A Tail from a Trail

 I ran a 5K today. And I was awesome. My pacing was all over the map but I averaged a 15 minute mile. I did the whole race in 45 minutes. Not quite as good as Meghan. But I'll take it.

It was a beautiful morning in Hagerstown today and it quickly became very crowded with people and dogs.

The small, skinny, light colored dog and I finished fairly close together. She was so freaking cute! I wished I could have brought Dolce along.

I would say my sister Sarah ran with me but after the first 30 seconds of the race, she was gone! She ended up finishing in 30 minutes. Before we left my mom told her, "Go for the gold Sarah!" She looks at me and says, "Finish!"

We're at slightly different skill levels... But even with Sarah running like crazy a guy ended up winning the race in 21 minutes! Now that's skill.

Did I mention you could bring your dog?

We were there an hour early but before we knew it it was time to pin up our numbers and get going!

On your marks,

Get set...

GO!

After I lost sight of Sarah I had only one thing in mind: Just keep going. I was being passed left and right but I knew I just wanted to finish. And I was far from last. Last person came in at 69 minutes. I'd say I did OK by comparison. 

The race course took you past the finish line once which was really quite the tease... As I was coming up the road again on the last leg I was able to watch Sarah cross it for the final time!

My big butt heading up the last leg

Water and other refreshments were provided after the run. It just sucked to have to see some people enjoying theirs when I had another 3/4 of a mile or so left. But I guess that helped me finish strong because when I look at my Nike+ graph, I started great, really slowed down in the middle and got my speed back up at the end.

Here's Sarah after her finish.

And here's me. Tired. Worn out. Still feeling fierce. I'm officially a runner.

Maybe I'll have to run next year and compare my time. Who's with me?