2 races, back to back weekends

Opportunity presented itself to race on two consecutive weekends. The first one popped up just days before the event. Meaning, I didn't know about it well in advance. I saw another racing friend who asked if I was racing at Good Hope in a few days. As it turns out I was going to a retreat that is closer to Good Hope than where I live. So I took it for a "sign" that I was meant to run this race.

Now about, that retreat I was at (will post about that soon)....it was spent with several other women and we did not get to sleep until 2-3 a.m. that morning of the race. My friends thought I was crazy for wanting to get up on a saturday at 6 a.m to race, retreat or not. But I thrive on that racing high that it makes it so worth it. So despite my lack of sleep, I got up & went, leaving my drooling & snoring girlfriends behind.

I should also note that I really haven't been running a lot. I have had a horrible back problem that has sent me to see my chiropractor many times. And I had a good friend, who is a former massage therapist, work on my back for well over an hour. So my running was put on hold. It had been a whole month since my last race as well.

This was a smaller than usual race. Probably about 25-30 people were there. We probably double the population of the town just by being there...haha. I purposely took it easy to get a good feel of my back. I didn't want to re-injure myself. I still managed to win, even though I ran bout 2 minutes slower than usual. Still, not bad though since I had very little training in between races.

I didn't have my camera so no pictures. I took a picture of my shirt & ribbon together. My friends teased that it looked like a ribbon they would stick on a cow at the county fair. Ha....ha, I'll take it, even if it means I'm a bit of a heffier. : )


The next weekend I raced in Abingdon for the Rock 'N Rally. This was a fundraiser for a high school girl who has cancer. This is the group picture we took of the Y staff & members.

My running improved a lot over that week. Once I had run the week before & knew that my back was much better I was able to push myself a little bit more. There was a much larger crowd this time, about 150 or so. Including a college girl running for Knox College. Yeah, so that means I didn't win. But, that is OK! Seriously. Besides I can't compete with someone 10 years younger than me who's never had any kids. Two completely different situations there. I did, however, finish only 40 seconds behind that girl and was able to place first in my age group. I was back more within my normal racing time for this race. I'd sure like to race a bit faster, but I'll take what I can get for now.

Another reason I was glad I didn't win was the awards they gave out. The top female got a trophy. I have a dozen....or several dozen trophies that look just like the one they awarded her. BORING! However, by placing in my age group, I got a medal. Not just any medal (I have several dozen of those too), but one with a hot pink ribbon. Oooooo, something different to add to my collection. I like that!