Sunday, December 16:
I started running in 2002, and have raced in distances from one mile to 26.2, but until today I’ve never run any shorter “track” distances. The Challenge Courage indoor track races were held at Bethel University in St Paul today, the second in a series of five winter Charities Challenge indoor track events. And it was fun, the entire event held in a spirit of affirmation and good sportsmanship. Race distances were one mile, 200m, 800m, one-mile judged race-walk, and 400m. Several of the distances required more than one heat - we were never jammed up with too many runners on the track. I ran three distances, all of them new to me. Results are not posted yet; these times are as I recall them:
- 200m: 0:35.5
- 400m: 1:19
- 800m: 3:01
What a great morning! Two parts of running are most enjoyable for me: (1) Cruising along at a pace that feels as though I could keep it up forever; and (2) Sprinting full out for a short distance just as fast as my skinny old legs will carry me - that feels so good I almost don’t care who wins the sprint. These track races offer some of the first during the warmup on the track, and plenty of chances for the second. One stalwart actually ran all five races, and all heats of most of those. He got his speed training, and logged some miles at the same time. Going into today I thought I would finish dead last in every race I ran, but I was neither last nor dead in any of them. Today is a masterpiece!
One story: One of the runners is a twelve-year old named Casey. In the 200 meter, runners line up in a staggered start, each runner on a mark according to the lane that they are to run in. Just before the start I looked back at Casey, lined up in the first lane quite far behind me, and I thought perhaps there was one runner in this heat that I might beat. But I had picked the wrong runner! A few seconds after the start, Casey shot by me as if I were standing still. I was so surprised, I almost stopped to watch him. I don’t know his time, but I have since discovered that he ran the 200 meter race in the previous event on December 2 in a time of 25.8, the best time of the day. Casey is someone to watch!
Saturday, December 15:
St Croix Valley Runners, five miles in 44:26, not a bad time for zero degrees and all of the clothing that goes with zero temperatures. We runners agreed that it really felt colder than zero, as reported at St Paul’s Holman Field; I think it was more like ten below out in the boonies where we ran. Roy, Dave, and I all ran together for safety in the cold. Nike Miler shoes again.
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