On Your Mark...Get Set...Latte'

Sunday was the Capital 10,000. G-G-Pa ran (and walked) it for the 27th time. Technically, the last few years have been golfcart-assisted, but he did indeed walk across the start and walk across the finish line. He probably only rode 6.14 of the 6.2 miles. But hey, the man is 98 years old!

For the third year, the Statesman has provided us with a golfcart and the same driver - Ly. They gave him an early start (8 am versus the main pack at 8:45). They announced him and gave him a standing ovation. At 8 they blew the horn and we were off: GGPa, his friend Emily, me, Jill, Abby, Alexis, Kaileigh, Jill's mom & step-father, Randy and Jared. Team Sid had become the Sid Posse.

The thing is, Austin passed some ordinance this year that restricts the closing of streets for races. Apparently, they do not want to inconvenience the four cars that wanted to travel up Congress Avenue from 8 am to 8:45 am on a Sunday, so once we crossed the bridge (500 feet or so), we had to stop and wait for 45 minutes. To the Starbucks!!!

It is amazing how much momentum you lose trying to get twelve people in and out of a Starbucks, especially when one is 98 and two are eight years old. We eventually did get back to the racecourse, and gingerly worked our way into the passing throng.

Grandpa rode and practiced his parade wave as people ran by and grabbed his hand and told him how much he was an inspiration.

Grandpa's slowing down a bit at 98. Only once did I hear him reply "I'm a desperation?" and even then his heart didn't seem in it. At about three miles I realized we had lost one wing of our posse - Kaileigh, Randy and Jared (the three who seemed the most ambivalent about walking the race to begin with). Thinking we had been separated and they were behind us, I called Randy to ask where they were. I expected "Near the three mile mark" or "At the top of the hill on 15th Street." Instead, she said "We are at Sweetish Hill having pastries and coffee."

She told me they'd meet us at the finish line, but then asked me what street the finish line was on. First, I'm not necessarily great with street names. Second, I generally follow the 10,000 people ahead of me and don't have that much of an issue finding the finish line. And third, it's been in the same place for 36 years. I told her I felt confident the three of them could find it.

Down to nine, Posse Sid slogged on. The twins did really well, and made it a full five miles before hitting the wall. At just past five miles, Abby melted down and began the exaggerated limp of someone whose leg was just about to fall off.

She joined GGPa, Ly, and Jill's mom on the golfcart. Jill amazingly agreed to CARRY ALEXIS ON HER BACK for 1/2 a mile. Proving that she was the one clear athlete amongst this motley crew. Posse Sid was down to four walkers (The Sid Smattering).

Twenty feet from the finish, we pulled over the golfcart and got GGPA out. He walked over the finish line to massive applause and cheers. Our missing family was there, sans pastries.

Later, I looked on-line for the results. GGPa destroyed the competition! No other runner in the 90 and above men's category came close to his time of 2 hours and 17 minutes. Which is more like 1 hour and 32 minutes when you take out the Starbucks stop, or even 1 hour and 2 minutes when you take out the six bathroom breaks (we had eight-year-olds, what are you going to do? Plus - there's all that coffee). So, that's really a 10 minute per mile pace, which is quite good.

GGPa came in 6,630th place out of 6,644 timed runners. He did beat his friend Emily by one second, and he was ahead of a bunch of the "fun runners." Of course, he did the whole thing backwards, in a motorized vehicle, waving to the crowd. Which is the way he should do it every year that he wants to continue.