PAAVO WEST

The Alumni Perspective

By Pat Wylie

arent quite that Spartan, but perhaps thats a good thing. PAAVO TRADITIONS Sunlight Basin Repeaters 1. Start on the Horn 2. Never the Same because of Van Odometer Sunlight Basin Bridge 1. Look Down the Canyon that Chief Joseph led his people through. 2. Drop a Rock and Time It 3. Find a Braniac to Calculate the Distance. Dinner 1. ChilliMac with Grilled Cheese 2. Enjoy the fire!

DAY 9 Sunlight Basin Repeaters

Today we woke up to another freezing mountain morning. The Coaches and I stood by the fire and tried to warm up. The runners went for their AM run and I got a few pictures. All day I was waiting to watch the sunlight basin repeaters. Another round of card games (I won a few) and a good lunch was all we needed to get ready for the run. Coach Sellers and I drove out to the starting line and watched the runners get ready. I knew that this was a really unique run that was exclusively run by the Paavos. With the start of the horn I took a picture as the runners started another competitive run, caught up with the van, and hopped in. We stopped a half mile later and waited for the runners to catch up. Sunlight Basin was a beautiful place. The scenery provided the perfect setting to get better, and towards the end of the workout, the loneliness of a distance runner really showed. Watching them come around the bends or over the hills one by one was very rewarding, not to mention it made for some great pictures. No one does it quite like the Paavos, and no Paavo is ever the same, but we always try to preserve as much tradition as we can. When we visited the Sunlight Basin and looked over the bridge into the canyon we threw a rock over the edge and timed it (the Paavo way). Then we got to see some crazy tourists jumping over small portions of the canyon. We