They Must Be Getting Slower

Because there is NO WAY that I'm getting that much faster.

Yes it's true I did set a new PR (or personal record for non runners out there) on Saturday at the AMPS 5k in Pensauken, NJ. I crossed the line in an even 21 minutes and 21 seconds which shattered my previous best time of 21 minutes 56 seconds turned in at the Gaithersburg New Year's Day 5k. That was my favorite 5k and the last before LBJ (Little Bloggerman Jr) decided to poke his head out the following year).

To give you an idea of how I'm not really built for speed, I ran all 3 miles in under 7 minutes which is the first time I've ever done that. Add to that my first mile was clocked at 6 minutes and 29 seconds which is easily the fastest mile I've turned in, well ever. So that had me pretty amped up (no pun intended).

But there was one more thing that topped all of these. It seems there were only two people to finish ahead of me. That's right...little (fat) old me came in 3rd place (2nd male finisher) in the entire race of 400 people.

Now I know what you're going to say, and no, I DID NOT CHEAT!  I did however have two things working in my favor. First was that I was among the first five people to cross the starting line and in a race that isn't chip timed, starting position means everything. Second, it didn't hurt that of the 400 or so participants, about 300 of them were walkers.

But most importantly was that the race raised valuable funds and awareness of Amplified Musculoskeletal Pain Syndrome (AMPS) which one of my cousins suffers from. It's a very painful disease that sucks all the energy out of you. In fact she was having another tough bout a few days before we showed up but luckly started feeling better the  day before the race. She, along with her siblings and some friends walked/ran the entire distance along with a bunch of other alumni from thier recovery program. Her Mom and Dad along with Mrs. Bloggerman and LBJ walked the course too and turned in a rather impressive time of under an hour!

I'm really proud of everybody who participated but particularly those who have battled the disease and continue to fight through the pain to live normal lives! Finally, my cousin won for "Best Fundraiser" for the event. She raised over $11,000 for the treatment program!