I ran my ass off that day.

It was in the fall of 1982 when I was a scrawny, 94-pound freshman at Farmington Harrison High School in Farmington Hills, MI. I was 5’6” tall and I was really scrawny, but probably because I was on the Boy’s Cross Country team running 10 miles per day for practices, and then playing ice hockey 4 hours later as the goalie for Garden City’s AA Midget travel team.

By today’s medical standards, my BMI was 15.2 (I just looked it up!). Geez — I needed to slam a couple Big Macs!

I remember our cross country practices in July, August, and September. Coach John Schumacher – “Schu” — and assistant coach Don Gulley would have the team run 10 miles per day so that we could be our best at the 3-mile cross country meets when we competed against teams in the Western Lakes Conference.

The 10-mile practice runs were easy. I remember running on the Farmington Hills gravel goads of Haggerty Road, Drake Road, Halstead Road, 12 Mile Road. If you know the Farmington Hills area, you know that these now are major, busy, paved roads. But back in ’82, they were gravel roads with grain silos, dilapidated barns, old farms, and NO traffic.

It was serene running on those roads in 80 and 85-degree temperatures. I never complained. I absolutely loved it. I’d run, sing songs exploding through my brain, and pick up things along the way and call them my lucky charms: An old gas cap from a car, an old license plate (really??), or a discarded shoe (ya, just gross).

So I’m coming back to why I was Mister 15.2 BMI, 94-pound scrawny freshman. Four hours after these runs, I would actually go play hockey in a game or practice for an hour. What in the H- E- double hockey sticks was wrong with me?

The photo you see — taken by yearbook photographer Sander Rabinowitz — was of me running a World Record (not official by Guinness Books). I found it smashed between 30 other old photos in a box in the basement.

The meet was against Walled Lake Central High School. It was a cloudy September day after school and my mom was there cheering me on. She went to every race.

My 3-mile races had so far had been in the 17:15-18:00 range, which was enough to run in the Varsity program. But that day felt different. I felt exceptionally well after our team stretches and sprints. The race was about to start when I told fellow freshman teammates Mike “Daleese” Delisio and John “Bake” Bacon that I was going to finish in under 17 minutes.

Now, our consistent 3 top runners were 6-foot something running god Senior Don Lacey, sophomore Mike Esker, and junior Doug Hanna. Mike Esker didn’t like me. I know it Mike….and I get it. I was an annoying 15-year-old freshman, full of way too much energy, telling dumb jokes, and I wore big, ugly glasses, which is probably why I didn’t have a girlfriend until my junior year. Ya Mike — if you’re reading this — I was annoying. I looked up to you because I heard in 1982 when I was still at East Middle School, you ran a 5:02 mile in a track meet as a freshman.

Back to the race. We lined up, the Farmington Harrison Hawks in our white jerseys with the words “Harrison” spread across the front. Walled Lake Central was in their dark uniforms. The pistol went off and the race started. I started out strong and kept up with Cross Country Superman Don Lacey and Mike — the superstar — Esker. Some Walled Lake Central runners were in the mix.

My annoying “freshman” side came out. I shouted to one of the Walled Lake runners, “Hey, your shoe’s untied.” He looked down, slowed for a second, and I cut in front of him. I chuckled. We all galloped along, running faster as the race went on.

We came to a steep hill around the 2-mile point and I remembered from practices on our home course a section where the traction was a lot better on the left side. Charging up the hill to their left, I passed up 4 people including fellow runners Doug Hanna and senior Steve Markham. To this point in the season, I had never been in front of Hanna and Markham this late in a race.

We ran in the field with less than a mile to go and I felt this surge in me. I was 20 yards behind Esker and 30 yards behind Lacey. Three other Walled Lake runners were in the mix.

With 100 yards to go, my burning legs went into overdrive. I passed the untied shoes guy. I heard Coach Schu and Coach Gulley screaming, “C’mon Tommy! C’mon Tommy! C’Mon Tommy!” Don Lacey finished first, Mike Esker finished second, and I sprinted as fast as I could with combined music in my head of Rocky’s Gonna Fly now” and the “Chariots of Fire” theme song and I passed up the final two Walled Lake Central runners just before the finish line.

Harrison High School Boy’s Cross Country finished first, second, and third.

I finished in 16:48. I averaged 5:49 per mile! It was a freshman boy’s cross country record at the time in 1982.

Now here’s the unsanctioned World Record that I’m bragging about: I got it for best 3-mile time for a 5-foot-6-inch scrawny freshman guy named Tom Varcie. Yes — it’s my own Guinness record.

After the race, Mike Esker came up to congratulate me and patted me on the shoulder. “Good job Varcie,” he said. We were best buds now, well not actually. But I appreciated him for that moment because he made me feel special. Don Lacey — the senior — even congratulated me and he was a SENIOR actually talking to a freshman. I’ve made it to the big leagues, I thought.

Later that night, my hockey team played Wyandotte, Michigan’s AA Midget travel team and I got a shut out in net, winning 4-0.

That turned out to be my only cross country race time finishing under 17 minutes – ever.

I ran my ass off that day.