Pumpkin Run 5K

One of the many reasons I love to run is to EAT!!! The Pumpkin Run 5K is a local race in Pensacola that is put on by Sacred Heart Cathedral School. This was the 27th year of the race and it was rather large, with about 1,200 runners. At the end of the race, you are assured plenty of homemade pumpkin bread. Yummers!

My faithful running buddies, Cathy on the left and Jennifer on the right,

 who have been running with me since June. My college friend, Melissa

(who I was suppose to run the Marine Corps Marathon with), thinks we are so goofy.

She just can't understand why we think it is fun to dress alike. Yet another reason I like to run:

to have fun and be silly with friends. Although, it appears that Jennifer thinks she is special

and had to wear her purple shorts instead of black. Our shirts say BOO! and our socks

are spiderwebs. Fun, right? It's almost Halloween. Live a little!

I digress, back to the race. Cathy's husband, Ben, was put in charge of taking pictures during the race. Oh, how I long for that perfect picture of me looking like a "real runner". I gave Ben strict instructions to run ahead of us and then get on the sidelines to capture some action shots. Ben was running the race to support his wife, little did he know that he would take on the job of photographer. Well, he did great, it's just the sun didn't cooperate and it appears as one big shadow, but I think you can tell that we are having a blast!

Shortly after this is when we decided we were overdressed. It was one of those cold mornings with a low about 40, but once the sun came out, so did the sweat. Hence, Jennifer commenced to stripping while running. She is pretty good at it actually. Myself, I'm not that coordinated. With the Garmin and I-pod attached and two layers on, I'll just suffer.

The race went through the East Hill area of Pensacola which I was not familiar with beforehand. We basically ran through some neighborhoods, up and down a few mean hills, by the water (YAY!), and beside a park. About mile 2, I had a military retiree running near me and he was chanting the left, left, left, right, left. It helped to pace me a bit since I was not trained at all due to injury. It also made me pout a bit knowing that I was not going to be able to the Marine Corps full.

The good news is that I felt pretty good and the leg held up well. I finished with a time of 31:46, which isn't bad considering my lack of running. Afterward, we were able to meet up and spend a few minutes with some other S2S Sisters that ran the race.

Left to right: Jennifer, Susan, Sharon, the Great Pumpkin, me, Nina, and Cathy

Below: The 5:00 a.m. faithful