vent director Jim Irish has done it again. The 2006 Jim's Mystery Run presented by the Running Shop delighted a group of adventurous participants that were lucky enough to get signed up before the "mystery" registration limit was reached.

"I always want this to be a surprise party for each participant," Jim said. And a surprise it was. On a cloudy Saturday morning, runners gathered at Coffee X Change for some free coffee while they waited for some clues as to what the race morning might include. The runners were paired before boarding a motor coach headed for the undisclosed race location. While in transit, Jim administered a pop quiz including questions ranging from the names of the Seven Dwarfs to the area of study of a zymologist to the location of Timbuktu. As the quiz came to an end, the motor coach rolled up the dusty stagecoach road into Mescal, an old west movie set owned by Old Tucson Studios.

Runners were instructed to leave their watches on the motor coach and step out onto Mescal's main street. Everyone lined up and Jim started the race. The runners took off for an unknown turn-around point before returning to Mescal's main street for the finish. The goal wasn't to be the first runner to the finish but to the runner who most closely matches his or her "out" time to his or her "back" time.

Sheryl Felde set a steady pace over the rolling course with a difference of only 39 seconds between times and took home the Steady Betty award. The Steady Eddie award went to David Smith who clocked a 38 second difference. Connie Lopez finished with the greatest time difference landing her with a prize of a metronome! Every runner earned a finisher's medal modeled after a marshal badge and an event t-shirt.

Mescal caretaker Frank Brown provided a guided tour of the town of Mescal to all participants after the race. He recounted famous scenes from many of the movies that were shot there.

Participants enjoyed the awards ceremony on the coach ride home. Jim also had numerous raffle prizes including dinners from El Paso Barbeque Company, free dry cleaning from Paloverde Cleaners, silver goodies from Tiffany & Co., haircuts from Azure Hair Salon, race entries, gift certificates from Plaza Liquors, and my favorite, two Segway tours from Segway of Tucson.

This small event offers marathon-like value for its participants and is able to do so due to the generosity of its presenting sponsor, The Running Shop. The Law Offices of Duffield, Young, Adamson is also a key contributing sponsor. These sponsors, along with Jim' quest for a memorable, high-quality event, spell success for yet another year of fun.

Hey Jim, where are we going next year?