The first Shack to Shack run didn’t quite finish the way we expected. It started a bit strange also. At midnight me, Emmett Rahl, Todd Rose, Bob Whitlatch and Laura Chaides (aka The Lost Souls) waited at the Crab Shack for the other team to show up. We watched a group of obnoxious drunks leave the restaurant only to be picked up by the police as soon as they left the parking lot. Then the other team, Brian Conboy, Kim Garman, Liz Burger, Inger Nelson and Dick Ames arrived and after a quick group photo we were off.
The first leg was run by Laura and Dick. They decided to run the whole thing together and both made it safely to Huntington Beach. Then Todd and Kim took off. They had a nice section down the bike path right along the beach for most of it. For the third leg Bob and Inger headed out along a very dark stretch. Emmett took over driving Bob’s car and we headed south towards Newport. We passed both the runners and shortly thereafter crashed.
We were driving down PCH where Superior crosses when a jeep ran the red light and hit us. They were moving so fast that I barely had time to register what was happening (uh oh) when they hit. The crash was louder than I expected. We sat stunned for a second and then all checked to see if everyone was ok. We crawled out of the car with me and Laura heading to one side of the street, and Emmett and Todd going to the other. We sat down on the curb and I asked Laura where she was hurt. Laura had been looking at me when the crash happened so she didn’t see it coming and was still shocked. Then some lady walked up and kept talking to us. She wanted to know if we had seen what had happened so we got up and went and joined Emmett and Todd on the other side of the street. As we walked over I got a look at the other car for the first time. It was on its side.
Todd and Emmett were sitting in the grass on the side of the road looking pretty messed up. To make matters worse the sprinkler came on and they had to move to the curb. The ambulance showed up and looked us over. Laura, Todd and Emmett got strapped to boards with neck braces but I was able to walk to the ambulance. We crashed right in front of Hoag Hospital so the ride was short.
There we lay for a while all getting checked out. The doctor told me I was not seriously hurt but I would be sore the next day. As he told me “it will feel like you ran a marathon.” Ha ha I was expecting to feel like that anyway. Soon the other team showed up, so of course all mayhem broke lose. Bob was standing by my bed telling me stories about races and hashes he had done and it seemed like every one of his stories ended with “and then the ambulance showed up and took everyone away.” Eventually they were too much for the hospital staff so they kicked us all out and sent us home. (I think they wanted to keep Brian for psychiatric observation.)
The final results were Todd – one broken collarbone, Me – two broken ribs, Emmett – 7 stitches, Laura – possible whiplash, Bob – completely totaled car, Other car’s passengers – no injuries at all.
That is how my 11-year running streak ended.
Thanks to Emmett for making me put on my seatbelt. And thanks for the other team for taking care of all the police reports and recovering all our stuff from the wreck (minus the peanut butter).
The race is still on and as soon as we recover we will continue where we left off. Which means the clock is still running on Bob and Inger’s leg.