Great Article from Spareribs LaMothe - Thanks so much Ribs. We we so glad to have you come out. Pssst! Can you keep a secret? Plano Pacers! By Spareribs LaMothe / Contributor spareribs823@gmail 9:00 am on September 30, 2013 | Permalink Hard to believe but after racing in the Metroplex for over 20 years, I had never done a Plano Pacers race until Saturday when I ran their Five Mile Fling. Hate to admit this, but I once headed up there to race but got lost and ended up going back home. I’m directionally-challenged. But Terry and Charlie Gonzalez, who are the Club’s co-presidents, have been urging me to give it another try, and so armed with my Garmin Nuvi I got up at about 4 a.m. to give myself enough time, and arrived at Bob Woodruff Park in about 35 minutes. This gave me plenty of time to sit in my car in the dark and listen to the “People’s Pharmacy” for about 4 hours. Everything about the Plano Pacers and their races is great. When you sign up, they greet you like a guest at the Four Seasons Hotel. The group is fairly small, on Saturday about 150 runners. They’re all upbeat, know one another and enjoy hanging around after the race for iced tea and snacks. (Oh, okay, maybe there’s some beer.) I had a ball. I told everyone how great the club is, and the course is fast and flat. And all of them replied, “Good. Now just don’t tell anybody!” I think what they meant is that they have good, old-fashioned small club races, and many of them would like to keep it that way. Bob Luchsinger, one of the most experienced race directors I know, reflected on the old days of small club races where the scoring was done on a plywood board with plastic envelopes. When you crossed the finish line you were given a numbered card, sometimes blue for men, pink for women. The card gave you your overall placement. Then you wrote your time on the card and put it in the age group pocket on the board. Instant scoring! “Maybe the time was off by a second or two, but if you got a card that said ‘51’ you knew you were 51st.” Made lots of new friends. James Royal, former club president, is a pretty cool guy, and said of Charlie and Terry, “I love it that we have some energy in our leadership now. They do a wonderful job.” I also met Tellie and Jaime Cobos. She was first overall female, both of them good runners. We didn’t get off to a good start. There’s only one restroom in the park so I ran off to find an arboreal urinal, only to see the two of them in their warm up heading right for me. I stepped away from the tree and said, “Well, I guess that idea isn’t going to work.” So I’m sorry Plano Pacers for spoiling your secret, but you have a great club and I’m looking forward to running in more of your races. I just won’t tell anyone about it.
Posted on: Sun, 20 Oct 2013 22:40:48 +0000
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