State #46 Nebraska

State #46 Nebraska

Hot Cider Hustle –Omaha Half Marathon and 5k

10/27/2019

Bib #5198

Time: 02:15:04:88

Group F (45-49) Placed 8th

Time:  10:18 min/mile

762 people for 5k and half marathon

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This is the last state for 2019! The #vintage1974 year ended with a big exclamation point!

October is my mother’s birthday month. I always run a half marathon on her birthday weekend. This year there wasn’t a new state to run on her birthday weekend. I found Nebraska to run later on in the month. It’s still a mom’s birthday month celebration.

One of my Ohio favorites came to join me for the first time for this race. Add to that Halloween weekend celebration on a Saturday night( running on Sunday) made for a slow, slow, and steady 13.1 miles run on Sunday. We had a blast and all kinds of adventures. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Getting There

I flew stand-by all the way and got on every single flight without delay. I left on a Thursday and came back on a Monday( October 24-October 28)

Going: BOS-MSP-OMA; Coming Back: OMA-LGA-BOS. Both flights left at 6 a.m. and I didn’t have a long wait nor was I rushed to make the connecting flights. That’s a win.

The OMA airport is less than 10 minutes from downtown Omaha. I drove through IOWA to get to downtown. Two states.

Exploring and venturing around town

The first place I went to was Malcolm X foundation and got a tour of Malcolm X’s birthplace. Since I was in the area I drove to the Great Plains Black History Museum. I learned about the black history of Omaha. Just randomly I met 1972 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers. He came to drop of his Heisman while I was there.

I left North Omaha and made may way to Father Flanagan’s Boys Town’s national headquarters. Such a gorgeous campus and rich history of how Boys Town developed.

One morning I thought it would be fun to run over the Missouri River into Iowa because I could. The Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail and Headquarters is on the Missouri River. Part of the trail and the connection to Iowa is the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge . It’s known as the Bob bridge.

Lincoln, the capital is 55 minutes away. Friday I took the drive to explore the capital and the University of Nebraska. The capital is filled with art deco coolness.

The Durham museum is a former train station in Omaha. They kept the original floors, windows, and lighting. They had two exhibits when I was there. One on race and the other on music and politics. The museum is just a couple of blocks away from The Old Market. This is the arts and entertainment area of the city.

Since my Ohio favorite joined me on Saturday, we had lots of good food and drinks. Then we repeated the same thing later on that evening but in costumes

Not only is Omaha the birthplace of Malcolm X but also of president Gerald Ford. I learned the Gerald Ford was not the president’s birth name. Ohhh drama.

RACE

I came here to run, right. The Hot Cider Hustle was in West Omaha. The suburbs. Not only was it in the suburbs it was in nature. We ran in Zorinsky Lake Park. I later learned that this park has one of the few native tall grass prairies remaining in eastern Nebraska - Bauermeister Prairie. I saw this while running.

The race started at 8 a.m. Considering the night before Shenanigans in costumes, dancing, drinking, and hanging out with my friend that I haven’t seen in months, my goal was to finish without injury or getting sick.

It was cold and super windy when we ran. I will admit I was tired, shocker. My energy was low and I wasn’t properly hydrated or fueled up.

People were friendly and it was somewhat flat. To my surprise I saw five other African-American running this race. Two men and three women. Two of the women saw me and smiled as we passed by each other.

I did buy some Gu and energy gum because I knew how Saturday night was going to be. That did get me over a couple of humps while running. For the last 5k of the race, I was on pace with the 10:18min/mile pacer. I just stayed with him to force myself to keep going and not slow down. He was great. I finished strong.

The state I came in 8th in the 45-49 age group. I’ll take it.