Spring '09

Friday marked the official start of spring (vernal equinox) this year. The end of this month will also close out the 1st quarter of the year.

Saturday agenda-race!

I had to turn down one of my favorite events, the riverwalk, in order to defend my title gained last year at the sickle cell 5k. First, I'd like to congradulate Runner's Depot for all the individual and team victories attained at the riverwalk. That event held both a 5k & a 5 mile road race. The latter was required to be in the three for the road series. Mike Korir won the 5 miler despite a running wild volunteer's effort to cost him a victory by failing to do his/her job of directing (runners). Jeffrey Tait was our highest rank in the 5k with 3rd overall. As for me, the run course was totally changed (longer) and this year took to the streets. After a quarter mile, I was thrust into the lead. Unbeknownst to me, the driver of the lead vehicle (a white pick up truck) was in co-hoots with Miami-Dade county, or at the very least, in the employ. The 1st right turn was executed properly because it was visible to all the trailing runners. The truck was too close to me, slowing my pace. The 2nd right turn, the truck stopped, forcing me off the road. I had to run over private driveways & grass to get to the sidewalk. I was motioning to the vehicle to speed up & returned to the road. Can you believe that that idiot did it to me again on the 3rd right turn? Yep. I had to dodge it to avoid running into it. The 4th turn was to the left, toward the crowd so the vehicle pulled away & we had to figure that we would be returning from whence we came. Since the rest of the participant spread out, I had to run outside of the cones until turning back to the stadium grounds. After all that interference, I was trying to hang on to now a slim lead. Yep, because of him, my large lead evaporated and the person they wanted to win achieved that after 3 miles. To add insult to injury, I appeared to be slower than normal due to the longer course & the inaccurate time. Even though he barely got me by a second, it was reported as if I got blown away by 7. With some major cheating, that dog got his day.

Sunday agenda-redemption

This was the weekend for: #1 doing races in my own county of Dade, #2 returning to races I did last year & #3 participating in races for a cause. Today's cause was for the homeless. It is dubbed the celebrity 5k because many tv personalities were present. The only one I considered to be a celebrity was the Raven, the famous SoBe beach runner who advocates "run for free" & has run every single day despite the weather since 1975! Now I had something to prove. I gotted ribbed for that dismal time that was posted. Unfortunately, this was an unforgiving course. It is an out (no back) course east toward Nikki beach. External condition was very windy and there's a bridge within the final mile. Fueled by my internal fury as to what occurred the previous day,& God's help, I ran my best time ever on that course, only 10 seconds off what I would do on a flat course, plus made it in the top 10! I missed the master title by seconds but since I never ran this fast prior, it didnt matter. The 1st place age group trophy & respectable time served as vindication. The post race refreshments were among the best they ever offered.

Honorable mention

* Lisa dorfman won her age group
* Lisa also agreed to be on a relay team with me;what an honor
* Louis Molina got 2nd
* George wins again
* Fred Franklin won his age group on Sat.