In my quest to run in a race every month this year, February's race was the 5 Points of Life 5K. This race was special for me, because my sister was running also. I met up with her and Billy at the start line (I was coming off shift, and about 4 hours of sleep) Sarah and I spent the hour until the start gun, walking and warming up and then it was time to head to the start line. She was so nervous! We were standing at the start line listening to her MP3 player and dancing and jumping around, which I think got her mind off the fact that she was getting set to run in her first race. I remember just how nervous I was!
The siren sounded for the start of the race and we were off! I hung with her for about the first 1/4 mile and then I told her to run her own pace and not worry about the people around her, then I took off. I felt so good! The course was through the UF campus. We started in front of the SW rec center and ran around the complex to Museum road, past Lake Alice to Gale Lemerand Drive and down past the big commuter lot then back around past the entomology buildings and the citrus growing fields back to Hull road and finished in the parking lot of the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. I was pretty amazed that for the most part I passed alot of people and was running really strong.
Fortunately, they were using chips to time us and we were able to get our official race times right there. My time was 32:17! This is my fastest 5K and my pace was 10:24/mile! I was pumped.
After I crossed the finish line and turned in my chip, I ran back to meet up with Sarah and help her finish. She wasn't that far behind and I pushed her to cross the finish line strong. Her time was 45:47! I am so proud of her!
After the race Billy and I took her out for breakfast to celebrate her first race! I think this will calm her down a bit more for the Princess half, which is only two weeks away!
I can't wait, it will be fun to spend the weekend with my sister and my cousin, running and hanging out.
K.