This morning, in Arlington, Texas, I did my 15th footrace since Labor Day and my 141st overall. The weather was perfect for running: overcast, calm, and chilly (about 48º Fahrenheit). I usually run the day before a race, if only to tire myself out so I can get up early the next day; but I took yesterday off, having run Thursday. I had no idea how it would affect me. I think it helped. I felt good on my warmup run through the woods and got off to a fast start in the race (a 5K). I did the first mile in 6:50. I thought I had gone faster than that. Shortly thereafter, we entered the woods on a paved trail for an out-and-back portion of the course. After a quarter mile or so, I began seeing the lead runners coming toward me. They were flying.
At the turnaround, I was in 13th place overall. I always run the final mile of any race as hard as I can, so as to get a good time. I noticed that only two of the 12 runners ahead of me were near me in age. Everyone else was much younger. (High-school kids dominate these races.) One of the two men was way ahead of me, so there was no chance that I could catch him. The other was within 50 yards of me the entire race. I decided that I had to beat him, in case (1) the first man was not yet 40 years old and (2) the second man was. The master's awards go to the highest-placed man and woman 40 and over. I've never won a master's award, and now that I'm 51, my chance of doing so is diminishing. I had to beat the man just in front of me.
In the final 100 yards, I kicked it into overdrive. I beat him by two seconds. I felt vaguely guilty about doing this, so I turned to shake his hand as we walked through the finishing chute. I asked how old he was. He said he was 40. (They got his time wrong in the results.) Alas, the man who was way ahead of me was also over 40, so he got the master's award. Oh well, I gave it my best; that's all I can do.
I finished first in my age group again with an elapsed time of 20:41.80, which is a mile pace of 6:39.67. That's my fastest run of 3.1 miles or more since 25 November 2000, when I was 43. What is this thing called aging? I'm getting faster!
