When I grow up I want to be like Len Sheer...

Shelter Island's 10k is simply a great event. I hate running but running with over a 1000 other people is pretty cool. This Sunday I finished 144th (o:47:01) out of 1084 runners at my first ever 10k. I was only 1032 seconds (I thought that sounds good) behind the top placed Ethiopian WORKU BEYI. The first five finishers came from Ethiopia and Kenya. That wasn't very surprising to me but I felt honored to run with them. They finished in just below 30minutes on this hot and humid day.
I wanted to lose some words about some other participants that I got to know briefly on the course...there was this little boy with his mom and his aunt at the start right next to me. The mom told him that he needs to stay with his aunt for the first 2 miles and then he can take off on his own speed if he feels ok. I thought that was a good advice so that the boy learns how to pace himself over 10k...eventually the boy flew past me on mile 4. His little legs ran and ran and ran. He past some fast people on his way to the finish line. Give that kid a good training program and you will see him starting for the US in the Olympics 2016. RESPECT little boy in green shirt.
When I grow up I want to be like LEN SHEER....at the age of 83 Len finished the Shelter Island 10k in 1:30:26. Most people that age couldn't even walk 10k in a day. I am so impressed about this man's result. When I will turn 83 someday and I can run 10k than that is because of my new idol Len Sheer. Of course he took the crown in his age group...Congratulations Len!
My race went pretty well. When I signed up for this legendary race (where you can earn World Cup points) I did not set my self a goal because I never started at a 10k run. I wanted to keep my pace and have a fun practice session. Since running is not my strong leg I was very happy with my time of 0:47:01 (7:34min/mile). I lost about 30sec at the start when the crowd got rolling and my second 5k split was 11 seconds faster than the first 5k. Overall I had a great day even without a raffle win. Maybe next year :) After the race they had prepared a lovely BBQ for all runners at the On Shore restaurant on Shelter Island. The sun started to set over the ocean and the day finished with a spectacular picture of all kind of pink and violet tones possible. Sadly I couldn't share that view with any of my friends or family.

P.S. Thank you to the race coordinator that did an excellent job putting together this 28th Shelter Island 10k. See you next year. Link for those that might want to give it a go next year... www.shelterislandrun.com