FRUITPORT (5/28/05) -- Some leave their hearts in San Francisco, others their soles in Fruitport.

Take my wife. "You left your running shoes in Fruitport?!" I exclaimed after driving home from the 24th annual Old-Fashioned Days 5K and 10K races.

She looked at her bare feet. "Apparently," she said.

It's easy to see how you might leave part of yourself behind here. The course is pretty with orchards and inlets, especially this year in cool, crisp sunshine this year. The camaraderie's warm and casual: race director Don Wood is sure to delay the start introducing 20-time age- group winner Joe Wolters and others worthy of heckling.

Old-Fashioned Days? Think of aid stations with a card table, two volunteers (blow your water-cup handoff and too bad) and a boom box playing the "Rocky" theme. Chip-off-the-old-block timing makes use of Popsicle-stick technology.

Post-race snacks? No blocks-long smorgasbord, like at the River Bank Run. But food at that nearby mega-race had nothing on the "mystery melon" at Fruitport: its red-flesh interior boasting Van Gogh-like yellow swirls and a hybrid flavor suggesting Mendel at last gone mad.

The golden morn and good times drew close to 200 runners. First to finish the 5K were Rick Bauer (16:35) and Kendra Mason (20:00). Men's and women's 10K winners were Cliff Somers (36:04) and Ashley Stebbins (43:04).

Wolters won his age group for the 21st time, amazing for someone who claims to be only 20. When we drove back the next day, my wife's shoes almost where she had left them in the parking lot, perched on a post by so they would be easier to see. MR