The awards from Sunday were, well, interesting. Being the older of the two (and with rapidly changing vision), I left checking results to Shawn. He came back stating that we were 3rd couple overall and 2nd master; our finish time was 21:31.
C: What? That doesn’t make any sense.
S: Well, the overall couple was in Masters (he was in his 50’s and she was in her 20’s so they met the over-40 average age standard) and they took first place. The other couple was first Master and, so, we’re the second Master couple.
C: I know what you’re saying but it doesn’t make any sense. The couple ahead of us (by about 20 seconds) didn’t look over 40.
S: No, no, they were. So we’re second.
Disappointed and frustrated, we watched the overall winners receive their awards, and the overall couple get theirs, and the first Masters couple. I looked at Shawn again. “Go ask how they calculate ages for the Masters and I’ll go ask them how old they are,” I suggested.
And we did. Shawn approached the Race Director during the awards and, once again, we heard that the Masters division was for teams whose average age was over 40.
“Guys,” I asked, “How old are you?”
The two of them looked shell-shocked – and young. “We’re not Masters,” she replied. “We’re 23. I don’t know why we have this.”
“Okay,” I replied, “Your ages combined is less than my age.”
I felt so much better. While I was a bit disappointed by our time (I did want to finish closer to 21 minutes), I was glad that were, indeed, the first Masters Couple. We decided to wait until the awards were over to sort things out, but then I realized that the other couple could miss their now obviously first place age group award. So, once again, Shawn interrupted the race director, prizes were distributed accordingly and everyone went home happy.
Shawn and I won flowers, dinner for two – which we planned for a night out with our spouses – gift cards to the Running Room and a very generous gift certificate for a facial. I’m not a touchy-feely gal at all so Shawn’s wife got that; I would have been more excited if it had been a certificate for an oil change And, I sent home half of the flowers because every woman needs flowers around her.
And, as soon as I get over this cold, I’ll start working on my speed again – probably with Shawn’s wife cracking a whip behind me.
Are you up for a challenge? And, please, pardon the pun.
The Brass Monkey Virtual 5K Event is quickly approaching. Read about it here and let me know if you’re in.
