Absolutely beautiful morning in Northwest Arkansas after last night's rain. Once the early morning fog burned off, not a cloud in the sky. Temp in the low 50s. I arrived at Drake Field shortly before 8 a.m. for the Iron Pig duathlon and 5K. I figured the main deal was the duathlon and the 5K was just kinda tacked on, and that appeared to be the case once I arrived. Lot of white bibs, bike shorts and people writing their bib number on their calves with a Magic Marker. Not too many pink bibs for 5K people. So I'm starting to think I might have a chance for a decent finish.
The duathletes went off first, men, women, then relay teams. Then the 5K crew lined up. Less than 40 of us, not many appeared to be 40-plus. One appeared to be a football player -- tall, really muscular. Turned out he was, back in the day, by the name of Michael Snowden, who played for the Hogs from '96-'00, got an NFL tryout as a wide receiver with the Titans, and still looks like he could go over the middle at age 32.
We had chips on ankle straps for this one; no mat at the start but one at the finish. I'm not used to that setup yet, but I guess it works. PA announcer counted us down and off we went. Pretty quickly I figure out that I can see everyone in front of me, which makes sense on a wide-open airport property with no trees. There's a guy in a blue shirt, a guy in a white shirt and cap, a couple of young women, a couple of prepubescent kids motoring along at a pretty good pace, the football guy, and me. So I'm in eighth place. We get out onto the main runway, 6000 feet long, and I set myself on catch-and-pass mode. Pass one young woman, then four people all at once, including Mr. Snowden and the kids. Now there's Blue Shirt, White Shirt, and me. By the end of the runway, I've reeled in White Shirt and I'm in second. Blue Shirt has already turned onto the taxiway and disappeared behind some stragglers from the family fun run, but I know I'm in second. Goal is to stay there, and maybe reel in Blue Shirt if he hits the wall.
I'd planned to run sub-7 miles, but at this point I'm just cruising. Not horribly tired, not straining, it was cool enough and windless, so weather was zero factor, and I even remembered to wear sunglasses this time. I'm not looking at my watch, I'm just trying to maintain pace and pick it up when I pass stragglers. Turn off the taxiway, through the tarmac, back around the hangars, and suddenly there's the finish, not much more than 100 yards away. Just tried to stay smooth, heard the announcer call out my name, and crossed the line. Second place. Then I looked at the Garmin: 2.76 miles. Not only not a 5K, not even close. Rats, or other words to that effect. I really felt strong, and I would have obliterated my 5K PR if it had been a full 5K. But I was on the podium for the first time in my life.
Sure enough, there actually was a podium ceremony. Blue Shirt beat me by 1:16, and I finished six seconds ahead of White Shirt. We had our photo taken together. No hardware yet; that will be mailed to me. No age group award, I suspect, even though I was first masters finisher and first (and only) male 45-49. But that's OK. I will now have hardware that's more than just a finisher's medal. Michael Snowden finished fifth, won his age group, but I beat him by 1:40. He looked like he was just jogging when I passed him. He was probably still just jogging when he finished. And a 9-year-old kid finished sixth. | 