Happy New Year!

To celebrate the first day of 2009, we ran a 5km race this morning! The local Road Runner's Club put on the free race not far from our house, so we couldn't resist. On our way to the New Year's Eve party last night we drove over to look at the course, and it wasn't bad. The only downside to the race was the temps - it was 25 degrees at race time, which is what it was when I did the Jingle Bell run last month. I figure when I decide to do a 5k, the weather decides to make me suffer for it! We bundled up good this morning in preparation. Thankfully, registration was inside a local gym and all 300 runners were able to hang out there until just before race time. After we registered, we decided to head back to the car so we could leave our winter coats in the car because we don't run in them. It was cold for sure after that!

Even though we saw the race course last night, I still didn't exactly understand it because last night it looked too short to be 5k. I didn't understand that we were to run down Gaither, make a right and run over I-370 on the bridge, run down the hill to the court and loop around up the hill, continue back over the highway, make a right on Gaither again, run to the end of the road and loop back, and then make a left back on the road going over 370 - twice. Yep, we did the whole loop twice. The uphill part wasn't too bad the first time, but we both felt it on the second loop. I grabbed an ice cold cup of water on the second lap and held on to it partly up the hill, which helped. The guy in front of me was running so slow, I thought I was going to run into him! It was fun seeing the fast runners. I was heading into the first loop around 3 minutes after we started when I saw two guys racing for first. I couldn't believe how fast they were! I realized that they would probably finish well before I even started my second mile. I did wish I could run faster so I could finish faster and get out of the cold!

Mike didn't keep pace with me, but since the race looped around so many times we cheered each time we passed each other. We both did well today. Mike ran his personal best and blew his old time out of the water. I ran about a minute slower than the last race, but still not bad. After Mike finished, he came back to run to the finish line with me. When I saw him I smiled and did a little gig as I ran (seriously, I did!) because it meant a lot that he came back to push me across the finish line. He urged me to pick up my pace at the end and finish strong. I gave it my all, but boy was it tough!

So, what'd you do today? :-)