Clothing choice: crazy bright Sock Guy arm warmers, a sleeveless wicking run shirt under a short-sleeved wicking shirt, capris, Experia socks, UA gloves, moose hat with Nike headband. Carried the small American flag that was in everyone's goodie bag that they requested we carry. Sadly, flag carriers were in the minority. :( But 'Flag Guy', the local runner (with over 1000 races to his credit and also a vet) may have helped make up for it by running with the full-sized Old Glory that he carries at every race.

Everyone took off SO FAST! I always have this niggling little fear of being last, so I looked behind me at one point just to make sure I wasn't! I stuck to my instincts to just go at my pace and not let the crowd dictate my speed.

We started off running around the HS to head out the driveway, which was a decent downhill to the street, which continued going downhill but less abruptly. Meandering through the streets of Columbia on an overall downhill route, it was neat to see the town in this way. It took me to parts of the town that I hadn't been to before and also offered a different perspective seeing the areas I was familiar with by foot rather than car.

Mile 1: they had volunteers shouting out times as we passed each mile marker. "9:33" came the shout as I went by. Holy crap, I thought, that's fast! The downhill must've pushed me harder than I realized. I also briefly waxed nostalgic for what was once (and will be again, I hope) a more typical pace for me.

Not much past mile 1 I looked up to see the hot air balloon very close, directly overhead! I excitedly waved and waved and the people in the balloon waved back, YAY!!! Cool moment, it really made me smile. Enjoyed seeing the older running vets wearing clothing from their respective branches of service and also a younger woman who adorned her race shirt with a thanks to her dad who served in Vietnam. Keeps it all in perspective and made me feel happy and proud to be physically and legally and culturally allowed to run/race. As the saying goes, freedom isn't free.

I kept plugging away, taking in the sights of the town but also keeping my hopes of a PR in mind and just feeling the need for a bit of a positive in my life right now after having a few weeks of negatives. Exercise is really a good release.

Since I was late, I didn't have time to study the run course and had in my mind us finishing at the church near my niece's house, so I was a little surprised when we turned to go down toward the river. Oh well, there is only about a church on every corner in Columbia (small exaggeration, but not much), no wonder I got them mixed up! So my true surprise came when we had to head back UP hill, away from the river, to get to the church! It was a bit cruel to those not in the know (me), LOL! It was 'only' .2 miles of up according to the Garmin, but it sure looked and felt like farther! My friend's husband came back to find me and help me finish as he always does for her and for me. He's a quick little bugger and always finishes very far ahead of both of us. I was thankful to see him because he is good motivation/help to get to the finish. He noticed I was at this point carrying my gloves (hands got hot) and my little flag and asked if he could take something. I gladly gave him my sweaty gloves! He kept pushing me to the finish (in a good way) and I was determined not to give in or give up or walk. My asthma started to kick in a little, making me make bad breathing sounds but I kept going. And finally, the finish line, YAY!!

Nothing, I don't think.

Got my breathing back under control and met up with my friend. We headed into the church basement for our food goodie bags, (surprise! I didn't know about them) drinks, etc. and got a wonderful surprise: ICE CREAM!!! I *heart* ice cream! Turkey Hill donated lemonade, iced tea, little ice cream cups and ice cream sandwiches and kept encouraging people to take more ice cream and drinks. OK, twist my arm! But I was semi-good and only took one sammich and one cup.

There were also sliced oranges and banana chunks, which looked really good so I went over to grab an orange piece. While there, they handed me a baggie of homemade sand tarts made by folks of the church, cool! Upon later inspection/eating, I realized they did something very clever. They had a Massachusetts shaped one, a church, and a sneaker with '5K' written on in food coloring. Massachusetts = Salem's; church obviously = church; and the sneaker = 5K run. Pretty dang clever!

We hung around for awards, which was held after a tour of the church was offered (it's the oldest one in Columbia) and also a few little speeches for and by vets. Recognition was also given to all vets who raced. My friend won 2nd in her AG, and another friend I ran into got 3rd. My friend's husband is fast but is in a very fast AG and he got 4th with his time of 20:xx. There was an 85 year old who finished in 23:xx, amazing!


Nothing, I think I did close to as good as possible?


I really liked this race because it was close to home and also fun. They obviously tried very hard to woo those who did the race, seeing as it was a first-time event with a very generous goodie bag and other amenities. Goodie bag had a little wooden silhouette of the church with its history on the back (there is a whole series of these that are sold in and of various local towns) which I thought was a really cool idea. We also got a flashlight, notepad, pen, sample deodorant, refrigerator clip, mini frisbee, a little hand made 'cross in my pocket', coupons, and a voucher for a lawn seat to the local semi-pro baseball team for 2013 and assorted coupons for local shops and restaurants. Then the food goodie bag: POP TARTS, popcorn, Twizzlers and pretzels. Wow! I'm sure they won't go so big in coming years if they continue to do the race, but I was happy to be the recipient of all the goodies this year!