Race #2 - Falls Creek

Falls creek 5K = Hills

We started at 7:30

There were 7 hills, some long, some really steep. Which means there were down hills, too, some long, lots of little rocks (my goal was to not fall) and some requiring slow shuffles.

First loop and my shoe came untied=  a stop

I didn't have my running buddy Kerri= lonely

ipod not charged= no amp, no drive

I did get to run with these kids

Ty Hobbs,  8th grade VA comet, distance runner

Emily Combest, 8th grade coach's daughter and distance runner, ran in under 26 min.

we are standing here with the camp pastor, Ed Newton, who was all smiles and high fives

Yes, he was done, I was starting on the last loop.

Ty beat him though....

You can see him in black right there behind Ty's right shoulder.

And here's Coach Loveall (VA track coach and falls creek cook)

Who timed me at 31:40

Not too bad for eating too much all week, having no sleep all week and 7 hills on the course. It's a beatable time for next week for sure!

So here's what I thought about on the long course.

I hate running alone. Always makes me think of running the "journey of life" alone. And makes me think of how much we need each other. Maybe some like to run alone but I don't.

There are people cheering but they don't even know my name. I thought about how important it is for the kids that come back from camp so excited about serving Jesus and some with new life in Christ- how important it is that they have people cheering them on weekly. And throughout their life. Yet another reason you should be plugged into a local church. The older adults should be our cheer leaders.

High fiving, calling our names, pointing to the right direction, the correct path to follow. If I didn't follow the course on this 5k I'd end up running a lot more than I had to. And WHO wants that? I might have even gotten lost and given up all together.

But you know what kept me going? Those who'd gone before me, those waiting at the finish line. I knew they were waiting, they knew the joy of finishing so I kept running, even when a teenager came up and told me I was breathing wrong. I just smiled and said ok, we'll see. I ended up passing him later.

Just run.