2000 Palos Verdes Half Marathon

Saturday, June 3, 2000

Report by: Eric Barron

It was a perfect overcast morning to run the "rolling" course of Palos Verdes. At the half marathon start, Rab Brown was unsure he could keep a slightly-less-than-seven-minute-mile pace, and chose to stay with the pack of Tim Peterson, Jacinda Raiche, Brian Panosian, and long lost TCLAer Jeff Cohn for less than a half a mile before being shot out of a cannon and propelled to an strong 1:22:17 (6:15 pace) for a ninth place overall finish. That means he beat 666 people (an ominous number), but was just one person and 26 seconds back from placing in his age group. Pre-race protestations should no longer be heard from young Rab.

Jacinda and Tim ran together for about six miles before Jacinda, who was out for a casual run, caught sight of the first woman near the turnaround and took off in pursuit. She did not quite catch her, but finished as the second woman with a 1:28:08. Afterwards, the distaff victor flitted around with her medals and bitchy attitude, and we look forward to Jacinda bringing her "A" game to the next showdown. Tim should have held onto Jacinda for a bit longer to have made his goal of breaking 1:30, but finished well in 1:30:58 (his watch), taking two minutes off last year's time. Jeff, and we are still waiting for his excuse as to why we have not seen him at a practice lately, hung on for a 1:32:32, and fourth in his age group. Brian put up a courageous fight, but should have been in bed after catching his daughter's flu virus and having stomach pains from the start. It was quite an achievement for him to even be able to finish the race, let alone stay standing. In the end, Brian won the "I should have stayed in bed because I have a reason, not just an excuse" division with a 1:50:57.

Jim Spear had a great day, crushing all competition in his division with a 1:34:08. God knows how fast he will be once he gets the track workouts under his belt with some regularity. Ed Olson snared a fifth place division finish in 1:42:03, trouncing fellow big guy and erstwhile actor, Julian Sands, by four minutes. Dan Manns, who also could use some more regular work on the track, ran a 1:49:28. Shortly later, Amy Aukstikalnis grabbed a fourth place division finish with a 1:50:44. Finally, Morena Sanchez ate up the hills and spat them out with a 2:01:37, good for 11th in her division.

In the marathon, Paul Anderson never ceases to amaze with his endurance and consistency in the multiple marathons that he attacks each year. He finished in 3:34:25 on a difficult marathon course. Unfortunately, few witnessed this event as the event announcer's shrill voice and lame sense of humor drove most everyone first to distraction and then to their cars. Kudos to Jim and Jacinda for cheering Paul in, though the bulk of the credit goes to Paul for finishing this hard course.

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