Photo Friday: Survivor Harbor 7

In my last post about Moondancer Winery, I mentioned that we had a packed weekend. But I can’t post about what I did on Saturday yet because, while running errands at some of my favorite local places, I got a gift for someone who reads this here ol’ blog. If your birthday is coming up, say in July, well then you know who you are

Instead I’ll fill you in on my Sunday.  We headed to my hometown of Bmore for my first race since the 5k that I ran during my 25 days of giving. Back in December, the Jingle Bell 5k was the first one I had run since my failed marathon attempt due to a knee injury a couple of years ago. It went ok, but to be honest I was still in a little pain and losing hope that I would ever be able to finish any sort of distance race like I wanted, let alone actually finishing a marathon at some point in my life.

Then I ran a 7 miler on Sunday and It.Was.Awesome. I had no pain! I shaved 3 minutes off of my goal time! Despite the heat, the sun beating directly into my eyes the last gradual uphill of a mile, and not wearing a watch or having a clock at any of the mile markers. I had no idea how I was doing, but I was so overheated I figured my time was pretty lousy. If only someone could have captured an image of my face as I crossed the finish line – it was such a happy surprise to see my time. I literally couldn’t believe it.

And the hubs and my cousin (who made the tutus and ran in the Jingle Bell 5k) also ran, but did the 4 mile race. If you would have told me 9 years ago that the hubs and I would both run a race but I would CHOOSE to do the longer race, I would have laughed in your face. And told I don’t run.

We all did very well and the hubs even came in 5th overall for his race!

The race, Survivor Harbor, is put on by the Active Survivors Network in order to recognize cancer survivors by having separate awards for the survivors. The 7 mile race started in Canton, looped around the Inner Harbor, and came back to the Canton waterfront. It was nice and breezy by the water and even shaded for many of the miles (except the last one), so despite the heat, those stretches were really bearable. Though the hubs and the cuz said their course wasn’t as breezy or shaded.

There’s the Canton Waterfront behind us in this picture. The only disappointment in this race was that somehow I was registered for the 4 mile race instead of the 7. So when the race results were posted it looked like I ran nearly a 17 minute mile pace. Wop wop.

Alright, who else has the running bug?! It’s 5k season so fill me in on any you think I should attempt. Or longer races. Maybe I’ll be ready for another half marathon in the fall