GRAND RAPIDS (10/31/04) -The wind launched the medical tent into the lake. The portajohns blew over. Fortunately no one had used them yet.

"There's no way in heck this is gonna happen in two hours." That's what my brain was trying to tell me at 5 a.m. as we were finishing preparations for the inaugural Grand Rapids Marathon.

Four hours earlier, high winds had lofted our med tent into the lake at Millennium Park, twisting its framework beyond repair. Gales the day before had knocked down our portajohns, whose owners could not be reached for comment.

As months turned into weeks, days and now hours leading to the marathon, it took on a life of its own. Registrations came in at an increasing pace as we approached race day. By mid-September we knew the event would be a success, and we officially closed registration at 750 Oct. 15.

Our biggest sponsor, the R.W. Baird investment firm, came through in a big way, providing custom-labeled bottled water, printing cups for aid stations, and giving us bags for race packets. Alan Martens from the Running Circles store in Grand Haven supplied staff jackets and expertise gleaned from organizing other running events. T-shirts arrived and were sent to the screen printer. Designs for medals and awards were were finalized and production got underway.

A week before the race, several staff ran the course as a dress rehearsal, checking for problems along the route, for spacing on aid stations, and, most importantly, to earn finisher medals since we would be otherwise busy race day.

Mike Lapp picked up on my "clothing optional" thoughts on our Web site's FAQ page, and ran the course naked starting at 3:30 a.m. I arrived at the park in time to catch Mike coming out of the bike path, wearing nothing but a smile and running shoes, carrying clothes under one arm in case he got arrested. I pulled up beside him, cranked up the theme from "Rocky" on my stereo, and escorted him the last half-mile into the park.

At 8 a.m. those of us with clothes on started, two of us planning to do the full marathon, several others to run the half. So Mike led our first official finishers that day.

Each of our staff members was an experienced marathon runner, sharing both a love for the event and knowledge of what runners like to see in it. Because of that, the last pre-race week went smoothly. Shirts, banners, medals and awards arrived or were picked up on time, and everything was on schedule.

At least until Saturday's winds blew in.

Gusts that averaged more than 30 mph that day had us scrambling. After the medical tent disaster, we decided to wait until winds calmed to put up more tents. We grabbed as many feet of hose as we could get to wash the "blue stuff" out of the portajohns. (Thanks, Wayne.)

By race-day morning, Mike (now fully clothed) had been up all night finishing aid-station preparations and fighting winds in a vain attempt to set up the med tent. He and his crew improvised by setting up two pop- ups, side-by-side, to take care of patients.

I arrived at the park at 3:30 a.m. Mike left shortly afterward to start setting up the aid stations. While he did that, we strung tarps across the end of the pavilion to block the wind from the packet-pickup area.

Park manager Todd Sterner arrived around 4:15 and left with the leaf blower to clean the trail one more time. When he got back, we talked about setting up the medical area under the bathhouse awnings, if it were needed. Todd and his staff came through with needed help over and over throughout the day.

At 5:30, Gault Race Management started setting up timing mats. Striders running store owner Steve Webster put up the start/finish line. TJ the DJ provided the sound system.

When Jeannie Wilcox, our medical-services chair, showed up, I was so relieved I thought, "Omigod, I forgot I had someone in charge of that!"

Activity went from near nothing to a flurry the next two hours. Runners arrived, picking up their timing chips, getting into the portajohn lines early, and warming up.

Metro Health Sports Medicine staff took the situation with the medical tents in stride, stringing tarps around the sides of pop-ups and setting up a MASH-style operation. Lynne Oosterhouse and Kathy Haase worked on the packet-pickup and finish areas. Francine Robinson and Nancy Scheer grabbed the mile markers and headed out to the course 30 minutes before the one-hour-early start.

At 7 a.m., the "velocity-challenged" runners started. When I later announced a delay of the regular 8 a.m. start, several runners groaned, but then went back to their pre-race chatter.

At 8:20, after waiting for the last shuttles to unload, the race proper started. I watched as nearly 900 runners began their 26.2- or 13.1-mile journeys, raised my arms in celebration (and relief), and walked back across the starting line. The inaugural Grand Rapids Marathon was on!

We didn't do everything we had planned to before the race started, but the things left undone were small stuff. We staff members knew our medical tent was a MASH unit, and the last mile markers were being placed as the race began. The flag from Finland I bought for the Finnish Line (get it?) was still in my car at day's end. But the important things got done, runners had their day, and Grand Rapids had a marathon.

Runner comments were overwhelmingly positive. Our harshest criticism came from us on the staff.

We have pages of notes on how we can do even better next year. We will move the start/finish area to a more-spacious site, but the course will continue using park trails near the river to maintain the flavor of the race. Most important, we'll keep the marathon runner-friendly and fun.

And the adventure continues ...

For complete race results, visit michiganrunner.net/results/ searchable.html.

Grand Rapids Marathon director Don Kern has run 97 marathons on seven continents, in 50 states (and Washington, D.C.), and on two planets (including Northville's Martian Marathon).To learn more, visit www.cooladventures.net. MR