Prequel #4: The Springtime Series

After Lowe's 5K, I looked for races to reconfirm that I wanted to supplement gym sessions with organized events. Thus evolved the Springtime 2009 series:: Ray's run (Kingston), Woodstock 5K, Wappinger Fall's 5K, and Lap4Life (Newburgh). Each was different and new and ended up establishing:

• I enjoyed racing, even though apprehensive before each start!
  
• Runners and walkers are a friendly breed of people.
• The mantra of Prequel #3 stood the test of four more races.
  
• I - a non-jock in my preceding 6 decades - enjoyed competition.

A short highlight of each race, ending in the picture I call: "Demon on Fleet Street":

Ray's Run:  A 4 mile run through Kingston for runners and a 3K walk for walkers circling Dietz stadium started at the same time. I liked that format.  I followed (by far) an excellent formal race-walker and finished tied for second. And thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie and food after finishing!

Woodstock 5K: In theory, this was a run and I did it for two reasons: a) It began and ended at the elementary school (Zena) that my daughters attended and b) Emily (the younger daughter) was visiting from Los Angeles and consented to accompany me. My goal was to beat 40 minutes. My third race and, for the third time, I started fast, for me. Surprised Emily.  39 minutes and 19 seconds (success!!) later, we crossed the finish line. The route was hillier than previous races.

Wappinger's Falls 5K: The walkers started a half hour earlier than the runners. I was assuming that there would be faster walkers than I; more precisely, I assumed there would be people ahead of me who knew the route. I found myself 1st and after various turns, I wasn't 100% sure I wasn't leading the rest of the walkers into strange territory. I stopped to ask a police officer for directions! I finished 1st, with a time of 40:04.

Lap4Life: The culmination of the Spring Series. An extraordinarily well-run event that had 144 walkers in a 5K separate from the 170 runners in a 4 mile race. As in most running/walking events in our area, this was a fund raiser and, in this case, for very touching and personal cause. The number of participants - particularly for walkers - was swelled by the fund-raising. The day's weather was excellent, but it had rained the night before and the stones on the path were a bit slippery.

My competitive juices were stoked. I lead for the 1st half and ended up second, with a time of 39:46. I was extremely pleased with the experience and will enter again. You'll see in the attached picture that my form and demonic aspect would scare many people.

NEXT: The Malibu Breakthrough









Llinks to available results:




Ray's Run 3K:
http://www.onteorarunners.org/results/raysrun2009.html

Woodstock 5K (with misspelled name):
lookup 2009 Woodstock Races 5K

Lap4Life 5K:
http://lap4life.org/walkoverall.html