I heard about this race two weeks ago at London's Run. This was a fundraiser to help a couple of girls that are joined at the heart. They weren't supposed to live for more than a few hours, but now they're two. From the website: "Emma and Taylor are our 2 year old twins that are also conjoined, sharing one common heart and liver. They are face to face, from the breast bone down to the belly button. They have their own arms and legs, and certainly their own personalities. Taylor has a twinkle in her eye and always being silly. Emma is more reserved and loves to be cuddled. At age two, they have beaten the odds at survival and we hope to have many, many more years with them."
I don't know why I pick all the emotional races to do. Anyway, me, AJ, and Mary got up at 6am so we could get there, get our bibs and race chips. It was pretty cold for an Arizonan. My kids ran with their jackets on and pinned their bibs to the outside of them. The pick-up area was far away from the starting line. I headed over to the start, and no one was there. It was like a ghost town. The race was supposed to start in twenty minutes, and no one. I was starting to get worried that they told me the wrong place, like maybe this was where the 10k or 1 mile fun run started. Then they started to come. And boy did they come. I want to say there was close to 300 participants in the 5k, but I'll have to wait and see if they post the results on-line. My guess is everyone was hanging out by the school, and they made an announcement to head over to the starting line.
The good thing was that I was able to get up right at the line this time. They used an ankle bracelet to time us, but there was no sensor for the start. So, lesson learned from two weeks ago. [Oh, before I go on I wanted to interject a little side story. I saw the wife of the bishop I served under when I was in the bishopric a couple of years ago. She's lost a lot of weight. Yay for her.] They counted us down, and off we went.
Two high school kids, two young kids, and two old guys took off like rabbits. We had to make an immediate right after about 20 feet followed by a left after another 200 feet. The little 9 year old girl turned right again and was booking it. The other little kid did, too, but I yelled that they were going the wrong way. The boy turned around and yelled at the girl. Then everyone starting yelling at her. But she would have none of it. She kept going. She was in the zone. Within that first 500 feet everyone settled in and the tone was set for the race. I never got passed after that, and no one passed me.
I had the Garmin set to alert me at 7:40 intervals since I was hoping my average would be right around that. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was going faster than I hoped, and I felt good. I kept expecting for people to start passing me soon, but when I made a turn around the one mile mark, there was a little bit of distance between me and the pack. At about the 1.5 mile point I saw one of the high school kids stop to walk. He was quite a bit ahead of me, and I hoped I'd pass him. I don't like when people walk in a race and still beat me. I had my eyes on one of the older guys the whole time, but I couldn't close the gap. Right towards the end the high schooler started to walk again and the old guy passed him. The old guy beat me by about a minute and the high schooler beat me by 11 seconds. With about a quarter of a mile to go I saw someone behind me start to make his kick. He was coming on fast. I thought for sure he was going to pass me, but with about 70 feet to go I gave it everything I had and held him off.
6th place overall - 1st place AD and most importantly, I DIDN'T GET CHICKED! As the young folk say, "Woot!" After I caught my breath, I headed back up the course to find my kids. I found AJ first. I encouraged him on by telling him he was almost there. He finished the 3.29 mile course in just over 30 minutes. (Yeah, it was a little longer than a 5k should've been. Oh well.) Then I went to find Mary. She was running with the friend of the bishop's wife. (I do know their names, but I'm protecting their anonymity.) She said Mary had been good company. I coached Mary in the rest of the way. She wanted to stop, but we were almost there, so I wouldn't let her. She finished just under 39 minutes, I believe.
It feels good to win my age division. I know the real runners were running the 10k, but I'll take what I can get. So proud of my kids. AJ took 57th overall and third in his AD. Mary took 113th overall and 2nd in her AD. Now it's on to Ragnar!!
Splits:
1 mile - 7:06
2 mile - 7:33
3 mile - 7:31
0.29 miles - 1:58 (6:47 avg.)
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I ran the regular 2.95 mile route in the afternoon. Time 25:36. Pace 8:40. Now I need to take my wife out on a date. Happy Valentines Day! | 