Newnan's Lake 15K

What a great morning! For whatever reason this is my favorite Gainesville race. It's simple, no frills out and back 15K (9.3 miles) on Newnan's Lake in East Gainesville. Florida Track Club puts it on and I just love it. This year was especially high inducing!

The weather was really perfect. Years past it's been colder, which is fine once you get going but the pre-race always feels a bit miserable. This was perfect before and during.

My goal for the day was 1:12:00, I ran a 1:10:51. Nice, felt great!

I did get passed at the very end by two girls, which put me 14th overall woman finisher (I think!). I came in 4th in my age group so I just missed an award... oh well! I was stoked by my time so that's what matters. If I had been one month older I would have placed 2nd, so that was encouraging!

Jacque, Diana and Chrissy all ran so we rode to the race together. All of them have been resting more than running lately, but I thought they all did great! It was nice to have friends around for a run that could be happy for each other and enjoy a great day.

The first call I placed was a text to Tyler, after all he was the one that helped me decide on my goal time. I swear the 2nd half of the race I was just hoping to finish below my goal so I could tell him the good news. It's such a great feeling to have someone that knows exactly what it takes to meet a goal, be proud of you. Don't get me wrong Bill and my friends and family are so great at rooting for me, but when someone has done all the hard work and can come alongside you while you do yours and genuinely be impressed and proud... priceless! His confidence in me is one of the main themes of this season of running. I really can't imagine this training without him.

After the race Bill and I drove down to Orlando to take Amy's kids to the Science Center. During the drive down I told Bill that I don't know of a better feeling than a post race bliss, it's really one of the best ways to start my morning! The Science Center was fun, I think the kids had a blast. Truthfully I'd rather run 30 miles everyday than be a parent to 3 kids at this stage in my life. It's completely exhausting, and I question that I will ever get to the place of wanting children. I love kids, I really do, but I know that I would want to give them 100% of me, and I don't think I could sustain that. But that is a whole other type of blog!!