This year was the 16th edition of this race held in the memory of Baron P Braswell II (Deuce), who was senselessly murdered on January 20, 2006. His parents Gwen and Baron Braswell, have managed this race all 16 years, with the 2020 race canceled due to COVID.
Without all of the volunteers, this race could not exist and is one of the largest races in the area.
With the uptick in violent crime, we need to get the message out that issues need to be resolved by means other than violence, bullying, ranting on social media, and disrupting civil protests and meetings. When will we ever learn?
The morning was foggy, breaking just before the race start. The temperature was 70 degrees with a 66-degree dew point.
It was pretty pleasant for early fall. Leaves will be changing soon.
I arrived at Courtland High School around 7:30 am that allowed me to run a 45-minute warmup. I did my typical 6-minute run, 2-minute walk intervals five times and got to the start line with about 5 minutes to spare.
The course is sort of flat. The course starts and finishes on the track and runs out and back on Smith Station Road. There is a gradual downhill after mile one that I needed to come back up toward mile 2.
I planned to stay ahead of my Grand Prix age group members. Well, at least those I can. I started toward the middle of the pack. There were many teenagers and younger runners in front of me. This crowd did help keep me going slower at the start.
In the first mile, I passed a couple of older men that I did not recognize and all that I wanted to outrun. I went through the first mile in 9 minutes flat.
After passing the first mile marker, the front runners returned with the leader going through mile 2 at 9:40. I spotted the two runners in my age group that I knew I could not beat. I didn’t see any other older men.
After the turnaround, there was one age group competitor within 30 seconds. I knew I needed to keep up my pace. He started behind me. So, I wasn’t sure how many seconds he had in his chip time cushion.
On the return, my second mile was 8:40. As I passed the entrance to Foxpoint, I spotted Mike Brooks about 30 seconds ahead of me. I’ve never been this close to Mike in a race. I tried to reel him in, and he dragged me along well into the Courtland entrance road. He pushed on the entrance road downhill, and I lost visual contact.
All my body parts were still in one piece as I ran the last 500 meters through the parking lot and onto the track. I went through mile 3 without tapping my watch. I must have been concentrating on something else. I cut the tangent across the grass to the track, and the surface cushion felt good. I was able to get up on my toes and pass a few youngsters before one outkicked me. My third mile plus 200-meters time was 9:24, an 8:21 minute per mile pace. My gun finish time was 27:05, chip 26:57. The time was about 40 seconds slower than my time before my groin issues.
Since 1994, I’ve completed 177 Grand Prix races. In those 28 years, I have never finished in the top 3 in my age group in a Grand Prix race. Turning 65 seven weeks ago, I am on the young end of my age group. I was 92nd overall, 60th male, and 3rd male 65 and over. If you keep doing something long enough, eventually you succeed.
Up next is the 10km Run through History on Oct 16.