It’s been awhile since I Must Run Everywhere had a quiz. Sprint McDowell, former host of the quiz show Race to Win was the source of my previous quiz posts, but he had to resign in disgrace. Sprint is pictured below after receiving news his improprieties had become known.
So I’ll come up with the questions and the topic is Spokane Running Clubs. Readers who live out of the area may feel disadvantaged because you live out of the area. However, like Sprint McDowell use to do, I’ll embed clues in the questions to give you outside individualists a chance to win a gold star.
Good luck~ I hope all of you finish in a tie for first!
Question 1 – Name the granddaddy of all Spokane running clubs that was started by a guy named Peter in 2006 and has spawned a bunch of other running clubs over the years.
A.) Acme Running Club
B.) A-1 Running and Fitness
C.) ABC Running Club
D). Flying Irish
Question 2 – Ben Bersagel started a group in 2016 that meets Wednesday evenings at the below location in downtown Spokane. Name this running group.
A.) Brick Building Running Group
B.) The Bersagel Running Co-op.
C.) Iron Goat Running Club
Question 3 – Aric Trantum started the Beer and Blisters Running Club that meets Sunday mornings for a 10-mile run. How did he come up with the name Beer and Blisters?
A.) It’s a truncated version of the meet up location, a coffee shop/bakery named, oddly, Bread, Brownies, Bagels, Beer and Blisters.
B.) One day Aric was popping a blister on his foot and beer shot out.
C.) A name concocted with a pair of words many runners associate with running.
Question 4 – Jody Shapiro, pictured below, started the Manito Running Club in 2008 which meets year-round on Saturday mornings. Where do they meet?
A.) The Vista House at the top of Mt. Spokane.
B.) Down by the river, under the bridge.
C.) At the 18th Ave. entrance to Manito Park.
Question 5 – The Brick West Running Club, started by Joey Addington, has had 3 names since it was originally established as C:/Next IT/Run in 2011 by Jeff Schuster. Why the name changes?
A.) The group had to enter the running club witness protection program.
B.) Next IT, an artificial intelligence software firm where Jeff worked, asked him to change the name because forward slashes had become uncool.
C.) The Monterey Cafe, where the group met, took over sponsorship and the group’s name from Next IT. Eventually Monterey management ceased sponsorship, and Joey found a new home at Brick West in 2021.
A quick break and a confession – I have an ulterior motive for doing this quiz. I know with 100% certainty that I’ll be hearing from Sprint McDowell. He’ll blow his top when he finds out I did a quiz post when previously he did them for me. It’s comical watching him lose his temper. Sprint talks so fast that he uses the wrong words, mispronounces them and his facial expressions are hilarious. It’s great entertainment. Here’s Sprint getting mad at me during a Zoom interview when I “accidentally” called him Spuds McDowell.
Okay, on to Question 6 – For years, Dominic Bartoletta (pictured below) has made the inflated claim that the group he manages, Run Perry Run Club, might be the 4th best running group in Spokane. How does he justify this extravagant boast?
A.) There’s no justification. It’s a profusion of preposterous wishful thinking.
B.) A runner once told Dominic that she rates his group somewhere between 4th and 15th best on her personal scale. Dominic took the high-end rating for his frequent online promotions.
C.) Conor Craigen, co-manager of the Run Perry Run group, made it up and Dominic believes him.
D.) A local weekly, The Inlander, published an informal readers’ poll for best running clubs. Run Perry Run was not among the top 3 named. With self-deprecating humor, Dominic came up with the slogan, Quite possibly, the 4th best run club in the city.
Question 7 – Which running club meets Monday evening in Spokane Valley?
A.) The Palisades Running Club whose founder, the intensely lazy Brett Danielson, doesn’t even get off his couch to attend club get-togethers. Members meet at his house.
B) The Millwood Milers, managed by Lisa Skay and Sadeen McAlister. Running routes are posted on social media not in miles, but kilometers. The group should change its name to The Millwood Kilometerers.
C.) The Green Bluff Running Club whose founder, Jim Dietz, settled on a barn in a rural area north of town for post-run socializing. The building by happy chance houses Big Barn Brewing Company.
D.) The Spokane Valley Running Club, started by David Blythe, meets at The Monkey Bar. With a bison logo mascot, incorporating animals into group identity should be taken a step further with members called gazelles and David being Head Gazelle.
Question 8 – The SoHi Running Group use to meet Mondays at Miguels Mexican Restaurant on 29th. Their use of the restaurant was revoked. Why did Miguels take this action?
A.) Group members’ tradition of wearing oversized sombreros at the post-run gathering knocked servers’ trays to the floor, poked customers in the eyes and damaged hanging light fixtures too often.
B.) An ongoing dispute with the rival Highlander Running Group, started by Eric and Summer Enser, which also meets on the South Hill, resulted in frequent post run brawls in the Miguels parking lot.
C.) During the pandemic, Miguels halted inside service. Since reopening, business is down and being open on Mondays is not yet feasible.
Question 9 – Greg Wallweber started a group in 2016 called Tuesday Off Season Running Group. What is the basis for this group’s name?
A.) Originally named Thursday Off Season Running Group, several weeks of comments and explanations by members finally convinced Greg he had misnamed the group which always meets on Tuesdays.
B.) In Greg’s own tangled words: “Tuesday and Thursday are major days. But which is more majorer in the off season? That’s a hard decision especially when Monday is a close 2nd and Saturday is really improving. Suddenly Wednesday looks like a winner.”
C.) When the Run Perry Run group ends organized runs at the annual autumnal time change, the Off Season Tuesday group starts up for diehard winter runners.
That’s it. if you guessed the last answer given for each question, you got a 100%. I have a wall chart hanging in my office. Email me your name and I’ll write it in and affix a gold star after your name.
The groups in this quiz can be characterized as social running goups. A few small social groups weren’t mentioned, as well as ones whose main focus is competitive racing. The Bloomsday Road Runners Club, which puts on a bunch of races and has been involved in many aspects of the local running community, has been around since 1978.
Finally, now that this post is online, I see a notification requesting me to join a meeting. I’ve devised a way to look in as the “inviter” waits for me to join. Here’s a screen shot. See…just like I predicted. It’s Sprint McDowell, and he looks very, very mad.
The minute I join this meeting, Sprint will go into a tirade. This is going to be fun.