So at the start they announce Mr. Endurance Runner, Walter, would be the pace runner and run at 8:00/mi. pace. Great, as long as I keep Walter behind me I'll be on pace to hit my goal. I'm at the back of the pack for the start. It's chilly, rainy and pretty windy. The start is 1 mile pretty much straight into the wind. I don't know how many people are there but it seems like around 60? Some are kids but a lot are in shape-looking dads. We start off and I'm weaving in and out of people. I ditched my earlier plan of going out as hard as possible to see what it would take for me to blow up because I was afraid what the cold wet conditions might do to my achilles which has been sore for a couple of months. Once it warms up during a run it is fine, but at the beginning it always feels tight. So I decided to run somewhat fast but not all out the first mile. Well I passed by Walter almost immediately and after only a half mile I'm in 4th place and I can see the leader. This is unknown territory for me. I figure I still started too fast but I feel okay so far. I know I can't keep this pace up for long but let's see. I get to the first mile mark and they say "good job, 6:35". Huh? I look at my watch and it says 7:15. Either way I'm going fast, for me. So I turn and I'm no longer heading straight into the wind, which is nice. I turn again soon and the wind is at my back. I figure I've got no business being in the postition I'm in but with the wind at my back for almost the whole 2nd mile I can try to keep the pace up a little longer. By the time we get to the 2 mi. mark a guy had just passed me and another was coming up behind me. The volunteer says, "4, 5 and 6 right here guys, keep it going." Huh? I'm still amazed he's talking to me. So the next guy passes me. He says, "every way you turn it's into the wind." I said, "yeah it sucks, I'm trashed, you go get 'em." So he slowly pulls away. I look behind me and there's one kid about 100 yds. behind me. From the half mile to the 2.5 mile mark I was waiting for the "good runners" who paced themselves better to come blowing past me as I wilt. Now I'm starting to think I might hold on for a top ten finish. I started too fast and I know I'm slower now, but I must still be going somewhat fast as people are not blowing past me yet. I just keep thinking, "these are my streets, this is my weather, I love the rain". As we get to the final turn I'm still close enough to the guy in front of me to hear the volunteer tell him, "nobody close, noone's going to run you down, keep going, nice pace." As I get to the same spot I know he's not going to tell me the same thing because I can hear the kid's footsteps right behind me. At least he's alone, I think. The guy says, "last turn guys, couple hundred yards to go." As we turn the kid passes me. Somewhere in that 12-14 y.o. range I'm thinking. So I pick it up enough to stay on his heels and he's not pulling away. I was dying at this point but I figure what the heck, it's a race right? Now, if I was trying to beat him I would have drafted him to the finish and jumped in front of him at the end. I just wanted to have some fun so I got next to him right away to see if he'd respond. He did, and the two of us sprinted about 100 yds. in front of the crowd. Of course the whole crowd is cheering for him. That's fine, I know I've got a huge grin on my face and I look over and he's grinning too. With about 30 yds. to go I look behind and see nobody so I slow down and let him go ahead to finish in case his folks are taking pictures. He gets to tell all his friends he beat down an old guy at the finish, it was worth it. I finish and I thought I was going to hurl. I can't suck wind fast enough at this point. Of course, with the fun of the sprinting at the end I forgot to look at the clock OR stop my watch so I have no idea what my time was. The kid's mom tells me it was 22 something but she doesn't know exactly. Later, I chatted with Walter the pace guy and his gps/watch had the official time being slow. They determined it was about 40 seconds off which explains my confusion at the 1 mi. mark. So my time was somewhere between 22:40 and 23:30, I'm guessing. No matter what, I beat my goal and it's a PR. Woohoo!! I'm thrilled. I can't believe how well I did, even if it was a small race. I begin wondering if I'm getting hardware? There were 6 finishers ahead of me and I know 2 of them were kids. So 4 other dads. Were they all in my AG or 2 of them, maybe? My AG was 30-39 so I'm thinking that covers a lot of people with kids this age, right?

Nothing, I had a blast. Maybe no hat because my head felt pretty hot toward the end but it was raining and I like keeping the rain off my face.

Stood around the finish drinking water and cheering in the other runners. It was a lot of fun watching people finish. I love the atmosphere. I'm a gym rat anyway so this is right up my alley. Went into the gym after the 40 min. runners came in and waited for the awards ceremony. I was thinking there was a chance I got hardware but I also wanted to see the kids ceremony for the 1 miler. I called my wife and we chit chatted. I told her I did well but not how well. Before I had left she said, "Don't be disappointed if you don't place because there are a lot of good runners in this area." I didn't really think placing was a concern at the time, but now here I am thinking it's possible. So they start calling out the kids. Here's the bummer. Kindergarten boys had 1 competitor. If my son had come out he would have gotten 1st or 2nd place. On the other hand he might have been miserable and hated it so I'm still glad I didn't make him come. I don't want to be that kind of dad. The hardware is probably more important to me than him anyway. So they get to my age group and they call 3rd place and 2nd place. Bummer, I didn't even get third. Then they say "First Place, John Martin." I'm stunned. I can't believe it. I go up there and get my medal. I don't know if I'll ever get to experience that at any other race so I tried to savor every second of it. I was like a kid, I was so excited to tell my wife that I ran home (from school - the irony!). When I opened the garage door my kids ran out to welcome me home. My wife walks up to the door as my daughter says, "Daddy daddy, did you win?" I looked at my wife and said, "Yes". She's stunned. I told here, "Well 7th overall, but first in my age group." She's very proud of me and I'm very happy that all my training is paying off.


I just need more training. I feel like I'm progressing as fast as I can, safely. You just can't go from couch to 6 min. miles in less than a year.


I will probably be doing this race every year for the next 10 years or so, either as a runner or a volunteer. My kids will all go to this school and if they want to I'd love for them to run it with me. I don't know if I'll always get to run "my" race if I'm running with them so this was fun.