On Saturday, June 1st I ran the Giant's Head 5.4K
in Summerland. There was also a Man of Steel Triathlon http://www.summerland.ca/departments/parks/Man%20of%20Steel%20Triathlon%20Entry%20Form.pdf that went on all day long, plus a 10K that started the same
time as my race at 6 PM.
When I arrived there for the race the first thing
that I noticed was a huge amount of young people, little kids plus teenagers,
warming up and getting ready to race.
As we waited at the starting line, which was on a
street a couple of blocks over from the finish line beside the aquatic centre, a
guy in his 20s standing behind me told me that he thought it was awesome that
all those kids were running the 5.4K. He then told me that he was running the
10K, and said that maybe he shouldn't have just eaten a big plate of poutine
right before the race. Probably not!
It was almost 6, so the race director gave us quick
last minute instructions, a 10 second countdown, and we were off! After
about 30 meters we turned left and the 10Kers went right. We ran along a main
drag, and I got past the main block of youngsters, but some stayed with me and
even surged ahead. Then we turned off again, running along some quiet
residential streets, and soon hitting a fairly steep hill about 300 meters long.
As I was running up it in the heat I was thinking I probably did well last year
to finish in 23 minutes and change, and thought there was no way I was going to
run that fast this time around.
As we crested another hill that was shorter but
much steeper than the first one, there was a fellow in his late teens in front
of me, plus a kid who looked about 9 or so. A volunteer a few years older than
me was standing there, and he yelled at us that there were some little kids
farther up ahead of us, implying we should try and catch up to them. I figured that the older young runner was thinking the same thing as myself, "Who cares?", as he
was struggling even more than I was, and eventually I passed him.
With less than a kilometer to go the young kid was
still in front of me, and as we hit the main drag again I sped up, but so did
he. There were people along the street cheering us on, and we hit the turn down
the street to the aquatic centre and the finish line.
There were less than 200
meters to go, and we were running downhill. I slowly gained on him, but he heard
me coming and looked back at me. We gave the crowd a good laugh, with me racing
behind him as fast as I could, and him giving it everything he had to prevent an
old man from beating him. I was going to let him win, but I didn't have to, he
beat me fair and square. I told him he ran a great race, and he just nodded,
holding his side with an expression of pain on his face. About 10 minutes later
I saw him sitting by the aquatic centre still holding his side and asked if he
was okay, and he said yes, and soon he was fully recovered.
There were bananas and oranges plus juice,
water and slushies for us after we'd finished our races. I grabbed a little
sustenance, and stayed awhile at the finish line, cheering in the finishing
racers. After grabbing my jacket and camera out of my car, I went back and got a couple of pics.
Next I headed a couple of blocks over to the park where there was a huge stage
set up with masses of prizes on it. We also had a huge selection of food to buy
from the many food carts set up around the perimeter. I had some great Thai food
plus an ice cream cone topped with butterscotch sauce.
There was a massive crowd now gathered, and thanks
to the generous sponsors, a couple of thousand dollars worth of prizes on the
stage to give away. Like last year, I failed to have my name drawn for any of
them, but that's okay.
Interspersed with the prize draw was the awarding of
medals for the various races. They had teams and individuals from the triathlon
as well as from the 5 & 10 Ks, presented by Miss Summerland and her
princesses.
I'd won my age group again this year, so when it was my turn I asked
a young fellow standing at the front of the stage to take my picture. It was
only me alone as the other 2 guys grabbed their medals and immediately exited
the back of the stage.
Right after the last awards were given out it started to
rain so our emcee wrapped things up quickly and we all happily headed our
separate ways.
I finished 6th of 442 overall, and 1st of 35 in my
age group, with a time of 23:22, the exact same time I ran last
year!
Since I'd traveled all that way already I thought I
may as well run another race, so on Sunday morning I ran the Dirty Feet 5K
at Myra Bellevue Provincial Park in Kelowna. The 21K race had just taken off at
9:30 as I arrived and managed to snag a scarce spot in the parking lot. I headed
up into the woods to the start area and got my race bib, and then went for a
warmup. At 10 myself and many others cheered the 10K runners as they started
their race, and then at 10:15 it was our turn.
We ran out from the start and quickly turned right
and ran through the woods along a mud trail. The race was aptly named, as it had
rained recently, and there was no way you weren't going to get "dirty feet".
After awhile the trail narrowed to a single track, and we ran out into the open
and through some scrub bushes. There were patches of water to go through and the
rest was wet mud, with the exception of some rocky parts where you really had to
watch your footing.
I ran behind a young woman for quite awhile,
watching as she had more and more mud caked to the back of her legs, and knowing
the same was happening to me. Again there was a volunteer along the way at one
point who told us that some youngsters were kicking our butts. It was cloudy but
still pretty warm, and like yesterday we couldn't afford to care.
We came to a steep downhill with about a kilometer
to go, and the woman in front of me tore down it. I managed to keep her in sight
for most of the rest of the race, but that was about it, as she slowly increased
the gap between us. Finally I heard the race announcer and knew the end was
near, and headed down the single track and to the turn to the finish where
people were waiting and cheering us in. I crossed the line and Rebecca, who won
the women's race, was waiting for me, and we congratulated each other on a good
race.
They had water, eload and coffee to drink, and
gummy bears, chips, popcorn, bananas, oranges, and cookies to eat, and I
refueled a bit and then went to my car. I grabbed my camera and went back to the
finish line to get some pictures and cheer the people coming in.
After awhile I
went and asked the race director when they would have the award ceremony for our
race, but he said it wouldn't be for another hour. Since I had to work that
night I decided it was best for me to take off, as I had a long ride home ahead
of me.
I ended up 5th of 85 overall, 1st of 3 in my age
group, with a time of 28:16. In both races a youngster named Jacob finished
close in front of me, and another named Elijah not far behind me, but they were
different kids in each one!
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