Monday, December 15, 2014

Denk RunRide 2014

Memory

Memory is a funny thing.  It's not always clear and frequently confused.  To wit, Denk RunRide.  Did I come up with the idea, or did Erik Dekold?  I know I came up with the name, but whose concept was it?  I can't recall, which by the way is an excellent deposition answer.  I think Erik and I both had an idea of putting on an event with runners and mountain bike riders and when we started talking about it, we collectively created it.  But Erik can call bullshit on that if he wishes.

Some of the fastest people on Earth
 From Conception to Execution

It's one thing to have an idea, it's another thing to execute.  That's what I do for a living.  I don't consider myself an attorney per se, I'm more like a problem solver, a fixer, a mechanic.  Many attorneys don't seem interested in crafting a solution, more like lemmings proceeding over the cliff of litigation.  I take the rock out of your shoe [wink at Kamran].  I make the problem go away.  I bury it in the Meadowlands.

Podium Spots - Coed Division
It's great to have ideas.  It's another to get it done.  Erik gets it done.  Erik sends me messages.  Erik emails me.  Erik motivates me.  He's quite good at it.  Once the RunRide was conceived, it had to be executed, I had no choice.  Erik may think I pushed it along, but having him in the background makes me push it along.  Chicken or the egg?  Yin or yang? 

At the same time as the idea was coalescing in our collective brains, Stumblefoot decided to become a SEHRC sponsor and offer up some beer.  The plan, and you know I can never say it enough, was beginning to come together.  (See http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=a+team+plan+comes+together&FORM=VIRE7#view=detail&mid=E6F473011C7E9496659CE6F473011C7E9496659C)

Continuing on with my overreliance on euphemisms, I wanted to strike while the iron was hot. Fresh off Erik's Turkey Hump and Dax's Peaksgiving, it was time to utilize the synergy and gain some traction (no pun intended, purely business speak puke).  Erik would rope in the riders, me the runners. 


Podium Spots - Overall + Sadist Solo Class
The Devil is in the details

First, we needed a course.  I had never designed a course before.  I knew I wanted one completely on trail that included a climb and limited riders and runners coming at one another.  The dump and Denk Mountain offered that opportunity.  With the exception of about 400 meters, the participants had no chance to cross paths with one another.  Box checked - it was time to pick a date. 

I knew we had to get it done before Christmas (can I say that anymore, or should I say December 25th?) or it wouldn't happen.

First Crush
The big issue was time of the start.  Apparently mountain bikers don't like to get up as early as runners.  But it had to be 7:00 a.m.  I had two futsal games to coach, incidentally the team won both with a collective score of 25-10, so anything later was no bueno (three years of Spanish for you).

To Facebook, Batman.  For the last 18 months, the club has been on Strava.  I resisted Facebook.  Erik suggested, I relented.  In one day we had 30 members.  In one week we had 50.  Okay, maybe I was wrong.  Strava, Blogger, Facebook and Instragram.  I'm still resisting Twittter, I just don't see the point - but check back in a year.  It's a lot of work to man four social media sites.  I need a Communications Officer, anyone as hot as Nyota Uhura, please apply, you will get the job.  Notice she's left-handed, that means she's smarter than you right-handers.

After a few days, we had four teams.  Great!  Enough to run the event.  Erik kept recruiting, and the teams kept coming.  On race day, 10 teams.  Awesome, this was a real event.

One last thing.  The afternoon before the race, I road down to the course with some high visibility tape and began to mark the course.  This was again a first.  I knew the course, as I had designed it.  But what of the person who had never run/ridden out here before?  I wanted their experience to be good, so I marked the crap out of the course.  It was a peaceful experience knotting tape to trees and poles as the sun set, out in the middle of the woods.  Call me Robert Frost.

But to run a real event, you need at least one volunteer aka timekeeper.  Lucky for me, bad for him, Greg Fall was that volunteer.  Injured, he was not participating.  This was also good, as he would've kicked my ass.  Greg took to the task with gusto and was Mr. Timekeeper.  Thanks Greg!

Greg working it
Before I knew it.  Race day was here.  When I got to the start, riders and runners were already assembling.  Wow, this is happening.  We even received two pairs of socks from the Sock Guy.  The race then started and soon enough it finished.  It went off without a hitch and smiles were all around.

Rather than give the prizes to the top finishers, Erik and I decided to award tickets based on finish, e.g. 10 tickets to first place, 9 tickets to second place, etc.  We then placed those tickets in a hat and drew out the winners, so everyone had a chance to win.  One crazy dude decided to run the course and then ride it by himself - we automatically gave him a prize - how could you not?

Big winners:  IPA
Winners of the much coveted socks
Beer please!
Winner, Solo Sadist Class
The SEHRC crew
The best part of the day for me was when Erik, Greg, Ibex and a few others volunteered to go back out on the course and clean up the course markings.  Awesome.


Oh yeah, Erik and I won.  That was awesome too.


   

2 comments:

  1. I like to consider myself your sounding board. You sometimes listen to unsolicited feedback, but generally you seek support or direction, and yeah, I'm relatively quick to respond. It works well. I've been a leader of numerous groups and currently still am, but I'm glad not to carry the full load sometimes. Great work, and we can definitely do more/better. What we need to figure out next is how your Ride 'n Tie isn't any different than a Muddy Buddy?

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  2. The name "Muddy Buddy" just sounds disturbing. I'm not a big fan of man-made mud pits and obstacles. Just go out and run/ride the terrain.

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