The 5K-immie!

Running is no longer just for Jesse Owens, Marion Jones, Forest Gump and the Gingerbread Man. Running is for me now too!!!!
The 5K-immie was a huge success! On Saturday we all gathered at Riverview Park at to run my 5K. It was 3.1 miles of free running fun with shirts, breakfast and the Chick-fil-a cow!
My honey Robert made signs with my picture on them and posted them along the race route to keep people motivated along the way...mission accomplished!
Here's some of the gang gearing up for the race. It was early and windy and cold.
My mom and Dan came to cheer us on. Winston cheered from his car seat, and Stanton and Noelle made me signs that said "I Want My Mommy To Win!" Stanton's also said in parenthesis "(and I like playing at the playground!)" and Noelle's parenthesis said "(My mommy is faster than Lightning Mcqueen)"
Grandpa Curry came to run. He is really fast, a top contender!
Some of the other guy runners, and Mike, my staff, anxiously waiting for the race to begin.
Here we are at the starting line. After thanking everyone for coming, Robert explained the route, and that a portion of it consisted of running between some bushes and walking sideways on little cement wall to exit the canal, and then I told one of my running jokes...
Q: If a dwarfish troll that could spin straw into gold participated in the 5K-immie, what would his name be?
A: RUN-pelstiltskin!
Then, Robert sounded the cap gun, and the 22 of us were off!
Less than two minutes in to our race, as we were crossing the street, a car was stopped at the light, and a girl got out and flashed us. Gross! I just remember running with my eyes closed and yelling something like "Get in your car! You're disgusting! Blaaagh!" Once the light turned green and Lady and the Tramp got back in the car, we could open our eyes and get back on our way.
The time actually went by fast. I ran with Emily and we talked and ran the whole way. Ryan, one of the other staff, was stationed around the half way point with much needed water bottles and his Cadillac blaring "Eye of the Tiger." It was a nice touch, and definitely helped us pick up the pace!
Tim Johnson was the first person to finish in 26:56, just under nine minute miles, very impressive! Way to go Tim!
Lynnae finished first for the girls and second overall! Also very impressive! Big time high fives to her!
We didn't get pictures of everyone as they crossed, but we got Kati running in for a fast finish!
And Mari finishing strong!
And Brooke coming in quick!
And Edith coming up to the finish with her little girl!
And Emily and I, hand in hand, my bangs flying in the air! We finished last, but certainly not least! I was so proud of myself for running the whole time!!
Tim and Lynnae received 1st place boy/girl Gold medals (valued at $3.99, and every participant received tiny gold "great job" medals!
If I was handing out gold medals for best restaurant ever, Chick-fil-a would for sure win! Not only did the cow come and hold the finish line, but he also passed out free coupons to everyone. Thanks cow! Or should I say MOOOchas gracias!
Here we are after, sweaty and proud! I felt so good afterwards, and I even kind of like running now. I'm gonna keep it up!
And now, time for my "I'd like to thank speech"... It was really exciting to accomplish a goal, and I'm really thankful to my super supportive friends, family and especially my honey Robert! Thank you to Kati, who told me about 5K's and got me excited to run one. Thank you to my running buddies for pushing me to practice running at night with them 3 times a week. Thank you to Emily for finding my perfect running pace, so that I could enjoy running and not cry about cramps and fake asthma attacks when I finished. Thank you to every single friend and family member of mine who came and made the 5K-immie So Fun! It meant a lot to me! I'm often overwhelmed with what great friends I have and how nice they are to me! Thank you to the 5K-immie staff for working hard and helping me on your Saturday morning! Thank you to Chick-fil-a for bringing the cow and for making such good food that helped chunk me up in the first place so I would need to start running. And thank you to Robert for helping me so much and loving me and all of my kooky ideas. I couldn't do anything without him! (You'd think I just won the Olympics with my lengthy speech.)