering, but never for long. "Sometimes you have God-given talents and take them for granted," Glowacki said. "But I've been doing this for a long time now." Even as a construction worker, even with the physical demands of work and the time-consuming commutes between Freeland and Lansing, even turning 50, he kept to his regimen. As always he reserved the Sabbath as his day of recovery. "Running was a thing that was given to me, so I take time off on Sunday," Glowacki said. The year he won the masters title he notched his fastest 5K time of 16:09 in the Kensington Challenge. He never achieved a goal he articulated at the time of slipping under 16 minutes. This year he had to settle for a 17:23 in the Great Pizza Challenge at Flint and a 17:35 in the Auburn Corn Festival. "I kind of laid low this summer," Glowacki said. All the more impressive that he made it all look so easy. MR