Last year I ran a few 5Ks in a series they have at naturist
resorts around Texas, and I realized that if I'd run one
more I'd have finish second in the masters category for the
series. So this year I'm running more. The first one was
Saturday near Austin.
The resort was pretty nice as these things go, with tennis
courts and a swimming pool; the office/eating area had a
sign, "Nekkid Lunch Cafe." About 100 people entered the
race. We started running up a hill in the woods -- the turns
were hard to spot and I went the wrong way just a few yards
from the start, and since I was in the lead at the time
several people followed me. We figured it out quickly and
only lost a few seconds, but several people had gone past by
that time. We sorted it out, and I was briefly in the lead
again -- I hollered, "Don't follow me, I'm lost", then when
someone pulled alongside me, "Don't pass me, I'm not in your
age group." Heh.
We ran through the parking area, on dirt/sand roads, through
some trees and into a big meadow. By this time I was in
fifth place; the lead group of three guys was pulling away,
as I'd expected -- I remembered a couple of them from last
year and knew I had no chance of catching them. Fourth place
was a guy I thought I could catch if I were patient enough.
The race people had mowed a squiggly, switchback-y course
through the meadow, and we ran up, down, up, down -- it was
fun, and I was fastest in that part of the course. (They had
kilometer markers instead of mile markers. I've been trying
to break 20 in the 5K for some time, which is 4-minute K's;
I ran the first K in 4 flat and the second, in the meadow,
in 3:48.) I passed the guy ahead of me somewhere around the
2K mark. It was fun being able to see nearly the whole field
of runners around that point.
After that we went into the woods, up a hill and along some
sandy roads -- I mean real sand, fine sand, no-traction
sand. I was struggling by now, and my third K was 5
minutes. The guy I'd passed was right behind me all this
time. The fourth and fifth K stayed in the woods, on the
mostly sandy roads, and I pushed as hard as I could; I
tried to run on the edges of the road where there was more
traction. (Reminded me of a half-marathon on snowy gravel
roads a few years ago.) Both splits were just a hair under
4 minutes. Ran past a cabin with a sign, "Caution: Nekkies
at play." With 500 meters to go I looked back, and finally
that guy wasn't right behind me, so I just struggled in. My
time was 20:43. For a cross-country race on a warm
afternoon after a 3-hour drive, that's pretty darned good,
I think. I'll take it.
All three guys ahead of me were under 40 so I got the
master's award. The guy behind we was 8 seconds back, and he
turned out to be 43. So that little duel turned out to be
for masters vs. age-group honors. Felt nice to win one of
those battles. I got a trophy, the "Old Sneaker award", in
the shape of a beat-up running shoe. Pretty nifty!
Post-race food was sport drink, water, bananas and oranges.
They had a barbecue later in the evening, but I had to get
back home. I did take time to hang out with the other
runners and cool off in the pool. Good fun was had by all.
Two and a half stars. Brian Bob says check it out.
--
Brian P. Baresch Fort Worth, Texas, USA Professional editing
and proofreading
If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston
Churchill