Down the big hill, closer to civilization than my house, is the Gow School -- a boarding school for boys with dyslexia and other learning challenges.  Since it's very near the turnaround of one of my MLR routes and a county park where I still occasionally disc golf, it is part of my (large) neighborhood.  Sunday was their inaugural running of the Dyslexia Dash 5K.

Simply because I could, I decided to run to the race.  It was about 20 degrees with a light flurry falling, and I hadn't left a comfortable amount of time to dally, so the 7.2 downhill miles to the school were at a fairly brisk clip.  I fist-bumped the Raven mascot in the driveway, found packet pickup, and searched for a good shrub to hide my goodie bag and tee shirt in.  Then it was back to chat with some members of my YMCA running club who were using the race as our weekly group meeting.

I noticed that maps of the course left around on tables were not the USATF certified route posted on line, and was told that a snowmobile club had right-of-way, hence the change.  Great.

The entire road was closed to traffic, but we still got a pace cop-car that would drive the public section and then pull off as we entered the park.  Well-wishes exchanged with club members, I wasn't lined up where I wanted to be but had no room to move forward.  Finally the gun went, and I scooted into the proper area for the first turn, with a small pack of guys going hard, most of them Gow students.  Too hard -- let them burn out, we're going uphill for 1.55 and then back down.  Once the first real climb hit, I moved up front, smiling at a couple of spectators with a cardboard sign that said GO until they sheepishly held up a final W.  Haha, well played.

Up up and away, finally turning onto a side road and then off of dry pavement into slush leading into Emery Park.  The conditions worsened rapidly, becoming hard-pack snow of considerable depth.  We wound around curvy trails in the park, and there were volunteers at critical junctures, but I had to ask them where to go.  At the final turnaround cone, the kids sounded unsure about directing me around and back, so I yelled to my nearest competitor on the return, "Around the cone, they guess!"  Clearly a masters runner, he was not far enough behind to ensure an easy day, especially since I am bad at downhills.

Lots of people yelled encouragement as I went back down past the race, thanking them, but ever so carefully in the snow.  This was not worth any misstep with 6 weeks until Boston.

Finally I got back to clear pavement and the cop car, and could now bomb it downhill towards home.  2nd place guy was maybe 10 seconds behind me and I opened up a big, easy stride, trying to mimic how effortless it is on the TM.  If he challenged, I would match him and take it to a kick.  If not, just keep rolling.

Finally the last corner into the school arrived, and with a glance back I knew I had it.  Through in 19:12, which I'm not happy about even with the snow and the hill.  I congratulated the 2nd place guy on a nice race, and he immediately started whining.  "How old are you?"  "36."  "Want to trade?"  "No thanks."  Dude... I get smoked by younger guys all the time and don't complain about it.  I think he got in his car and took off without ever going inside post-race.

I waited and cheered on other runners until the last of the club folks had come through, and then hung out with them for awards.  All but one got AG placement, nice people.

And then a slow uphill jog home, with a heavy chunk of trophy glass in my hand that had no easy way to hold onto it.    The first robin of the year made an appearance on the way, and the sun even came out for a while.  Not a bad day.

Nicely done, Jay!  Congrats on your 5K win.   19 minutes...dang!  That's my 1.5 mile time, lol.

And you got an upper body workout too carrying the trophy home!  Nice all around work-out for you with this event! 

Niiiiiiice.  Yeah, I want to see that trophy.

Great job! Congrats!

Nicely done, Jay!   Love your writing style - felt like I could see the race with you.  Good luck with the rest of your Boston training!

Jay, you totally rock!   Congratulations you top dawg you!  Can't believe what a sore 2nd-place-winner, the other guy was though.  LOL @ you running 7.2 miles down to it and back.  I guess that means your training for Boston is going well.  Fantastic job on this one, and best of luck with Boston!

OK, I'm slow.  I missing out on what was going on with the conversation afterward.

Yeah, I wasn't clear there.

He didn't ask my name, or offer his, or attempt any of the other friendly gestures competitors normally make after a race.  Instead, he fired off an acidic "how old are you?", and then cemented the sour-grapes implication with "want to trade?".

 

Was he pissed off because you were older than him?

 

No, because I was younger.  Who knows though, maybe he has never won one and thought that this was his chance.  Someone who races often should be fine with being outrun by younger, older, prettier and uglier.