4th Saturday in August, Legg lake, Whittier Narrows, 8:15 AM Start.

App and info: Click on Menudo Run above.

Julie Miller's report on the Menudo Run 5K/10K - September 11, 2004 8:15 a.m. Legg Lake.

Flyers Lois and Allen Franke, Bill Dietrich, Lori Esquivel, Theresa Esquivel-Lopez, and Julie Miller did the National Latino Peace Officers Association's 21st annual Menudo Run at Legg Lake Park in El Monte. This is small colorful local race, sponsored by the Sheriff's department and the California Highway Patrol, that loops around Legg Lake. It's easy to get to - just go south on Santa Anita, and just as you cross over the 60, you'll see the race area in Whittier Narrows. The 5K is one loop around Legg Lake, and the 10K is two loops. There are trees providing some shade, and the race is held on a very nice sort of dirt trail that's easy on the knees. You pass flocks of geese, and folks racing remote controlled boats, along the route. Friendly police officers and chippies point the way along the course. Tip - there weren't very many porta-potties at the start of the race that were decent, but if you walk around the lake, you'll find restrooms with flush toilets.

At the end there are lots of nifty freebies including fanny packs, and blinking lights. They serve menudo. They also serve beer, soda pop, tortillas, and the other usual running food after the race. The tee-shirt is very cool - a colorful Aztec-looking design of a runner striding toward a big bowl of menudo. Lori Esquivel and Julie Miller both were thrilled to get their first medals for being first in their age divisions. Lois Franke decided it was time to get pick up umpteenth first place medal in her age division. She wants Allen to get her a special vacuum cleaner to sweep up all the medals that she is going to get next year. Bill Dietrich picked up his gazillionth first place medal too. Stella complains that she has to take them to the car wash to keep them all clean. Teresa Esquivel-Lopez proved that she was smarter than the rest of us, by opting for the 5K rather than the 10K due to the heat - but missed out on an interesting thing we learned about this race - there aren't a lot of women, and most of them do the 5K. Now maybe this means that women are smarter than men, and have figured out that running around the lake once in steamy hot weather is better than running around it twice. However, this also means that if you are a woman, and you do the 10K, you'll have a better chance of getting a medal. (No guarantee; Lori and I did compete against other women in our age division, but nothing like the competition in the 5K.) An honorary mention should go to Allen Poohbah Franke, who was blowing everyone away, until that defrocked Irish priest that jumped out of the crowd and knocked him out of the race, just like at the Olympics. Actually, he was dehydrated and the heat got him 1K from the finish. He thinks he was passed out for about 3 minutes. After an IV and observation at an El Monte hospital he was pronounced OK and turned over to Lois to take home. Moral: always start a race on a hot and / or humid day well-hydrated and then rush over to the picnic area to hydrate some more with a big bowl of menudo.