Labor Day Weekend Races

There have been a couple times that I ran 3 races in three consecutive days. At least one of those was over a Labor Day Weekend. It almost happened again in 2013, but in the end I decided that two was enough.

Saturday's race was the Celebrate Westlake North Coast Challenge 5-mile. This is another big prize money race, and as with several of my recent races, all the best runners were out there. The heat and humidity were oppressive. I ran a fairly steady (only just) sub-seven minute pace to finish in 34:36. That's almost exactly to the second my time for the Canton Football HOF Festival 5-miler a few weeks ago. This time I won my age group, and I would have actually received some prize money if two 65-69 year-olds hadn't beaten me. I didn't feel so bad about that, however. Those two were Ron Legg and Terry McCluskey.

Just before the start - Larry, Christine, me and Debbie
photo by Larry Orwin

Sunday's race was the South River Winery Run 10K. One thing was similar to the previous day: the heat and humidity. Otherwise it was a different experience altogether, running through all the vineyards. And it was fun too! Too bad that after that previous day's race, and with the tough terrain (I actually 'threw' a shoe that flew out and away from me when I stepped in a hole), I was suffering from slow disease. My time was 49:44, and I won my age group there as well. Not that the competition among the geezers was especially keen this time. I was well behind Chris and Larry Orwin, and I was even beaten by Debbie H., who walked the 5K a few seconds faster than my time for the 10. It was nice to have the wine afterwards.

After the run and some wine - me, Debbie, Larry's friend, Christine, and Larry
photo by Larry Orwin

Although there were options for races on Labor Day itself, I thought it would be too much labor for this tired body. Instead I did 10 easy Medina miles with Debbie Scheel, Michelle Wolff and Shari Geiger.