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.