Today, I ran my 70th race this year.  I simply cannot believe how far I’ve come this year.  I’ve run over 250 miles this year, worn out a pair shoes, run nine destination races in five states (and drove just over 6000 miles to run those!)… This has been a big year.

The Run for Bacon 5K is a race put together by the Pathetic Runners Group, which was founded by David Johndrow.  He’s a cancer warrior, putting a good face on it, and still out there running.  Truly inspirational to those of us that have had The C-Word in our lives.

Today’s race was a return to my regular route on the Greenway.  It’s not unusual for me to struggle a bit after a destination race.  Between all the driving miles, and this time, the cold damp weather in Cleveland, I get the life sucked out of me for a few days.  In fact, I wanted to run yesterday.  The spirit was willing, but the body said “NO WAY!”  🙂

So last night, as I lay my head down to sleep, I committed to running today.  I even told Darla that I wanted to run in my half-sleep stupor.  She’s awfully nice to put up with the thoughts of running shoes in my head.  This morning, I reaffirmed that I was definitely gonna run.

And Mother Nature made it easy.  The weather is amazing — mid 50s, and sunny.

And run the Greenway I did (and Yoda, I am, apparently).  I didn’t break any land speed records, but it felt so very good to be back out there, despite the struggle to get my motor going at the beginning.  Part of that could be the strong headwind I was facing on the westbound trek.  On the way back, the expected tailwind I thought would help my speed dissipated, and I was left with just my clunky old legs to motor me down the trail.

And once again, I was in under my target time, and felt great afterwards.

Maybe there’s a future for me with this running thing after all!  🙂

This race benefitted ZERO Cancer – The End of Prostate Cancer.

Race Course