And so the season starts.....
Ok, first, I have not fallen of the planet in the past few weeks. I took a much needed break to take my wife to Cancun Mexico and relax. One last week of relaxation before the serious training gets under way. It was beautiful. We got to run in a country we had never been to and we had a great time. Now the real fun begins.
Last Saturday my wife, oldest son and I ran in the inaugural Memorial Healthcare Auxiliary 5k run/walk. I had mixed emotions for this event. Proud parent, proud husband and do I really want to run??? Any of my family and friends who know me can attest to the fact that I just really do not like to run. I know it seems like a dumb way to feel given how much I have to do in triathlon but, for me, it is not as bad when I'm numb from the swim and bike. To give an example I ran a 26:14 5k last Saturday and I will run a 5k at the end of a sprint tri within a minute and a half or so that time. All I will say on the subject is this. Running for me is getting better, not great, but better. It is my weakest link and next winter during my off season I plan on addressing this issue a bit more as I see it as my most limiting factor in racing. Ok, now on to much happier subjects from last Saturday. My wife, the runner in the family, once again took first in her age group. I was about 35 yards behind her for most of the race and as we passed people it was pretty humorous how many gave me grief for being behind. If only they all knew that I am not sure I'll ever beat her. I finally got within touching distance of her with about a half mile to go and, she denies it but, she just turned around smiled at me and promptly left me in the dust. haha, makes a guy feel good!
And now for the best news of the day. My wife may finally have to give up the title of best runner in the family. Our oldest, Ryan, ran his first ever 5k race. He's been running on his own and with me a few times, this spring. I came into the race with him just hoping he'd be able to finish strong. He came into the race hoping for a sub 28 minute run. We both were hugely wrong. I made him run with me at the start just so he wouldn't go out to hard and burn out early. (And I was so proud to be standing on the starting line with him I was almost bursting.) I gave him a few pointers as we started the race. I showed him how to pick his spots to pass and in general passed on my "lame dad" running knowledge on to him as we went. At the half way point I was trying to decide when I would cut him loose to see what he would do. I took one look at his, barely breaking a sweat - not even breathing heavy, face and realized I was seriously holding him back. I told him to go ahead and go and he promptly left me in the dust. I mean he took off like I was standing still. I spent the next mile and a half watching him up ahead extending his lead on me until he finally was out of site. This kid beat me by almost 2 minutes in a mile and a half! He had the biggest smile on his face when I saw him at the finish line. He was the fastest Weaver that day and I am sure for the foreseeable future. On Monday we discussed another 5k coming this weekend and I told him I'd take him. The plan this week is to put him up front with the faster kids and see what he can do. I might have to move to the back with the other proud parents running. We'll be easy to spot, we're the ones floating just off the ground with the huge smiles on our faces finally not really caring how slow we are.
Check back soon. I'll try and get my race schedule a little more finalized this weekend and post on it and my feelings about this season next week.
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