***********************
The race is called the Bob Corda 5k, and it's part of Southern's homecoming festivities.I wasn't sure I was even going to run this one. They had been calling for nasty weather -- 40 degrees and rainy. Two friends dropped out Friday, thinking that getting up that early just wasn't worth it if they'd also be cold and wet.
But I stayed in, for one reason: last year's race was also cold, and it took place at 8:00 on the morning after Halloween. Small field, so I came in 3rd in my age group, and took home a $5 Dunkin' Donuts gift card for my trouble. I figured if the weather was nasty, I could take home another prize this year.
***********************
We had a busy morning: John had a soccer game in Branford at 9:00, and Peter had band practice in West Haven at 9:30 (in the opposite direction). The race was in New Haven at 8:00. So Isabel took Catherine to John's game, and Peter came along with me as my Official Support Crew. His duties included taking pictures of me at the start and finish. I'm sure it's just coincidence that there are no real usable pictures of me running, but he did take several nice shots of attractive female undergraduates.
The race began and ended at the student center, so Peter's duties mostly consisted of buying something at the Dunkin' Donuts and listening to his iPod for a half hour and staying out of trouble.
***********************
We had left home late, and arrived 15 minutes before the race started. My whole pre-run routine was thrown off. I had no time to listen to music, little time to warm up, and I forgot my Gatorade at home. I registered and tried to get warm (it was 38 degrees out at race time, but the rain held off.)
After I registered, I got my t-shirt. The woman giving them out asked Peter if he wanted one. "No thanks," he said. "Are you sure? They're free," she said. "No -- I'm good," he told her. "Peter," I said to him, "It's a free shirt--" he cut me off with "NO." We walked away from the table and asked why he was being that way. "I'm not wearing a shirt like that," he said.Which is when I remembered that this year's homecoming theme is "A Fairy Tale Homecoming," and the shirt had a variation of the Princess Castle that served as the official logo.
OK, he's 12, and he's not much into princesses. We'll let the whole t-shirt thing go....
**********************
As I was getting ready to line up at the start, a man walked by with his daughter. She was about 7 years old. They were both running in the race. I was thinking to myself, "Well, I can probably beat her, anyway," when Peter said to me, "I got 5 bucks that the kid beats you."
Ladies and gentlemen, how about a big hand for my "support crew"....
*********************
I started out too fast, and had a whole bunch of people pass me, including two guys who were probably my age. But neither pulled out too far ahead -- maybe about 20 yards away from me.
About a half mile away from the finish is a nasty hill. Kills me every time. Just before the hill, I looked at my watch and thought, "I could finish this in under 28 minutes." Then the hill slowed me down. Considerably. After the hill, I thought, "I could finish this in under 29 minutes." Then I realized I had misremembered how much more running I still had to do, and I said to myself, "If I finish under 30, I'll be happy." I was just started to recover my breath from the hill.
I got to Founder's Gate, where you can start to see the finish line, and was trying to decide if I had enough left for one final kick to catch those other two 40-somethings in front of me, when I saw that they had gone off the course, taking a different (slightly shorter) path in front of the Arts Building. Obviously, this was their first time on the course, and obviously no one had guided them about where to go. So they still beat me, and probably won themselves DD gift cards in the process. It's an informal race -- no one was going to disqualify them.
And realistically, I probably wouldn't have caught them.
*************************
Peter and I had a quick post-race breakfast, and then I had to change my clothes and get him to band practice. I might very well have come in third for the 40ish men, but I haven't gotten a phone call or e-mail yet telling me where to pick up my gift card, so I'm probably not getting one.
Which is fine. The race benefits a scholarship fund, so it's better that we had a nice-sized field this year. Besides, I only race against myself.
My time of 29:28 comes to 9 minutes and 29 seconds per mile. Once again, I say: Not bad for an old fat guy with cancer.
******************
By the way -- I beat that 7 year old girl.
By a lot.
No comments:
Post a Comment