My second 5K (Jennifer)

The dr says I have bronchitis "on its way to pneumonia" so back on antibiotics I went last week.  So, I wasnt sure if I would be up for the 5K I had been hoping to do today.  But I did it!  The hubs ran it with me and it was much different than the last one(my first one) I did.  My friend Karen came to watch and cheer.  She even made a sign for me!  How nice is that???  The race was the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis...a great cause in my opinion.  We got to wear bells for the run and I even saw Santa running.  Anyway, it was pretty cold when we left the house this morning.  We did a practice run yesterday and it wasnt too great.  It was windy, cold,  and my lungs just hurt after mile 2.  So I wasnt sure what to expect today. 

We all lined up and off we went.  There was no mat to step on this time to start our time but we did wear a different type of chip that was attached right to the bib.  My husband said there were speaker type looking things that he thought started our time.  There were far fewer spectators than at my first 5K event.  I did miss the tons of people along the way,  but I did have my own personal cheerleader with a SIGN so that was even better!  Thanks again Karen!  There were no mile markers for this race so I wasnt sure until we did a turn around which they said beforehand was the halfway point.  The hubs stuck with me for the race.  It was his first race but he only stayed with me because I have bronchitis and he wanted to make sure I was okay.  He is nearly a foot taller than me and is clearly capable of running much faster than me.  I thought it was sweet he stayed with me.

My time?  Well...I was shocked.  We were turning the bend to the home stretch and I was thinking how I didnt have much left in me.  My lungs hurt.  It was cold.  And, even though I like to push myself at the end, I didnt think I could go any faster than my current speed.  We came up on the time clock at the finish line and my husband saw it and looked at me immediately.  I looked up and saw we were under 31 minutes?!?!  What?  Was it true?  My last 5k time was 35 minutes and a chip time of 33:33.  All of a sudden I got this burst of energy and sprinted to the finish where I saw 30:40  on the clock.  My husband is still accusing me (jokingly) or trying to race him...haha.  I honestly have no idea where the burst of energy came from! 

Chip time:  30:38...a personal best for me!

Here are some pics...

This was actually after the race.

Getting ready...too cold to take the coat off yet!

A Christmas mouse :)

Yup, cold.

My personal sign!  How sweet right?

How do we get the Christmas tunes on?

Almost race time.

Karen, my awesome personal cheerleader and sign maker.

We are in the center waving...

Almost there!!!