Rim Rock Revisited

Last weekend, I participated in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to go back in time and relive some of the glory days of my past. Well, not exactly. As an invited member of the KU Alumni Cross Country Team competing at Rim Rock farm (KU's famed home cross country course) against current college athletes, I was not exactly reliving the same experience I had a younger, fitter collegiate runner. My body had aged, but my competitive spirit and love of running hadn't diminished a bit. So, how did it go?

In an earlier blog post (Glory waiting to happen), I described the anticipated event: Regardless of fitness or injury, you can bet I'll be there to run alongside some of the best runners to suit up for Kansas. Just as appealing is the opportunity to run one of the most beautiful- and toughest- cross country courses in America. Add to that a heaping dose of pride, tested against a crop of current, enthusiastic Jayhawks, and I have all the motivation I need to get ready. I have 7 weeks. When I described the experiment to my wife, she said, "well that's an injury waiting to happen." I said, "No dear, the word you're looking for is 'glory.'

So, which would it be? Glory or injury? Believe it or not, a fair amount of both. In the first half-mile of the race, an old injury resurfaced from a workout leading up to the meet. A strained hamstring tightened, but allowed me to continue running. I decided to go with it, benefiting from the knowledge that I didn't have another one of these meets next week, or possibly ever again in my future. I ran easy, winced through the pain, but knew the worst I could do was pull it or tear it. In the meantime, there was a race to be run.



Although I had friends betting I would not break 30 minutes for the 8k race (which is about 4.9 miles), I stuck to my plan. First mile in 5:45, 12 minutes at the two-mile, 18 minutes at the three-mile. Right on 6 minute pace. I started to fatigue, hit the four-mile at 24:30, then passed a few more straggling freshmen from nearby community colleges to cross the line in 30:17. Fortunately, the Alumni Team did not need the services of its oldest member, as Paul Hefferon won the race, and the team placed 2nd behind KU's varsity squad by a mere 3 points.

I attended the post-race tailgate party with my wife and kids, catching up with former teammates and friends, and relishing whatever glory we had achieved. And although an injury had been sustained that day, my pride, at least, was still intact. I would live to run another day. (Photos by Chris Ronan. Top: Colby Wissel finishing. Middle: Joshy Madathil competes for the Alumni Team. Bottom: Chris Jones (right) and the author emerge from the covered bridge. Video by Lori Montgomery.)