The following Ridgecrest runners showed up in the results. 
A big CONGRATS to the following. 

Mark McKinney	36	9:11:59
Elaina McMahon	46	9:14:16
Eric Kajiwara	56	9:28:38
Linda Dewees	47	11:24:37
Andrew Mitchell	52	12:27:40

 

What an absolutely awesome day!  The weather ranged from perfect to stinging hail.  For 12 hours we walked, ran, shuffled and covered 50 miles of hilly terrain.  I now feel qualified to actually apply to be a Mail Carrier.  I mean, I have done the “neither rain, nor hail, nor snow shall keep me from my appointed rounds” thing and I’ve pulled a “12-hour on your feet” shift. I finished the 2004 Leona Divide 50 miler and I’m on top of the world.

Okay, so I did have Randy pushing and pulling me all the way, sometimes against my will as I said ugly, mean things to his back (in a loving way, of course).  And true, I did have the nicest aid station volunteers waiting on me as if I were royalty.  Yes, I’ll even admit that along the way there were a lot of encouraging words, motivation, and occasional cheers from people I didn’t even know.  Mail Carriers do it alone?  Six days a week?  Okay, maybe I’m not quite ready to be a Mail Carrier, but I definitely feel qualified to do something extraordinary.  

This is just another part of ultrarunning?  I didn’t do anything extremely unique, or special?  I’ve just been privileged to have another ordinary ultrarunning experience?  Okay, I’ll accept that … but not today.  Today, I’m special.  Today, I’m on top of the world.  Today, I’ll embellish the experience for my son, husband, friends and coworkers. By my next “group” run …  yeah, that’s when I’ll return to the “this is just what ultrarunning is all about” world … maybe.
 

A great way to travel is to take in a race while on the road.  Since Betty and I had occasion to be in New York City to watch the daughter, Emily, dance on April 19 I took advantage of a benefit Run for the Parks in NYC Central Park on 18 April 2004.  I had occasion to joy there a year ago and thought a race would be a good way to see another group's idea of a 4 mile race.  I wasn't really ready though for a "NYC small" run of 5900 on a two lane road in the park.   I do not consider it a small run when it takes me 3 minutes to get to the start line.  However, I should have had a hunch when it was a run timed by chip.  That is no small investment I have recently learned.

So I was amazed and a little intimated when I arrived to pick up my bib an hour before the race and saw all the folks and booths set up.  I figured then that I wasn't going to worry about a personal best.  But I have to admit I forgot my trepidation as they had the young races before the main 4 mile race at 10 am.  They started first with the 3 year old girls at about 30 yards, and then the boys, and then the 4 year olds, until they progressed through the 11-12 year old who did a out and back of maybe a quarter mile through the start and finish line.  It was a lot of fun to watch the little kids run and be the center of attention.  I forgot all about my preparation for the race and my nervousness. 

I have to admit I sure would like to see us do more of that type involvement of the younger kids at our races. 

But finally the race time came, and I lined up at the back of the 7 minute per mile group and just in front of the 8 minute pace group.  To my surprise, I actually ran exactly the race I had planned.  That was one of my very few negative split races in my career, and it was great fun to keep picking off those who lined up in the wrong pace corral.  My time was a 30:21. With every mile after the first one I was able to run at my own pace, and each one was about 10 seconds faster than the previous.  It doesn't get any better than that to me. 

As for the hospitalily and the runners, it was just as good as the OTHTC.  So I recommend the New York Road Runners Club events if you happen to be in the City. 

And to show how small this world is, while I was visiting the Frick Museum in NYC I met a couple, and he had on the Park Run T-shirt as I was wearing, and she had on a Stowe 8 miler shirt from 1999 that I also happened to run.  We had a great chat about that coincidence.