Pleasantly surprised

My club has been putting on an all women's 5k for the last 3 years and finally I ran out of excuses as to why I couldn't run it. So I shivered at the starting line wondering why I was there. 10 miles yesterday, 3 before the race today, it was going to be ugly. I sat there and watched women around me get ready to run, my music was too loud to hear what was being said but there was an energy that could be felt; a camaraderie that is lacking at other races I have run. The gun went off and we snaked down Elmgrove Ave. Different ages, shapes, speeds, levels of experience but I hate to be so corny but really a sense of oneness. I turned down the Blvd and waited for some men to pass by me and they never came. Towards the end I picked it up, wanting to be done and found myself having a really good time. I would focus on catching up to different women ahead of me an cheer them on as I found my next target. Towards the end we caught up with the walkers and unlike other races where this tends to get nasty, people were nice to each other. It could have been due to the race organization but I think it was more than that. Coming down the track to the finish, the crowd was louder than you find at most races. People were really excited for everyone that was finishing. I stood at the finished and cheered for a while and it was great to watch the smiles on the faces of the finishers. It was chilling to be a part of, again I apologize for the sappiness of this, as I write this I'm suffering from extreme dehydration and not myself. Until today I had not appreciated how nice an all women's running event can be. Sorry guys, but today I enjoyed the competition without your testosterone, too short shorts, spitting and snoting and fuzzy pits! It was just a very nice event and one I was glad I participated in. Going into this I encouraged my non running friends to join and hope that they will think about being a part of it next year.

Miles trained today: 6

Days till the Newport Half Marathon: 13

Days till the Harvard Pilgrim Maine Coast Half Marathon: 35

Days till the Downtown Jingle 5k: 63