Now I have to give my friend Laura, in the photo above, some
credit. At least she had the decency to cover up most of her white legs for the
race. Not me. I went out there boldly showing them off - contrasted with
black shorts no less - and a farmers tan.
Out of 2,955 entries for last night’s annual Midnight Sun
Run (10K) in Fairbanks …which
always starts at 10pm… I’m happy to say that I outran all in the following age
groups:
35-39
50-54
65 and older
And…9 and under
I was also highly competitive and would have placed 5th
or better in all other age groups as well, excluding the 18-29 year olds in
which I would have placed 23rd.
Oh yeah, I rock.
And it’s not just against women that I proved relatively competitive
against. Among members of my own sex I did okay too.
My race time: 50:13
3rd among all 49-year-old males
12th in my age group (45-49)
198th out of 1255 men (top 16%)
240th out of all 2955 runners and walkers (top
8%)
I sure hope some of these top
runners got drug tested. I would have hauled to them by his ear a six-year-old who allegedly beat me by over four minutes. Then there is the 62 year-old-woman who ran a time of 45:20 and a
man in the same age group who ran it in 42:58. All dopers, I say.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sometime after the run, while I was eying slices of watermelon, oranges, and bananas
in their respective containers on top of a number of end-to-end tables and
determining whether I wanted any more at the moment, a man in front of me caught
my attention. It wasn't anything he did, for he was just one of many runners,
but I recognized him. I quickly identified him although I believe I have only
seen one photo of him. I’ve seen that one photo many times, but again, the same
image. Nobody was with him, and in just about every other context I can think
of I would not have approached him, but as he turned away from the food table
and we found ourselves facing the other I asked:
“You’re our new senator, aren't you?” His name didn't come
to mind as quickly as my identification of him did, but it caught up, “Dan
Sullivan.”
He nodded, said yes, and seemed like a normal guy who was
winding down after just finishing a 10K. No hint that this guy was a U.S.
senator. No ego, arrogance, or aloofness. No looking past me with an air that
he had more important people to talk to and better things to do: we were just
two equals stripped naked of pretense and chatting after a run. It also
helped that he might be a tad shorter than me. He was Dan and I was Brendan and
I beat him in the race by 7 minutes (I just looked that up). However, it seemed
to me he was a bit wary. He didn't know if I was friend or foe and struck me as
cautious and a tad nervous. After introducing myself we exchanged pleasantries
but in an ensuing pause I was going to say something about the DC lifestyle
probably being surreal in comparison with an Alaska lifestyle, but before I could he quickly
asked how I was doing (or something similar). I was a bit baffled he would ask
such a question since he didn't know me, but I interpreted it as a desperate attempt
to stay away from talking about political issues. It wasn't the time or the
place, and I laughed and told him not to worry because I wasn't going to talk
to him about politics. I said I voted for him and was glad he was representing
us (instead of the guy he defeated). That seemed to put him at ease even as he
said discussing politics was okay (but we didn't). We had a great chat, despite
the fact that as I continued to cool down from the run, sweat from my brow kept
getting into my eyes and stinging them. He, like me, is a Catholic (but I don’t
know his level of devotion) and I told him about Fairbanks getting Catholic
radio up here about a year-and-half ago (or thereabouts) and how it has
benefited me. He didn't know anything about it and seemed interested, and as
we parted he repeated back to me the FM frequency I told him and, wagging my
finger at him I said, “Don’t forget it.” He also invited me to visit his office
in DC. If I ever make my way there during his tenure I’d like to take him up on
it.
I haven’t been paying any real attention to DC dysfunction
lately, so don’t know how Dan Sullivan is performing. I’m just kind of going on
faith he’s more in line with my values than the last guy. I hope I’m right. In
the meantime, until I can visit his office and set everything right in our
capital I’ll just have to hope for the best.
