So here’s an awesome run story.  You’re going to just love this.  Nick and I ran the Seeds of Hope 5k on November 16th, out in the middle of no where Long Island.  It was absolutely butts cold–I had frost on my car windows.  Talk about massively cranky–I thought I was going to rage flip the car (thanks, Christian).

When we got there, we picked up our shirts, our bibs, and then sat in Nick’s car, warming up.  Highlight of the wait?  Banana.

It was so cold, the banana was partly frozen.  Also, you can see the blue poking-out part of the Wounded Warriors shirt under the orange race shirt.  I wasn’t kidding about wearing it every race since.
We also took our pre-race photo in the car:

The race itself was TINY.  There were only a few hundred people running.  We positioned ourselves in the back of the crowd, by a guy and his dog, and again prepared ourselves to come in last.  I didn’t know it at the time, but this would be the last race I worried about coming in last.

The run took us through the beautiful water-side town of Center Moriches, and then back up to the park where we started.  It was frigid nearly the entire run, though luckily not windy.  Also, the water station was heartbreaking.  They were tiny mouthwash-sized cups.  I nearly wept with disappointment.

I realized a lot during this run.  I managed to keep pace with a girl in front of me, and even when I thought I wanted to die, I kept going.  After the sad water station, I had nothing else to do but think.  I realized I didn’t actually care about my time anymore.  I realized I just wanted to do a little better each time.  I felt my legs moving and I felt the cold air in my lungs.  I felt alive, and I felt strong.  And then I finished the race.  After I finished, i turned around, walked back to find Nick, and then finished the race a second time (our tradition).  I felt like I could run around the world.

They had bagels for the runners at the finish, so naturally I shoved an entire half of a bagel in my mouth before taking the post-race photo:

They had given out raffle tickets, and I wanted to stay for the raffle.  They were reading out the awards, and I had stopped listening when Nick started pushing me to go get my award.  I won second place in my age category for my gender.  Honestly, I must have looked like a crazy person when I posed for the photo.  I didn’t even understand what was going on.  Here’s me and my glass:

And here’s proof that it was really an award for second place in the race:

I would later find out that I won second place out of two women, but WHATEVER.  I nearly cried when I held that glass.  I’ve never won anything remotely close to that in my whole life.  To steal a line from my beautiful friend Julie, receiving that glass was like finally feeling my heart beat again.  I had forgotten what feeling proud was like.  I am very grateful for it.

While I was staring at the glass and saying how I couldn’t believe I was holding it for the nine hundredth time, they started calling the raffles, and I won the first one!  I got this awesome giant box of locally brewed beer:

So this race gave me a huge part of my life back.  And a lot of beer.  And a neat glass to hold all my safety pins.  I’d say that’s a pretty big win.

Race Stats

Distance: 3.1 miles

Total Time: 41:18

Pace: 13:20 min/mi (19 seconds faster than the last race!)

Place: 102/109 (oh yeah, baby!)

Our next race was one raising money for the Wounded Warriors.  It was on November 9th, and was one of the warmest days–completely beautiful.  It was humbling to run with veterans, especially ones who were injured from their time serving this country.  That being said, I was extremely nervous to run this race because of how many very fit people there were.  I was sure I would come in last.

Here’s our pre-race photo:

We got really awesome long-sleeved running shirts (that I now use for running all the time) and some drinks, which were really generous.  The route was cool too–it ran along Sunrise Highway on Long Island, and up through the town of Lindenhurst.  The finish came back down onto the highway.  I saw a few vets watching the race, which touched my heart.  It kept me wanting to run, that’s for sure.

Here’s the post-race photo:

My smile is mostly a result of knowing I had already beat my time from the last race.  It felt so good to run–I was super proud of myself.  It’s a feeling I bring with me on every race since then.

Race Stats

Total Distance: 3.25 miles

Total Time: 44:17

Pace: 13:39 min/mi (decrease of 41 seconds from the last race!)

Place: 898/1189