FORT LEWIS, Wash. - Before he headed out to the race, Shannon Swords grabbed his cross country shoes with the half-inch spikes - just in case.
It might have been April 1, but Swords proved that he was no fool.
That little extra traction helped Swords conquer a slick five-kilometer course at Soldiers Field House in 18 minutes, 48.1 seconds in the first of three events in the annual Fort Lewis Intramural Cross Country Series. He crossed the finish line nearly three minutes ahead of Jeremy Kerfoot in second place.
Jessica Forman won the women's race in 25:24.6. She also was a member of HHC, 110th Chemical Battalion, which took the team competition in a combined time of 2:25:54.8.
Days of rain prior to the race made Swords' decision to wear spikes seem like pure genius. Never mind that he hadn't worn the things in ages.
"The mud on my spikes when I pulled them out was from the cross country championships in Boulder two years ago," Swords said. "So now I have a mixture of Colorado and Washington mud on there.
"I brought both (pairs of) shoes - my fair weather shoes and these. And I decided to wear these. I made the right choice."
Forman easily prevailed in the women's race despite a less-appropriate footwear selection.
"I wasn't expecting the puddles," said Forman, who experienced the course for the first time. "I would have worn my dirty shoes."
Now she has another pair of soiled shoes and her first gold medal in a Fort Lewis cross country race.
"It was a good race," said Forman, a member of the Fort Lewis Army 10 Miler team. "The guy in front of me took a pretty rough spill, so it was a little slippery, but it wasn't bad. It was fun."
Forman did have trouble figuring out where she was in the women's race.
"You see people turning corners 10 feet away from you, but they're on a different part of the course," Forman said.
"So you never know who's in front of you or who's behind you. So it makes you really run harder, because you don't know where you are in the pack."
Despite his success, Swords found the race challenging.
"That was probably the toughest cross country course I've ever (run)," Swords said. "And I've run a lot of cross country courses.
"It could have been dry as a bone. It still would have been tough. It didn't matter."
The course layout prevented Swords from finding a rhythm.
"As soon as you thought you might settle in, there was a turn or down or up or rocks," Swords said. "It was just like one thing after another."
According to Swords, his pre-race plan was to be in first before reaching the steepest climb. It played out perfectly.
"As I turned the corner to Semper Fi Hill, I jumped in first," Swords said. "When I got to the top, I said, 'OK, that's it. I'm just going to go.' It came together."
Bob Reinert is a reporter with Fort Lewis' Northwest Guardian.
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