The First Time I Was Beaten By A Woman!

In the early days of my racing career, there were few women, but when they were in a race, they competed. I’m making no judgement about the fact that women now make up more than half of all fields in a less competitive way, and a more social and fund raising fashion, but that is just the reality of races from the 80’s and 90’s.
At the age of 41, I could still straddle a sub 6 minute paced 5K. I had begun to take Terry to my races,  and on out and back courses, get to see him run with the leaders. In this summer race in the flats of Cleveland, we ran out a quarter mile or so, flew straight downhill to a turn around cone, and came back up, turned that quarter mile, and ran to the clock. When I neared the bottom, Terry was in 5th, and on his way back up, and I was in 11th, right behind the woman you see in the photo. As we turned, she hit a patch of oil and went down. I stopped, pulled her up, and we headed up. I forgot all about her and focused on two competitors ahead of me, and worked to catch them. Terry had finished 4th and was waiting for me at the to to run in with me, which became a custom for us in races. As we neared the finish line, she got to me and sprinted in ahead of me. Found out afterward that she ran for Team Ohio, and was a previous women’s winner of the Revco marathon, so that took the sting out of it. Don’t think I was beaten by another woman until I was in my fifties, but by then, the floodgates opened. Won’t tell you the first time I was beaten by a woman pushing a stroller...