This Thing I Did

[alantig]

Over the past couple years, my daughter has taken up running. She's run a couple half-marathons and bunch of other races. One of the ones she loves to do is the Mario Lemieux Foundation run. She's a huge Penguin fan (because I taught her well), and when you run the 6.6k portion, you get to shake Mario's hand at the finish. They also have a 3.3k family run/walk - my wife and I did that last year, about six weeks after I had a sciatica attack. Lots of pain, but worth it.

This year, I decided to take a crack at the 6.6k side. I still have the numbness in my foot (but no - or almost no - back pain), so I figured running the full course was not going to happen. My goal was to beat the 20-minute/mile elimination time. Last year, we walked a 20-minute pace, so I figured if I could jog a certain amount of it, I'd be good. I ended up finishing in 1:07:44, just under a 17-minute/mile pace, running about a quarter of the time. I'm happy to say I finished just nine minutes behind the third-place finisher in the 75-79 age group. I imagine if I trained and really took it seriously, I could probably do a fair bit better - I ride a stationary bike, but that's it other than running when I referee soccer.

Here I am at the finish line:

And all three of us with our medals:

 

[dmatthews]

Nicely done sir!
All I've got is my bike lately.

 

[Deleted member 5962]

That’s great! Two thumbs up!!!

 

[andy474x]

Nicely done! Running isn’t as fun “in the moment” as guitar playing, but it makes me feel better overall when I do it. Hopefully you find the same to be true.

 

[merciful-evans]

Well done. I'm more of a walker. So your doing more.
Long may it continue.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Nice one Alan.

“....I bought this ‘ere Alan, not thirty minutes ago, from this very boutique...”

“Its restin’ ....”

 

[Tosca]

Excellent work Alan!

Awesome family shot!!!

 

[Bill SAS 513]

Well, That's just frickin' AWESOME!!! Nice Job!!! (To the entire family!!!)

 

[veinbuster]

Nicely done.

I don’t believe in running, but good for you.

 

[walrus]

Congratulations! And I have to say, the "finish line" photo of you made me laugh out loud!

 

[bodia]

Good job, Alan!!!!! Did you fanboy with Mario????

 

[Shawn@PRS]

Congrats Alan, that's awesome!

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Bangin’!

I might be able to do that.... if there were a wine truck in front of me.

 

[toothace]

Way to go!!! Congrats to all 3 of you!

 

[László]

Well done, sir!

 

[alantig]

Congratulations! And I have to say, the "finish line" photo of you made me laugh out loud!

There were volunteers there chatting and taking pics. They took the group pic of all three of us. I had my wife take a pic with me & my daughter, then they switched. My daughter started to hand me my phone, and I said, "Wait" and did that picture. When I got up, she kind of whispered to me, "Uh, maybe you should have warned them you were going to do that because they stopped talking and got real concerned looks on their faces when you laid down." That made it even funnier.

Good job, Alan!!!!! Did you fanboy with Mario????

No time. It was very much a Soup Nazi kind of thing. Cross the finish line. Hand out. "Good job." "Thank you." Shake. NEXT!

 

[WA Paul]

Way to go! Glad to hear your sciatica is much better! Looks like it was a great day and a lot of fun.

 

[Boogie]

Nice, Alan. Nice for you, nice for your family. Just...nice.

 

[gush]

Congratulations sir!!!!

 

[dsenoj]

Good job Alan.