I remember two things about this.
They forgot to pick me up at the airport, and standing on a city roof watching skyrockets explode brightly in the night.
Three things. I remember I was there. Don’t remember the rain.
On The Road column, Track & Field News, November 1986. – JDW
Flint, Michigan, August 23 – Rain. In a word, precipitation.
That was the most indelible memory I brought back from my visit to the 10th annual Bobby Crim Ten-Miler. A stunningly talented field, generous, and a million dollars raised for the Special Olympics in the race’s history stick in my mind… but it sure was wet. Sodden.
So much for the glamour of sports journalism.
The leaders splashed their way to a 4:40 first mile. Bill Reifsnyder was the first to push his way to the front of the pack of ten to fifteen runners. Then Joseph Kipsang took over for the next couple of miles.
Kipsang, Reifsnyder, Brian Sheriff, Mark Curp, Greg Meyer, Thom Hunt and Ed Eyestone sailed along as one until the first – and only – significant incline. Hitting five miles in 23:37, Hunt almost leapt/leaped/lept up the short hill. Now we had a race.
We also had more rain.
The leaders reached ten kilometers in 29:40 with Hunt looking smoothest but Eyestone looking strongest. Suddenly, under cover of rain, Eyestone disappeared.
When next seen, there was Ed, far ahead. “I started to feel comfortable at the eight-mile mark,” he said. Eyestone held his lead, (water)logging a 47:36.
Hunt glubbed to second place in 47:42.
Lisa Larsen Weidenbach, a Michigander who was once a national-class swimmer, was in her element. Wet.
She ran in Lisa Welch’s wake for most of the race.
“Lisa led for the first seven miles and I just stayed behind her and watched how she was feeling,” explained Weidenbach. “Finally, I had a surge and went right by her.”
Making a big splash. Weidenbach was clocked in 54:47, twelve seconds ahead of Welch. [No relation. Which you probably guessed by her time. – ed.]
My favorite song that year sounded just like this…