Pot users compete in games
race took him about 9 minutes, but no one was quite keeping track.
The women’s firstplace runner, 28-year-old Kate Modzelewski of Fairfield, also wasn’t exactly sure when she got to the finish line, but thought it was around the 12-minute mark.
The runners — many of whom were completely sober — extolled the physical and mental benefits of marijuana. Modzelewski, who had vaped before running, said the drug helps her focus and, in general, keep depression and anxiety at bay.
Aaron Flynn, who served as a Marine sergeant before founding a cannabis cultivation company, said a gummy with 5 milligrams of weed before the race was the perfect amount to relax his muscles and prerace jitters.
Tyler Baker, 22, a cafe manager in San Francisco, said it’s particularly helpful for relieving aches and pains that follow intense workouts.
“It’s just clarity,” said Baker, who was among the first finishers, sporting a joint behind his ear. “I don’t have to listen to music. I can just listen to things around me.”
Baker said getting a medical marijuana card was life-changing, and he hopes that Prop. 64 passes so that people like his grandmother would be willing to try cannabis without as intense a stigma surrounding it.
“Your brain is a house, and it puts a new room in your mind to sort things out,” he said, explaining how weed treated his fatigue and depression.
Much like the industry at large, many at the 420 Games were split on Prop. 64. The event’s founder, Jim McAlpine, said parts of the proposed law are flawed, but he’ll still be casting a “yes” vote.
McAlpine, who’s opening the world’s first cannabis gym and health center later this year in the Mission District with former NFL player Ricky Williams, said Saturday’s race was about changing the minds of “nonbelievers.”
“Whether I’m lifting weights, swimming, mountain biking, skiing, (marijuana) gives me an extra degree of focus,” he said. “My reactions are quicker, and I have a flow state, if you will.”