She was amazing

June 2, 2012

Today was my annual trek across the street to do the Rustin Run, even though I am not really in good shape for a 5K.  Unlike in previous years when the run was held in the morning, this year's event was scheduled for 4:30 in hopes that we would get more competitors.  This is a fundraiser for my son's XC team after all.  I had a good warm up. The 70 degree weather felt good, but the wind wasn't too friendly.  My back was hurting, and I figured I'd take the run fairly easy and run an even pace of 6:00 miles like I did last year.  I pretty much accomplished that for the first mile, running 6:04.  As my back started bothering me and my fitness level showed itself, I saw 12:30, and finished in 19:15.  I led the whole race and won.  But, the sad thing was not that there were two other runners within 20-30 seconds of me over the course of the race; the sad thing was that I ran this time even after the race course was adjusted (i.e., shortened by 70-80 meters), at my urging, so that it was 3.1M. An eighth grader was ahead of me during the first mile. He set a good pace for me. The award for winning the race was quite generous.

The highlight of the day for me was my seventh grade daughter's run.  She ran an amazing 22:41! That's 7:19 pace.  Her last 5K was in early November 2011 when she ran in the 25:00-26:00 range.  (She ran 25:15, I believe, at the Kennett Run when she was in fifth grade as part of the Girls on the Run program at her school.)  Considering she is not even in shape for a 5K, this was an excellent effort.  She told me she covered her first mile in 6:48.  Who knows?  We could be looking at a runner to be reckoned with in the future.