How it started
History
LHH was founded nearly 30 years ago by two Washington lawyers: Richard Frank, founder and senior principal of OFW Law and Alan Raul, partner at Sidley Austin LLP. When John W. Sansing published a 1990 cover article in the Washingtonian (magazine) entitled "First, Kill All the Lawyers," Frank decided to take action to improve the public image of lawyers by creating LHH. Frank recruited Raul, then general counsel to the United States Department of Agriculture, to assist him in the endeavor. As a longtime runner whose father was afflicted with heart disease, Frank saw the race as "a double good" – to raise money for the AHA and "show that the Washington legal community has some heart." In 1994, First National Bank of Maryland recognized Frank with the "Exceeding the Expected" award, given to one volunteer each year in the legal community who best exhibits “the willingness to give something back, to do more, to go beyond the expected.”
The first annual Lawyers Have Heart 10K Run and Fun Walk took place on May 19, 1991, and featured two Olympic marathon trials qualifiers in Darrell General and Jim Hage. After just one mile, General and Hage were in a head-to-head battle as they outpaced the trailing runners. The final decision was down to the wire, with General taking the honors by 13 seconds, 30:45 to 30:58. Linda Portazikc, of Arlington, Virginia, was the first woman to cross the finish line that year, establishing a mark of 36:47.
The longest-standing record on the LHH books was set the following year, in 1992, by Charlotte Thomas, of Baltimore, Maryland, with a time of 34:42.
Philippe Rolly is the only four-time winner of the LHH 10K. Beginning in 1999, when he moved from Lyon, France, to the Washington area, he was victorious in three consecutive races with times of 32:22, 31:34, and 30:49. Rolly also won in 2004 with a mark of 31:23. Donna Moore, of Silver Spring, MD, became the first woman to win twice after first-place finishes in 1999 (37:22) and 2001 (37:17).
In 2018, Lawyers Have Heart offered a $20,000 purse, attracting local and international talent. This resulted in two record breaking 10K times in the male and female elite divisions (Andrew Colley (28:45) & Etagegn Woldu Mamo (33:13)). In addition, Olympian hopeful Demssew Abebe, participated in the 2018 race.
From Wikipedia’s article on Lawyers Have Heart, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2