Lazy .08K run is serious fun-draising

SANDPOINT — It's a challenging course, the Lazy .08K run.

Starting at one end of the MickDuff's Brewing Company's Beer Hall, intrepid runners must navigate their way through several challenging obstacles scattered along the course as they race toward the finish line. First, the toilet paper toss; followed quickly by the ring toss. A brief stop at the half-way point brings refreshment — a container of gummy bears and doughnut holes — before the limbo tests racers' nerves and flexibility.

By now you might have guessed that the Angels Over Sandpoint's Lazy .08K isn't your average fun run. The focus is very definitely on having fun — and raising money to help the community.

When people first see the games and the festival atmosphere, they wonder what's going on, Angels member Shanna Yarbrough said. Then they try it and have a great time.

"We have all the people that participated the first year came back, so they must have had a good time," Yarbrough said. "So that's all we want to do, have a good time, forget about some of our things that are going on in the world and just have a great time and just support a great charity and the community."

The idea was inspired by a similar event in Texas, a .5K run, and after hearing about the event, member Kate McAlister told fellow Angels members that they should try to pull off something similar in Sandpoint.

While there wasn't room at the Beer Hall to hold a .5K — Angels say the .08K is a "loose measurement" of the distance that racers have to travel. What it does do, is allow them to hold an event where the focus is on having fun and raising money to help the community.

Holding it at the Beer Hall allows them to hold it in a central location and helps the Angels support a business that supports not only their club but many, many others in the community as well.

"MickDuff's is always one of the first breweries to offer to help with anything, whether it's a fundraiser or anything like that," Angels member Alyse Ehrmantrout said. "So they've always helped Angels, and we wanted to make sure we stayed here to help support them, too."

As racers mingled, talking, sitting at tables and as music played, getting up and dancing. Others sat at nearby tables, enjoying the sunny Saturday afternoon, many with an adult beverage in hand or for the non-legal-age participants, a root beer. Laughter, jokes and the occasional water balloon, drifted in the air.

"I think so Sandpoint's a little town and there's a whole lot of races that go on [in the region]," Ehrmantrout said. "And so it's kind of a mock of all of the other races and for everybody that doesn't want to run a 5k or can't and would rather just you know, give to a nonprofit and drink some beer and have some doughnuts."

With a limited space, Ehrmantrout said the Angels added games — and the ability to buy a VIP package that allowed racers to ride the course in comfort — to make the event as much fun and entertaining as possible.

That have-fun-while-helping-others attitude has helped the Angels raise more than $2 million — all of which goes back into the community to help others, whether it is through the Angels' Back to School Backpack Program, community scholarships and grants and a host of other programs, including Priest River Ministries for Women and rental and utility assistance.

"We just are a bunch of men and women … that want to give back to our community," Yarbrough said. "We love Sandpoint and we love Bonner County and that's why we're all here."

For racers, the emphasis is definitely on having fun.

"So this year, I took a gap year on training for the Olympics," joked Tom Bokowy, joined by wife Jacinda and friends Bill and Stephanie Aitken dressed in monkey suits in the VIP tent. "I didn't feel it safe so I decided to throw my energies into this one this year and I'm looking at, I'm looking at the podium."

Cups of Starbursts scattered around the table, and wearing paper crowns to signify their status as VIP racers, the quartets joked about their training regime and their dedication as athletes.

"I'm been dreaming … a lot of bananas, a lot of climbing, a lot of upper body work, a lot of back scratching, a lot of this, a lot of that," said Tom Bokowy, prompting laughter from the rest of the group. "So I feel we got a good shot this year."

Noting their outfits, Bokowy joked that the others who turned out had not trained and did not take the race seriously — as evidenced by their failure to wear appropriate outfits.

"I feel like the other ones aren't taking it seriously," he deadpanned, prompting another wave of laughter. "I feel like we are really the only athletes who are taking it seriously at this point. I mean, you look around I mean, you've got some people here like you can tell they're not taking it seriously. We worked hard, we trained."

Caroline Lobsinger can be reached by email at clobsinger@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on Twitter @CarolDailyBee.