This race commute was unique because I have never been to Shippensburg. My niece is enrolled as a freshman this year at Shippensburg University. The race was held at the town's fairgrounds on the outskirts of town. It's a very easy commute to the university as you use PA Route 81 for the majority of the trip.
I have a very simple criteria for establishing a quality of life rating for a prospective residence. The criteria is the proximity to a Wal-Mart. Shippensburg U receives flying colors as their is a new Wal-Mart within a mile or two from the university.
During the hour commute I was impressed with the amount of randomness which exists in nature. In general we spend our lives organizing our days, our towns, streets, etc. Our culture seems to be engulfed within a perpetual search for more order and structure in our lives. I believe there is some merit in embracing the randomness which exists in the world at large.
I also am intrigued with learning about the lifestyles of ancestors, circa the late 1700's. I am very interested in genealogy and have been able to trace my roots to Virginia in the late 1700's. Anyhow I was thinking a settler would be astonished at how easy it is now to travel because we have a road sign every mile or two stating what exit is next and how far away the next town is located. Being from a lineage of farm laborers who most likely possessed less than a stellar amount of refinement, I imagine a conversation with a relative from the colonial times in this modern era would run something like ,"Hell - I have had to poo-poo on a trail to help give directions. To get to old man Beamesderfer's farm you walk three hundred paces and then you'll see my poop on the trail. Take a left there and go another five hundred paces east and you'll see the farm from the clearing."
The race turnout was very good - I imagine about 15o runners. I scouted the first mile of the track before I ran and was not encouraged by a hill a half mile from the race start-finish line. I knew I would have to contend with climbing a hill near the end of the race when I would be near exhaustion. The course layout I had been so fond of was still good, but not as fast as I had hoped it would be.
I only noticed one person here from previous races and his name is Reuben King. We are in the same age band and he runs about a minute faster than I over a 5K distance. I briefly spoke to him after the race.
I was successful in conserving energy for the first mile. For whatever reason I was not able to parlay this extra energy into faster second and third mile times. I finished the race in twenty two minutes and fourteen (22:14) seconds, nowhere near my PR of 21:37. I knew within my second mile I was not running as fast as I had hoped. To make matters worse, the hill I had to climb within the third mile depleted what little reserves I had left. Personally, running a hill at the end of a race is like getting punched in the gut. I get winded and it takes precious seconds to recover. Reuben passed me with about 3/4 of a mile to go and I simply could not keep up with him.
After I finished I congratulated Reuben on a having a good race and he mentioned he was trying to break twenty-one minutes and he was unable to do so. Maybe the course was not as fast as I had anticipated. I have to be careful in the future when establishing how fast as course is based upon one person's performances. I equated a faster time with a faster course. The runner in question could have had a sub-par day within one of the races being used in my comparison.
This race was organized by the Chambersburg Road Runner's club. It was very well organized. I also noticed there were several members attending the race who were sporting very attractive CRR club singlets. One of the members was also wearing a pair of Newton shoes. These shoes are very expensive - on the order of $150-$175 a pair. He was an excellent runner as I believe he finished in the top 10.
All in all I had a good outing. I have to take more stock in having fun in these races rather than being caught up in 'chasing numbers.' I am grateful I am able to get out and run. There will come a day when I won't be able to run as I age.
There was a professional photographer present from the Shippensburg Sentinel taking pictures of runners. I would love to get a copy of a pic of myself running. I am relatively sure I had my photograph taken because I saw the camera lens follow me as I was running - over the dreaded hill at the end of the race. I imagine I was grimacing in agony at the time.
A race summary will most likely be published soon at http://www.cumberlink.com/
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