Father's Day 5k 2009

"The trick is picking the smaller races."

For Father's Day this year, I invited my Dad to run this 5k with me up in Arvada. He was happy to join me, so we drove up together to the Apex Rec Center. I grew up in Arvada, not too far from where we were going to be running; and in fact my Dad recognized the large field behind the Center as where my soccer team had played its games (because, like all native Colorado children, I was on a neighborhood soccer team growing up. I think there's a state law that says you have to).

I knew I would have a good race. I always seem to do well on new courses. And I knew from looking at the map for this race that it was going to be relatively flat. During my warmup miles on the course, I ran up what guessed was the only real hill in the first half mile, and figured it would be a pretty flat, pretty easy course after that. The only real challenge was going to be the very narrow course--that first half mile ran along 72nd Avenue, and the course was pretty much restricted to the bike lane on the side. At least there wasn't a whole lot of traffic...

After wishing my Dad good luck, I lined up at the start, pretty close to the front. There was a relatively small crowd--I'd estimated about 150 (in fact there were 181 finishers), so I felt my chances of ranking pretty high were fairly good. Of course, regardless of that I planned on running a solid race anyway and pushing for a new PR. After some announcements and plugs for the sponsors, we were off! I let the excitement of running a new course carry me along over the uphill first half mile and on. However, I did glance at my watch as I made the first turn to see how I was doing, noticing with some surprise that I was pushing a 6:15 pace. I need to get back in the habit of ignoring my watch on these shorter distances--I've had some success with that recently, so I have to get back to that mindset. In any event, I was feeling pretty strong and even though I told myself to ease off a little, I knew I could keep pushing.

Today was the first day of summer, and it really wanted to prove it. Whereas yesterday had been cool and cloudy all day (perfect for the first training run of the Runner's Edge of the Rockies summer session), today was sunny and clear and plenty warm. Unfortunately, after the first mile the course was pretty exposed, so I was definitely feeling the heat during that second mile. There was also a second uphill for about a quarter mile just before the turnaround, which was kind of a rude surprise. These served to take a little of the wind out of my sails, although I am happy to say that at that time I was no longer looking at my watch.

With about a third of a mile to go, the course came off the streets and onto the Ralston Creek Trail. I increased my turnover a little bit for this last bit, and opened it up even more once I reached the 3 mile mark. I crossed the finish in 23:34, faster than the Strides a couple of weeks ago but still 35 seconds off my PR (not that I'm complaining--I ran a solid race and I'm happy with it. Next time I'll just have to push harder).

After grabbing some Gatorade, I walked my way along the course in reverse, looking for my Dad. I saw him coming onto the Trail and shouted words of encouragement at him, and ran him in the rest of the way. I tried to push him as hard as he could go, and I think he was feeling it by the end; but he crossed the finish line in 38:01, a huge improvement over his last 5k.

Oh, yeah, and I almost forgot to mention: when we checked the official results, I discovered that I'd finished 5th in my age group again! Like I said, the trick is picking the smaller races!

After the race we hung out at the Apex Center for a bit, then headed over to my brother-in-law's parents' house for a Father's Day brunch. I was really glad I was able to spend some time with my family on Father's Day, and to run a race with my Dad. I'm looking forward to the Donor Dash in July, which my Dad and sisters and brother-in-law will all run with me as well.

Official Time: 23:34
Total Races: 13
YTD Race Miles: 102.6
YTD Total Miles: 578.85
Dad's 5k improvement: 7 minutes!