Red Nose Run 5K

What an exciting day! The Red Nose Run 5K is held here in our own little community of Pace. This was the "graduation run" for my fall Sole2Soul Sisters group. Our group was not as large this fall and I take the blame for that. I was personally not as committed as I needed to be due to my issues with injury and the emotions I was going through with that. Overall though, I am thrilled for the women who stayed the course and completed their training.

Our group consisted of S2S Sisters from the Spring and then new graduates as well.

We had 8 people who were running their very first 5K. You can see my son Blake in there.

He and Jennifer's son, Preston trained together during the process. They both did a

terrific job, but I'm pretty sure Blake is less than thrilled. For now, this is the end of his

running career. He loves to play football, basketball and baseball, so I guess running

just isn't enough action for him.

Scary running picture above. My reminder that I likely will never have a "runner's body" no

matter how many miles I run. God made me short and umm healthy, but I can't complain.

I'm still lapping all the people sitting on the couch.

Here comes Melissa and her beautiful false eyelashes! She is a hairdresser at a local salon

and she insisted on wearing her full make-up and eyelashes. She has a little love affair going

for running also. :)

 Get the tissues...this is Amy, who came to our first training session in the spring just after being diagnosed with breast cancer. If you look back to the Fiesta Run, you will see that she still came to cheer us on and we gave her roses at the end of the race. She is an amazing lady, with such a positive spirit. She has been through so much in 2011 and was still facing another surgery. Can't you just tell how thrilled she is to be alive though? Her faith and precious spirit are contagious. What a joy to see her finish her first 5K. I call that perserverance!

 Candice, myself, and Melissa. They work together at a local salon.

Below: A group shot after the race.

 Above: Mary gets a massage.

Below: This is a picture of Anna. She had been running for months and training with her mom. This was her first official race. Don't you know it was a confidence boost when she placed in her division?

 Above left: This is Nina placing in her age group. Way to go Nina!

Below: Preston placed in his age group. All three of the boys ran together the whole time and came in within seconds of each other. Good thing Preston won this nice coffee mug for his mom!

This blurry picture of me was taken by Ben, who we tasked with taking pictures at the Pumpkin Run. This time, he didn't even have to leave his driveway. The route took us right in front of his house.

Our family stats for the day:

Bryant-28:03

Scott-32:28, 2nd in his age group

Blake-32:47

Leah-33:04

At this point, I had decided to try to run a full again. I am registered for the Rock N Roll full in New Orleans on March 4. My training schedule called for a long run of 10 miles. I decided to get up early and do 7 miles before the 5K. Naturally, I didn't get out the door early enough, but I did squeeze in 6 miles before the official race. My pace on that was 10:46. I was pretty pleased that I was able to then stop, regroup, and start again. My pace for the race was 10:39. I wasn't really trying to "race" it due to the fact that I don't want to get injured again. This is the race from last year that still holds my PR for a 5K. I knew that wasn't the goal.