Jud & Jon King at the finish. (Dick Ross photo)
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Jud & Jon King at the finish. (Dick Ross photo) |
It was 10:30pm on Friday, November 2. The entire family had been home for a few hours since the football game. Jud's first start at linebacker. The Gorillas took it on the chin and Jud had a rough game, but played tough, hard nosed football. He was proud to have started and played hard but disappointed that the team lost. Dinner out helped assuage the loss. Throwing it back up while praying to the porcelain gods did not. For the second night in a row, his gut rebelled to being fed.
The 2.5 mile training run he'd done just a few short hours before his football game turned out, in hindsight, to be less than a spectacular idea. Blame his father for that. Emptying his stomach made it much easier to sleep. By 6:30am Saturday morning his hunger overcame the butterflies and he devoured french toast for breakfast.
By 9 am, the butterflies were back in full force. During his training run we'd set 3 goals:
There was a fourth goal, which, as it turns out, was #1 (Jud just hadn't told his old man about it): he wanted to place in the top 3 in his age group. His old man didn't have the heart to tell him that his age group would be 17 and under (instead of the normal 12 and under). He'd be competing against much older kids. No matter. His head and heart were set.
At 8:30 am, the weather was clear, bright and very cool, perhaps around 40 degrees. A perfect morning for a 5K if not for butterflies. We went through 15 minutes of jogging, stretching and going over the game plan and goals. Don't start too fast. Remember the goals. Finish strong. By the time we would finish, one of America's promising young marathon hopefuls would pass away at 28 running during the Olympic marathon trials. The running community across the USA would mourn his passing. We would arrive home to the news and thank God for the opportunity to enjoy time together and what God had given us.
The final instructions were announced and we were seconds away from the start...the 32nd annual Lawrence Parks and Rec Turkey Trot. Jud mentioned winning a turkey...what's that about? Anyway...the gun (well, fake whistle on a bullhorn) sounds and we're off. Jud is off to a fast start....we need to slow down a bit or we'll waste all our energy. We settle into our goal pace and remind ourselves to pay attention to the beautiful surroundings of Haskell's campus. The football stadium, the new Native American heritage museum....then it's off cross country.....across Haskell's west campus across their cross country course. We've made it through the first mile ahead of goal pace (9:14 mile) and Jud is running strong. Breathing well, one foot front in front of the other. We're watching the tiniest of details like the frost turning to dew while we run; deer tracks on the course...are those mountain lion, dog or cat tracks? What is that floating in that pond?
Suddenly, mile 2 has passed and we're still running strong. A well meaning course volunteer shouts that the uphill isn't that long....Jud wouldn't have thought "uphill" unless he'd heard it! We're now concentrating on our goals because it's harder to have fun right now. I pass along a secret to Jud to encourage him. At this pace, he'll break his Aunt Debbie, Mom Nikki's and my first 5K race from last year if he can keep it up. A new life. We begin to pass other people while maintaining a strong, but doable pace. Jud, with all respect to Ryan Shay (who won't race another day after today's marathon trials) decides he won't die and he will finish strong. At 2.9 miles we strategize about when to start sprinting for the finish. It's now and Jud runs a 7:14/mile pace for the last quarter mile.
At the finish, I couldn't be more proud. He's finished second in his age group (while sprinting that last quarter mile---that's when he tells me that is his goal); bested by a 13 yr old and by less than a minute. Jud's first question after wondering if he's won something is "when is the next race?(it's the runLawrence Thanksgiving day 5K)"
After the race, we talk about the frost turning to dew, that weird thing in the pond, those mountain lion tracks? Jud calls all his relatives to share his joy (maybe his Dad encouraged him a bit). A runner with a passion is born. On the way home we talk about fast vs slow twitch muscles, endurance vs sprint, lactic acid and glycogen. By 10:30 am, we arrive home to relieve Grandpa King (who has graciously come over to watch the little boys to allow Jud to run)...we all pack up and head off to watch KU whollop Nebraska. Tomorrow he'll suit up for his last football game of the year-my bet is running will be all he talks about.
So, next time you see him...those running shoes, they were new....now they are PR running shoes....his next goal: nope, it's not to finish first, it's to do better and figure out if those were mountain lion tracks. I bet his new PR of 30:26 won't stand long either (now Aunt Debbie and Mom Nikki have a new goal, too!).
Oh, folks like Police Sgt Susan Hadl, Gene Wee (of runLawrence), Dick Ross (of SeeKCrun.com), and the many runners and volunteers who encouraged Jud on...well, if you could bottle and sell that - well, you get the picture..
-- Jon King