That is Mike Van de Kerckhove finishing the Bix 7 race in Davenport in 2004. He was the 5741st runner across the finish line out of approximately 12,000 runners. Mike has been running the Bix every year (except for 3 years) since 1993. If you are running the Bix this year on Saturday, July 25, look for him there. He will be wearing the green tank top shirt and blue shorts like in the picture. You can probably find him after the race near the spot in the refreshment area where they give out beer, and he will be looking like he is still about to die even an hour after the race. Well, I guess everyone looks like they are about to die after the race…except for the runners from Kenya, or from Nigeria, or wherever they are from. Anyway they are the ones you see getting close to the finish line just as you are beginning the race.
I finished the Bix and went over to the beer area for awhile looking for any St. Ambrose Class of 1964 class member, who may have run the race. I did not spot anyone.
ReplyDeleteAs for my performance in the race, my time was 1:11'03", which was about 2 minutes slower than my last Bix. I came in at 6109 out of 12,000 to 15,000 runners (I have not seen the official count). In my age category, my numbers looks a little better (31st out of 104). When you are this old, there are not many competitors.