Racing with Abdul

He spent the night. Abdul did. Not only that, but his sister and mom did also. We were already planned to do the Run4Zoe 5K Saturday in Cleveland, Mississippi. So we were all now in the same boat. We ate pizza for supper then all arose around 4:30 the next morning.

Four thirty?

Yeah. The race started at 7:00 a.m., and it's about an hour to drive over, park, and pick up packets. That meant getting up early and driving off at a quarter to six. That's what we did. We walked in and found packet pickup at Zoe Coffee Company, pinned on our numbers, and went back outside to wait on the start. 

I don't know why the early start on April 1. But we started at 7:00 and were off on the city's walking trail.

The start

In the photo above, that is me in the yellow. See the guy in the maroon shirt behind me? He would be my nemesis for the day. Or one of them. Not too far into the race, I passed a group of ladies women. As usual, I was breathing heavily as I struggled to get around them. Just after I passed, one of them said, "He has COPD." Then the whole gaggle of them erupted in laughter. Dude, I have not been made fun of like that since I was a little boy on the playground at Bankston School fifty-five years ago. 

Then maroon shirt and I locked ourselves into mortal combat. He was running stride for stride shuffle for shuffle beside me. When I would pick it up, he would slowly reel me in. That's how I figured he was keying on me. Not that I am Shirlock or anything, but he was also a grey head, so it was kind of obvious.

One mile passed, then two. Abdul was way ahead. I began to chat with maroon shirt. He was 62. Since I am 66, I figured we were in different age groups. I figured wrong. More about that later. He told me that he planned a hard push starting a half mile from the finish. And he did. I tried to hang, but I could not. He finished about a minute ahead of me. I ran the best I could and then went back to the start to wait on the women who had made fun of me. I saw one of them a few minutes later, and as she struggle to stay upright and get across the line, I yelled, "COPD." The look on her face when she made eye contact with me gave me my satisfaction.

When I got my print out from the timing table, I found out that I was competing in the 60 - 98 age group. Huh?!? When I was 61, I was running 5Ks in the 24:00 - 25:00 minute range, a full seven to eight minutes faster than I run them now. Age is not just a number. And someone who is 98, has thirty-two years of experience on me. Anyway, I was second of five in my group.

Jimmy Leopard, Abdul, and me before the start.

I liked the race. The course is mostly on a walking trail so out of traffic. The weather was perfect for running.

That's me about forty yards
from the finish line.

So Penny and I got home only a little after 9:30. All the way to Clevland, run a 5K, stay for the awards ceremony, and back home for a nap before 10:00. Sounds like a plan to me, a plan to do it again next year and compete with those 60 to 98 year olds.

After the nap, I went to the pool and swam

  1,350

  4 X 75 medium paddles

  4 X 25 no breath

  250 back with small paddles

  8 X 25 dive 25

  total: 2,200 yards

So that alone was a pretty good day. Then Debbie wanted me to help her lay out some lines to paint swim lanes on the bottom of the big pool. We got started and then one of her newest employees joined us. Turns out this guy has skills, and Debbie turned the project over to him. Thank you, Jesus.

I mowed the back lawn and intended to lift some weights. By this time, however, I was too far gone on the fatigue scale to do anything after the yard was finished. Still, it was a very productive day. Thank you for it, Lord.