Getting A 'Cross

Well, I would say that the first race in the 2007 KnoxieCross series was a smashing success. The largest field ever to show up raced in the different heats (A, B, and the combined C/Women/Juniors field). The best part for me personally was the validation of my decision not to race and to concentrate solely on helping out with scorekeeping.

We’ve been using my laptop computer for the last several years to do scoring entry, with several people copying down the entries on paper as a backup. I’m familiar with the program we use, and I’ve usually been able to show someone else how to run the computer during the heat I’ve been known to race in, but there’s always some little glitch somewhere that we have to go back and figure out. Sometimes I’ve had to finish a race and go directly to the computer without having a chance to cool down at all. Well, actually that happened most of the time. It can be a quirky program.

But yesterday it all went smooth as silk. I got the name/number entries for the B and C races entered even while keeping score for the A race, and was even able to solve the one minor glitch we did have in real time without having to wait until it was all over and then got back and fix it then. The result printouts got out printed sooner than we’ve ever done before and nobody contested any of the scoring or split times. It was great. Well, mostly great. The one problem I did have was that the black ink cartridge on my little printer when dry, but I just changed the text to blue and it all worked out. I love it when it all comes together.

Next race: This coming Saturday, January 20th at Victor Ashe Park.
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The weather here has been freakishly warm for the last several days. I couldn’t do anything about it on Friday or Saturday due to KnoxieCross, but I did do something about it today. Joshua, Ron and I went for a 30 mile ride on one of the local Greenway Trails (two, actually, as they don’t connect, but we rode the short distance in-between to get from one to the other).

We saw a bunch of people out on the trail today. That’s not so surprising since the weather is so nice, but I think I actually saw more people out there today than I’ve ever seen out there at once during any other time of the year. I guess people think this might be their only chance for a while. They might be right, but then again there is that whole global warming thing to consider.

One notable sighting (other than the pretty girls): We passed a middle-aged couple on the Greenway at one point not far from the entrance to Island Home Airport. She was pushing a baby carriage…with a small collie in it. Gives another meaning to “taking the dog for a walk”. Ron looked over right after we got out of earshot and said “Man, that’s the ugliest baby I ever saw.”

“Yeah”, I said, “and it sure was a hairy little thing, wasn’t it?”