Hot to Trot Chile Frijole Festival 5K
Pueblo, CO
Sept 24, 2006
By Jeff Arnold
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When I agreed to be the lead bike for the Hot to Trot 5K, I wasn’t thinking about the Main Street hill. Near the top of that little climb, with footsteps growing louder behind me, I began to fear that my agreeing might have been fatal. I was wheezing as fast as I could and my lungs were burning. Only the imagined humiliation of being passed by the lead runner kept me going. Once I headed down to the River Trail, I felt a little safer, and Tyson Pena from Centennial and I cruised by the mile mark together in 5:35. I found out that Tyson, who played lacrosse last spring, let his grades lapse then and will be ineligible till the City Meet October 12, where he will be an interesting joker in the deck.
I pulled ahead a little before I came to the narrow walk bridge across the river and I spurted again just before the turnaround at Runyon Lake. That little hill isn’t steep but has a very sharp turn. I got a chance to look back there and saw that the second place runner, whom I found out later was Paul Murphy, had closed the gap and Rich Hadley and one other were briefly in sight as well. If I were a better bike handler I would have looked back more but just past where I should have chalked the 2 mile mark, I saw that Murphy had taken over the lead.
Too soon I had to hurry again so I could handle the sharp turns just west of Fay’s Crossing I was nearly home free. I got a look and Murphy and Pena were in sight when I turned over the steel walk bridge over HARP and made the last sharp turn to get down next to the water. I had enough lead to leap off my bike and push it up the only stairs on the course, only four, just before we got to Union. I got back on and headed for a glorious finish, only to see walkers in front of me.
What happened next, I’ll never know. I looked back and saw no runners so turned around just short of the finish line, assuming the leaders went west across Union. I rode as fast as I could to Victoria where a woman whom I took to be a walk volunteer assured me no runners had come that way. Not only had my runners gone off course, I thought, but vanished. In great chagrin I rode back to Union and saw that the rest off the runners seemed to be right on track. I told Ruth McDonald what I thought had happened. Luckily she wasn’t as panicked as I was.
Matt Sherman listened to my story and pointed to where the tall leader was sitting. I walked up and found out his name and that there were no mishaps as far as he could tell. I also found out that he lives in Pueblo West and, greatly relieved, told Ruth.
A man who had just run the second race of his life asked me when results would be ready. I took him to see Ken Raich’s scrolling magic show. He turned out to be John J. Roman whose eagerness to see the results is understandable; he placed second in the 60-69 division in 23:29.
I ate the amazing breakfast with Bob Gassen, who placed second in the 50-59 division, Stan Hren, the 60-69 winner, and Don Sailing, The Pueblo West Metro District manager. One topic was what a fine job Ruth has done in resurrecting this race. It started in 2000 with the Hot to Trot name, and 31 finishers. The club was providing expertise but the Chamber of Commerce controlled many decisions, and didn’t always meet club standards. In spite of many disappointments, the race built to 51 finishers in 2003, where it turned out only half as many medals as necessary had been ordered. There was no race in 2004.
Then along came Ruth. Few who have run the course, designed by Jacqueline Wall, eaten the breakfast by Gold Dust, gone through the finish line with Dave Diaz, Don and Lois Pfost and other club volunteers, seen almost instant results by Ken, would fail to name the Hot to Trot as a wonderful race. The awards this year were exceptionally nice, and topical, with beans and salsa. The race certainly does Pueblo proud. And this year there were 87 runners, 15 walkers, 12 kiddies. Next time you see Ruth, thank her.
Before I close, I suggest you study the results on the web site, I want to mention Kevin Hughes, now 7, who rarely trains for running, He ran 27:59. The seemingly ageless Rich Hadley ran 19:34, without a shirt again. Robert Piner, 46, from French Settlement LA, appears to be the runner farthest from home. And if Lincoln McClure from Canon City is really 6, please ask her to run with us more often, and maybe persuade her parents to move to Rye. Her 27:17 is good enough to help my cross country team right now.