meaningful miles

i've mentioned this before, but somedays when i can get my butt out of bed i will go and run for a better cause with Back On My Feet. it's an amazing organization that empowers people through themselves. i am a big proponent of making yourself a better person.

this past saturday BOMF held their second annual Meaningful Miles 5k. my friend bari was in town and i suckered conned got her to join in running the race with me. a few of the girls that i am running the ragnar race with in october were also going to run the 5k and follow it up with a few miles. (did i mention i am running a ragnar...oh yea, i guess i should write about that).

matching tank tops and all. we do this a lot.

bari and i made the executive decision to eat some pizza and a salad the night before and then get up early in the morning and run before the race. running after the race sounded awesome, but we both knew we would rather be done once the 5k was over. so at 530 in the morning we awoke groggy, but ready to pound out some miles. bari doesn't do hills. she lives in savannah, there are no hills.  we started a loop out of my house - straight up hill - and around the the beltline - gradual uphill - to a downhill into O4W park for the start of the race. just over 4.5 miles.

the race was very well organized. we picked up our packet about 10 minutes before the start, because someone, ahem me, forgot to pick them up beforehand. i had no idea of the elevation of the course, but the website should have said run uphill, run a plateau, run a small downhill, run another uphill, then finish downhill, instead of putting the course map online. but the comradery throughout the race is amazing.

i told bari at the first hill that i wouldn't leave her since i roped her into running the race. but she so graciously let me sprint and finish the end of the race. i cheered her into the finish line and completing her second ever 5k. i was one proud friend!

we then hit up the bananas and apples. the apples. can we take a minute. holy. they were absolutely amazing. we also got some yogurt samples that are currently sitting in my fridge with about 20 other yogurts waiting to be consumed. soon my lovelies. soon.

we walked the mile back to my house and were home before 9 am. 7.65 miles before most people are up on a saturday.

we couldn't have asked for better weather for a really truly honorable race to be able to run.

the rest of saturday was spent wearing matching clothes, going to see a movie like the stars at phipps, eating popcorn for lunch, rice bowls for dinner, and a whole lot of people watching.

cuffed denim, chacos, white tank? you bet.