I'm Back in the Game!

Joseph and the kids in Fredericksburg

Well, it has been a long while since I have participated in an organized running event, but today I tried it again. My friend Katie mentioned that the Fredericksburg Wildflower Race was cheap and had a pretty course, so I signed up. She did the 10k but I chickened out and registered for the 5k. Fredericksburg is about an hour and a half from Austin, so Joseph and I were up around 5 this morning getting things ready to go. We prodded the kids awake at 6 and headed out. Two and a half hours later, I was running! My goal was to do it in under 30 minutes, which I accomplished, so I was happy with that. I ended up finishing 6th in my age division and I even made it onto the first page of the race results print-off!

So anyway, here's a picture of me and Katie stretching with the kids before the race.

 This is me and Katie waiting for the race to begin. Can you spot us? Look for my blue shorts just to the left of the enthusiastic man in the purple shirt.

As you can see, the kids were very excited to be waiting for me to finish my run.

They really did have a good time. Plenty of oranges and bananas and a great playground made sure of that.

I thought Joseph missed my finish until five minutes ago when I went through pictures. Apparently, he saw me from the playground, then rounded up the kids and headed over to the finish line. Can you feel my pain in this picture? :)

 

Aah. Done at last. Relaxing with the most delicious bottle of water ever.

  The end.

Addition made on June 11, 2011:

Here's the professional picture taken by the race photographer.