MY FIRST RACE!!!

This past Saturday, I ran my first race!  Crossed off one item off the "bucket list!"  It was a 5k, which I never before I thought I could run 3.1 miles...have been workin' up to it for sure.  This race was the 13th annual Komen Race for a Cure (Breast Cancer) run.  Over 60,000 ppl pack downtown STL for this event (this year we topped 64,000 ppl and raised $3 million!!  WOW!) - supporters are given white shirts (you'll see Mary on the right is wearing one of them) and the survivors wear pink shirts.  I wore a pink shirt to join all the other pink everywhere, and my "Supergirl" shirt to pump me up!!

I joined my friends (first pics below), CJ, Mary, and their daughter "N" and had a great time, and was so glad to go with some seasoned participants.  This was CJ's 10TH year doing this race!  Wow!  I did the timed run, just to see what the time was, but my main goal was to run it without stopping - which I accomplished!!!  Yippee!  I was curious what my time was, just in case I decide to ever run another race and to work to beat it, and the bummer of the day was that somehow my time chip didn't register somewhere along the race!  Ugh!  Aren't you sad for me?  I do have a ballpark time of what I think I got, and subtracting about 1 min or so before I actually crossed the start line, I'm guessing I was about 31 min, which is a 10-minute mile pace and puts me right at #300 out of 910 women 'competing' in the time race.  Again...just wanted to run the whole thing without a break, which I did, so the time is secondary. 

Also, participants are handed papers to write down anyone that we are running in "celebration of" (those who have survived breast cancer) or in "memory of."  While there are loved ones of mine who have survived breast cancer, I did wear the side of the sign that said "in honor of" and ran the race with my grandmother in mind....  I didn't realize until AFTER the race that it was on the same day as her birthday; how special - my first race, a personal tie to its cause, and for a relative who was very special to me....

Pre-race smiles!

"Game face"

"Game face"

More pre-game pics - CJ popped out to take a picture of us girls and his friend, Jason.  Jason, CJ and I ran (CJ pushed N the WHOLE race - Jason and I were impressed!) together - they snuck in the timed runners pack shortly after the start line.  It was SO great to have them along for the run - I definitely think I would have stopped without the comraderie!

From L to R: Jason, CJ, Mary, "N," Me, and Josh...fun group!  It was nice to meet Jason and Josh, who were just as nice as CJ and Mary always are.  :)

My runner number, worn on the front, and my sign for Grandma, worn on the back - with the classy look of duct tape!

Always miss you, Grandma....