Updates

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Daily Run America Updates and Photos!    See  below

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Run America Updates

July 1, 2002

June 19, 2002

June 10, 2002    

June 4, 2002

May 28, 2002   First Week Photos!     

July 1, 2002
Submitted by Craig Johnston

    On Sunday, June 16th, the team greeted its last wave of new runners, including Ken Krenzin, Rob Mitchell, Justin Gericke, Paul Whitby and high school students Alison Johnston, Ryan McCune, Jenny Krenzin, and Torrey and Spencer Crim. Additionally, 13-year old Jeremy Krenzin came along to pace his dad for portions of Ken's runs. Later than evening, Lewis and Clark alum Joan Kelsey hosted the team for a terrific barbecue at her family's property in East Claridon, Ohio.

    The next morning, the team headed northeast out of Painesville. Our earliest runners, Bill Hodge and Rob Mitchell, had to fight commuter traffic as they made their way beyond the Cleveland suburbs. Later, Nick Hutchins and Torrey and Spencer Crim ran especially well. Van 2 took over just before the border, with Paul Sanford (a recent convert to Van 2) taking the team into Pennsylvania. Kevin Cassidy and Justin Gericke enjoyed beautiful legs along the banks of Lake Erie before Andrew Hawley and Bill Warnock had to endure the mean streets of the City of Erie. Once outside of the city, however, the running quickly became beautiful again as Van 1 took over for its afternoon shift. Kathleen Minor carried to baton into New York with an impressive time of 30:20 for her 4-mile run. Ken Krenzin also ran especially well in his second run of the day. In Van 2, Karstan Lovorn and Margi Lifsey turned in typically outstanding performances.

    The bicyclists, now augmented to include Mark Johnston, Cindy Potash and Jay Bargman, also enjoyed the cool and flat conditions on Monday. Barry Wald took advantage by putting in his first "century" ride of the trip.

    On Tuesday, the first van continued along the shores of Lake Erie for most of its morning runs before turning east just south of Buffalo. Ryan McCune, who been ill on Sunday and Monday, felt a lot better and turned in an excellent run. Van 2 picked up just as the team moved into a series of rolling hills that were larger than any the team had faced since Wyoming (and that wouldn't stop until we approached Albany). Kevin Cassidy and Bill Warnock ran very well over some rugged terrain, before Andrew Hawley slowed things down a bit by taking a wrong turn as he made his way through Batavia. Later, Karstan Lovorn ran well before handing off to Paul Sanford, who capped of a 14-mile day by taking the baton all the way into Rochester.

    The team enjoyed a special treat in Rochester by meeting Don McNelly, who had participated in a similar relay 20 years earlier at the age of 62. Don regaled the team with stories both about this prior relay effort, as well as about his having completed more than 630 marathons since turning 48 (and more than 300 since turning 70!). Additionally, Barry and Craig spent some valuable time with two of the world's leading researchers on myotonic dystrophy, Drs. Moxley and Thornton at Strong Memorial Hospital at the University of Rochester.

    On Wednesday, Bill Hodge, Rob Mitchell and Ken Krenzin took the team south out of Rochester along the Erie Canal. Later than morning, Margi Lifsey and Andrew Hawley tackled some serious hills as the team moved through the Finger Lakes region. In the afternoon, the team learned just how hilly upstate New York can be. Nick Hutchins and Craig Johnston tackled one 1,000-footer together. Spencer Crim and Kathleen Minor conquered yet another, and Paul Whitby took on still a third. Alison Johnston, Jenny Krenzin and Torrey Crim also ran very well, and Jeremy Krenzin provided an additional highlight as he sprinted past his dad on one of the downhills at the end of his (Jeremy's) two-mile run (in fairness, his dad had two miles to go). The hills continued as the second van took over for its second shift of the day. Justin Gericke, Kevin Cassidy and Bill Warnock turned in strong performances on the remaining hills as the team approached Colgate University.

    Wednesday was also a very long day for the cyclists, as the seemingly never-ending hills took their awful toll. Mark Johnston and Cindy Potash, in particular, not only covered the entire distance from Rochester to Hamilton, but added 10 extra miles due to an early wrong-turn, turning their day into a grueling 135-mile effort.

    Unfortunately, Ryan McCune took ill again on Wednesday and had to be taken first to a clinic in Cazenovia and then to a hospital in Hamilton. Suffering from rashes, headaches, and occasional fevers, Ryan's condition baffled the doctors both at these hospitals and at the State University of New York hospital in Syracuse, where he spent the day (accompanied by Craig Johnston) on Thursday. Ultimately, Ryan flew home on Friday, where his condition remained undiagnosed, but where it improved significantly by the middle of the next week. (As of June 30th, both Ryan and his parents seemed to think the condition-whatever it was-was completely behind him).

    On Thursday, the rest of the team headed for Albany, making time for a stop at the Baseball Hall of Fame en route. Van 2 actually started things off on Thursday, and got more than they bargained for when they missed an unmarked county road and thus added 6 additional miles to their morning shift. Paul Sanford, in particular, seemed to have a particularly hilly stretch as the team approached Cooperstown. After Cooperstown, Rob Mitchell and Paul Whitby had beautiful runs along Lake Otsego, although Paul was dismayed to find some significant hills in the second half of his run (for the second consecutive day). From there, Ken Krenzin and Spencer Crim led the way as the team rejoined route 20. Van 2 then took over for its afternoon shift, and Margi Lifsey, Andrew Hawley and Karstan Lovorn turned in outstanding performances. Additionally, we were joined by Tony Green, who jumped right in by putting in five miles for his afternoon shift. Van 1 then picked up the baton again, and Alison Johnston and Torrey Crim led the team toward Albany. Finally, Craig Johnston rejoined the team that night and put in 8 miles under cover of darkness, taking the team across the Hudson River and ever closer to Massachusetts.

    Friday was the last even marginally-difficult day of the relay. Bill Hodge and Tony Green started things off by putting in 12 early miles while the rest of the team was watching the U.S. lose a heartbreaker to Germany in the World Cup. From there, Van 2 took over and carried the team into Massachusetts in its one shift of the day. Kevin Cassidy, Bill Warnock and Karstan Lovorn ran well before turning things over to Van 1 as the team approached the Berkshires. Nick Hutchins began the ascent and Kathleen Minor would not be deterred as it turned out that her leg involved the most significant climbing of the day. Once Kathleen had crested the Berkshires, it fell to Rob Mitchell to take the team downhill through a nasty road construction project as the team approached Northampton. Paul Whitby and Craig Johnston faced the worst heat of the day as they carried the baton toward Amherst. Finally, Alison Johston, Torrey Crim and Jenny Krenzin climbed a horrible hill just east of Amherst before handing off to Spencer Crim, who took a further slice out of Saturday's run by bringing the team almost all the way into Belchertown.

    Saturday was essentially a rest day as the team had 16 runners to cover only 64 miles on the way to Hopkinton. The only excitement of the day was provided by Van 2's ambush of Van 1 with Super Soakers and water balloons at the last van exchange of the relay. It was a bush league move, for which they are sure to pay a karmic price for years to come. Despite this dastardly deed, Van 1 agreed to shepherd Van 2 through the maze of Worcester, setting the stage for Sunday's final run. To his credit, Van 2 runner Karstan Lovorn had much better luck navigating the streets of Worcester on foot than his van mates did in their vehicle.

    On Sunday, the team ran the Boston Marathon course in a non-relay format. The basic idea was that each runner and bicyclist would start as far from the finish line as he or she wanted, and that we would all finish together in Fenway Park (thus cutting a little more than a half-mile off the marathon distance). Four of the runners (Margi Lifsey, Bill Warnock, Karstan Lovorn and Craig Johnston) covered the entire 25.5 mile distance. So did Barry and Liz Wald on their bikes. Justin Gericke ran approximately 24 miles of the course, Andrew Hawley covered about 20 miles worth, Ken Krenzin and Nick Hutchins ran about 18 and 15 miles, respectively, and Kathleen Minor and Spencer Crim ran at least ten miles. For the last four of these runners, these were the longest runs of their lives. Many others, including Bill Hodge, Kevin Cassidy, Rob Mitchell, Paul Sanford, Tony Green, Torrey Crim and Alison Johnston, ran between 5 and 10 miles as the team made its way toward Fenway. Additionally, first-week runner Skip Feist came back to join the runners for the first six miles out of Hopkinton. And many other well-wishers joined the team either on bike or on foot for all or part of the course.

    It was with a feeling of mass elation that the team entered Fenway Park. There we were greeted by perhaps 200 other well-wishers in what was a dramatic conclusion to the relay. After an hour or so of basking in our success at Fenway, some of the Van 2 runners, led by Kevin Cassidy, insisted on finishing things off by running five more miles to Boston Harbor. This resulted in a 30-mile day for our most tireless runner, Margi Lifsey. Finally, friends Tom and Maureen Johnson hosted a terrific reception for all of the participants and their friends and family, at their home in Weston, Massachusetts. We thank both the Red Sox and the Johnsons for their fantastic hospitality!

June 19, 2002
Submitted by Craig Johnston

With Barb's early miles in the bank, the team moved into Iowa facing its
3rd straight day of brisk winds out of the southeast. Fortunately, on this
day, the temperatures never exceeded 80. The new runners all stepped up to
the plate with strong opening day runs. Kathleen Minor (the team's
then-youngest runner, at 16 years old) was particularly outstanding,
averaging better than 8 minutes per mile for both of her 4 mile runs. Craig
Johnston also turned in a strong second run on Monday, legging out 5 miles
in 30:36.

On Tuesday morning, the team ran through some incredible thunderstorms as
it headed out of Indianola. Dave Cummings, Craig Johnston, and Andy Hanson
bore the worst of this deluge. In the afternoon, the rain ceased and the
temperatures rose into the high 80's as the runners turned east again
toward Mt. Pleasant. Grant Nesbitt and Karstan Lovorn each wound up putting
in more than 12 solid miles for the day by the time the team reached Iowa
Wesleyan.

After a stormy night in Mt. Pleasant, the team lit out for the Illinois
border on Wednesday morning. Dave Cummings followed a by now
well-established team tradition by contributing a strong 10-miler on his
last day with the team. Bill Hodge and Paul Sanford then carried the team
to the banks of the Mississippi. As the morning hours faded, it became
clear that the runners were going to be blessed with relatively cool
temperatures. The second van did the bulk of the hard work on this day,
with Grant Nesbitt and Kevin Cassidy working their way through the streets
of Peoria, and Andrew Hawley and Andy Hanson taking on extra miles at the
end of the day to get the team to Eureka College.

On Thursday, our first two runners, Bill Hodge and Mike Greenlick, gutted
out a total of 14 tough miles in a driving rainstorm. When the rain
stopped, however, the runners were blessed with both very cool temperatures
(in the 60's all day) and very strong tailwinds. As a result, the rest of
the run to Renssalaer, Indiana, was pretty much of a cakewalk. Our
bicyclists, Barry and Liz Wald, took advantage of the favorable conditions
to put in upwards of 70 miles each. On the runners' front, Kathleen Minor
and Kevin Cassidy ran especially strongly. The only difficulty of the day
occurred when the second van missed a turn on an unmarked county road.
Andrew Hawley and Margi Lifsey stepped up to absorb the extra miles.

Friday was also marked by spectacular conditions and wrong turns. The
temperatures stayed below 75 degrees all day, and the tailwinds may have
approached 35-40 mph. The first van threw away much of this advantage by
taking a wrong turn that added 8 extra miles to the day's work. As the
idiot who had made the error, Craig Johnston repaid his debt by putting in
a 14-miler for his first run of the day. Todd Trierweiler also stepped up
with some crucial extra miles. It was business as usual for the second van
as Cassidy, Lifsey, Hawley, and Hansen (et. al.) consistently banged out
sub-7:00 miles.

Saturday was another gorgeous day, marked by cool temperatures and strong
tailwinds. Bill Hodge got things started off by navigating his way for 10
miles through the streets of Fort Wayne. Paul Sanford then put in probably
his best run of the trip, ignoring his back pain to gut out 7:15 miles.
Todd Trierweiler then set the stage so that Kathleen Minor could bring the
team into Ohio. The second van also put in another very strong performance
on Saturday, as Grant Nesbitt, Eric Freye, and Karstan Lovorn all ran
extremely well. Additionally, Andy Hanson followed in Ken Larish's shoes by
putting in an extra 10 miles at the end of his last day to give the team a
jump on its next day's run through Cleveland.

Sunday was another transition day, with several runners putting in their
last day for the team. Todd Trierweiler and Mike Greenlick closed strongly
by putting in 12 and 10 miles respectively in their morning runs. But van 2
did the real work on this day, taking the baton from the outskirts of
Cleveland through the heart of the city and beyond to Painesville. Margi
Lifsey and Kevin Cassidy turned in very strong runs.

June 10, 2002
Submitted by Craig Johnston

On Wednesday, Craig Johhnston let the rest of his team get some extra
sleep, by putting in the first 16 miles on the way out of Casper. Later,
Dave Cummings, Barb Cosens, and Jude Tate tackled the hilliest part of the
morning run. In the youngsters' van, Bill Barber kept pace with a deer for
almost 4 miles of his run.

After Bob Adler led the team through Douglas, Wyoming, the first van found
itself facing 6 more miles than it had anticipated in order to get to the
next van exchange point. The runners divvied up the miles among them,
however, leaving to the second van the relatively easy task of carrying the
baton into Lusk.

On Thursday morning, the runners crossed into Nebraska, with Bill Hodge and
Paul Sanford leading the way. Once in Nebraska, they encountered a
surprisingly beautiful downhill section leading down to Fort Robinson,
where Chief Crazy Horse was killed. Eric Freye, in particular, enjoyed the
benefits of the downhill terrain. Thereafter, Bill Barber and Ken Larish
had to climb out of the river valley, with Ken also having to deal with a
major highway reconstruction project. With that behind them, the runners
had only to deal with some stiff crosswinds as they made their way into
Alliance.

Friday's running was fairly routine, as the team made its way through the
scenic Sandhills region towards Thedford. One of the highlights of the day
was a lunch spot in Hyannis. After lunch, Jude Tate again took on one of
the toughest hills of the day. Later, the second van took the team into
Thedford, with Andy Hanson and Kevin Cassidy, running particularly well.

Saturday was one of the toughest days so far. As the runners rolled out of
Thedford, a brisk wind kicked up from out of the southeast. As the day grew
hotter, the wind blew even stronger, with gusts reaching up to 30-40 mph.
It was so bad that Barry and Liz quickly decided to forsake any efforts at
bicycling farther that day, as they moved ahead to St. Paul to make
arrangements at the high school. By the time the runners reached St. Paul,
the temperatures were up in the 90's and the winds were as strong as ever.
This made all the more remarkable the efforts of Ken Larish, who in his
swan song for the team, put in another 10 miles at day's end (in addition
to the 10 he had already run) to give the runners a head start for the next
morning's run to Omaha.

Sunday was another transition day, and another of our departing runners,
Bob Adler, stepped up by giving us 15 solid miles as the day began. This
was a godsend, because the conditions proved to be nearly as difficult as
they had been the day before. Again, there were stiff winds out of the
southeast, and again, the temperatures approached 90. Bill Barber and Margi
Lifsey each put in 10-milers while the other runners each ground out 2 runs
totalling that amount.

It was a tired group that arrived Sunday night in Omaha. We were delighted,
however, by the arrival of fresh runners, with Todd Trierweiler, Mike
Greenlick, Kathleen Minor, Karstan Lavorn, and Grant Nesbitt joining the
team (to replace Bob Adler, Barb Cosens, Jude Tate, Bill Barber, and Ken
Larish). We were also thrilled to learn that Barb Cosens had decided to
extend her stay with the team by one morning so that she could get us off
to a great start on Monday by getting in 10 miles before most of us were awake.

June 4, 2002
Submitted by Craig Johnston

On Tuesday evening, we headed toward Ontario, essentially completing our
tour of Oregon. One of our hardest-working teammates, Janet Steverson, took
the afternoon off and drove to Ontario early to make the team a delicious
spaghetti dinner. It was greatly appreciated by all.

On Weds, the early crew (Bill Hodge, Skip Feist, and Paul Sanford) led the
charge into Idaho. By late morning, the second van had taken over, with Ken
Larish and Bill Barber running particularly gruelling legs in the midday
sun along the Payette River. As the afternoon lengthened, both vans took
their second turns running, as the team continued to make its way up the
Payette River toward Granjean. The day's run turned out to be four miles
more than had been anticipated, but fortunately our Hood-To-Coast teammate
Billy Eddie showed up (a day early) as the light waned, and readily agreed
to run the unexpected miles.

After a wonderful night at the Sawtooth Lodge, the "young" van began
Thursday morning by climbing from 5400 to 7200 feet in the first ten miles.
Andrew Hawley, Bill Barber, and Bill Eddy bore the brunt of this hill work.
The second van then carried the baton all the way to Galena Pass, with each
runner putting in both a medium length leg and another mile or so on the
steep rise up to 8701 feet. Ned Duhnkrack and Janet Steverson were
particularly instrumental in making the hard climb.

During the course of the morning, both vans were treated to several
wildlife sightings, including deer, elk, and antelope.

From there, the first van pounded all the way down through Sun Valley and
Ketchum on their way to Hailey. The second van then capped off the day by
coasting all the way to Picabo. The team was then treated to a delicious
dinner at the home of some friends in Hailey before bedding down for the
night at the Wind River High School.

On Friday, the runners faced their toughest conditions yet in the dry heat
of southern Idaho. By noon, the temperatures rose into the 90's as the
runners passed by the Craters of the Moon National Monument. Most of the
runners split their afternoon runs into two shorter segments in order to
assure that they could remain sufficiently hydrated in the unrelenting
glare of the sun. It was a great relief to reach Idaho Falls as evening
settled in.

Saturday was the easiest day of the first week, as the runners tackled only
the 91 miles between Idaho Falls and Teton Village, Wyoming. The "senior"
van (Hodge, Feist, Sanford, Steverson, Duhnkrack, and Johnston) faced the
headwinds of the morning, while the youngsters (Hawley, Larish, Lifsey,
Barber, Cassidy, Melissa Powers, and Laura Ireland) tackled the Teton Pass
and brought the team down into Jackson Hole. They also had help from three
early birds from the second segment of the relay, Andy Hanson, Eric Freye,
and Barb Cosens. The group then settled in for the night in the spectacular
setting of the Climbers' Ranch in the Grand Teton National Park.

Sunday was a transitional day, with several of the runners returning to
their homes, and a new group of fresh-legged folks showing up ready to run.
The running itself was short (47 miles), but difficult, as the runners took
on Togwotee Pass. Bill Barber, Ken Larish, and Margi Lifsey started things
off by legging out almost seven miles each before the real climbing began.
Bill Hodge and Skip Feist then began the climb before passing off to a
group that included Jude Cate, Barb Cosens, Bob Adler, Dave Cummings, Eric
Freye, Andy Hanson, Liz Wald, and Craig Johnston. The grade got
increasingly steep and the weather began to deteriorate (pouring rain) as
the runners approached the summit. Finally, the runners joined together to
collectively crest the Continental Divide at 9658 feet. We then returned to
Climbers' Ranch for one last night in the Grand Teton National Park.

Monday was a relatively uneventful day, as the runners faced the
comparatively easy task of running 108 mostly downhill miles into Riverton,
Wyoming. The new runners blended in seamlessly and the group as a whole
seemed to click into a groove that made the miles fly by. The bicyclists
also took advantage of the downhill grade to put in their longest day of
travel thus far, with Barry and Liz covering 75 and 100 miles respectively.
The only obstacle we faced on Monday was a brisk headwind that provided
some cooling even as it slowed us down.

After a delightful night in Riverton, we headed out for Casper at 6:30 a.m.
We were blessed again with cooler-than-normal temperatures, this time only
in the low-to-mid 60's for most of the day. We were also propelled by
tailwinds for virtually the entire route. Additionally, of the fourteen
runners involved this week, only one runner (Eric Freye) took a half-day
off today. This had the effect of shortening everyone's daily mileage total
into the 8-9 mile range. In short, it proved to be another easy day.

We set out for Lusk, Wyoming, tomorrow.

May 28, 2002     First Week Photos!     
Submitted by Craig Johnston

The first three and a half days of the relay have been spectacular. Due
to injuries, we began the first week one runner short of the desired
total of 14 runners. In fact, we had had 15 runners committed to take
part in the first week until two members, Jeff Michael and John Kroger,
had to bow out due to last minute injuries. This problem was alleviated
during the first two days, however, because the runners who will be
participating during the last half of the relay, Karstan Lovorn and
Justin Gericke, decided to give up two days of their Memorial Day
weekend to take part.

We began the first day at 5:30 a.m. in Tillamook Oregon, most of us
having slept fitfully on the floor of the gym at Tillamook High School.
(We send our thanks to Elroy Thompson for his hospitality.) Kevin
Cassidy started things off for our team. A few runners later, Andrew
Hawley and Margi Lifsey, took us over the coast range. Soon, it seemed
we were in Portland, having narrowly avoided being delayed by a fatal
car accident that closed route 6 only a few miles behind us.

Despite any lack of sleep, we all felt fresh from a running standpoint.
After a small amount of fanfare in Waterfront Park, we crossed the
Willamette River and had completed our first day by 8:00 p.m. in Sandy.

Although Barry Wald was unable to join us until today (Tuesday), his
sister Liz accompanied us from the beginning by bicycling 74 miles from
Tillamook to Portland.

On Sunday morning, we faced the challenge of scaling Mt. Hood on Route
26. We did this fairly easily, however, with several runners dividing
up the climb into shorter-than-usual legs. Dan Rohlf took the biggest
slice of the work taking on 4 miles of the climb.

That accomplished, we were rewarded with numerous miles of mostly
downhill running under mostly ideal conditions. The weather was cooler
than normal (only in the 70s), and the wind was at our back. The high
desert vistas were awe inspiring as we made our way through Warm Springs
and Madras en route to Prineville.

In Prineville, we were greeted at the high school by none other than the
principal, Ken Parshall. He showed us terrific hospitality, not only
opening up his wrestling room for sleeping, but also providing clean
towels for us all and personally sticking around to let our second van
of runners into the building while our first van went out to dinner.

On Monday, we faced another day of significant climbing on our way to
John Day. Fortunately, the weather remained cool. We passed by some
beautifully lush meadows on a high plain near Mill Creek. The first van
also had time to stop by the Painted Hills unit of the John Day Fosil
Bed National Monument.

In John Day we also received excellent hospitality from Adam Barrett,
the high school basketball coach.

On the running front, Kevin Cassidy did the most significant climbing of
the day, gaining 2300 feet in a little more than 5 miles. Liz Wald,
taking a day off from her bicycling, also chipped in 2 ½ miles of solid
running.

This morning (Tuesday), we started especially early due to the length of
the day’s journey (131 miles). Paul Sanford started things off at 4:40
a.m., putting in 5 ½ miles while he was still half-asleep. He then
passed off to Skip Feist, who turned in his finest run of the trip so
far. After Bill Hodge, took his turn, Dan Rohlf turned in his grand
finale for the team (before heading back to Portland) climbing 1200 feet
in 5.2 miles.

As I report, we are waiting outside Ironside, Oregon for the second van
of runners to complete their first legs. We hope to be in Ontario by
sundown.