The Paso Robles fog came to Hume, Virginia on race day Sunday morning.
The Paso Robles fog is a ride and tie term coined by vet Jim Steere
denoting an amazing and thankful turn in the weather just in time for
race day. What had been days of rain and buckets of drenching just hours
before the start ended up with a full, double and brilliant rainbow and
drying sun for the rest of the day!
Just at the same time Valerie Kanavy with a trailer full of horses and
my ride and tie partner (some say victim) Jan Worthington pulled into
camp. Since Valerie and ranch are just an hour from the Marriott Ranch
race site and Jan having driven 800+ miles from Illinois was staying
there it was easy for them to come that morning for the 10:00am start.
Jan was tenuous about starting, having trained in the same manner as one
of my last partners, Maryben Stover. Worry about the race for four
months, buy a pair of running shoes a week before the race and train for
three days at the most. Well I have only one thing to say about Jan's
abilities and it is the same as I said to her.
"Jan, you caught onto this as fast as Becky Hart did. You trained the
same as Debby Lyons suggests. You are as tough as George Hall. And you
are as much fun and resilient as Maryben Stover." She said back to me,
"Is that a compliment?"
It doesn't matter because performance is what counts. Here Jan
Worthington, who has never run more than 100 yards before, bought her
first pair of running shoes and ran off with FIRST PLACE in the 20 plus
mile Marriott Ranch Ride & Tie.
It was an amazing day, Danielle Kanavy and Wendy Mattingly won the 10
mile event and surprised themselves too. Next year they are committed to
doing the longer event along with the rest of us.
A special thanks go to Jeanne Lichtenberg, Lani Newcombe and Kathy
Brauddus for their organizational efforts. The Marriott Ranch outside of
Washington, DC was a great race venue and we are looking forward to
being back there next year with over 10 entrants from the West coast.
Steve Shaw