2k Race for a Cure race report

This past Saturday I ran the Jessamine County 2k Race for a Cure (a race title that always reminds me of Michael Scott's Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race for the Cure), which was part of the Jessamine Jamboree festivities. I love the Jessamine Jamboree!

I started off the morning by watching September 11th footage, which was not a good idea! It was pretty horrifying watching the minute by minute play by play of the events, and I had such a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. What a horrible day for so many people in this country and around the world.

At 8:30 a.m. I headed down to the race site to pick up my packet. It was a pretty stormy morning, and on my way home it began to absolutely pour. It was good though because the storm moved through quickly and the rest of the day was pretty clear and sunny.

Last year the race started at 10:00am, but they encouraged everyone to arrive by 9:45 since Main Street would be closed for the race and then the Jamboree parade. I planned to leave the house at 9:30 to get to the start in plenty of time, but "digestive issues" delayed me a bit and I didn't get started on my run to the race until 9:40. I was sure I would be ok though, because I could be at the race start by 9:50 in time for the 10:00 start.

I ran down Main Street towards Lake Mingo, and when I was about .1 miles away, I heard a siren and saw the first couple of runners heading right towards me. Oh no!! I guess the race did start at 9:45! I wasn't really sure what to do, so I just ran to the corner where runners were turning onto Main Street and turned around joined them, cutting off about .1 miles of the course. My adrenaline was really pumping and I easily settled into the third place spot. However, I had no intention of "taking" third place since I didn't run the whole course. I ran pretty steadily the whole way, and I loved passing by our house and seeing Chad and Emma cheering me on from the front yard! As I neared the finish, two girls (an older lady and a younger girl) were really booking it, so I dropped back so that they could take 3rd and 4th, since they actually earned it!

I finished in 8:33 (7:07 pace) so I was pretty pleased. I beat myself up for a bit about missing the start, but the reality is that if I would have left our house any earlier I probably would have pooped in my pants at some point during the run. I will gladly take a DQ over that, especially when it comes to a local 2k race!

Chad and Emma walked down to meet me at the finish, and then we walked home and got ready to watch the parade. Our friend Marilyn happened to be downtown to take care of some things at the post office, which is caddy-corner to our house, so we asked her if she wanted to watch the parade with us. It was a really fun morning sitting on the porch with Chad, Emma and Marilyn, drinking coffee and watching the folks of Jessamine County stream by on parade floats. Nicholasville is a very, very interesting community - there is extreme wealth, but there is also extreme poverty. I would say that the majority of the residents are lower-to-middle class blue collar folks. Marilyn is from Canada (but has lived in the U.S. for years) but it was still funny to see her reaction to good ole American things like kids in pageants, elementary school cheerleaders, and politicians on floats.

Chad and I have loved our time in Nicholasville, and it was kind of sad to think that this was our last Jamboree! We spent the rest of the day enjoying the festivities - we got burgers from the Cattleman's Association and then deep-fried moonpies (on a stick) from a vendor.

I ended the day by staying up until 11:30 (unheard of!) watching more 9/11 footage on the History Channel. I was completely enthralled with it, and I could not quite believe that this actually happened in NYC 9 years ago. It seemed so surreal, but I remember sitting in my 11th grade political science class in Clear Lake, TX watching it all happen live. When we go to New York in November we are going to visit Ground Zero, which I am sure will be very moving.

Overall, Saturday was such a fantastic day spending time with Chad and Emma and celebrating our little town. I know this is cheesy, but I was reminded of how very grateful I am for the freedoms that we have in America.