Everybody DOES love Raymond!

By Lou Slaces, running reporter 

     Well, as ol Lou found out at the February 2006 GERWC banquet, it doesn’t take much of a production to show that in this club, EVERYBODY loves Raymond F. Pritchett.  Given our “Volunteer of the Year” for meritorious service at all the timing events ( and I think in hopes of keeping him coming back for next year since we’d be in dire straits without him), Ray was singled out as a gentleman and the kind of person who people just like being around.  So how does a person this nice get mixed up in the crazy business of Race Walking?  Well now, as Paul Harvey says, you’ll know the rest of the story.

            In 1990-91, Ray had spent about 36 years in the Labs at Bristol Myers in Bio-Chemistry and had become the supervisor in the Toxicology Department when it dawned on him that this smoking habit of his might be a little toxic too, and so at the urging of wife Helen he decided to quit.  A familiar story to those of us who have also quit, the weight started to come on a bit, and Helen decided Weight Watchers was the place to be.  That group encouraged walking.  Having started walking a bit, Brother-in-Law Paul Devillez drafted him into a walk-a thon for Muscular Dystrophy.  Soon therafter he found a 5K walk in Ferdinand, and before long Ray was hooked – primarily on the health benefits he began to feel.  And participating in those events, he encountered the infamous “Hustace-Christmas-Lauderdale” gang of  Race walkers.  Now “H C L”, in biochemistry terms stands for Hydrochloric Acid, a highly toxic substance that can be deleterious to your health, and boy doesn’t that fit like a glove for those three when they are together?  So electronically drawn by the “chemical threesome”, and not put off by the fact that the meetings were often  at the Deerhead , Ray started attending Runners Club meetings for the fellowship, health benefits, and the fact that he could escape Helen’s Weight Watcher Meals every so often.  And at those meetings, Ray was recruited, as most affiliated with this club are, by Ray # 1 – Mr. Ray Rayl.  Since then, Ray #2 has been among the most faithful of Jim Effinger’s “Old Timers” at all the school meets and at almost all of the other club functions.  If you have run in anything around here, you have in fact seen Ray pressing that button on the split timer and praying that Effinger keeps them all in line !

            As to his walking, Ray peaks each year since 2000 for the Indy Half Marathon which he really enjoys.  His training involves aerobics, treadmill and weight workouts with wife Helen on MWF.  He is a regular with the Race Walker Group on Tuesdays at Wesselman, and  often gets in another workout on one of the weekend days.  So with a 4-5 day per week schedule he has finished the Indy Mini and Evansville Mini’s with great times.

            Rays tips for us:  His goal is to age healthier – and boy he sure seems to have done that when you consider his finishing the Mini’s the way he does.  Ray says that just hanging out with runners and walkers and keeping at it regularly will give you the Aging Healthier goal he seeks. ( Ol Lou didn’t get Ray’s age, but he retired in 93 after 38 years with Bristol.  From his looks, Ol Lou figures Ray must have gotten to retire at age 50 or so to be where he is today.  And ol Lou is looking for one of those jobs where you can retire at that age. But since Ray has been married to Helen for 43 years and has  been father figure to 6 kids between them, ol Lou can not be sure his calculations are correct.)

            Ray’s Joke:  He knows Helen must still love him because for Valentine’s day, she gave him an all expense paid hunting trip with Dick Cheney, and she arranged for Ted Kennedy to drive him to the hunt !