The Dry Creek Striders notched our second men’s podium sweep last weekend at the Lucky Brew 5K in Windsor, CO. I wrote a post about our first sweep as it was something we had hoped to achieve.
That was in 2023 and following it I had questioned whether we would repeat that accomplishment. We have continued training but are not getting younger and it had taken a decent number of races to reach the original milestone.
Collin and DJ will often go 1-2 in a race. However, it only takes one other fast runner to show up and scramble their finish order. It’s logical that over time and as we gather years, that there’s a higher probability that this will occur. And, it takes three to make the sweep. That means at least three of us participating, which isn’t always easy to arrange, and finishing well.
At a half mile into Sunday’s race, it appeared that Collin and DJ had the top two men’s spots locked up, barring something weird happening.
That left me to take number three.
Following my calf injury last year, my 5K times have not nearly rebounded to what they were in late 2023/early 2024 and I was hoping to contend for age group awards. Based on recent times and training, I was skeptical about the probability of that happening.
Even as I saw Collin and DJ in one-two and noted that I was in third with the sounds of runners behind me fading, it still seemed improbable that we would finish this way. Someone would catch me.
And then, they didn’t.
Ahead of the race, one of our other teammates had exhorted us to capture the sweep and I quickly tempered expectations.
Sometimes it’s fun to be off of your prediction.
Will it happen again? I hope so, but we will definitely savor this one.
Photo credit: Rob Knaub