Every Race is an Adventure!

Glad to hear the knee is feeling better. Hopefully you'll be ready to blaze and amaze at the 5K!

I just hope I'm able to give Taylor (my 16 year old next door neighbor) a run for his money on Saturday. Our stake YM/YW had a 5K this past Saturday on the exact same course and Taylor took 2nd place in 20:13, beating Kyle (another YM in my neighborhood) by only 1 second. Fortunately, Kyle will be out of town this Saturday, so Taylor is the apparent man to beat. He beat me last year, finishing in around 19:50; I was just over 20:00.

Taylor stopped over Saturday afternoon as I was unloading groceries to tell me about the race and did a little friendly trash talking. He said he might shoot for 19:30 this Saturday. I think that's a good thing, because he hasn't been training much and I don't believe he has a 19:30 in him right now. A little over confidence that leads him to go out too fast could end up working to my advantage. I've been on the wrong end of that scenario too many times, including my recent Utah Valley Marathon performance.

A couple of other young men's fathers have also told me their sons are planning to run and are hoping for glory. They are both good athletes, but not true runners. Matt is 23 years old. He's very quick on the basketball court, and his dad tells me he's been running a couple of miles back and forth to the gym regularly. Christian is a high school senior and a multi-sport star athlete. I'm not sure what sort of running training he's been doing. I beat him when he ran a couple of years ago. He went out at a 5:30 pace and held a pretty good pace for a couple of miles but was walking as I passed him around mile two. He started running again and finished not too far behind me, and his father says he has learned from that experience.

Basically, I'm just excited about the fun run, because it really is fun. I don't really care if I win, as long as I give it a good effort. It's just fun interacting with the young men and other neighbors. It was so exciting watching Kurt (18) and Taylor (15) battle for 1st place last year, even if I was watching it from behind. I had a great view of the battle and was the only one that got to watch it from the jack rabbit start, through Kurt stopping to vomit a little more than 2 miles in, to his coming back to pass both Taylor and me and out kick Taylor for a very narrow victory.

I can hardly wait.

I just looked back. This will be the 20th Annual Northridge Neighborhood 5K Fun Run. I took 3rd last year in 20:15 (my PR for the course). Kurt and Taylor finished in 19:44 and 19:45. I ran the Provo City 5K a month ago in 20:15, in pretty cold and windy conditions. As I said, Taylor ran the 5K course two days ago in 20:13. I think my leg is going to be fine come race day, so Saturday morning could be pretty fun and exciting.

It will be fun to see what happens Paul. I'm thinking sub-20 is certainly a possibility for you.

Hey I'm assuming since you've already run 10K today that we won't be seeing you at noon?

I wanted to take it easy today to test out my leg, easier than what you guys consider easy, so I ran this morning instead. It's so nice out today that I'm tempted to come run again, but I better error on the side of caution until I'm a little more certain this injury is behind me. Have a great run.

Paul you know everyone run is GREAT!

I'll be lonely (Nate's not going either) but I think you are doing the wise thing by easing into it after the short layoff.

What time is it? If it is early enough, Jeff and I might consider doing it as a part of our long run.

Sasha I think you should do it and give Paul the Sasha-pacing-treatment. I don't think he's ever been formally paced and I think it would be a good character building experience for him :)

Paul I'm always looking out for my running buddies. You can thank me now or later.

Thanks, Sasha. I appreciate the offer, but this is a neighborhood fun run, with the emphasis on fun. There is no entry fee, and there is a neighborhood breakfast and children's activity afterwards.

All of the competition among even the top runners is just friendly competition among neighbors. After 20 years, there is a lot of history and tradition. I wouldn't feel right disturbing the chemistry by bringing in elite pacers.

Besides, my biggest concern isn't winning. It's that the young men have a positive running experience as they try to beat us old guys and each other. We don't let them win, they have to earn it, but I don't want them to think that running is so important to me that I would bring in pacers to try to give me an advantage. Not to mention how foolish I would look if you paced me and they beat me anyway. It would take a while to live that down.

Maybe another time...maybe. If my character needs building, maybe I'd be better off digging holes in a dry lake bed in the hot sun surrounded by poisonous lizards. (Reference to the movie "Holes")

Paul - we were not planning on pacing you, I was going to suggest we should leave this up to Tom. We would run a little bit faster than our marathon race pace, somewhere around 5:30 flat effort.

I obviously misunderstood. I couldn't figure out what other attraction this fun run would have for you unless you thought I was concerned about winning and you wanted to help me. Perhaps you didn't understand the nature of this "race".

This is a small neighborhood fun run. We only get a few dozen participants (more at the breakfast), and many of them run slowly or walk. Some ride bikes or scooters or roller blade. I don't think it would be a good one for you to run. It's not fast. It's not scenic. There is no competition for you. And there is no prize money. :)

Not to mention that some have been frustrated in past years when a young man who is the fastest runner in the neighborhood wasn't allowed to "break the tape" (perhaps for the first and maybe only time in his life) because of an elite adult visitor stealing their glory. Sometimes it feels good to be the big fish, even if it is in a very small pond.

You are such a big fish that I don't think you would fit very comfortably in this very small pond.

I am looking for a 5k to run on saturday, Sasha maybe we can put together our own little 5k to run? And get some bloggers to come run.

I think I about reached my pacing quota for the month by pacing Kim last Saturday, so Paul I don't think I'll be crashing the neighborhood 5K. Although I will be there in spirit cheering you to a 19:30!