Mike MacAdam has been covering the Gazette Stockade-Athon for the last 20 years.

Today, he switched duties -- sort of.

Mac, as we call call him in the office, was still at Central Park today, but he wasn't the No. 1 coverage guy. He's still writing a column, a notebook and a sidebar feature, but he didn't cover the race at the finish line because he was running in it himself.

And he did a great job!!!

He vowed to compete this year after making a promise at last year's event. He's been training ever since, and he's been putting in his training diary on his blog every week.

I wasn't sure what to expect. He's in great shape, and he definitely didn't skip any workouts, but he's not a kid any more. Heck, he's 45.

He gave me his secret predition in a sealed envelope before the race, and I didn't open it until he was done. Guess what. Mr. MacAdam clocked a VERY RESPECTABLE 1:05.26 and was among the top 120 or so runners out of a huge field of 1,268 that finished and almost 1,500 that signed up.

Well done Mike. No wonder you like to run instead of walk when you play golf. You've got quite a motor.

But I hope Mac returns to his usual duties next year, because yours truly had to cover the race this year, and I got some strange looks from quite a few competitors. Anyone who knows me realizes that I'm not much of a runner, even though I've been helping Mike cover this race for six or seven years now. But helping and being the No. 1 guy are two different things.

Yet based on his performance, he's probably hooked. Watch out running world.