A Man to Run the River With

Rarely is it that I get to run races. My chosen career path is a great one, but unfortunately does not allow for many free weekends. It's even rarer that I get to run a race with my Dad and Caitlin. But in a stroke of luck this past weekend everything just fell into place and we converged on Waynesville, NC for the Bethel Half-Marathon.

A Quick Pre-Race Photo

To tell you the truth, I didn't have a lot of stake invested in this race and maybe even still had a sour taste in my mouth from the last half that I ran back in February. The big excitement of this weekend for me was that 1.) It was my dad's birthday 2.) To celebrate, he decided to run his first half-marathon. How cool is that!?!  3.) Caitlin was going to make her second attempt at the distance ( I think she has a 50k attempt in her somewhere, maybe one day I'll convince her to run an ultra). So, representing the running Worth gang at Bethel we had a 13.1mile newbie, a second attempt, and a guy that mostly just runs around in the woods.

When the gun sounded to start the race temperatures were hovering around 40F and full sun. Too cold to enjoy standing around, but great running weather. The course had a few hills, namely mile 3, which was all up hill. Other than that it was a really fun, modified figure eight course. At the end of the race I found myself in 3rd overall with a new personal record for the distance of 1hr20min36sec.

The highlight of the day for me though was getting to watch Dad and Caitlin finish their races. A decade or so ago my dad could barely run a mile, much less a half-marathon.  I'm always proud of my Dad, but today even more so. As a runner, I recognize the challenge of becoming fit enough to simply START a half-marathon, much less run one as well as he did. Over the years Dad has overcome some huge obstacles and turned himself into a strong hiker, runner and cyclist. There are a lot of ways in which I could be more like the guy, but more than anything I hope to someday manage to be the Father he's been for me.

2hrs10min, Happy Birthday Dad!

A few moments after Dad crossed the line, Caitlin came in looking strong. This was her second attempt at a half-marathon and set a new best by over three minutes, even though the course was much tougher than her last race. Nothing makes running more fun than having crazies with you that like to run too!

Good times guys!