For some must push…

I grew up running with my dad, starting long before I could run myself. Shortly after I turned 2 I was in the newspaper for the first time, although indirectly.

As with many Utah running events, competitors included everyone from very young youngsters to grandparents. There was even one report of a runner who pushed a baby buggy around the whole course.
“Lindsey Races to Easy 10,000-Meter Win,” Salt Lake Tribune, September 14, 1980

A year and a half later I was mentioned by name and they ran a photo of my dad and I.

There were 250 runners competing to set their personal best mile times and, for at least one runner, the event was especially memorable.
Kent Giles ran the distance alongside his daughter Lisa. While there are many father-daughter running combinations on Utah’s roads these days, Kent will probably always remember the sight of 3 1/2 year old Lisa crossing the finish line in the Brigham Street Mile.
“Padilla Clocks 3:44.11 Mile,” Salt Lake Tribune, May 16, 1982

The article says there were about 300 people there cheering the runners along. I remember my mom being one of them, running pretty much the whole course herself so she could cheer for me the whole length of the race.

Thirty-two years later I couldn’t have been more proud to see this in the digital edition of the Deseret News (Salt Lake City’s Patrick Smyth reclaims Deseret News 10K title, while Ogden’s Taylor Ward wins women’s division, photo #29 is the important one):

The photographer insisted she get a finisher’s medal so he could get a photo of them giving it to her for the paper. She’s had a lot of fun playing with it. Yes, she finished before I did, but she also started before I did too.

I was surprised at how few strollers there actually were in the race, only 4 or 5 total. The rest were all pushed by dads. And none of them were decorated to look like a covered wagon either.

We go out for 6 mile runs frequently at home, but they don’t have the descent that the Deseret News Classic 10K does, and all that down hill made my legs sore the next few days. At home we finish 6 miles in about 55 minutes. We took it a little easy for the race and finished in 1:00:35.7 (splits: 1-9:24:68; 2-9:30.34/18:55.02; 3-9:53.28/28:48.30; 4-9:57.69/38:45.99; 5-9:38.75/48:24.74; 6.2-12:12.10/1:00:36).

The race never quite thins out so we were dodging around people the whole time. The last 2 miles or so are down the Days of ’47 Parade route so there was a lot more wiggle room then, and a lot of people cheering for us too (which was why we dressed up a bit, give them something to cheer for).

Despite being woken up much earlier than normal, she stayed awake for the whole race and if she didn’t enjoy it she at least didn’t complain about it. She’s a great running buddy.