Fun weekend. I did my 5K or a race of some indeterminate length Saturday morning. This was the second of the four race series we're signed up to run. All of these are just for fun - no prizes or awards - at small towns in the next county over. There was a real small group of us for this one, with maybe a few more runners than walkers. The instructions were to follow the course, come back into town and cross the finish line, then continue around the go-kart track back to the finish line again. First time I've ever seen that, but OK.
The race started and I passed all the other walkers but when I looked back about a half mile into the race, there was a lady coming up on me. I picked up the pace and put a little distance between us and we stayed that way for most of the race until we came to the finish line the first time. I had a little bit left in reserve, so I was able to pull a little more of a lead when we went around the go-kart track. I thought it was just around the block but it turns out it was at least a half mile. When I hit the finish line the first time I was almost three minutes faster than my previous race but at least three minutes slower the second time around. My running buddy and a couple of other people had fancy-ass watches that said the race length was actually 3.6 miles rather than 3.1 like a normal 5K. Regardless, I knew I picked up the pace a bit and I'm starting to get my form back - which means I'm starting to look really silly like a real race walker should.
I didn't realize the small town had this festival going on. The go-kart track was a street circuit around the town with hay bales, catch fence and bumper blocks. Practice was Saturday, racing was Sunday. I got a look at a few of the carts and they're the GP type - fiberglass bodies, two stroke motors with chambers and all that jazz. They had a drivers meeting that spilled out onto the track after the runners had made their way through but I had to thread my way through the drivers to finish up my lap. There was a parade right after the run, fireworks later that evening, entertainment, food trucks, etc. Small town fun. I'll have to remember the date for next year even if I don't do the 5 +/- K race.
Surly had taken the grandkids home for the weekend and when he brought them back he asked about swapping out the dropouts on one of his bicycles. He's putting together a designated track bike for an event he'll be participating in. In addition, he had brought a 20" BMX bike down and tossed it in the barn a while back. I needs a little TLC and when I saw the guy down the street was tossing some bikes and other scrap to the curb, I called Cuzzin Ricky and we went over and loaded up his truck. In addition to the 20" that's in the photo above, there was also a little bike with training wheels that should be just right for his grandson. I figure I can make one good one out of the two 20" bikes and then scrap the remaining parts.
So I'm looking at a couple of bike projects in the near future as well as a couple more racewalks and an Indy car ride. Life is good!
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