2006_10

Alison J. Murphy school days 5k road race

October 14, 2006

This day was memorable for a couple of reasons. First, it was a 5k road race for a worthy cause. A young cousin of a very good friend of Cara's passed away in a tragic skiing accident a couple of years ago, this road race is a fundraiser for a scholarship fund in her memory.

But second, and maybe only important to me, was that if was my first opportunity to go head to head with my own daughter! Yup, after years of trying to get her to run a little bit longer than 400m, she couldn't say no to this event. I jumped at the opportunity to enter and run it with her.

Now, I could get all melodramatic, but the fact is, I wanted one of two things to happen:

Cara runs a very fast race, decimates the field, or
I beat her..

Neither one happened. But one almost happened..

Cara took off like a slug. She was overly paranoid about pushing it too hard, so she went out at a jog, and I was easily able to keep up with her for the first mile. The second mile, she started to pull away, I couldn't keep her pace so I watched to see her disappear. But she didn't! Ha! She got maybe a tenth of a mile ahead of me, then I held that distance for a mile or so. At around the 2-1/2 mile point, she walked a little bit up a hill, and I thought maybe she's getting tired! That gave me a little energy boost, and I increased my pace for the final stretch.

Sure enough, as we approached the final turn, I was right on her heels. And like a true teenager, she had her iPod headphones on, and was oblivious to the fact that I was right behind her. And then I made my only strategic mistake of the race.

With maybe 1/10 of a mile to go, I started my sprint, and caught up with her to pass. Of course, any idiot should know that you can't really out sprint a sprinter, especially a "regional champion" sprinter that happens to be almost 30 years younger. Cara glanced over, turned on her jets, and it was all over. Oh well, I should have done the sleazy thing and waited to unleash my sprint right at the finish line. Next time!!

Anyhow, it was a great day, and for a good cause. Nghia (Jason), my Mass Soles team mate, finished 12th overall, at just over 21 minutes. Cara finished at 26:49, and I finished at 27 minutes exactly!

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