5k and still alive

I ran my first race today and survived. My friend Karen has a friend who was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma, so when she heard about this 5 and 10k race to cure Lymphoma she recruited me and four other girls from our church (and her husband Karl) to run with her.

The cons were: I got up at 6 am on a Saturday, ran 3.2 miles in the cold, got 74th place (out of 101), and got sore muscles. The pros were: I had a good time with my friends, I got free stuff and free food, I contributed to a good cause, I achieved a personal goal, and I got a "bronze" medal for placing third in my gender/age bracket. I'd say the pros outweigh the cons :)

Here I am with the rest of the girls ( lt-rt: Amanda, Sarah, Karen, and Elisa). You can tell they are all actual runners, unlike me. They all did the 10k and I was super impressed with their hard work and endurance.

Me at the "award ceremony"

Slightly embarrassed for getting a medal for running a slow 10:32/mile race.

Karen is convinced the race will motivate/inspire me to keep running and to join more races.

We will see Karen, we will see....