My Second 5K Experience

I have now completed my 2nd 5K.  Was is everything I had ever hoped for?  That and more.  Why, you ask?  Well, let me just give you a run-down of the events.  
Weeks ago, I saw an advertisement at the YMCA for a 5K at Grandview College.  It was on a weekend I was actually in town and it was cheap.  But the best part is that I would get a t-shirt.  I'm all about the free t-shirts.  
So I signed up and coerced a co-worker to go with me.  It was going to be her first 5K and she was convinced she'd be walking by the end of the first block.  Hey, I thought, it'd make me feel better about my slogging (slow+jogging=slogging).  The morning of the race was pretty cloudy and looked like it could rain.  I had said the night before that if it was raining, I wasn't running.  I'm a fair weather runner.  I hate that damp feeling when you're a bit wet but not quite drenched.  Yuck!  So, the weather people said it wasn't going to rain until the afternoon so I figured I was good.  I met my co-worker, Sherry at the starting line and we waited for the start.  As we looked around at all the other runners, we realized that most were college students.  Yep, we were the old ones.  Granted, it was Homecoming weekend at Grandview so there were a few random white-hairs but for the most part, it was young people in their spandex.  Lovely.  The gun went off and off we went.  


The first mile went well.  We were running through residential streets which was somewhat pretty except that that part of town is a little ghetto.  I will remind you that Sherry was sure she'd be too tired to run past the first block.  Uhh...no.  She was slogging right along with me, sometimes getting ahead of me!  Little twerp.  By mile 2, we were starting to get some raindrops.  A minutes later the skies opened up and it was a downpour.  Great.  Now I could get that miserable damp feeling as I slog along.  Somehow I was able to finish the race.  I was done in 37 minutes, which surprised me!  That's 4 minutes faster than my first 5K.  Very nice.  
OH...speaking of that free t-shirt, here's a funny story.  I picked up the shirt and race packet over my lunch break on Friday.  When I got back to work and looked at the shirt, I was appalled to see it was a bright red long-sleeve shirt with a giant Viking on the front.  Really?  Who designs these things?  So as I was looking at it, I made a comment to a few co-workers that it could double as a Superman cape if I put it behind me.  I proceeded to do just that and started to flutter down the hallway.  As I turned the corner, I ran smack into the radiologist.  Yep, I'm the epitome of gracefulness.  My face turned the same shade as the red shirt and he looked away really quickly as he was trying not to laugh.  The rest of the afternoon, every time I had to go talk to him, he'd start laughing and I would turn red.  *sigh*   At least I don't work with him for a few more weeks.  Maybe he'll forget about it.