Saturday, October 23, 2021

The 2021 American Tobacco Trail 10-Miler

Marathon training is going well, thanks for asking. In fact, today's 10-miler in Cary was a tune-up race for the Richmond Marathon in November. Ha! "Tune up" race? Who am I kidding? I love to be competitive in 10-milers every bit as much as I love to compete in marathons. Plus, the thought of being outdoors today was almost as fantabulous as finding a verb with imperfective aspect in Philippians. Care to see a few pix?

I knew it would be a good day when this view met me in the parking lot in Cary.

From there we were shuttled to the starting line. At first I thought, "Where are all the old yellow school buses?" Then I remembered: "Oh yeah, this is Cary."

Let's get the show on the road.

Looks like we weren't the only people out on the trail today. This was maybe the 12th high school track team that passed me during the race. Hey dudes. Where's your respect for the elderly? Shameless.

And then everywhere you went you saw dogs walking their masters. 

Sorta makes you want to stop and pet those furry creatures until you remember that you still want to beat that 75-year old in yellow shorts. 

Most everyone out there was fast, as in FAST.

And then there was me.

Still, for a card-carrying back-of-the-packer, I was pleased with my time and pace today. 

Incidentally, the guy who won the race finished in less than an hour. His name was -- I kid you not -- Peace Man. Bet he didn't even know he was up against his 69-year old nemesis, Dances with Turtles.

For you map lovers out there, this is what the course looked like today. 

To all ye citizens of Cary: if you were wondering what that noodle-like thing that invaded your fair city today was, well, now you know.

Reading this blog post to this point (one of us has to do it), I realize I've highlighted only a few of the great things I saw and experienced during today's race in Cary. But all the the good stuff will have to wait. It's time for me to take a long nap. *Creak.*