This morning, in Arlington, Texas, in beautiful weather, I did my seventh footrace of the fall. I hadn't run more than 3.1 miles in almost two months because of my aching hips, but I decided to do the 10K rather than the two-miler. (It was my 42d 10K race.) I felt strong for the first three miles, but faded somewhat in the second half. During the fifth mile, a man in my age group caught me. Earlier, during the second mile, I had caught and passed him. He beat me by about 75 yards. There was another man just in front of me for the final couple of miles. I wasn't sure how old he was, but I thought he might be in my age group. I hoped I would be able to outsprint him at the end. Alas, he had more left than I did and finished 4.4 seconds ahead of me. I thought I might win the third-place trophy, but a ringer from California showed up and creamed everyone. I ended up fourth of 10 men in my age group, and therefore with no trophy. That's how it goes in racing. I was 32d overall of 153 finishers.
My overall mile pace was 7:19.92 (elapsed time = 45:33.7), which is slower than the 6:55.54 of a year ago on the same course. I attribute the decline to my achy hips, which prevented me from training properly. I'm tempted to ease up on the racing until my hips heal, but I'll probably race again next week. It's an addiction, you see. By the way, unless there was a mistake, the overall winner in the 10K was a woman. I don't think I've seen that in any of the races I've done over the years. After the race, Katherine, Luki (her grandson), and I browsed the Maverick Activity Center on the UTA campus, where the races were held. There was a lot of wholesome food and drink for the runners. Luki did well (and had fun) in the kids' 1K. He's only three years old!
Addendum: The overall winner of the 10K was not a woman. The woman listed as the winner actually ran the two-mile race. This happened with other people as well, so I finished 30th overall of 151, not 32d of 153.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 