XC 5K

The day after Thanksgiving, my son and I, along with several of his XC teammates, traveled to the Nike Cross Regionals SouthEast  (http://nxrse.runnerspace.com/) in Cary North Carolina.  I had planned to relax and have fun watching some of the top high school cross country runners in the mid Atlantic.   That changed when I discovered the event also had an open race for parents, siblings and coaches, I couldn’t resist signing up.  Only one problem - I had not packed my running shoes or gear.  In the name of fitness, I braved Black Friday crowds at the local Dick’s Sporting Goods store and emerge with a pair of shorts and a running for a whopping $20.  As for shoes, my son let me borrow his racing spikes.  Yes, my 16 year old son wears the same size shoe as me. 

If you ever have the chance to run a cross country race, I highly recommend it.  I have run numerous trail races from 5 to 50K, but cross country races are different.  First, there is the start.   Instead of corals 5 or 6 across and 50 deep sorted by pace, the starting line at a cross country races is 50 – 60 across and only 2 to 3 people deep.  And there is no concern for pace.  The trick is to find the sweet spot between not getting run over and not getting stuck behind slower runners when the trail narrows.    

Another difference between XC and trail races is the course – high school races are no longer than 5k, and often loop one or more times over the same terrain.  Knowing the race course is critical to doing well.   Since my son’s race was before mine, he gave me the inside scoop.   I was careful to not start to fast and build up to much downhill momentum that might cause me to wipeout on the gravel.   Thanks to my son’s advice, I paced myself up the hill, saving enough for the second half of the race.  

I maintained a pretty even pace of 7 minute 10 seconds to finish at 21:37.  For comparison sake, my son ran a 17:21, and his team took 4^th overall.

Overall, it was great experience, especially watching the various high schoolers.  Nike definitely knows how to put on a race.

Fall 5Ks

Following my annual fall marathon, I usually look to run a few shorter races as a change of pace and to maintain my running base.  This year that included two 5Ks over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Turkey Trot

First up was a local Turkey Trot that I have run for several years with my older son, who is now 16. It was 3 years ago in this very event that he first started running faster than me.   Three years later with him running Cross Country in high school, my goal has changed from beating him to finishing 'only' 3 to 4 minutes behind him.   In 2014, I was only 18 seconds slower.  This year, it had grown to 3 minutes , 12 seconds.  To add insult to injury, he ‘took it easy’ because we has running in Nike Invitational two days later

Don’t get me wrong, I am very proud of my son.  It gives me great pleasure that he is a gifted runner and more importantly, he enjoys it.  He works hard and has earned his time.  However it does hurt my pride a bit when I view finishing only 3 minutes behind him is a ‘victory’.   I guess a 21:24 is still good enough for a second helping of pie that night.

This is fun course to run, starting/finishing  in downtown Fairfax.  The majority of the course is a loop around George Mason University.  The first half is mostly gradual downhill with a similar gradual uphill on the return.  In years past, I try to start fast and hang on.  This year I held back a little, and ended up leaving too much in the tank as I crossed the line.  As a result, I finished about 20 second slower last year.  

I did meet my other goal, of not getting beat by a younger lady pushing her 2 year old in a jogging stroller.  In my defense, she is the wife of my son's cross country coach, ran in college and is still in great shape.  I can't image I would, even in my prime, be able to complete a 5k in under 22 minutes pushing a jogging stroller with a todler in it.  

Regardless of my time (21:24), I know I earned that extra slice of apple pie after Thanksgiving diner.