The Winner is Not Always the Fastest, but the Person Who Keeps Running

Monday the 31st of May, also known as Memorial Day here in the United States is where we celebrate the right to be free and give thanks to those who fight for us to have that right. A good portion of these celebrations deal with getting drunk and big parties since the day is off.

On this day my friend decided to celebrate this day in a different fashion and allowed me to share this experience with her. She wanted to run her first trail run and first 5.32k race. She ran the Peachtree Road Race before. The race was scheduled for 3 pm (usually the hottest and muggest part of the day).

I actually was having trouble dealing with the low 70s and running in the morning with the heat. I was hoping she would back down, but I promised myself if she wanted to do it, then I would stick by her. She didn't back down and she was excited about it.

The race started up hill (which is bad because if your not trained to use up your lactic acid at the beginning than your can become fatigued faster and your muscles will cramp) than it looped through a trail twice. Stairs and a creek leap included. Than it finished down hill and looping around a lake.

My friend trained up to a mile before this race and also on road. During this race my goal was to stay with her (this sounds horrible, because it should of been the obvious choice, but I start running and I get in the zone and just go). I found it some what easy until the end. I wanted to just fly, but she had to remind to slow down. This race improved my mental run.

I am very very very impressed and proud of my friend. We didn't use MP3 players to distract us and she pushed on wards through out the race. Even through calf pain and numb feet she ran as much as she could. She was inspiring to see through all of this.

We placed 1st and 2nd in our age categories, but we were the only ones in it. I still believe she deserves that place because she pushed herself and conquered a new challenge.