DATE: Saturday, March 31, 2007
LOCATION: Elma to Yakima, Washington
In August of 2006 at the Crater Lake Marathon, I first heard that the Maniacs were doing a reunion race in Yakima in March 2007. I didn’t think too much about it, but when talking with my friend Tim Lawson (fellow Maniac) we thought it might be fun. I went online and found out that it wasn’t that expensive and started making plans to do it. Tim and I drove from Portland to Yakima, where I made reservations at a hotel on Friday afternoon. Once we got to Yakima, we attended the free pasta dinner, which included a Maniac reunion get together. There we got to meet a lot of Maniacs and enjoyed the fellowship.
The next day we were bused from Yakima to Elma (where the race started). I remember it was a long bus ride. Once there all the runners gathered. It was so cool to see hundreds of runners (most of which were wearing Maniac yellow). This was a marathon only event, which means everything was marathon specific (very cool). I was told that there was a big hill around mile 16-17, which there was. I started running with my friend Tim. I had a cold in the days leading up to the race, which means I didn’t really have any time goals. In the first 11 miles I was feeling good. But Tim was having a few issues, so I took off, I was able to running a pretty consistent race. I ended up running a 3:42:32, which I was very happy with. Tim struggled and managed to finish 4:29:04.
After the race they bus you to the event center, but dropped us off at the school to shower. Once we got back to the events center we hung out for a while before attending a free post race meal. This is also the awards ceremony, and I must as it was top notch. Bob Dolphin (a older Maniac who is now 80) was celebrating his 400th marathon. It was quite a fun time. I met many new people and Maniacs.
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