Cross Trail Classic
Dear Editor: I have logged many thousands of air miles to run marathons over the years and it was an absolute delight to be able to run in the inaugural Sitka Cross Trail Classic Marathon on Saturday in my own back yard. I have never before run a race where the volunteer support crew outnumbered the runners. It was great being cheered on by friends and neighbors.
The course was challenging mentally and physically for the runners and it had to be worse for the volunteers who had to stand in the drizzle and deal with the no-see-ums as we ran by.
I would like to give a big thank you to all the volunteers, Sitka Mountain Rescue, Sitka Police Department, Sitka Fire Department and EMS, and a special thanks to the Sitka Seafood Festival, and Penny Brown and Julie White for their efforts in organizing the whole thing. Sitka is more fit because of all your efforts.
Don Lehmann, M.D., Sitka
The Runners
Dear Editor: On Saturday, I watched yet another wonderful Sitka event: The Coastal Trail Runners. I swear they belong to a different species. Skinny! Big strides, little strides. Elbows of arms, pumping, some tightly crooked, some swinging, and one, arms flapping, wrists loose, pushing air away. A rhythm was established, bodies magically coordinated into a steady pace, by the time I saw them. Some alone, some in groups.
Oh yes, memories yet again. Of winning races on the Fourth of July in the 1940s. Until Marilyn Latta (Anderson) arrived in 1946. Tall and lean, SHE won the races. This week 1950s students of Sitka High School, vintage now, will meet, eat, and remember. Marilyn is still tall and lean. I remain short and plump – without apologies. We may be all different shapes and sizes but we share some common good (and funny!) memories. And run, vicariously, down Lincoln Street.
Thank you, Sitkans, for providing us Vintage Folk such a variety of interesting, constantly changing, series of events, year round.
Nancy Yaw Davis, Sitka
