200 Races and February Racing in the Rain

When I started racing again after turning 60 I didn't have any goals and I surely didn't plan to run 200 races in a decade. On February 19th I reached 200 races when I ran both 199 and 200 at the Baylands 8K Adventure Double put on by Bob Anderson. The next weekend I continued adding to my total with a race in Turlock, The Salvation Army Kettle Dash. Training for the last several weeks has been pretty uneventful, some would say boring, because of the winter rain that we've had. Welcome and necessary rain but an awful lot all at once. We've had flooding, closed roads and water logged ground and that's why training has been pretty one dimensional. The only place dry enough to run is on the road and I have to chose my route carefully knowing where the aggressive dogs are more likely to be a problem. The important thing though is that I have been pretty consistent with training including taking one or two days off a week for recovery because my body seems to stay sore longer with the wet weather even though my running is slow.

My first race in February was a return to Oakdale to run the Don Osborne Memorial Library run. I did the mile and finished 3rd in my age group. It didn't rain during this one but it was 90% humidity at race time. Because the weather was so unpredictable the turnout wasn't as good as they hoped. The next weekend my sister was out of town for a wedding so I didn't schedule a race.

I decided to stay the night in Palo Alto the night before the Baylands Double. I got over there early and was able to get early check in so  I parked the car got settled in my room and then set out to walk around the neighborhood to see what it was like. I only walked a couple of miles because it was getting cold and windy with a chance of rain. I ate lunch, walked around some more and then went back to my room. Later I left to walk the other direction and to get something to take back to my room for dinner. I didn't need to get anything for breakfast because the race started late enough and the continental breakfast was served early enough that for once I was able to take advantage of it.

While walking around my hotel I found a cool statue that reminded me of my granddaughter Haley and then I later received these pictures of Haley.

The races themselves were tough because of the weather cold, wind and rain. The fact that it was a double was rough because I could never get warmed up between races. I felt like the tin man out there. Of course I feel that way more often than not these days. The races were #199 and #200 since turning 60. How many more will I run before 70? Who really knows there are so many factors that will determine that. I'll just take it one at a time and see where it takes me.

I had one more February race in Turlock, the last time I ran it was a couple of years ago and it was a December race. There wasn't any rain for this one but it definitely felt like winter whenever I got  out of the sun. I'm still running my plodding pace and can't get back under 36 minutes for 5K but I'm still enjoying the whole race environment so I'll stay with it. I won my age group again at the Kettle Dash.

Finally in February we got two more dogs to live here at the ranch. It's supposed to be a "temporary" foster situation until the person who has them finds a different place to live where she can have them. We'll see. They are Queensland Heelers, mother and son. Really good dogs and amazingly all 9 of our dogs get along well.

Speaking of dogs, I try to be very conscious of where dogs are and their temperament when I am deciding where to run. For most of this year almost all of my running has been done on the roads because anything else is too muddy. On my route about 3/4 miles from the house there is a little black chihuahua named Chapo who is sometimes really calm and sometimes just a yapper. One day a couple of weeks ago I stopped and his owner said, "He just wants you to pet him".  

Not true! The owners response, "Sorry, he should know you he sees you every day"! What's funny is that since that day he hasn't even barked when I've run by.