My daughter and I ran the Governor’s Land 5K on 11/21/09 (watch the virtual tour). In the week leading up to the race I let her know that, for the first time, we were racing each other. Previously, we would stay together and look to push each other. This time, since she has never run competively, I wanted to see how she would react. After an intial “oh no” from her, she spent the week getting jazzed up and even started to talk a little smack to me!
It was a beautiful day for the run. My wife and middle daughter ran the 1 mile fun run first. My middle daughter’s running has improved and she finished in 9 minutes. As for the 5K, after a slow start from the back of the pack, my daughter and I overtook many people. Near the end she started to pull away but I was able to overtake her in the last 50 meters. I ended up beating her by 1 second. This time next year she will probably kick my butt since she is starting to catch the running bug on top of the full blown case of volleyball fever she has come down with over the last year.
During the awards ceremony I did have one moment of anxiety. In the 30-34 age group, the third place runner had a time of 30 minutes flat. For a second I thought “Uh oh, they are going to call out my name and time in the 35-39 age group”. This race is a course where you set your PR since it is so flat. the majority of runners are pretty fast. I finished in 24:09. For some reason I was embarrassed by the slow time. My wife was completely enjoying this moment of anxiety! However, the other runners in my age group came through and the third place runner had a time of 21 minutes and change.
After this episode passed, I set my 2010 running goal – a sub 20 minute 5K. This will serve two purposes. One, it will get me somewhat close to where I was in terms of speed back in high school and college. Two, if my daughter trains as well, it will position her to be a top-tier cross country runner as she moves into high school based on the times posted by the top tier female high school runners that ran this race. We’ll see how it goes. I do know that I would much rather train for speed over a short distance than grind through another marathon training regimen.
