Superfriends

The evening of the Lake Chabot Trail Challenge half marathon I meet with my team that will run the Lake Tahoe Relay next Saturday, June 13. I am so excited to run with this group, running friends old and new. The relay is 72 miles around Lake Tahoe, with each person running about 10 miles. The event takes all day, and even competitive teams will finish in more than nine hours.

Witte's 7

I floated the idea of forming a team last year to John Pettinichio, but didn't get a strong reaction. This year I mentioned it to Jane Watson around the time of the Couples Relay in February. A few days later I ran into Suzette Smith on the running path in Alameda, who said she was interested. I put a feeler out on Facebook for fast masters runners and soon was in contact with Holly Starr. So far, so good with three women. Then I did a little investigation and tracked down Diane Dove on her lunch break at work. I felt a little like Danny Ocean, George Clooney's character who recruits a team of ex-cons to rob three casinos in "Ocean's 11." Diane said she was in.

I then sent John an email. "John, I have four women, I need some guys!" John said he'd run. Needing just one more runner, I hoped to get Tony Fong, envisioning him as our cleanup hitter. After a few emails, phone calls, and requests to Suzette to elicit a response from Tony, he finally sent me an email, "Count me in."

I sent a message to the group: "We have a team!"

I was delighted and surprised how easy it was to assemble the team: all strong runners and among my favorite people on the running circuit. This is my list of the top six people that I hoped would join the team, and they all accepted. There are no weak links.

• Diane Dove: 2005 Boston Marathon in 3:28, co-winner 2006 Lake Merritt Couples Relay
• Tony Fong: 2007 Chicago Marathon in 2:44, cross country and track coach at St. Joseph's High School in Alameda
• John Pettinichio: 2006-2008 East Bay Triple Crown Joe King (50+) Winner
• Suzette Smith: 2008 and 2009 Boston Marathon qualifier and girls cross country and track coach at St. Joseph's High School
• Holly Starr: 2006, 2008 East Bay Triple Crown Ruth Anderson (50+) Winner
• Jane Watson: 2008 and 2009 Boston Marathon qualifier, and my teammate on the 2009 Lake Merritt Couples Relay
• Larry Witte: other half of Couples Relays with Diane and Jane, big fan of Suzette and Holly, West Valley teammate of Tony, and comrade in legs with John

Scouting Report

I came up with the name East Bay Flyers (four from Alameda, one each from Berkeley, Walnut Creek and Hayward), and entered the team with high hopes. If the women could average nine-minute miles and the men could run seven-minute miles, we would finish in about 9 hours and 48 minutes, very competitive in our division, Mixed Masters. I did more analysis because I wanted runners to arrive at their starting points some time close to when they would take over from the previous runner. This seemed to be the preferable alternative to driving around the lake for nine hours with six of your less aromatic friends.

Based on what I knew of everyone's ability, and adjusting for terrain I came up with a finishing time of 9:20, which would be the sixth-fastest in our division since 2000. I reviewed my estimates a few times and couldn't convince myself to be any more conservative. Our team had more women than men, and our average age was nearly 50, but while most Mixed Masters teams were more male and perhaps younger, I didn't think we were disadvantaged. We had a strong team and I felt there was already cushion in my estimate.

The 2009 race has more coed masters teams than every year since 2000, except 2002. There will be plenty of competition. Here is my take with team numbers before each name:

• 90. Tahoe Redondo: A team of four men and three women who competed in the last six races in the open coed division. They look to be in pretty good shape and have finished under 10 hours each time, although they are getting slower with a 9:52 in 2008. They may be our stiffest competition.
• 91. Homewood Homie's: New team with goofy name. Not a concern.
• 92. Slammin'Slugs: Finished in 12:04 last year.
• 93. East Bay Flyers: Yey!
• 94. Sundance til Sundown: Finished in 12:20 in 2007.
• 95. Cool Cats of Los Gatos: New team with a smaller talent base than the East Bay.
• 96. Graying & Sagging, But Never Lagging: New team. I'm not sure to give greater weight to Graying and Sagging or Never Lagging. They could be bad or good.
• 97. Team Tipps: Family team that finished in 10:58 last year.

My prediction: we'll finish first or second.