Thanksgiving Day 5K at the Levee
"Johanna's personal best"

(Ken Waldock photo)

    On a cold, beautiful Lawrence morning more than 650 runners crossed the finish line creating a host of interesting time coded stories.  From the rocket pace of Matt Riley who timed in at 15:56, to the last finisher, all wanted to a) finish the race and b) achieve a new personal best.  The times were accurately recorded by a microchip worn by each runner.

     26:05...Joanne Renfro, recently featured in the Journal World for her artful restoration work at TeePee Junction, finished third in her division.  Joanne's daughter Kelly, also a gifted runner, finished at 24:22.

     22:46...Kaya Riemann, on her 16th birthday, placed third in the female 15-19 age group with her parents and new birthday puppy cheering her on....Sweet!

     Somewhere in the middle of the pack at 29:04 and 29:05 was an unlikely, yet compelling story of two great kids crossing the finish line side by side with hard earned smiles on their faces and feet in the air.

     29:04...Johanna Buchner, a German foreign exchange student, ran for the Eudora cross country team this year.  In her only season of cross country she excelled and competed as a varsity runner.  Johanna and her teammates train at Fall Leaf Farm, owned by (29:05) Jacob Waldock-Stoskopf's grandparents.  Jacob is ten years old and has been inspired to run by watching the Eudora team workouts.  Johanna could have strived for a "personal best", but she didn't.  Instead, she spotted Jacob just before the start of his first 5K and decided to help him establish and maintain a good pace and finish the race.  So, this really was Johanna at her "personal best".  When she returns to Germany, thanks to the internet, Johanna(29:04) and Jacob(29:05) can continue a lifelong friendship created on Thanksgiving Day.

Ken Waldock