Last Sunset

It is with a sense of sadness that I heard the news of the demise of yet another race;the Sunset Classic.
The race nearly paralleled my running career,spanning 1984-95. I only competed in three of the last six.,eight of eleven overall. Family responsibilities made it harder to attend in recent years,it wasn't the type of race to bring little kids to. Maybe I helped cause its demise,although I heard insurance problems were the main reason.

My first Sunset was 1985. That year it was held on July 3 which was a Wednesday. The reason I know such minutia is because it was the second of three races in three days for me. I had run the Sneaker Factory Tuesday night series the night before and would compete in the Firecracker 4 mile the following day.

I never ran the race faster than I did that first year. Feeling no ill effects from the previous night's personal best at four miles. I hit 3 miles at 19:15 and couldn't believe how strong I felt. I barreled past a bunch of runners in the last 300 yards to finish in 31:35.

One of the things I really liked about the course was the way you circled the stadium on your way back to finishing with a 300 yard sprint around the track. I always enjoyed running track,so this was a good chance for a strong finish,knowing exactly how far to the finish line. Running around the stadium before you entered it reminded me of the way the Olympic marathon ended.

It was a generally a fast course with a couple of good hills more than compensated for by generous downhills. Much of it was through neighborhoods filled with people who contributed their own little water stops and hosed you down if it was hot.

Another thing that distinguished this race was the extremely high percentage of non-runners that competed. Long after I would finish there would be hordes of them in bikers' pants,softball shirts and
other such gear. These "runners" were here for one major reason,the postrace party.

And what a party. Beer,pizza,hot dogs and soda. There was plenty of everything at a post race party that always outlasted me by several hours. Hundreds of people milling around a well lit fenced off area. The rush for the pizza that was gone with blinding speed.

And how can I ignore those great collared shirts with the Sun on them? You would see people with those shirts on all over the place. On our honeymoon cruise,we initially befriended a couple because the guy was wearing a Sunset shirt. You could take them anywhere.

And still I know a lot of serious runners that never experienced it. And many people who ran it didn't run competitively. To many it was more of an event than a race. Maybe it was the closest thing we had to Bay to breakers in the percentage of non-runners it drew.

I hope this race makes a comeback.The running world is poorer without it.