Place Name Age Div/Total Time 1 Jacob Korir 27 1/213 14:34 2861 Pennsy 48 128/136 44:06
There it is. I finished 2861st out of 3209 runners, 128 out of 136 in my age group. My time was 44:06. That's more than a minute and a half faster than I ran back in May. I took two walk breaks, both during the second mile. I didn't time them, but I don't think either was much longer than a minute. Mrs P was there at the start and the finish. She also made her way to the half-way turn to cheer me on. My wife is the bomb.
No chasing anyone this time. When I felt myself tempted, I just raised my gaze up to the horizon and ran along to my own tempo. I wore my iPod, and that may have helped me to stay within myself. There was a woman I paced myself with for a mile or so, but I let her go when I took my first walk break.
One of the unique things about this race was its start time. The gun was at 8:30 PM. I don't actually remember the sun going down, but I was dark when I finished. At around 2.5 miles, right about the time my leg blew up last time, Bruce Springsteen came on my headphones singing Born to Run. I just started laughing and running. Bruce got me almost all the way to the 3 mile split. After that, I took off my headphones. I wanted to hear everything. The crowd clapped and encouraged us from the shadows as we jogged, walked, and rolled our way into the light and over the line. No accolades. Just Mrs P and God and Me, all three knowing that something kind of special was happening in the cool Kentucky evening.
No injuries to report. My glutes are sore, but I always find that kind of encouraging. I figure that if I'm working those big old butt muscles hard, then I'm doing something right.
So I feel very good this morning. I am proud ofcoming back, and grateful for Mrs P. I really don't think I would have kept trying if it weren't for her believing in me.
I'm not kidding myself here. I know I'm not ever going to be competitive. The men who win in the 50 & 60 year old divisions are running about twice as fast as I do. I may not ever hear my name called at the award ceremony, but after the way I lived most of my life, every step I take is going to be a victory.
Today is a day off, then tomorrow I'll resume training for 10K on August 31.
Peace,
Pennsy
Congrats!!!!
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