(by Cub Reporter Marty Friedman)
The 5 day weather forecast for Downtown LA had been 80-82. But on race day, the South Bay and all the way to LA was socked in with fog and chilly. Club Ed’ers drove the freeway in the right hand lane, almost missed exit ramps and drove around blindly looking for parking.
But there were serious runners as well. Del “Cruising” Carneiro was the fastest Club Ed representative in 1:38:14. He was pleased given his current level of conditioning. Marty “Flying” Friedman continued his domination in the 65’s with a 1:40:13, seven minutes ahead of the 2nd AG finisher, but seconds shy of his sub 1:40 goal. Marian “Dynamo” Drahnak electrified even herself, by improving more than 21 minutes from her time in last years’ race, in 2:01:59. And Cristina “Boom Boom” Baba exploded to a 4 minute improvement from 2012, in 2:08:58, almost a PR.
“Flying” saw “Dynamo” an hour before the race. He was covered in 3 layers; she was in her skimpy racing outfit. Brrrr. The plan was to gather in the alphabetic “meet and greet” area after the race, but it never happened. There were no signs this year.
There was music along the course and after the finish. “Dynamo” reported lots of dogs in the SPCA dog walk, but “Flying”, the dog man of Manhattan Beach, had already split. “Cruising” and “Boom Boom” took advantage of the free beer.
It was a well run event and the chillier weather was perfect for running a Half. But did the fog slickened surface affect traction and add seconds to our time? Not that we cared. Ha!