Monday, September 03, 2012

MDRA Victory 10k

This wonderful late-summer race is a long tradition in Minnesota.  The best runners come from all over the state, even out of state, 500+ strong, to compete on flat, smooth, wide, straight Minneapolis streets entirely closed to traffic.

Yours truly in the last mile
I had three goals: (1) Meet up with my running buddies, the men and women I’ve competed with for ten years.  I haven’t run any other local races this year, so it was fun to reconnect; (2) Run a fairly intense six miles, but without risking injury; and (3) Get a final test of the hernia surgery that was almost six months ago.

The race was fine - I enjoyed it a lot. Mostly I ran 60 seconds and walked 20, resulting in a pace that increased slightly in the last three miles and averaged out to exactly 10 minutes/mile.  The results have me 11th of 14 in my 70-74 age group, and I think it’s amazing and wonderful that there are 14 "young" men and two women in that age group who still enjoy racing each other.  Seven more finishers were age 75 and over, including two women, and including two men in their 80's.  These people love life.

Whining: None!  I hereby pronounce the hernia surgery a success.  Victory over the hernia at the Victory 10K. YAY!

I ran a marathon a week ago, and a fairly intense (for me) 10K today.  Before the surgery that combo would have hurt a lot, but not today.  That’s a very good signal.  There is still some paresthesia (skin pain) around the incision, but that may continue for months or years and it’s barely a minor annoyance.  Bottom line: the hernia appears to be cured.

Nothing else hurt today either.  I’m ready for the Sioux Falls Marathon six days from now.  Can’t wait!

Splits: 10:06, 10:14, 10:07, 9:51, 10:00, 11:51 (1.21371 mi), total 1:02:08, pace 10:00.  Huh.  It’ll do just fine for now.  Life is good.
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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousSeptember 04, 2012 2:23 PM

    Again, congrats on your running accomplishments Don.

    I think it's great that people in the 70+ age group are getting out there and running. In the running club I was with for awhile, we had a guy in his 80s out there running along with the 60 year olds. There was a guy in a local cycling club that I learned was almost 90 and still going strong. I'm 40 but I can tell you that you guys are great role models for me in how I'd like to spend my own golden years! And maybe by doing so I could also extend those years and make them better ones. Very inspiring stuff.

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  2. DonSeptember 04, 2012 2:30 PM

    Yep those guys are amazing, and they are my idols too. My own aspirational goal (wish) is to run a 5k at age 100. My Dad is 99 and doing pretty well, so the genetics are there, but I do have to get past this tiny little problem of incurable cancer. :-)

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