Rage Race Report: 2007 Eugene Marathon

Eugene, Oregon - A start at the front doorstep of Pre’s house? Warm up loops on the same surface where legends have run and 2008 Olympians will emerge…?

Does it get any better than that?

Uh…yes it does. Especially when you add Boomer, K.C., The Bavarian, T-Bone, the Endorpheinds, Coop, Josh, The Rage and everyone else that finally got to sleep in their own beds the night before a marathon...which hasn’t happened since 1982 in this town.

And the best part is none of us had to mortgage our homes to do it, like race director Richard Maher did, to bring a marathon to this city and thereby erase one of the few blemishes on the resume of the otherwise undisputed running capitol of the planet.

Nor did we have to get up at 3:00 a.m. to set up the course or help keep 1,500 people alive who would be spending a good portion of their Sunday doing the equivalent of running darn near to Drain, Oregon as the crow flies from Hayward Field.

Or if you’re not interested in getting flushed down some drain, and are not a crow, how about just running to Crow…just west of Eugene, which is about half that distance? That’s what 2,000 of the rest of us would be doing.

So, let’s find out who would have made it to Drain…or who may have felt like they got hung up in the plumbing somewhere along the way….

The Rage, Boomer and The Barvarian would be opting for the half marathon, with The Rage having a few demons to exorcise from a blow up earlier in the year at this distance.

Larry Coxe, an aspiring 51 year old would be making his half marathon debut.

Everyone else would be running the marathon…or, if you asked some of them…the “Varsity” race…leaving the unspoken (or, in some cases LOUDLY spoken) assumption that the half marathon would be for the “J.V.” Hmmm…..

So, there you have it. The fire had been lit….and they were off!

It was a scene that will undoubtedly be repeated for many years to come: A throng of runners the full width of Agate Street, taking a hard right on East 15th…onto Fairmount Boulevard…and then down

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