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© St. Petersburg Times, published January 21, 2002
CLEARWATER -- The last time Terry Fluke raced, he quit well before the finish line so as to not further aggravate a nagging injury.
Sunday, the St. Petersburg resident returned to competition and returned to normal, physically and in terms of his place among the best runners in the area.
Fluke, 42, won the Florida Gulf Beaches Marathon 10K easily in a time of 35 minutes, 59 seconds just two weeks after he dropped out of the Disney Marathon at the 14-mile mark because of a strained right quad muscle.
"Today was kind of a psychological redemption day, I guess," Fluke said. "You want to go out and prove to yourself if nothing else that you can run fast, run hard."
He said he could have pushed the envelope and completed Disney, but would have done enough damage to the quad that he would have missed the 10K and thrown off his training schedule.
Instead, he dropped out, rested and had an easy time at the shorter distance against lesser competition.
"It wasn't a strong field, 35:59 even in warm conditions is pretty pedestrian," Fluke said. "But I'm not complaining. I'm masters now, and it makes it a little more special if you can hammer on the young guys."
Richard Golden, 42, of Englewood finished second (36:20), and Ken Gale, 35, of Roswell, Ga., finished third (37:25).
Kathleen Kaye of St. Petersburg won the women's 10K in 40:51, surprising herself in what was supposed to be a leisurely exercise for next month's Gasparilla 15K.
"I didn't have any idea I could win," said Kaye, 42. "I thought I would run 41 (minutes)."
Linda Gabor, 31, of Clearwater took second (41:54) and Patricia Farese, 39, of St. Petersburg finished third (42:14).
Approximately 250 runners competed in the 10K.
FIRST, AGAIN: Gulf Beaches should continue to hold a spot on Judy Maguire's calendar, considering her streak of success in the event.
The Clearwater resident won the inaugural marathon, placed first with David Avila in last year's two-person marathon relay and Sunday claimed another first place, this time with Darrell Edrich in the coed marathon relay.
As for possibly returning to the top in the main event, the 43-year-old isn't sure.
"I've just cut my mileage back," Maguire said. "I used to do 70 miles (of training) a week and three marathons a year, now the last couple years I've cut it back to 50-60 miles and I haven't done any marathons. I'm getting more conservative as the years go by."
OVER AND OUT: Among the 400 volunteers were 110 amateur radio operators, spread over the 26.2-mile course to provide communications.
Paul Toth, race communications coordinator and an amateur radio broadcaster, said volunteers from six counties manned aid stations for runners and served as liaisons with medical staff.