Well, it’s been another month (almost two) but here is the update that I promised. I have completed 8 races this season and still have several more that I plan on running. As teased in my previous post, I ran with someone famous during the Race the Lakes 5k.
This year’s Race the Lakes 5k was the Road Runner’s Club of America’s National Championship race and several runners from all over the country came to attend the RRCA convention and run in the championship race. Around the two mile mark, I was passed by an older man. As he passed, I remarked to him that these little hills sneak up on you and he agreed. I then noticed that almost everyone passing in the other direction acknowledge this man by name. “Hey Bill!””Keep it up, Bill!” “You’re on my turf now, Bill.”
This puzzled me as I had never seen this man before and didn’t know why everyone would know his name. I commented to a woman I had been yo-yoing with “Is there anyone he doesn’t know?” and “This makes me wish my name was Bill.” I finished the race in 22:55 (after having run the Race the Lakes 10k 45 minutes before) and 2 places behind this mystery man, who finished in 22:35. It was only later, during the awards ceremony, that I found out that my mystery running partner was none other than Bill Rodgers, four-time winner of the Boston Marathon and the only runner to winner all three majors (Boston, New York, and Fukuoka) in the same year.
If only I had known, I might have been able to muster a :20 sec faster run and add beating Bill Rodgers to my running resume! Granted, he‘s 62 and I’m 29, but it still would have been cool.
Since my last race recap, the Rotary 5k, I have completed 7 other races. You can check out the results of all my races here. Here are a few details about those races.
- Bill Duncan Memorial 5k: New 5k PR! 20:46 on a familiar course but run in the opposite direction
- Race the Lakes 10k: First ever 10k. Set a new PR here as well
- Race the Lakes 5k: Ran this 45 minutes after the 10k and ran with Bill Rodgers
- Mayfaire 5k: Largest local race. Finished 4th in my AG and won a mug
- Five Finger Frenzy: First off-road race. Course was a tough mountain bike single-track. Won my AG
- Watermelon 5k #1: First race of the series. Discover my AG has a lot more fast guys than last year. Finished in 11th with a 21:18 with the top 4 guys all under 20:00.
- Watermelon 5k #2: Moved up to 8th place overall. :09 seconds away from 6th place.
Here are some photos to from the past few months to help fill in the gaps:
 Race the Lakes 10k Finish |
 Me, in red, approaching the Mayfaire turnaround |
 Mayfaire Finish Line |
 Five Finger Frenzy AG Podium |
 Me and one of my AG competitors Brad |
 Watermelon 5k #2 Finish Line |
 Me and Sandy in Daytona this December. Not a race photo but still one of my favorites |
