Count this as a race I’d like to forget or even be disqualified from. I had taken over the #2 position at Mile 2.7 and had second place virtually locked up with a half-mile remaining — but then I got hopelessly lost. Crying out “WHICH WAY?” in vain to the atmosphere, I turned around to see runners behind looking equally discombobulated. “Inexcusable,” exclaimed the #3 guy, referring to the non-existent course markings at the end. Ultimately, after darting down an embankment and climbing over a chain-linked fence, I found my way to the finish line, but only after I had lost eight minutes. Instead of finishing second in a PR 39:xx, I finished in 47:xx after an angry sprint to the banner.
Oh well, it was a charity event to abet illiteracy in India. And I got to see a bunch of ol’ pals. Four of them, in fact. Continue reading »
“We’re only two points apart in the series,” my friend Katie told me last week. “We could have quite a battle.”
Today was the final race in the Fort Collins Running Club’s Tortoise & Hare Series of runs, and since both of us were out of the running for the series’ overall win, “not getting chicked” by Katie seemed like a good motivator for putting in a good effort today. Since this was a “handicapped,” staggered-start race where the slowest runners begin first and the fastest start last, this meant that I’d have to catch and pass Katie (who’d be given a 10-minute head start) and then one more person to tie her in the final points standings. A tall order, especially since I knew that Katie was getting faster and faster, but I kind of like these sort of challenges. Continue reading »
It may have been considered balmy (around 30 degrees) compared to previous 10-kilometer Tortoise & Hare races, but there were a couple early-morning signs that this winter’s Lee Martinez Park 10k would be no cakewalk. First was the way my all-wheel-drive roadster went around a corner onto snow-covered College Avenue: a four-wheel slide, Steve McQueen style, but at at 10 mph. Second was the sight of two race participants abruptly quitting the race after only 1.5 miles. One of them was ambling back to the staging area not long after I commenced this fastest-people-start-last race, and he yelled, “ice beyond the [something that sounded like 'ramp'].” Continue reading »
I have to admit that I initially thought Kenny’s plan for the Tortoise & Hare races was brilliant. A few months ago he told me how he had been “sitting on his butt” all summer so that he would be slower for the initial T&H races, yielding slacker predicted times and a higher probability of racking up bigger points in future races. But today in the Rolland Moore four-kilometer race, it seemed like someone or something was trying to foil his plan.
“Please note on your blog,” he told me, “that [Kenny's wife] Amy was faster in the last race, and yet she’s still starting before me. Totally unfair!” Continue reading »
“This year,” said Nick, “I am going to win a pie.”
Considering the phenomenal year Nick has had in running (five first place finishes, five seconds, and two thirds in distances ranging from 10 kilometers to 100 miles), the only question in my mind was whether he would win a pumpkin or apple pie for finishing in the top three in his age group in the four-mile Fort Collins Thanksgiving Run. That and if I was going to run the race too. Given the prize money and consequent depth of the field (2,000 racers including Olympic-caliber marathoners), there was no way I was going to win a pie nor finish in even the top 10 in my age group. Plus, I had hardly been running in the last couple months. Maybe it was better to be a spectator with a warm cup of hot chocolate instead.
“Come on,” said Nick. “It’s a Thanksgiving tradition.” Continue reading »
“Oh crap,” I replied to my friend Jen who asked me a question online 45 minutes before the start of the Warren Park 5k. “Is it this morning? Um, there’s still time! Um, I guess I should come even though I haven’t been running AT ALL.”
Forgetting about the race and waking up late is probably not the best way to get ready for a five kilometer run. Neither would being fully clothed in warm-up gear from head to toe while blabbing away with my friend Dana when buddy Nick (the race director and Dana’s wife) matter-of-factly stated, “Felix, you start in 30 seconds.” Continue reading »
