President's Cup 5-K

On the the third Monday of every June, the Sneaker Factory store in Millburn hosts the President's Cup 5-K. It's held at 8 p.m., through the downtown, and attracts some of the best runners in the state. Maybe the free Sam Adams drafts have something to do with that!

I traditionally have run it with my son, Max. He's 13 and has run occasional 5-k's with me since age seven. I planned to accompany him again this year, but he decided to run with his good friend, Kyle, instead. Max would be running his first race on his own, and I would be "free" to do my own pace.

It's been a long time since I had been less confident for a race. My last two competitive outings had been somewaht disappointing, time-wise, and I was beginning to accept that, nearing 52, I was just slowing down. My left leg was also feeling very heavy, probably from favoring it over the past two months after tweaking my right hamstring in the Rutgers Unity Half-Marathon. Planning to run this race "easy," I ran a hilly eight-miles the day before, at a pace (again) slower than I would have liked. I also jumped in our community pool for a mile swim (felt good), and did a 10-mile bike ride with Max later that afternoon. My own Father's Day Triathlon! Basically, I felt an injury coming on, and the resulting self-flagellation for doing something I wouldn't recommend to others.

As these scenarios always go, I ended up running one of my better races in a while; a crisp 19:30 at an even 6:18 pace. Why? I think, because my expectations were low, I was more mentally relaxed than in races where I put too much pressure on myself. I also focused on just running a respectable first mile, and then took it from there, breaking the race down to small increments (traffic light to traffic light, even!). Once I got past two miles in 12:39, I knew just one more decent mile (holding it together for six-plus minutes), would bring me back to where I wanted to be in these mysterious tests against oneself.

At the finish, I met up with my wife, and waited, somewhat anxiously, for a few minutes, to see Max and Kyle finishing up under 27 minutes. We skipped the Sam Adams, but celebrated with

some pizza at La Strada's, and headed home full and content.