Friday, September 20, 2013

That Guy From Spain

I ran the Omaha Corporate Cup 10K last weekend. It was a tough race. The 33 or so years previously had been run on a very flat and fast course with one turn. I'm sorry, two turns. This year's new course had 17 turns and just about as many hills. It didn't make for fast running.


I'm in this picture. I'm in a blue kit in the second row on the right hand side, tucked in behind Luka Thor (#10820) and Luke Christiansen (#8974). I drafted both of those guys for about 20 paces before they ripped my legs off. I'm still looking for them. My legs.

Still, I ran a respectable 37:16. That was good enough for 15th place overall. The winner's time was about a minute and half slower than last year's best. Since I ran a 35:54 last year, I suppose I ran comparably this year. I'll take those results.

But don't tell my Mom that. My Mom thinks I'm a super elite stud or something. She even brags about it to her friends. Check out this email thread where she's boasting about my recent Hy Vee Triathlon performance.


While it's true I won my age group, it was in the joe six pack citizen race. Can you swim, and do you own a bicycle? Any bike? Good. Then you could have entered the citizen race, too. And I was sixth overall in the citizen's race, not third. At any rate, I wasn't two, nor five places behind that "guy from Spain" who won $100,000. Ha! That guy was in the pro's race. His name is Javier Gomez and he's also the current ITU World Champion. He beat me by well over 25 minutes in a two hour race. That's huge. And there were about 100 men and women who placed between me and Javier, that guy from Spain.

But a Mom can dream. And brag. Bless her dear heart.

Shhhhhh. This is our secret. Don't ruin this.

Happy Friday.

3 comments:

  1. Holy cow! Some guy swam to America from Spain?!? no wonder he won. Jeepers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I thought the rain in Spain falls mainly on the Plain....
    Not swimming to Des Moines, with a bike to inflict Pain...

    My brother is a quick one, that is true,
    but let me brag herforth to give myself due


    It was I who started this Tri-Kath-A-Lon craze
    Back in the 1982, I was in my racing phase

    With my borrowed helmet, my Trek 613 and my speedo so tight
    I thought my times too would shoot out them lights

    Only to find out that, it's crazy...I just don't like Pain
    Associated with some guy kicking my ass after swimming here from Spain.

    So now I sit here at 50 years old...
    My hair quite thin, my thoughts quite bold...
    And I wonder would what have happened if'n I would have stayed fit..
    But I know my brother brady would beat me...and I could not give a......um...... care?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Despair not, Murphini. Barry will never be the poet you are. That's what he's really running (and swimming and cycling) from.

    ReplyDelete