Labor of Love 5K

On Labor Day morning, I got together with my friends Amy, Liberty, and Angelika, to run the Labor of Love 5K in Downers Grove, IL.

 It was a small race, only about 200 runners, which was a fun and welcome change for me.

I felt really good that morning and hoped to reach my goal of running a 10 minute pace throughout the race. When I saw Kevin at the half way point (where he took this picture) I realized I was actually pretty close to my goal!

Soon I reached the finish line where our cheering section was waiting, ran through the finish, and looked at my watch. I finished in 31 minutes and 20 seconds. That is a 10:05 minute per mile pace! I was so happy that I earned my first PR by shaving 2 minutes off my time, and later I even found out that I finished 6th place in my age division!

When I ran through the shoot I was met by Angelika who had finished about 3 minutes before me. It was her first race and she was looking and feeling really good!

It wasn't long after that when we saw Liberty coming through. She slaughtered her goal time and was so excited about it that when we took this picture, not a single part of her was touching the ground!

 Next Amy came running in, accomplishing her goal to finish her first 5K ever!!! Go AMY!

It was so much fun running this race with such amazing ladies and I was proud to be a part of so many firsts!

When we cooled off, they offered us chips and salsa from Chili's, Pizza, fruit and bread, and water. Brooklyn was pretty excited about the pizza, but not nearly as excited as she was to see Miss-something-or-other! She told the poor girl her entire life story (thankfully it was pretty short), complemented her crown, and told her about her stuffed sheep before we finally pulled her away :)

It was an amazing race and I hope to do it again next year... but not before thanking my awesome cheer section and my supportive husband for helping me accomplish yet another life goal! Thanks Kev! You are the BEST!