479

I did the 5K WTC Run To Remember yesterday on Governor's Island, and it couldn't have been a nicer day. The temperature was around 70 game at race time, which was about 10 AM.

I did some race preparation earlier in the week, running about have the length of the race, and I was still feeling it going into yesterday. (As you can tell, I am no running professional.) But I decided to suck it up and get out there and run the course.

I took the ferry over from Manhattan, and about 1,000 people took part. I really didn't know anyone else running, but I did have the pleasure of meeting Mary Fetchet, who runs the Voices of September 11th, the group I was running for. I told her about the funds I was able to raise, and she was pleased to hear that. I also talked to a couple of reporters from Connecticut who were covering the day. (The press always finds me!)

I was pleasantly surprised to run into Christina, one of my Trivia Night regulars, who was also running yesterday, and her father. It was nice to know I was wasn't running totally alone.

I made a decision not to try to top the number I put up last year, and that I was going to take it easy and just have a good run. I put on the iPod and hit the road. And it went really smoothly. I stopped twice for water, and the course was really nice, mostly through the tree-lined section of the island. (It was more in the open spaces last year.)

When I got to the finish line, I could see that my time was about a minute longer than last year, and that was fine. When I crossed, the race's host announced each finisher's name. When I finally stopped, I felt a thousand times better than I did last year, and I really felt like I could keep going. Out of 626 runners who took part in the 5K event, I finished 479th.

Nothing to shout from the mountains about, but I'm still glad I did it.

Awards were handed out after the race, and the winners' times were about half the time I finished in. But I was really proud to have taken part in the run for the second straight year, and I'll be back again next year. And I thank you all from the bottom of my heart who supported me and helped me raise some money for a very worthwhile cause.

And you have until September 12th if you'd like to make a donation. Please follow this link to do so.