Columbiana 5K

 Well, I was at it again.   Wishing I could run, but realizing I can not.   But this was for a good cause, and the entire Wilsonville church basically runs this event with King of Columbiana Joel Dixon, so I decided to join in the fun.  Did I train for this 5K?  Nope, just put on some jogging pants that morning and joined the crowd.   

I held back alot at the beginning trying to see if my knees would let me even jog, and they did not scream at me, so I kept slightly above a walking pace for the first 1.5 miles.   It was at this point I spied one of the elders of our church wife...and she was a long way ahead of me.   I knew that part of the qualifications of a deacon in Titus included being faster than an elder's wife in a 5K, so I started to push myself.   

And that last half felt great, I could fell my thighs start to burn, my breathing became a little harder, but I started passing people...and I mean I was passing people like they were old or toddlers (which they were)...and came up behind Elizabeth fast.   Haha...I haven't even told her this, but it cracked me up.   She was apparently listening to music, so I did the curtesy wave as I passed her, and she screamed "HEIEY" very loud...which I took for a hard breathing hello with music blaring in the ears.   It cracked me up thinking about it later, but at the time, legs just kept moving, as I spied the next person to pass.   And finally at the finish line I passed this guy below in the red visor...haha...I smoked my 60 year old competition.   

No reason to linger, I drove on home.   Only to get a text from Elizabeth that I had placed and gotten a medal for 3rd place.   Magan's first response was "Was there only three in the race?".   Well, NO, we found out later there were a grand total of 5 in my age class.   So three out of five aint bad.   And I beat the elder's wife by over a minute, maintaining my deaconhood.    Then after bragging at dinner with my medal, all the kids brought theirs out to brag as well.   And yes, the knees hurt the next day, but not as bad as I feared.   I had a 10:58 mile pace, for a 34:06 total race time.  Last time I ran the Columbiana 5K it was 24:25 total race time.   What a difference 8 years makes.