Prairie Inn Pioneer 8 km - January 11th, 2009 -

What an amazing day!  This event was so well organized and executed!  Kelly and I arrived fairly early to find parking and pick up our race numbers and timing chips (so exciting!).  The running community is truly one of the kindest, happiest, most supportive groups of people I have ever had the pleasure to spend time with.  The energy was so positive and everyone there was excited for the race.  There were people of all ages, sizes and fitness levels.  I finished the course in one hour.  We really took our time and enjoyed the experience and were careful to listen to twinges of pain in the body which required several longer walk breaks, but that's ok.  For me it's all about going the distance, not so much how long it takes me to do it.  We had a wonderful impromptu picnic of bagels and cream cheese, oranges, cookies, veggies, Gatorade and hot chocolate kindly provided by Thrifty Foods.  On our way home we went to a fabulous Health and Wellness fair in Sidney put on by www.siwc.org.  It was a great way to end the day.  It's now 4pm and I am out of my epsom salt bath and into my penguin pajamas for a wee bit of a nap :)

"When people ask me why I run, there's not really a reason, its just the adrenalin when you start, and the feeling when you cross that finish line, and know that you are a winner no matter what place you got." - Courtney Parsons