Skippo Trial Race

Rock Racing - a victory for Jacob

So, have I whined enough about what bad shape I’m in, if you don’t think so then you haven’t been around me enough lately.  I know Chuck keeps saying he is in bad shape too, but not nearly as bad as me.  I mean how did we both just finish an Ironman race only 8 weeks ago and then have a simple little 20K trail run almost kill us.

Well this is a very short tale, but I’m sure you will get a full picture of what transpired.  Chuck and I both signed up for the 30K race, but as the race neared we both came to realize that we were in no shape to run a 30K, so we both dropped down to the 20K race.  Chuck’s son Jacob was also signed up for the 20K, which put Chuck in a bad position, he would have to do anything he could to beat Jacob. 

I got to Castlewood and parked my car right next to SuperKate, she says “I just got a text from Chuck, Jacob forgot his running shoes so they have to go back home to get them, they would like one of us to pick up their race packets”.  Since Kate already had hers, I said I would grab them.  As I was in line to pick up the race packets the computers went down and the race organizers were scrambling to manually give out numbers.  I also found out that they only had size small girl’s shirts so I would have to have one mailed to me when they came in.  This race was not starting out well.  I put my number on and waited for Chuck and Jacob to show up, if they didn’t show by the start of the race I planned to leave their numbers on my car windshield for them to grab when they arrived.  As I stood at the back of the pack of runners, stretching I saw them walking up, it was one minute until start time.  They quickly pinned their numbers on as the race started.  Jacob ran for the bathroom hoping to get back before our wave took off. As we took off Chuck and I saw Jacob running to the starting line. I figured in about a mile he would be passing us.

So this race was two laps for the 20K and each lap consisted of a 6.2 mile loop with 217 stairs to climb on each lap.  As we hit the stairs, Chuck and I were still together, we stayed together for a long while then I heard Jacob yell my name from the trail above, he was about to catch us.  Well that’s all it took as soon as Chuck heard Jacob, he took off like a lightning bolt.  I kept trudging along thinking Jacob would over take me at any moment, but he never showed up.  When he finally caught me we were at the creek and he showed me his war wounds, he had taken a nasty fall right after he saw us. He is a tough kid though and he got back up and kept running. Soon he and Chuck were ahead of me and I could see them about half way up cardiac hill as I was just beginning the climb.  We had less than 3 miles of the first lap left. I caught the boys at the top of cardiac hill and from there we passed each other off and on for the rest of the race. 

When we ran past the finish line to start the second lap, Jacob and I were just behind Chuck and we both thought it would have been really nice to have turned into the finish line, but we didn’t, we trudged on.  On our second time up the stairs there were not as many people, we could have run, but REALLY, my legs would not have gone for that, so we walked up.  Then it was back to the cat and mouse game that we were playing with each other.  Just before the creek, SuperKate passed us and my gosh she was running well, and she was doing the 30K, this really put me in a mood.  How could she pass me like that and she had to do a third lap.  At least someone was having a good day.  

Really though it was a nice day, even a little warm, there were tons of people so it didn’t feel like I was last and at least I was close enough to talk to Chuck and Jacob some of the time. As I headed down the trial towards the road, I still, had the boys in my sights, but I didn’t think I could catch them.  All of the sudden a fellow Godzilla teammate, Maureen, comes flying by she was about to finish the 30K, I got lapped.  Now in my defense she is super fast and she won the 30K race, the overall Female, so at least I didn’t get passed by a snail.  As I got to the road Keith was sitting on the hill cheering me on, telling me that the boys were just in front of me.  As I ran down the last straight away, I see Jacob finish then Chuck finish right behind him.  I made the turn into the finish and the boys were there waiting for me cheering me on, that really felt good. 

So I finished the race 2 minutes behind Chuck and Jacob beat Chuck just by seconds.  I wanted to run a 2:30 and I ran a 2:30:30, so I’m calling that a victory.  Even though today, two days after the race, I’m still limping around, I think it was all worth it.  It was a great day spent with good friends and I got a little exercise to boot. Oh and Jacob won his age group and got a really cool glass. And Jeff who finished the 30K just behind us finishing the 20K, also won his age group. Even if I’m not fast, I can say I know people who are fast.

NOTE: Chuck was in such a hurry to make it to the race that he had been driving on empty for 25 miles, so I had to follow him to the gas station after the race to make sure he made it.  Well he did, but it would have been pretty funny if he hadn’t.