I WON MY AGE GROUP, er, the Callicoon River Run 5K: July 18, 2010

I am the fastest female runner aged 30-39 in Callicoon, NY.

It may or may not be important to know the following: There are only about 3,000 people in Callicoon, NY - maybe a few more during the summer season; 157 of them ran the River Run on July 18; very few of those 157 were aged 30-39.

My friend Sarah, whom I was visiting for a peaceful weekend in the Catskills, had told me that this race tended to attract summer people in their 40s and beyond, as well as their teenage kids - in other words, that there was a dearth of 20- and 30-somethings, and that we therefore stood a good chance of placing in this race. I just thought it was nice that Sarah had looked for a race for us to run, knowing that I was in the midst of marathon training.

We showed up 20 minutes before the race to sign up, which was nice, except that we didn't get the race's very cool t-shirts (see photo above) - they'd only anticipated 130 runners, and made shirts accordingly. And only I got a swag bag, so I shared with Sarah.

The course was a flat out-and-back along the Delaware River. It was really pretty, and additionally was populated by very good-looking firemen to whom I could not speak because I was running too hard. I set out at a fast clip and scored a first-mile split of 7:50. Whoa. After the 1.5-mile turnaround, I passed Sarah, who yelled "You're in first! Or maybe second! Run!" So I ran. Second mile split was 8:02. I saw a couple of women whom I thought might be my competition, and picked them both off as I neared the finish line. Third mile split, 7:20. Hot damn! I crossed the finish line in - according to my watch - about 23:30. If you've been an alert reader (tm Dave Barry), you'll know that this is a PR by a long shot. I was too winded at the time to be excited, but I get more excited when I think about it now. It was a solid run and I felt great during it.

I met up with Sarah after she finished and we headed up to grab some food in the bank parking lot where they were going to give out awards. We got blue Gatorade (which you'll also know, as an alert reader, that I can't freaking stand but which I drank anyway) and watermelon slices - delicious!

And then they started reading off the age-group awards. Turns out neither of the women I thought were competitors was actually in my age bracket. When they got to the 30-39 women - I won! I won? I won! My official time, they said, was 24:53 - it must have taken me a full minute to cross the starting line, but no matter. I won! I won a really cool medal!

I'd never win a race in New York with that time, or even the time on my watch. Maybe the population density, or lack thereof, of Callicoon was to my advantage. But I gotta say - it feels damn good to be able to say, with just a few years of competitive running under my belt, that I've won my age group in a race.