The Atlanta Braves' Father's Day 4 Miler

 

    There is a saying that we have all heard and one that has become very popular as of late and it goes as follows, "Go big or go home". I am in full belief that it was a slogan for my family long before someone put it into words. I am in no way saying that my family is the best one around or that we are without flaws because we are not. We are like every other family, but we are also different. My parents are both extremists and the apple didn't fall far from the tree. To give you a very brief example of what I'm trying to say, my father and I were changing clothes in the restroom of IKEA on Saturday after the race and the Train song came on that contains the lyrics that go, "I'm not in to win it...", and my dad said, "Not in it to win it, what kind of song is that?". Enough said. We may never win anything, but we aren't going to at least try to.  

    And this 2011 Father's Day was no change of direction for 3/6 of the Dark clan. About 1.5 months ago, I was reading the monthly publication from the Atlanta Track Club and saw an advertisement for a race that would coincide with Father's Day and would finish inside the Atlanta Braves' stadium. I texted my dad to see if he was free and before I really knew it, we were doing the race. And before all the plans were said and done, my sister Amy decided she wanted a piece of the action, so she came along. I am glad they were free.

    Amy and my dad arrived in Macon at about 2:00 am and we were all safely in bed by 2:30 because we had to sleep fast. (Very Fast!) We were supposed to wake up at 5:00 am, but I didn't hear my alarm, so we settled for 5:32 am. Not good. I woke everyone up and we got ready as fast as one can with 3 hours of sleep. We left the house a little after 6 and I was nervous about our arrival. The race was to begin at 7:30. Turner Field is about 1.20 hours from our house. We arrived at 7:11 and I ran to the registration table, got our numbers, we changed clothes, put on shoes, and stretched for a small amount of time before the starting gun went off and the crowd of 1226 runners took off.

   

If you look closely, my dad is in this pic. He is right under the A in DAY on the sign. Blue shirt and khaki shorts.

   The race began in the parking lot of Turner Field and was timed using D-Tags, so I was glad to know that I could sort of begin when I was ready to no matter when the gun went off, but my dad didn't get the memo. The crowd took off and so did my dad. I bent down to stretch and when I looked up to say something to my sister, my dad had jumped into the swarm of racers. He was off. He was in it to win it! My sister then took off quickly to catch up with him. I decided that today was not the day to stretch. There was no time! So, I took off too. Had to. This was not a race to Mickey Mouse around with.

A pic taken by a guy with a racing stroller. He beat us all. We are standing in front of Turner Field and trying to look official.

  The race course made a four mile loop through the neighborhoods and Grant Park that surround Turner Field. It was a very challenging course. It was one of the hilliest course that I have ever run. It felt like you would run up a hill and see the end in sight only to hit a corner to see the hill keep going up. My body was done at mile three, but something switched on inside me when I got passed by yet another guy pushing his kid (s) in a stroller. Nothing makes you feel worse than that. I also got a real boost when I saw the top of the stadium in the distance. However, the best part of the course was the end. You finished INSIDE the stadium near home plate and right past the Braves' dugout. It was awesome. I sprinted to the finish line and it felt like I was trotting in from the bullpen and Bobby Cox had called me in. It was awesome. My final time was 29:44. Not exactly a great result, but better than it could have been. I finished 20th out of my age group which had 92 people in it. I'm not sure how I finished overall. The male winner won the race with a time of 20:44 and the female winner finished in 22:46. Wow.



After I finished, I got a quick drink of water and then jogged back to finish with my dad and sister. They were about 1.2 miles from the stadium and were doing awesome. I am not such a great walker and it was hard to keep up with them. They were keeping at around 16 minute miles which was awesome considering the hilly course and the fact that my dad's hip has been hurt for weeks and his sciatic nerve has been hurting him as well. They kept picking off people in front of them as we got nearer and nearer to the stadium. They finished the race in 64 minutes and both did really well.

      After we had all finished, we got some water and some great bagels from the race, we headed off for a VERY full day of Atlanta. We drove to the OK Cafe and had breakfast. It is an Atlanta tradition and the food, service, and experience never let you down. This time was no different. My sister Amy ordered just a bowl of cheese grits and it backfired on her. They brought out the biggest bowl of grits I have ever seen! We then headed over to IKEA and changed our race clothes and cleaned up a little in their restrooms and Amy and my dad wanted to give the Atlanta store a perusing and rumor has it that it better pick up its game because the Tampa store is better!

  When  we had gotten our fill of IKEA, we headed over to the World of Coke. It is one of the coolest museums I have ever gone to. I have been four previous times and would go again if I had the chance. They are constantly updating the information and changing displays and the beverage tasting room is more than worth the price of admission. They have an incredible amount of Coke memorabilia, commercials, art work, etc. It is truly hard to believe some of the history of Coke is true. The inventor of Coke sold the rights for something like $14 because he said it was worthless. The next buyer sold the bottling rights for a whopping $1 because he said no one would buy it. CRAZY. Why can't I run into a deal like that? I think all of us got sick in the beverage tasting room. I always say I'm only going to have a little, but then when you enter that room and everyone is drinking so much you feel you have to join in the fun. I once again drank far too much. This time the coolest thing they had was a touch screen display where you could choose any flavor of any Coke family beverage and add a seemingly countless variety of additional flavors to it. I think I tried them all and the worst was Lime Coke. It was terrible. However, the most fun we had at the World of Coke was sitting near the beverages of Europe and watching folks try Beverly from Italy. My sister said it tasted like a sour rubbing alcohol. It was great fun. Just know that there are some very, very sadistic parents out there who feed the stuff to their young children for a laugh. Kids are resilient right?

     After we had, had our fill of the Coke museum literally, we headed back to Turner Field. Part of the race was to come back and watch the Braves take on the 2010 World Series Runners Up Texas Rangers. The game started at 4 pm and it was a heater. Our seats were in the shade. The game was one of the oddest I have ever been to. The second pitch of the game was a home run off Braves pitcher Derek Lowe and things only went south after that. By the third inning, the Braves were looking at  4-0 game. They picked it up by the fifth and had scored twice, but then the rain came. And when I say it came, I mean it came. From about 5:45-7:30, we waited out one of the worst thunderstorms I have seen in awhile. They covered the field and we tried to run for cover, but it ended up spending two hours huddling in the very top of Turner Field trying to pretend that we weren't getting wet and that lightning wasn't hitting all around us. At around 7:40, my dad asked if it would be okay to just go ahead and try to go home. We were all pretty gross and beyond tired. Amy and I thought it was a great idea and so we headed to the car.  

My dad sitting three rows from the top of Turner Field trying to pretend that we weren't getting soaked!

 My sister Amy and me at the very top of Turner Field waiting the rain out. It won.

   All in all, the day had been a success. We had completed the race. Eaten some great food. Survived IKEA. Drank enough Coke beverages to fill a bathtub. Watched the Braves try to mount a courageous comeback. Hadn't gotten struck by lightning. And celebrated Father's Day with a blowout. It was a great day and I'm so thankful that my dad and sister drove up to Macon to see me. It is not always so easy to be away from family and it is always nice to see them and get to enjoy these types of moments with them.

Happy Running, Happy Father's Day, and Go Braves,

   David