Sinking storylines like outriggers in a marlin tournament

Goody two-shoemakers - Two women looked the part standing at the starting line of the SoDel Cares 5K June 15, then they played the part. Perry Shoemaker, 53, a preschool teacher from Vienna, Va., led post to paddock and won the race in 18:33, the fastest 5K time ever recorded in Delaware by a 53-year-old woman. Perry’s daughter Amelia, 16, was fourth overall and second among women in 20:12. “I didn’t start running until I was 40 years old, but I’ve always been an athlete playing sports,” Perry told me as I corralled her for a post-race interview. Annie Judge, 24, the quintessential three-sport athlete excelling in field hockey, track and lacrosse, ran 22:42, placing first of 25 runners in the 19-29 age group. Most athletes from other sports don’t end up in the 18-minute zone, yet Perry’s story is deeper than a Runner’s World feature. “Google me,” Perry politely and intelligently suggested, throwing in a snippet: “I won Marine Corps 2016 and ran in the Olympic trials for the marathon in 2:43:33.” 

Sweetness - An 18-year-old boy ran a personal-best time in the Sunday morning Father’s Day 5K. He was jazzed. After all runners – about 360 – finished, I was sitting on the bumper of my 4Runner, with the lifted hatch providing shade. “Get some good pictures today, Fredman?” “I hope so. I know I got one of you bearing down on me. I was afraid you were going to bowl me over like a 10-pin.” He pondered that image, then asked, “So how’s your life been so far?” I thought it was the sweetest question an 18-year-old boy could ask a 78-year-old man. I said, “It has been just great!” I reflected on the Neil Young lyric, “Old man, look at my life, I’m a lot like you were.” Seventy-eight and feeling great, but I never saw that one coming.

Cranky Muppets and Billy Goat Gruff - If you’ve ever walked the Rehoboth Boardwalk at sunrise, you know that is an entirely different culture of “Wash it down and suck it up,” because no beachgoers want to interact with yesterday's trash, preferring to produce their own. Insert 400 marauding muppets and their support posse for a 7:30 a.m. Father’s Day 5K, and some people are going to be annoyed. Sharing the seascape is part of the social contract, a tradeoff that makes Sesame Street by the Sea a vibrant and colorful place. Cranky is a word most often used to describe a baby on a bad day. 

Mic'd up is messed up - I don’t want to listen in on an interview with an athlete during an actual game. Baseball ESPN broadcasts just break all the rules, implying that the game isn’t exciting enough on its own. I’ve seen athletes in all sports pulled off the field for talking to fans during the game. What’s next, Dad in the dugout on Father’s Day? “Son, you can’t get caught looking. Remember when I taught you to swing hard in case you hit it?” “Good eye” is only celebrated in Little League.  

Merrill Moore - Richard Tikiob, who is not cranky but cranks all day long, was jazzed after the Georgetown Library 5K June 14, telling me: “This 80-year-old guy in street clothes ran like 40 minutes and didn’t even seem tired.” I relayed Richard’s remembrance to Merrill Moore afterward, adding, “I’d say Peebles going-out-of-business sale rather than street clothes.” Merrill said he runs on the Boardwalk three days a week and I added, “You’re from Georgetown, aren’t you?” The accent is unmistakable. Merrill taught at Delaware Tech. “I’m a roadrunner, baby” sang Junior Walker and the All Stars. Merrill is a member of the Del Tech Owens Campus Hall of Fame. A 2015 Cape Gazette article reads, “Of all the great things that have happened to Moore, there is nothing better than being a dad and pop-pop to his son Merrill Jr., his daughter-in-law Heather, and his two granddaughters Dorothy Ann and Julia Reagan. He knows his life has been blessed by the support of his family, church, friends, students and co-workers.” It gets deeper. In 2024, Dot Moore, 15, ran 27:07; Julia Moore, 13, ran 34:00; and Merrill Moore Jr., 46, ran 35:34. Heather Moore is a Cape math teacher who taught my granddaughter Lina. Lina said of Mrs. Moore: “Love Mrs. Moore. She was awesome.”

Snippets - I watch Oakland Athletics baseball games because of the Zack Gelof connection. The A’s have lost nine in a row, are 26-48, and yet they have depth of young, talented players. Speaking of Oakland, the raiders of contending teams will be coming after that roster at the trade deadline. Who brings a blue chair to an outside lawn party with 200 white chairs? That would be me. I am a borderline social misfit. Go on now, git!