Every summer Jason and I end up participating in quite a few races. We welcome these events because they provide good motivation to train a little faster or a bit longer. Plus, they are an excellent way to measure your athletic progress. While we were involved in our normal number of competitions this year, they didn’t exactly proceed normally for us. For one, Jason’s pace throughout the season was curiously faster. I, on the other hand, kept up my middling speed nicely until I hurt my ankle and then sluggish limping was the best I could do. Oh woeful foot! As the weather gets frigid and the races dwindle, let us look back on all the sprinting glories and frustrations that have come to pass these last months.
For years Jason has been able to outpace me on the track. Every step his long legs take requires two of my own. It doesn’t exactly seem fair but it does give me a lovely excuse for lagging. My quick hubby has nearly placed in several races before but he’s never quite managed a win until this summer. This year he was third in his division not only in the Thanksgiving Point 5K but the Lehi City Roundup 10K as well and then he won 1st in his age group at the Night of the Running Dead. What happened to make that boy so speedy? He got old. Jason’s last birthday placed him in a different age division, an age category where he’s among the youngest instead of the oldest. That bit of help was all he needed to become a leader of the pack. But hey, the dude finishes a 5K in about 22 to 23 minutes; I’d say he deserves some recognition for that whether he’s ancient or not.
Our racing plans had to be halted mid-summer because of my accidental ankle altercation. Ironically, I completed a 10K just hours before I tore my tendon and various ligaments for the second, and hopefully last, time. Leftie took me out of the competition circuit for about 5 weeks. My first race after the injury, Sandy’s Moonlight Run, was awesome because it started at midnight under the full moon but not awesome because I barely crept along its course with my braced ankle. Although I made it to the finish line, I was well behind hundreds of hardly runners. If they had handed out a prize for the pathetically slow but stubborn I definitely would have won it.
Thankfully, broken parts tend to eventually mend, even scarred silly parts like my tendon. My ankle comeback felt complete when I won 3rd place overall at Easton’s 5K a little over 3 months after I gracelessly wounded myself. Yes, I already discussed this win in another post but what’s the harm in mentioning it another time or two or three? Surely, it’s not an unforgivable sin to continually call attention to what will probably be the sole running triumph of my life.
That pretty much sums up the summer season of races for us. Jason ran fast. I ran sort of okay, hurt myself, hobbled along, and then picked it up a bit. We look forward to the spring when the world thaws and the competitions commence. Then Jason can once again conquer the other old men and I can further my longstanding mediocrity.