This was a race that I was definitely qualified to run. Shelly had great fun calling me an old timer all day.
I really enjoyed returning to Southwest City. About 30 years ago, I played on the SWC baseball team because my community, Noel, didn't field a team that summer. I was invited to play by one of my high school friends, Eric Wolfe. As it happens, I saw his sister Michelle and her husband Dusty at the race. They both ran the 5K and did great.
The race started and finished right at the old baseball field where we used to play. The course was actually pretty challenging for a 5K and that surprised me. Looking online later I figured out why. It included 180 feet of elevation change -- quite a bit for only 3 miles. Looking at the course you wouldn't think there were any significant hills but I guess what looked flat was actually a long, slow, uphill grade. Plus, there was 100% humidity. That probably explains why standing around before the start felt fine but once we took off it felt terribly hot. This is going to be a long summer.
I finished 2nd overall with a time of 20:07. The winner was a 14 year old boy who finished in about 19:10. See, it wasn't solely a race of old timers!
