As Zeke notes my weekend plans included the Ron Daws 25km "race."
This race commemorates 1968 Olympic marathoner Ron Daws. Daws, a '60's/'70's Minnesota running icon, trained over this same course. The race was renamed as a memorial to Daws the year after his death, in 1992.The course runs over hilly terrain to the south and west of Hopkins. The race, begun in 1979, and now in its fourth decade, has proved to be a stiff challenge at a middle distance for those training for Boston or other spring marathons or who are otherwise looking for a testing workout.
The course is now measured in kilometers.
For $3.50 you get an old school race. Now, for $3.50 you don't get a certified course, but you do get one that is fairly accurate. I say "fairly" because some of the miles were quite odd, and the half marathon mark was about 50 metres past the 13 mile mark, which is about one quarter of the distance you'd expect. The course was not measured in kilometres. Or kilometers.
Except for the total distance. I'm still waiting for an adequate explanation of the half-way metriciz(s)ation of American road running where the total distance is denominanted metrically but the intermediate measurements are in miles. See, I'm putting this in bold so any non-running readers who would otherwise bypass this paean to dead runners learn something [truly trivial, yet still interesting]. Adequate? Any explanation would do. It would be like if you weighed your produce in pounds and then got to the checkout and they charged you by the kilogram. It would all work out (probably) but my oh my, why not just pick one measurement system and stick to it. The traditional chocolate fish for the best answer is on offer.
Old school also means that the base for the race was a church basement. In my experience this is what churches are for: hosting Saturday running events. I've heard they may have other uses other days of the week? I saw a lot of church hall running events in my day in the Antipodes. So the Cross of Glory Baptist Church in Hopkins brought back memories of Island Bay Presbyterian, Saint Lukes Anglican and Saint Mary's Anglican in Wellington. Here's my contribution to comparative religious studies: church halls look pretty much the same in two western countries. They don't have enough bathrooms for 150 runners about to start a run, the art of the Sunday School children is touching in its creative interpretations of scripture, and changing your pants in a church has the same minor sense of actions inappropriate to your surroundings in both hemispheres.
I was more excited about the sense of running history in doing a race that celebrated Ron Daws' life. I grew up as a runner with the advice of Lydiard handed down in the "oral tradition" (fancy historian speak for a game of Chinese whispers/telephone over several generations). Daws, more than anyone, was responsible for bringing Lydiard's influence to Minnesota. It's an influence you can still hear today. People still run repeats up Daws' Hill in South Minneapolis.
Even before I came to Minnesota I'd heard of Daws. Or, more accurately, read about him. He was married to Lorraine Moller briefly. And his advice and writing about running transcends borders. I don't think there's many better guides to how to interpret, adapt and apply Lydiard's principles than Daws' books, Running Your Best and The Self-Made Olympian. But beyond that there's a sense in both books, though especially The Self-Made Olympian of the possibilities that everyone has to succeed in running. Both books manage to convey also the way in which running can transform lives, or merely be such a wonderful part of it.
That connection of two country's running history was a bargain for $3.50. The Great Harvest cookies and nuggets available afterward made it even better!
Posted by robe0419 at April 2, 2006 8:57 PM