first race in two years!!

me with my medal!

I ran a 5k last weekend and it was AWESOME for several reasons.

#1 we got to see our friends Benjamin and Emily again before they move away. (see picture above)

#2 the race was a fundraiser for an adorable little girl (who happens to be Emily's cousin) who needs her third heart surgery (learn more at www.helptaylor.com) and the atmosphere was great. Such a spirit of love and uniting to help someone. I almost felt foolish doing well in the race, because that's not what it was all about. Which brings me to the last reason the race was awesome:

#3 I ran one of my fastest races since high school!!

Here's the play-by-play for all you running people out there who might be interested and know what I'm talking about. :) So I start the race and within like 100 meters there were only 10 to 15 people in front of me, and I wasn't going fast. (There were only 100 or so people in the race, may of them walkers) We're running along this beautiful trail and I was trying to just take it easy, because usually my racing instincts kick in and I want to focus and try to go fast and pass people. But I hadn't raced in so long and I don't really think of myself as being in shape, for a runner, and so I didn't want to push too hard in the beginning. But I noticed that I was catching up to a girl, then passing her, and then I looked up to the next group up ahead, 4 girls. I couldn't help myself! I started to slowly "reel them in" as I have taught many a high school runner. I also remember thinking after I'd gone about a mile "it seems like we've been on a slight downhill, darn, that means it will be uphill on the way back!" During that middle mile I passed that pack of girls, which had spread out, one by one. Just when I passed the last one there was a big hill, and near the top, little Taylor who the race was for was standing there! So sweet! That just made me run faster! So then all of a sudden we're going back on the same trail we came up on, and I realize that I'm going downhill fast, and that the whole first mile had been uphill!! I guess I was so used to pushing a double storller full of 50+ pounds of little girls uphill that I didn't even notice the hill by myself! WOO-hoo!! So now I was cruising all the way down, passing walkers just coming up still, and I felt great. Like I could have kept going forever. Or at least for several miles :) But then too soon it was over and we were turning back into the park to finish and I got to run past Eric and Katelyn cheering "go mom!" and Whitney walking to me with arms outstretched, so cute. Too bad they distracted me and I got beat at the finish line by some guy. At least it was a guy. I understand they don't want to get outkicked by a girl. :) Anyway my time was 20:30 which is insanely fast! The race organizer insisted that it really is a 5k, but I heard some other people saying it was 2.79 miles, which makes me think they must have had a GPS watch. I should have brought mine so I could know for sure! If it was 2.79 then that's about a 22:40 5k, which is still REALLY good for me and I would be totally happy with that! Either way I was the second woman across the finish line, so I got a MEDAL and everything, it was so fun.

The moral of the story: If you want to run a race really fast, just push your kids in a stroller for 3 miles a day and you'll feel great when you get to run the race on your own!