Columbus Downtown Runaround

Columbus Racers

The Columbus Downtown Runaround is over and boy am I glad I did it. I think it was the best race I have ever been part of. The fact that the three of us ran together is what sealed the deal. The weather was pretty good; the terrain was near perfect; the view was wonderful. We had tons of great supporters out to cheer us on. Jennifer was a trooper and got up at 5:00am just to make the ride up there with us. My dad's house on the lake was midway through the run, and he and my grandma and aunt were waiting for us with bells and whistles. Erin's family was waiting at mile 4.5 with even more clapping. My goal was to run the five miles in less than an hour. Of course this is difficult to time when we aren't starting at the starting line and instead are beginning thirty seconds or more later. According to my IPod I finished the five miles in 58:38, according to the finish line clock I finished in 60:42, so I'm taking the average of these times and calling it 59:40. That's twenty seconds faster than my goal time. What's most important is that I ran the entire thing. This was the first time I can say that I actually ran the whole race. I am very proud of myself and thankful for my Columbus running partners. As Erin told one of the volunteers cheering us on: I couldn't do it without them!