Today I ran the 4th Annual Birthday Got Miles 5K.  This was the second timed 5K I have done.  I was just glad that I finished before 30 minutes.  Okay it was not much faster than 30 minutes, but I finished 3.1 miles (5K) in less than 30 minutes.

22 Janet Chung Auberry 2618 42 F 12 0-99 29:53.79 9:37/M

I was thinking back to around this time last year and I knew a couple of other runners but that was it.  I had been running through emotions since I was 14 or 13.  The first race I did was early in February of 2014.  In 2014 I ran two 5K's, 1 10K, 1 half of a half marathon, 3 half marathons.   This was my first race in 2015 and I got in 22nd place (of around 100).

This was a birthday race or Miles Alexander and the money we spent goes to Poverello House in Fresno.  I have subbed for Miles and heard about this so I joined in on the 4th annual race.  

 This is Miles mom Michelle Alexander who I have run a few races with.  I am now faster than her but at the Heavenly half last year when I ran it at 11:30 pace, she was nearby the whole time.  At the end of the race, we were given a raffle ticket and the tickets were drawn at the end of the race for most folks, they drew my number.   I won a BNB inspired tie blanket.   It has paw prints on one side and the other is a green and white dog material.  I think it is about twin bed sized.

The ones putting the race on wanted a photo of me with the blanket.  This is the photo I sent them.  It is warm, no lying.  Not sure how to use it yet, but I will find a way somewhere.  

These photos were taken by people taking photos during the race, I was near many others right here so I think it was during the first mile.  

This photo was at the turn around point of the race, it shows how I looked at the point of the turn around.  I was pretty alone there but I was keeping myself close to others.  I really was having trouble keeping my running apps working during the run.  I thought that happened up here but I was still having problems down there also in 3G turf.  It must be the age of the phone now.  

I do appreciate the others driving back and forth to town in order to run is frustrating.  I like running near home since it is an area I know and know well.  I do not like having to drive just so I can run with others.  I need to work on things like that.   The air is so much better at 4500 feet than at 350 feet from sea level.  

This is the boy whose 17th birthday was celebrated with the race .

I ran the Jingle Bell run on December 13 that I realized I didn't blog on yet.  I kept waiting for photos or results.  I did find my results but never photos so I just didn't around to posting it.  This race was a 5K and 2 mile walk. It had 1503 people who ran the 5K.  It had another 1200 or so who did the 2 mile part.  The 2 mile folks were not timed so there is not a number for how many ran that.  It was cold and dry the day of the race.

These photos are at the beginning of the race while I was waiting for the race to start.  Once they started the race, there was no room to move due to bodies in the way.  I did notice that many families did this race as a family and hung out with those that they knew only.  I saw a couple of students and a few teachers as part of this.  I also saw a few that attend Northside Christian Church that I knew.  I however did run this without many friends.  I knew kind of a few others who ran this but I did not know them well enough to engage in a conversation with them.  There were three women running this from Woodward Park Baptist Church.  Also I knew two folks at an Aid Station also.  

This was my official time for the race, I didn't push myself but also did not slack on it.  I hope the next time I run a timed 5K that I can get lower than 30 minutes for the race.  It would also help if the race is not overloaded as this one was.   There were a few times that I couldn't run through a crowd of folks because they were taking up the whole road.  I do not appreciate that about some races.  They need to space out runners better so that faster runners are ahead and slower runners are in the back of the pack.  I am not sure how to do that unless you only let 200 people start every 5 minutes or so.  It's crazy when 1500 folks are all starting at the same time.  Mass craziness and the runners feel like animals being pushed through corrals .  The finish areas often feel the same even if the race area is much wider.