On Sunday, March 10th, I ran the Lakeside Resort 5K in Penticton. We started out at 10 AM just down the road from the Lakeside Resort & Casino on Lakeshore Drive. All the elite runners streaked ahead and then other runners passed me as we raced down the road running alongside Okanagan Lake. Soon I settled in with a group of runners running at the same pace, and we turned left onto Riverside Drive. I heard someone running behind me now, breathing hard, and I picked up the pace trying to stay ahead of whoever it was.
We turned left again onto another street, now looping back toward the finish, and the runner, a young woman, passed me. I stayed behind her for a bit and then repassed her, but soon we were coming up on people who had slowed up, and began going by them, weaving in and out. I honestly can't remember whether she fell back or raced ahead of me, but I lost touch with her as we turned left and then right, running on Lakeshore Drive again.
We were running straight ahead toward the finish line now. With about three hundred meters to go, one of the spectators, a guy about my age, yelled at a young woman behind me "Lets go Katie, go get that old man! Reel him in!" I thought "Old Man! I'll show you Old Man!" She never did catch me, but Katie did place second in her age group, while I ended up sixth in mine.
Photos by Dirk Handke
We crossed the line and they kept us walking down a long chute and then looped us around again to where the volunteers collected our bib numbers. I ran to my car and got my jacket on, grabbed my camera, and then ran back to the street where the runners were coming in, and got some pics.
Next I went into the hotel where they had a nice ballroom reserved for us. At the back of the room they had the food tables set up, with Timbits, little boxes of raisins, bagels with cream cheese and jam to spread on them, plus cut up bananas, oranges, apples, and melons. To drink they had Gatorade, water, and coffee.
Photo by Dirk Handke
Photo by Dirk Handke
I grabbed some Timbits and a few other things, poured myself a cup of coffee, and then went to refuel and get out of the way of the other incoming racers. There was a table with door prizes on it, the names had already been drawn and were stuck on them, but I checked and found I hadn't won anything. There was now a huge lineup to the food table, and I'd had my fill anyway so I wandered outside and saw one of the twins from the River's Spring Runoff last year. He asked me if the award ceremony was over yet, and I told him they hadn't even started. I said I was wondering when the results would be posted, and he said it should be soon, as they were packing up the last of the finish line area right then. We went inside to the ballroom and he told me his brother wasn't running today, only him. I wished him luck and went to say hi to Bruce Wark.
Bruce was surprised to see me and I told him that I'd be running more races in the Interior this year. He said he was planning on taking it easier this year and not run that many races. Bruce said we should go sit down so we went and grabbed a table, and then they presented the awards. In spite of "not being too prepared this early in the season", Bruce was first in his age group by a long shot. I took a picture of his nice medal but ended up blurring it. Next time I'll check and not just assume I took a good picture.
I was 6th in my AG, but I told Bruce even if I'd had more training there was no way I could have beaten any of the top 3 anyway. Having not seen each other since last year, we chatted for awhile even after the awards were all finished, but then it was time to head out, as I had a little bit of a drive home. Bruce said to say hi to my clubmate Rick when I saw him, they go back quite aways, I said I would, and we both headed for home.
They didn't have results posted there, but they do now. Bruce was 20th overall with a time of 19:10, and I was 54th with a time of 21:46. My chip time last week was 21:45, and my gun time was 21:47, so at least I'm consistent!
Here's also a huge bunch of pictures, courtesy of Dirk Handke, who ran the race with a camera mounted on his head, and still finished 38th overall!
My next race is the St. Patrick's Day 5K on March 16 at 10 AM in Stanley Park.
1 comment:
Hi Gord,
Good job on another great run! The photos are great ~ it looked like a really well organised event!
Congrats to all the participants, but especially the very young, the seniors, and it's always nice to see parents signing up with their children.
Cheers,
Eva, Pashmina, and Rupert
Go Gord Go!!!
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