Sint Elisabeth's Charity Run

It's that time of the year again...time for the Sint Elisabeth's Charity Run. Actually, this is a rather momentous occasion! It happens to be the 20th Anniversary of the run. After my less than stellar performance last year, I was determined to do better. We were blessed with an absolutely gorgeous Friday morning for the event. Between that and the fact that all proceeds go to help out Sint Elisabeth's Special Needs school, I had all the motivation I needed to get out there and really run. Russ signed up for one of the the longer legs of the race, but I stuck to the 5K. (You can sign up for as long as 25K, but that's a tad extreme for me.) Anyhoo, when Russ and the rest of the overachievers trotted into Peer, I joined in the fun. I was fresh as a daisy, so it was all they could do to keep up with me. (Don't tell anyone, but I had to slow my pace down a tad so that I didn't embarrass them.) I kept up my 9 minute mile for the entire 5K and made such an impressive finish, they not only awarded me a huge trophy, but they also asked me to serve as Master of Ceremony for next years event. OK, maybe it didn't go exactly like that. I did join in with Russ and the gang at the 5K mark. After that, it all gets a little fuzzy. It must have been all that wheezing and panting. I had flash backs to last years event. I did keep up a better pace this year, though. Russ ran at my speed and kept encouraging me, so that helped distract me a lot. The scenery was just as pretty as last year, and the horses and cattle in fields along the road ran in circles and cheered us on. The locals did the same. I finished without embarrassing myself too badly, so I left with a feeling of accomplishment. I didn't have my trusty photographer there this year (she had to go to school), but I did spot a couple of people taking pics along the way. If I can get my hands on one, I'll add it to this post, but only if it's one from the early part of the race. No one wants to see what I looked like by the end. It wasn't pretty.