Several of our NRGE mates took to the streets for the No Frills 5 Mile on Saturday. First race of the year where we weren’t battling 30-50 mph winds.
Twelve new single age records were set. Twelve! None more impressive than our own Mike Wasson‘s 29:24. At 48 years of age he age graded 26:07 for the overall 10 points. LRC Racing’s Jason Zakaras was first across the line in a fast 26:24, Team Nebraska’s Justin Mollak was next in 26:44. They moved to number 4 and number 8 respectively on the all time non age graded No Frills list.
Three USATF clubs making the drive to Plattsmouth to race each other. Every single NRGE athlete understands the drill and competes proudly in our uniform. Other than Jason and Justin I saw no other team kits displayed but am pretty sure there were other Team Nebraska and LRC runners in the race. Whats up with that? Be loud! Be proud!
Our boy Pete Kostelnick had a breakthrough race finishing 5th overall. And emerged, along with Kyle Clouston and Jerrod Anzalone, as leaders of Nebraska Run Guru Elite. We had a team meeting over lunch at The Lodge and elected our 2014 officer slate. Congratulations to Kyle on being voted President, Jerrod is our new Vice President, and Pete our Treasurer. I remain on board as head coach, chief instigator, or some other such vagary.
Back to Mike, and Pete. Jeff Marshall has had a stranglehold on the age graded No Frills Series title for the last few years. My instructions to Mike prior to the gun were simple, run a sub 29:30 and the 10 points are yours. He topped Jeff (age 52, 30:57) by 1:33, enough for a :31 age graded advantage. And Pete. He has had his motivation right in front of him all winter. Named Jerrod. Pete has been chasing him, bearing down, gritting his teeth, getting fitter in the process. Declared early Saturday morning that this was to be the day. And he proved just that by a scant fifteen seconds. Jerrod could have excused the performance based on heavy legs, chose rather to congratulate Pete on the newly carved notch. Mates first, competitors second, friends third. Any other order and it is lost on me.
Stacy Mangers celebrated her 48th birthday finishing 3rd o/a female. 34:28 a nice opener after taking most all of 2013 off with injuries. She’ll be fittest when it matters most, bet me a dollar!
And finally, I had a darned good effort myself. Pretty consistent miles, near the red line for the entire race, not a single falter, closed with dignity. 36:17 that age graded to 30:12, good for now but not for long.
Mike Wasson gets his final pre race instructions. Jerrod just to his left, always listening and learning. I was the only cat in short sleeves.
Pete is developing Real Speed and is not happy at all that there were 4 finishers ahead of him. He’s coming to get you. Really he is.
Jerrod has been putting in mega miles to satisfy his charge of running the last 40 miles with Kyle at this coming weekend’s USA 100 Mile Trail Champs in Huntsville, TX.
This old hippy still has some leg kick, my form starting to improve with the increased mileage of the last few weeks.
All photos courtesy of Kyle Clouston. He has been driving over from Lincoln to join Linda in supporting our mates on race morning. He’ll make a great President for NRGE.
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