Keeping the 'fun' in fun runs

Last Sunday’s mishap at the Coeur d’Alene Marathon, while unfortunate, is hardly unusual.

Some barriers used to set the course for the 5- and 10-kilometer runs were moved from their locations on the street, causing runners to stray from the intended course. That affected times for those runners, and organizers were unable to determine a true champion.

It happens.

In an event that covers that much ground, you can’t have volunteers everywhere to guide the runners — no matter how many volunteers offer to help.

You do your best to mark the course and educate the runners, and ... well, hope that nobody moves the barriers you set up on the course.

Anyway, that got me thinking about some fun runs I’ve covered over the years that didn’t go quite as expected.

ONE YEAR, Sandpoint had a fun run where the finish line was on Second Avenue, in front of Second Ave. Pizza (which would be a good enticement on its own to finish strong).

Anyway, somewhere along the course there was a mixup, and some runners headed down the wrong street.

I was stationed at the finish line, ready with my camera to capture the winning runners racing southbound on Second.

I was startled to notice there were runners behind me, racing northbound on Second.

So you had the bizarre sight of folks coming through the finish line in both directions.

I can’t remember how the organizers sorted that one out.

ANOTHER TIME, Sandpoint had a fun run that started and ended on Pine Street, at the Sandpoint Junior Academy.

The winner told us his name was Alonzo Krebs, which may or may not have been his real name.

He also told us that he fed himself by scavenging food out of the Dumpster, which may or may not have been true.

But it was a pretty good story.

Another year, that same race came on the first day of Daylight Saving Time.

Despite the fact the race didn’t start until 1 p.m., some folks apparently forgot to spring forward.

The race started promptly at 1. A few minutes later, some more runners started to show up, thinking they were early.

They were not.

The sight of people flying out of their cars, stripping off their warmups and dashing down Pine Street several minutes after the rest of the runners had taken off, was pretty funny.

OK, LEST you think I’m just picking on poor fun run organizers, I’ll share an “oops” on myself.

Many years ago, there was a Sandpoint Triathlon, with the start/finish at Sandpoint City Beach, and the course winding through town.

Anyway, being the intrepid local sports writer/photographer, after the start and the swim portion, I headed out in my car to get shots of the entrants along the course.

One of my stops was on Pine Street, near Second Avenue (can’t remember if it was because I smelled the pizza).

Some runners were coming, so I pulled off the road, jumped out of my car and focused my camera on a pack of runners.

But in my haste to get a good shot, I had forgotten to do something.

As I started taking pictures, standing on the edge of the street, I noticed several of the runners were pointing at something just to the left of me.

I took a peek to my left, and my car — a Volkswagen 411 — was rolling backward toward me.

Fortunately, a few of the runners stopped what they were doing, and pushed against the back of the car to keep it from rolling into the street.

That gave me time to open the driver’s side door and pull the parking brake.

Then they continued running.

So look on the bright side.

The Coeur d’Alene Marathon may not have gone as planned for some, but at least no one in last Sunday’s 5K and 10K races had to dodge a rolling car.

That we know of.

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at mnelke@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter@CdAPressSports.