I was talking with Paul Paese the other day, and he was telling me abut the Lockhart 5K last weekend. Paul is over 50, and still runs close to 6:30 miles or less for most of the distance. An interesting fact was that out of the first 10 finishers, nine of them were over 40. Who said you slow down with age?

I remember one year at the Better Half Marathon 12 of the top 15 finishers were also over 40 years old. I will have a hard time forgetting the day I had my 50th birthday and ran a race in San Antonio. I usually placed in most races in the 40-year group. Now I was the youngest runner in the 50-year age group. I could almost see that first place trophy. Much to my surprise, I came in 9th in my age group. Where did all those fast old guys come from anyway?

Now is it that the older runners are getting faster, or as we age we tend to get slower? Paul said his first miles were around 6:20 or so; and when he came to the last mile, he thought that if he just cruised in at around a 6:45 pace he would be in the 20-minute range. Much to his surprise he figured he ran a 7:30 pace or so. He felt like he was running fast - or just as fast as the first two miles - but for some reason he was a bit slower.

I remember finishing a marathon down at The Woodlands, and the finish was one lap around the track. I remember seeing a runner behind me about 20 yards and thought “Nobody else is going to pass me now.” I picked up the pace, or so I thought, and after about 50 yards the guy went running by me. I thought that as fast as he went by, I had to look down to see if I was still running and not standing still.

Sometimes runners are not aware of how a hot and humid day might affect those last miles. You feel like you are still on pace, but early signs of heat exhaustion sometimes take the toll on a fast pace.

The other item that might play a part in why one mile is faster or slower than another mile is how accurate the course is. If it has been certified, it should be right on the distance each mile. If it was measured in a car or by a measuring wheel pushed over the course, the distance can be off by as much as a quarter mile, give or take a little. Unless the course advertisement has a statement saying the course is certified and has a number after it, there is no guarantee that the distance is accurate.

For instance, a 5K race is usually advertised as being 3.1 miles long. Actually a 5K race distance is 3.1068560 miles in length. A 10K is not 6.2 miles, but 6.2137119 miles. It is amazing how all those little numbers after the decimal add up and make your time slower if the course is certified.

I was in Austin last Saturday certifying the Keep Austin Weird 5K. To certify a course you have to ride the course twice, and the second measurement has to come within .0008 of the first one. That amounts to less than 12 feet between the two measurements. You better remember where you rode the first time and what corners you followed for the second ride, because if it is more than that you need to do it all over again.

When I calibrated my bike in the morning before the first ride, the temperature on the ground was 80 degrees. When I came back after the second ride about 1:00 p.m. that afternoon, the ground temperature was 104 degrees. That is usually good, as the air in the tires has expanded and the counts you get per mile are smaller, and you have to use the larger of the numbers on the calibration course. While the ground temperature was over 100 degrees, I felt like the air up around where I was sitting was not that far off in heat.

The nice thing about measuring a course in Austin on a Saturday morning is that the race directors provide Austin City Police motorcycle escorts to keep the cars off your backside; and if you have to go against traffic they divert it away from you. It makes it relatively easy to ride the same course, as the escorts remind you that this is the way you rode the first time. And just for safety on my own sake, I managed to stay very close to the curb just in case somebody failed to slow down as they passed me.

The June 28th Firecracker 5K out at River Ridge has been measured several times and is an accurate course. Some runners think it is long because their times are slower; but in fact those little numbers after the decimal are often the reason their times are a little slower. Whether you run, jog, walk or stroll the race it is a good run to try; and it is at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday evening so hopefully it will be a little cooler. Many of the runners think an 8:00 p.m. start would be better; but then little things like when will you eat supper or have to get the young kids to bed will be a problem for some runners.

It is a good race, so I would like to see a good turnout of San Marcos athletes for the race.