Labor Day. Kent had said he was going to go out later, at 7:30am. I hadn't committed, but decided to go out then. I didn't see Kent so I headed over to the THS track for some speed work. I saw evidence of a race being set up, but the track was free so I started. By the time I had completed 5 x 1/2 intervals (3:21, 3:31, 3:25, 3:29, 3:30) quite a few people had arrived at the registration table over by the school and some were warming up on the track. My buddy Tim ran along side and I learned that it was the T-wolf Trot, a 3 mile fundraiser for the THS cross country teams. It was only $10, but I didn't have any money with me. I thought the race would be more fun than more intervals, and I wanted to support the teams. Luckily, I bumped into my neighbor Brad who was there to run it (his son is on the team). He loaned me $10 and I registered shortly before they moved us to the starting line. The high schoolers took off like it was a 50 yard dash. I gradually reeled in some of them over the next couple of miles (not the fastest ones). I found myself slowly gaining on my daughter Emily's friend Brianna. I barely beat her in our neighborhood 5K earlier this year. I caught her with a little less than a mile to go. I briefly thought about hanging back, but then an old guy passed us both and I had to go after him. I never caught him, but I pulled ahead of Brianna. I didn't give her another thought...until she passed me around the final curve on the track and pulled easily away to finish ahead of me. I think I enjoyed her beating me almost as much as she did. It was a good finishing time for her. I love seeing young people work hard and succeed, especially at running. If I was her motivation (and victim) this time, that's okay. Kent showed up late after helping out his dad with an urgent matter. I felt bad for him as he had to dodge people to get in his intervals but, to his credit, he finished them.
I didn't have money for the breakfast so after mingling for a while I headed home for a shower. I still made it back before the results were available. I finished 35th of 122, 31 of which were 18 or younger. I think two 41 year old men and a 37 year old woman beat me, but I won the 50+ age division. I finished in 21:01 (7:09/mi). They said it was 3 miles but my Garmin only measured 2.93. I was right; it was way more fun than running more 1/4 mile intervals.
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