Today was a very nice Father's Day. Not too hot. Not too humid. I ran the GBMC Father's Day 5K for the fifth year in a row. The first three years had similar but not identical courses out in Hunt Valley. The past two years have been from the GBMC campus. This year's was even more challenging than last year's. Last year's was short. And last year's had us run up Stevenson from Osler to Charles. This year I had to run up to where the far Dumbarton fields are and then through the Roger's Forge neighborhood and back up from Dumbarton and Stevenson to the top of the hill again. It was my first 20+ 5K in a while.
But that was okay. After having a week missing three days of running with a combination of cramps and diarrhea and running twelve miles yesterday more or less just "because" so that I could get some miles under my belt, I felt that I didn't do horribly. I got 3rd in my age group. My 9 year old did nicely (31:11) for the course and my 14 year old finished. Some days that is really all that matters. Especially when he had a bit of a cramp and the course was so challenging.
The other thing that I achieved was a Father-Daughter team win. Readers may wonder how I did that. I have three sons. I don't have any "love children". But there is a young woman who has run this race several times with her mom. They have never offered her the opportunity to run as a team with her mom. So, I "adopted" her for a day. I checked with the organizers up front. I have mentored her in life a bit. I have mentored her in running a bit. And I am old enough to be her father. So, we were a "Father-Daughter" team. It made both our days. My day as my sons will be a few years older before teaming up with them will help me. Her day as she has never been able to compete as part of a team for this event before. It shows the spirit of runners and the positive influence of running.
And, if I were to have had a daughter, there are certainly two young women I've come to know whom I would be happy to claim some positively fatherly influence on. My son's girlfriend of three years--works incredibly hard, is wonderfully smart, amazingly is talented at flute, and has been a great influence on my son. Then, there is my adopted running daughter for the day. Goal oriented. Hard working. Responsible. Community oriented. Amazingly outgoing. Great baker. Thinking of others. Great runner.
How better to celebrate Father's Day than to think not only of how my father has influenced me (goal oriented, smart, get the job done, responsible, church oriented, and on and on) and to think that I have been able to see that in and share at least some of my gifts with not only my three sons but also with at least a couple of others.
To finish, the 3.1 miles puts me at 944.7 still on MO-42 headed west.
But that was okay. After having a week missing three days of running with a combination of cramps and diarrhea and running twelve miles yesterday more or less just "because" so that I could get some miles under my belt, I felt that I didn't do horribly. I got 3rd in my age group. My 9 year old did nicely (31:11) for the course and my 14 year old finished. Some days that is really all that matters. Especially when he had a bit of a cramp and the course was so challenging.
The other thing that I achieved was a Father-Daughter team win. Readers may wonder how I did that. I have three sons. I don't have any "love children". But there is a young woman who has run this race several times with her mom. They have never offered her the opportunity to run as a team with her mom. So, I "adopted" her for a day. I checked with the organizers up front. I have mentored her in life a bit. I have mentored her in running a bit. And I am old enough to be her father. So, we were a "Father-Daughter" team. It made both our days. My day as my sons will be a few years older before teaming up with them will help me. Her day as she has never been able to compete as part of a team for this event before. It shows the spirit of runners and the positive influence of running.
And, if I were to have had a daughter, there are certainly two young women I've come to know whom I would be happy to claim some positively fatherly influence on. My son's girlfriend of three years--works incredibly hard, is wonderfully smart, amazingly is talented at flute, and has been a great influence on my son. Then, there is my adopted running daughter for the day. Goal oriented. Hard working. Responsible. Community oriented. Amazingly outgoing. Great baker. Thinking of others. Great runner.
How better to celebrate Father's Day than to think not only of how my father has influenced me (goal oriented, smart, get the job done, responsible, church oriented, and on and on) and to think that I have been able to see that in and share at least some of my gifts with not only my three sons but also with at least a couple of others.
To finish, the 3.1 miles puts me at 944.7 still on MO-42 headed west.
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