Coming back for more.

I ran my second 5k this morning, the Center for Diagnostic Imaging "Back In Shape" Run/Walk in Bloomington.  As I told my friends Eric and Kim In IA a few weeks ago:  "I think the reason I want to keep doing this is that even after months of running, I still hate the feeling of running.  I am determined to keep going until I don't hate it any more!"  (They laughed.  "So, as soon as you like it, you'll stop, right?")

I felt really good before the race, on a breakfast of poached egg, corn tortilla, black coffee and tomato juice.  But about 5 minutes in I was beginning to wonder if I would make my primary goal of "not stopping to walk."

I did make it!  That's me in the orange, #310, coming in for the finish.  and lagged behind my previous time by a whole 3 seconds.  28:27.   If nothing else, I'm pretty consistent!  So I didn't set a new PR, although it is a PR of sorts (more on that another time).

The race was a really fast one -- the winners were in the 14-15 minute range.  It was a well-run race, with a sweet buffet at the end -- yogurt, fruit, trail mix, "race rolls" from Great Harvest Bread Company (I swear it's worth it just to get the race rolls, even if they don't have raisins), sports drinks, bagels, muffins, and COFFEE.  They were also giving free massages in the lobby of the chiropractic/alt-med college that hosted the run.

Big purse, too -- the male and female winners each took $1,500.

After the race we stuck around eating muffins and watching the awards ceremony.  They had a full field in the 80-to-84-year-old men's race, and the winner wasn't that far behind me.  Good for them!

There was a kids' fun run too:

 There's Milo in the bottom left corner, and Oscar is three kids down.

There's Oscar coming in at the end of the half-mile.  Milo has the balloon string in the foreground; he did half the half-mile race and decided he was satisfied and didn't need to go around again.

Aaaah!  Mascots!

I call this one the "NOBODY TOLD ME THERE WOULD BE SHARKS." shot.

We had a great day!  Maybe I don't hate this so much after all.

Comments

[Hannah]

That very same shark costume kept us from peacefully going to the MOA for at least a year once.

Ok, I won't ask if it was fun this time ;)-- but yay! you didn't stop!

[Jen]

Just wanted to say that I've been reading your posts through my RSS reader for a few weeks now & ran my first 5k on Saturday, too! It went pretty well, though I was slower than you and finished 36:09. My main goal was to run the whole thing and I was able to do that, so I was pleased. Anyway, enjoyed reading your post about your race - I still need to write mine.

[Kim (in IA)]

Yea! You look strong! Sounds like a fun family event.

[Cathie B]

Congratulations in finishing yet another! You ARE an athlete!