Race Recap - Never Forget

I don’t have many regular readers of this blog these days, I wrote in my last post, which was way back on August 13.  Lizette Pryor was a faithful follower, but mostly because she did not have a computer and I would print out a copy of several posts and mail them to her from time to time.  My little blog shows that I have nine “followers” other than people who might accidentally stumble upon it while surfing the internet and typing, say, “Race Recap” or “Never Forget” in their search engine for some reason.

I began this blog a little over ten years ago, a few months after completing the Boston Marathon, the highlight of my humble running career.  On August 6, I posted a picture memorializing that race, and I wrote:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

It goes without saying that this blog will be about running, and specifically about running here in Highlands, North Carolina, where I live and run and have my being.

So I lace up my shoes and head out the door . . .

Over the years, while focusing on running and training and racing, this blog has also chronicled other adventures, such as a 2016 journey to California and back in our Mini Cooper with hundreds of other Minis. and a day-by-day account of our journey to England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland in 2019.  I have recorded the progress of several construction projects at our house.  I wrote whenever it could not be avoided about things like the January 6 Insurrection.  And I spent a lot of time writing about Atlantic Beach, mostly for the benefit of Lizette and in gratitude for her allowing us to spend winters there.

I have enjoyed looking back over the years at the many races and places to which we have journeyed, and for that reason it seems worthwhile to pick the journey up again after a laps of several weeks, if for no other reason than to create a record for ourselves.  This Race Recap begins again now because after eighteen months, we finally feel that it is safe enough to sign up for races again.  We have kept up with our running during the pandemic, but most races were cancelled or transformed into “virtual races,” where you signed up, ran a 5-K (or whatever) distance anywhere, and sent in your time in a kind of honor system of competition.  But that is nothing like the real thing.

 So on September 11, we toed the line at the Never Forget 5-K in Franklin, run 20 years after 9-11 and in memory of that terrible day.  Martha had not been running in some time due to problems with her asthma and allergies, and only began training a couple of weeks before the race.  I had been running pretty regularly, but work on our construction projects took time away from proper training.  The course was the old “Ruby Run” course that I actually ran on July 13, 1996, in a staggering time of 22:40, good enough for third place in my age group at the time.  25 years later, I was hoping to break 40 minutes, and be thankful for it.

There was a very moving ceremony before the race, which was well-represented by local fire fighters.  Scott Nelson, a Franklin Police Officer whom I knew when he worked for the Highlands Police Department, led the way with an American flag, and there were prayers and bagpipes to see us off.  Some participants wore full fire fighter gear for the entire distance.  Each runner had the name of a victim of 9-11 on his or her race big; mine was Kathryn Brandis, and I looked her up after the race – she perished on that day in the second tower, a wonderful woman by all accounts.

The Ruby Run course begins at the Franklin High School Track, goes downhill, and then returns uphill, which reminded us of many other hilly races we have run over the years.  It was a beautiful, cool morning, and we both got off to a good start.  The Race Director, who shall remain nameless, is notorious for dispensing with features such as accurate measurement of the course, and we were not surprised to find that it was 3.24 miles in length rather than 3.1 miles.  Adjusting for the distance, my time would have been 39:13, in keeping with my goal.  But Martha ran an even more amazing time of 32:29, on little training and up a long, steep hill.  We both took first place in our age groups (honestly, I was the only one in my age group). 

The next day we drove to Pisgah Inn on the Blue Ridge Parkway and then to Blowing Rock to celebrate Martha’s 66^th birthday.  And also to celebrate once again competing with others, striving together, and attaining a worthy goal however humble.