A fine showing (both in numbers and performance) by TCLA at the Terry
Fox 5K (or, more accurately, the Terry Fox 4.85K) and 10K runs last
Sunday. It was particularly nice to see Magnet Tom, Catherine, and Riz
cheering on the gang. Running wonderful times for a 5K, and even good
times for whatever distance the race actually was, were Jacinda, Shelly,
Clint, John, Ann, Peggy, Shanna, Dorsey and Seth (a college track friend
of Eric who lives in Washington D.C. and was made an honorary member of
TCLA for the race).
When Seth heard before the race that the course had a hill around mile
two, he said, "L.A. doesn't have any hills." Well, those that ran would
probably disagree with him. The course is a tough one with about a
1200m hill in the middle. Nevertheless, people ran well enough to
garner TCLA's second consecutive team victory in the race.
Congratulations.
Lining up for the 10K (this time, the race director got the course
right), were Meshelle, Mike, Silvia, Sheri, Kim, and Ann. These brave
souls ran a rather unpleasant double loop of what was the true 5K
course.
Individual highlights include a particularly strong performance from
Jacinda (she thinks I refer to her race, but I mean the six miles she
ran after the race), a master's victory for Peggy, Ann willingly chosing
to race up that hill three times, and Shanna taking a twisted ankle in
stride (pardon the pun). Yet, the overall highlight of the morning came
when TCLA was able to accept its First Place award from none other than
Pia Zadora, whose greatest accomplishment may be that she has managed to
be considered a celebrity long after a reason ever existed (if one
ever existed) for anyone to do so. On a personal note, the lowlight
came when, after thinking that all I had to do was accept the award, the
announcer said, "So, tell us about TCLA," and thrust the microphone in
my face. I do not recall "public promotional speaking" being part of
the job description when I accepted this coaching gig. Next year, let's
go for a three-peat.
