This morning was the Golden Gallop, a race in a nearby burb that supports local schools. The course (and cause) have bumped around a lot over the past few years. The first time we ran the Gallop, it was a 10K and you did two loops of the same course (never my favorite). But now it’s changed and it’s 5.28 miles (a mile is 5280 ft) and it’s a loop course going from downtown and back.
Matt and I signed up for it a while ago. You always know that the weather in Denver in October is unpredictable at best, but you always hope for the best and really this wasn’t too bad – just COLD – but at least it wasn’t rainy like yesterday. Matt unfortunately, woke up with an upset stomach (really upset) and it didn’t calm down by the time we met up with friends at their house.
So after hmming and hawing, I decided to go ahead without him. I’m never much for hilly courses (I run a lot of treadmill and suburban streets), but this was nice for a hilly course in that it started up and finished down. A couple miles into the course, with the sun shining on me, I had to pull my sweatshirt off and carry it. Luckily my friend and his boys rode up on their bikes a mile or so before the end and took it off my hands. I could have made it but I was glad to be rid of it too. I was also glad I’d packed my inhaler in the little pack I carry my phone in – for whatever reason, I had to puff on it twice during the race. On Friday, I ran 4+ miles without a puff.
Today, my race outfit was pink. I frequently wear pink without a specific reason, but today, I wore pink in honor of my friend who was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier this year. Race for the Cure was today and I would have loved to have joined her team, but this had come up first, so I wore pink in her honor instead.
The best to your friend.