Father's Day 2007

It has become tradition in the Swanson household for me to race a 5km on Father's Day morning. I believe this is the 6th year in a row. For the last 3 years that we have been living in Oregon I have been doing the Tigard Balloon Festival 5km. It is a small little race in Cook Park. This year was a new course that was slightly slower but had no roads and even some dirt trail :-)
I ran my 3rd fastest 5km: 18:21 and place 1st in my age group and 3rd overall. There was 2 really fast masters that finished about 2 minutes ahead of me....inspiring! I ran a smart race by not going out too fast...even though I missed seeing the first mile marker. I ran most of the race in 4th place but then I started pacing myself like I plan to pace Ronda next weekend at Western States. I reeled the guy in front of me to pass with confidence with about 3/4 of mile to go. After the race, we chatted and Mike the Red Lizard agreed the course was slower than last year. Phew...maybe I am not getting older and slower :-)
It took quite a long time for the race results so the kids, Trisha and I explored the small garden. Cole and Leah found the LadyBug larvae.

After the race we went to church and Pastor Steve preached on being a godly father...a very important task that takes lots of training and practice...just like running :-)

We then hit a sushi spot with the Mavros for good food and conversation!
Rounded out the day with cleaning out the garage for the new tent trailer (yah!!!...more on that later), more heavy duty gardening and a nice casual 3-4 mile run as the sun was setting...beautiful!

Finally....THANKS Dad for helping to make me who I am today.