A glorious Fourth back out on the road

CUTLINE: Larry Kessler trails his daughter Alana, who had already finished the Arnold Mills 4-Miler in 34:17 on the Fourth of July, as he heads to the finish line. He did the race in 58:41. Alana went back on the course to encourage her very slow father to finish the race. (Photo by Alana Kessler)

A year ago, more than 400 runners turned out on the Fifth of July to run the 53^rd Arnold Mills Fourth of July race (held on a Monday due to the Fourth falling on a Sunday) back in person after a year off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
That day dawned warm, but not humid, and smiles were everywhere, on the faces of both the spectators and the runners, as people were just glad to be back out on the road.
A year later, on Monday, the 54^th annual Arnold Mills Fourth of July race was held under similar weather conditions --- a sunny day with race-time temperatures in the high 70s to low 80s and low humidity --- and this time 453 runners turned out to salute the Fourth.
Like last year, people along the looped course in Cumberland, R.I., which starts and finishes near the North Cumberland Fire Station, had their sprinklers fired up to cool off the runners. There were also plenty of smiles out there, as runners continue to be grateful for being able to do in-person events after a year of virtual ones, which was another way of saying you were racing alone and depressed.
Once again, my younger daughter Alana and I ran the race --- with mixed results. She acquitted herself very well, running a little more than 8-minute miles en route to a 34-minute, 17-second clocking over the very sunny (70-30 percent sun vs. shade) and, at times, hilly course, including a killer hill on Sun Valley Road in Cumberland with a little less than three-quarters of a mile left. That was good enough for 209^th place.
In sharp contrast, that hill took a toll on me. After passing the three-mile mark in a little bit over 42 minutes, the heavy feeling on my legs did me in, as I took an excruciating 16 minutes to do the last mile, which gave me a time of 58:41 --- nearly 6 minutes SLOWER than my time last year of 52:52.
The only good news from that performance was that I was NOT last, finishing 443^rd out of the 453 who crossed the finish line.
The race was mostly a grind for me, but it wasn’t all doom and gloom:
* The winner and runner-up both finished well under 20 minutes, meaning they averaged less than 5-minute miles for the 4-miler. How fast were they? They lapped me twice before I had gotten much past the 1 1/2-mile mark! Unreal!
* I thoroughly enjoyed being back on the course, something that can’t be taken for granted after the year off the road due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
* At about the 2 ½-mile mark, I heard someone yell my name and turned to see my longtime neighbors, who had moved from our neighborhood in April, cheering me on from their friend’s lawn, and that gave me a big lift.
* Before making the final turn on Quaker, I heard a few shouts of “Go, Larry,” but was feeling so lethargic at that point that I was concentrating on finishing the course and didn’t turn around, so I don’t know who was so kind as to cheer me on by name. I apologize for not acknowledging those cheers and thank all of you for being so kind.
* As always, having my daughter run a bit with me at the end --- after she did so well --- gave me a huge lift.
* The organizers do a terrific job year in and year out, and the former race directors still greet me by name at the finish line.
So let me end this post by thanking them for another great Fourth of July jaunt --- even if my personal performance stunk. My daughter and I look forward to doing the 55^th annual race in 2023!