By far this was my most interesting race (and I have done 4 half marathons since January). Many of the runners are seniors who live in the Palm Springs area. They are superb athletes. I met a 77 year old man who finished just under 2:08. My friend Bing (and he’s the reason I did this race), just turned 79. He has two artificial hips and runs with a cane to stabilize him in case he trips, but he’s still pretty feisty.
Not only are these guys fast, but they are tough and stubborn. During the race (maybe mile 6), I saw an older man being helped up by a bunch of younger people. His face was bleeding. His hand and arm looked strange (twisted at the wrong angle and limp). He was trying to move away from the helpers but he was shaky. He said something like "I'm ok, I can walk." Bing told me later he knows the guy, who is in his late 70s, that he had dislocated his shoulder. He'd also heard what I saw, that the man was still trying to get back into the race. Bing thought the guy fell because he shuffles when he runs and must have stumbled on some uneven pavement. Whoa. If I'd fallen like that and hurt myself, I'd just sit down and ask for help. I definitely wouldn't get up and go anywhere!
The weather was perfect. It was cloudy and in the low 60s at the start. The race organizers made sure we had plenty of water and sport drink (even Gu packets) every mile and a half. Everyone at this race was so friendly and polite. I also liked how this race wasn't crowded and had that nice small town feel. The course was fairly flat and we wove through some pretty neighborhoods in Palm Springs. I did not PR at this race (I missed it by 2 minutes) but I definitely enjoyed the experience.
I felt very privileged to run with Mike and Carl for the first 4.5 miles. Mike is 59 years old and blind nearly all his life. His running guide Carl is 70 years old. Mike is a shorter man, muscular and taut. Carl is a tall solid guy, someone who definitely is a lifelong athlete. They'd done a couple of full marathons with each other, linking arms to stay together. They kept a pretty good pace (around 10:30 min per mile) so I hung out with them as long as I could. In the meantime, we chatted. Carl used to be a newscaster at a local channel. Mike is a wrestler who took up running to supplement his training, and he also is a classical pianist. What amazing focus this man has. I just wish I was strong enough to keep up with them the entire race and learn more about them. I was amazed at how Carl would tell Mike that a pothole was coming up, or how the ground was uneven or wet, and Mike never missed a step. If he slowed down, it was barely perceptible. After Mike and Carl took off into the distance, I returned to my usual Galloway skedaddle, and met a lady from Indiana and a young local man on the way. We all joked about how mile 12 seems like it goes on forever, and finished around the same time (2:27). It was really nice to finish and have plenty of food waiting. None of that business where the 5K people devour all the munchies and guzzle all the drink. These race organizers had it all figured out! There were the juiciest dark fleshed oranges (blood oranges?). Yummy almond cookies. Plenty of bananas and ice cold water too, and everything was so clean.
After eating a lot of those wonderful oranges, I waited for Bing to finish and helped him get some water. He was a little wobbly, but definitely had enough pep to invite me, my husband, and his running buddy Jim (the guy who ran 2:08) out for breakfast. Those guys sported their first and second place age group medals proudly at the restaurant, chatted up the passerby, and regaled us with a lot of racing stories.
Jim is a retired farmer from Illinois, and he took up running in his 50s. He's a little wiry man, maybe 120 pounds. He also ate a lot of food (his breakfast was 4 pieces of toast with lots of jam, two eggs over easy, 4 pieces of bacon, and 4 cups of coffee). He is competing in the Senior Olympics this year. It was fun to hear how he would consistently spank his nemesis, another man in his late 70s. In addition to these older guys trying to beat each other at 5ks and 10ks, they'd try to do it again on the golf course. I definitely would do this race again next year. I'll train hard so I can keep up with Mike and Carl next time (they finished in 2:19), and maybe even get a glimpse of Jim.