Dan and Gail Lester, Athletic Events

Gail and I both joined BoiseRunWalk in 2007, and have even committed to lifetime memberships. Some may think we're crazy, but we think this is a great choice for our health. Every Saturday morning we meet with a group of great people of all ages and abilities. They range from a nationally ranked triathlete (who also happens to be Dan's physical therapist) to people older or slower than we are. They have trainers for people of all ages and abilities, whether one can walk slowly or run fast. There are different training runwalks for the various groups, always with a trainer available to help. We follow Jeff Galloway's Run Walk Method, which encourages even the best runners to walk a bit during their run, even if they're world class. And those of us who walk do some running, and gradually we do more.

My original idea was to maybe run and/or walk a 5K in the spring of 2007, but then upped that to a 10K, then a half marathon. Finally I decided to go all out and train for the Race to Robie Creek. This is known as the toughest half marathon in the northwest, and in 2007 was celebrating its 30th year. The run involves about a mile flat, 7.5 miles going up 2100 feet (to 4800), and 4.5 miles going down 1700 feet to finish the 13.1 miles. I ran up and down the road many times in practice, and didn't even die. Getting some good shoes helped a lot. Why did I do this? First, I wanted a real challenge. Second, I found the hills much more interesting than just running in flat places along the Boise Greenbelt and elsewhere around town.

First, he tried the Les Bois 10K about six weeks earlier. That turned into a mini-disaster. The top 1/3 mile was snowy and icy as it was the first Saturday of March. As is true on just about any mountain event, the higher you go the steeper it gets. After getting the 5K to the top, he turned around to start down, and walking carefully on the ice fell in the first fifty yards. At first I thought I'd just get up and continue carefully along the rest of the way down. In a minute or two I realized I could hardly walk with baby steps. I could have made the 3 miles back down if I had to, but fortunately a sheriff's deputy who was checking the course for stragglers saw I was having trouble and got someone to pick me up. So much for finishing my first 10K. I was in the physical therapist's office first thing Monday for him to start working on my badly strained right hamstring. That got better and all seemed well, until a few weeks later I was jogging on the Boise Greenbelt and an idiot bicyclist ignored all the rules of the road and tried to kill me. So, I bailed out (hit the ditch, etc) and in the process hyperextended my left knee. Next time I won't assume that someone else will be decent and smart. So, back to the therapist for more work.

During the registration for Robie Creek, which is done online, they had computer problems and it took a long time to register. It is like buying tickets to a Rolling Stones concert, and their server was overloaded and crashed repeatedly. During that time I was in the dentist's office and I told them of my plans to buy a shirt saying "oldest Robie virgin 2007". They thought it would be neat if it also had their name on it. I said that if they'd buy the shirt and pay for the lettering, that would be great. They did. By the time race day came up I was reasonably healthy and free of injuries, so off I went.

I'm slow, but steady. The fastest finished in about 1:20, or better than six minute miles. I was about triple that, finishing in 3:56. I wasn't last, and not even last in my age group (60-64). In addition, about 20 percent don't finish at all.

The start of the event		Another picture of the start
100 yards from the finish	90 yards from the finish		80 yards from the finish

More information to follow (and precede) another day.