Yesterday, for the first and only time in my running life, I was accompanied to the race by my wife and two daughters, 3 and 5 years old (my oldest may be pictured behind the runner wearing the medal in the photo above). Whenever I come home from races of any distance, my 5 year old always dashes to the front door like Dino from the Flintstones, throwing herself at me with full force yelling, "Daddy!!! Did you win? Did you win?" As it turns out, I never do. I've never come close to placing in an organized race. Most of you know how hard it is to actually accomplish this feat. I always tell her that I tried my hardest but there were some pretty fast people out there. Time and time again, she tells me that she loves me anyway, which is great. Yesterday, I ran a pretty fast 3 miles. 18:30, which works out to 6:10 pace and good enough for 9th place overall. However, during the award ceremony, the announcement was made that a certain someone (this someone may be pictured...you get the drift....) won third place in his age category. I have to say, it felt pretty damn good to hear my name called, though surprising, as I was fairly certain that I hadn't placed. But hearing my name called was nothing compared to the look on my daughter's face, who screamed at the top of her lungs and just about jumped out of her shoes when my name was called. The first thing she said to me when she was done thanking the race director for my medal was "Daddy, I'm so proud of you..." Wow.
DIVISION MALES 20-39
Jamie Kreider 15:59.4 1 39 M 1 274 5.20 Newton
Tyler Hart 17:39.2 6 33 M 2 358 5.53 Arlington
Greg Obenshain 18:14.6 8 34 M 3 428 6.05 New York
Matthew Whitcomb 18:29.7 9 36 M 4 233 6.10 Cambridge
Daneil Green 18:33.8 10 30 M 5 339 6.11 Watertown
When I got home later that evening, I went into Cool Running to see the official results, and as it turns out, yours truly finished in fourth, not third place. At first, I was a little disappointed. I sat and thought of how this could be, and what the logical excuses were. Was this an innocent mistake? Doubtful.....Did Greg Obenshain get screwed because he was from New York? Well...maybe, but still not that likely. Did the race director, with a little help from some pretty solid citizens with hearts of gold and questionable ethics, perform a little post race magic to give an "almost fast enough" runner and his family a truly memorable day? You decide. I've made my decision. Thanks, guys...really. Oh, and Greg...better luck next year!
-Boner
