Randy, Rick, Wayne (L to R): Before '73 Trails End Marathon, Seaside, OR
In 1981, a co-worker (Paul) talked me into training for a fun run. 3 days prior to the fun run, I ran a 2 mile time trial on a track in 11:01, which is better than what I did in High School ( I only ran it once in HS). It was "The King/Skipper's Autumn 10K Run", which was held Sept. 27, 1981 at Seward Park in Seattle, WA. I averaged 6:24 per mile during that fun run; out of 296 runners, I placed 33rd. I do not believe I had a lot of time to prepare for the fun run. It is likely that it came back to me fairly quickly, since I was a half miler in High School, and continued jogging while going to college. I think Paul was surprised that it came back to me as quickly as it did. Nevertheless, I knew my limitations, and I knew how to pace myself.
Competing in the fun run was inspirational to me, and I decided to pursue running more diligently after that. I returned to doing some training on a track (which I hadn't done since High School) to see if I could run a sub 5 minute mile again. On Oct. 20th, 1981 I ran a 3 mile on a track and averaged 5:42 pace. And on Oct. 24th, 1981 I ran a 4:57 mile on a track. Over the next few years I did a fair amount of 4 to 6 mile training runs.
On May 11th, 1985 I drove to Bellingham, and entered a 3.5 mile fun run. My Sister and 2 nieces waited for me at the finish line...
The "Run for the sun" photo album can be viewed by selecting Sitemap->Running for fun->Run for the Sun (1985), from menu bar at top.