Sunday 5K

I wasn't planning on coming in Second Place in my age bracket at the 5K this morning.  I thought the run was an opportunity for me to hold myself back from running too many miles, too close together, after surviving my foot injury.  Somehow, I managed to win the second place trophy anyway.

This actually started Friday.  I got an email asking me...
We are meeting tomorrow for a morning run. Do you want to join me? I hear this place is nice.
I have been to the sports store where this would take place and I did want to go and check it out.  There aren't many places where runners hang out and this is one and a primo one at that.  I knew that they consistently have Saturday morning runs (7:00am).  I knew that - but I didn't know the "in's and out's" or the etiquette of it all.  I had wanted to try it out and when I got the email on Friday I thought - why sure!  I met my friend and we headed out with the top down on the two-seater convertible of mine.  That in itself is a great start to any Saturday but when we arrived I realized that this is a runners haven!  I can't tell you how many people were there and they must time it for runners to start at 7:00 and bike riders at 8:00.  I am only guessing since a whole band of cycles swooshed past me at about 8:15.  It was awesome. 
We had headed out running before that not sure what inclines or humidity we would need to combat.  It had been raining notoriously most of the week and when it stops around here the moisture saturates the air and hangs heavy.  It didn't seem to matter.  We took it slow - hit the 5 mile marker and turned back for a full 10 mile run.  I made the mistake of checking my iPod just before 9 miles and it ended my workout when it hit the ground.  No matter to me...I know how far we had run and knew how good it was.  And boy was it good.  No aches, just my usual - beet-faced and dripping wet after a run.  I don't know where that saying, "men sweat, women glow" came from but I guess I'm more man when it comes to that because I sweat! 
But that was about the time I heard my son, Dante, was doing a 5K early Sunday morning.  A 5K, I thought...after a long 10 miler it might be good for me to pace myself and my training by doing a 3.1 miler instead of what I would normally do with my extra time and run another 8-10 miles on two consecutive days.   I'd see how I felt later in the day.
By 2:00 pm Saturday I felt fine - so I text'd Dante..."I hear you are doing a 5K tomorrow.  I wanna go."  There is nothing like a whiny mom but he responded,
"I thought you ran today."  Then he called me and I ended up convincing him and we made arrangements for me to pick him up and go out together which we did (in the convertible with the top down).
So you see, I was just trying to keep my training in line and not push myself so hard.  I wasn't trying to win anything.  But what can I say?...two great running days in a row and second place thrown in just for good measure.
TT