Saturday, November 20, 2010

Ran my 500th Race Today


I went to College Station today and ran the Texas World Speedway 5K at noon. It was my 500th race since I started racing in 1983 at age 42 (I'm 69 now). My first race was the Night Fighters 10K on May 1, 1983 at Fort Hood, Texas. It was an event of the 2nd Armored Division, which at that time was the Army's night fighting division. The race started at 3 a.m. and 2,500 runners participated. We all carried glow sticks for light. I figured that if I could not finish that I would fall off into the darkness and no one would see me. I finished in 1:03:00.
Today's race was on the speedway track. I finished in 32:21, which is my fastest 5K this year. I guess running a bunch a marathons is good training for a 5K. Also, I suppose if you are running on a race track you are expected to run faster. The banks were a little difficult to run on, but the straightaways were nice. It was a small race and I got 2nd in the 51 and over age group.
I rushed back to Huntsville to attend the Sam Houston State-Texas State football game. I made it to the game in the 2nd quarter.

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