My day

I was very reluctant to sign up for this 10K. I did it more because people around me keep telling me that it was something I needed to do. The fact that I have been running more consistently and adding more mileage to my runs gave them the idea that it would be a good next step. It's easier lately for me to just do things than to argue so I started searching for 10K's and was coming up with not too much but I kept at it. I found one. It was this morning which was the same day as the all-time big 5K run downtown - The Komen Race for the Cure. I've done that race more than a few times. It's a good race with a great cause. But I wasn't looking for a 5K. I found a smaller organized run (much less than the 30,000 plus people at the Komen) that was a 5K and 10K to benefit SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). It would take place through the park, was for a great cause, so I made my choice and signed up for it, very reluctantly, a week ago.
With missing every run this week I was still flip-flopping on whether I should go but I picked up my race packet after work yesterday and actually bought a new pair of running shoes at the sports store. I figured I needed new anyway and they were 15% off. I couldn't argue with that. Sure, give me my race packet and ring up my new shoes. I'm pretending I'm going to run a 10K. At least that is what kept going through my mind. It was all kind of not real and even this morning it was still a little blurry to me. But I wasn't going to argue and I went out and ran 6.2 miles in an official race and not around the block in my neighborhood. It's been a while since I've done official.
So, I ran the distance. I completed the race. That alone felt good. I did what people said I should do. My time wasn't any good but I know I'm not fast and I'm just trying to make the distance. But then it seems it was just my day. I guess there weren't many 50-59 year olds running the 10K this morning. I guess all the other fast 56 year old women decided to sleep in today. I guess many of the other fast 56 year olds decided to do the 5K instead of the 10K. It must have been all those things. I can't explain any other reason I would have come home with the First Place Medal for the 10K in the 50-59 year old category. But I did. First time for first place! I guess maybe I don't need to get faster, I just need to get older and do the longer distance. Maybe.
I guess it was my day.
TT