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Today was the Calusa Bug Chase 5k that I walked/jogged in with my two daughters. Here are the three of us just before the race:

allofus

Our shoe time chip tags:

shoes

A quick picture before the start:

side

The beginning of the walk was along part of the trail that goes through Calusa Nature Center. It was SO beautiful.

trailfront

And here was the view to our side:

trailside

Here’s my youngest daughter, Madelyn, running toward the finish line:

madelyn

Here’s my oldest daughter, Marisa, right after the race:

marisa

And here’s me, running toward the finish line. Yes, running!

running

That may not be the most flattering picture, but I was so friggen proud of myself today that I don’t care! I walked for the first two miles and alternated between jogging and walking for the last mile, with a RUN toward the finish. I finished in just over 50 minutes, so that means I was about 7 minutes quicker today than I was for the Turkey Trot back in November. Oh, you may recall from yesterday that my biggest concern was going to be that I would be the slowest one out there. I was also concerned that there would be a time limit on the race and they would disqualify me (or us) if we didn’t finish under a certain time. Well, they didn’t disqualify us, but Marisa and I were the last ones to finish, and you know what? It didn’t bother me at all! I’m stoked that I am now able to jog as much as I am (and run at the end!) considering back in November I had doubts as to whether or not I could even WALK that far. See, it’s little improvements like this that gives me the confidence to believe that someday I will be able to run an entire 5k. :-D I’ve still a long way to go, but if I just keep progressing, I will get there! (By the way, Madelyn ran ahead of us early on and finished in 35 minutes! I was so proud of them both!)

After the race we went to eat breakfast at Bob Evans…oh boy at all the unhealthy choices there! I did good though. I had their ‘lite eggs’ scrambled, dry wheat toast, a 1/2 slice of ham, and lowfat yogurt with fresh strawberries and bananas….mmmm was it good!

One last note. I updated yesterday’s post with a new goal for the year (and Perfect 10). Now that I’m bike riding, I’d like to bike at least 300 miles this year. So, I’ll be logging that at the bottom of my posts along with the walking and 5Ks. It will help me to keep track of it all.

18.6 miles walked/jogged/ran since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 500)
6.4 miles biked since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 300)
1 5K finished since January 1st. (2010 Goal: 12)