Competitors brave cold weather for A Run Through Redlands

REDLANDS – The weather was cold, and the clouds were dark, with only a hint of the sun peeking through.

In other words, it was perfect running weather.

Thousands turned out Sunday in front of the historic post office on Brookside Avenue for the 42^nd A Run Through Redlands.

Prior to the 10-kilometer (6.2 miles) run Poison’s “Nothin’ but a Good Time” poured out of the loudspeakers.

“Ain't lookin' for nothin' but a good time
And it don't get better than this.”  

Not all would agree, but there were no complaints among the runners as the race began.

Frontrunners, middle-of-the-packers, and stragglers took off under threatening skies. There were also four-legged creatures, children in strollers, fathers and daughters, etc.

We didn’t see the bloke in the dinosaur costume this year, but perhaps we just missed him.

Fontana’s Mike Watson, 38, was there to support his wife Inna Watson of a Yaamava Casino running group who is working her way up to a half-marathon.

“I’m just doing the 5k in support of my wife,” Watson said. “She’s doing the 10k. She trains with her group every Saturday and Wednesday, plus fun runs like this.”

Streaking across the 10k finish line first in a red jersey with flowing brown hair was Jimmy Grabow, 40, of Running Springs.

Grabow had a medal placed around his neck and then stopped to chat.

“My grandparents and parents live here and it’s a community event,” Grabow said. “It’s well-run and well-organized and it’s for a good cause. There’s nothing not to like about it, plus you get free Redlands oranges.”

Taking 11^th place in the 10k was Fontana’s Andres Soto, 52, who is a native of Mexico. He works construction.

“I used to run all the time, but I recently just started training again,” said Soto through his wife and interpreter, Vilma Soto. “The weather was perfecto.”

The first woman across the finish in the 10k was San Bernardino’s Melinda Driscoll, 49, who works in law enforcement.

“I’m training for the Baker-to-Vegas Relay,” said Driscoll, mentioning a law enforcement event. “I run this every year. It’s great. I’m glad it didn’t rain.”

Menifee’s Colby Piehler-Pike won the half-marathon in 1:20.11 and Redlands’ Jacob Ladd nabbed the 5k (3.1 miles) in 17:02.   

42^ND A RUN THROUGH REDLANDS

10k

Jimmy Grabow 31:33, Kris Warkentin 34:36, Joshua Weghorst 35:18, Omar Casimiro 35:38, James Lindstrom 36:17, Rodolfo Lopez 38:30, Cooper Whittington 38:46, Jorge Castro 41:07, Sheldon Ramos 41:29, Leonel Casimiro 41:44, Andres Soto 41:49.   

5k

Jacob Ladd 17:02, Ivan Wawedo 18:12, Benjamin Pate 18:14, Jonathan Hausted 18:27, Ben Sams 18:39, Josh Veloz 19:37, Nathaniel Casimiro 19:46, Ben Regts 19:51, Andrew Dahnke 19:54, Khanh Nguyen 19:59.  

Half-marathon

Colby Piehler-Pike 1:20.11, Michael Ramirez 1:22:25, Gregory Brown 1:25.38; Phillip Colunga 1:28.26, Andrejs Galeniecks 1:29.11, Connor Carlson 1:30.11, Kelley Bader 1:31.08; Adam Ewert 1:31.40, Adam Ewert 1:31.40, Victor Herrera 1:32.20, Erik Munoz 1:32.30.