The Crim

Boy, do I enjoy running the Crim! If it's not my favorite race, it's right up there. And, to top it off, the race director, Deb Kiertzner, couldn't have ordered a nicer AM.

It's a ten-mile race (with several shorter distances for running or walking) through Flint. The course isn't any easy one, with some nice hills. I think I detected more entertainment on the course again this year; it's been increasing for the past few years. I did miss, somewhat sadly, the clown who always, I mean always, was out at about 9 3/4 miles, just before the final turn on to the bricks of the finish. He had an accordion and was fun to see. Hmmmm......

It was my 20th Crim, as I realized earlier in the week. Wow! That's 200 miles of the Crim. They haven't been consecutive years since I took off a few years about 10 years ago for a variety of reasons--foolishly. Then, I saw the runners with the "30-Year Crim Runner" and "35-Year Crim Runner" tee shirts and really marvelled. Wow! If I live to be 77 and don't miss any Crims, I can have one of those? Of course, others will then have "50-Year Crim Runner" tees then! I saw a few of those out there who had run all of them, including Darrell McKee, Jim Forshee, and the race's namesake, Bobby Crim. I exchanged greetings with each of them, with each seeming to struggle a bit; but there they were, out there running their 350th miles of the Crim. I saw one woman who had on a "30-Year Crim Runner" tee and I couldn't believe it. I asked her at about mile six if that was so and she said it was. I asked, then, "Did you start when your were two or three?" She looked oh, so young! She smiled and said, "No, 19." I said, "You certainly don't look that old." She smiled, so I guess "the creep factor" wasn't involved.

I was pretty pleased with my effort, again not quite so with my time--although it was within sight of my goal. It was about 4 minutes faster than Hell two weeks ago, so.... And, I realize I really haven't trained this year; I've run a bit, but not specifically trained. No hill work. No speed work. No specifically longer runs. So, I was pretty pleased. I was tired last night and a bit sore--more in a couple of paragraphs might help explain why.

Runners, for the most part, esp the older ones are so friendly and nice to talk to. Oh, not all of them, but the majority are. Some of the younger ones, I guess like younger people over the ages, are stuck on "me," but the older ones are fun. I was glad, both Fri at the expo with Bopper, and yesterday to talk to a few.

After the 10-miler, I walked the 8K (5 miles) with Karen, Carrie, and Michelle. I was going to wait anyway, so what was I going to do for 90 minutes? It was a bit of a struggle for me. They walk fast! K bought them matching "team" shirts, which quite a few people noticed. It was pretty cool that a DJ on the course, on his PA, announced when K, C, and M walked by, "Look at the good-looking women walking this race!" And I got to walk with them! As I said, they walk pretty fast. K and M finished at about a 14-minute pace--a whole lot faster than I could or do walk by myself. They finished 156th (tied with the same time) out of 1698 walkers! C was even faster, finishing 42nd, with a pace of 12 minutes per mile! I finally, after all these years, stopped at one of the beer stops! Apparently, someone said, they guys there were having trouble getting rid of the beers; maybe that's why the guy have me two of them. I shouldn't have had any, I know..., because I wanted more after those!

Afterward, Karen and Ben H had us over for breakfast/brunch at their place in Flint. It was nice and we enjoyed it. We all agreed that would be our new Crim tradition. It was a great cap to a great AM!

I came home a bit earlier than K and went out for a bike ride, about 8 miles. It was a beautiful afternoon. Then I arrived and said we were going out to dinner with Russ and Carrie--to Antonio's! Oh, yummy!

Life is good!

Addendum: Sun AM's run was good. It was long, longer than I thought I'd be able to do. But, I have the Brooksie Half Marathon coming up and I don't want to "bonk" at about 8 or 9 miles like I did the last two 10-milers I did. I'll get in some longer runs and maybe some hills; the Brooksie is pretty hilly, too. And then K and I did our usual Sun long bike ride (about 18 miles) with C, R, and M. I remarked to R, "What a great morning! What better way to spend it?" Not many ways I can think of.