Wow, dear reader, if only you could smell the citrus trees in bloom in Mesa tonight. It is a scent so powerful and so warm and sweet; it could end war, inducing everyone to sit, just quietly, and smell the flowers. (2 pts. if you can identify the quote.) Unfortunately, my son is allergic to orange blossom, and he has breathing issues, so it's a mixed blessing for us.
This morning was the TR5K for Values, which is a 5K fundraiser for the youth group at our church, where I volunteer (Mormonspeak=YW calling). I was in charge of timing, and I was a real stress case yesterday, trying to figure out the computer program (racetimer.org) and prepare for any crazy situations, but everything went well. Actually, it was so inspiring. I almost cried, like I've been missing running so much all this time.
Most of the people who ran the 5K were really just trying to support our young women (so sweet--dads running with their kids and so forth.) Kids were free. We did draw one elite couple, though, which totally made my day. It was the lady's first race after having a baby and she pulled out a 19:22, which was good enough for 1st overall. Now, if you had asked me yesterday what would make the race 3 thousand times more wonderful for me to watch, I would've said "for a chica to win 1st overall" so I was super excited. Her name is Dannika Braun, does anyone know her? Her husband is super elite, spondered by Adidas and everything. He didn't officially run, but he ran the course as a tempo run, and, I KID YOU NOT, he did the full 3.1 in 13:XX. He is doing the Olympic trials (in 5K?). They were a really nice couple from Flagstaff and all the runners from our church were super inspired to have them there. Several people said that they want to do it again next year and maybe even take up running, which was very gratifying. I'm so glad we did this instead of a dessert auction or something yucky like that. Overall, the race went off without a hitch, and it was a great experience to be involved. I wish I could've run it.
BTW James won his age division with a 23:11 (which is just mostly jogging for him--he had to take it kind of easy because of his calf problem). He came in 4th overall.
Camille did this race too, which was GREAT! Always fun to see her. She was in Dannika's age group, dabnabitall. | 