Just as such a streak begins, the milestone arrived without great fanfare but with two key ingredients—desire and resolve.
CRR Diane Kukich had given some serious thought to what the appropriate workout might look like to mark her 10,000th consecutive day of some form of sustained physical activity. Why not do 10,000m? OK, but not an ordinary 10K run. After all, it’s 6 a.m. on a brisk January morning. How about a triathlon of sorts? That’s it, she thought.
Whether walking, running, spinning, rowing, or swimming, Kukich has exercised every day now for some 27 years and four months. So, today Kukich celebrated her mind-boggling milestone with 2K on the rowing machine, 3K on the stationery bicycle (both just warmups), and a 5K run in the pre-dawn light.
Kukich, a writer at the University of Delaware, has exercised regularly since before her children were born; however, the streak of consecutive days officially began after a brief respite that followed the birth of her youngest child, Christine, way back in 1989.
Interestingly enough, Kukich was about ten years into the streak when CRR Mark Deshon talked her into running, having seen that she was taking home hardware for walking in local races, week in and week out. She immediately became an age-group competitor in running shoes and, since then, has mixed in running with other forms of aerobic workouts.
Kukich is the current state record holder in the 50-54 age group for the 20K distance, a record she set in 2002. With respect to near-term aspirations, she has her eye on both the 5K and 5-mile state records in the 65-69 age group. She turns 65 next month.
One would say that Kukich is certainly in the top tenth of a percent of all humans when it comes to this kind of fitness regimen, but Creek Road Runners would simply say she’s in a class of her own.
Deshon was there early to document Kukich’s milestone, and though he’s not normally an early riser, he knows that all it took for him to be there were the same two ingredients Kukich demonstrates each day.
Congratulations, Diane Kukich on your amazing display of desire and resolve!
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Kukich and Donner and Crispin.
In Wilmington, the bigger races were taking place. In the PNC Bank 5K, CRR Bruce Weber took first place among the 55-59s in a fast 18:55. CRR Ann Jornlin placed 2nd in the 60-64s with a 25:48. In the 10K, CRR Doug Repetti got on the podium for a 3rd place finish among the 65-69s, finishing in 52:34.
On Saturday at the Delaware Open XC Championships, in a grueling 5K, CRR Bill Farquhar placed 8th overall in the Men’s Masters race and 5th in his age group (40-49) in a brilliant 19:28—super fast for that course! CRR Keith Crispin placed 14th overall and 9th in the same age group with a very good 20:39. Earlier this year both runners helped the CRR team break three hours in the 
CRR Andrew Weber won the second annual Run the Rock 5K last weekend, in a blistering 17:54, finishing more than two minutes ahead of the second-place finisher.
In the Run Inspired 10K at Winterthur, CRR Bill Rose placed 22nd overall out of 1,398 finishers and bested 87 others in his age group (50-59) in 43:10. CRR Dan Weile, who ran a 44:21, placed 29th overall and 6th out of 105 in his age group (40-49). The weekend before last, Rose placed second overall out of 97 runners in the hilly Paradocx Vineyard Run Through the Grapes in 21:48.
The fastest of the CRRs was CRR Andrew Weber, who just edged out CRR Clark Ridge for both 6th place overall and 2nd among the 30-39 men. Weber ran a 5:06.2, just ahead of Ridge’s 5:07.0, in the field of hundreds of runners and walkers.
Two CRRs won their respective age groups. In 13th place overall was CRR Bruce Weber, who ran a solid 5:22.2 to win the 50-59 age group. CRR Diane Kukich won her age group (60-69) in 7:12.6. These two winners posted wonderful age-graded scores in so doing. Weber’s 91.9 was the second highest among all competitors, and Kukich scored an impressive 87.0, fourth highest overall. (Scores from 90-100 are considered world class; 80-100 is considered national class.) By comparison, Andrew Weber’s score was 84.1, and Ridge’s was 83.9.
CreekRoadRunners.org 