A mere five runners have participated in all five editions of the Stupid Little 10 Miler & 5K. All five did the 10 miler each time: Charles Bowles, Ray Kitchen, Myron Kremer, Ed Mayhew, and Carolyn Wilson. Six runners have participated in four of the five Stupid Little events (Lori Bales, Robert Gurtler, Mike Meadows, Bill Osuch, Randy Wingfield, and John Winkert), and sixteen others have been to the Stupid Little races three times. (Glenn Luttrell and Terry Leckie get honorable mentions for having attended all five races-- Glenn volunteered twice and ran it three times, while Terry Leckie volunteered three times and ran twice!)

At the age of 56, Randy Wingfield of Winchester won the inaugural Stupid Little 5K with a time of 20:39. While his victory can be credited largely to a low turnout, it should be noted that Randy was also that race's oldest participant! He was in second place at the turnaround, but he came from behind to defeat a runner sixteen years his junior. (Randy went on to win the 5K's Senior Masters trophy for three straight years.)

We should also point out that nearby resident Carolyn Wilson won the 10 miler in both 2001 and 2003-- at the ages of 41 and 43 respectively. Four of Carolyn's five 10 mile finishes rank in the all-time women's top twenty-five, too!

Ashburn, VA's Sarah Smaltz celebrated her 13th birthday just a couple months before winning the 2006 5K in 24:13. Polly Barks of Berryville was also 13 years old when she won the 5K race in 2002, but on race day she was a few months older than Sarah was on the date of the 2006 race.

Only three runners have run perfectly even split times, covering the first and second halves of the course in exactly the same amount of time: Larry Kusko, who did it at the 2002 5K; Raymond Bollock, who did it at the 2003 5K; and Brad Conver, who did it at the 2006 10 miler. Five others missed running even splits by just one second-- including Ryan MacMichael, who managed this feat twice (in the 2005 and 2006 5Ks)! The others who were a second off are Nick Coticchia (2001 10 miler), Mike Meadows (2002 5K), Carolyn Wilson (2006 10 miler), and Angie Page (2006 5K). (Meadows also missed even splits by two seconds in the 2003 5K.)

We're pretty sure that Jim Ingham did not drive up to Virginia just to run the 2003 Stupid Little 5K! Still, of all the participants in the history of the Stupid Little 10 Miler & 5K, Jim lives the farthest away. Jim's hometown of Tybee Island, Georgia is a drive of about 618 miles from our race site! Also, 2006 10 mile participant Arvel Debty lists his residence as Marble, North Carolina-- about 526 miles away-- but since Arvel ran a number of other area races in early 2006, we suspect he was in the Valley for a while already.

Of participants who probably did drive the whole way to the race, Staunton, Virginia residents Pablo Vivian and Lori Epik had the worst drives. Pablo came 107 miles for the 2005 5K, while Lori faced a trip of 104 miles for the 2003 5K. Christine Wu-Shepherd travelled 101 miles to place third among the women in the 2006 10 miler. Everyone's favorite Shippensburg, Pennsylvania resident, Margaret Spivey, drove 93 miles to run the 10 miler in both 2002 and 2003 (and to volunteer in 2005 too!). Edwina McNeill of Severn, Maryland was faced with a 91 mile drive to participate in the 2002 5K, while Crofton, Maryland's Petra Bradley came 90 miles for the 2005 10 miler. To all of you who have travelled far to participate in the Stupid Little races, thank you very much!

Of the 340 people who have participated in any edition of the Stupid Little 10 Miler & 5K, just over a fifth of those finishers-- 72-- have hailed from Winchester, Virginia! Another 29 have come from nearby Berryville, and Leesburg comes in third with 16 representatives, one ahead of Stephens City. Purcellville, VA and Martinsburg, WV are tied with nine participants each.

Okay, this is a bit of an obscure statistic, we'll admit... but no fewer than sixteen runners named "Michael" or "Mike" have participated in the Stupid Little races! The sixteen Mikes are: Mike Adams, Mike Allen, Michael Boutwell, Michael Brosenne, Mike Caslin, Michael Gutekunst, Mike Korin, Michael Leonard, Mike Meadows, Mike Moye, Mike Span, Michael Stevens, Mike Tanner, Michael Triantafillou, Michael Vega, and Mike Wipfler.

Trailing the Mikes are the twelve Bobs: Bob Atkins, Robie Cone (I'm assuming "Robie" is short for Robert), Robert Corley, Rob Davies, Robert Decker Jr., Robert Grumbine, Robert Gurtler, Bob Hickox, Bob James, Bob Longwell, Robert Rudd, and Robert Wiles.

The event's most popular women's name is "Ann" or some variation thereof, with nine runners so named: Annie Adams, Anna Lawrence, Anna Marlowe, Angela McKee, Angie Page, Anne Pastorkovich, Ann Robb, Angela Testa, and Anna VanDyke.

Also fairly popular are the folks with the names "John" & variants (nine runners), "James"/"Jim" (eight), "Christine" & variants (seven), "Alice"/"Alicia"/"Alison"/"Alyssa" (six), "Christopher"/"Chris" (six), "David"/"Dave" (six), "Kathleen"/"Katherine" & variants (six), "Stephen"/"Steven" & variants (six), and "William"/"Bill" (six)

As for the least common participant name... Well, there are plenty of first names we've seen only once, but we don't think we'll see too many more finishers named "Annde", "Arvel", "Burr", "Christiana", "Clissy", "Cricket", "Dickson", "Edith", "Edwina", "Felix", "Garnett", "Harland", "Huntington", "Imants", "Kennon", "Laeticia", "McKenzie", "Olga", "Punkin", or "Skip"!

At least thirty-eight different people have served as volunteers at the various editions of the Stupid Little 10 Miler & 5K, and of course, all of them were tremendously helpful! The race could not exist without volunteers.

Nobody has served as a volunteer at all five editions of the event, but three people pitched in at four of the five: Leesa Anderson, Kyra Brown, and Lynne Lawrence! Volunteering at three of the five were Brittany Anderson, Nancy Bullock, and Terry Leckie, while eight others have helped out twice. Thank you to all of the above-- and to all of the others who have come out to help, too!

The Stupid Little 10 Miler was the first-ever ten mile race for at least sixty-five people! There were probably a few more first-timers, too, but some folks didn't check "yes" or "no" on their entry forms.