Last Great Race!

 After retiring in Mesquite NV and going thru 4 months of PT for my back, I set my sights on one last attempt at a great race. The Huntsman World Senior Games Half Marathon. I also began to train with 2 really talented older triathletes, Stan and Sarah Laidlaw. They got me to add swimming and biking as a supplement to running. (I would later go on to get my lifeguard license for the 2nd time because of them) .  I went to St. George Utah in the spring to scope out the course. The games are held in the fall. I ran the course and it damn near killed me. Two huge loops that went 3 miles plus of substantial climbing with 3 plus down, go past the start, and repeat. So I had my work cut out for me. 2nd complication is that from mid May thru mid September, temps reach 105-125 in that crazy desert heat. So, I laid out my plan. I had to do 2 hour weekly long runs starting at 9 at night and finishing around 11. Usually covered around 12 miles. I put fluid on ice on the deck of my downstairs neighbor Marge, and would come back at 4 mile intervals and drink as much as I could. Other 2 weekly workouts included a set of mile repeats around 7:30 pace on the track, and one day a week with Sarah taking me north of town to do long sand hill repeats. She damn near killed me with those.
In early October on a perfect day, a few weeks before my 52nd birthday, I towed the line with about 60 other runners 🏃 of various ages. I only knew one....he and I had battled back and forth in a few St. George races over 2nd or 3rd in our age group. No way to tell anyone’s ages. Stan and Sarah had run earlier and placed in theirs in the 10K. They stayed with Deb. Gun went off and I ran the first mile to the base of the rise in 11th position. The one guy I knew was in a group of 3 in the front, alongside the guy in the picture with me (yes, too much lemon juice in my hair in the summer!) . I tried to pace the climb easy. Passed 2 guys at the top, and started down. 9th place. When I got down and was on the flat section, I passed 2 more guys ....7th. The top picture is me coming thru on the first lap. Stan yelled out that one guy dropped out. 6th place. As I got to the base again, I saw the guy in the picture way out ahead. The guy I knew was struggling to stay with the other guy, and I was about a quarter behind 2 guys running together. I pushed harder on this up and came alongside those 2 guys. They asked my age and I said 51, and they said go ahead, we’re in the next age group up. 4th. Coming back down to the final turn toward the final mile, I fought the guy I knew. As I tried to pass him, he tried to stay with me. He looked like death. I did a pick up and got about 100 feet ahead of him. When I hit the marker for a half mile to go, I just assumed the 2 guys that had probably already  finished were in my age group, and just said fuck it and ran as hard as I possibly could and came thru the finish line in 1:40 and change. I then walked about ten feet, by the base of a pine tree and puked. Only time in my race history I ever did that. As it turned out, the guy in the picture was in my age group and ran a 1:23. The next finisher turned out to be 55 by 2 weeks and had run a 1:36. So I won silver. Tried to repeat a year later and ended up 2 minutes slower and 4th in my age group....