Lil Rhody in memoriam

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Little did I know when I woke up Sunday morning that I would find out one of my students had a brain aneurism and would not make it to see to Thanksgiving. Little did I know when I woke up on Sunday that a fellow music teacher had died of a heart attack. Little did I know that I would run the Lil Rhody Runaround in memoriam to these two fellow human beings. My student was a three sport athlete, who often would put up with my stories of running, as do all my students. I try to weave the stories of the trail into what I call teachable moments but I am sure the kids often grow tired of me bringing up running. I am sure an athlete like Matt thought, “let’s humor the old guy”. My colleague was a band director who I grew up admiring as one of the leaders in our state.  So, I got in my car with my best friend Shelly Girl and we innocently made our way to Rhode Island, to run the little Rhody Runaround. Along the way we picked up Ticket and off to the race we went. Getting there early, we registered and then waited as seemingly herds of Bimblers began to appear. If I start mentioning people I am sure I will forget folks but there were at least a dozen of us all decked out in our bright orange Bluff shirts, ingeniously supplied by Mr. Bimble himself a few week earlier.

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It was a picture perfect day to run a trail race and off we went. As far as trail races go Lil Rhody is pretty easy. You start with about a mile of gravel road before you are dumped into a brief section of single track. The race had not really opened up at this point so there was a bit of a slow down as everyone crammed onto the trail. After a brief dose of single track you enter an open field/ playground area followed by a brief road section that finally allows you to find your spot in the race. I think I passed Amy Sorenson here and remember thinking wow she is having great day. In a few hundred meters you find yourself back on single track and really begin to race. The trail is very well marked and it is almost impossible to lose your way. This part of the trail is also very easy running and it is a place to make some time. At this point I was running well and simply maintaining a strong pace. I had run a PR of 101:19 last year and had visions of breaking the one hour mark. I got to the lone aid station, about the half way point, grabbed a quick drink, and headed out to meet my goal. The second half of Little Rhody is more difficult than the first. It is not hard but there actually are a few hills and more technical terrain to navigate. I knew I had lost my race here last year and was determined not to have a repeat performance. I must admit that I was tired, but this year I kept pushing the whole way and exited the trail just at 55 minutes. Feeling home free for the one hour mark, I threw it into overdrive as I ran the final road section of the race. Then…. Ouch! What I thought was a right hand turn to the finish turned out to be just a right turn onto more road!!! Did I say ouch? I was screwed. All I could do was push as hard as I could through my dismay and the realization that I would not break the one hour mark. I must admit I hung in there. Maybe somewhere deep inside I knew that this would be the easiest part of my day and that things would be getting significantly more difficult once I left Rhode Island. In any event, I preserved and crossed the finish line in a PR of 1:00:58. I am sorry to say I was unable to stay to see most of the Bimblers finish. I was due in New Britain for a 2:00 concert and had to leave as soon as I saw Shelly Girl finish.

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From her accounts, everyone did very well and the post race activities seemed to be as much fun as the running. This is as it should be! For me?  I drove to the concert happy with my performance, happy to see so many Bimblers at a race and blissfully unaware about the news I would hear as the day unfolded. I would like to dedicate the whole day to Mathew Buriak and Tim Ketterer. Wherever they are, may they find nothing but PR’s and happy trails. To us who remain behind? We must simply keep running as hard as we can, for as long as we are allowed this blessing.

See you on the trails

Lefty

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