CRR Barret Michalec touched based recently, sending in some of his thoughts and experiences from living and running in Arizona, where he moved about a year and a half ago.
I’ve been running here and there since moving to Arizona. I live in an area called Fountain Hills. It gets its name from the famous Fountain, and, of course, [there are] rolling hills…which I have learned about first-hand in my running. The heat is the kicker, can’t really get out any time after 9 a.m. in the summer and even late spring, but during the “winter” and “fall” it’s pretty fantastic running.
I haven’t been training or anything but saw a run that looked fun. It was a trail 15k in the local mountains…AT NIGHT! I hadn’t done much trail running because of the snakes and wildlife and fear of getting lost, but I figured I would be able to see all the other headlamps of fellow runners at this thing. It was super awesome. A bit scary, a bit like “They allow us to do this?!”
I ended up finishing in 1 hour and 20 minutes and came in 3rd [among] all men (4th overall out of 60+ [finishers]). What struck me was the age of the top—all over 40. Trail running must be something different out here—different crowd, different techniques/tactics. I couldn’t use my long strides because of the rocks and loose-footing areas on the uphills and downhills, and there are a lot of twists and turns, so you have to really focus…especially at night.
There were folks there for a 75k, 50k, and a 25k! NUTS! Maybe [I’ll do] the 25k next time though….
Barret, thanks for the update, and stay cool out there.

Creek Road Runners are proud to recognize one of its own, CRR Sue Barton, as a world champion!
A longtime triathlete, Barton has recently become involved in the CrossFit craze—billed as the “sport of fitness.” Competing for the team UD CrossFit, the 60-year-old Barton recently bested 635 other women worldwide in the 60-69 age group within the slightly easier “scaled” (as opposed to the “prescribed” or “Rx”) category in the CrossFit Games, held over a five-week period from October 11 to November 8 all over the world in separate CrossFit venues.
CRR Barret Michalec, associate dean of Interprofessional Education for the College of Health Sciences and associate professor of sociology at the University of Delaware, was named one of five Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation’s 2019 Macy Faculty Scholars nationwide. The Scholars program, open to educators in medicine and nursing schools, aims to identify innovators in medicine and nursing education and give them the resources to establish new programs at their respective institutions. Michalec was selected from more than 70 applicants for the prestigious award.


In the half-marathon, CRR Dan Weile took 3rd in the 40-44 age group and finished 41st overall (out of 892 finishers) in a fast 1:35:04. CRR Tripp Shenton finished 2nd among his peers in the 55-59 age group and 83rd overall in 1:43:25.

On Saturday in the Delaware Marathon Running Festival 5K, CRR Diane Kukich won the 60-69 age group, coming in 15th overall (out of 115 finishers) in 23:55. This was Kukich’s best 5K time in five years.