Lauren Freeman - Wanted to be wired but is all wet

Lauren Freeman has always resided in Cleveland, Georgia with the exception of a few years during college.  He grew up playing baseball and basketball but found the most success at White County High School running cross country and track.  After a 17:52 PR in a 5K distance and running 6-8 training miles a day, Lauren developed shin splits and a stress fracture his junior year.  The injuries affected his finish times when he returned for his senior year track competition.  

Young Lauren competing in Cross CountryLauren matriculated at nearby Gainesville College graduating with an Associate Degree in both engineering and business.  He transferred to Southern Polytechnic State University seeking a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering.  Scheduling problems limited the classes Lauren could take to be considered a full time student and maintain his insurance coverage.  Returning closer to his roots, Lauren moved to Dahlonega enrolling at North Georgia College as a full time student.  Lauren commuted to Marietta to continue taking engineering courses at Southern Poly while taking a full load at North Georgia.  This allowed Lauren to eventually qualify as a full time student at Southern Poly.  Not willing to forfeit his credits at North Georgia College when he moved to Marietta, he continued to take night courses at the Gainesville’s North Georgia College campus 2 to 3 times a week.  Persistence resulted in two degrees-an Electrical Engineering degree from Southern Poly in 2005 and a business administration degree from North Georgia in 2006. Lauren was now uniquely qualified with two degrees plus the experience to drive across North Georgia to Run and See Georgia, Black Bag, and Clover Glove Series races.   

Multitalented Lauren worked for his father’s business, Freeman Electrical and Pump Service, during high school and college.  While in college Lauren qualified for an unrestricted electrical contractor license.  After graduation Lauren began work full time for his father as an electrician while seeking an engineering position.  Lauren wanted to be a hands on field engineer rather than sitting at a desk doing designs and CAD work.  Lauren was on the verge of accepting a position with a large electrical firm in Atlanta as an engineer when family loyalty surfaced when his father asked him to manage his other business, American Water Services.  Lauren preferred the pace of life and lack of commuter traffic that Cleveland had to offer as opposed to Atlanta so the choice was easy to rationalize.

American Water Services owned and operated community water systems in North Georgia.  Lauren wanted to improve his resume so he studied to achieve certification as a class three water system operator.  Lauren expanded the firm, developing its own water lab and now does water filtration. With additional courses completed by now, professional student Lauren obtained licenses as a Certified Lab Analyst and as a Certified water Filtration Specialist.  In his spare time Lauren still does a few electrical jobs to maintain proficiency in that field.

Lauren with the 2013 BBRS champ Jim LatimerIn 2010 Lauren found that he was gaining weight and not having the energy that he used to have while commuting to complete his dual degrees.   Being a high mileage type of guy, he started running in a few local races and found in 2011 on the Georgia Runner website that he was in the top twenty-five in the 25-29 age group.  He ran a few more races that year finishing fifth in his age group.  After overhearing Bo Ryles (not hard to do as loud as Bo is!) discuss the Black Bag Races Series with another runner, he begin to seek races that were in the Black Bag Race Series.  Lauren completed 2013 winning overall top point achiever in the Black Bag Race Series plus his age group in Clover Glove.  As the overall winner in the BBRS, Lauren won a BBRS dri fit shirt, BBRS Hat, BBRS Bag, a pair of shoes from Fleet Feet Athens,  a pair of Red Star Sunglasses  and the grand prize of running in as many Black Bag Race Series races as he wants for FREE along with the coveted Will Chamberlin Memorial Cup!  His best PR in a 5K since high school was 19:20 in the Lawrenceville Flashlight 5K and 43:27 in the 10K Kennesaw Summer Steamer.  His favorite race is Cleveland’s Crow’s Calling 5K which is a short commute.  Lauren remarked that what he enjoys the most about the multiple race series is that “we can be extremely competitive with each other and still be friends at the end of the day”.  Goals for 2014 include running his first marathon and getting his 5K time under 19:00!                        

Bob checking out from the back of the pack.  Look for the profile on Jocelyn Davis and the retired but not yet exhausted UGA professor Bill Davis.