The Forest Hills 5K And A Commitment

I'll address my ineptitude in blogging momentarily. For now, here's a re-cap of my latest 5K adventure.

The Forest Hills 5K was this past Saturday. It benefits the schools I grew up in and runs through the 'burbs instead of the dirty, nasty streets of downtown Cincinnati like so many other races do.

Finishing time: 41:12

I'll let the pictures do the talking.

(Click on the collages to see a larger view.)


A few shots before it started. It was before 8:30 and already steamy hot. It was one of the first hot runs of the year and definitely the first hot race. Hello sweaty head!


Some signs, some firefighters (big and small) and me at the halfway point. I stopped running shortly after this because the course went back uphill. Oh yeah, this course was surprisingly hilly. Yikes! And I've lost my ability to run 3 miles without stopping. I can force 2 miles uncomfortably, but 3 alludes me once again. Turns out I reached my distance peak right before the Emerald Miles back in March (read the post here). Go figure.




Finish line photos. Check out the top left corner shot...I totally look like a runner there! That stupid Bengals mascot was all up in my grill, yo. Had to get around him.


Me and my photographer, my mom. The pile o' donuts at the finish line (along with bagels, water and bananas), me offering the donut to my mom, and some browsing after the finish. Ah the joys of freebies after a race! =)


The race also featured a mascot race. A mascot for each of the 9 local schools (6 elementary, 1 middle, 2 high schools) and some other local organizations like businesses and college and professional sports mascots. My high school track coach (the bee below) won the race last year and took the prize again this year. Go coach!


Me with the mascots. A picture with the organizations from which I matriculated, plus two. Clockwise from top left: Mercer Golden Eagle, Cincinnati Bengal, Xavier Musketeer, Ayer/Summit Bee (can't remember, didn't go there; my high school track coach), Turpin Spartan, Kroger Bagster.

This is the professional picture, taken by Cincy Sports Photos.

After the race-day events, I got some time to rest, get un-sweaty, and get dolled up to go to a wonderful wedding. One of my best high school friends, Anne, put on a beautiful event. It was so great to see her wedding come to fruition after so much planning and it was REALLY great to see all my friends (and a handful of parents) in one place. Here's a collage:




So, about my blogging slackertude. I'm going to remedy this.

Here's what's happened. Running, as I've said before, has become a full-on part of my life--pretty much un-spectacular. I forget to blog about it because of that, but I don't want to stop. I still love keeping you all up to date, and I definitely need the accountability to keep me going. You all have been so helpful until this point and I need your help.

So this is what I'm going to do. I'm going to post. I'm going to post after every workout. It might be one sentence, two sentence, 8 paragraphs, 3 pages. Seriously. If I go out and run a ho-hum 2 miles or a crappy 1 mile, you're getting an update. It'll likely be from my phone and will likely be boring. But I'm going to do it.

Don't worry, I'm going to continue to do my classic over-long posts with pictures and such, but because they seem to be happening fewer and farther between, I need to do something else.

So there it is. My plan. Is that okay? I hope so, because I'm doing it anyway.

So, news:

• I got a new job! Big change. Big, BIG change. I'm scared and excited and scared. It starts on June 7.
  
• I start boot camp on June 6. I'm scared and excited and scared about this too. But I've been noticing my arms getting flabbier and fatter lately, so Imma need this.
• I'm doing the Redlegs Run for Home 5K again! This was my first 5K last year, so I'm excited to return to the scene of the crime to see how I fare. This day also marks the 1-year anniversary of my "road racing career." Woooo! (Last year's post.)
  
• My post-Pig toenails are still in less-than-stellar shape. I didn't lose them, but I still think that would have been easier. The big toe nails are still...um...oozing. Goodness. But I finished the antibiotic and I've been keeping them clean, so yeah...good stuff.

Alright, that's all I've got. I guess you'll be hearing from me tomorrow since I plan on running then. Wheee! What's up with you all? How's the running going?