IN THE NICK OF TIME
By NICK NARIGON

Running for a cause

Over 130 local runners laced up the tennis shoes one last time this past weekend to participate in the Iowa Valley girls basketball team’s 5K run/walk fundraiser.

I was one of them, as I wasn’t about to miss out on an opportunity to earn another race T-shirt as well as donate to a good cause, so I was one of the 130-plus to run through the streets of Marengo Saturday morning in a blazing yellow T-shirt.

As I have written before, the best thing about running a 5K in Marengo is that the competition is, shall we say, “casual,” and the course is so flat that everyone runs their personal best times.

I am proud to say I lowered my 5K time by one minute last Saturday. Of course, I am still seven minutes slower than I was in high school, but at least I am one minute faster than I was when I was 26 and I am several minutes faster than almost 20 of the Iowa Valley High School boys who ran the race.

Of the 130 entrants in this 5K, it was great to see that most of them were under the age of 18. As a former high school cross country runner, it is nice to see so many local youth learning what it is like to run a 5K.

And for most of them, it wasn’t easy, but they made the race fun for us cagey veterans.

For those of you who don’t know, a five kilometer race translates to 3.1 miles. I don’t think many of the high school racers knew this, because they took off from the starting line like they were running a 100-meter sprint.

After the first mile, these speed demons began to drop off like flies. Most of them walking, hunched over holding onto their side.

I think it was a little demoralizing for them to watch this chubby old dude plod by as they wheezed for more air.

I felt bad for one kid I ran down near the two mile mark. He and two buddies had a pretty good pace going, so I decided to follow them in order to keep my pace moving faster.

Eventually, two of the kids dropped back, so I was just following this kid in orange shorts by about 15 feet.

The poor kid kept looking over his shoulder to make sure I wasn’t going to pass him and his steps became more frantic as he tried to stay ahead.

He finally hit his wall and I notched another high school kid on my belt.

Besides nearly 15 years of experience running 5Ks, I had another advantage over these kids in that the course was the same run I try to do two to three times a week — around Gateway Park.

Plus, I surreptitiously obtained a map of the route a week ahead of the race and had already run the course.

All is fair in the 5K fun run.

IV girls basketball coach John Bowlin, who organized the race, said he plans to do it again next year, with hopefully even more racers.

As usual, the winner of the 5K was Nathan Hopp of West Amana with an amazing time of 15:56. He was nearly four minutes faster than the second place runner, Trevor Harts, who came in with a time of 19:35. Josh Kriegel had the third best time with 20:13.

Maddi Hinsley had the fastest time for a female, finishing in 21:57, while Miranda Rathjen had the second best time for a female, coming in at 23:43.