Janis Best Memorial Run

I ran another 5K today, the Janis Best Memorial Run. I've run on the Peavine Trail but I wanted to find a nice, flat, racing trail to offer to a friend. (She wanted to run up a hill, but I wimped out and this was my consolation offer.)

Here we are before the race. It was a bit chilly out, 47 degrees, but since we're in Arizona and the predicted high is 74 degrees, I decided to run in short sleeves. Therefore my race bib is concealed in this photo.

The race wasn't fancy. It was clock and not chip-timed, but that's okay. I'm not "in it to win it" (though some were). I just wanted to beat my own time.

I came in at 27:29 on my watch, but the board said 27:30 per my ever-supportive mom who came to watch me. I had trouble starting my watch, so 27:30 sounds about right.

To be honest, I've felt a little crappy about myself and my body lately, so I pushed myself in this race. I wanted to prove that I could still do this. That's not the best motivation ever, nor a rationale I'd recommend to other people, but I used it. The only problem now is that my new time to beat is even faster. I'm a perfectionist and I know that at some point, I'll tap out on how fast my body can actually run.

But for now, here's a fun post-race shot, and the t-shirt I got:

I'm thankful and grateful and I hope that I can keep working on my total health (mental, spiritual, emotional, physical, and relational). I enjoy running and races and getting faster, but I need to learn to be okay with myself with and without those things.