Passing the Baton

Strava

This spring Derek ran high school track for the first time. He ran the 200, 400, and 4x200 and 4x400 relays. He had fun and did pretty well, though a long way from being an elite runner. He ran his first ever 400 at start of the season, timed by his mom sans spikes, in 59+ seconds. By the end of the season he had three races under 56 with a PR of 55.60. A long way from qualifying for State, but a lot faster than I ever ran.

Last weekend while I was climbing in the Gunks, Derek and Sheri ran the Rockies 5K and Derek ran 21:46 - a 7:01/mile pace. Today we all ran the Cottonwood Classic 5K. I was shooting for 6:50/mile and Derek was going with me. Sheri shooting for 7:30/mile. Derek had never even been close to me in a distance race before, but as I get slower every year, he's really starting to discover running. My plan was to stay on pace through two miles and then, hopefully, if I wasn't dying, turn the screws and try to get a gap on Derek. If he was still with me with a quarter mile to go, I'd have no chance.

I executed that race strategy perfectly. My first mile was 6:50, my second mile was 6:50. I turned the screws and, sure enough, with a quarter mile to go, Derek was no longer with me. Unfortunately, he wasn't behind me, but ahead of me! We battled a bit in the early parts of the third mile, but Derek moved ahead before 2.5 miles and stretched it out. I wasn't too far back at the 3-mile mark, but Derek kicked like the quarter-miler he is and I kicked...liked a one-time ultra-runner. The gap widened considerably. Derek finished with a PR of 20:56 (6:44/mile pace) and I shuffled in at 21:15 (6:51/mile pace).

Sheri ran 22:44 (7:20/mile pace) and, as usual, brought home the hardware, winning her age division and finishing as the fourth overall woman. I got second in my age group (30th overall) and Derek got fourth in his (21st overall).

There is tons of great food at this race and we gorged ourselves before rolling back to the car and heading for home. Next weekend is the Bolder Boulder 10K. Derek and I will start in the same wave and try to maintain a 7:15/mile pace through the first 5K. Hopefully we hold that and finish under 45 minutes. I wouldn't be shocked to see Derek go under 44 minutes.

So, for the first time ever, Derek is the family road racing champion.