Comet's Carry-On
Summer Series
By Julia "Comet" Weatherby

There would have been a serious shortage of summer running events in the Austin area if it weren't for the Sunstroke Summer Stampede. Austin runners were challenged with twelve weeks of racing one of two certified 3.1 mile courses in the hot, hot, hot summer evenings. For $10, the certified, chip-timed and overall excellent races were quite a deal. The temperature may not have been ideal for setting PRs, but the allure of a racing series was quite apparent as runners braved the heat and ran week after week. Plus, it simply felt freeing to be running a timed race down the trail and bibless!

In June, I was fortunate enough to escape the heat temporarily to race in another summer series. Detroit's running club, the Motor City Striders has held a summer racing series annually since the 1960's. Since it was a bit different from the Austin version, I thought I'd share the experience. The series was a mere three races! It must be true when they say everything is bigger in Texas. I showed up planning to run the first 2 miler. Then I found out that by signing up for the longer race (2, 3 or 4 miles depending on the week), one was eligible to run a one miler which started a half hour earlier.

Since I had a conference call that conflicted with the second race, I hopped in the one miler line. This would be my first ever timed one mile race! What I loved the most about the race was that each runner earned a vintage race t-shirt. The organizers split up the t-shirts by size, one size per table. The t-shirts were from all different Detroit area running races, from Race for the Cure to more unique races. As I've always wanted to run Race for the Cure races in the many cities I visit, I grabbed the prettiest one I could find, and then had second thoughts. Those race shirts are so common. I should find something special. I went from a bright cheery shirt to picking up a dull colored shirt for the "5K Julie RUN & WALK" Oooh, my own race! I loved it. When I switched from the two to the one mile race, my bib switched as well. I went from wearing a white Turkey Trot race bib to a much cooler sounding, bright yellow "Mashed Potato Mile".

At the starting line, there were 40 runners. We were warned that after the first block, we must stay to the right of the road because the roads weren't completely closed off to traffic. The race started, and I was in the middle of the pack. A bunch of kids started on the line, but I didn't sweat it. I felt under trained and dehydrated. I didn't even know the course because I had only looked at the two mile loop. It wasn't easy getting started in a compact pack. Maybe it was good I didn't start too hard. After the first turn, I was really breathing hard, and almost crashed into a younger girl slowing down. I turned a second corner, and looked at my watch. I didn't want to start it for this race because it still had Danskin data on it. I noticed the race started at 6:35. it said 6:40. As I turned another corner, a guy yelled at us "just a quarter mile to go!!" Yeah right a quarter mile! Probably more like we'd finished the first quarter mile. By racing marathons, ultras and triathlons, one tends to lose perspective of how short the mile really is. I started imagining the finish line was probably after a second lap. I slowed down to pace myself and quite a few folks began to pass me. I looked behind me imagining I was the last person, but I wasn't. I made what ended up being my last turn onto the first road we ran on and wasn't sure if the end of the block was the finish line or not. I heard them yelling out finish numbers (actually finishing times), so I picked it up. Feeling lost without timing mats, I just ran until I found myself this crazy chute thing! Finish time was 7:51. I was almost too out of it to take note. Considering my lack of training and that I hadn't done any speedwork since mile repeats in January, it wasn't bad at all.

I walked in pain to the car for my conference call and watched over 100 runners stream by to the two mile finish line in my rear-view mirror. After the call, I attended the awards ceremony where they released the real post-race food: bananas, apples, big chocolate chip and raisin cookies, twinkies and Big K "pop." I chatted with just a few people. Michigan folks weren't quite as friendly and they didn't seem to have the sense of community that we do. At the awards ceremony, winners got to pick out a surplus medal from a variety of races. Awards were only given for the 2 mile event. Quite a unique experience to get so many perks (t-shirt, cool bib, timing, some police and road closure) and a chance to run a historical race for only $3! The longer race was $10. I thought those Striders found a clever and fun way to recycle surplus t-shirts, bibs and medals. I did return the next week to earn that Race for the Cure shirt and with 62 degree temperatures, I set a 3 mile PR!

This article originally appeared in Running Austin, a bi-monthly publication of the Austin Runners Club.