Colorado Parkinson's Awareness 5k 2009

I drove down to Colorado Springs yesterday in a howling blizzard which did not bode well for this morning's race. Actually it could've been much worse--although it was snowing to beat the band and crazy windy and freezing cold, at least the snow wasn't actually sticking to the ground (because the wind was too fierce, I think). The wind continued to howl all night; and the morning, though sunny and cloudless, was still quit blustery. Nothing daunted, however, my younger sister and I made our way to America the Beautiful Park near downtown Colorado Springs (right next door to a large industrial park that was billowing steam into the atmosphere. I think they call that "irony").

During my customary 2-mile warmup, I thought back to my last race, the Runnin' of the Green Lucky 7k, and how strong I had felt on that race. I knew I could do at least as well on this one. I'd been thinking about it for the past few days, focusing on how I'd felt during that last race. I re-read the article on Go-Zone Racing that had been so inspirational and planned out my running strategy--going fast to start, fast in the middle, and fast at the end. Unfortunately I discovered that the first half of this out-and-back race would be run into the heavy wind. This was mildly disconcerting--there had been no wind at Runnin' of the Green last month. But it wasn't going to get me down; nor was the fact that my right ankle started to complain as I wrapped up my warmup.

As my sister and I huddled with the other runners at the start, using them as cover from the wind, I prepared for a strong race. Finally the race director called out "Ready, Set, GO!!" We were off. The course wound a circle around the park before cutting to the right on a crusher-fine trail that paralleled I-25 (about 0.4 miles in). By the time I was there, I was surprised to see that the crowd had thinned and spread out considerably. I was even more surprised to see the lead runner less than a third of a mile ahead of me! Doing a quick count, I figured that I had to be in the first twenty or so runners, maybe even fifteen! And "with a bullet" as they say: I soon passed a few more runners with ease. I was going at a good clip, less "comfortably hard" than "hardly comfortable," but a pace I felt confident I could maintain for the rest of the run. I felt about as I had during most of Runnin' of the Green, and told myself (without looking at my Garmin) that I was on pace for that.

Just past the first mile (side note: there were no mile markers on this course, although there were plenty of helpful volunteers to point the way), I passed the aid station. I'm used to having a water stop at the halfway point of a 5k, so I passed by without slowing. I figured, if I wanted to, I could snag some water on the return trip. Besides, I had just been passed by my first runner since the very start, and was a few feet away from passing another one or two myself. No time to slow down now!

As I made my way along the second mile I could see the handful of runners ahead of me making the turn at about the midway point. As I drew closer, I could see the lead cyclist and first runner coming down the back stretch. I was closer than I'd thought! The closest runner to me had about a .05 mile lead on me. I didn't risk a glance backwards, but imagined that I could hear the breathing of the runner behind me.

As I tore around the turn into the back half, rocking with Nickleback and Metallica, I thought of a recent column in Runner's World Magazine about using imagination during runs. The author told about some running fantasies he'd used--pretending he was on a mission with Jason Bourne, or on the set of a Martin Scorcese movie, or making his way to the stadium before his rock concert (the article, by the way, was inspired by James Thurber's Secret Life of Walter Mitty. A great story. Check it out). "Don't stop running, whatever you do!" I gave myself over to my own heroic fantasy: The Bad Guys had kidnapped my girlfriend, and given me only twenty minutes to find them (on foot, of course) and rescue her. And one of them was chasing me. If he caught me, I was dead--and so was my girl. I focused hard on that sense of urgency, and the adrenaline pumping through my veins. That, and the music, carried me through the rest of the second mile (at the end of which I passed my sister, just finishing her first. We slapped five and swapped congratulations.) and most of the third, until I returned to the concrete trail and the circle around America the Beautiful Park.

Once I could see the park, I risked a glance over my shoulder. My pursuer was a solid tenth of a mile behind me, and for a fleeting instant I thought about slowing down. But I knew if I did, he would catch me. And then both my girlfriend and I would be dead. Which would suck. As I turned into the curve, I increased my pace a little. I was pretty close to the guy in front of me--I'd closed the gap a little in that middle mile. But I didn't have enough in me to pour it on full speed for that last half mile. Then I saw the finishing clock as I approached the final part of that curve.

I almost didn't trust my eyes: here I was, at the 3-mile mark, and the clock read 22:30! I had a chance to come in below 23 minutes! In that instant, everything disappeared--my music, my fantasy, the runner in front of me, and the one behind me. All I could see was the finishing clock. I pushed my speed even more, determined to achieve this goal. Twenty-two forty-five . . . fifty . . . fifty-five . . . fifty-seven . . . fifty-nine . . . DONE!!

Looking around at the small crowd, I felt sure I'd finished in the top 15, and hopeful that I'd finished in the top 10. By the time I'd made my way across the park to get some food and water and then returned to the finishing area, the first page of results was up. Eagerly I scanned my way down from the top. And there it was, in black and white, for all to see:

Place	Bib#	Name	Sex	Age	Time
10	58	Douglas Tisdale	M	33	22:59

I'd done it! My first top-ten finish EVER, and a spankin' new PR (by more than a minute twenty)! I felt high as a kite and lighter than air, and couldn't stop smiling.

And I wasn't the only one destined to PR that day: when I saw my sister enter the park for the last half mile, I ran across to join her and run her in. She'd been walking at that point, but I encouraged her to pick up her pace. As we jogged towards the finish, I saw the clock sitting at 38:30. "C'mon," I told her. "You can finish this sub-40 easily! Let's go!" With me shouting encouragements at her, she pushed her pace even harder, crossing in 39:20, a solid 5 1/2 minutes faster than her best 5k!

Needless to say, we were both extremely happy with today's race.

Official time: 22:59!!
Total races: 7
YTD race miles: 53
YTD total miles: 346.4
Race Rank: 5th in age group, 10th overall!!