Last Saturday I ran my first race since last September's marathon. Never mind that I was wheezing up hills and that packs of runners breezed by me as I felt like I was running in sand up to my knees. Or that I felt like a fish out of water running trails instead of roads. Forget the fact that it took so much out of me to run a 10 minute pace for 3.1 miles.
The reason it was truly significant is that I was able to share the experience with my son Andy who is heading to the Army in 2 weeks. We had dreamed about running a marathon this fall but time and injuries to my foot made that impossible. Knowing we were running out of time, we registered for the Camp Mowana Run Through the Woods 5k.
When the horn sounded Andy darted to the front of the pack. I had a great view of him reaching the top of the hill as I was climbing the first 3/10ths of a mile. In the end he received a 3rd place medal in his division and finished 7 minutes ahead of me! I was proud of the race he ran and was thrilled that he received some hardware in this shared moment.
I will have plenty of opportunities to run better but on that day my position and time took a back seat to a great dad/son event. I am proud of him and how far he has come and how far he will go in the next chapter of his life.
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