Funny Race Story

Today was the 2nd annual Ben’s Run, a 5 km and a 1 mile foot race held in our neighborhood (see www.bensrun.org). Glen had planned to run the 5k race, and since he didn’t have to go in to the hospital this morning, got registered and over to the starting point. Krista and the kids finished their morning preparations and headed to the starting line to cheer Glen on. As Glen raced by at the start, they cheered (“Go, daddy, go!”). But Glen didn’t seem to notice them in the (small) crowd. Krista said, “I don’t think he heard us.” So Anson set off down the road to catch dad to make sure he heard. Anson was about a block away when Krista thought, Oh, he’s not stopping. Fortunately, Hiram and Charlotte were in our double running stroller – and Krista had her running shoes on. It turned out that Anson did stop for a moment when he came to an intersection. Race volunteers told him he should keep on going, so he did, and ran the entire 3.1 mile course. Krista, in the meantime kept running after him, asking people along the way if they had seen a little boy. Intermittent race staff and runners confirmed that they had seen him run by a minute ago. Krista kept passing people (while pushing the double running stroller) and other runners kept confirming that our little racer (“the kid in the tie-dyed shirt”) had recently passed them by. Anson never did catch Glen, but finished the entire course in a respectable 32 minutes (and it was a very hilly course). Glen met Anson at the finished line, a little surprised to see his son running in, wearing warmups with an open jacket on top of his jammie shirt, sockless feet inside his Crocs. Krista and the stroller finished a minute or two later, having passed up many of the 500 runners on her way. We got a good family workout and enjoyed a fun neighborhood event. Glen met his goal time and finished third place overall. Next year, we plan to have our racers actually register.