2021 Family Fun Cow Run 5km

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It has been frosty the last few nights. I’ve had to scrape my car windows.

With daylight savings time pushing sunrise to 7:30 am, the sun would not be warming the overnight low above freezing before the 8 am start.

The Family Fun Cow Run 5km was first run in 2011. The race started and finished in the fields behind the River Club Church for the first two years.

When the race joined the Coldwell Banker Elite Grand Prix in 2013, the current course, mostly on roads, was adopted.

RTU timed this race from 2011 to 2019, and I was able to run it in 2013 on the road course.

The race benefits the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and raises money for their summer youth camp programs.

Chick-Fil-A has been a long-time sponsor of the event, and in 2017 the race name was changed from the FCA 5km to the Family Fun Cow Run. This year Chick-Fil-A provided lovely knit beanies as race swag.

I arrived at 7:15 am and started my 30-minute warm-up by 7:20. Getting back to my car and changing from tights to shorts and putting on my singlet, I had about 4 minutes to spare to hit the inside bathroom.

Before race day, I reviewed the registered runners in my 65 to 69-year-old age group. Two of those runners typically finish in front of me, and three usually are slower. I didn’t know if a couple of the faster old guys registered late. If I ran hard, I might be in the age group top three.

At the race start, the temperature was 30 degrees with a 29-degree dew point, no noticeable wind, and dark to partly cloudy skies.

It was warm enough to wear shorts over compression shorts, singlet over a long-sleeved shirt, neck gaiter, gloves, knit beanie, and Saucony Endorphin Speed 2 shoes.

During my warm-up and race, my hands were cold. Even after pulling the gloves off my fingers and balling my hands inside, my fingers remained cold. I may be getting a worse case of Renaud Syndrome.

I ran the first mile at a relaxed pace in 8:44, joking with the Ainsley Angels pushers as a couple of them passed. At that point, Jeff Peterson, a person in my age group, was about 100 meters ahead, still in my sights.

The second mile has many long stretches. I was able to keep Jeff in sight and started reeling him in. My second mile was slower in 8:53. During that mile, I passed Matt Boyd, who was limping along with an injury trying to finish his sixth Grand Prix race to qualify for an award.

In the third mile, there is a dirt and grass section. Just before entering that section, I had cut Jeff’s lead to about 40 meters.

As I turned onto the grass, there was a dad and kid in front of me. The kid started heading in the wrong direction. I passed both but then slowed down over the slick bridge and grass afterward.

By the end of the grass, Jeff was only about 20 meters in front of me. I didn’t want to try and pass Jeff until the last 1/4 mile. But I kept gaining on him.

He must have been slowing some. Before catching him, I rested for 10 seconds, about 10 meters back, putting my fingers back in my gloves.

With about 700 meters to the finish, I pushed hard and passed Jeff, getting on my toes for another 20 seconds. I didn’t want him to try and hang onto me. I still had 700 meters and hoped I could hang on.

There is a slight downhill on the diagonal across Glendas Drive just before turning onto the home stretch. After the last turn, the finish arch was well in sight.

I ran the final stretch as hard as I could. With about 50 meters left, one of the Ainsley Angel riders got out of her chair and started to run to the finish. The assistant running with her was paying more attention to her than me. She started sliding in front of me. I gave a  “watch out” warning. Fortunately, there was no collision. As hard as I was running, I don’t think I could have stopped or turned quickly enough.

I thought the 3-mile sign was a little early and pressed my watch at my believed location. My third mile was an 8:59  and final .10686 miles in 49 seconds. Probably the grass section slowed me some. After the race, I looked at the certification map. The three-mile sign was early, and my suspected location was late.

My final time was 27:27, about 5 seconds ahead of Jeff, finishing 54th overall, 38th male, and second in my age group. In recent years, Jeff has had health issues that have slowed him down.

The only way I finish in front of some of these speedys is to slow from injury slower than they are. It looks like I’ve recovered from last week’s illness, running 3 minutes faster than last Saturday’s 5km. On to next week’s 10km.

I ran a 10-minute cooldown, actually running only about 4 of it, and walked the rest.

Post-race, I met up with Charlie and Marcia Hall. He is 80, and she is 78. This race is the first time I’ve seen them post COVID shut down. They finished in just over 1 hour. I encouraged them to try and complete the 2022 Grand Prix. The longest race needed to qualify as a finisher is only 7km.

Keep running! It’s good for your health, and issues of aging might stay away for a while longer.