A Rare Win
Early in 2001, when I'd been a runner for all of about 3 months, I came across the results of a local 5K in the Arizona Republic (my wife and I lived in Phoenix at the time). I'd never done a 5K and I think I had to look up how far it was but one look at the results made me quickly realize that I certainly wasn't fast enough to go out and win one. I was trying to hold a seven minute pace in my 3 mile training runs and here someone had done one in a little over 16 minutes! Surely this must be some local phenom I thought. Heck, I had no business even entering a race if times like that were being posted.
What I didn't realize then was that the distribution of 5K race times went according to the typical bell curve. There can be a rather large gap between first and second, a smaller gap between second and third, a still smaller gap between third and fourth and by the time you get to the mean you have runners bunched so closely that 20 runners can be clustered over 20 seconds. And after doing a few races I realized that it was possible to be two or three minutes back of the overall winner and still crack the top 10.
So that became my goal. I wasn't fast enough to win and only once or twice did I ever experience the thrill of even briefly leading a race. But I could still try to move up as close to the overall winner as possible. In 2005 I pulled off a second place finish or two, and at least one third overall. I even trailed one single guy for 9 and a half miles of a ten mile race but a wrong turn by him near the finish allowed me to backdoor my way into an overall win. But that one had an asterisk by it and I certainly didn't feel like I "won" it in the true sense of the word.
Thanks to a heads up by Jon Walk, I had entered a 5K this past weekend that was put on by Spring Baptist Church and which was to be run through my in-laws' subdivision, Bridgestone, off FM 2920. I knew that the race was kind of under the radar so I might have a chance to do some damage, but figured some high school cross-country runner would show up and post a 17 something. But as I surveyed the field of runners I noticed that there was really only one guy who looked to be a real runner, and he looked to be a few years older than me.
We lined up next to each other but didn't speak. After about 100 yards into the race I realized that I had been right. All the 10 year olds who took off with us quickly faded and it was just he and I. We ran very near each other for a quarter mile at the most then I began to pull in front. After another quarter mile I didn't hear anyone behind me but didn't want to look back. I figure that if I see that they're way back I might let up, or if I see that they're right behind me it might temp me to throw in the towel when the going gets rough. I'd rather assume they're still in the hunt and I need to stick with the plan. I must say, it was a rush being the guy following the cop car that was leading the field through the course.
My in-laws live about 1/4 mile from the finish and since my wife was also running the race we had taken our two boys over to grandma and grandpas' that morning. As the cop car, then me approached the finishing stretch I looked up ahead and saw that my wife's parents had the boys all bundled up and standing on the corner to see Daddy and Mommy come by. When my boys realized it was me that was in the lead they began to jump up and down and yell. My five year old came onto the course and wanted to run with me like we do at the end of training runs when he's been stuck in the jogging stroller for five miles. He ran alongside me for just a bit but got mad when he began to slow and I kept going. He wanted me to stop and take a walking recovery with him and didn't understand why I couldn't!
I hammered it in as best as I could and ended up busting through the ribbon they were holding up at the finish. It was a real kick. I'm not really a good enough runner to be winning races and my 19:11 was nothing special, but hey, I can only race against those who show up. After catching my breath I watched the second place guy come in. I asked him if he'd seen the older couple and two little boys standing on the corner and he said he sure did. He said when he went by he heard one of them say with grave concern in his voice, "is that man going to catch Daddy?!
Last thing - hats off to the wife who is really not a runner, at least not like most of us but who managed a PR of 31:29 and actually placed in the goofy 15 year age group they had.
What I didn't realize then was that the distribution of 5K race times went according to the typical bell curve. There can be a rather large gap between first and second, a smaller gap between second and third, a still smaller gap between third and fourth and by the time you get to the mean you have runners bunched so closely that 20 runners can be clustered over 20 seconds. And after doing a few races I realized that it was possible to be two or three minutes back of the overall winner and still crack the top 10.
So that became my goal. I wasn't fast enough to win and only once or twice did I ever experience the thrill of even briefly leading a race. But I could still try to move up as close to the overall winner as possible. In 2005 I pulled off a second place finish or two, and at least one third overall. I even trailed one single guy for 9 and a half miles of a ten mile race but a wrong turn by him near the finish allowed me to backdoor my way into an overall win. But that one had an asterisk by it and I certainly didn't feel like I "won" it in the true sense of the word.
Thanks to a heads up by Jon Walk, I had entered a 5K this past weekend that was put on by Spring Baptist Church and which was to be run through my in-laws' subdivision, Bridgestone, off FM 2920. I knew that the race was kind of under the radar so I might have a chance to do some damage, but figured some high school cross-country runner would show up and post a 17 something. But as I surveyed the field of runners I noticed that there was really only one guy who looked to be a real runner, and he looked to be a few years older than me.
We lined up next to each other but didn't speak. After about 100 yards into the race I realized that I had been right. All the 10 year olds who took off with us quickly faded and it was just he and I. We ran very near each other for a quarter mile at the most then I began to pull in front. After another quarter mile I didn't hear anyone behind me but didn't want to look back. I figure that if I see that they're way back I might let up, or if I see that they're right behind me it might temp me to throw in the towel when the going gets rough. I'd rather assume they're still in the hunt and I need to stick with the plan. I must say, it was a rush being the guy following the cop car that was leading the field through the course.
My in-laws live about 1/4 mile from the finish and since my wife was also running the race we had taken our two boys over to grandma and grandpas' that morning. As the cop car, then me approached the finishing stretch I looked up ahead and saw that my wife's parents had the boys all bundled up and standing on the corner to see Daddy and Mommy come by. When my boys realized it was me that was in the lead they began to jump up and down and yell. My five year old came onto the course and wanted to run with me like we do at the end of training runs when he's been stuck in the jogging stroller for five miles. He ran alongside me for just a bit but got mad when he began to slow and I kept going. He wanted me to stop and take a walking recovery with him and didn't understand why I couldn't!
I hammered it in as best as I could and ended up busting through the ribbon they were holding up at the finish. It was a real kick. I'm not really a good enough runner to be winning races and my 19:11 was nothing special, but hey, I can only race against those who show up. After catching my breath I watched the second place guy come in. I asked him if he'd seen the older couple and two little boys standing on the corner and he said he sure did. He said when he went by he heard one of them say with grave concern in his voice, "is that man going to catch Daddy?!
Last thing - hats off to the wife who is really not a runner, at least not like most of us but who managed a PR of 31:29 and actually placed in the goofy 15 year age group they had.
posted by Lance Collins at 7:34 PM
6 Comments:
That is a great story! The small races usually worth some hidden gem or intimate moment that big races just lack! Good running!
Trohpy hunter.:-)
Congratulations, Lance.
Tuan
I'm still looking for my first legitimate 5k win. Congrats on your win and savor that moment.
Too cool Lance! Congratulations
Brian B
You're absolutely right... you can only race those who show up. Great story and a win to be remembered. That's awesome that your kids got to see it too.
See ya on the roads!
I found out later - at Thanksgiving at my sister's - that she was responsible for bringing the Chick-Fil-A cow out.
She now works for a guy who owns a couple of stores and does marketing for them. I guess he was the one that ran the event in the suit.
She said the overall turnout wasn't that bad.
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