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Running

Winterling, Wachtel, DeWitt stay on the run

By DAVID MURPHY
Published October 25, 2005

Steve Winterling and Jackie Wachtel compete in the Chicago Marathon, and Laura DeWitt finishes the Ironman triathlon.

He tried to slip it past her. Give him credit for that. But the words, "Honey, I'm going to run a marathon," don't exactly slide into the context of an everyday conversation.

"My wife about shot me," Steve Winterling said, laughing.

But run a marathon is exactly what he did, and five seasons laterthe 47-year-old Pasco-Hernando Community College baseball coach takes his new-found sport more seriously than ever.

At an age where many American men are saving for Maseratis and monitoring their prostates, Winterling spends his time worrying about mileage and splits. He studies running as Aristotle studied Plato. Winterling's training regimen is a science. He uses his players, who are in the thick of their fall season, for motivation and support.

"I'm such a competitor, but I don't get to compete so much," Winterling said. "With running, I am competing against myself."

Two weeks ago, Winterling and PHCC

cross-country coach Jackie Wachtel ran in the Chicago Marathon for the second straight year. It was Winterling's fifth marathon, and he clocked in at 4 hours, 12 minutes. "It was 48 seconds faster than last year, but it wasn't my best," he said.

Still, tell most men his age that they finished a marathon in 4:12 and their response will be, "I finished?" In many ways, baseball - the sport that gave you David Wells, Bartolo Colon and Sidney Ponson - is the antithesis of distance running. After all, it was former Phillies first baseman and current TV analyst John Kurk who once said, "I ain't an athlete, lady. I'm a baseball player."

But Winterling chooses to abide by the slightly-more immortal words of the Satchel Paige, who once called age "a matter of mind over matter: if you don't mind, it doesn't matter."

"When you get to be 30, 40 and 50 and you are exercising and taking care of yourself, you are going

to have a quality life," Winterling said.

He isn't the only area runner who's aging with the grace of a single-malt.

Within the next year, Hernando cross-country coach Ernie Chatman, 55, expects to complete his goal of running a marathon in all 50 states. He is 55. Plus, Brooksville resident Laura DeWitt, 44, recently finished the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii in 11:11:24.

"I kind of really applied myself this time," DeWitt said. "Not that I didn't before, but I made it a priority."

Dewitt says her family, which followed her throughout the race, was a big help. "You come to the finish line and it's just thousands of people cheering. It's really emotional."

Winterling says his wife has come around.

"She was there (the first time) to pick me up and drag me off the course," he said.

And the best part of all? She did not bring the gun.

[Last modified October 25, 2005, 03:00:29]