January 1, 2015
Happy New Year!
Today was a wonderful day! I was privileged to run with my niece, Julie, in the 2015 Resolution Run. Julie has only been running for a couple of months and today was her first 5K. I know every runner remembers the intimidation of their first 5K. I am so proud of Julie's dedication and courage as she noted all the seasoned runners in their running tights and received her bib.
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At the end, we ran around the university's new track. As we entered, I ran behind Julie and sang the theme from Rocky. I told Julie I had her back. She picked up her pace and ran strong around the track. At once point, she told me her body was saying "Walk!" I told her that she had a choice: To listen to her body or listen to her mind. She chose to listen to her mind and continued running. So proud of her grit.
When we hit the straight before the finish line, she centered herself in front of the finish arch and took off. I clocked her pace as she crossed the finish line at 9:00's!!! The four people that were running near her didn't have a chance!
The race-end exhaustion quickly turned into excitement. I was so pleased that she told me that she wanted to do another 5K and that she thought she had the confidence to enter a 5K by herself!
On my part, it was interesting to run a 5K at a z1 pace. A year ago, running a 5k at any pace would have been daunting. Today, running a 5K was easy and I was amazed that I could carry on a conversation through the entire 5 miles. While I was the one needing encouragement a year ago, it was SO cool to now be the encourager. It was SO cool to see Julie experience the joy of running that I had discovered.
I came in 3rd in my age group and received a pretty cool metal. But the best part of coming in 3rd was hearing Julie cheer and clap as they announced my name! What a fun moment to share!
This was a beautiful day.
