Notes
Springfield Half-Marathon. What a day to remember! Tom, Max and I rode down to Sprinfield Friday afternoon. We met James at the Bass Pro store and signed up for the 1/2. Then, we bought tickets for the pasta dinner (7PM). There were only about 25 people at the 5pm dinner and 15 at the 7pm dinner. We sat with Dick Beardsley and at the other two tables were Frank Shorter and Jeff Galloway. They all spoke at the dinner and Dick recounted his duel in the sun. What a great story hearing him tell it. After dinner we got pictures taken with all of them and went across the street to our hotel (very convenient). This morning the temp was a perfect 41 degrees with a 6mph wind. There were only a few clouds and we walked straight from the hotel to the starting line. I saluted the flag during the National Anthem and after its conclusion I felt someone pat me on the back and thank me for my service. It was none other than Dick. He laughed and said he didn't recognize me at first with my sunglasses on. I asked him what he planned to run and he said 8min/mile. James and I said we were planning on that pace too. James and I had a 7:45 1st mile and Dick must have run a 7:30 or faster. He got about 100m ahead of us and stayed there until we slowly caught him in mile 7. Once with him we simply put it on cruise control and stayed there. He was running even splits, which was perfect. Around mile 11 James started struggling, but DIck, his friend Denny and I provided a some encouragement. He was hurting but held in there. With about 200m left, James found another gear and finished strong (1:43:29). It was his first 1/2 and (he stated later) his best race ever. He felt that way because it was his 1st even paced race ever. So, as far as I know, Dick Beardsley has been out-kicked by two people. Alberto Salazar in the 82' Boston Marathon, more famously called the Duel in the Sun. And, more recently, by James Jackson in the Bass Pro Shoot-out of 09'. In Dick's defense, he wasn't pushing for a PR. I finished beside Dick and Denny (a bit to the side) and enjoyed every step. I've never run a race over 5K for "fun". Tom finished in 1:23:07 and place 2nd in the Masters (14th overall). Max got treated to the VIP tent (2nd year in a row) and managed to keep from freezing. I will definitely go back to this one next year. Hopefully, in shape!