the old folks get some loot

the old people rocked the weekend:

exhibit A:
friday afternoon my mom learns of a 3-mile race the next morning. a fundraiser for a neighborhood park, it's called A Hill of a Race, which offers an idea of the terrain it covers. my mom's not a big fan of hills, unless they're in switzerland or austria and she's hiking up them, but she races, feels great and walks away with a trophy for the first-place 50+ woman.

my mom's 60.

exhibit B:
saturday morning i enter a local 5K for a patented Finn Race Brick, which is where you park at the start line an hour before the race, hop on your bike and ride as far as you can in 40 minutes, then turn around and race back to the start, where you throw the bike in the car and swap shoes. you have to seriously negative-split the ride or else you miss the start of the 5K, so it's great -- if painful -- training.

i wanted to see what would happen if i raced the 5K without worrying about pacing or splits, so i started out fast and didn't look at my mile splits until after the race. so what happened? this happened:
mile 1: 5:59
mile 2: 5:50
mile 3: 6:41
what happens that i crash and burn after 2 miles. but i still won a $50 gift certificate to the local brewery that sponsors the race for finishing 1st female, 12th overall.

i'm 39.

exhibit C:
after the race i met an older lady named peggy for whom this 5K marked a return to racing after a 15-year layoff. her son had inspired her to start running when she was 45. yeah, 45. i was always one of these people who would rather run than walk - she said. when i saved a place for her in the post-race buffet line while she fetched a sweatshirt from her car, i didn't fret even though i was ravenous. i knew i wouldn't have to wait long - i told her when she returned even quicker than i thought - because i know you ran to your car.

peggy was thrilled because she finished in 37:14, 5 minutes faster than she'd run in training; and she netted a gift certificate for winning her age group. you know it's really impressive that you won overall - she told me - even though you're in an older age group. i took that as the compliment it was intended to be.

peggy is 72.

exhibit D:
beckyY, the pig-tailed waif who's a fixture at local 5Ks, finished the race after persevering through cramps in both calves. it was a beautiful day - she said to me and peggy afterward - and i can't imagine anywhere i would rather be than running with you all.

granted, what becky calls "running" we might term a shuffle or energetic creep, because it took her over an hour to complete the course. but she still walked away with an age group prize: one of the much sought-after growlers. here's becky with her growler:


can you tell she's 87?