Hearts On Fire 5k Run

Today has been a great day!  As mentioned in my blog post, Making the Most of a Quarter Century, I signed up for a 3 part running series sponsored by the athletic department at one of the local colleges, University of Southern Indiana.  Today was part 1, the 5k run, & I killed it!

The run didn't start until 9am and I was praying it was going to get warmer, but it stayed in the mid 30's for the race.  Brrr!

I started the day with some cheese eggs, a slice of turkey bacon, & a Tone It Up BC Buzz Drink.

Neal & I got to the USI campus around 8:15 for registration and I warmed up with some stretching and lunges about 15 minutes before the race.  Mostly I just needed to be outside to get used to the temperatures.  After the National Anthem was sung, we were off.

 

To pace myself during races I pick a girl in front of me and stay focused on her and decide if she's someone I can pace with, or pass.  I kept picking women and passing them little by little.  I honestly couldn't believe my endurance!

Finally at about 2.5 miles I saw one woman off in the distance with about 3 men in between us.  I knew it was too late for me to try to catch up to her, but that I could focus on beating a guy now.  Yes, I am competitive.

I came close enough to the men and paced with them as we busted tail to the finish line. 

Neal snapped this photo as I preparing to cross.

He came over to me and said, "You were the second woman across the finish line!"  I honestly couldn't believe it!  The SECOND woman overall!?!  Really?  I knew there were a decent amount of people in front of me, so I figured more than one of them was a woman.  He snapped this picture of me in my post race excitement!

I drank a lot of water and snacked on a banana until the races were finished.  Neal and I went back into the campus Recreation Center and saw the results were posted.

There it was, I was NUMBER ONE in my age group!  SO THRILLED!  And to top it off, I beat 22 minutes!  My official time was 21:45!  That's my personal best! WHAT! YES! OH MY GOSH!  Needless to say I did a little dance and made a little noise!

I calmed myself down, found out the woman in front of me beat me by almost a minute!  Great job!!!  She's 8 years older than me too, what an INSPIRATION!

I remained cool and collective while I received my medal and went to the back so Neal could take a picture of me and all my happy glory!

We went home so we could take care of the dogs, as you may know, never leave Walden alone for long unless you want your couch eaten...

I then heated up leftover spaghetti squash & served that with a side of avocado.  Perfect!

 

I began crafting new jewelry for the non-profit, Strings for Hope, as I watch the woman powered movies, "Charlies Angels" on TBS.  What a great start to the weekend!

I hope you have a lovely weekend as well! I'm off to clean up and hang out with our friends!