A First -- A Third!

Yesterday was a running milestone for me. I came in third in my age group in a race, and won a prize, for the first time ever.

The race was the Bob Corda Memorial 5K, which is part of Homecoming Weekend at Southern. I've run in it twice before. It's usually a pretty small field of faculty, staff, students, and alumni. This year, with it starting at 8:00am on the morning after Halloween, and with the temperature a chilly 43 degrees at the start, there were almost no students running. But there seemed to be about the same number of "Masters Runners," as we over-40 folks are called.


I know a lot of the people who run in this race, and I use that as inspiration. Last year, I finished just behind a certain faculty member from the Computer Science department, and I really wanted to beat him this year. I started the race kind of easy, and about a mile into it, I found myself next to this guy. I stayed with him for a couple of minutes, and then turned it up just a little bit and pulled ahead of him.

Next on my radar was the race organizer, a staff member who works closely with Student Government. Since students were helping with the race, telling us where to turn on the course, they all cheered for her whenever they saw her. Since I was just behind her for a while, I thought they were cheering for me, until they said her name. But I took that as some inspiration and passed her, too.

At about 2 miles, I was passed by a man about my age. I kept him in my sight, hoping I'd be able to pass him near the end, if I kept something in reserve. Passing him was important -- I wasn't sure if he was in my age group, but I thought he might be, and since I placed 4th last year, I figured if I could pass one person, I'd have a shot at a prize this year. With about a half mile left, slowed down, rubbing his calf. I asked him if he was OK as I passed him. (He said he was fine.)


(A cheap victory, coming in third because of an injury to an opponent? Heck no. The race isn't just about what happens on the course that day. It's about everything you do leading up to that point, too. My superior training and preparation paid off for me. I earned it.)


I finished in 28:38 (about 9:14 per mile), one second slower than the race I ran in Massachusetts in late September. I was hoping for a little faster time, but I'll take it. It earned me third place in the Male 40-49 year old division, and my prize was a $5.00 gift card to Dunkin Donuts. After the race, I used it to buy coffees for Isabel and me, and then I met her at John's soccer game.


(But the DD people let me keep the card. I'm going to frame it.)


The official Homecoming photographer was at the race, so I'll have a link in a few days with a picture or two of me on the Southern website.