Lighthouse Run 2009

After a few days of rain, the weather turned perfect (OK, maybe it was a little warm for the runners) Saturday morning for the 2009 Lighthouse Run in Downtown Racine. Here are photos taken before, during and after the race, which featured four-mile and 10-mile competitive runs and tw0- and four-mile fun runs and walks. (These photos were taken during the four-mile fun run.)

Official results are HERE.

A huge crowd mills around the starting line waiting for the cannon to announce the start of the 10-mile race.

And they're off!




Hundreds (thousands?) packed Lake Street for the fun run and walk.

Team ORZC starts the fun run. The Zen meditation center's motto was, "When we're not running, we sit."

A runner cross the Root River ...

Leaders in the four-mile competitive race were coming back while the fun-runners turned the corner onto Main St.

Another four-miler ...

One of the youngest competitors gets a cool down from volunteers spraying a hose near the Racine Zoo.

A few costumed characters took part ...

... that's a giant bee!

Here's a 10-miler cruisin' with about two miles to go.

Working hard ...

Ah, the finish is in sight!

The crowd cheered for the 10-milers crossing the finish line.

Afterward, people milled the streets and enjoyed a brilliant summer day! See The Journal Times' for stories about race winners. We were too far behind to keep track of them!

Unexpected faces on the Lighthouse Run course...

Update: Here's an inspiring story from Lighthouse Run. Carrie, from Racine, has lost nearly 100 pounds in the past year. Here's how she did it.

Scrolling through the Lighthouse Run results (HERE), one finds lots of familiar (or almost familiar) names -- folks we wouldn't necessarily expect to find on a racecourse.

We saw a few city officials before the race, and looked up their times after it. Below are Ben Hughes, Racine City administrator, the only city official we spotted who ran the 10-mile course. (Please let us know who we missed!) He's standing with Q.A. Shakour II, District 8 alderman since 2004, who ran the four-mile.

Benjamin Hughes, 36, 10-mile time: 1:19:43.8;

Q.A. Shakour II, 54, 4-mile time: 36:20.8

Police Chief Kurt Wahlen also ran the four-mile run.

Kurt Wahlen, 52, 4-mile time: 39:24.0

Then we ran into Sen. John Lehman near the finish line, who quickly disabused us of the notion that he had run. He was there to support his wife, Cathy, who ran the 10-mile race -- her first -- in honor of a relative coping with a brain tumor.

Catherine Lehman, 53, 10-mile time: 1:42:44.8

A couple of other names jumped out: Dave Maurer, 57, executive director of the Racine County United Way, completed the 4-mile run in 37:19.5; and Alan Ruud, 61, founder of Ruud Lighting, completed it in 35:48.8.

Congratulations all around!

Our awe, however, is reserved for some folks we've never met. For example, Nancy Spencer, age 69, of Berlin, WI, ran the 10-mile course in 1:46:52.4. And seven men over the age of 70 also completed the 10-mile run. The oldest was Paul Gionfriddo, 85, of Muskego, WI, who ran the 10 miles in 2:01:04.5. Not far behind was Jim Morrison, 79, of Racine, who ran it in 2:15:43. A Kenosha septuagenarian, Joe Paleczny, 79, completed it in 1:42:08.1.
And, no, those ages are not typos: 85 and 79. Wow!

Our other pictures from the Lighthouse Run are HERE.