Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Pink heels

From time to time I'll check the local run shops website to see if there are any runs that are special enough for me to enter in my area. The definition of "special" to me just means it's a cause that is very worthy of my support. Right away after reading the details of the Pink heals event i knew i had to signup. I had soured on breast cancer "fund raising " in recent years, because most of the money goes to salaries not people who need the help or research. Some runs even have the nerve to charge high fees to enter them and require you to raise x amount of dollars lest your credit card be charged the difference! So when i read about the organizers of this breast cancer event information detailing what they do and how the money stays local it was a no brainer. I hurried over to the packet pickup location to sign up. I knew i was taking a chance after a two week hiatus during which time i did not course train. I did wear my trusted pedometer and seek out spots at the end of parking lots. The time spent away from doing all those miles helped me though as these old knees needed the rest and my attitude towards participating in races needed to be adjusted. I wanted this race to be my big redemption or at least a new lease on a walking journey. Don't call it a come back (sorry could not resist) but it marked a change in my goals. Now instead of working towards a set number of races I'm looking for how my time is improving and what i must do to obtain my end of season goals, now about that race. Oh how good it felt to get out and compete against myself again. I was excited to go at this 2 miler, after all it wasn't a 5k but the perfect distance for reentry. The crowd was small and yes there were plenty of walkers. Some did the jog/walk others just walked fast. I was encouraged by an old woman who said "you can do it baby" when i complained it seemed like a longer distance than a three miler. It really did, i guess i went in thinking 2.5 was going to be so mucj easier. Ha i have to laugh at my own self for that one. At the one mile mark the clock read around seventeen minutes.Instead of being disappointed i was encouraged. I was ahead of my last official race pace. I was not having negative thoughts or wishing the race was over. I was focused on making the finish line and from that point until the end i pushed to make it happen. I had only one surprise and that was my energy level was flat. I had the endurance but i usaully get pep at mile two this time around nothing. It probably was that publix chicken finger sub i fell off the bandwagon with just before the race. It was to big to finish with four jumbo strips of deep fried whole chicken breast, a large sliced tomato, four slices of cheese and enough lettuce to make a salad. I called myself being good becuase i didnt get any mayonnaise, oh well i won't be doing that again. It was my only meal of the day, i going to make it a point to work on my nutrition. Overall it turned out to be a good experience for me for a couple of reasons.First of all i wasn't last and while i didn't win a medal award my time showed an improvement .Plus not once did i day dream about riding a motorcycle but i did see a cool one.

This one was oseceola county sheriff's bike. They also had cool fire engines signed by survivors and well wishers.

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