Run of the Penguins

My first race of 2011 was a success! Sure, it was a little disorganized. They had only 2 people to check in HUNDREDS of runners and the race started 10 minutes early, but it was still a TON of fun! And I got to run with my friend, MiMi, which I had never done before. I told myself I wanted to run about a 10-minute mile, which seemed like a lofty goal considering I haven’t REALLY been running, but I finished this 5k just about on target in 32:06. And I didn’t even feel like I wanted to die! All around, a pretty good run. You wanna know the best part? I got to go to the zoo! I know I’m a grown up, but it’s still fun to watch a monkey scratch himself, or see the sea lions at feeding time. And all the free swag wasn’t bad either.

One downside: I told myself I would take some time off of running, but this was REALLY fun. There’s always something exciting about the start of a race and the sense of satisfaction when you realize you’ve finished alive can’t be beat. I think I have what we like to call “Race Fever.” I have a fever and the only prescription is MORE RUNNING. So I think I’ve decided I would take more of a “working vacation” from running. I will still be running, I’ll probably even run several (small) races, but I’m going to try to keep it fun- which basically means I’ll do any amount of running that doesn’t require regular ice baths.

So I think next up is the Front Runner’s Gay Pride run in June because, let’s face it, the gays can make anything fun! Then we’ll go from there. Who knows, maybe I’ll do a half marathon?

And because no post is complete without some stunning artwork, here's a happy penguin! He's happy because we ran to help save him.