Run with the World 42 km in 42 hours Challenge

With races cancelled, many runners are participating in challenges to stay motivated, have fun, and support COVID-19 victims and front line workers. One such virtual event in May was the 42 km in 42 hours challenge in which several club members participated including Nicole Herald, Sarah Lee, Alanna Brown, May Chih, and Michael Tang.

The 42 km distance could be completed in as many separate runs during the 42 hours as desired. Many runners chose to run a short run Friday, a long run Saturday, and finish with another short run on Sunday.

After running 8.5 miles Friday, 17 miles Saturday, and 1 mile on Sunday, Michael said, "This was a lot of fun! I was feeling so unmotivated to run a couple of weeks ago with all the race postponements and cancellations but this virtual global challenge got me back on track. Thank you to the organizers and to Sarah Lee for inviting me!"

Sarah said, "After averaging 15-20 miles a week during this pandemic this was a fun challenge!"

May agreed that this virtual event motivated her to run more miles than she had in a month.

If you are interested in participating in an upcoming challenge, join the Run with the World Facebook group for details.

Jennifer Woodson's Adventure Run

Many runners in the club have been exploring new routes to make their solo runs more enjoyable. Jennifer Woodson had a great time recently running from Laguna Beach home to Irvine.

"Awesome 18 mile run this morning! Hitched a ride with Alex who was going to swim in Laguna Beach and made my way home. So nice to see something besides the Walnut trail. Runs to date haven't exceeded 7 miles, so it was challenging in both distance and the 1,700 feet of elevation gain, but so worth it. It was a fun run, not worrying about pace and just enjoying the views. Luckily the overcast morning stayed for most of the run."

"View leaving Laguna. The first few miles are a lot of climbing!"

"I saw the goats! The are being used for habitat restoration. Almost missed them, but I got an unmistakable whiff, turned around and saw them. Bonus mileage."

We're Back! By Greg Hanssen

Many of us Roadrunners have been getting antsy after 10 weeks of lockdown but the end is in sight! We've had two minimally promoted "socially distanced" Saturday runs with 20-25 people each already and the Thursday runs resume on June 4!

This all started about a month back when Mike Friedl reached out to Molly and myself to form the Grand Prix Commission as spelled out in the recently updated club bylaws yet never formally convened. The discussion was about how to put on our own socially distanced 5k, and I proposed running an out and back race along the all too familiar Walnut trail. 

The problem of course with person to person viral transmission is that while running side by side with one or two might not pose much risk, running directly behind someone (even at 6 feet) it is nearly impossible to avoid breathing in what the runners ahead are exhaling. 

This called for much larger distances (front to back) between runners. But how could you do this in a 5k race?

The solution was to start each runner off individually with about 30 seconds between each runner. Additionally the order of runners was to start with the fastest folks to hopefully avoid the chance of one runner approaching another (near VO2 max!) from behind.

While the GP commission discussed strategies for hosting our own races, the board decided that we should tip toe back into Saturday group runs before moving on to the GP races.  So I offered to lead the first Saturday run in 10 weeks and on May 23rd, 22 of us met at Alton/Jeffrey for the (backward) Irvine Meadows/Lake Forest extension run.

We tried (and more or less succeeded) in letting the fastest groups go first, while my friend Angela and I held the rear at a 10:15 pace.  The instruction was that groups of 2 or 3 side by side are fine but these clusters should be spaced out be at least 20-30 feet while running. Additionally people need to remain mindful of standard 6 ft social distancing while standing around at the start or waiting for a light.

With the success of the Irvine Meadows run, Mike Bertram led the 3 piers run a week later on the 30th also with about 20-25 people. Now Ryan Vieau has taken up the Saturday run coordination and mapped out Saturday runs for June.

But back to the Grand Prix. Now that we had established a protocol for group runs we brought up the idea of a socially distanced 5k race on the Walnut trail.In order to test the ideas being discussed, I offered to put on a "dry run" test of the 5k on the morning of the 31st.  Saturday night I walked the course and chalked the start line, mile 1, 2 and 3 and the wide turn around before Sand Canyon.

Ten runners that I reached out to confirmed and we had our starting line up at 7am morning.  Joel Witson shooting for a 19 min 5k would start with Steve Ireland 30 seconds behind. Then every 30 seconds, Luke Friedl, myself, Mike Connors, Mike Bertram, Nicole Herold, Amelia Dayao, Lillian Bertram and Jennifer Woodson would hit the out and back course.

Since it wasn't a real race, many opted just to run easy for fun.  Unlike the congestion at 3 piers Saturday 8am, the Walnut course was relatively quiet at 7am Sunday, and we didn't encounter many others on the course. I can't speak for the rest but I had a GREAT time and came in 17 seconds under my 21 minute target, partially thanks to almost catching up to Luke, 6 ft to the left, who proceeded to drop me (but probably netted us both a faster than normal 3rd mile).

Most came in with 3.12 miles on their Garmins. When I walked the course I also had 3.12 but twice before I'd run it and had 3.11. The consensus was thumbs up for a GP race and so Mike Friedl and I have offered to the board to put on a 5k for the club on Sunday June 28th pending board/club approval.

And that's not all!  We've also got some tweaks in mind for our usual July and August races so we're looking forward to getting back to our group runs and Grand Prix races under the new socially distanced "normal" we may be stuck with for some time.. Run Happy!  Look forward to seeing you all soon!

Treasurer's Report By David Paul

Total Cash Balance, Beginning	3,832.96
Cash Inflows	67.67
Cash Outflows-First Thursday
Cash Outflows-RRCA Insurance
Cash Outflows-Banquet
Cash Outflows-Uniforms
Cash Outflows-Social Gatherings
Cash Outflows-Other	158.00
Net Change in Cash	90.33
Total Cash Balance, Ending	3,742.63

Summary:  1 Membership Renewal (2-year), PO Box Renewal, and 1 ROTM Reimbursement.