Gate to Gate 4.4 Mile Run/Walk - RunOther

My goal coming in to this race was to do at least 3 seconds better than last year because I missed getting an award by 3 seconds. Looking back it was probably an unrealistic goal to set because I've only been able to run outdoors a couple of times since my surgery 3 weeks ago, and only a few more times on the treadmill. However, this is a race I do nearly every year and I wanted to continue to do better. Turns out I beat my goal by 54 seconds! Also, there were two women in my age group who beat me, but one got Masters and the other got Grandmasters, so that left me in first place. :)

Let's see -- not have surgery 3 weeks ago? Do a little more running?

Stood at the finishing line, cheering my friends on!


After the second mile, I could feel my lack of fitness setting in. My legs felt fine but my lungs didn't. I told myself to "Suck it up, buttercup" and kept pushing. But if I could have kept that pace...


I love doing this race. It's Memorial Day, and everyone is in the spirit. We all carry carnations and drop them at the memorial site. Bagpipes play as you run by, and it's very moving. But it's hot, we run on a big open asphalt road, and the rest of the race is pretty miserable. Then they can't seem to get the awards organized -- it took until 11:00 to get the awards process started and the race began at 7:30. Seems like they need to do something better. As they were doing the walker awards, the volunteers were taking down the bunting and other decorations -- how does that make the winning walkers feel???