Day 48 -- Sept. 23, 2012
Today, I'm 192 pounds of rolling thunder.
Which isn't bad since I took yesterday off from my usual running regimen.
Instead, we went to watch our older son race at Rim Rock Farm. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Today I found a gear I didn't know I had. Because it's a weekend day I did an hour run with no preset patch. I just went out and wandered with a basic loop in mind. There were hills and flats on a gorgeous cool morning that was sun-kissed from the get-go.
I got passed by the usual folks -- the serious runners; the people who run with dogs; jugglers and guys in gorilla costumes. It's not easy being the world's slowest human.
But with time running out, I felt the need to try and power up the last hill. That's right, I said power.
Now the casual observer might not have noticed it, but I could feel the surge as I made my way up the climb. And instead of walking from time to time, I was able to accelerate.
Now my little victory was nothing compared to what we witnessed the day before at Rim Rock. This was something of an elite race with competitors from throughout the Midwest. But the performance by Shawnee Mission West's Alli Cash was nothing short of remarkable.
Cash covered the hilly, wind-swept course north of Lawrence in 13:59, shattering the 4K course record and finishing 14 seconds faster than any previous high school girl had ever completed the loop.
A week ago we had seen her finish two minutes ahead of the pack, so we knew something special could be in store. But with the hills and the wind at Rim Rock, who could predict she'd run this fast.
Hats off to the Vikings' senior. She's got that ease of stride that the great one do that make them appear not to be exerting at all while pushing their inner red line to give it all they've got.
So if you missed my special charge up the hill today, it wasn't so great. I'll just leave you with some pictures of someone you should have seen. Magic!
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