Redemption!

On July 4, 2009, I ran my very first race ever. It was the Liberty 5K in Rexburg. I had no designs on winning, I'm never going to be a competitive runner. My goal was simply to finish. However, I was so disappointed that day because I went out too fast, got nervous, almost puked, walked more than I wanted to and finished near the very back of the pack. (Along the way getting passed by a pregnant lady pushing a toddler in a stroller and an old man who had to be in his 70's.)

364 days later (today) I ran the same race and managed to redeem myself. Sort of. I shaved a full 9 minutes off my time which made me feel fantastic. And it was a personal best for a 5K. I still finished at the back of the pack (but in my defense it was a much smaller field this year than last. If I'd run the same time I did last year I'd have finished dead last.)

But most of all this race was much more fun for me than last year. I didn't have the nerves or the first time race jitters. And best of all my dad ran with me. Well kind of. He's actually faster than I am (don't say it, I know when a 56 year old asthmatic who hasn't run in 20 years can beat you it's pretty bad) but actually I'm too proud of him to be embarrassed by it.

Yep, that old guy in the wrestling sweats is my daddy!
And there's me. The lady on my left is Melanie. Her sons wrestled with Cody, so I've gotten to know her pretty well over the years. This was her first race. She did amazing. We ran together for about 2 1/2 miles and then eventually she faded and I passed her, but she managed to finish just behind me so she really did an excellent job for her first race.

When it was over dad said it was, "Suicide by 5k!" But don't believe him. I really think he had more fun than he wanted to admit.

Jesse and Kelly came out early to support us. Jesse did tell me though that I need to give up running and just be fat because everytime I run a race it's cold. (It was 47 & windy today! Snowing in the mountains! 80 degrees all week long until today. Like that's my faut.) Sorry Jess, you're just going to have to deal with cold. I like running too much.

Gideon was so excited he wanted my race number pinned on his pants (like grandpa wore his) and then he kept racing grandpa up and down the path. Somehow though I think all of those pictures ended up on mom's camera. You'll have to check her blog for that I guess. When it was all over we went and celebrated the way any good runner would, with chocolate milk and doughnuts.

And now it's off to the cabin for the rest of the weekend. At least until Monday morning when daddy & I are doing the 5K fun run in Menan! See you then!