I love evening races in the summer. Last night's twilight 5K showed that I'm not alone, as over 100 (apparently a record) runners showed up to do what is essentially the short version of the Ithaca 5 miler, or a slightly adapted Pud's run. The results:
-Earl Steinbrecher was 2nd in a very fine time...I saw him finish just as I was running by the track on the outside with about 450 meters to go. Some very fast guy was first.
-Jeff Juran, Charlie Fay and Derek Dean waged an awesome trade back and forth duel before finishing (I think) in the order shown, a little under 18 minutes. I had an excellent view of this early in the race around some of the curves in Stewart Park.
-Tim Ingall just barely trailed those guys, running a fine 18:02. This year Tim is a minute faster than me at all distances over a mile. I will have to get in some speed before XC rolls around if I'm going to matter for our master's team.
-The big strong quiet guy whose name I often forget and who runs with us sometimes, especially in the summers (maybe it's Dave?) ran a smart race, stormed by me the 2nd time under the Rt 13 bridge and ran a little over 18:30.
-Murphee Hayes-Falls of Marathon, a regular at our indoor meets, ran a very strong 18:50 to take women's honors and beat me by 12 seconds. I know, as I was about 12 seconds behind her the whole time.
-Ever wonder if it's better for your running to go to a bar or study for the bar exam? Counselor Simpson helped provide evidence favoring the first of those two activities as a training regimen. He and I waged a tough battle to see who would give up by more. He won. I passed him in Stewart Park and couldn't slow down enough on Cayuga Street for him to catch me. Jim Miner, not giving up, stormed in to finish right with Joe.
-Terry Delaney proved that 24 hours of flying around the world needn't be the death knell for good racing effort as he returned from China and gave 20 minutes a run for its money. The ClearNote(TM) timing team had him clocked in 19:62.
Good job and thanks to the organizers...an excellent event.
--Rick Cleary