The juice was worth the squeeze.

I did it!!!
Trained, did well, got hurt, got depressed, got back up and trained again.
These last few weeks trying to run with bruised ribs was a piece of work. I've never bruised my ribs before, people who have or who have broken their ribs say it stinks and they take forever to heal.
I didn't have forever, I had 5 weeks. I'd run, not get far because of pain. Next day couldn't do anything. Run again, same result. Did this for 3 weeks. 2 weeks left, finally made it without stopping, without hurting too bad. Last week (week of the race) I felt ok, got a little burned out and tired.
Saturday morning, blowing snow!!! They said around 500 people signed up, they had 432 brave the elements and finish the race.
I started out behind the pack (Chad,Nathan,Jamie,Devon) trying to dodge little kids. I think I caught up somewhere around the half mile mark. Ran with them for a minute or so. Decideded to give a little more to my pace. One to see if I could do it, two for stragedy. Maybe make them give a little more to keep up or use everything they had to catch up. Hopefully it wouldn't back fire and I wouldn't have anything left in case they did catch up.
I kept glancing over my shoulder and saw Chad not too far behind. About quarter mile left Chad kicks it in, catches me and passes slightly. I thought, great I've got nothing left. Crud, it back fired and I used my energy on the faster pace. About 30 yards I was able to kick it in.
Passed Chad and a little kid. Zipped thru the finish. Beat Chad by 6 seconds, Beat Jamie by 9 seconds,Devon by 1 min 20 sec,Nathan by 1 min 30 sec. Mark put up a good time for his first race. Still beat him by 2 min 25 secs. PK ran it this year with 28:44 and Matt with 29:48. Shiree with an amazing 27:46, Marcie & Chad's Friend Lonee just over 31 mins. Liz even knocked 20 mins off her best time, fantastic.
Benjamin had the proud honor of clean up. Making sure no one else was on the course. He stayed with Liz for a while but got distracted by too many things along the way, kinda funny.
The race was cut short because of the weather and part of the courses muddy surface. The course was 2.7 miles instead of the full 3.2 My time was 19:40 add half my mile time and I come in around 23 minutes. Sweet!!! Personal best.
Little dissapointed in the distance being cut, but pretty sure I still could've taken them. My chest kinda paid the price for the weekend, but worth it to say I did it. I came back from a slow out of shape state last year to beating everybody this year.
We had 14 I think from our family participate, thats awesome! It was a good weekend all around. The weather could have cooperated a little more nicely, but what can you do?
So it was worth it. It seems sad cuz its over now. I was glad I did it last year and got the bug to do it again and do it better. Spent alot of time and effort into a 20 minute race. But I still have more to do. So its not all for that one race.
Eagle Mountain's Pony Express days are in 2 weeks. That 5k is almost all downhill so maybe another personal best? 2 weeks after that is going to be another 5k, either Pleasant Grove Strawbarry Days or Thanksgiving point runnings with the angels.
After that who knows? Maybe get something going for the Harmon Reunion in mid July, do a high altitude 5k up at the cabin.
I have a goal of a half marathon this year, not sure when/where thats gonna be.
After watching biggest loser contestants do a full marathon last week, I'm thinking why I couldn't do one of those?
Still not a fan of the running. I like the actual racing with people, just not the prep that goes into it.
Don't have any photos yet cuz everone ran, no one to hold a camera. But here is a link to the offical race day photos.
2nd annual Keith Young Memorial 5k photos


In case anyone is wondering who I am...

Whistler's Mother

A Mother's day tribute ( in a sense ) by Mr. Bean
Hello, I'm Dr. Bean. Apparently. And my job is to sit and look at paintings. So, what have I learned that I can say about this painting? Well, firstly, it's quite big, which is excellent. If it were very small, microscopic, then hardly anyone would be able to see it. Which would be a shame. Secondly, and I'm getting quite near the end of this... analysis, secondly, why was it worth this man spending fifty million of your American dollars? And the answer to that is, that it's a picture of Whistler's mother. And as I've learned, staying with my best friend David Langley and his family, families are very important. Even though Mr. Whistler was obviously aware that his mother was a hideous old bat who looked like she'd had a cactus lodged up her backside, he stuck with her, and even took the time to paint this amazing picture of her. And that's marvelous. It's not just a painting. It's a picture of a mad old cow who he thought the world of. Well that's what I think.

What I think Mr.Bean was trying to say is this...
James Whistler was a talented artist who could have painted anything, a chapel, a monet, a stary night, ect... Instead he chose something that meant alot to him, something that inspired and caused great joy in his life...his mother.