Gussie Gallop 5K Recap

Yesterday was my first race since the Minneapolis half-marathon. It was a little 5K, but with new expectations and goals behind it.

Compared to my first ever 5K in April, I had a time in mind: sub 27 minute 5K, which would mean I am running sub 9 minute miles. I did not think this would be difficult, as I have been training harder to improve my pace, and recently ran my fastest mile ever at 5:51.

The race: Gussie Gallop in St. Augusta, MN. My friend Sarah, who was more than gracious to take pictures of me at the half-marathon, invited me up for a fun day of running, Mongo’s, and a favorite past time of mine: BINGO.

The course was said to be relatively flat; that ended up being a lie. I didn’t mind it, since I had struggled with hills in the half-marathon, and need to work on hills to improve. It was an interesting experience running through a small town, next to farms and small homes, and having traffic on the road with you. It was my first experience in a cemetery, as we had to run through part of one towards the finish. It was also the first 5K that had a water stop in the middle. I thought that was only for races longer than a 5K. Sarah and I ran together the whole time, which makes running much easier during both training and a race.

My previous best in a 5K race wsa 29:53, which was during the St. Thomas 5K. Yesterday, I ran 26:23, an improvement of 3:30. If my guess is right, I ran 8:49 miles, which is a big step in the right direction. Anytime you can improve your time by 3:30, that is a significant accomplishment; it’s something I am proud of. I struggled around mile 2; it was very muggy, and I wore a long sleeve shirt over my Nike Drifit shirt, which I had to take off and throw in someone’s yard. The last mile felt so much better than the previous two. Overall, I placed 45th out of 205 total runners, putting me in the top 25%. Never in my life would I have said that I would have run all these races, and be in the top 25% of any race. It feels pretty good.

My next race may be on July 4th, the Firecracker Run, which would be a 10K. Again, I am working on pace and speeting things up. With my height (6’4”) and the long legs that come with that, there is no reason why I can not keep improving my times, my distances, and become a respected runner/athlete.

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

~Jason Douglas

twitter: @jasondouglas

facebook: www.facebook.com/jasondouglas

Father’s Day: A Different Perspective

Yesterday was the annual celebration we call “Father’s Day”, where you celebrate everything that your Father is about, and watch the U.S. Open final round (unless multiple weather delays occur).

Father’s Day has never meant what it does to most people I know. I have never known, let alone met my biological father. I am willing to guess that celebrating Father’s Day is similar to how you celebrate Mother’s Day, except there’s less pink and more golf around.

What do single-parent children do when the day for the non-existant parent comes around? I’m not talking about a parent that is no longer alive, that’s a completely different situation where you celebrate their memory. I have never celebrated anything on Father’s Day; that day is reserved for U.S. Open final round viewing. Wouldn’t it be an appropriate action to celebrate your existing parent? Whether it’s a single-mom or single-dad, they play the role of both Mom and Dad when raising children.

Maybe next year, my Mom will have two ‘holidays’ to be celebrated; though for what parents do for their children, they should be celebrated every day.