For Dave Sanchez, Dental City’s New Business Manager, and his father David Sanchez Sr. and brother Adam Sanchez, running is truly a family affair. And this love of running was on full display as the three of them completed The Fall 50 on October 25th—a 50-mile road race through beautiful Door County Wisconsin.
Yes, you read that right. All three ran the full 50-mile course.
It wasn’t initially in Dave’s plan for the year. But after Adam decided to run it again—partially as a mission to redeem himself after leading the pack for 40 miles in 2024 before ultimately taking second place—Dave thought it was his time to tackle the race, too.
“I had previously run the Fall 50 as part of a relay team, but this was my first solo run of the course,” Dave shared. “I was inspired by my family to do it—my mom, dad and brother had all run it solo before, and this year I felt I finally had the time to properly train for it.”
Seeing his younger brother complete multiple ultramarathons, or 100-mile races, including crewing for him in one earlier this year, further inspired Dave to attempt this 50-mile run.
“I ran my first 50k in 2024 so I knew I could run a good distance,” Dave explained. “And crewing for Adam motivated me to go further.”
David Sr., signed up last minute after recovering from a foot injury earlier in the year. At 63 he couldn’t pass up the opportunity to run the race with his sons. He still regularly runs 20-25 miles per week and increases that when training for a race.
“My dad is sentimental, and he really wanted to be out there with me and Adam,” Dave said.
And what a race it was! They all had fantastic outcomes.
- Adam took first place overall (for the second time—he first accomplished this amazing feat in 2019) with a time of 6:02—a blistering 7:14 per mile pace.
- Dave placed 13th overall and fourth in his age group, with a time of 7:22.
- David Sr. finished the race in 9:55—achieving his goal of running the race in under 10 hours.
- 189 people attempted to solo run the Fall 50, and 153 of them completed the race.
“It really is such a fun race—I enjoyed it even though it was painful at times,” Dave shared. “My training paid off, and I was able to run the entire 50 miles. The race was truly a celebration of the training I put into it.”
At the end of the day, while fast times and high placements are a thrilling part of running, for Dave it all comes back to family and spending time together doing something they love.
“My mom was the first one to start running, and my dad quickly joined her. They’ve run marathons together in 15 states,” Dave said. “Then my brother, sister and I all took it up as well. It’s continued to bring us together as we’ve all moved out and lived our own lives, which we don’t take for granted.”
And now for the million-dollar question—would Dave do it again?
“I think I would,” he said.
Now that’s a true runner if we’ve ever heard one.
