Two Wheel Blogs

Bicyle Held Hostage: Day 10

It's Wednesday 10.21 as I write this. For several reasons, I've not been able ride since Sunday 10.11, when I took the geocaching trip with my brother. Chief among them is that Boz has been holding my road bike hostage for the past week. Well, that's not entirely true. When he's not busy out getting himself busted up or busting it hard in a cyclocross race, he's been building me a cyclocross bike. He needed my road bike to get the measurements right, so I handed it over to him last week, and he's had it since then. With a nod to Bob, the good news is...

Ooh-wee, ride me high.
Tomorrow's the day my [bike's] a-gonna come.
Oh oh, Lord, we gonna fly
Down in that easy chair.
~ Bob Dylan, "You Ain't Goin' Nowhere

Last Monday 10.19, I rode my comfort bike out to the cross country course on the SIU-Edwardsville campus for the Tiger Finale, the last meet of the regular season before regionals. It's a JV meet. For the runners who will not compete for their schools in post-season meets, it's their last chance to race. For me, it's a second chance.

Back when I was able to run, I used to love running the SIU-E course, a truly beautiful course that winds its way through woods. And it's a challenging one, too, with hills in the second and third miles that brutalize your quads. For my son's high school career, this was his home course. His freshman year, I used to run at the course when the team was practicing there. And each summer, the booster club hosts the Mud Mountain 5K race as a fundraiser; I've helped out each year, providing pre- and post-race music for the runners. On top of all this, I drive past the course on my way to and from work. So, for the past four years -- four years I've been unable to run -- I driven past the course about 10 times each week. My attachment to the place runs deep.

On Monday 10.19, I biked the two miles to the course to help the volunteers set up. I had plenty of time before the first race, so I got back on my bike and did a loop around the SIU-E campus. I figured it would be a good warmup. When I got back to the course, I called my wife, Diane, and asked her to bring out a post-race cooler, just like the ones she always brought for our son: one bottle of Gatorade, one can of Mendota Springs lemon-lime. This time, the cooler was for me. Tonight, I was here to race.

I had my choice of races. I could run the first race with the JV runners, or the second with the freshmen and sophmores. I asked Diane for advice. "You're more JV," she said. So, I lined up with the JV runners, the gun went off, and so did we. I deliberately let all the high school runners go out ahead of me. I was not going to jockey for position in the first quarter mile. No, I knew all too well the hills that awaited me in miles 2 and 3. After having run three 8-minute miles on the mostly flat Alhambra course, I wanted to run an even, maintainable pace. If I went out too hard early, I would pay dearly for it at the end.

I cannot describe how good it felt to be running the course again. In the past four years, I've been on the course a lot, setting up and taking down flags, driving the gator behind the slowest runners in races. But I have not seen all of it as a runner. And now, four years later, here I was in the middle of a pack of high school runners running their last race of the season. The first mile ends with a climb up a short hill. When I heard my split, 7:36, I didn't quite believe it. I knew I was running harder than I had at Alhambra, but it didn't feel like it was that much harder.

Mile 2 starts out with a nice flat stretch, then a friendly downhill gives you a little boost. But what the downhill giveth, the uphill taketh away. And the hill in the middle of Mile 2 is the worst. It is not the muddy hill that gives the course its nickname, "Mud Mountain"; that comes in Mile 3. But of the two, it is the longer and harder to climb. And I climb like a Slinky. Going down? Great. Going up? Not so good. Still, I was not going to let this hill reduce me to a walk, so I shortened up my stride, and just tried to turn my legs over as quick as I could. And you know, it worked. I made steady progress up the hill, and was able to pass a pack of three girl runners at the summit. My split for Mile 2 as 8:01. Not bad for an old guy who's only been trying to run since August 9.

Mile 3 starts you off with a nice, long downhill. Good runners capitalize on this, coasting down it and picking up the free speed. I was not able to do so. I had to hold back to prevent myself from going too fast. At the bottom, you do a hard left and find yourself facing "Mud Mountain," a nice little climb. The tricky thing about this hill is that the summit is not the true summit. Once you reach what you think is the top, you've not yet reached the highest point on the course. The path continues to go up, albeit gradually, for another quarter mile or so. Experienced runners know that you can't let up once you summit. You have to keep your pace up because, technically, you're still climbing.

Throughout the race, I tried to pass the runner immediately in front of me, then bridge up to the next pack and pick them off one at a time. I was behind two runners as we approaced the left turn onto the bike trail. One of them, I believe, was the Collinsville runner I had followed at the county meet in Alhambra, the one who annoyed me by constantly tugging at his too small shorts. He was not tugging at his shorts tonight, so I assumed he must have gotten a bigger pair. After a short run on the bike trail, we took the hard left that led up a short hill and onto the long straightaway to the Finish line. I tried to pick up my pace to keep up with the two runners ahead of me, but they had more gas in their tank, so I had to let them go.

I maintained my pace until I went down the short dip just before the slight uphill stretch to the Finish. As I started up, I could see the clock at the Finish had turned over 24:00. I wanted a sub-25:00 finish, so I kicked with all I had left. My Mile 3 split was 8:08, and I covered the last tenth of a mile in .41. My total time was 24:27, a 7:52 per mile pace.

Tonight has been a long time coming. While my time was good, it was not the most important thing. Looking back on it, it didn't really matter at all. The only thing that did matter was that I was able to run the SIU-E course, that I was able to be out there again. For 24 minutes and 27 seconds, I was the happiest man on earth. And for a long time afterwards.

Note: As I post this, I've just returned from a 6-mile run on the Nickel Plate trail. I was able to run for 55 minutes. That is my longest run since August 9, when I took my first, comical running steps. Thanks to a post-run ice pack and a Naproxen, my right knee is not complaining. In fact, it feels pretty good, considering what I've been asking it to do. Now, it's a day or two of rest, and then I'll go back out and try it again. And, of course, tomorrow I get my new cyclocross bike! Life is good.