A Weekend of Racing

GLA 5K Race
Oilwell tank battery across the street from the school

My running and racing life has been off and on the past four years after getting injured on a spill on a race in Turkey Mountain and the long rehab from that and then several others injuries and then getting told that as far as my knee cartilage is concerned, “Your tread is very thin.” So I just quit running and I would still enter races but just walk them.

GLA 5K Race
The race started at the bottom of a hill and went uphill for a half mile. Brutal!! (just like i like it)

So I have been experimenting with running old fat guy style. Running the downhills and walking uphill or just running for a short ways and walking and then running when I felt like it. And last week at the Tulsa Run 5K I did it and it worked. I thought I had a decent run so it’s like wow. This is great.

GLA 5K Race
Down into the frigid colder hollow.

This week I signed up for two runs. On Saturday I did the GLA 5K. A first time run put on by a charter school in north Tulsa, the Greenwood Leadership Academy. It was a very nice, well organized run with lots of volunteers. I’m trying to diversify my running to get routes I haven’t run before and their location in the Gilcrease Hills was perfect. We started running right up a long hill. So I stuck to my walking up and trotting down and it worked fine.

GLA 5K Race
The turnaround

It was an out and back course with a beer stop turnaround at a church.

GLA 5K Race
An oil well.

We also passed a couple oil wells. Welcome to running in Oklahoma.

The GLA 5K was a great run, great course, volunteers, organization, and runner support. What more can you ask for?

My second race was Sunday morning. The Turkey n Taters 10K, a trail race on Turkey Mountain that also includes 25K and 50K distances. I have run the 10K a bunch of times, the 25K two years ago, and have volunteered a couple times cooking hamburgers and hot dogs (nobody but vegetarians mess with the cook at these events, and I tell them to just chew on some grass, (actually some of the elite athletes are vegetarians and yes we do have things I cooked for them beside grass).

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The starting line, and the ending line.

I walked the whole length of this race. Yes, I have had success running the the previous day but going twice the distance over some very rough and technical terrain meant that I wanted to be conservative.

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I just love wooden walkways.

I just hung out at the start until everybody else left and then I started walking. I passed these two ladies who said they like doing the race but never enter because they entrance fees are a rip off. I said okay, but I wanted to ask ” You do know this is a fund raiser for the West Side YMCA, right?” And by the way , the fees are very reasonable.

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I tell you what is slicker than snot. Wet shale rock with muddy shoes. Brutal.

It was cold, about 37F and I had three layers on which is probably one layer too many but I like being warm so after a half mile I shed my down coat and wrapped it around my waist and was comfortable the rest of the way.

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Walk, walk, walk, walk for over two hours.

After that it was a matter of just walking the course. At some point I got off the course, I didn’t see any pink ribbons and started having that feeling. And then I ran into some going straight ahead and to the east, so I was like oh no. Officially I should have back tracked until I figured where I went off but I was not sure that I went off and I picked a direction and kept going and met people coming the other way but I wasn’t too worried because the 50K runners run the 25K course backwards when they finish the first 25K but then I had a guy ask me if he was going the right direction to the race start and I was like, uh you hadn’t started the loop back and he said no. And then I met a woman who I had been following and I was like oops, so I back tracked to where I made the wrong decision. So I didn’t run the official route, but I didn’t win any awards so I didn’t have any ethical considerations about since I ran the same distance. And you know, its a trail run.

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One of my former employers pipelines feeding a power plant. I wish they would come and bury a new line. Give’em a call Enable Midstream Partners.

So I finished the race, got my medal, a burger, a beer, a second burger and headed home.

A very nice weekend of racing. I had never thought I would be there again. After I quit running, it over a year and a half before my knees quit hurting and I am liking that. I have done lots of yoga, lots of water exercises, lots of bicycling, and elliptical machines and only longer distance walking once a week or so. So I won’t be able to run longer distances but I can walk a very long ways and I can do the occasional 5K or so and walk the 10K’s

Win, win, win in my book. Especially at 64 years of age. Staying in the game is my strategy.

14 thoughts on “A Weekend of Racing

  1. Ellen

    Keeping moving is all that matters—running or walking. I’ve always done the old man run— mostly walking with a little running and I’m perfectly happy with that. Your shot of the wooden bridge is fantastic!

  2. Angie

    Good for you to “stay in the game”. I am still a runner, and although I may grumble about it a little more, it always feels great when I finish! One advantage of walking/jogging the downhills is you can take pictures and share them all with us! Enjoy the rest of your week!

  3. Gaelyn

    My running shoes are off to you, seriously I don’t own any. That’s a lot of walking. At my sauntering pace I’d still be on the first race. Keep on keeping on.

  4. Nancy Chan

    You have a strong will and very determination not to allow your injuries to stop you from running. And you also took time to take photos along your run. Nice to see the wooden bridge.

  5. Driller's Place

    Personally, I am thrilled that you have not let having to slow down and alter your participation not make you give up something that you love to do. Getting outdoors, meeting people and photographing the experience is more important than collecting medals. Just keep moving forward and taking us along with your camera. Have a blessed weekend.

  6. Eileen

    Hello,
    You did great. I am not a runner, I do enjoy walking. Keep moving! Thanks for hosting.
    Enjoy your day, have a great weekend!

  7. Barb

    Staying in the game is my motto, too. You gotta be smart about what you can and can’t do and modify. I did run until I was 69 but so many of my friends were having hip and knee surgeries, I decided it wasn’t worth it anymore. Now, I just do long walks, sometimes fast but certainly not running speed. I like seeing your trail photos anyway which often can’t happen if you’re trying to run fast.

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