Love and Running

With Valentine’s Day 2010 just a few days away, what better time to write about love and running.

After all, the story of meeting the love of my life centers around running. It was the spring of 2000 that Malinda wandered over to the join my group for a Thursday night track workout. She was in training for the New York City Marathon and Tyler Abbott suggested she do speed work with my group. She was only a semi-regular attendee for the rest of the year but sometime around the Christmas Classic and the DSE Christmas Blind Date Relays race, I started seeing her more and we began to talk. Next thing I know, I am driving out to run on the Dipsea trail, running the DSE Hangover Run, and going to Stockton for the Cal-10 ten mile race, all so I can spend more time with her. You could say our romance is one that started with running. Since we incorporated a running event (the Tying the Knot 7K run and 1400 meter walk, on 7/14/07) as part of our wedding celebration, we even got a mention in a Runner’s World article entitled, “Love and Running.” 

We aren’t the only romance that blossomed thanks to Thursday night track. Nathan Wong and Leah Evans began attending track workouts in 2004 (Nathan in June, Leah in December). Nathan wanted to get faster and meet other runners. Leah, after some reluctance was finally convinced by Tomas to try the track workouts. By January 2006, Nathan the musician, and Leah the teacher, soon became Nathan and Leah, the couple. Three years later they got engaged (on a run, the Thursday before the 2009 Boston Marathon). They now live in Boston and are attending law (Nathan) and medical (Leah) school.

A former SHCP assistant coach, Mary Fagan, and her husband Mark Churchill had an even crazier wedding race than I did. The two hardcore runners actually met at a snowshoe race. Their four mile race (called “Mark and Mary’s Race to Tie the Knot”) took place the morning before their actual wedding and it was a competition. Every runner was either on Mary’s team (yellow shirts) or Mark’s team (blue shirts). Team scoring was a rather complicated system based on finish place in your age group, with bonus points for participating and travel distance to the wedding race. At stake? Last names. If Mark’s team won, Mary would change her name to Mary Churchill. If Mary’s team won, Mark would change his name to Mark Fagan. Later that same day, after the successful race, the minister closed the wedding ceremony by announcing that Team Churchill had defeated Team Fagan by ten points as he presented the newly married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Mark and Mary Churchill.

Love and running certainly go together. You can run with your significant other. You can meet your significant other at a running-related event, and you can celebrate your romance with more running!

I wonder who will be the next running romance?

Tying the Knot 7K Run and 1400 Meter Walk

Place	Name	Time	Pace	Division	Age	Gender	Bib #	Awards
1.	Andy Chan	26:26	6:08	Groom			7
2.	Nick Alvarado	26:33	6:10	Other Runner			126	1st Male Overall
3.	Michelle Gallagher	26:59	6:16	Andy Coached You at SHC		female	113	1st Female Overall
4.	Steve Holcombe	27:25	6:22	Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-AC			139	2nd Male Overall
5.	John Spriggs	27:29	6:23	K-Star or Pamakid	masters-46		84	3rd Male Overall
6.	Paul Rechsteiner	27:34	6:24	Current SHC team			161	1st Male Current SHC team
7.	Jared Wicklund	28:01	6:30	Current SHC team			76	7th Overall
8.	John Gieng	28:53	6:43	Andy Coached You at Lowell			83	1st Male Andy Coached You at Lowell
9.	David Hoatson	29:18	6:48	K-Star or Pamakid	masters-48		52	1st Male Master K-Star/Pamakid
10.	Tomas Palermo	29:20	6:49	K-Star or Pamakid			144	1st Male Open K-Star/Pamakid
11.	Brian Conway	29:37	6:53	Andy Coached You at SHC			34	1st Male Andy Coached You at SHC
12.	Tommy Redmond	29:41	6:54	Current SHC team			145
13.	Michael Cunningham	29:54	6:57	Current SHC team			112
14.	Jocelyn Rodriguez	30:00	6:58	Current SHC team		female	82	2nd Female Overall/1st Female Current SHC team
15.	Ethan Wicklund	30:02	6:59	Andy Coached You at SHC			57	2nd Male Andy Coached You at SHC
16.	Carlos Urrutia	30:05	6:59	K-Star or Pamakid			38	2nd Male Open K-Star/Pamakid
17.	Bob Bowman	30:07	7:00	Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC			31	1st Male Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC
18.	Brian King	30:30	7:05	K-Star or Pamakid			163	raffle
19.	Monica Zhuang	30:37	7:07	K-Star or Pamakid		female	120	3rd Female Oveall
20.	Leah Evans	30:40	7:07	K-Star or Pamakid		female	98	1st Female Open K-Star/Pamakid
21.	Nick Cannata-Bowman	30:46	7:09	Andy Coached You at SHC			127	raffle
22.	Nathan Wong	30:47	7:09	K-Star or Pamakid			124	7th K-Star/Pamakid
23.	Joseph Sciancalepore	30:50	7:10	Current SHC team			85
24.	Trevor Marshall	31:06	7:13	K-Star or Pamakid			159
25.	Adrian Jue	31:25	7:18	Other Runner			21	1st Male Open Other Runner
26.	Mike Kim	31:28	7:19	K-Star or Pamakid			117	raffle
27.	Kim Fanady	32:05	7:27	Other Runner	masters-46	female	93	1st Female Master Other Runner
28.	Rhiannon Cadelinia	32:45	7:36	Andy Coached You at SHC		female	134	1st Female Andy Coached You at SHC
29.	Raymond Yu	32:46	7:37	Andy Coached You at Lowell			132	raffle
30.	Jackie Flynn	32:49	7:37	Current SHC team		female	72	7th Current SHC team
31.	Colin Vranizan	33:19	7:44	Andy Coached You at SHC			46
32.	Christine Jegan	33:31	7:47	K-Star or Pamakid	masters-41	female	44	1st Female Master K-Star/Pamakid
33.	Amy Sonstein	33:51	7:52	K-Star or Pamakid		female	25	2nd Female Open K-Star/Pamakid
34.	Joseph Wettstein	33:56	7:53	Andy Coached You at SHC			86	7th Andy Coached You at SHC
35.	Hua Yang	33:57	7:53	Just Plain Other		female	68	1st Female Just Plain Other
36.	Theo Jones	34:01	7:54	K-Star or Pamakid	masters-68		141	raffle
37.	Reilly Hall	34:27	8:00	Current SHC team		female	133	raffle
38.	Ian Brown-Mendieta	34:36	8:02	Current SHC team			155	raffle
39.	Patrick Lee	35:04	8:09	K-Star or Pamakid	masters-59		128
40.	Tom Dennison	35:24	8:13	Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC			157	raffle
41.	Asit Panwala	35:29	8:15	K-Star or Pamakid			28
42.	Nerissa Martinez	36:29	8:29	Current SHC team		female	125	raffle
43.	Natalie Buchwald	36:29	8:29	Current SHC team		female	123
44.	Meghan Holland	37:25	8:42	Current SHC team		female	110
45.	Kaya Balke	37:28	8:42	Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-MW		female	90	1st Female Know Malinda Through Work
46.	Malinda Walker	38:04	8:51	Bride		female	14
47.	Monica Fernandez	38:06	8:51	K-Star or Pamakid		female	119	raffle
48.	Hang Nguyen	38:11	8:52	Malinda’s Friend		female	63	1st Female Malinda’s Friend
49.	Long Doan	38:34	8:58	Andy Coached You at Lowell			101
50.	Mike Daniels	39:11	9:06	Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-AC			115	1st Male Know Andy Through Work
51.	Emily Colker	39:31	9:11	Just Plain Other		female	56
52.	Malissa Thomas	39:34	9:12	Andy Coached You at Lowell		female	102	1st Female Andy Coached You at Lowell
53.	Megan Nguyen	39:42	9:13	K-Star or Pamakid		female	109	raffle
54.	Mike Harper	39:46	9:14	K-Star or Pamakid	masters-42		116
55.	Kings Ghosh	40:00	9:18	K-Star or Pamakid			154	raffle
56.	James Hammack	40:13	9:21	Andy’s High School Friend			74	1st Male Andy High School Friend
57.	Cammie Dingwall	40:33	9:25	K-Star or Pamakid	masters-44	female	37
58.	Ariel Parrish	41:26	9:38	K-Star or Pamakid		female	27
59.	James Enright	41:32	9:39	Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC			73	raffle
60.	Dave Parrish	41:34	9:40	K-Star or Pamakid			51
61.	Kim Pacatte	41:44	9:42	Andy Coached You at SHC		female	94	2nd Female Andy Coached You at SHC
62.	Frank Alupay	41:51	9:43	K-Star or Pamakid			59
63.	Gary Cannon	42:10	9:48	Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-AC			61
64.	Mary Hurley	43:56	10:13	Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-AC		female	107	1st Female Know Andy Through Work
65.	Doug Post	43:57	10:13	Just Plain Other			162	1st Male Just Plain Other
66.	Tony Yeo	44:31	10:21	K-Star or Pamakid			148
67.	Spencer Allen	44:31	10:21	Other Runner	masters-59		138	1st Male Master Other Runner
68.	Daniel Koch	44:51	10:25	Current SHC team			156
69.	Bob Vranizan	45:49	10:39	Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC			32
70.	Brent Eberling	47:09	10:57	Andy’s High School Friend			33	Mike Kim Award for 47:09 (closes to 47:14)
71.	Tina Gong	47:41	11:05	Andy’s High School Friend		female	142	1st Female Andy High School Friend
72.	Ciccina Guagliardo	47:41	11:05	Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-MW		female	45
73.	Tony Rossmann	52:32	12:13	K-Star or Pamakid			147
74.	Carol Enright	52:40	12:14	Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC		female	40	1st Female Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC
75.	Carol Robinson	53:47	12:30	Just Plain Other		female	41
76.	Marian Brady	53:50	12:31	Malinda’s Friend		female	106	Traveled The Farthest
77.	Damir Sudar	53:57	12:32	Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-MW			47	1st Male Know Malinda Through Work
78.	Nanette Perez	56:28	13:07	Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-MW		female	122	7th Know Andy/Malinda Through Work
79.	Sarah Joost	56:29	13:08	Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-MW		female	137	raffle
Self-Timers
ST	Brigid Walsh			Just Plain Other		female	36
ST	Jack Shepherd			Andy Coached You at SHC			71
ST	Jeanie Jones			K-Star or Pamakid	masters-71	female	78
ST	Josh Ling			Andy Coached You at SHC			87
1400 METER WALK
W-1	Tim Wason			Other Runner			160	1st Walk
W-2	Margaret Gallagher			Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC		female	105	2nd Walk
W-3	Matas Stungys			Malinda’s Friend			108	3rd Walk
W-4	Teresa Rechsteiner			Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC			164
W-5	Cheri Labadie			Family		female	43
W-6	Michelle Miller			Family	youth-16	female	114	Youth
W-7	Philip Kegelmeyer			Malinda’s Friend			130	7th Walk
W-8	Sandy DeVries			Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-MW		female	136	raffle
W-9	Amy Akbarian			Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-MW		female	24
W-10	Laura Kegelmeyer			Malinda’s Friend		female	97
W-11	Greg Rechsteiner			Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC			165
W-12	Dixon Ly			Andy’s High School Friend			53	raffle
W-13	Tyler Ly			Andy’s High School Friend	infant-3 mo.		150	Youth
W-14	Katherine Ly			Andy’s High School Friend		female	89	14th Walk
W-15	Paula Rowbury			Andy Coached Your Kid at SHC		female	129
W-16	Lisa Azbill			Just Plain Other		female	100
W-17	Jay Anderson			Malinda’s Friend			77	raffle
W-18	Jenny Anderson			Malinda’s Friend		female	79
W-19	Jack Anderson			Malinda’s Friend	youth-3		70	Youth
W-20	Keith Conning			Just Plain Other			91	raffle
Volunteers
vol	Carol Chan			Family		female	39	raffle
vol	Fred Chan			Family			60	raffle
vol	Heather Johnson			K-Star or Pamakid		female	64
vol	Janet Jew			Andy Coached You at Lowell		female	75	raffle
vol	Krystal Yee			Andy Coached You at SHC		female	95	raffle
vol	Steve Woo			Other Runner			140
vol	Brian Fong			Family
vol	Laura Fong			Family	youth	female		Youth
Spectators
	Zack Hedling			K-Star or Pamakid			152
	Tina McDevitt			Know Andy/Malinda Through Work-MW		female	143
	Aeden Dea			Andy’s High School Friend	infant-1 mo.		22	Youth
	Helen Kwan			Andy’s High School Friend		female	65
	Lex Dea			Andy’s High School Friend			99
83 – Run
20 – Walk
8 – Volunteers
5 – Spectators
116 TOTAL ATTENDANCE