BagelFest 5K

We woke early for the race. The clouds were low in the sky. There was a chill in the air. A wispy fog rose from the oak and juniper canyons as we drove north. The steady drizzle turned to rain.

The rain was supposed to stop at 8:00, but it did not. And the race got off a half-hour late due to some mixup in logistics. Overhead, gulls (a very long way from the Gulf) turned in the air following a breeze and the clouds to the east. We waited for the gun.

On your marks, Go! And we were off. Across the timer pads and around the first corner, we were all together, the four of us. A 40-something year old man, his 30-something wife, a 20-something friend, and a teenage son.

We ran the first few hills together. But as the crowd began to thin, so did we. Trudy opted for a slower pace. Manish and Ben took to the hills with vigor. (Ben was reluctant to leave his father behind, but took off as soon as I tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Go ahead!")

I followed them for a while with my eyes. I could see them climbing the hills and turning the corners ahead of me. And I could feel Trudy somewhere behind. I was characteristically in the middle of the pack.

I lost sight of the two ahead of me somewhere around mile 2. Beside me, kids stopped to walk and other kids went sprinting by. There were parents pushing baby joggers and parents running next to their elementary aged kids. My kid was somewhere far ahead.

Somewhere along the way, the drizzle stopped.

In the end:

• teenage Ben - 25:49.
• 20-something Manish - 28:00.
• 30-something Trudy - 31:48.
• 40-something me - 29:39.

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BagelFest 5K, Austin TX

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