At 6:45 a.m. on the Saturday of the May 1997 meeting in San Diego, 100 analysts, relatives, and friends gathered at the waterfront starting line of the First Annual American Psychoanalytic Association Road Race. Entry fees from the race went to support the activities of the Fellowship Committee, which sponsored the event. Robert Pyles, president-elect of The American and honorary chairman of the race, was one of the first to arrive.
During the crucial warm-up period, there was little discussion of the pre-circulated paper that entrants had received at sign-up. This paper, citing Freud's peripatetic training analysis of Max Eitingon in 1907, questioned the lowered athletic standards of contemporary training analyses. It was not until later in the race that a discussant from the sidelines addressed the issue of why psychoanalysts run.
The pleasantly tropical air made the early morning race environment a comfortable one. In her introductory comments, race organizer Kathy Loper of Kathy Loper Events outlined the morning's activities. A five-kilometer course for runners, a two-kilometer course for walkers, and seating for official observers were available. Conviviality and prizes awaited all at the finish line.
At the starting whistle, contestants set a rapid pace. The serious athletes were accompanied for the first kilometer or so by those of high ambition but less skill. Discussion was initiated by a participant who referred to the complex race course directions given at the starting line. He stated that the race was a neurocognitive test as well as an athletic event. The course was indeed sinuous, tracing the contours of piers and waterfront parks, but direction was maintained by a corps of American Psychoanalytic Association Fellows who pointed the way at each turning. Some contestants interpreted the Fellows standing with arms outstretched and fingers pointed as metaphorically orienting The American toward the future.
Midway in the race, small cups of water were presented to participants by members of the Fellowship Subcommittee, including subcommittee chair Elise Snyder. In the latter part of the race, a significant exchange occurred. As runners and walkers passed by in their Freud T-shirts, a homeless woman on the sidelines asked runner Lee Shershow, “Are you running for mental health?”
Lee replied, “We're running for Freud!”
“But Freud is dead,” the sideliner persisted.
Now many yards down the course, Lee called out, “Freud lives!”
At the finish line, Loper had installed an official race clock. Cheering official observers, accompanied by vacationers and San Diegans who had stopped to watch the race, encouraged the finishers. Timers employed by Kathy Loper Events gave each participant his or her result. The running race was won by Wayne Jones, with a time of exactly 20 minutes for the five-kilometer course.
The winning runners:
Female, under 39: Cynthia Cork
Female, 40-49: Aleen Hood McAllister
Female, over 50: Jan Baeuerlen
Male, under 39: Timothy Rayner
Male, 40-49: Don Houts
Male, over 50: Wayne Jones
Walker, female: Maria Shershow
Walker, male: Jeffrey Settelman
Pyles finished second in the division for male runners age 50 and over. Don Houts of San Diego, winner of the 40-49 division for men, contributed greatly to the organization of the race. After much deliberation, it was decided to withhold first prize for female walkers from Maria Shershow and award it instead to her son David (age: birth minus two months), who finished one millisecond ahead of his mother. Needless to say, winners in every category are now record holders for American Psychoanalytic Association Road Races.
Refreshments were available for all at the finish line. Stories were shared and speeches were made. Each winner received a premium bottle of wine as a prize. The prize for best race discussant went to Lee Shershow.
The Second Annual American Psychoanalytic Association Road Race will take place next year in Toronto.