The Glory

Thump Thump Thump in all my 11 years had never heard my heart make so much noise as reached backwards with the right hand to secure Keith Manley's hand off of the baton followed by pushing forward as fast as could. The goal to get to the finish line of the 4x100 at Muscatine Iowa's Jefferson Elementary sixth grade track fest first meant would need to run faster than ever had in order to pass Denny Johnson a few yards ahead. Churning the arms, only toes touching cinder I pulled near even by the 75 yard mark. He then went into another gear and again I was two steps behind. Then somehow made a burst to pass Denny up leaving him no time to respond. Our room won the meet and I won a moment of glory that  burns ever brighter as time moves along.

Sixty two years later am still running, still on occasion floating, still winning. Well not actually winning races but winning when complete any and all runs whether they be a 3 mile jog or a 3+ hour stretch. Since the pandemic era from March 2020 have put in over 7000 miles with buku long runs and up tempo sessions.  Only one actual race done in that time frame but did do 6 virtual marathons, and three accumulation events. August 2020 ran 252 miles and came in second out of 62 participants and first in age group of which was the only one. Exceeded 250 a few other months too.

But none of those achievements, or older ones for that matter  matched the heart pounding sensation of that 1961 relay. None that is until May 5, 2023, the day did the Flightline 5k (3.1 miles) with son in laws Ray and Albert. Had planned to do two earlier races with them but an abscess tooth going on one of those and the other we spent too much time at Hank's the night before. Lucky we escaped with Ray still intact.

Hanks

patrons 

So when the guys said lets do flightline I knew had to at least come through and get it done. Was somewhat anxious prior to the start just due to figuring would soon find out if have really slowed down as much as some earlier runs seemed to indicate. What used to be an easy pace years ago now takes a fast pace effort. More than likely have lost at least 30 to 50% of oxygen  uptake ability. As a result  had a good deal of trepidation as to what time would end up with. see footnotes

Flightline takes place at the Kaneohe Marine Corps Air Station often referred to as simply kbay. The setting is beautiful. Entire event takes place on the tarmac alongside Kaneohe bay via an out and back with a rectangle jaunt prior to the finish line. The shimmering Koolau mountain range looms over the course.

tarmac

Marines

We started near the back of the 350 participants.  Gave the opportunity to scan for people who looked as old as me, and upon noticing maybe none told the guys hey may have a chance to place. It was a gun start with no timing mat till the finish which means net time would be faster than gun time. Found a video that showed us crossing at 26 second mark so figure is safe to say our net time was 20 seconds faster than reported. We headed out slowly. Al would turn around and run backwards on several occasions checking to make sure I had not fallen down or quit. 

At the first mile mark he yelled out 13 minutes. Upon hearing that was disheartened but figured what the heck have gained too much weight of late. We kept at that pace with no stress even trying to get the sons to join in with choruses from Ft. Polk days such as "bo diddly bo diddly have you heard? Jodie come and took your bird. Hey bo diddly." They didn't join in but people did look at us. Then at around the 1.5 mile started to pick up the pace. I figured got to the 2 mile mark in 23:10 and to 2.1 in 24 minutes. From there just kept at it. Once got in the rectangle and could see the finish crowd the guys said for me to get in front. At which juncture I did and pushed the pedals. With 150 yards out Al said someone trying to over take us, plus could see the clock showing could get a better time than had anticipated.  I got the arms churning with only toes touching and we did not get overtaken hitting the mat at 31:55. The last mile got it done in 8 minutes or less - the kick at the end helped.

Afterwards Ray and Al insisted we hang around for the award ceremony. Four years earlier Ray and I did the Kolekole pass 10K and although he said lets wait for the awards I said lets go home as was disappointed with the time. Turns out though got second place age group (60 -69)  but since was not present did not get on the podium.

Kolekole Pass 03/208

So this time listened plus was thinking had a shot for at least third. Chatted a bit with the overall winner prior to results for my group. He noted the head wind was fierce coming back, and said see you next time. Finally got to the last bracket, when they called for me to get to the top spot on the podium. There were only two of us geezers but would have been first in the 50 to 59 bracket too. No matter whether placed or not what was most proud of was that last mile. Gives hope that maybe just maybe there will be more thumping moments in the years ahead.

Start

finish line

 ready to stop

thx to sons

$3 pints

1. 31:40 for a 73 year old age grades out to a 22.25 5k which is close to my 5k personal best. If lose a few pounds could maybe top it.

2. Am proud of all the events/marathons have done, especially the fastest ones but none of them come close to the rushes got as an 11 year old in the spring of 61 and 62 years later on 5/5.