An Accidental Spectator
We went up to Saratoga, NY this past weekend to celebrate my in-laws 50th anniversary. It happened that we stayed at the Gideon Putnam Hotel. I had been aware that somewhere in Saratoga they were holding the USATF Masters 5K Cross-Country National Championship, but had no idea where. On Friday morning, I looked up the details and found out that it was going on at New York's Saratoga Spa State Park. As we travelled up, I got the information on the hotel, and found that it was in the same park.
I got up on Saturday morning and headed out to take a walk. I promptly came upon a cross-country race. It was a big high-school race. This was my first real clue that the race might be VERY close by. I then tried to check out what was going on, and found that sure enough, the big race was starting just yards from the hotel.
The last activity of the celebration was breakfast on Sunday. I headed over to the races while my wife and son went to town to shop. They were to come back in about an hour. I quickly bumped into some runners from my club, Shore A.C., and also some from one of my other clubs, Raritan Valley Road Runners.
So, how was the racing? Here's my answer: I can run a 5K in about 21 minutes right now. In the men's 40's race, the leaders finished in about 15 min. All but a few stragglers were done by the mid-18's. I put a post on the Shore AC blog about how the women's 40's team did (well!). Another clue to how good some of the competition was is that there was one competitor in the men's 50's race who came off the line noticeably slower than the rest. He hadn't finished with the rest of the pack in about 18-23 minutes. He didn't show up in the five minutes or so that the last few stragglers arrived in, nor did he show in the five minutes after that. When the clock got to about 36 minutes, he came into sight. It took him another minute and change to finish. His official time was 37:10. Not that impressive until you find out what his age group shown on his back was, M90! Yes, that means he is 90 years old, but he moves better than most 70 year olds.
I got up on Saturday morning and headed out to take a walk. I promptly came upon a cross-country race. It was a big high-school race. This was my first real clue that the race might be VERY close by. I then tried to check out what was going on, and found that sure enough, the big race was starting just yards from the hotel.
The last activity of the celebration was breakfast on Sunday. I headed over to the races while my wife and son went to town to shop. They were to come back in about an hour. I quickly bumped into some runners from my club, Shore A.C., and also some from one of my other clubs, Raritan Valley Road Runners.
So, how was the racing? Here's my answer: I can run a 5K in about 21 minutes right now. In the men's 40's race, the leaders finished in about 15 min. All but a few stragglers were done by the mid-18's. I put a post on the Shore AC blog about how the women's 40's team did (well!). Another clue to how good some of the competition was is that there was one competitor in the men's 50's race who came off the line noticeably slower than the rest. He hadn't finished with the rest of the pack in about 18-23 minutes. He didn't show up in the five minutes or so that the last few stragglers arrived in, nor did he show in the five minutes after that. When the clock got to about 36 minutes, he came into sight. It took him another minute and change to finish. His official time was 37:10. Not that impressive until you find out what his age group shown on his back was, M90! Yes, that means he is 90 years old, but he moves better than most 70 year olds.
posted by Scooter at 5:19 AM
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