The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Mentor runners will use Jog as gauge
In-person racing returned July 4 when the Captains Grand Slam 5K was held in Eastlake.
For some, the Johnnycake Jog in Painesville on July 12 will serve as the first race of the year.
Among those running their first road race this summer, after the novel coronavirus pandemic cancelled events on the Northeast Ohio running slate this spring, will be a handful of Mentor runners seeking an indication of how well their preseason training is going.
One of those runners Matthew Biddell, a middle-school phenom entering his freshman year at Mentor this fall. Biddell won every race he ran as an eighth-grader, save for the state middle school championship meet.
Biddell and many of his new high school teammates will be in Painesville July 12, some of which are running the Johnnycake Jog for a first time.
“I don’t really know anything but friends have ran it before,” Biddell said. “I think we’re just going to run as a team, stay together.”
Ohio’s Finest Five-Miler, in its 44th year, will step off the Lake County Fairgrounds in Painesville July 12.
The five-mile run begins at 8:30 a.m. while the 5K run/ walk is scheduled to begin at 8:45.
Packet pick-up ahead of the race is at Second Sole in Mentor from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on July 10 and July 11. A virtual option is also available for the 2020 race. Each runner will receive a finisher medal and t-shirt.
Race-day signup and packet pick-up is only available for runners coming from out of town at the Lake County Fairground from 7 to 8:15 a.m.
Maddie Clark, a sophomore on Mentor’s girls cross team, looks forward to testing her training at the Jog. She ran junior varsity as a freshman but dropped 4 ½ minutes off her preseason time trial by the end of the season to begin pushing varsity runners.
Clark began training in March when the pandemic cancelled track season, and has been running 30 to 40 miles a week in preparation for her second cross country season.
“I want to hopefully be around 20:30,” Clark said. “Just to kind of see where I’m at and how I feel when I’m running, how comfortable I am knowing my pace.”
Next to Biddell, fellow incoming freshman Devin Stouffer is also gearing up for his high school season. Biddell and Stouffer are basketball players, too, so their summer mornings are spent running with the cross country team then running more in the gym for hoops coach Bob Krizancic.
The two typically wake up at 7 a.m. for runs that begin at 8 a.m. and end around 9:30. Then, they join the basketball team for another two hours of workouts.
“I just love sports in general,” Stouffer said. “With all this going on, it kind of gives you something to do. You get up in the morning, go running and then you go to basketball after. It just gives you something to do and I love playing those sports, so it’s been good.”
Stouffer and Biddell have been putting in between 25 and 30 miles a week during summer.
Neither has run the Johnnycake Jog previously, and Jordan said he last ran a 5K race last year.
“I think it’s going to be a good indicator of what I need to work on mentally and physically,” Stouffer said. “It’ll kind of just be a good learning experience where I can learn what to do, what not to do when it comes down to the races that really matter.”