The only reason I am actually making this a race report is because I won it. Ha. A recent graduate and her parents were killed two summers ago in a plane crash. This was the 2nd annual 5K in their honor. The proceeds support a scholarship for our school in their name. When I woke up, my cell phone said it was 56, so I dressed like it was 56 and headed to school. I meant to get there at least an hour before so I help with set up and still be able to run 5 or more miles, and I was already running late, so when my car thermometer showed 39 (which took a while since it was in the garage), it was too late for me to go back and get a long sleeved shirt. So after helping a little, I ran just under 4 miles. IT WAS SO WINDY and I was underdressed. Nothing for my ears or hands, but at least I had worn pants (planned on changing into shorts) and a jacket to throw over my t-shirt. Going into the wind was misery, but it was acceptable when I wasn't headed to the wind. Then the race started. It was on the school grounds, sort of on the cross country course, but they modified it a little because it was wet, muddy and even swampy in some areas. I ran and chatted with a couple of the boys on the cross country team (state champs!!) for most of the race. I had forgotten to reset my watch before the race, so I don't know what pace we were going. They had someone calling out splits at the mile and two mile, but I think the loop was a little short, because we were dead on 8:15 pace according to the splits, but my final time was 25:34, so I'm sure that's wrong. Anyways, there was a guy who was running right behind us for most of the race, and after the 2nd mile, I told one of the kids that I was running with that if he was close behind me, I would let him win because I was a little embarrassed to come in first. Well, when we got close to the finish, the kid who was running with me stopped so he could direct traffic, and told me that the guy was far enough back, so I should just take it. So I picked up the pace and took it. But the kid was exaggerating, because the guy finished 10 seconds later. It was okay, though, because you will never see me winning a race again. Then the 2nd place guy and I ran a lap around the track so that I could finish up 7 miles for today. I wanted to go longer, but I had a kid inside serving a Saturday detention (that's a long story), so I had to go in and check on him. After I got inside I lost my will to go back outside, partly because it took me 5 minutes to open the door with my key, since my hands were so frozen. | 