"I
got active with the Crim training program about
nine years ago and became a group leader. It is a
marvelous thing. I love the beginners. At least
50 percent of the people in my group every year
have never run a step before in their life. It is
an enormous life-changing event for them.
"I see them four or five years down the road. It’s wonderful when you see what happens to people. They say, you know, I left that job or I decided I was going back to school or I made some wonderful change in my life' because that thing they thought was so hard, 10 miles, was doable.
"There are life changes going on all around you. Lots of people have different things they want to prove to themselves. There’s lots of life that looks big and unchangeable, but you can change little pieces of it."
"I see them four or five years down the road. It’s wonderful when you see what happens to people. They say, you know, I left that job or I decided I was going back to school or I made some wonderful change in my life' because that thing they thought was so hard, 10 miles, was doable.
"There are life changes going on all around you. Lots of people have different things they want to prove to themselves. There’s lots of life that looks big and unchangeable, but you can change little pieces of it."
"Rain or shine,
(Crim Day) is Flint's best day," said Crim
Festival of Races Inc. volunteer Brian M. Barkey
(above, near the starting line of last
year’s race (2004)). "You can go to the
Buick Open, a magnificent event, but you
can’t be in the Buick Open unless you are
one of 100 people. Well, you can be in the Crim.
For 27 bucks you can be in it and you can be part
of it. Fifteen thousand people are and their
families," he said.
Brian M. Barkey, 60, of Flint, an
attorney with offices in Flint Township, has
volunteered and run in the Crim races for more
than two decades. He has been the president of
the Crim Board of Directors and a member of the
board for 15 years. In 2005, he was the Training
Program coordinator. The training program is a
15-week session in which runners of all levels,
beginners to expert, meet once a week to train
for the Crim races. The program began 11 years
ago (1994) with 130 runners. Barkey said it has
grown to almost 1,000 runners, making it the
largest training program for a single running
event in the world. An added benefit? Barkey met
his future wife, Dorie, when she was in his
training group. She is a program coordinator for
the Crim Festival of Races Inc.
Point of action
More information about registering for participating in this Saturday's Crim Festival of Races in Flint can be found online at their Web site at www.crim.org. Beginning Thursday and through race time, you can register at the Riverfront Character Inn in downtown Flint. Volunteers are still needed to help during the race. Interested? Call (810) 235-3396.
Point of action
More information about registering for participating in this Saturday's Crim Festival of Races in Flint can be found online at their Web site at www.crim.org. Beginning Thursday and through race time, you can register at the Riverfront Character Inn in downtown Flint. Volunteers are still needed to help during the race. Interested? Call (810) 235-3396.