Barb Schuman Takes First Place!

The 2009 Fall Fling 5K Race
Tradewinds Park
Coconut Creek, FL
September 19, 2009

Top Three Grand Master FEMALE
Place O'All Bib First Name Last Name Age Finish Pace
1 41 275 Barbara Schuman 56 00:25:24 8:11
2 53 151 Pamela Richardson 56 00:26:19 8:28
3 61 39 Celia Sweet 52 00:26:59 8:41

Reuters – September 21, 2009 - This just in off the wire service:

On Saturday, September 19, 2009, at 7:00 AM, Tradewinds Park in Coconut Creek, FL was the site of “The 2009 Fall Fling” 5K Race (3.1 miles) sponsored by The Greater Fort Lauderdale Runners Club. (Yes, we know it was Rosh Hashanah, but she is not Sandy Koufax and the whole thing was over long before services started. Furthermore, the event turned into its own high holiday-equivalent religious experience.) 117 male (75) and female (42) competitors from throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties assembled for battle in the Over the Hill (ages 40+) division.

In an unprecedented and unforeseen turn of events, Barbara Schuman, running her very first race ever – a true newbie – pulled off a monumental upset, claiming first place in the Grand Master Female (age 50 – 59) division hotly contested by 18 athletes.

When adding in the 21 runners classified as Master Female (age 40 – 49), Schuman finished 4th overall of the 39 women, a mere 17 seconds out of the third position. Of the 117 total male and female competitors, Barbara finished 41st overall in her initial foray into the world of competitive track.

Her 25:24 time (8:11 minute/mile pace) was accomplished after only 5 weeks of running training in preparation for her appearance in the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) sponsored ½ marathon (13.1 miles), taking place December 6, 2009, on The Strip in Las Vegas. Barbara typically runs 3x/week with 3 to 6 mile jaunts on Tuesdays and Thursdays and longer Sunday runs. She is scheduled to tackle 9 miles this weekend.

Having been bitten by the racing bug, she is madly scouring upcoming 10K and 15K events, plotting her next appearance and conquest. Now, truth be told, lest you think Barbara is carried away with herself after this one stunning success, full disclosure dictates we acknowledge that she was bested by an 80-yr old man, who finished the race in 24.26 or a 7:52 pace!

As you know, Barbara has undertaken this challenge to raise critically needed funds for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America. You can read her reasons for running on her website at http://www.active.com/donate/lv09florida/BarbaraSchuman. For those of you who have already generously supported Barbara’s efforts by making a contribution, we are very grateful. For those of you who have yet to contribute, we hope you will consider this worthy charitable cause and the tremendous amount of time and effort Barbara is investing on behalf of the CCFA.

Contributions can be made online on her website, or for those not wishing to use the online service, you can send a check made payable to CCFA to us at 6692 NW 25th Way, Boca Raton, FL 33496 and we will hand deliver it to the local CCFA office.

Again, thank you all for your support and we will keep you informed of Barbara’s progress.

Cordially,

Barbara Schuman & Neal Kaye