#104 "run like mike" Rutka 5K

Lining up at the start

Carmen and Asia after the race.

The winner of Jason's Walk for Cerebral Palsy!

James, Carmen, Jumanne, Jerry and Asia. Carmen, Jumanne, and Asia were all 1st place in their age groups.

Age group awards. The caricatures represent different facets of Michael Rutka's life, and each one has adorned a race t-shirt.

Today was the 10th running of the Rutka 5k, and Asia has run 9 of them, only missing 2003. The "run like mike" Rutka 5k remembers and honors Michael J. Rutka, husband, father, and local runner, who was killed by a passing car on August 6, 1999, while training for the Twin Cities Marathon as a qualifier for Boston. The "run like mike" Rutka 5k continues Michael's practive of giving generously to charity, and raises funds for Cerebral Palsy of Metro Detroit. In addition to the 5k run, there is a 2 mile walk, a 100 yard Kid's dash and a 50 yard Jason's Walk for Cerebral Palsy.

Asia woke up saying she was "thinking positive about getting a PR today." I didn't want to discourage her, but her last PR was a big one....1 min 9 sec., on pavement, early in the day. Today's race started at 9am, it was hot and 94% humidity at the start. Plus it rained yesterday, so the bridges and wood chipped trails would be slippery. AND she ran 10 fast miles on her long run with Katie on Saturday. But who am I to discourage positive thinking???

Feet taped? Check. Race day breakfast? Check. Operation Jack literature for the flyer table: Check. Race watch on and zeroed out? Check. All mom's gear in the race bag? Check. Time to go!

Asia's Coach Gina is the race director, and a number of her team were course marshalls and water station volunteers. Lots of familiar, friendly faces.

Bib pinned, shoes tied by dad, all pre-race rituals completed. Time to head to the start.

We had already met up with Carmen and her husband James and son Jumanne....the family that runs together....and at the start line Asia got in front of them all. But that was ok, because she knows the course, and I knew Jumanne would pass her like he was shot out of a cannon.

Race director's announcements, National Anthem, horn sounds and they are O F F and running across the first wooden bridge.

The course is two loops around Gallup Park and is very spectator friendly. Jerry was already out at the 1 mile and I went back to the mile-and-a-half spot. When Asia passed Jerry the first time she was 5th female. When she got to me she was 4th, and at 1.5 miles her time was 9:22!!!! Next lap around, when she passed Jerry she was 6th female but passed one when Jerry cheered her on. I was waiting near the finish, where I could see her coming from a distance but still see the finish line clock. Jumanne blew past 2 walkers on the right and looked like he was floating. (Some people just make it look so easy!). Asia came around the corner with a nice sprint to the finish, encouraged by her teammates who were working the finish line detail. Her time was 22:28, her second best 5k time ever. She finished 1st in her age group, 6th female, and 20th overall! Not a bad way to start her Sunday.

While we waited for the results to be posted, I had the opportunity to talk about Operation Jack (http://www.operationjack.com/) with some folks who had picked up the flyers. Hopefully some more support will come Sam's way from the Ann Arbor running community.

We watched the Kids dash and then the always inspiring Jason's Walk. There were 3 participants this year, 3 children with Cerebral Palsy in their walkers, making their way around the course to the cheers and applause of all the runners and staff. It is always so emotional, after watching the 5k race and people like Asia and Carmen, Jumanne and James, who make running look so easy, and then to watch these children who struggle just to get the walker to move. Hopefully someday there will be more effective treatments to help them.

It always makes me realize that, for all her challenges, Asia is pretty darned lucky. And so are we.