This was my fifth in the naturist 5K series; a decent showing would
pretty much guarantee me first place in the masters category. As
usual, they got good turnout, about 100 people. This race is followed
by a hash, so some of the local hashers came out. Some other oddballs
-- one group of three young men ran in jockstraps and black socks
(plus running shoes). Near as I can tell, they were there on a dare or
lost a bet; I didn't ask. I also saw a woman who I had seen win a road
race in Dallas this summer; in eight naturist races she was the first
woman I'd seen who was actually athletic. I told my girlfriend, "She's
going to win." (Later I remembered saying the exact same thing when I
saw her before the earlier race.)
The course was changed from last year -- there was a lot of weaving
back and forth in meadows, hairpin turns, plus a lot of hills, and
some mud in the first mile thanks to recent rains. "Keep the flags on
your left" was almost the entire course direction. I saw a couple of
people carrying race maps -- wished I'd done the same by the end.
There were a lot of places one could cut the course, intentionally or
by accident.
We got warmed up, went to the starting line and ... some sort of
holdup. They were having trouble matching names to numbers, or
something. Finally we started, about 15 minutes late. Up a hill and
around a corner. Gerald, the usual winner of these races, took the
lead, along with the guys who finished second and fourth in last
week's race. I figured I might have a shot at second and would
probably beat the third guy, given last week's results. But they all
stayed together, and I let them pull away, conserving my strength for
later. (Third or fourth wouldn't make much difference since we were
all in different age groups.) We ran down a rutted dirt road that had
some sticky mud in it -- had to hop back and forth to avoid the worst
of it. Then back onto the grass, the gravel road, the grass ...
looking for the orange flags and the little yellow arrows marking the
course. I checked behind me on one switchback and the fast-looking
woman was back there, about 100 feet behind me. Dang!
Sometime after the first mile I ran down a hill, saw some runners out
the corner of my eye, looked around and thought I was on part of the
course I'd already run. I stopped and checked both directions. The
lead woman came by, and I said I was lost. She said she thought the
course went back to the left, and I saw that I had mistaked the lead
guys for runners behind me. We headed that way and eventually got
within sight of them at least. I figure I lost about 20 seconds. I
re-established my lead on the woman (she later said she was wary of
passing me because she thought she might get lost without someone to
follow) and eventually we saw the lead guys. Somewhere in mile 3 the
third-place guy, who had lost contact with the two leaders, went off
the course, accidentally cutting across a loop, and we shouted at him
to get back on track; I figure I made up the 20 seconds that way.
There was someone at the bend supposedly directing traffic, but she
wasn't really helping any.
Anyway, about 500m from the finish I decided to make a move on the guy
in front of me. I passed him, then he passed me back, and I realized I
didn't have enough left for a strong kick. We went around a bend and
headed for the finish, and he was fast enough to beat me by 3 seconds.
My time was 21:44. If I hadn't gotten lost I probably would have
beaten him; if he hadn't gone astray that time it wouldn't have been
close. Whatever. We each won our age groups. The first woman came in
about 20 seconds behind me.
In the post-mortem discussion Gerald said he'd gone off the course
briefly at some point as well. Second place was only 20 seconds behind
him, a big improvement over last week, and the guy ahead of me did a
lot better than last week as well. The first woman said she'd already
run a road 5K in sub-20 that morning. Wow.
Bananas and sport drink at the finish line, followed by chili dogs,
potato salad and nachos afterward. The No Tan Lines Hash later in the
afternoon was fun; my GF joined in, the first time since college she's
run at all. She enjoyed it. Friendly folks, decent food (if you eat
meat, which I don't). Nice facility including pool volleyball after
the race. Points off for a confusing course and the late start.
Two stars. Brian Bob says check it out.
--
Brian P. Baresch
Fort Worth, Texas, USA
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If you're going through hell, keep going. --Winston Churchill