Parley P Pratt Memorial Freedom Run (4 miler)

This morning about 1 hour after running with the Tu/Th running group for 6 miles, I ran the Parley P. Pratt Memorial Freedom Run. This is likely one of the few runs that celebrates a jail break and the only 4 mile race that I’ve ran. The entry fee for this race is only $1 and the run is 2 miles out and back on the MKT trail.

I took it pretty easy for the earlier run to save my legs just a little for the race. I was at least hoping to race if anyone showed up to run my pace. With the lack of sleep last night and still not feeling quite recovered from earlier runs, I was thankful there were no hills in this race.

Before the race, we learned a bit about the history of Pratt In Missouri, in 1838, there was an executive order issued by the governor that Mormons could be shot. Parley was arrested after agreeing to meet with militia leaders and placed in jail in Missouri for about 8 months until he made his escape on 4 July 1839. The executive order to shoot Mormons was rescinded 30 years ago in 1976. Scary, a person could be shot just because of their religion. Maybe, another reason for Missourians to be proud of their history? Not. Hopefully, our leaders have learned something from this mistake.

The race started about 7:30 am. It was raining earlier this morning during my run, and also started to rain during the race, raining harder by the end. I was hoping to place in the top 5. I planned in the beginning of the race to stay behind Matt D. (much faster than me) and started the race off in second place.

At about the 1st mile, I was passed by a male and then a female. About mile 1.5 I heard someone that sounded familiar behind me. It was Alison that runs Tu/Th. Usually, I can keep her pace and we stayed together up to the turn around catching up and passing the guy that passed me earlier. Alison slowly pulled away, but I maintained my 4th place overall position until the end of the race. I was second male overall out of 70-something runners. First place time, Matt was 22:55 and I was 25:39. Alison placed 25:11 and was the 1st female overall. I was okay with my time even though a bit (23 seconds) slower than last year. Hugh knocked 2 1/2 min off his pace last year running in 30:09!