Family Ties

Encouraged by my decent showing at the corporate challenge on September 16, I decided to run a 5K while visiting my family in St. Louis. It’s the St. Michael’s Day Dash, a race to honor the patron saint of firefighters and police officers. I had no idea that St. Michael held this position, but I suppose that St. Louis looks for the Catholic connection whenever possible. My siblings and I all attended Catholic grade school and high school, and my sister Diane met her husband at a Catholic university. Not until I moved from St. Louis did I realize that most cities don’t have a lot of Catholic schools, and the schools they have are small and relatively insignificant in athletics.

The race’s connection to public safety means that it features an array fire and police icons like fire trucks and a bagpipe ensemble that leads us to the starting line. Maylee would have loved it, but she and Mandy are back in California.

I haven’t run since the 3.5 mile corporate challenge 11 days earlier. Yesterday I ran around the block to test my knee, which responded favorably. I’m not in great shape, but I think I can run under 20 minutes, which would be two minutes slower than the last 5K I ran on July 4. I want to finish in 19:21, which will require the 6:15 pace that I ran the shorter corporate challenge. This course is hilly and has eight turns, whole the corporate challenge is flat with long straightaways.

The start of the race is marked by a race volunteer who had to avoid us like a dodgeball target when he forgot to get out of the starting lane, and then a car that crossed the course 20 feet from the start, missing the lead runners by about five feet. Once we navigate these two hazards, we’re on our way.

I’m somewhere in the top 10 as the race begins, feeling pretty good. About a mile and a half in, a runner catches up to me and I instinctively slow down, so subtly that it’s almost imperceptible.
“Stay with me,” he says. His name is Don Kueneke (M53) of Kirkwood, Mo.

I barely pick up my pace and run alongside. “Nice job,” he says.

It occurs to me that in this relatively small field I have the luck of running not only with a pacer, but also a very supportive one, if only I can keep up with him. I ask him his goal time. He says 18:40, to which I respond that’s probably going to be too fast for me. He replies anything under 19 minutes would be good, and I indicate that we’re on pace for that time. I consider telling him that I’m injured and not in the best of shape, that my PR is under 18 but that was on a flat course, and if my lungs don’t give out my foot might wither, but I’d rather run than talk, and he surely feels the same. I spare him my drama and figure he and I will find out the level of my fitness in about 10 minutes.

We hit the second mile in 12 minutes, comfortably within reach of a 19 minute finish. The third mile has a series of hills, and I take the lead for most of it. I’m going full speed and he’s cruising, so he passes me before the last turn. I finish in 19:10, eighth overall. I would have placed in the top three in any age group other than my own (M40-49) in which I finish fourth. Fortunately for me, the race gives masters awards to the guys in my age group who were ahead of me, and because the race doesn’t allow double-dipping it declares me as the winner of my group. The generous $20 gift certificate covers my registration fee.

The men’s winner is Seth Kelly, who works at the running store that I will visit later today to redeem my gift certificate. The women’s winner is not a woman at all, but a 13-year-old girl named Sophia Racette, who I thought was no older than eight years old. She’s about four and a half feet tall. Looking like a mini Kara Gaucher, she sported professional running attire that included form-fitting shorts and singlet, aerodynamic sunglasses and arm warmers, and had her hair in a ponytail. She reminds me of kids who wear full football pads in Pop Warner leagues or for Halloween, as if she was wearing a costume or the clothes are for grownups. Her time of 20:13 proved her ability matches her clothes, and undoubtedly she’ll make some high school and perhaps college coach thrilled to have her on the team. I later learned she’s posted one of the top 20 times for 3000 meters among girls nationwide in her age group.

After the race I meet up with my brother Andy and sister in law Kathy. They finished in 27:07 and 28:28, helping us set a record for the most Wittes in a race. I meet with other runners as well, including Don Kueneke and James Marino (M30), who raved about the San Francisco Marathon that I missed a few months ago when my foot screamed in pain. So many friendly people. I’m having a great time.

I love St. Louis races. In the three that I’ve run, I’ve won prizes and money, and tonight I made the evening news. Channel 5 did a story on the race, and featured my finishing kick as its running clip. Above is a still shot from the newscast. I even met Fredbird, the mascot of the St. Louis Cardinals, who had clinched a playoff spot the night before.

That’s a lot of activity for a small and short race. My hope is to run three times a week for 20 miles. If everything goes well, I’ll run the 5K at the Primo’s race in two weeks.