Wow! What a great morning! I got up at my normal 5am and prepared to go to the Strawberry Days 5K in Pleasant Grove, which was scheduled to start at 8am. By 6-ish I was ready to go so I decided to go early and see if the Harpers could use some help setting up for the race. They accepted my offer and let me do a few things, including measuring the half mile kids race backwards from the finish line with the distance wheel to determine where the starting line should be. I was surprised to see Larry, Kent, Kevin, and Wayne running up the street. They apparently decided to run from home to the 5K (7 miles) as part of their long run for the day. Only Kevin stayed to run the race, but it was good to see them. Kevin and I also met up with Verdon and Kerry. It was great hanging out with them before and after the race. There is a long downhill at the beginning of the race and I decided to run fast but under control. I left the others behind shortly after the start, so I was afraid I had started out too fast. Kevin had joked before the race that you know you've started too fast if you look around and everyone else is speaking Swahili. I looked around and saw a little 10 year old girl, and a guy running backwards to look for someone behind us, and other old people like me, so I figured I must be okay. I was shocked to look down at my split after the first mile and see 5:49. I decided there wasn't much I could do about that now, and I was feeling pretty good, so I just decided to try and hang on. I ran the second mile in 7:08, which had a long gradual uphill section. I ran the third mile in 6:52, which had some flat then a shorter uphill followed by the gradual downhill to the finish. I feel like I ran within myself the whole race but still pushed hard and managed to set a new "old man" PR of 20:29. To my surprise, this was good enough to finish 1st in the Male 45-49 division. I've never won my division before so this was a cool new experience. The highlight of the morning, however, was winning the drawing for the free entry into the 2006 St. George Marathon. The chance of winning my way into St. George was the main reason I had decided to run this race. I left before the prize drawings were over because I was afraid of winning something else. I felt like I had already received far more than my share of blessings for one morning. What made all of this special was being able to share it with Verdon, Kerry, and Kevin, who all seemed to be as happy for me as I was for myself. It was also cool to come home and have my family share in my happiness, too. Karen was especially excited because she now gets to go to St. George again, and because I brought home some beautiful hanging flowers I bought at the fair near where the race was held. And I still have the Wasatch Back Relay to look forward to next weekend. Life is good right now. | 