NEVIS CYCLE & TRIATHLON CLUB

David has always run in the Fourth of July-Patriot's Day race in summer.   He couldn't do it this year with his broken neck, and he said I had to uphold the family name.  This one is partly cross-country. I ran it in 29:07, good enough to win my age division (which always seems to suffer from a dearth of competitors).  The next week was the Grand Haven Triathlon   My 13 year old grandson and I trained  together when he came to visit from Nebraska,.  But the morning of the race, Lake Michigan had huge waves, and the race committee was terrified someone might drown when there were over 800 competitors and the kayaks could not get in the water to monitor the swimmers.  So the tri turned into a duathlon of  two 5 K runs with a 20 K bike race sandwiched in the middle.  I had never  run 10 K before, but did I get a burst of speed when a volunteer yelled "Look at that!  67 years old!  What a woman! "  There's no place for false modesty when your age is painted in bold black numbers down your leg.     I was the oldest woman running, so it wasn't hard to win at 1:50:31.  Next came the Coast Guard race, with 947 runners in the 5K.  This one I did in 28:21, enough to beat a bunch of other old gals.  Then we did  Miles for Meals, a beautiful 5K race along the shore of lake Michigan and through some woods.  I won my age division in 27:48, and David came in 2nd in the walkers with 45:19.  He was still in a full neck brace, the only person we have ever seen competing in a race with a broken neck.  Our last race was Omaha's Race for the Cure - 17,000 people strong.  Of course, many of these are walkers and many aren't chipped.  David ran this as his first real race since his accident and finished first (and only) in his age group with 26:22.   I came in at 27:26, first in my  age group and 3rd overall survivor.  It's a wonderfully inspirational race for a good cause - breast cancer.  We are looking forward to racing in Nevis - though David isn't supposed to ride his bike competitively.  See everyone soon!