Dawson's Run Race Recap

Sometimes the best races are the ones with the most familiar faces. That's what Dawson's Run in Joplin, MT has become for me, Jeff, and our family. This community fun run was began four years ago to honor the memory of a local child named Dawson who had tragically passed away. Proceeds from the race each year go to a memorial scholarship in his honor and to the Joplin Memorial Park. This is the third year I have run in this race and it has been really cool to see how it has grown in the past few years. The best thing about this race is how many community members, friends, and families come together. The atmosphere is always festive, even when the weather hasn't been.

If you're a racing elitist with no sense of community, this may not be the run for you. They don't use race numbers, sign up is sort of done via Facebook just to reserve a t-shirt (then you pay and register on race day), and this year there was no timer for the event. So, if you need to have a race bib, advanced online registration and chip timing or fancy things like that, this is probably not your run. I think the absence of those things just brings it all back to making the community, the people, and Dawson, who is the REASON for the race, the stars of the show. I love this race and I hope they keep it true to its Joplin roots for as long as they want!  While it is really fun to do big races like Governor's Cup or the like, there's always going to be a place in my racing itinerary and my heart for small town gems like Dawson's Run.

This year, the Bangs contingency had a large presence: Jeff and I were there along with Tom, Carol, Josh, Katie and Brandon. Standing around before the race is always fun because it feels like a community reunion of sorts. People from up and down the Hi-Line and all around gather for Dawson's Run. It's always fun to say hello and catch up with people you haven't seen in a while. This year felt like the biggest turnout for the event that I have seen in the three years I've done it. There were a lot of people there, and everyone seemed happy and excited!  Katie and I were remarking before the race about how many people where there and just how cool of an event it is.

Josh, Katie, and Brandon were in town this year for the race and accompanying weekend festivities. 

The race itself includes your choice between running or walking either a 1 mile or 5K course. They do a great job measuring out the distance for the 5K--it is excactly 3.1 miles! Sometimes when you do a small-town run, they're close but not quite. Not so for Dawson's Run! Getting the distance correct meant they have to take the course around some silly around-the-block loops here and there, which can get confusing for some if they don't follow the arrows. I spotted a few people going the wrong direction- I met one of our family friends coming towards me and he said he had gotten confused about which way to go!  A few people later told me, too, that they were surprised at their quick times and that the race felt shorter than normal to them. In discussing the course, it turned out they missed the loop-de-loop altogether and ended up doing 2.7 instead of 3.1! No worries, though, as this event is just about getting outside and moving in memory of someone special. The course is overall very flat and fast, with mixed surface of in-town pavement and gravel and some dirt road through farm fields.

Again this year I tried to run the race with Harvey. (This meant that my hands were tied up with his leash, so I left my camera in the car... thus, not many photos in this post!) Harvey used to love running races with me but something switched for him in about the past year. He's not in love with the idea anymore. When the race began, I had to do a little bit of bribery with some string cheese to get him started. Once we got going, he did pretty good overall. After about a mile into the race when the crowd had started to thin out, Harvey showed his competitive nature. Overall, he and I kept a pretty even pace, but once we'd start getting close to someone ahead of us, Harvey would speed up and pull ahead on the leash to pass, and I'd stay with him. About as soon as we'd pass someone, he'd level pace back off again. Darn dog just has to be first! (**Harvey was the First Place Dog again this year, by virtue of being the only dog in the competition. He's not too proud to claim the victory, however! To read more about what Harvey loves, check out this post he wrote about what he's thankful for: http://www.prairieponderingsmt.blogspot.com/2015/06/thankful-thursday-vizsla-perspective.html)

For some reason, even with the flat and fast course I'd run before and was used to, the run felt really difficult to me. I really felt like I was laboring throughout the entire 5K. Maybe it's because Harvey and I had a slow start and felt like we had to surge in the first mile to get ahead, or maybe it was the heat and sun, or maybe because my legs were still tired from the previous weeks' Governor's Cup race. Who knows. I'm still pretty happy with my time of 27:06 (timed with my trusty Timex Ironman watch). I'm only about thirty seconds away from my 5K PR and feeling really good about being able to beat my time sometime this summer or fall. Jeff said he felt like he was struggling a bit during the race, too, but he still finished right around his recent PR, with a time of 30:13. Not too shabby!

After the race we stuck around Joplin for quite a while. The race is held on the same day as Joplin's annual Art in the Park and Car Show event, so there were tons of people in town for that. We spent the rest of the morning checking out artist booths, catching up with friends, and snagging a delicious home-cooked barbecue lunch.

The weather was PERFECT on race day, too. If anything, slightly warm to run in, but overall very nice. It was about 70 or a little warmer outside, with clear, sunny skies, and NO WIND! Much better than last year when it was about 45, windy and rainy. The warm weather really brought the crowds out to run and walk and to the rest of the festivities in Joplin.

One other thing that's always great about Dawson's Run is the race tshirts. They are always a plain cotton or cotton blend t-shirt, my fave!, and always feature a really fun graphic. Here's a photo of this year's tshirt design:

Everyone has a smile on their face and a big heart on the day of Dawson's Run. The positive energy is always astounding. To me, participating in Dawson's Run, even just being there at all, feels like a celebration. It might seem odd to be celebratory at an event to honor a kid who is no longer with us, but I think it's good, and maybe even healing, for people to come together to celebrate a life and celebrate community, family, and friendship. That's what this race is all about. It's not about worrying what your time was, or how cool the tshirt is (although they're always pretty cool!), it's about people coming together to celebrate life. Special thanks to everyone who helps put on the race. It's definitely a tradition in my family! Already can't wait for next year!