Ann's Running Commentary

Yesterday was the last day of school in the county. The kids have a whole week to enjoy the beginning of the holiday season. In celebration my family decided to take part in the Dashing through the Snow 5k. What a great way to start a holiday week. The idea, set up through the Annapolis Striders and benefiting Anne Arundel Medical Center is to run through the Christmas light display at Sandy Point State Park and finish with cookies and hot chocolate. It is one of the many family friendly events hosted by the Annapolis Striders and by far one of the most entertaining.

Our plan, as a family, sans hubby because he couldn’t get back in time for the early start, was for my fifteen year old son to entertain his three year old little brother with a walk through the light display and then wait along the course to cheer my daughter and me on.

My daughter and I went back and forth before the race started. Should we run it or should we race it? Just before the start we came to our final decision. We would just run it. We are both running a race on Thanksgiving morning where we will definitely be racing so we decided to take this one easy, head out at a nine minute pace and enjoy the lights.

But, we all know what they say about the best laid plans. Even at a nine minute pace we knew we would be in the front of the pack for this crowd so when they asked the “serious runners” to go to the front, we did. Still we planned on taking it easy, floating around the course with little effort. Of course, I seem to have had a lapse of memory. I had somehow forgotten who I was running with, Megan aka Maverick (I feel the need for speed) Brennan.

As it was a holiday event, Santa had the honor of starting the race with an “On your mark, get set, ho-ho-ho!”

And we were off. We started off at a seven and a half minute per mile pace and I tried to slow my speedy thirteen year old daughter down. “We aren’t going to be able to see the lights at this speed, sweetie,” I told her while huffing and puffing along beside her.

I do believe she was trying to slow down. She was at least thinking about slowing down, but in the end, as we approached the half mile point, she just shook her head and said, “I’m sorry, Mom. I just can’t.” And she was right – going slow is not something she does.

She took off. She quickly passed six people and I was left to make my own decision. Should I slow down and chat with the other runners or should I pick up my pace and try to keep Meg’s bright orange soccer jersey in my sights? Well, she is my daughter and she did get her competitive genes from somewhere so, I picked up my pace to try to keep her in my sights.

I have been in that position before, running behind Meg, trying to catch up, thinking maybe I might be able to pass her but knowing that my chances were slim. I watched her as she passed runner after runner and to keep up with her I found myself passing runner after runner. As we approached the finish line I knew she would have a kick I didn’t have, she always has had, but this time I decided I would give it my all and I kicked my pace up and moved one runner closer to Meg.

In our race that had started as a friendly run, Meg crossed the finish line as the second female finisher and I, her dear old mom, finished in fifth.

I admit things didn’t go as planned. I hardly noticed the lights and I didn’t get thirty minutes to chat with Meg. But sometimes, when the best laid plans go awry, we get a nice surprise. Meg and I would have had fun taking it easy. We would have enjoyed the time to talk and laugh our way through the course, but what we ended up with was so much better – the exhilaration of a race well run. Besides, there was still time to chat and laugh and share our race stories over cookies and hot chocolate.

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