Dear Readers,

This past Saturday, I slow trudged a 5K.

YAY ME!

To be brutally honest, I think I did 3 miles not 3.1.

The course was not clearly marked, so I just stopped trudging when I saw the enthusiastic group of cheerleaders at the end of the third lap, and called it done.

I am extremely PROUD of this 5K because I REALLY wanted to stop at several points during the run, and I kept thinking about my daughter and how I want to run this with her eventually. I thought about Leanne, who told me “when you have a race to train for, you train more consistently”,  I started thinking about my running buddy, Susie who ran my first 5K with me and encouraged me over that first finish line. I thought about my dear friend, Dr. Keya Howard who runs marathons and heard her in my head, “you got this, you know you can do it, you know you can run just a little longer, it’s not as if it’s 13.1 miles… GO DO IT! I thought about my buddy Professor Pena who when he heard I was doing the 10(miles)20(bands) a few years back, he said, I have a new name for you, “It’s Jazzy Jennnnnnn” – all those voices kept me going.

Eventually, the voices subsided and it was just me, alone, being lapped by a 7 year old wearing pigtails and pink leg warmers, but as I said to myself on Saturday, “I can only run my race, I can’t control the other people and what race they are running or how fast they are running it, or how long they trained or what lap THEY are on, I can only concentrate on me, and my progress and for me this Saturday was a tremendous win.  I finished.

It’s a race for charity and for fun, so I was pleasantly surprised by a medal at the end!

I dropped my hat while I was running the first or second lap, and my far faster friend,  Will, was right behind me and he picked it up for me and I am very grateful because if I had stopped, I am not so sure I would have started up again.

There were no hills, which makes it far easier to run, but no less of a win.

I am actively training for my next 5K where my goal will be to best my own personal record.

I may succeed, and I may fail, but I will be running my own race and not worried about the other runners around me.

I think that could be applied to life in general, am I right?

Think About It.