The cops showed up just as we were congregating at the makeshift starting line. About 45 runners had huddled into the middle of Fanny Bridge, in downtown Tahoe City, California, and race director Darcy Budworth had a megaphone she was using to stop traffic in both directions.
“Get out of the road!” the policeman yelled outside his driver’s side window, lights and sirens blaring. Budworth shouted a quick “Go!” to those of us in running garb, and with that, the race began, hastily and before any of us could get arrested.
Budworth’s unofficial, unsanctioned race series is called Take the Bridge. The idea is to throw out everything you know about running races—that they’re rigidly organized, individual events with set courses and a serious, competitive energy—and introduce something more fun, renegade, and communal to the running world instead.
The Anatomy of Take the Bridge
Take the Bridge races are held at night, in dozens of cities and towns all over the world—including New York, London, Chicago, Boston, and Toronto. Instead of a set course, race organizers share…
