50 at 49

So much for not coming in last! On Saturday, December 27th I ran in my 50th race of the year. I'm pretty proud of making it to 50 given all of my injuries and other health issues this year. I essentially took 4 months off during the year for these various concerns so I crammed a lot in to my productive months. Hopefully, 2009 will be less eventful.

Anyway, Saturday's race was hosted by Karsten Brown, one of my favorite members of the 50+ club. He's funny as Hell, an awesome runner, and always supportive. He's always there to cheer me on at the finish, even though he finished long before I arrived at the finish line. And he is frequently at the finish line taking pictures of those who come in after him. Anyway, on Saturday he hosted a race out in his neck of the woods in response to a total absence of races in the area on that day. He called it a non-race race with few ammenities. It was basically sign the waiver and go.

Karsten gave us instructions before the start of the race. He described it as an out and back course on rolling hills. Rolling hills my arse! They were rolling mountains! He also advised us that he didn't think there were any dogs to worry about but to keep an eye out. He also mentioned that it was hunting season so wear orange (too late for that). Toto...this definately wasn't the DC suburbs.

After the instructions, Karsten said the G word (that's actually what he said) and we were off. Several runners I know took off quickly in front of me, including Jim Moreland, Bill Stahr, Jon Palks, Bob Gurtler, and John Winkert. Shirley Sameshima, who was nice enough to comment on my weight loss before the start of the race, passed me after a couple of hundred yards never to be seen again. It really was a very hilly course and I knew it was going to be a tough day on the first hill. I usually start struggling in a race when my heart and/or lungs start screaming at me. Rarely do my legs fail me. But everything failed me on that very first hill. I blame this on the 2 track workouts I did on Friday. I didn't expect to run this race as I had planned on joing my wife in a trip to Pittsburgh to visit her family on Saturday. However, while I was running my 2nd track workout she decided that I really didn't need to go and she gave me a pass. That made it possible to run the race but certainly not as rested as I would have liked. Such is life.

Anyway, 1 woman passed me on this hill and that left me in last place. She and I stayed very close for the first 2 miles as we both walked the uphills and ran the downhills. There weren't many flat sections but we ran those as well. She started to pull away from me at about 2 1/4 miles. I was about a minute back at the turnaround and I tried to keep her in sight but it just wasn't meant to be. At about 4 miles I closed to a couple of hundred yards but she was on top of a big hill and I was just starting to climb it. I never got any closer. She ended up beating me by about 3 minutes. I finished in 1 hour, 10 minutes and 19 seconds. Pretty pitiful for a 5 mile run but I'll give myself a break since I'm an old 49 (I turn 50 next week).

When I crossed the finish line I was given an authentic Hawaiin lei but Bob Gurtler's friend (they just got back from Hawaii) and I was also given a Capitals hockey baseball cap...I think I got it for coming in last. I had a nice cup of cold water which was badly needed. Then I walked back to the parking lot with John Winkert who had just finished his 48th race of the year. It seems like he always makes a late charge and finishes with 50 races on the nose. Looks like he'll do it again this year.

I'm going to run one more race this year which will get me to 51. I think I'm going to withdraw from the King Street Mile and run the MADD race at George Mason instead. Pacer's sent a pretty detailed e-mail about the time restrictions around the Mile race and I'm concerned about getting swept off of the course. And while I want to run as fast as I can, I don't want to hurt myself running faster than I'm capable of at this time. So I'll check back in in a few days and report on my New Years Eve. Have a great New Years Eve everyone. Happy Running!