Tribute to Shoelace

Didn't see this coming. Every race has a story I guess. This one, just came untied.

Following the bizarre 5K, that wasn't a 5K, did make me remember my Orange Crush that PR shoes. They have only been worn in 5K's, but warming up and running that 3K last week they did feel really good. So, the cardinal rule of never wearing a new pair of shoes on race day, well I'm about to break it. Besides, it's not not a marathon, just a half!

Hometown Half Marathon, here we go! Though my hometown has nothing to do with Michigan football, it's the spot I fell in love with it. So many Saturdays were spent watching games, cheering, bleeding blue growing up. Leaving for school, getting older, don't commit as much time as back then to the Maze and Blue, but I certainly still follow them, even in the down years (which the ship has been righted). One player who really deserves more credit than he gets, both for persevering and being put in awful situations in those rough years is Denard "Shoelace" Robinson. Why did they call him Shoelace? Because, he never tied his shoes! He was so fast, he must have been on to something, but who would ever try that? Guess that should make me, Pantless! Hang with me, I know this is a stretch.

Last year was a fluke, finished this race second. Not second in my age group, second overall! Even though this is a small race, for a small town, really didn't think success like that would repeat itself again this year, but obviously to be on the safe side, something made me wear my PR shoes.

Go Bluuuuuuuue! Goes the gun. First mile slightly faster than I wanted, but at this point felt comfortable that nobody bolted and were specs in the distance. Sixth overall and knew for sure two of the people ahead would die out, that only left three others. Mile two brought some separation between the lead two guys as they pulled away some. Really wanted to stay relaxed until after mile four, but felt it was best to keep them in range. About the same time my pace was lowering, my left shoe came untied. Now, I've had a shoe malfunction one time before in a race and even though it was much later in the race, felt stopping screwed me up, not making that mistake again.

Soon mile four is here, what does it bring? Oh, now my right shoe is also untied! This is where that lesson bell dings, never had this problem with these shoes because you've never gone this far in these shoes! This is when I had my first thought of Denard Robinson. Still in fourth place overall, but it sounds like somebody is also right behind me! Or maybe it's simply the noise of my laces whipping.

Mile nine is where it started, this odd sensation in my left foot, big toe specifically. It wasn't pain, but I could tell that my foot must be sliding forward in my shoe and my toe is smashing the front of my shoe. I wish common sense would have kicked in, I should have stopped and tied both my shoes. But I could still see all three runners ahead of me. It should have been obvious that they weren't going to die out, but maybe they were dealing with their own issues and hopefully worse than mine. Based on my foot trouble, knew I was going to begin to get slower. No, not stopping, body and mind said fight through it.

Mile twelve, I was in some major pain, still didn't stop, kept dealing with it. By now, my right foot was bothering me too, most likely compensating for the other foot. The final downhill about killed me, who decided to put that hill here? My toe was throbbing, each step felt like a hammer and smashing it.

Crossing the finish line, it almost pains me that ended up being about a minute slower than my PR, yet had I worn my normal shoes, probably would have done much better. Never did catch those other guys, so fourth overall, but turns out none of them were in my age group, so still ended up first for that.

In other news, CT has been on a pretty good running streak lately and had been trash talking that she was going to beat me today. Well, I'm happy to say she didn't, though it would have been my shoelaces fault had she, but she ended up coming being first overall female! As impressive as that is, she actually won prize money, that's a first too! Very proud of her though, she donated her winnings back to the race because it also is to help stomp out our least favorite c word. You know, stomp it out like what it feels just happened to my big toe!

Though I didn't PR or win overall, I do think I set some kind of record for 11.1 miles with untied shoes, Shoelace style!