This morning I ran in the Free to Breathe 5K in Raleigh, NC, which started and ended at Ravenscroft School. This was a "1st annual" event, with proceeds going to lung cancer research. The cause has meaning for me, as my father was diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago, and is doing great!
I was glad to have pre-registered, as the race day registration line was long. (The unofficial count was over 700 runners, a pretty good sized race.) When I walked up to the table to get my race number, the kid with the stack of numbers found my number, and asked the fellow behind him (who as handing out the t-shirts) what "J" meant. The t-shirt guy replied, "Jumbo," and handed the number kid my XXL t-shirt. This little exchange caught me off guard, having "jumbo" announced as I get my pre-race goodies! Decided to shake it off, and show them how "Jumbo" runs a 5K! It did make me think again about how my body image is still a little out of whack, eventhough I'm in a smaller shirt size. I was glad for the bigger shirt, though, because I was cold enough in my single t-shirt that I put the new tee on top of the old, and felt much more comfortable!
The race itself started just a little late, to let the late registrants join the race. We ran from Ravenscroft School into a residential area, then back to the school. There was one water stop during the race, at the halfway point, but I didn't stop. There were some pretty good hills, but nothing too bad. Still, both feet bothered me some during the race, one due to plantar fasciitis, the other due to falling arches. I adjusted my gait a little and was able to finish in good shape with a personal record in this rebirth of my running "career!" Between my feet and the wind (it was gusty at times), I was happy for that! My unofficial time is 40:54, will be looking for the official results on runnc.com in a few days.
The post-race refreshments looked great! I had some orange slices, but passed on the pastries and cheese pizza slices.
I was sad to hear that a runner died this morning at the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in New York City. It's another thing that has me rethinking my goal of running a marathon. I may cut that back to a half-marathon. Of course, thousands of people run marathons every year and finish. We'll see.
Anyway, I'm excited about running the Apex Turkey Trot with Laura in a couple of weeks! Perhaps I can run another personal record!
1 comment:
Congrats on finishing the 5k! I'm proud of you for following through with the running--I remember we briefly talked about starting that up, and it never came together. Keep up the good work!
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