OKC Race for the Cure 2011…

Carson, Paige, Hannah and Camy bright and early...

Me, Jen and Karen

Carson and Josh walking the 5k

Karen, Hannah and Paige walking the 1 mile.

The RFTC is one of my favorite races, my sisters and I have been participating for about ten years, and this is the first race I ever ran. I think that was in 2008 and it was UGLY. I remember not being able to run the entire thing, and my legs hurt and I had a stitch in my side and it was so hard.

My official time back then was 35:55, and I finished 139^th out of 454 in my age group.
Since then I have gotten a little better:

Year	Time	Age Group Place
10/10/2009	0:28:24	24 out of 102
10/9/2010	0:26:19	10 out of 172
10/15/2011	0:23:48	1 out of 84, 43rd overall

This time I finished first in my age group. How crazy is that? It was just over a year ago that my sister got me a Runner Girl sticker for my car and I contemplated whether I qualified as a runner before I put it on my car.

I am so proud that I got to hang out at the starting line with Josh and Jen, and they both did awesome as well. The big problem with the RFTC in the past is that the race is so big that you would spend more time dodging strollers and people that would sprint and then come to a dead stop in front of you. Last year was better because we made sure to get up close to the start, but this year they changed it all up and it was wonderful.

The Competitive 5K started at 8am, and the run/walk started at 8:30. Not only did I not have to dodge non-runners, but I also got to walk the 5k with my girls after I ran it. How awesome is that? I hope they work it out some more next year and keep the new format, my only complaint is that it was a mad house after I finished running and I didn't find the water before we started walking. I got water at a couple of water stops on the course, but the first one was already closed down by the time we got there. I was thirsty.

They changed up the route this year, and I so hope they can change it back next year. It was hilly, really it was HILLY. I know that hills make me stronger, and I do run some hills atleast once a week. (There is a good route by my house, it's a 4.5 mile loop that ends with a long gradual hill that I honestly hate, but I do it anyway.) Hills make me stronger, that's what I kept telling myself as I was fighting to get up the hills on the new route. They did keep the one big downhill at the end again this year, and I was pretty happy about that.

In all it was an awesome day. I set a new PR and won my age group in a race that means a lot to me. What could be better than that?

How about pictures?