So this morning I woke up to a long, loud clap of thunder followed by some lovely lightning. What a way to start a race Sunday. After long deliberation and careful consult of no less than 5 different weather websites I decided to still go downtown for the race (about a 45 minute trip) and of course that meant J got to come with me.

Boston's Run to Remember honors fallen law enforcement officers and raises funds for a local kids at risk program. There's a half marathon and a 5 mile race. I was registered for the 5 mile. I may have forgotten about the race due to some craziness at work until about two weeks ago, and I wasn't really prepared for the humidity... but here's how it went.

The half marathon, the larger of the two races, took off at 8am.

The race was timed with these new-fangled computer chips you wear in your shoes. Pretty cool, no? It was fun to take public transportation from home and check out everyone's shoes to see who else was headed to the race.

J was so happy to be awake and all the way at the harbor at 8am.

After the half marathon took off we short-distance losers lined up according to our projected pace. This put me pretty far back on the line.

The air horn went off and we headed for downtown...

... about 50 minutes later this is the photo J got of me crossing the finish line. Does it look like I want to die? Because I did. I actually picked up my pace the last half mile for the SOLE purpose of being done sooner. I only came in behind the first 2 half-marathoners.
This is where J found me after I crossed the finish line. Still wanting to pass out. Or lay down and sleep for several hours. Or days.
But give me 15 minutes, a medal, a bagel and some water and I'm all set!

I finished 2 minutes faster than the last 5 mile race, just a month ago! I think that's pretty darn good! I don't have any races planned for June at the moment, but if you know of a good one in the area let me know!

Have a fantastic Memorial Day holiday! Yay for 3-day weekends!!!!