First 5k of the year

     Well on Saturday March 3, Joe and I participated in our first 5k race of the year.  It is the first leg of the Triple Crown of Running in Louisville.  For those of you who are not from KY it is the human version of the Triple Crown for horse racing; there are 3 races in a month - a 5k, 10k and a 10 mile race.  It was my first race in a long time, a really long time...but for the hubby well he runs about 5 days a week and usually over 4.5 miles each time.  I was excited about our run but I had a feeling I should have not skipped running as much as I had the prior week.  But too late now!  So we arrive at Louisville Slugger Field bright and early  at 7:30 am, and it was the morning after the horrible weather hit Southern IN and areas of KY, but the sky was blue and sun was shining.  The temperature had dropped about 35 degrees from the day before but the crisp dry air was great for a morning run.  As a girl from Lexington I was excited about running in parts of Louisville I had never seen before.  The starting line was down by the river just outside of the Slugger Museum.  Joe and I gathered with about 9100 of our fellow runners to await the start.  A nervous feeling set in to my stomach but it was more of emotions as a singer belted out the Star Spangle Banner, since the day before there were horrible storms in our state and very near by.
      And at the strike of 8 am we were off!  Joe and I started together but he runs more frequently and faster than I do, we parted ways and planned to meet after we were finished.  There were tons of runners, I mean tons, about 8500 to be exact.  The first 1/2 of a mile was harder than I wanted, it was so hard to get into a pace that I liked and not be distracted by other runners flying past me.  But once I was able to get in my routine I was good to go.  After about the 1 1/2 mile marker I really started to notice the vast group of people this race attracted.  There were families running together, a parent with their 3 grader aged child, there were the well fit people and there were others who this was their goal in a new found look at life.  One guy that seemed to always be right around me running had a shirt that showed his before  picture.  He was still a larger man but compared to his before picture he was like a "Greek God".  But the one thing that stuck in my mind the most was a old man, I am guessing early 60s was running with his son.  This wasn't a typical father/son running partner, his son was probably in his early to mid 20s.  And they were both holding on to a looped string as they ran, as if they were running while holding hands.  It was as I passed them that I realized the man was running the race because his son wanted to and the son could not do this on his own.  The son was blind.
     It was once said to me that when you run your mind gets cleared and you have time to reflect.  It was really during this race that I truly understood what that person was telling me.  I ran the race, it was not pretty, it was ugly but I finished.  I realized that it is a mind over matter thing when running, just like many things in life.  I don't have to be the best but I did it.  There were many people out there who had more things against them than I did and they finished, they were my motivation to keep my fanny running.  I will probably never see these people again but I thank them.