Carlsbad 5000
April 9, 2006
Carlsbad, CA
by Dianne Rindt

This year I ran the Carlsbad 5000 for the 10th time.  Apparently the tenth time's the charm, because I finally succeeded in getting in the top 3 in my age group in this very competitive race.  My time of 23:39 garnered a 2nd place award in the F60-64 division.  My best result previously was 20:07, missing 3rd in the F45-49 division by 5 seconds, way back in 1990. Of course it may have something to do with getting older.  I notice there are fewer and fewer entrants in every five-year age group, as the years go up.  This was also my first 5K since my surgery, two years ago, for an artery injury or abnormality and subsequent blockage, and that problem had been especially challenging in the shorter, faster races.

After the women's masters heat, I grabbed some free food and drink, showered, and changed to a fresh running outfit. Then Tom and I joined son Craig and his family for the non-competitive people's walk.  While Craig pushed twins Niall and Liam, just turned 3, in a double jogging stroller, mom Susan was in charge of little Isla, 3 months, snoozing away in a second jogging stroller.   Niall was happy to hitch a ride, but Liam did some running with grandma and grandpa.  Having seen grandma finish at a couple of San Diego area races, Liam had recently experimented with the running to exhaustion training method, claiming in frustration that he wanted to run in a race like grandma!  Liam is definitely starting to show some of the same type-A tendencies that his grandfather has been accused of!!  All were enthusiastic about the beautiful day, the scenic course, and the encouragement provided by hundreds of fellow walker and joggers.

Upon finishing with a sprightly jog across the finish line, and consuming more free food treats, we went back out on the course to look for a good position from which to cheer for the men's and women's elite racers.  A number of world records have been set in this race. This year, although the men's race was closely contested, the times were a little slower, and no records were set. Abreham Cherkos, Ethiopia, was the winner in 13:15.  On the women's side, Meseret Defar, another Ethiopian and the Athens Olympic 5K gold medalist, pulled away in the last mile, and then smoked down the final stretch to set a new women's world record of 14:46!  Pretty exiting! See all the results at http://www.eliteracing.com/home.html.

 Leona Divide 50 miler
April 22, 2006
Lake Hughes, Ca.