Night

Pictured here is nightfall on the Mississippi. At night, the character of the race becomes simpler, less frenzied, more focused.

The first time we presented a relay, to my surprise the night terrified me. As a runner in the Hood to Coast I never had a worry. Even though wearing a reflective vest and carrying a flash light is a requirement there, it never occurred to me to be concerned with traffic. In fact, I typically turned out my flashlight and carried it in my waist band. As an organizer, however, feeling responsible for everyone in the race, our first night I was worried sick that a runner would be hit on a blind curve, even though we also insist on lights and vests (for which I now understand the need). Many races later, I have learned that both cars and runners are wary of each other, and we never have had an incident. Besides which, we have learned a lot about traffic control and used cones, occassional lane closures, and course routings that minimuze risk to runners.

For runners, the night has a kind of magic, even though it can be frightening. In Utah, it is a respite from the heat of the day. Even in cooler areas, it is welcome. Hard to explain, but in the absence of light, with fewer sensations, things calm down and the focus is solely on running.

Gelly's, a pub in Stockholm, is directly across the street from Exchange 12. Last year a band played at the park a quarter mile away, and not many runners heard them. This year they played right behind Gelly's, adding to the activity there and drawing customers. I stopped in to get something to drink, found tables full and a line a the bar, decided I could make do with water, and moved on.

I stopped by all of the exchanges between 13 and 18 to make sure volunteers were present and that there were no safety problems. At each exchange I found volunteers happy, doing their jobs, and runners still energized. The body finds an efficient rhythm at night, and it seemed to me most runners were moving fast, running hard. Teams cheered their runners on, honking along the course. The honking, disturbing the usual tranquility of the area, cause one women to call the police several times.

Vendors along the way stayed open late to accommodate runners. One convenience store operator made a point of asking me how long runners would continue to come by, apparently planning to see it through till the last had passed.

I arrived at Preston High School, Exchange 18, around 2AM. We use signs lit by flashing red lights to mark turns. I noted a flasher appeared to be out at one of the last turns just before the exchange. The volunteers at the exchange gave me another flasher to mark the turn. By the time I got back, other volunteers had replaced the bad light. Seeing nothing else to do, and thinking all was calm,
I returned to the high school parking lot and went to sleep.

The next morning I learned that sometime around 1AM a gunman started shooting in Stillwater, near Exchange 30. While the gunman was on the loose, the police cordoned off a large area that included part of the race course. Dan and Keith, one of our course managers, located a new route that bypassed that area, typed up and printed off flyers with course changes and explanation, and delivered them to volunteers to distribute before runners arrived. The course changes added about 3 miles. I heard one runner say she would have preferred to take her chances with the gunman than run the extra distance, but on the whole I think runners were impressed that we were able to react so quickly.