Team Ladera fielded a father-daughter team of Mike and Jennifer for
the Tahoe Half Marathon and 10K races respectively.
Jennifer, after several years out of running because of
Achilles tendonitis, finished the 10K in an unofficial time of 65
minutes.
Mikey, complaining about how hard it was, finished first in 70+ for
the third consecutive time in 2:17, a few seconds less than his last
year’s winning time.
At a post-race press conference on Pope Beach in cloudless skies with
temperatures in the 80’s that sent many into the lake, Roberts
announced his retirement from Tahoe racing. “My light may not be as
bright as it once was, [these danged compact fluorescents are hard on
the eyes, he said] but it’s bright enough to know to quit when you’re
ahead.”
As the audience of beer guzzling runners relaxed on the warm sand, he
continued on to thank his parents for the genes that keep him
running, his loving spouse Lenore for letting him indulge his running
fantasies, and his daughter Jennifer for her marvelous training
advice.
Amid calls to finish, he also thanked the support of SMATBRAW, the
hard work of Senators Boxer and Feinstein to restore Tahoe
ecosystems, the wonderful event organization of Les Wright and the
whole Tahoe Race Week gang, and finally encouraged everyone to send
letters of support to the Obama Administration for the stimulus
programs that have been so vital to keeping us all running.