I was urged on by the race director to come out and check out this race. It was the first time I had been personally invited to do a race by a race director when I had not actually done the race in the past. I had to really brag about this to my wife. I usually joke about how some races I have done in the past will send out announcements for the current year's race, but send this out to participants from previous years. They probably just assume that if someone has done a race in the past, perhaps they would want to consider doing it again. That makes sense. However, I have never done this particular race before so I have no history in this race. Well, I was free and decided to check it out. The best part of the event was it had a kid's race and the temperatures actually dropped today for the first time in about a week and a half, making race conditions slightly better than they would have been in previous days. Kaia usually is game for doing a kid's race. Today's event was a 1/2 mile out-and-back course.
She loves to do the races with me. Usually she holds my hand the whole way. However, today she stopped during the race to try to pick up a large rock that was on the road. Unfortunately for her, it was stuck in a tar repair snake patching up the road and she eventually realized it wasn't coming out. She got her medal and was all smiles.
The adult race was the most successful race the event has had in it's 3 year history. They had previously had about 50-60 runners as the most ever for this event, but today I heard they had about 110.
I am still trying to figure out what the advantage to leaning so far forward at the beginning of a race. I am not sure if it really helps you go faster. I certainly don't run the whole race bent over like I am at the start of a race.
I stayed with a young high school cross country runner for the first half of the race and we ran neck-and-neck until the turn around mark at the half way point. Then, I maintained my pace and he fell of the back. I went on to win the race in a time of 19:30, with this young runner finishing second in 20:11.
Kaia, of course, wanted to check out my medal as it was different than hers. She was getting ready to hug me, too.
I love going to races with my favorite racing buddy. Kaia and my wife, Angela, are my greatest fans.
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