Sometimes you win!!
The event organizers held the awards ceremony following the race today. When they began to announce the 40-49 year old age group, I was surprised to hear that Jim won 3rd place for the age group! He won a little horseshoe trophy with a plaque that said Eustace Pioneer days; generic with no names.
Since I finished before him, that meant that I won too! I was called next, and won 2nd place with my finish time of 32:10.
Then came the awards for 50-59, male and female. Then 60-69, etc. And then several minutes later the announcer said they'd discovered several mistakes.
Later he announced the 70+ male awards and the overall male and female awards. Then he said they had some corrections coming.
Of course the mistake must be us winning, right? I mean afterall, the day started with them having no record of our registration on-line. Murphy's law and all that.
Then he said it - we have a correction to the 40-49 male awards. Jim went up before they said anything, figuring they wanted his back.
I was so happy to win an award. Finally. After all these sweaty days of training. I waited, hoping they weren't going to pull the thing out of my hands among some kicks and screams. I wanted that horseshoe award!
Then he said it - is Brian Stout here? So I kicked and screamed and gave it back.
But I still finished the race. And who needs a cheap old horseshoe made in China anyway...
So sometimes you lose on the same day you won... such is life.