November 2, 2024
Our Nebraska 5K was out of order. It wasn’t unruly, and it worked just fine, but it was out of sequence with our state-to-state travels.
Because there were no 5Ks in the state during the four days we toured it, we had to return to Nebraska in order to run a 5K there, which is why we found ourselves driving from northeastern Kansas to Plattsmouth, Nebraska, on a 40-degree Saturday morning for the Coach McKnight Fun Run.
The Coach McKnight Fun Run is named in honor of Cecil McKnight, who coached the Plattsmouth High School cross country and track teams from 1972 to 1992. The race is a fundraiser for the Plattsmouth Education Foundation, whose mission is to compliment the school’s educational quality for the benefit of students and residents of the Plattsmouth School District.
This was a small, community race built around family and school. Multiple generations of McKnights participated in the race. The event organizers were McKnights. It started and finished at the school stadium. The school’s boys cross country team participated. Teachers participated. Spectators in the bleachers cheered on the finishers. Students cheered on teachers as they crossed the finish line. Cheerleaders and other spectators lined the course. People cheered on runners by name (including those they didn’t know, as each runner’s name was printed on their race bib). The school’s dance team performed before the award ceremony. Home baked goods were given to runners after the race. It felt like a local high school event, where most of the people knew each other and many of them were related.
We met a woman who was also doing a 5K in all 50 states. She had a t-shirt designed specifically for the venture. It had a red USA state outline map on the back, with “I’m doing a 5K in all 50 states” printed above the map. This race brought her state tally to 41.
The race began and ended on the school track. In between it did three clockwise laps around the paved walking/running path that encircled the school property.
This was a young race on the men’s side. 18 of the 32 males were teenagers, the bulk of whom were on the school’s cross country team. 12 of the top 16 males, including the top three, were teenagers. One runner was nine years old.
The women’s age distribution was a little different than the men’s. Only four of the 20 females were under 20 years old – including two 11-year-olds.
The age groups were different than the typical decade-by-decade breakdown (i.e. Under 20, 20-29, 30-39, etc.) There were only three age groups in this race: 0-25, 26-40, and 41+.
Julie finished 7th of 12 in her age group and 10th of 20 females. Ryan finished 4th of 9 in his age group and 14th of 32 males.
The top male finisher came in at 17:34, a 5:39 per mile pace. The top four male finishers averaged under 6:00 per mile. The top female finisher came in at 23:53, a 7:41 pace.
Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds
We were both trying to take these middle states as recovery races to some degree, Julie more so than Ryan.
Having just come off of her most skillfully run restorative race, Julie had been excited to keep that up. Her midweek run had been disappointing. She clearly was not able to give her body enough recovery with the constant pace of the trip, so she came into his race with low expectations of being able to have as successful a race as South Dakota’s in terms of keeping her heart rate low. She was determined not to let it get into the 180’s. In South Dakota, it had been right where she wanted it to be, in a nice 140-150 range. But in her midweek run, she couldn’t get it below 170 unless she practically walked. So she went in with low standards.
The race, for Julie’s legs, was boring. Her legs wanted to run, but Julie was insistent that she keep her heart rate below 180. Even running 9:30’s, it was already in the 170s. Julie found a runner that seemed to be keeping a mid 9’s pace. She plopped herself a handful of feet behind her and committed to not passing her unless she slowed down significantly or until she reached mile 3. She stuck to it. At one point, Julie and the woman struck up a nice conversation about the 50 states tour after the woman complimented the little flag that Julie was running with. By mile 3, Julie was ready to pick up the pace. What Julie wanted more than anything was to keep as low a heart rate as possible and to log negative splits. Julie succeeded by the skin of her teeth on that second one. Her first lap was a 9:28, and so was her second lap. Technically, those are not negative splits…but if you look closer, they are. Lap 1: 9:28.7, Lap 2: 9:28.3. It counts! She clocked mile 3 at a 9:14 and ran the final 0.12 at a 6:14. Success.
Ryan ran at a pace that was reasonably pushing at it, but not going overly hard. It being a three lap course helped him strategize. As he was running the second lap, he was using it as recon for the third lap so he could have a sense of exactly where he was and what was left in that third mile. Ryan clocked in at 23:17 for an average pace of 7:26, sticking to his negative split pattern, though closer together than his slew of races where he was continuously speeding up throughout each race. He ran 7:34 for mile 1, 7:32 for mile 2 and a 7:16 for mile 3.
This being a race put on by a cross-country club and neither of us running our best, we didn’t expect to get awards. We thought Ryan might place in his age group. But, nope. Not in this Nebraska town. There was some real competition here and we both walked away empty handed, except of course the rewards of a good time and getting to be part of what was a wonderfully organized and rich-with-community-spirit and good times race!
R and J in the USA 
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