A few months ago my mom texted me and told me she was going to walk in the Route 66 Race for Hospice. This is a 3 mile walk/5k run/10k run. Proceeds from this event go into a fund to help build a hospice home in my hometown of Kingman, AZ. I told her I would like to do the 10k. We were going to take a family trip up to Kingman, but my my wife's mom came down here, so the rest of my family stayed home, and I went solo. My mom ended up not being able to do her walk because earlier this week a glass shelf from her bathroom fell on the top of her foot and bruised it up real good. My brother walked it in her stead.
I had a couple of goals going into this race. One was to hit a 7:30 average. I knew that would be tough due to the big hill, but I thought if I attacked it, I would be able to make it up on the dowhill after we turn around. The other goal was to beat this old man that lives in Kingman. I don't know why he's so stinkin' fast. Honestly, if you look at him, he looks like a bum. He has stringy hair and an earth-worn face. But he starts going and he keeeeeps going. I talked to him before the race. He doesn't say a lot. I guess he lets his feet do the talking. Anyway, I didn't meet either of the two goals.
1 mile - 7:30 - I lined up behind Dan Kuch again. I lined up behind him at the Havasu Half Marathon which he won. He easily won today with a time of 35:10. I wished I would've talked to him more before the race. I could've asked him how long he's lived in Lake Havasu and what he thought of Rhett. They counted us down and he was off. A couple of guys weren't far behind, but as it turned out, they were running the 5k. After about a quarter mile my mouth became incredibly dry. It was wierd. I talked to the winner of the 5k and he said the same thing happened to him. I wanted to get a drink at the first aid station, but there was only one lady passing out water, and we were still bunched together, so I missed it.
2 mile - 8:25 - This is where we start going up El Travatore Hill. I slowed way off pace, but I was running right next to the old man. I felt like I could pass him, but thought I should play it safe, run with him 'til the turn around, then bury him. That didn't quite happen as he gapped me by a few steps, and when two other guys passed me I started running with them, and the gap got bigger and bigger.
3 mile - 8:23 - During this mile we turned onto Hualapai Mtn. Road. This body builder dude passed me. I ran behind him for a while and passed him back. Then he was running right behind me letting me cut the wind for him. Muscle-bound-jerk! After a little bit he passed me again. I decided to do the same thing to him. Couldn't tell if it made a difference so I decided to pass him. I was remembering the advice Paul gave to someone about passing people and burying them. This time when I passed muscle man I made a surge and dropped him for good. After the race he said, "I just couldn't keep up with you!" I said, "I know. I'm Lloyd Dobler. aka Burt McCumber." I really didn't say that.
4 mile - 7:36 - Hit the turn around point and was feeling good. Not good as in I could sprint all the way to the finish, but good as in I could hold the strong pace I was at. I was drinking water at each aid station and that was helping with the dry throat problem. I knew I was in 9th place, and hoped to reel in the old man who was in 5th. First I would start with the chick that chicked me. (She was actually the second to do so.) Then I would go after the guy that kept walking. Then I would go after the no shirt heart monitor guy.
5 mile - 7:46 - I totally expected this to be my fastest mile. The vast majority of this mile was down El Travotore. I was hoping for a sub 6. I felt like I was really moving, but it ended up not being as good as I'd hoped...by a long shot. Hmmmm... Still hadn't made any distance up on the four guys in front of me, but the old man sure had put some major distance between us.
6 mile - 7:32 - Still hadn't made any distance up on anyone. I started getting annoyed that walker man was still way ahead of me and that he probably was going to catch the chick. Now I started having thoughts about just cruising on in. I didn't think anyone behind me would catch me, and I should still get a PR. But I still pushed on.
0.2 miles - 1:20 (6:40 pace) - Once again I was to worried about posing for the camera to remember to stop my Garmin. It took me about 10 seconds to after they ripped the bottom of my bib off and handed me a water. It was cool to have my mom and sister there to cheer me to the finish.
So now I start to wonder if I medaled. Okay, 9th overall, two runners in front of me were female, one was the old man. I know Dan Kuch and I are the same age. Were there two more runners ahead of me in my AD? Maybe. They started reading off the AD winners for males for the 5k. I quickly realized that I would be in the 26 to 35 year old category...and I'm 35! How can I compete against these young bucks? Well I waited until they announced the winners of the 10k for males. "Third place in the 26 to 35 year old age division with a time of 48:29 - Burt McCumber." Yippee! Er, I mean, that's right. That's how I compete with young bucks!
It was a fun day. After the race my brother and I went and loaded up a refrigerator from my mother-in-law's. Then I went back to my mom's, showered, and packed up my stuff. She took me to Mr. D's for lunch where I had, yep, you guessed it, a most delicious root beer float. Then I picked up the last puppy from my brother's house to surprise my family with. The End. | 