Shamrocks & Shenanigans

I ran another 5K race this morning, and it was one I have run the last two years also. But in 2009, feeling strong, I was pushing myself a bit harder than was prudent, and I fell on a downhill stretch, cutting up my knee and drawing blood. Though I wasn't badly injured, the race officials were (naturally) quite alarmed, and called over an ambulance unit that was standing by, in order to check me out. I declined their offer to take me to the ER, but accepted a ride to my car, several blocks away. So last year I was eager to run the race and banish those memories, which I did, finishing in a little under 34 minutes. Today, I knew I couldn't touch my 5K personal record of 29:14, but hoped to somehow break a half-hour, though I didn't really expect to. Conditions were tolerable - cool (at about 35 degrees), but not cold, and cloudy. And by my watch, I finished in about the time I thought I would, at 32:17. I guess the important thing, though, is to have done it. I wore a t-shirt Michelle and I found at Meijer a couple of weeks ago - a green shirt with white lettering that read "Lucky and Charming." So it was amusing, on the 2-loop downtown course, to hear a volunteer yell out to me, a few minutes into the race, "WOO - Lucky and Charming!" And then on the second loop, later, that same person called out, "Here comes Lucky and Charming again!"

The picture is from a point where I was struggling to top a large hill a little more than halfway through the 3.1 miles.