Prospect Park Track Club Cherry Tree 10 Miler Race Report

Today my running club, the Prospect Park Track Club, held their annual Cherry Tree 10 mile race and relay. Billed as a "race for the hardcore", it has been one of my favourite (and, truth be told, only) winter races for quite a few years now. I have a large collection of Cherry Tree race t-shirts. These are among my favourite of all race t-shirts in that I actually still wear them while running, rather than storing them in the back of the closet and forgetting about them.

The race consists of three loops of Prospect Park, one of my regular running haunts. This was to be the second year in a row that I did not run the race. I was on "running spouse" duty. Ever since our daughter Bijs made an appearance into our lives, my wife Lauren has demanded that this race is hers. Instead of running, I took on the more arduous task of pushing the stroller, singing Frere Jacques for hours and hours, and reminding our daughter that Mummy hasn't disappeared forever. Running spouse duty was quite hard. However, I did get to see all the runners as they whizzed by multiple times. It was inspiring and salutory. "I need to work harder on my running", I said to myself, as Bijs and I retired to Connecticut Muffin for hot chococate and bagels while Lauren completed her third lap of the park.

We cheered Lauren as she finished the race. She looked exhausted but very happy. Bijs and I were very proud of her. We went back to Connecticut Muffin for more bagels. I was pretty exhausted by this point, so we went home and tried to return to bed.