R and J in the USA

November 11, 2024

It was in the 20s when we arrived for our 5K in the pre-dawn of a Durango, Colorado Monday morning. The sun had risen by the 7:00 AM start time, but had not yet crested the mountains by the time we finished. This gave us daylight without warming rays of direct sunlight. As a result, this was a cold fingers, cold face race.

The setting made up for the cold, though. The race ran along the east bank of the Animas River. Stark cliffs rose from the opposite bank. Mountains could be seen in all directions. Some near. Some far. Some smooth and dark. Some jagged and bright white with snow. It was an amazing place to be, regardless of the temperature.

The 5K was held in conjunction with a 10K, a half marathon, a full marathon, and a 50K that were all part of the Southwest Series. The Southwest Series is a set of six race events held on six consecutive days in a different state each day. The Durango race was the second event of the series that started in New Mexico, then ran through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and California.

The run followed an out and back lap course along a paved running/walking/biking path that paralleled the curving river. All five races (5K, 10K, half marathon, full marathon, 50K) started at the same time and ran back and forth along the same 1.1 mile stretch of pavement. It was a small enough field that this did not result in congestion along the path.

Each lap ran 1.1 miles out from the start/finish line and 1.1 miles back, for a round trip distance of 2.2 miles per lap. 5K runners did one full out and back of the circuit followed by a halfway out and back. Runners in longer races did the appropriate number of laps to complete their distance. For example, those doing the marathon completed 12 laps.

They had a neat way of keeping track of people’s laps. At the end of each lap, runners took a thin brown rubber band from a pile on a table and put it on their wrist. Each rubber band represented one completed lap. Every five laps, runners took a thick orange rubber band from a different pile. Each of these represented five laps completed. (They also had cameras set up at both ends of the circuit to record each runner’s lap completions. Trust, but verify.)

A neat thing about the back-and-forth lap design of the race was runners in all five races regularly crossed paths with each other. And it was a friendly field. There were plenty of waves, smiles, and words of encouragement as runners passed each other in opposite directions (and Julie and Ryan got to high-five each other three times). By the end of the race, even though we only did a lap and a half for our 5K, we were exchanging waves and smiles with other runners with the familiarity of acquaintances.

The race took place at an altitude of 6400 feet. In our Wyoming 5K, Cheyenne’s 6100 feet of elevation shackled us. We fared much better in Durango’s elevation. Having been above 5,000 feet for the preceding week, with much of that time spent above 7,000 feet and with several forays above 10,00 feet, we were more acclimated to the thinner air than we were for Wyoming’s race – to the point where the elevation seemed like a non-factor. Additionally, we both ran intentionally slow. Thus, we had no need to suck in big mouthfuls of air, which also made the oxygen content of that air less of a factor.

Among the mass of runners in the five races, 20 people did the 5K. Julie finished 3^rd of those 20, reeling in Ryan in the homestretch and beating his 4^th place finish by two seconds. Full results here.

Detailed Race Report for Running Nerds

At the starting line of our Colorado race, Ryan turned to Julie and dangled the carrot, “I’m going to run really slow today. You could rack up another win, you know.”

Ryan knows his wife very well. But, alas, she was not so convinced.

For whatever reason, neither of us slept well the night before the race. For Julie, it had been a couple of days of rocky sleep and when she showed up to the start line of the race, she was more tired than she had ever been at the start line of a race. She was tired enough that it felt very very dumb to go run 5K. But, we are not here to be smart. We are here to run 5Ks in 50 states, so she showed up to the finish line nonetheless. Though Ryan’s carrot was very tempting, Julie answered back,

”I don’t know. I’m so tired today, I bet I’ll be running even slower.”

Ryan had done a great job of resting and rejuvenating his calves during the week. Julie had bought this cream at the Iowa State Fair and had sworn by it as a miracle cure since she had used it when her wrist injury started flaring up in the middle of the trip to the level of pain that had only been able to be fixed by a $700 steroid injection. She had purchased this expensive crème at the Iowa State Fair even though it was $50 in the hopes that, maybe, just maybe, it would be $50 that would end up saving her the $700 of another steroid injection…and it did! She had applied it religiously a few times a day for a few days and she hasn’t heard a peep out of her wrist for months since! So, as soon as Ryan’s calves had gotten injured the week before, Julie had been all over Ryan to start lathering up a couple of times a day, and he did.

Who can say how much the cream helped and how much he would have been up and running a week later either way, but when the race director yelled go, Ryan started jogging without pain or a limp. He kept to his plan to keep it nice and slow and loose and said, “Have a great race!” To Julie as she left in front of him.

Julie knows Ryan though. And she didn’t expect to be ahead of him for long. At the end of mile one, which Julie clocked in at a nice easy 10:11 she heard a familiar gate behind her. She knew those footsteps and didn’t even have to turn around.

”Hey, babe.” She said as she glanced around to see, indeed, there was Ryan plodding along casually and reeling her in.

We ran together for a little bit until Julie looked down and saw her heart rate creeping up to 180 in the 6000 foot elevation. 

She was running a race to keep her heart rate manageable, but also felt like her legs weren’t really working at all. Alas, she was committed to running in this intelligent way, despite how much she wanted to feel her legs get to do some work. 

So, begrudgingly, she let Ryan casually pass like Pepe Lapue, so suave, so wonderfully, admirably and annoyingly easy.

We ran for a while with Ryan somewhere between 6 and 20 feet in front of Julie which made for some great pictures of Ryan in race mode.

After the first turn-around, Julie felt her legs and heart rate open up a little bit and she was able to pick up the pace, achieving her now ever-present goal to grab negative splits. 

She was shortening the gap in between her and Ryan. 

Without turning around Ryan said, “Are you trying to reel me in?”

Julie replied “Oh! You know my gate too?!”

”Not exactly.” Ryan said.

”How did you know I was behind you and catching up?” Julie asked.

”The breathing and coughing.” 

Not as romantic, but marriage is as marriage does and, for better or worse, you know the sound of your beloved coming however it is they make themselves known. Julie decided to own her trademark slobbery, out-of-shape sound with pride.

As we headed into mile 3, Julie was feeling the elevation (though not as much as in earlier high elevation races, so that was progress) and was still hearing Ryan’s tempting words in her head, “I’m going to go slow today, you could beat me.” 

Julie looked at her heart rate and it was way too high. Then she looked at Ryan only 20-30 feet in front of her. He was running loose and easy, but she knew he wouldn’t be able to use a kick since he needed to take care of his calf and, because one of the joys of marriage is the leverage of insider information, Julie gleefully used what she knew to rack up another win against the love of her life. Such competitive intel is one of the bennies of marriage.

Julie knew the key to beating Ryan in this race was all in her heart rate. She wouldn’t be able to sustain a faster run, because her heart rate and breathing were just too hard. But if she could get her heart rate down enough to give her legs room to use some of the juice that was plentifully remaining in them, she had a chance. So, in mile 3, she stopped to walk and let the distance between her and Ryan expand while she got her heart rate down. Then when she started running, she closed the gap until her heart rate got too high again. She did this 2 more times until the last one with a tenth of a mile left to go and Ryan a good 200 feet ahead. This time, when she started running again she turned on the boosters and caught up to Ryan in the home stretch and passed him with 2 seconds to spare!! Woohoo!

Ryan generously cheered Julie on as she sped past him and reminded her that, in order to actual beat him, she had to remember to ring the bell, which, at this race, was a requirement to actually finish. That was nice of him. If he hadn’t of done that, she would have lost by standing and waiting for him at the finish line for those 2 little seconds. So, physically, she won fair and square, but, at the end, her triumph was a shared effort. Marriage is as marriage does.

As for Ryan, he ran just the right race that he needed to, making sure to take care of his calves, but finding out that, after taking such good care of his injury, he didn’t even need to stop and walk.

And, because this race was part of a larger 6 day race series and most participants were running 6 races, 6 days in a row, it wasn’t a fast course. And there were only 20 people doing the 5K distance. And of those 20, it turns out Julie, with Ryan’s support, managed to grab a 3rd place spot.

And, well, since it’s the first time in a while the scoreboard switched in an unexpected direction, and Julie’s tally has increased from it’s regular 8 races won against her beloved to 9, for those keeping track – might as well mention that it is now Ryan 19 – Julie 9.