I've enjoyed bringing Dana back to Lookout Mountain, GA for the past week to spend Christmas and New Years with my family and some old friends. I went for a couple long(ish) runs on the Lookout Mountain Battlefield trails - including a 10 miler with my high school teammate Jeff.
On New Year's Eve, I rekindled an old tradition of running the Karen Lawrence Run for St. Jude's (Children's Research Hospital). The race - which has been run in Chattanooga every year since 1979 - was started by Karen and her family to raise money for St. Judes, which had treated Karen for leukemia over the prior year. Sadly, Karen's condition relapsed, and she passed away in 1980 at the age of 11. Every year since, hundreds of runners have gathered in the evening on New Year's Eve to support the hospital, and to bring in the new year with a fun 4 mile run through downtown Chattanooga. This year Karen Lawrence's niece rang the siren to start the race.
I can't remember for sure, but I'd guess this was my 7th or 8th time running the race - my first year was (I think) in 1993 and the most recent in 2002. I won in 1997, 1998, and 2001 - all during my college years - with a best time of 19:57 over the moderately hilly course in '97. I was hoping to average around 5:10 miles this year. I figured that pace had an outside chance of winning, but most years would be 2nd or 3rd.
Since I took a week off following Kentucky (but jumped right back into to training afterward) - I wanted to go out conservatively, and certainly not lead. At the gun two college runners took off and immediately opened a gap, while I settled back with the chase pack. I didn't get a mile split, but I think I was around 5:20 (net uphill), and the 2 leaders were about 10 seconds ahead. As we started back downhill I picked up my pace to try to catch the leaders. At times it felt like the gap was shrinking, but was we ended the first of 2 loops, Patrick Hall - who was my sister Debby's assistant cross country coach at Covenant College - pulled along side of me. I knew I needed to stay with him, and I momentarily matched his pace. Patrick had no interest in letting it come to a late race kick, so he kept the hammer down, opening a gap heading back up the hill. I kept pressing in the last mile, but all my efforts only kept the gap at a steady 10 seconds.
My final finish was 21:11 for 4th place. It was a weird race, as I never felt like I was hurting that bad, but I just had no zip in my legs. The winner finished in 20:30, with 2nd place in 20:50. I wasn't thrilled with my performance & particularly my time, but it wasn't a terrible effort either.
Debby surprised herself running in the mid 26 minute range (after saying she'd run 28 minutes), and finished as the 2nd woman. Dana finished around 32 minutes, launching a nice kick at the end.
After the race I was really flattered as people still remembered my high school days in Chattanooga. In particular I was touched by the applause I received when I picked up my 30-34 age group award. It was also great to catch up with John Hunt - who had covered local cross country & track for the Chattanooga Free Press while I was in high school.
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