daymakers

Saturday before last, I headed north two hours in torrential rains to the Sugarloaf Marathon and 15k with my trusty copilot, Katie, to stay at my dear friend Joanie's condo for an action-packed 26 hours.

I felt really good physically and managed to hold a decent pace for the mostly-downhill course. I placed second in my 60-64 age group, top 10% of women and top 19% of all runners with a time that was just 0.06 seconds slower than last year's time! Crazy!

 

After the race, it was fun to yuck it up with Katie and two other dear friends, Michael Millet and Rob Ashby (and his nice brother), all of them whom I might call "daymakers."

 

But one of the best parts of the afternoon was when a handsome young man approached me to tell me that he had run with me for most of the race and that I kept him going strong. 

 

"Did you cream me at the end?" I asked him with a smile (mile eight was a bitch.) He humbly confirmed my suspicion and we laughed.

 

It seemed as if today might have been one of his first races. He said that he did well because I inspired him, and that he had consciously sought me out to tell me that. He wondered if I had noticed him, so I asked him to take off his hat and i realized, upon seeing a crop of thick, shiny, black hair, it was the guy who I had jockeyed positions with for the entire race.

 

Upon hearing his very heartfelt sentiments, I gave him a huge bear hug, which he warmly returned. I asked his name, and he told me, "Aimun." he took down my name and said he'd find me on Facebook. I found him first (surprise, surprise)!

 

Aimun said he was there with his wife, who had run the marathon, and his parents, motioning to the three standing behind me. I ran to them and hugged each one of them, expressing how meaningful his gesture was to me. We visited for a while and I learned that his wife is running the Boston Marathon next year. I asked him when his next race was, and he thought it might not be until Sugarloaf next year! I said "that long?!" and everyone laughed. I suggested he try the Beach to Beacon 10k, and then went on to tell them all about its founder, my dear friend, Joan Benoit Samuelson, since they had not heard of her. I told them she won the Olympic Gold in the women's first marathon in 1984 with a time of 2:24:52 (5:32 average pace!) and how her world record of 2:21:21 (5:24 average pace FORTY YEARS AGO) stood for twenty years!

 

When recounting this story to aimun and his family, I thought about how I had woken up this morning in Joanie's condo to a photo banner of her winning her Olympic Gold.

 

I'm still basking in the afterglow of the beautiful, fun-filled race, which ran along the Carrabassett River, of the chartreuse leaves beginning to unfurl, of the waterfalls cascading between craggy rock walls, of the amazing volunteers handing out cups of water, of fans ringing cowbells, of the hundreds of athletes of all sizes, shapes, races, ethnicities, and ages, of the generous spirit of people like Aimun and my buddies, and of the scenic drive home.

 

It was a perfect mother's day, mostly void of thinking and angsting about Calvin (which is one of the reasons running is so essential and precious to me) complete with slow-cooker salsa verde chicken made by my awesome husband, and a rare cold-shoulder from my sweet child who, like it or not, didn't appear as though he knew I'd been gone!