Ugh...tired....really sleepy when the alarm went off this AM. I abused the snooze and got up pretty much at the last possible minute to make it to the race on time. But I did.
Good fun race. And a bigger crowd than I expected given it was drizzling this morning. Went and picked up my bib number and dropped off the stuff in the car. Went and lined up and thought to myself "self, hmmm no timing chips. OK, just watch the clock and figure out your net time. No biggie"
Then we start, and as we approach the starting line, and I hear a familiar high pitched beeping noise. TIMING MATS - what?!?!? I didn't think to ask about the chips (part of my running late issue) and so - rookie mistake. Good news is - my time can be anything I say it is.
So - I came in dead last - yep, they were rolling up the finish line as I crossed...no - not really..but I might as well have.
As we're lined up I could hear folks strategizing, "OK, so we'll aim for 8 minute miles the first mile, the a little faster....", "If you want to take off, go ahead, I'll be right behind you", "should we take water on the course? do we need it?" A lot of folks were running their first 5K. Pretty impressive and the banter was a lot of fun to listen to.
Good course - covered some of the Great Harvest Bread Company course from last year and the Elizabeth 8K from last weekend. Long gradual hill for the first mile or so - which bodes well for the last mile (downhill baby). Didn't really have the bounce in my step that I was looking for, but had fun nonetheless and ran a negative split (second half was faster than the first).
Today's race is dedicated to Elizabeth Crowther the grandmother of a friend Keith Fleming, whose aunt was the person I dedicated last weeks race to. Elizabeth is 82. Here's a little bit about her battle
"My non-Hodgkins lymphoma was diagnosed in December 2004, chemo and radiation followed and I have been in remission since then. Thank God! I had a lymphoid tumor on my spine which was completely different from Sheila (Keith's aunt) who had a large tumor in her abdomen. Our courses of treatment used the same drugs, timing, etc. so the treatment hasn't changed much in the past five years."
While the treatments haven't changed much, the life expectancy of a blood cancer patient has improved. 40 years ago, a blood cancer of any sort was almost assuredly a death sentence. Through your generous support, this much needed work and improvements in quality of life and length of life have been made possible. But there is so much work to be done.
I saw Matt Woodliff, our internal audit partner - having a strong race. Also ran into Jenny from TrySports - she broke 21 minutes...holy cow. I also met Jordan, the Karhu/Craft rep for the area. He ran some crazy time of 15 + minutes. Great job everyone!!!
Next up, Sally's Y 5K and 50K (bike ride) tomorrow, if the weather holds up. It's a little iffy, so let's hope for great weather.
GO TEAM!!!
22:25
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