On an amazing warm April Sunday, 20 AREC members (of 50 semi-regulars) made the trek to Griffith Park for the Jimmy Stewart Relay Marathon. Compared to other club (one with 17 teams), this was not an extraordinary statistic, but compared with last year, when we barely got one team (with one team members only showing up for her leg then leaving), fielding four teams was a bit of a miracle.
Our original plan was to meet at some ungodly hour and carpool together, but the teams decided to make their own plans, and just make sure we were all there by the 8:00am start. The Hares, Tortoises and Hash team were all plenty early, but the Hounds team had a little difficulty catching a tram to the start, and THEN they wanted to check out the finish. OK, we got there with plenty of time (7:55).
Moot point, because the race didn’t start until a little after 8, because the celebrity starters, “R.J.” & “Tom,” were a little long-winded in their speeches (which we couldn’t hear, because they didn’t project their voices enough).
Dick, Laura, Marlaigne & JoAnn started out for us, and we began the day-long trek from encampment to mile 1.5 to mile 4 and back, taking pictures, shouting encouragement, and running back to witness the handoff. After one leg, it was the Hares (~35:00), Hounds (40), Tortoises (47), and Hashers (55).
The second leg saw off Todd Rose, Tracey, Barb, and Ed (or as his teammates shouted out, “Sosumi”). After the second leg, we had a little switch in position: Hares (69 - JoAnn cheered for every team with 69 in their number), Hounds (87), Hashers (100), Tortoises (102).
The third leg saw Jamie, Todd Byers (who was wandering around before his leg and Laura threatened to run for him), Diane, and Darcie. Jamie had a little run-in with one of the Snail’s Pace guys who apparently thought that this was the Olympic Trials, alternatively drafting off of and cutting in front of. They almost came to fisticuffs, but unfortunately, Jamie was unable to speed by him. We’re still waiting for word of that team’s disqualification. It was also on this leg that the Hares lapped the Hashers and Tortoises. After leg 3: Hares (104), Hounds (125), Hashers (153), and Tortoises (159).
Leg four saw Tim, Chuck, Sam & Ronna. (The narrative gets confusing here, because only 2 of these people were actually on the course together). After leg four, Hares (140), Hounds (161), Hashers (153), Hashers (159). The Hounds felt fortunate that they were not lapped by the Hares!
The final leg saw Scott, Emmett, Ken & Karine off on the course. Scott ran a blazing 31 minutes and lapped the Tortoises and Hashers a second time and finished in 2:51 (good enough for 11th place in the all male team category). Emmett ran a surprising 35 minutes, and lapped the two slower teams as well. The finish was a bit scary, as it was very difficult to stop after a steep downhill finish and sub-3:20 (almost qualifying Todd ‘n’ me for Boston...NOT!)
The final battle took place almost an hour later. Unbeknownst to Ken & Karine, everyone had gone out to the beer enclosure and were quickly getting inebriated and forgetting about the final two. Eventually, we moved over and cheered them in. It took a little goading by Emmett to get Karine to run up the final hill. Ken & Karine finished within 2 minutes of each other (258 & 260).
It was really exciting to see all our AREC members running together, and we’re hoping for an even better turnout next year!