Running Through Puddles

Yesterday Brenna and I ran another 5K together.  It was a perfect collision of running one step at a time, cool, damp weather, and happy luck!  We set out just to do a gentle, easy run together and not worry at all about where we came in, and I purposed not to chase anybody.  This same run last year was smack in the middle of our crazy heat, and I believe it was 97 degrees at the start!  This year?  A glorious 67 degrees!  Perfect.  It had rained a throughout the day, so the ground was all nicely wet, providing some great puddles to run through.  I love, love, love running in the rain.  So although it didn't rain on us while we were running, it was still the perfect weather day for me.

Brenna is such a trooper.  She hadn't really been preparing much for this, other than a 4-mile run she did with me last weekend.  She made it the entire way without stopping, surprising even herself.  At one point she said, "When we get to that corner up there, can we slow down??"  I told her we'd figure that out when we got to the corner, and sure enough by that point she had decided to just keep going.  I say this often, but I love that girl's ability to just work harder when something gets hard!

So here we are at the start:

And here we are coming into the finish:

And here we are right after:

Notice that I am sweat-drenched and looking rough and Brenna looks very much like her "before" shot.  Youth!

And when all was said and done, I took first in my age group and Brenna took first in her age group, even with a mediocre time.  What do you know!  And, knowing how wacky I am for numbers, this is pretty cool:  I am 40 years old, and my favorite number is 3.  My race number was 340.  I was the 40th runner to finish the 5K.  And our time was 26:27, which delights me in the sense that I love sequential numbers, too.  Do I think it "means" something?  Absolutely not.  Just kinda cool for the OCD piece of my brain.  AND!!  They did a drawing at the end, and drew my number for a free pair of Asics!  Woo-Hoo!  Of course, I just bought my new running shoes last week...but I'm thrilled that my next pair is free!

While Brenna and I ran, Brad and Beth hung out waiting at the finish line.  Beth decided to take some pictures of some pretty flowers she found:

And, of course she found a little creature to befriend:

It was a busy 26 minutes for this beauty:  cheering at the send-off, photographing flowers, befriending snails, cheering at the finish...

Alex, meanwhile, was about ready to descend into the orchestra pit for his last performance with The Pirates of Penzance.  And he has now joined the family running...he, to my great surprise and delight, is doing cross country!  He has ran himself silly this last week and has loved it.  I am excited to see him loving it so much!

My brain just completely decided, all on its own, to just stop thinking.  I guess that means I should also stop typing.  All done.