2011 Race for the Cure 5K

After a tough training run on Thursday (5K in 32:19), I wished I didn't have a timing chip for today's race.  I thought that I should just run it slowly with my daughter, Valerie (13).  Val also had a timing chip, but I thought about giving it away to a friend who wanted one.  Now I'm so glad we both had timing chips. 

As it turned out, I would have loved to stay with Val during the race - she kicked butt.  She ran the 3.1 miles in 28 minutes and 36 seconds (28:36) with an average mile pace at 9:14.  She beat me by a minute and 17 seconds.  Since she had not trained for the distance, I suggested she do a run-walk-run plan and gave her my new Gymboss to help her do 3 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking.  She wore the Gymboss, but said she "followed what [her] body said" instead - look out Zen Runner, Val is joining your following. 

Michelle (my sister-in-law) and I ran with Val for the first mile which was a brisk 9:35. We keep calling to Val to slow down and stay with us.  Michelle was going to stay with Val while I took off, but we realized early in the race that our plan was flawed. She was certainly pushing us hard.

Val and Michelle slowed for a walk interval at about mile 1 and I kept running.  Just a few minutes later, Val caught up to me.  She and I ran a little while together and then she took off ahead.  I knew she had her phone, so I just let her go.  She was feeling good and having fun I just couldn't match her pace.  I was running an 8:30 pace at the time and she was leaving me in the dust, so I slowed to a reasonable pace for me and let her go. 

I caught a glimpse of Val several times during mile 2 because she walked occasionally and I almost caught her once.  But I don't think I saw her at all during the last mile.

I had my Garmin which tracked my miles at 9:35, 9:40, and 9:09. According to official race results, my time was 29:53 with an average pace of 9:38.  Val ran 28:36 with a 9:14 pace.  Val was 19th in her age group for runners with time chips.  I was 51st in my age group.  Out of survivors, I was 17th out of 31 timed survivors.  I was surprised how few were timed.  There were over 50,000 people at the event today and just 31 of them were timed 5K running survivors.  Crazy!  Just being in that small minority was an honor. 

After the run, we got freebees and caught up with another member of our team, Nate Agnoli (age 15) who ran the race in something crazy like 20 minutes.  Then we walked against the current and found some others on our team (Jason, Ken, Ken's mother, my brother-in-law, and 3 young nephews) who did the 1 mile fun walk.  We finished the walk with them and then spent about as much time trying to get out of the parking garage as we did on the run/walk course. 

So that's my (and Val's) race report for the 2011 Komen Race for the Cure in Columbus, Ohio.  It was  a great day and great run.  However, it was just the beginning of a great day for Val.  She is hanging out with her cousins in the afternoon, has a softball scrimmage at 4pm, and a formal dance (Jr High May Dance) at 7pm.  She will sleep well tonight!