Running: My Year in Review

By Craig: Well, since I have finished running competitively for the 2012 calender year, I shall give a little summary of the races that I competed in this year. I had not entered any races in many years until really getting back into it this past February. It took me a couple of months until I felt that I was ready to run a race without embarrassing myself. So here is the list of races and a short summary of each one.

Race #1
May 26, 2012
Hickory North Carolina
5k Strong Body Strong Mind
Finishing Time: 25:22 Overall: 35th/ Age Group: 6th

I entered this race not knowing what to expect. It was my first 5k race. I had run 5 milers back when I was a kid, and a teenager in Massachusetts back in the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s (I still have an old YMCA medal that I won at one of them.) My only other experiences were running 3 mile races in the Marine Corps back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These were PFT's (physical fitness tests) I would usually finish somewhere in the top 5 in my battalion. It would come easy and natural for me. Like some people were built to be football players, I was built to be a runner. I only wish that I had been more dedicated when I was younger. I missed my potential. I probably could have been really good, but oh well, I decided that what the hell, I'll see what the old man has at the age of 43! Needless to say, this first race wasn't pretty... at least for me!

     My first mistake was to line up in the back of the field which had somewhere in the vicinity of 250 runners. My objective was to start slow and finish strong and not get caught in the mad rush for glory at the beginning of the race. However, the crowd was so packed and the road so narrow that it took me 30 seconds to get to the starting line after the start. I was then bogged down by slower runners, and at times was forced to just shuffle along behind some of them until I found a break and then I would dart around them, leap up onto the sidewalk, and look for holes to escape through. I thought about leapfrogging over some of them, but this probably would not have gone over very well. Anyway, I learned a valuable lesson here. From now on I would start at the front. The course was not a brutal one, but it did have a pretty steep hill in the last mile of the race that nearly broke me. I was not training on hills, but at a track so I was nearly done in when I got to the top. I use to be real good at hills, but it was now obvious to me that I was using muscles that I had not used in...well...let's see, 20 years? I believe a couple of blokes past me on the hill, but I took some consolation in the fact that I passed a guy who was walking up it! I was never so glad to see the finish line. I could see the time ticking away and it read somewhere around 25 minutes. If I were to compete in my age group I would have to do better than that. However, I felt good. This first race was now behind me, and now I had a starting point. I ended up finishing 6th in my age group out of 24 runners. The post race refreshments were substantial. There was plenty of fruit and bottled water to go around. Also, every runner that finished received a nice pottery medallion that was presented to each runner after they crossed the finish line. The awards were based on 5 year age groups. I believe the top three in each age group received a hand made coffee mug or something of the sort. Of course, for my 6th place finish I received nothing. However, I did receive encouragement and camaraderie from other runners which is all that really matters in the long run. This was the first year that this race was run, and I plan on running it next year to see how I stack up.

Race #2
September 29, 2012
Morganton North Carolina
5K H.O.P. Race
Finishing Time: 22:48 Overall: 15th/ Age Group: 1st

Well, it had been 4 months since I had run my first race and now I was back to try my luck again. I was in somewhat better condition to race than I had been back in May, but it had not been easy. Shortly after my first race I pulled a calf muscle while doing some speed work at the track. I didn't think that it was too bad, so after a few days rest I became impatient and found myself back on the track. It was the wrong thing to do. I aggravated the muscle further. Needless to say I was done running for almost a month. When I returned to the track in late July I was about back to where I started. I now became slow and methodical in my approach to improve my speed. I have never had a problem with stamina. When September rolled around I began looking for a race in the area that would test my work. I asked my twin brother Jay to come along, and he decided that he would try his hand at the 10K race even though he was not training for races, and had been battling cancer for the last 3 years. However, the cancer was now in check, and he wanted to see what he could do in the longer race. In his day, Jay wasn't good, he was REAL good, winning numerous races. He had always been a better runner than me.

      We showed up early to the race and for a while we were not sure if we would be running in the rain or not. It was sprinkling out, but not enough to make things uncomfortable. The race started out fast. The first mile or so was mostly downhill and I immediately began to pace myself with a pack of runners who seemed to be going about my speed. At the one mile mark I heard a girl call out a time of 6:16. I was elated. If I could maintain this pace I would finish way above my expectations. The trick, however, was to maintain that pace! I was feeling good when we got to the turn at the halfway mark. The 10k runners continued on at this point. I knew that I was going to see Jay on the way back, and was surprised to see him not too far behind me. Was I going too slow? Or was he going too fast?The last mile or so of the race was grueling. As we had ran down the hill in the first mile, it was now time to climb it to the finish. Gee...I hadn't thought about pacing myself for that! I was running with three other guys and we were together on the first stretch of the hill. I was winded, and my legs muscles were burning so I imagined that these runners would blow by me anytime. I waited for the inevitable, but somehow it never happened. Obviously, they had blown their wind also. I even passed a little girl (I felt like a big bully) who might have been 10 or 12 and I felt bad about this, as she had obviously started out real strong. I shouted out some encouragement as I ran by. I was soon all alone on the hill, but I could feel the lingering presence of a runner behind me. One of the runners had not given up the chase! Eventually the finish line appeared as I took the crest of a hill, and I staggered across the line finishing in 22:48! I had cut nearly three minutes off my initial outing back in May.
I was surprised to find that I finished 1st in my age group, 15th overall. Jay came in at about 52 minutes in the 10K. In his day he would have run it in about 36 or 37 minutes. There were plenty of refreshments after the race including all sorts of fruit, and even sandwiches from the local Subway. The awards were nice also. The age categories were in 5 year increments and the top three in each were given medals.

                                            Start of the 2012 H.O.P. Race Morganton N.C.

Race #3
October 06, 2012
Gastonia North Carolina
5K St. Michael Catholic School Run
Finishing Time: 22:03 Overall: 6th/ Age Group: 1st

My next race occurred only a week after the Morganton race. This one was a nice little run through the rolling hills in back of my sons school, St. Michael's in Gastonia. I felt good throughout this race, and ran most of the last half of it alone, about a minute behind the runner in front of me, and maybe a minute ahead of the one behind me. In fact, at one point I could not see anyone behind me or ahead of me, and I began to wonder if I had made a wrong turn. I really enjoyed this race, and will run it again next year if my health permits! Medals were given to the top 3 runners in 10 year age groups.

Race #4
November 22, 2012
Wilkesboro North Carolina
5K Wilkes Family YMCA Turkey Trot
Finishing Time: 19:28 Overall: 9th/ Age Group: 1st

I planned on running in the Spencer Mountain Race a few weeks before this one, but I was feeling slightly ill in the days preceding the race, so I opted out at the last minute. I wanted to get another race in by the end of the month and began looking for one that was being held on Thanksgiving day. What a way to start a day that you know will end with a fine helping of turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce, never mind the apple pie and ice cream after the main course! My wife and son had taken my brother-in-law to Florida, so I attended this race by myself. It was about a 70 mile drive, but it was a scenic one through the foothills of North Carolina where the leaves had turned. My GPS had me pulling into a parking lot of what appeared to be an abandoned building. I knew I was about an hour early, but there should have been some sign of an event. However, there was nothing! Only a foggy parking lot. Had the YMCA moved? I drove a few miles down the main highway and stopped at a petro station to ask directions. A woman behind the counter told me that it was about a mile further along the highway, and that I couldn't miss it. By this time I feared that I might miss the start, hence a 70 mile drive for nothing but the beautiful North Carolina scenery!

     I made it on time. The YMCA appears to be a new building, hence the probable mistake on the GPS. It was bitterly cold but the cold has never bothered me, anyway, I would be warm soon enough after the race started! I had bought a new pair of Asics a few days earlier and had only ran in them once so I was hoping that they were broke in enough. They didn't fail me. This was a fast paced race, and I broke out early with the leaders, only falling back after I determined that their pace was just a little too uncomfortable. Still, I felt great. It was a flat course, perfect for a PR time. The last mile of the course is adjacent to the greenway on a paved surface that resembles an airport runway. It was a little disheartening to see the leaders running about a minute ahead of me, but by god I was flying! I was astonished to see the time on the clock at the finish time registering 19 minutes and some change. Not only was I going to beat my PR time, I was going to shatter it! After finishing the race I met some great people and we engaged in some good race talk! The refreshments were also in abundance. There was plenty of fruit, drinks and power bars, and biscuits to boot. The awards were white coffee mugs. I guess that you can do more with a coffee mug than you can do with a medal or trophy! At least they have a practical purpose. I have also utilized the nice long sleeve shirt that came with the entrance fee. I might try to attend this race next year.

Race #5
December 22, 2012
Mt. Mourne North Carolina
5K Elf Run
Finishing Time: 20:01 Overall: 17th/ Age Group: 2nd

It had been a month since the Turkey Trot in Wilkesboro, and I was looking to run one final race in 2012. I had actually considered running one of the ultra races in Morganton on New Years eve, but after hashing this over in my mind for a couple of weeks I decided that I wasn't quite ready to tackle one of these events. Perhaps if I am still in fit shape next year at this time I will attempt it. Anyway, I scouted around, and found that there was a race in Mount Mourne a tiny community just south of Mooresville. It looked like a decent event, so I decided to sign up and see what happened.

     It was a cold morning. I was only going on about 4 hours of sleep, but since I had already registered for the race, I figured to give it a whirl and drove the 40 or so miles to the event. It started in front of the Mt. Mourne volunteer fire station, and proceeds from the race go to support it. This was mostly a flat course, and I was hoping to better my time from the Wilkesboro race, and perhaps even run a sub 19:00 minute race which I believe that I am more than capable of doing. I started out strong, but my legs didn't feel as strong as they did during the Turkey Trot a month earlier. I am not sure if this had to do with my lack of rest, or perhaps something else. However, I did kick it up near the end of the race, and somehow found a burst of energy in the last half mile or so which separated me from the small group of runners that I had been pacing myself with. When I took the final turn toward the finish I could see the clock at around 19:50 or so. With one last burst of energy I attempted to cross the finish line in under 20 minutes, and I thought I might have done so, but afterward learned that I was clocked at 20:01! Oh well, it was still a great run, and I managed to finish 2nd in my age group. The race refreshments were adequate. There was plenty of fruit which is always a plus in my book. There were even doughnuts for anyone who wanted to take in a little sugar! I love doughnuts, but if I want to maintain a good running weight (135 lbs) I have to exclude them from my normal fare. The top three in 5 year age groups received nice trophies. I would definitely recommend this race to anyone who is looking to end their competitive running year on a fast note. The winner of this race was Anthony Famiglietti, a Steeplechase Olympian who came in at 14:07! This is an almost super-human time. There are not too many people in the world who could have came in ahead of him.

                            Here I am grinding it out to the finish at the Mt.Mourne Elf Run

1900 Olympic Marathon

By Craig: It was a humid July day in Paris in 1900. Thirteen runners from five nations lined up at the starting line inside of the Olympic stadium. It was extremely hot. The temperature, some say, peaking at 102 degrees. For some absurd reason it was decided by the Olympic officials to start the marathon at 2:30 in the afternoon, the hottest part of the day. Why the race did not start early in the morning when the temperature would have been much cooler is not known. The countries that fielded runners for the days marathon were France, Great Britain, Sweden, Canada, and the United States. The field was not lacking talent. The British contingent consisted of the top three finishers of the grueling 54 mile London to Brighton race which had been held in 1899. Frederick Randall had won that race, and he was accompanied at the Olympic marathon by the 2nd and 3rd place finishers from that event, William Saward, and Ion Pool, who at 42 was the oldest runner in the field. The French, of course, being the host country fielded the most runners. There were five Frenchmen at the starting line led by the formidable Georges Touquet-Daunis, and Emile Champion, another long distance standout. The other French Runners were Michel Theato, Auguste Marchais, and Eugene Besse. The American runner Arthur Newton was one of the favorites. He had won the New York Athletic Club's 15 mile race in 1:28:54 to qualify for the Olympic Marathon. Newton was also the youngest runner in the field at the age of 17. Two Canadian runners started the race. Both of these men Richard Grant, and Ronald J. McDonald, however, were running for the United States since Canada did not have a Track & Field team in the Olympics. McDonald was a force to be reckoned with as he had won the 1898 Boston Marathon. The other two runners in the field both hailed from Sweden. Ernst Fast, and Johan Nystrom.

                                              The Start of the 1900 Olympic Marathon

      The marathon started inside of the stadium where the runners were to run four laps around the track  before leaving through an exit. The runners would then find themselves running through the streets of Paris. The first casualty of the race was the Swedish runner Johan Nystrom who dropped out for some unknown reason after the first lap. The twelve remaining runners made a good show of it on the track. From most contemporary accounts of the race, the Frenchman Touquet-Daunis took the lead and led the runners out of the stadium into the Paris streets which were swarming with spectators, bicycles, and other traffic. The British runner, Ian Pool, writing for a Athletic journal after the race describes the mayhem outside of the stadium:

The marathon turned out a dismal fiasco. The whole conduct of the race on the part of the responsible officials, beginning with the tardy date of the announcement abroad down to the smallest details providing, or rather failing to provide, for the convenience of contestants on the fatal day, and the entire absence of precautions to ensure fair play, can only be characterized by the one word "Preposterous" with a capital P. Add to this the non-sporting instincts of the French populace and it will not be necessary to cite fully the details of the troubles that invariably beset the strangers only bicycles and cars for obstacles. At the best it proved a steeplechase, 25 miles is really to far for a steeplechase, but that was with mere circumstance. Suffice it to say that when the three placed men in last year's London to Brighton GAYP found it necessary to retire inside of four miles and Arthur Newton (a well known long distance record breaker in the states), who was unwise enough to finish, took longer than walking time to complete the distance, it shows, it shows that things were very, very wrong."

     Needless to say the three British runners decided that it was a day when they found the unfavorable running conditions outside of the stadium. This left nine runners in the field. Touquet-Daunis led the remaining runners through the clogged narrow streets with the Swedish runner Ernst Fast hot on his heels. After about 12 miles Touquet-Daunis decided that the heat was becoming too unbearable and he noticed a small cafe which he found too irresistible to turn down. He ran inside and downed a few beers. While this ludicrous scene was unfolding, Fast took the lead. What happened next is confusing. The course was not well marked, if marked at all. Apparently Fast took a wrong turn and before he realized his mistake he had lost his lead. It was rumored that a French policeman had given Fast wrong directions which led to the blunder. Be that as it may, Fast never regained the lead. At this point in the race only a few runners remained in the field. At the finish line it was the Frenchman Michel Theato taking the Gold medal with a time of 2:59:45. Champion took the Silver, while Ernst Fast was not to be denied a medal finishing nearly 40 minutes behind Theato to take the Bronze. Only four other runners finished the race. Arthur Newton later made accusations that Theato and Champion had cheated by taking shortcuts through back alleys, and peoples houses. It was said that Theato was some sort of baker's delivery man and was well familiar with the streets in this part of Paris. However, it was later determined that he was not a delivery man at all, but worked as a carpenter by trade.
     
     The 1900 Olympic marathon, if anything, was a colorful event, even if it was poorly organized. It is hard to imagine one of today's runners stopping in a cafe to have a few beers like Touquet-Daunis which would have led to severe dehydration, never mind stomach cramps if he had continued!

Results of the 1900 Olympic Marathon

 

1.    Michel Theato (France)                     2:59:45    

2.    Emile Champion (France)                 3:04:17

3.    Ernst Fast (Sweden)                           3:37:14

4.    Eugene Besse (France)                       4:00:43

5.    Arthur Newton (U.S.A.)                     4:04:12

6.    Richard Grant (Canada)                      Finished,but time unknown

7.    Ronald J. McDonald (Canada)            Finished, but time unknown

8.    Auguste Marchais (France)                 DNF

9.    George Touquet-Daunis (France)        DNF

10.   Frederick Randall (Great Britain)       DNF

11.   Ion Pool (Great Britain)                      DNF

12.   William Saward (Great Britain)          DNF

13.   Johan Nystrom (Sweden)                    DNF

 

 



                                          Race Winner Michel Theato (1878-1923)

             

Arthur Newton (1883-1959)

 

                                                                   Emile Champion

Ernst Fast (1881-1959)

                                                     Ronald J. McDonald (1874-1947)

Georges Touquet-Daunis

Elements of Time: The Crossing Guard

By Craig: He stands on the street corner every morning and afternoon. I have noticed him there for many years. He waves to every car that passes, a mechanical motion of his hand that seems to be perpetually raised. Only the fingers move in response to the passing cars, as he waits for the school bell to ring as it has done in perpetuity for many years from September to June. He is around 80 years old, a rather large man with a healthy weather beaten face. He is spry for his age, and although he is now in the twilight of his life he still exudes a strength that others half his age could not muster. In his day he might have been a man who others turned to when a dangerous situation arose. It would have been only natural, for here stood a man that knew what it was all about. He is the crossing guard.

     When I was in elementary school back in the 1970s, I can remember being fascinated with all of the old junk that was left in the storage room behind the gymnasium. I don't remember exactly when my fancy for things of a bygone age came to be, but it was early on in my life. It might have been the fact that I found it hard to believe that there was actually a time before my existence. Even today I still cannot quite fathom the fact that the world will get along just fine without ME. In fact, perhaps even better, since, after I am gone there will be one less creature consuming the limited resources of our dainty little planet. But, alas,someone will take my place, perhaps two, or three new people will be born the moment that I expire. Anyway, before I digress too much from the subject at hand I will now return to the old junk in the school storage room. If I recall correctly, the school was built in 1939. Why I remember this I cannot say, but I either read it somewhere, or somebody might have told me after I asked, since I use to, and still do ask people when we are discussing the past if they can be troubled by recalling a date. Most of the time the person cannot remember, or gives an approximate date, but sometimes I receive a strange look, as if they are getting ready to tell me "Who cares?" Oh well...anyway, I attended this school from the time I was 5, in 1973, until I graduated from elementary school in 1980. There was 40 years of junk that had accumulated in that storage room. There were old chairs, and tables that should have been thrown out decades earlier. There were boxes of old school books that dated from the 1930s and 1940s that still regarded F.D.R. or Harry Truman as the United States President, and George VI as the King of England. However, the thing that fascinated me the most was an antiquated metal sign that was as tall as a person. It was the likeness of a police officer in his dress blues, smiling, wearing a white glove with his arm extended. He was holding a bright yellow sign that said "SLOW SCHOOL ZONE." The sign was weather beaten, as if it had seen countless days of use in a bygone time. The paint chipped off in flakes and sheets. I wondered when it had last seen use? A decade before? Perhaps two decades? Obviously somebody had made a conscious decision to retire it, but keep it. For what purpose? Why not throw it in the scrap metal yard? Had there possibly been a plan to restore it? And then, like most things, more important issues developed until it was unceremoniously forgotten in the storage closet? It has been 32 years since I left that school. I have never been back inside. Perhaps it is still there, pushed further back into the recess' of the room holding company with a 40 year old mop and bucket, and some old chalk erasers and blackboards.

    There he stands, the crossing guard, who, if I did not know any better was the older version of the vintage sign from my childhood. They look similar... eerily similar, as if the older man had modeled for the sign in his youth. The hand...the friendly smile... aged, but still exuding a remote whiff of authority. I pass by and wave, and smile.

A Sea of Humanity: The Holiday Season

By Craig: The other night I went for a 10 mile run under the lights at the Dallas 1/5 mile track. The sun was an orange ball low on the horizon when I started my run. It was pitch black when I finally limped toward my truck 1 hour, 28 minutes and 13 seconds later. I was starving so I pulled into an Arby's and ordered two turkey and swiss sandwiches which I wolfed down almost immediately. As I was pulling out of the parking lot I had to wait for traffic to pass before I could make a left hand turn. It was close to 7 P.M. so traffic was pretty heavy both ways. As I sat there waiting for a break, a huge SUV decided that I was being too cautious and blew it's horn attempting to get me to panic and dart out into the street to be tee-boned. I looked behind me to see if I could catch a glimpse of the driver of the impatient SUV, but all that I could see was the tinted glass of the windshield. It was as if the SUV itself was making the decisions and it began to take on a personality all of it's own. Was there a driver behind the wheel of this impatient machine? Or was it merely traveling down the highway of life making it's own decisions and pestering the other machines that it encountered during the course of a day? I watched the sea of headlights zooming by in both directions. Each vehicle possessing the shadowy shape of a driver motoring their way to parts unknown.

     The holiday season brings out the best and the worst of humanity. People become overwrought with their lives. Not only do they still have to perform the mundane tasks of their everyday lives, they are now expected to attend social gatherings and office parties. Money becomes short because of the exorbitant amount of it spent on gifts. They are also tasked with trying to keep up with the Jones.' This is something that I have never been able to understand. I know almost nothing about video games but it seems that every year at about this time some new fandangled system emerges on the scene which has been heavily advertised by the corporation who stands to profit from it. Of course, video game companies are not the only ones who profit from this unscrupulous form of capitalism. What? Just have to have the latest phone? New cell phones emerge on the market. Pretty soon people will be so reliant on these devices that they will forget how to use their brains. Probably the most insidious tactics used by big chain stores is how they rake in the kids with their promotions. When I was a kid (many moons ago) there was the Sears-Roebuck Christmas catalog with it's small section of toys for boys and girls. My mother would usually get this catalog sometime after Thanksgiving. We children would devour the toy section until, by Christmas, it was so heavily thumbed by greasy fingerprints that the X's and O's and squares penciled in by my brothers and myself were hardly recognizable. Whether it was Stretch Armstrong, a Shogun Warrior, or the latest talking GI-Joe it didn't matter. Usually we never got anything that was in the catalog anyway, but we were always happy with what we did get. It was the mere thought that we might get it that kept the mystique of that catalogue alive.  These days, however, things are different. The internet and cable television have provided an almost unlimited amount of advertising that reaches our children no matter where they go.

      Of Course, Holiday advertising is nothing new. Stores and merchants have been promoting their wares with an added frenzy around Christmas for generations. I try not to shop at the big chain stores. This is especially true around this time of year when people are trying to find order out of chaos. I was finally able to make the left hand turn out of the Arby's parking lot. When I did, the impatient driver behind me shot around me into the other lane as if to make a statement. I glanced over to see the shadowy image of a soulless and nameless human form propped behind the controls. "You're free!" I thought. You're free of the imposition known as ME who was for but a short time an obstacle in the way of you're journey through life." A short time later as I drove home I noticed another shadowy image of a shabby looking human, holding a cardboard sign, on which, because it was dark the writing could only be imagined.  Free... I thought, who was truly free.