2018 Bass Pro Shops Marathon

 

The World Headquarters of the Bass Pro Shops is in Springfield, Missouri.  Every year in November that store has their Conservation Weekend, with many fun activities, including a 5K race (3.1 miles), a half-marathon (13.1 miles), and a full-marathon (26.2 miles).  As part of the marathon race, the company allows people to run as a team of five runners and divide that distance by that amount.

That’s what my sons do.

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The teams only compete with other teams, not with people who are running the full distance.  That wouldn’t be fair…but not the way you might think.  The full marathon attracts some real stud runners.

As I said, teams consist of five runners.  Two each run a 5K; two more run a 10 K (6.2 miles; and one finishes off the final 12K (7.6 miles) to total the full 26.2 mile marathon distance.

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My boys have always been active, taking part in football, basketball, golf, tennis, etc. to one degree or another.  Running is a sport most of them have been fairly serious about, and all have been good at.

When my oldest, Scotty, moved to Springfield, he quickly introduced us to the many wonders of that beautiful city and, naturally, when his younger brothers were old enough, he came up with the idea of forming a team to compete in the team marathon.  With most of the brothers starting their post-high school years it was difficult for some to either train or make it to Springfield so they had to depend on friends to help fill out the team.

At that time the current returning championship squad was a group that had won the team marathon five years, which was the most in the history of the event.  It may have seemed a little “pie-in-the-sky” but the boys set their goal to defeat that team…and they did.  Not only that, but they broke the event record in the process.  They did it again the next year, and broke the record again.  Eventually there came a year when five brothers were able to train and make it to Springfield.  Scotty, J.B., Travis, Andy, and Patrick ran, won, and broke the record with a time that hasn’t been beaten to this day.  And they did it as a team of brothers.

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As the years have passed, time has made things more difficult with chronic injuries and the responsibilities of family and work…and life.  Most years they had to depend on friends or some of the runners Scotty formerly coached to fill out the team.  Other years they just couldn’t come up with five runners no matter how they tried.  A couple times one or another got sick at the last minute, necessitating an eleventh hour substitution…but one year there was no sub available, so that son ran sick, and the team finished second for the first time ever.

This year Patrick wasn’t able to train for the race at all.  In fact, he says he ran a total of one mile in the past year.  Travis, despite having just moved to a new house and starting a new job, was able to train, at least better able to train than any of his brothers.  Scotty had suffered a stress fracture to his leg and had to give up training at all for a while before avoiding the pounding intrinsic to running and cross-training with swimming and bicycle training.  J.B. continued his record of not missing a single day of running at least one mile for…?  What is it, J.B., six years now?  However, due to a compressed disc in his back and the pain from it, his training has been limited to that one mile per day.

Returning for his second year with the team, Derrick Barger (one of Scotty’s former athletes) seemed to be the best prepared for the race.  We were tickled to have him with us again.

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The day of the race dawned cold and wet, but clear.  The rain that had been feared had stopped during the night.

The crowd that massed behind the starting line was a cross-section of humanity.  There were men and women with warm gloves, knit caps, and clothes with full-length sleeves and pants, all the way to a few intrepid souls with running shoes and shorts…and nothing else.  Well, the males anyway.  Generally, those closer to the front wore less and the farther back you got, the less they were concerned with winning and the more they worried about surviving.

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As the seconds ticked down to 7 a.m. the elite runners jockeyed for placement at the line.  The less people they had to navigate around the better their times would be.  Travis was right there…one of them.  After the national anthem, the horn sounded and the race was on.

Travis quickly passed the few who had jack-rabbited ahead and took over the lead for the team competition.  Team Redneck Runners was out ahead of all the others, but would they be able to hang onto it?  There were some talented athletes taking part in the contest and they would not give up.

Without much of an option, Travis had taken the position of the hare leading the hounds.  The hounds would have to run him down if they wanted to taste victory that night.

The Redneck Runners didn’t plan to make it easy for them.

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At the first handoff point the fans were nervous.  Who would be in the lead?  A lone figure glided around the corner.  Travis!  He handed off to Patrick for the second leg of the race.  Travis had pulled ahead to build a good lead of over two minutes over the team in second place, the Distance Chiefs.

I would say it was a comfortable lead except that barely five minutes separated the first five teams in the race.  Things could change at any time.

Although Patrick hadn’t been able to train for the event, he had a strong base and youth on his side, not to mention experience, which made him smart enough not to go out too fast for his conditioning.  He ran his 5K in 20:27, nowhere near his best, but still good enough to increase the Redneck Runners’ lead to more than four minutes.

He handed off to J.B. who would run another 10K for the third leg of the race.  His form was visibly different from past years, as he favored his injured back, but he seemed to be running even more efficiently this year.  It paid off, as he handed off to Scotty in 41:40, holding on to our solid lead over the Distance Chiefs, who were still in second place.

But the Distance Chief’s weren’t ready to surrender.  They had cut our lead by a few seconds, and were putting their best runner in for the fourth leg.

True to form, Scotty was digging deep as he approached the handoff.  He looked strong for someone whose training for the foot race had been reduced to mostly bike riding and swimming.  He clocked our fastest 5K in 19:26 but the Distance Chief who ran that leg had run an amazing time, cutting our lead to little more than two minutes.

The youngest member of the team, Derrick put in an amazing run, putting 12 kilometers in his back pocket in only 46:01, which padded the Redneck Runners lead to more than six minutes and cemented the victory.

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The Redneck Runners may not have broken the speed record they set a few years ago, but they did break another record, becoming the winningest team in the history of the event, having finished in the top spot a record six times.

Change is in the future for Team Redneck Runners though, as Derrick has already told them that college will prevent him from helping out next year, so they’ll either have to enlist another brother or friend if, that is, they can.

But there is another change in the offing.  Travis’s four year old son, John, has been so impressed by how fast his dad and uncles run that he is eager to tie on a pair of running shoes and start pounding the asphalt.

Who knows, one day the Redneck Runners may be a two generation team.

One thing is for sure, if they do, don’t bet against them.

 

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