The Old Runner

I'm really thankful that I'm able to run when so many people my age can't (or won't) run, so even though this was a less-than-perfect racing experience for me, just keeping things in perspective it was really an enjoyable experience. The weather was as perfect as it could be. A lot of friends came down from the Gaston County Runners and for my wife Linda it was her first race in the 60+ age group after graduating to genuine old lady status last week, and she won a beautiful plaque for coming in first place in her age group in the 5k. For me, things weren't quite so rosy. There are very few unpardonable sins that a race can commit, but this one managed to achieve that dubious distinction. By unpardonable I mean I won't be back next year, or the year after that, or ever again. In 187 races it's only the second one to have reached that status. I've been in races before where one or more runners have accidentally gotten off course for some reason. Th

Due to a variety of circumstances, none having to do with my health, I managed to skip racing on three consecutive weeks for the first time ever since I began running nearly four years ago. I feel like I function better in every way when I race every week so I was really looking forward to getting back into the races this week. Since I'm trying to run a half marathon in every month this year my only choice was this one or one up in the mountains. I'm not a big fan of mountain races with all the hills so I picked this completely flat indoor half marathon. It's rare to find a race at an indoor track, and even more rare to find a half marathon on a track. The race was held at the JDL Fast Track , a huge indoor track facility located in a large industrial park in Winston-Salem that will host the Big South Conference Indoor Track and Field Championship in 2013 and also plays host to many college and high school indoor track events. Normally you would run the standard oval tr