From the Back of the Pack
I might always be in the back of the running pack, but I'm addicted to it! When I miss more than a day it affects my energy, attitude, and the rest of life in general! I have had a lot of "character" building runs in the deep snow, extreme nose hair freezing cold, ankle high rain, and gale force winds over the past twenty five years and find some of those days to be the most peaceful rewarding outings of all! I'm one of those runners who is slow and steady, but goes forever and ever without ever getting tired.
October 20, 2007: The Secret Race
Shhhh...it was a secret...it will always be classified...but it was a lot of wet, muddy fun, and it was the 3rd annual!
Wave one consisted of five women and four dogs...as we trudged through the swampy fields, slippery mud hills, and over the rivers we attempted to follow the pink, blue and green arrows without getting lost...We encountered some flippers, a tutu, some pom poms, some candy, and a few other carefully placed items. Just as we thought we were nearing the finish...our trusty "race director" happily informed us that we still had quite a ways to go. As we hit the road, the women in "orange" kicked it in when they thought the finish line was in sight...but I knew better and kept my steady slug like pace at a minimum...we still had almost a mile to go on this 3-4 mile top secret course!
They crowned myself and one other, (who will remain nameless to protect the secrecy of the special event)...the winners, took our pictures and we were all rewarded with beer stein's straight from Germany! We were encouraged to fill them with beer and then to ingest as much food as possible and enjoy the roaring bonfire.
Wave two was a much larger and a great deal more competitive! The second race began with about 6 men or so, 3 women, a pug, 2 big black dogs, one little brown dog who mistakenly thought her owner was actually going to run the course again, and a few other stray dogs.
The beginning pace was casual and left the water in the puddles...however, when the pack emerged from the woods a woman was at top speed and in the lead! Two of the women continued their lead and increased it significantly while striding through the soggy farm field. In an effort to "catch" the speedy women, three prominent local orthopedic docs from SMDC, CHEATED by taking a short cut....when their attempts to pass the women who were obviously blessed with tons more athletic talent than the men were, (or just drank less beer), failed, they again CHEATED and took yet another short cut! Men...what egos they have! The second attempt paid off...they were finally ahead of the much more talented female runners. As the race progressed, two competitors dropped out, probably because of the warm temperatures and lack of water like in this one other recent race that had a challenge like that...because it was a secret race...the results are also hush-hush...I'll just say an extremely talented female runner beat all those corrupt doctor men!
Our gracious winner had a few unpleasant encounters with the slimy, mud hills which can be viewed in the pictures on the news page...she's the one with the pink pom pom's on her rear!
A great time was had by all, the festivities and stories went into the darkness.