Family Day at Notre Dame

Our second annual trek to Goshen for the Sunburst Marathon in nearby South Bend. All races from 5K - Marathon finish on the 50 yardline in the stadium. Brian and I ran the half last year and Devon joined us this year to make it a family affair. Sue and Craig were on the sidelines today but cheering us on. Devon and I ran the 10K and Brian stayed with the half. 
note: I went to Ohio State, Devon IU, and Brian is a Spartan, shhhh.....


Perfect running weather, 58F at start. And the flat run along the river made for a fun morning run. The race is also a BQ so I expect people travel to do this one for good times. (no pun intended)


The only 10K's I have "raced" are the Thanksgiving race in Cincinnati which has 18,000 runners,. In 2010 (my first road race) was 56 min and last year was 53 min. I decided 50 min was a realistic target which is a 8:03 pace.


I lined up with the 7 min group, only 50 feet from the start line. At 1/4 mile, the Garmin showed I was running sub 6, jeez. It's amazing what adrenalin does, but the legs would not tolerate that for 6 miles. I steadily slowed until my pace was mid 7's but eventually that faded as well. 

girl is behind me?

Eventually I saw my average getting close to 8, so I pushed with what I had left. I found myself  "racing" a young girl entering the tunnel, a downhill into the stadium. I stumbled at the bottom and almost fell. It would have been embarrassing to fall flat on my face as I entered the stadium to hundreds of people cheering. Maybe a web redemption on Tosh.O?
I finished at 50:45 or a 8:10 pace.




A great day with the family was priceless.

Devon Brian and me (sue or craig took picture)