Running in the Shadow of Tragedy
- A Walking Tour of Olander Park
- Olander 24-hour4 Race, 2001
When I
returned from running the USAT&F national championship 24-hour
race at Olander Park in Sylvania, Ohio, held on September 15-16,
2001, I wrote a brief race report that I posted to the running
email lists I subscribe to. Later I found I could never get around
to writing an appropriate version for this Web site, one that
would properly reflect the horror of the surrounding circumstances
of that week. The race was run only four days after terrorists
attacked the US on September 11, 2001. There had been talk of
canceling the race, but this seemed to be an inappropriate
response. The race was carried off in fine fashion, and only a few
runners from the west coast were unable to get transportation.
Those who ran did so with a variety of heightened feelings about
the value of the lives we enjoy.
I am writing this web page on September 14, 2002, one year
later, and as I work, the 2002 edition of the great Olander race
is in progress, with the most impressive field of participants in
its history. Today seemed a fitting time for me to unearth the
digital pictures I took from last year and to share them here.
There are two slide shows for your viewing pleasure. The first
is a walking tour of Olander Park, the race site, taken the
afternoon before the race. The other consists of images of the
race, taken mostly by my wife from a location near where I set
up.
 |
| Front and back tags were neatly printed,
and included the runner's age group (not age!) in
addition to his race number. |
 |
| Tear-off runner-specific, bar coded,
pre-printed mileage tags record mileage run |
When I
returned from running the USAT&F national championship 24-hour
race at Olander Park in Sylvania, Ohio, held on September 15-16,
2001, I wrote a brief race report that I posted to the running
email lists I subscribe to. Later I found I could never get around
to writing an appropriate version for this Web site, one that
would properly reflect the horror of the surrounding circumstances
of that week. The race was run only four days after terrorists
attacked the US on September 11, 2001. There had been talk of
canceling the race, but this seemed to be an inappropriate
response. The race was carried off in fine fashion, and only a few
runners from the west coast were unable to get transportation.
Those who ran did so with a variety of heightened feelings about
the value of the lives we enjoy.