Blue Ox

 

The tale of the Blue Ox 5K begins five days before the race with a 3.6 mile assessment run. It seemed like a great training run to prepare me for the race. Afterward, Coach Ironfist was confident I would be able to complete the race in 28 minutes, which would be getting close to a personal best. Needless to say, I felt more than ready.

The next day - Monday - I woke up with so much pain I couldn't hardly walk! It was probably a mistake to play pickleball that morning. Agnes had one last run planned for me that day, but that would've been a big mistake. I rested the next several days till race day.

By Friday, race day, I was feeling a little better, so I decided to run. It was a beautiful day - kind of cool with bright sunshine. The conditions couldn't have been better.

There was a huge crowd. Usually I try to get up near the front, but this day the starting area was set up different than usual, and I couldn't get up very far. That, as it turns out, was a mistake. As the race began I was boxed in for quite awhile and actually had people close by for pretty much the whole race. I think this photo captures the situation pretty well:

My 77-year-old friend Jerry, from Perham, beat me by about 18 seconds. I actually beat Jerry last June down in Fergus Falls, but he wasn't to be denied on this day. He took first place for his division. (Jerry's the shorter one in the gray shirt.)

I ended up taking second in the 60-69 age group with a respectable time of 29:31. I didn't achieve my goal, but any time I can get under 30, I'm happy.

When we place we receive little blue ox cow bells:

Here is a snap-shot of my results:

Of course, after the race my bursitis flared up and I only started running again yesterday - two weeks after the race.

After the race we went to the Green Mill for some pizza. This time we were smart and called ahead so we could get a window seat. We had a wonderful waiter named Brett. We talked about the race and he revealed he'd be running in the marathon the next day. It would be his first. He thought he could win. What?!? His confidence was over the top. I actually believed he could do it - so much so that I asked him for his email address.

I checked the results the next day... sure enough - he won! 2:38. I'm so glad I was able to congratulate him. His next goal is to win the Fargo Marathon next spring. It looks like he'll need to get around 2:25. I'm confident he can do it.