Monday, November 5, 2007

A New Challenge: Beat Dad

I wrote to my mom and told her that I had registered for next spring's Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon and that I intended to invade my aunt's (her sister's) house in northern Virginia for the duration of the race weekend. Well, apparently this got my dad all fired up and now he too is registered for the race. I guess it has become a family affair.

My dad will be 63 on race day...can't let him beat me...can't let him beat me...!

My dad ran a bunch of San Francisco Marathons back in the early-to-mid 1980s and at the time he was a decent competitor with a personal best marathon time of 3:20 (or something close to that, I can't remember what he said exactly even though it was just last night...I must be getting forgetful in my old age). He's been running longer than I've been alive. Recently, however, he's gotten more into road biking for its low-impact quality.

I ran a 5.25-mile race with him in May of this year in which I managed to beat him but that was only because he succumbed to muscle cramps. He was well in front of me for most of the race and I only passed him because he had pulled off to the side to stretch. That was a long time and many miles of training ago, however. I have no doubt that I will totally be able to smoke him at the MCHH race. Especially since my goal is to run a sub-2:00 half. He estimated he'd finish in 2:10.

I'm going to train my butt off come February. Can't let the old man show the young whippersnapper how things are done.

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