Supposedly people get wiser as they age, but I'm not completely on board with that statement. I believe this applies only to a small segment of the population. It is my view some of those people just get less ignorant, stupid and/or goofy - not necessarily
wiser.
I am ending my running year with a flurry of 5k races and it blows my mind at how this 3.1 mile run seemed like a thousand mile journey back in high school. As a less ignorant adult in his 40's, the 5k is over just as it starts to get good. Back in high school, it might as well have been a gauntlet loaded with
Pitfall! -like obstacles along with members of the Black Warriors Gang from
Double Dragon attempting to extend your pain and suffering to more than just exhaustion. Those 16 to 17 minutes felt like hours.
I'm working on getting back to the level I was back then, but the race isn't as much of an arduous task as I thought it once was. Making sure to get in a long run each week (along with my regular routine) makes the shorter races easier to navigate - making mole hills out of mountains, per say.
Having just run a Thanksgiving morning race, I signed up for the
4th Annual Shalom 5K in Carroll, Ohio for the following weekend. I obviously wanted to compete, though part of my intention was to support my
Buck Fifty Race Traffic Panthers Teammate, Gary, who was working on putting it together. The event proceeds would benefit the Shalom UMC Pantry Mission and participants were encouraged to bring along canned food items to further the pantry's focus. Like I said, it may be a short race, but the benefits go a long way toward assisting the community - much further than just setting a PR, simple exercise or feeding my competitive nature.
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A simple out & back along Plum Road NW, just off of
U.S. Route 33 East - northwest of Lancaster. |
Speaking of, it would be cool to set another PR. I'm inching ever closer to that 18:00 mark and it's pretty exciting. I haven't come anywhere near running a 17-
something or other since college and let me tell you how disgusting it is to know that 1996 was 21 years ago. And, oh yeah, I turn 42 on the 20th - holy crap. I'm not one to obsess about age, but time just seems to be flying by...maybe if I blink less it will slow down.
This route would start at about
Bloom-Carroll High School and follow Plum Rd NW for about a mile and half before a return trip along the same path. Eerily similar to the path details with the previous week's race in Grove City, though many more rolling hills would be encountered.
And the weather would again keep us on our toes. The Thanksgiving morning run last week came with a bight, sunny sky and a temperature of 25 degrees. It would again be sunny on this December day, but it would somehow be 50 degrees. Sooner or later the bottom of this "bend, but don't break" weather thing is going to fall out and winter is going to arrive with a vengeance. Until that time, all fall and winter (and spring) gear will be readily available. For example, on Tuesday of this past week it was
62...in Ohio...in late November.
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| When neighbors hate you for existing | | | | | | |
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Oh, I forgot to mention, my lovable old and crotchety "
We Hate Craig, because we're old and crotchety and he isn't" neighbors have embarked on a new plan. For the last week, in our building's community mailbox area at the front entryway - the sliver of paper with my name on it in my mailbox slot (indicating I'm the apartment #1 resident) has been disappearing. I replace it...it then vanishes.
So, my subtle retaliation is making use of those free gift, stick-on address labels you get in the mail this time of year. I wedge one of those bad boys in the name slot pocket everyday as soon as I get home from work - it, too, will be gone within 24 hours. Though, you can tell it is a struggle for them to remove it as the floor will then be littered with bits and pieces of the former label - it's sad little ashes unceremoniously scattered near the postal service destiny of which it never had the opportunity to fulfill. I cry a little tear each time just knowing it fought the good fight in the never ending battle of minding your own business versus senility.
It gets even more interesting as I cover the label with scotch tape a few times. On Thursday, I found a rock (garnered from the building's front walk) laying near our mailboxes. You could tell it was used to scrape the taped label off my mail slot, as it was covered with scratches and dents from some intense effort. Funny, but I'm happy to help the haters, as they are quite the sedentary kind of folk. The more exercise I can offer them, the longer and more miserable their existence can be -
'Tis the season of giving. And I have lived in the same place for 4 1/2 years, so there are thousands of those damn labels at my disposal (hoarding has its advantages). This cold war continues and I have a stockpile of holiday issued ammunition thoughtfully supplied by a variety of non-profits preying on our holiday good will.
See what I mean about getting less ignorant, stupid and/or goofy - not necessarily
wiser.
Anyway, race day began with the 90 minute drive south to our (Lauren B. and I)
Fairfield County destination. A good mix of sun & clouds gave way to mostly sunshine as the crowd of 40 or so prepared to run or walk. When time came to hit the starting line, Lauren wandered off to find the best spot for photographing the adventure. At the gun this kid of 14-ish years of age takes off like rabbit, hoping to avoid wanting to race him off the bat I attempted to just keep within arms reach. He slowed down a bit, allowing me to reel him in and eventually pass him - but he continued to linger.
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| The kid blasts off, I try to stay close |
The kid knew what he was doing. Every now and then he would speed up and pass me, but trail off and I would drift by him again. At the mile marker, I find myself at 5:36. Probably a little faster than I wanted, but I had to take it. A quarter mile before the halfway point (our turn around), I get enough of a lead that I don't hear him. As I do the about face to head back, the skinny kid with long legs is around 15 yards behind me. Upon passing him and wanting to be pushed, I yell at him, "Let's go, come get me brother!" I wanted him to, if not leave me in his dust, run alongside me the rest of the way.
The second mile was definitely slower, but I worked on keeping my stride long and pushing my elbows through it. Mile two timed out at 12:00 (6:23) on the dot and I hear folks cheering for the speedy kid hanging out behind me as we start to hit some of the downhills. I try to focus on keeping a steady, but speedy pace and cover mile number three in 6:00. The finish is just ahead and up a decent incline and I can hear the footsteps again, I turn my head just enough to see the stick figure in the black hat inching closer.
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| Jailen, the 13 year-old dynamo, and me. |
We get to the base of the finishing hill and I yell, again, "Come on brother, come get me! Come get me!" A moment later he strides up alongside and just as he attempts to blow by, I match his pace. We run side-by-side for a few steps as we crest the hill and then I let up just enough and he glides ahead crossing the finish line first. I take second with an
18:27 (matching my return-to-running 5k pr set the previous weekend) and Jailen (I found out his name shortly thereafter) is your winner at 18:25. Rather impressive since I overheard him tell someone at the start that he was looking to run the race in
exactly that time. I was happy to have been his rabbit.
Upon congratulating the kid, I discover Jailen is all of 13 years-old AND had played in his middle school's basketball game earlier that morning - scoring a deuce and pulling down five rebounds. If there was anything that ever made me feel
old, that was it. Quite impressive and if he sticks to the running thing, he has a crazy bright future ahead of him. I can only imagine what it would have been like to be 13 and running 18-minute 5k's.
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| I'm a geologist, I swear |
After the race, Lauren and I traveled further south to visit
Rockstall Nature Preserve, a little known jaunt loaded with rock formations & water falls near the
Hocking Hills area just outside of
Sugar Grove. It is definitely hidden away and most people find it, I'm assuming, by accident. Lauren, luckily, had been there before.
We then headed back north to hit
Rockmill Brewery to sample some of their
Belgian Inspired Farmhouse Ales, just outside of
Lancaster. A visit is highly recommended, as it is on a former horse farm and the tasting room gives you a cozy cabin-like atmosphere complete with a very friendly brewery cat. They had plenty on tap and more in bottles ready to open or purchase for home consumption. For food, we hit Steak & Shake on the way home and more was garnered as we watched Ohio State beat Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship game at a local joint back in Marion that night.
Back to running, over the last few weeks I've started adding (again) a long run each week. My plan is to try to tackle some longer, tougher races in the coming weeks. The first major one of those may be the
Brokeman's Winter Warm Up Half Marathon on January 14th, 2018. I ran the eight mile race at this event last year
(my first return-to-running long race while preparing for the inaugural Buck Fifty Race) and survived, but have since built myself up a few notches.
And having stepped up to the half marathon this year (ran my first two in 2017), my goal for next year is that elusive 1:30:00 mark - 1:39:40 (
Grand Lake Half Marathon in Celina) & 1:37:06 (
Nationwide Children's Columbus Half Marathon) are decent opening attempts, but they just aren't good enough (I've had training runs faster than those races).
In the meantime, I'll be wearing out my new Garmin Forerunner 935 and Running Dynamics Pod
(Thanks Lauren B!) with every backwards running stat you can name. (Early Christmas/Birthday gifts rock!) Follow me on Garmin Connect (or Strava):
crsimp01 and share your dorkdom.
You tell me that you're ready but you just don't know
My eyes are getting heavy and it's starting to show
Never seen it coming, never seen a thing
Maybe I'll get through what's ever coming to me
Cause I've been so unlucky I don't know what to say
Running out of money I've been wasting away
I never seen it coming never seen a thing
Maybe I'll get through what's ever coming to me
We fall
We fall down
If we fall
We fall down
If we fall down hard I'll be ready to grow
I'm ready
I'm ready for it
I'm ready
I'm ready for it
I'm ready
I'm ready for it all
Look me in the eye when I am talking to you
It's easy to get nervous I've been feeling it too
Yeah it's kind of crazy, yeah it's kind of dumb
But never let the pressure overpower the fun
Yeah I'm sure your parents probably said it to you
Follow what you love and you will love what you do
And never let the pressure tell you that you're not
Capable of being everything that you want
We fall
We fall down
If we fall
We fall down
If we fall down hard I'll be ready to grow
I'm ready
I'm ready for it
I'm ready
I'm ready for it
I'm ready
I'm ready for it all
I'm ready
I'm ready for it
I'm ready
I'm ready for it
I'm ready
I'm ready for it all
Look me in the eye when I am talking to you
It's easy to get nervous I've been feeling it too
Yeah it's kind of crazy, yeah it's kind of dumb
But never let the pressure overpower the fun
I'm ready
I'm ready for it
I'm ready
I'm ready for it
I'm ready
I'm ready for it all
(Photo spread courtesy of Lauren B!)
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| Jailen for the win |
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Fun with sticky tack at work, because actual December-like
weather has been hard to come thus far. |
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| ...to the finish. |
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| The swag |
