I have been training for a longer-run race for some months now, without really having a race in mind. I thought I had putzed around too long and missed my opportunity for a local race, and I did not really want to travel to run. Happily, on a website dedicated to listing half-marathons, I stumbled across the Tour de Ashland run. It took place, not surprisingly, in Ashland, Ohio, which is about seventy-five minutes away from our house. It was a fund-raiser run that benefited the Ashland High School cross country teams. It was scheduled to take place on December 3rd, and it had same-day registration (which I liked, in case the weather was bad). I had a race.

Saturday was sunny and clear, but quite cold. I told Mer to sleep in because I saw no need for her to freeze “watching” a race that was not very spectator-friendly. I drove to Ashland without incident, and found the start area, and the church where registration was happening. Registration was crowded, but easy, and the only downside was a long wait at the restroom. I walked back to my car to put some stuff in it, and decided to try the nearby high school, to see if it was open. There was a wrestling tournament going on, so it was open, and they were kind enough to let me use the bathroom.

The start of the race was near the high school stadium/track, which was the finish line. We started on the road, and the start was noisy enough with chatter that I never heard the start command; the mass of people in front of us just started moving. We started several hundred feet behind the 5-k runners, but they had instructions to stay on the left side of the road, so even though the road was crowded, it was not too bad. I was able to get to full speed right away. I hit a fast stride, and knew it was fast, but decided to see how things would go.

The course was mostly through housing areas, with a few major streets. The streets were not closed, but major streets had crossing guards at them. I kept up the fast pace, and looked longingly at the finish line, which I passed at mile three before heading out into Ashland itself. I found myself in a bit of a “hole” – I had one runner in sight in front of me, and no one close behind me, and I was closing in on the man in front of me. I caught him at about mile five, and we were not sure where the next turn was. Things looked weird to me as we approached a major road, and I heard someone yelling; I turned and saw the woman behind me turning off the street we were on. I let the man with me know, and we turned around. It was very kind of the woman, and I thanked her when I caught her about a mile further on. I suspect I lost about thirty or forty seconds on the little detour.

The rest of the race was fine. I finally figured out at about mile eight that the race had set out realtor signs with arrows on them, in addition to the arrows painted on the road. That helped. I was keeping up the fast pace, but miles eight to ten were quite hilly, and were very difficult. I tried to just keep running and not worry about the pace. I was passed around mile twelve by a young runner (high school), and by the woman who had warned me that I had missed a turn. I thought about running with them, but I could not – I was too tired.

I made the turn into the stadium, gasping and exhausted, expecting to find the finish line. It came as a major mental blow when I understood from the officials that I had to run three hundred meters around the track. That was very difficult. I made it, though, and when I looked up at the clock as I crossed the finish line, it read about 1:29:00. I had broken my previous best time by over four minutes. As an added bonus, the people at the finish line asked me my age, and when I told them I was forty, they gave me a hat, which was given out to the top three finishers in each age group (in addition to a finisher’s medal). That meant I had come in somewhere in the top three. What a great run.

I checked out the church to see if I could find a phone to let Mer know I was okay. The church was open and had food and drink, so I grabbed a bagel and some water. A kind woman lent me her cell phone, and I called Mer, who had just gotten out of bed. That made me smile. I returned the phone, walked back to the car, and drove back home.

My official stats:
13.1 miles
1:28:56
6:48 per mile
15th place overall, out of 278 people
2nd out of 41 in my age group (40-49 years old)

It was a great run!

I did celebrate with Mer by going out to eat at a burger place in Hudson in the afternoon. Otherwise, we were pretty mellow!