By Terry JacobyHeritage Newspapers

Howard Booth, a Chelsea resident and a regular at the Chelsea Wellness

Center, is an avid masters track and field athlete. Avid – and exceptional.

Booth returned from Kamloops, British Columbia last month where he competed in the World Masters Athletics Indoor Championship. The 66-year-old athlete returned with a gold medal in the pole vault and a fifth-place finish in the long jump in the male 65-69 age group.

“With a bar-rattling vault of 3.05 meters (10 feet), I edged out a former top Olympian (1972), Hans Langerqvist from Sweden to earn the gold medal,” said a proud Booth.

Robert Garnier from France was third.“This was a fantastic ending to a very traumatic start of the week,” Booth said. “My wife and I flew into Seattle to discover all three of my vaulting poles were broken in transit. In Kamloops, the only option was to rent an unfamiliar pole that didn’t match either length or weight. With a day’s practice this worked well enough that in competition, to quote my wife, ‘the jumps were not pretty but gritty.’ Still the bar stayed up at the key times.”

The previous day, Booth’s jump of 14-feet, 4-inches moved him from seventh in the preliminary rounds up to fifth in the finals against a dozen competitors from Russia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Sweden and the USA.Nearly 2,000 athletes represent-ing 60 countries converged on this scenic oasis community of 70,000, tucked between two moun-tain ranges about 200 miles west of Vancouver. The athletes com-peted in the entire range of track and field events at Thompson River University during the first week of March.

Booth grew up in Mio where, according to him, he picked pole vaulting and long jumping because, “I wasn’t quite fast enough to be a top three sprinter and only a couple of us wanted to work hard enough to learn the

SPORTS EXTRAHERI

TAGE

www.heritage.com April 15, 2010

3-CPAGE

REGIONAL SCHEDULEToday

BASEBALLEast Jackson at Dexter, 4 p.m.TRACKClinton at Manchester, 5 p.m.Milan at Flat Rock, 4 p.m.Redford Thurston at Belleville,

3:30 p.m.BOYS GOLFManchester at StockbridgeGIRLS TENNISGrosse Ile at Chelsea, 4 p.m.GIRLS SOCCERAdrian at Chelsea, 5:30 p.m.GIRLS TENNISBelleville at Dexter, TBAGIRLS WATER POLOSaline at Chelsea, 6 p.m.

Tomorrow BASEBALLRedford Thurston at Belleville

(DH), 4 p.m.SOFTBALLRedford Thurston at Belleville

(DH), 4 p.m.Flat Rock at Milan (DH), 4 TRACKBelleville at Dearborn Edsel

Ford Relays, 3:30 p.m.BOYS GOLFChelsea at Pinckney

Invitational, 9 a.m.GIRLS SOCCERWestland John Glenn at

Belleville, 4 p.m.Milan at Flat Rock, 4:30 p.m.GIRLS TENNISDearborn at Belleville, 4 p.m.BOYS LACROSSEChelsea at Bedford, 7 p.m.Dexter at AA Huron, 7 p.m.Ypsilanti at Saline, 7 p.m.GIRLS LACROSSESaline at Canton, 7:30 p.m.GIRLS WATER POLOSaline at Gator Invitational,

TBASaturday

BASEBALLBelleville at Monroe (DH), 10

a.m.Chelsea at Coldwater

Invitational, 9 a.m.Dexter at Clinton Tournament,

TBAManchester at Brooklyn

Columbia Central (DH), 10 a.m.Milan at Avery Invitational, 9

a.m.SOFTBALLBelleville at Monroe

Invitational, 10 a.m.Chelsea at DeWitt Invitational,

TBADexter at South Lyon

Invitational, TBAManchester at Quincy (DH), 10

a.m.Milan at Detroit Country Day

(DH), 11 a.m.Saline at Clinton Invitational 9

a.m.TRACKChelsea at Hastings Invitational,

9 a.m.Manchester at East Jackson

Dome Classic, 9:30 p.m.Saline at Ypsilanti April

Showers, TBAGIRLS SOCCERChelsea at Dexter, 11:30 a.m.Saline at Plymouth, 12:30 GIRLS TENNISChelsea at Adrian Invitational,

TBASaline Hornet Invitational, 9

a.m.GIRLS LACROSSEBedford at Saline, 11 a.m.GIRLS WATER POLOSaline at Gator Invitational,

TBAMonday

BASEBALLBelleville at Dearborn (DH), 4

p.m.Chelsea at Ann Arbor Huron

(DH), 4 p.m.Dexter at Monroe (DH), 4 Onsted at Manchester, 4:30 Tecumseh at Saline (DH), 4 SOFTBALLBelleville at Dearborn (DH), 4

p.m.Chelsea at Ann Arbor Huron

(DH), 4 p.m.Dexter at Monroe (DH), 4 p.m.Onsted at Manchester, 4:30 Milan at Summerfield (DH), 4:30

p.m.Tecumseh at Saline (DH), 4 BOYS GOLFAnn Arbor Huron, Ann Arbor

Skyline, Dexter at SEC Quad at Chelsea, 3 p.m.

Belleville at Garden City, 3 Saline at Brighton Invitational,

9 a.m.GIRLS SOCCERBelleville at Garden City, 7 Milan at Riverview, 4:30 p.m.GIRLS TENNISSaline at Adrian, 4:30 p.m.

Belleville at Romulus, 4 p.m.Chelsea at Monroe, 4:30 p.m.Dexter at Pioneer, 4:30 p.m.BOYS LACROSSEDexter at Madison Heights

Bishop Foley, 5:30 p.m.GIRLS LACROSSEBrighton at Saline, 7 p.m.

Tuesday TRACKAddison, Michigan Center at

Manchester, 5 p.m.Adrian at Chelsea, 4:30 p.m.Dearborn at Belleville, 3:30 Ypsilanti at Dexter, 4:30 p.m.Grosse Ile at Milan, 4 p.m.Ann Arbor Skyline at Saline,

4:30 p.m.GIRLS SOCCERChelsea at East Lansing, 6:30 Dexter at Mason, 6:30 p.m.Okemos at Saline, 7 p.m.GIRLS TENNISGrosse Ile at Milan, 4 p.m.GIRLS WATER POLOChelsea at Ann Arbor Pioneer,

6 p.m.Ann Arbor Huron at Saline, 7

p.m.Wednesday

BASEBALLDearborn Edsel Ford at

Belleville (DH), 4 p.m.Manchester at Napoleon (DH),

4 p.m.Grosse Ile at Milan (DH), 3:30 SOFTBALLDearborn Edsel Ford at

Belleville (DH), 4 p.m.Manchester at Napoleon (DH),

4 p.m.Milan at Grosse Ile (DH), 3:30 Blissfield at Saline, 4 p.m.BOYS GOLFChelsea at Tecumseh, 3 p.m.Dexter at Ypsilanti Lincoln, 3 Dearborn at Belleville, 3 p.m.Hanover-Horton at Manchester,

TBASaline at Bedford, 3 p.m.GIRLS SOCCERDearborn at Belleville, 4 p.m.Monroe SMCC at Milan, 4:30 GIRLS TENNISAdrian at Dexter, 4:30 p.m.Chelsea at Ypsilanti, 4:30 p.m.Edsel Ford at Belleville, 4 Milan at Lincoln, 4 p.m.Saline at Pioneer, 4:30 p.m.BOYS LACROSSESkyline at Chelsea, 7 p.m.Bedford at Dexter, 6 p.m.

By Crystal HaydukSpecial writer

Before beginning what can be considered real training for this 5K, I started walking. Given my schedule and previous lack of exercise, my first reasonably attainable goal was to walk three times a week.

According to those who give advice about goal setting, I should have been specific regarding time or distance, but I wasn’t mentally at that point yet.

I am happy to report that for the month of March, I did walk three times a week. Some days I only squeezed in 20 minutes, but some days I managed up to an hour.

After the first few longer walk-ing sessions, I noticed some linger-ing discomfort on the side of my left foot, and mentioned it to my family at dinner. “I know what you need, mommy,” said my energetic 9-year-old, Katie Rae. “You need new shoes. Then you’ll be able to run really fast – like me!”

I had my doubts that new shoes would make this non-runner run fast. And I would need a jet pack to keep up with Katie Rae. But it had been over five years since my last new pair of athletic shoes, so why not give it a try?

Running Fit employee Chelsea Earls measured my feet and checked my arches, looked at my old shoes for signs of uneven

wear, and watched me walk and run. She suggested New Balance shoes in a size larger than I usu-ally wear. They were lightweight and felt good. (Megan, 5, liked that they were trimmed in pink.)

Since getting my running shoes, I haven’t experienced any foot discomfort. They feel so good that I can go farther without expe-riencing heaviness in my feet or fatigue in my legs.

Special offerAs an official sponsor of the

Heart and Sole race, Running Fit is offering 10 percent off the price of running shoes. To get the discount, just tell them that you’re part of the Heart and Sole gang.

Randy Step, co-owner of Running Fit stores in Michigan, explained that store employees are trained to help people find the best fit and type of shoe for their feet. Running shoes are flexible from front to back to provide easier forward movement of the foot, and come in one of three basic types: neutral, stability, or motion-control. “Notoriously, people like to buy their shoes too small,” Step said. “You have to ignore the number that you think you usu-ally wear. They size running shoes smaller than dress shoes.”

Running Fit locations can be found at www.runningfit.com.

pole vault.”It turned out to be a great deci-

sion. Booth finished with school and league records and placed fourth in the state meet.

He went to Eastern Michigan University where he was recruit-ed for the gymnastics team.

“As team captain and a regular in still rings, parallel bars, floor exercise and vaulting, I had a pri-mary commitment to that sport. So with the seasons overlapping, I only pole vaulted for EMU two outdoor seasons,” Booth said. “My highlight was earning a third-place finish in the PAC Conference my junior year with a 12-6 vault.”

During graduate school (MS at EMU and Ph.D at MSU), Booth got interested in distance run-ning and local 5K and 10K races. He also stayed fit with regular

workouts in the gym for upper body conditioning.

“About six years ago I was encouraged by one of my gym-nastics teammates to look into competing in the Michigan Senior Olympics,” he said. “I signed up for the 5K run, bench press, and was looking for a third event (three for the same price) and checked out the pole vault heights for 60 year olds. I thought I could possibly do that.”

To see if he “could do that,” Booth didn’t exactly work out at an Olympic training facility.

“I tried it out in my back-yard with a freshly cut maple sapling and had some success so I bought a fiberglass pole and started working at it,” he said. “I had used only stiff aluminum or steel poles before so it took a while to learn how to bend and

Crystal Hayduk is writing a series of columns as she pre-pares to participate in the Heart and Sole 5K, May 15.

These shoes are made for running

Senior reaching new heights

Chelsea’s Booth wins gold at the

World Masters

use the spring of the fiberglass. In fact, I’m still working on the fine points of that.”

Booth set a new age group state record in his first meet and was hooked.

He has since set new age group state records in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and last sum-mer won the National Senior Olympics gold medal at Stanford University. He also added a silver medal for the Team Michigan 4x100 meter relay and a bronze for the long jump.

Last year, he won silver med-als in both pole vault and long jump in the National USATF Indoor Masters Championships in Washington, D.C. At the out-door National USATF Masters Championships, he took the sil-ver in pole vault and was fifth in the 100-meter sprint and a top 10 national ranking in the 200-meter race.

Practicing the pole vault isn’t an easy thing to do. It’s not like training for a marathon where you just go out and run. You need certain items, including a pole and a vault.

“I inherited a set of old and discarded pole vault pads from EMU three years ago,” he said. “With the help of several EMU vaulters, we built a runway in the valley behind our house so we masters as well as a number of younger vaulters could workout during the summer.

Booth has been a professor in the Biology Department at EMU for 43 years, teaching and doing research in the areas of human physiology, animal physiology, zoology and quality science teaching. Booth and his wife, Lu, enjoy hiking, running, snow shoeing and cross country sking the trails of the Pinckney Recreation Area.