Race Against Cancer 5k

My, how things change.  Like Bolder Boulder, I've done this race at least a dozen times, if not more. The race name has changed a few times, with Race for the Cure being the longest-held name, but Greeley has had a 5k on the 4th of July since I've lived here and I'm pretty sure I've done it every year.

Here's a few memorable moments I'd like to share....

I don't know what  year it was but Annie Bersagel was in high school. She was doing this race for the first time (and I think it was her first race EVER). I was running pretty hard - back then I would finish in around 21 minutes - and she came up behind me. I heard her breathing hard and her feet slapping the pavement.

At the time, we were members of Our Saviors Lutheran Church, where her dad is a pastor, so I knew her, but at the time, no one knew how fast she would eventually become. I wasn't worried about her passing me because she was so young but I recall how hard she was struggling. I was working hard too but not as hard as she was. I could tell she was intent on passing me.

After a few minutes, she finally did. But knowing how fast she is today, it's nice to know for one brief moment, I was her carrot!

Another memory...

The year was 2004 and Geoff Muntz, our dear friend who died of cancer a few years ago (ironically), was the race announcer (like Kurt is now).  He and Jenny always had a little chemistry going and he was "admiring" our shorts (which he later said was our legs). He took this photo and called it "the legs":

I also remember pushing Katerina in her stroller that day and Juan Leal snapped a good photo of us:

I can't believe how small she is here!  And she has her bottle....oh my gosh.

I remember many years trying so hard to get below 21 minutes. I thought 21-something was too slow and now, of course, I would KILL for a 21-something 5k!

My 5k PR is 20-something and I think I did it in this race. It was either this one or the Turkey Trot, can't remember. But I was always chasing Jenny. We would always come in within a minute of each other but she was always ahead of me.

Then one year, Dan England, my friend from track, ran it for the first time. He ran up behind me but he was hurting. He almost caught me at the finish line and I remember being excited for him that he ran his first 5k (he was new to track and I had been doing it for years). Wow, how things have changed!

Every year we would run this race and go all out. I placed in my age group a few times and it was probably the next most important race to do well in (after Bolder Boulder), because the race times were often in the paper and everyone wanted to show off how fast they could run!

This year I walked/ran it with my kids. I've been doing that for the last 3 years and like Bolder Boulder, it's very bittersweet. I see my friends who are still doing track - like Jenny, Brenda, Doug, Rick, Pam, Dan - doing really well in this race and truth be told, I do feel a few pangs of jealousy.  But the smile on my kids' face reminds me of what's most important.

Who knows, maybe one day they'll be running 21-something 5k's...

Here's a few photos from the last few years, including this year: