Handoffs, Heartache, and Blisters

My sons have competed as a team in the Bass Pro Shops Conservation Weekend for some time now.  Some years were different, as there were times when they couldn’t assemble a team and some ran as individuals.

But this year was different…with a twist.

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Several of our boys had given a “soft confirm” several months ago, when one asked who would be able to run the 2019 race as part of their team, the Redneck Runners.

A soft confirm turned into a, “Training isn’t going well,” for some and, later, “I’ve got an injury.  Not healing.  Going to have to opt out.”  It got to the point where the number of brothers participating dwindled to almost zero.

It wasn’t going to happen, at least not this year…I thought.

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I was a little saddened.  Nobody likes when a beloved tradition ends. 

Then, last week, a message came in on the family text.  J.B. said, “Running in the half this weekend at Bass Pro.  Anybody else going to be there?”

Decoded into “average man-on-the-street” English, it meant that our second-oldest, who is still in the midst of his unbroken streak of running AT LEAST a mile each and every day for the last eight years, was going to compete in the half marathon at the Conservation Weekend.

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Despite issues with his back that forced J.B. to have to cut down on the number of miles he runs, he had put together a more conservative training schedule and prepared to run the race again.

High school track and cross-country coach, Scotty, our eldest son, had opted out due to health issues and tending to his son, Payden, who is battling leukemia.  Scotty had put together a team of his cross-country boys…mostly freshmen and sophomores.  They would compete in the team marathon under the name Yoinkers, a reference to a funny autocorrection in one of their group texts.  Without being over-confident in his athletes’ abilities he predicted that they had a good shot at finishing in the top three.  Another of his athletes would compete in the half-marathon.

I told them that Annie and I would be there to cheer on J.B. and we’d happily root for Scotty’s runners too.

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We were excited about the race, but more about seeing two of our sons and Scotty‘s family.  J.B.’s brood was battling strep throat and other of our sons’ families had other plans so it would be Scotty and his family and J.B. for the duration of Annie’s and my visit.  Believe it or not, seven is a small gathering for our family. 

Scotty’s seven-year-old daughter, Pfieffer, wanted to spend the night before the race with Annie and me in our hotel, so we would take that little beauty with us that night.

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On Sunday, November 3, runners from all over the world massed behind the starting line to compete in either the 5K, half-marathon, team-marathon, or full marathon.  The half-runners would be near the front of the pack so, when the start sounded, we watched closely and yelled when we saw Scotty’s 5Ker and J.B. running past. 

Annie had studied the map of the race route so we jumped in the van to head to the first place we might see them.  It’s so much fun to do that, rather than watching the start, then waiting two to three hours at the finish line.  My sharp-thinking wife got us to the spot in plenty of time to see Scotty’s runner, who we yelled for.  Along came J.B., understandably keeping a slower pace than he has in years past.  He tossed me a sweaty knit cap and reported that he was feeling OK.

We cheered for those two at the next location.  J.B. reported that he was developing a blister on his left foot but he was confident he could make it.  We headed to the finish line.

I got sidetracked on my way so Scotty’s half marathon runner was already finished when I saw him grinning from ear-to-ear.  He had finished in 1:27.50 and beaten his old PR (personal record) by a couple minutes.  He was understandably pleased with his performance.  I congratulated the beaming young man and continued to the line.

J.B. crossed the finish in 1:43.54.  At nearly 8 minutes per mile, his run was much slower than normal.  He talked to us a while, took some pictures, then left for a meeting he had set up to buy some car parts.

Now we could relax just a bit and wait for the Yoinkers to finish.

At least we thought we could relax.

A text from Scotty told us his team was in the lead by a narrow margin.

Our excitement skyrocketed.  No relaxing now!

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From the beginning, the team marathon was a battle for the top spot.  The Yoinkers’ lead-off runner ran a 10K in 41:40 to hand off to the second man 3:36 behind the team in the lead. 

With that mental hurdle to chip away at, the second man ran a 5K (3.1 miles) and made it to the exchange zone in 21:15, having made up 1:30 of their top competitors’ lead.  The front-running team was still ahead of the young team by 2:06, maintaining a strong lead but looking a lot more catchable.

Scotty’s third man was lucky enough to go head-to-head with one of the lead-team’s weaker runners.  The Yoinkers runner covered his 10K (6.2 miles) in 43:06, passing the lead team’s man and building a fairly comfortable 1:27 lead. 

The Yoinkers’ fourth man ran his 5K in 21:37, adding 13 seconds to their lead.  They were ahead by 1:40 with the longest, toughest leg to go, a 12K (about 7.5 miles).

Not surprisingly, the most competitive team had saved their best runner for last.  That runner set a scorching pace and passed the Yoinkers’ man to barely take the lead for his team partway through the final leg of the race.

It looked bad, but then it got worse. 

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At mile 23, with 3.2 miles to go in the race, there was a sign intended to tell people running the full marathon to go a different way.  Whether, through exhaustion or confusion, the Yoinkers’ kid was unsure whether the team marathon should run the same route as the individual marathon, is not clear to me.   Regardless, he left the proper course and put everything he had into catching the leading team, which was only 0:05 ahead of him at the time.

As the old saying goes, “The good news is, we are making good time.  The bad news is, we’re going the wrong way.”

No need to dwell on too many details but the young man finally discovered his mistake and turned around after going 1 ½ miles off course.  Then he had to run the same 1 ½ miles back to the course and resume the race.  The long-and-short of it is, the young man was already saddled with the responsibility of being anchor man and running a 12K race, but his run ended up being 17K (a little more than 10.5 miles) instead.

The Yoinkers went from first place to 14th place at the finish line.

That’s the bad news.  Now for the good news.

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How could there be any good news about blowing a lead and falling back to 14th place?

Well, yes, they finished 14^th, but it was 14th out of 90 teams.  That means they ran 29.2 miles faster than 76 other teams ran 26.2.  It means that, with another year of training, they could come back and win the championship. 

They learned that life has a way of throwing unexpected barriers in our way, so we need to be as well prepared as we can, but be prepared to adapt and overcome.  I’m sure, next year, every member of the team will be intimately familiar with the course.

The man who made the fatal mistake learned that he had teammates who would forgive his error, even laugh about it…laugh WITH him, not AT him.

The team learned that, even if they get behind by 3:36 minutes, hard work and the right attitude can make a comeback possible.  And they learned that, the man who made the goof didn’t give up.  Even though he knew that there was no way his team could win, he didn’t stop trying.  No, he found his way back to the correct course and finished the race. 

THAT’S what makes the 14th place team winners in my book.

The boy who ran a new PR is for sure a winner.

J.B. is a winner for competing despite not having as much time to train as he should, and fighting through the pain of a blister the size of a half-dollar.  He sent me a picture of it, but I’ll spare you.  Yuk!

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Oh, and one more thing.  When I texted J.B. on our way home to apologize for forgetting to give him back the knit hat he threw to me during the race, he replied, “Keep it or give it away, it is an ‘As seen on security camera footage near you.’ hat anyway.”

So, I’m a winner too, because…hey, free hat!

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