2010 MS Senior Olympics

Hard to believe the Olympics have come and gone. It seems like it took forever for them to get here.The morning started off already muggy at 5:00 which was the time my alarm went off. When we arrived at MS College this was the scene. It looked pretty peaceful with just a few people meandering around.But before I knew it, it was time to start the 5k. I was glad to see a lot more participants this year than last.Finishing the first of my 5 races for the day. I was happy with my time. I took over a minute off of last years time. I'm still not crazy about this course tho. It's so hilly.In the end, I took gold along with a new friend Gisele. She took gold for TN. The beauty of the Senior Olympics is you can participate even if you are from another state.Next was the 100m dash. I use to run this race when I was in high school and hadn't run it since. I was in lane 5 and was pretty nervous at the start but as soon as the gun went off I enjoyed it so much. It was like a breeze compared to a 5k.I think there was almost a smile on my face at the finish. In the end I took gold for 1st place in my age group. The winner was in the 60-65 age group. What an amazing runner she was.The start of the 800m dash. I have never run this race before. I was hoping for more participants. I think there was another heat of other age groups after our race.Once again another gold medal. We three girls were getting use to this.Gisele and I look like we were best of friends. I think this is just one example of what the Senior Olympics is. Meeting new friends and supporting them.I decided to do the 200 m dash as well even tho I never liked this race in high school. I started off in lane 1 which is staggered farther behind all the other competitors. It was pretty neat that I could see who all was in front of me. As we rounded the curve and hit the straight way I found myself in 1st place. I couldn't believe it! Maybe the 200 would be my favorite of the day.And the final race of the day was the 400m. I had never ran this one before either. At the end of this race I was really feeling exhausted. I almost decided to scratch but I thought maybe I could just jog around it. In this pic I was in third place but luckily I still received gold for my age group. At this point my hamstrings and quads felt like they were about to lock up. Luckily that didn't happen.I didn't really think about it at the time but this would be the last time we three would be on the podium together.After it was all over, just chillin out with a couple of great runners. Boy were my legs tired.

In the end I'm so glad we had taken our lawn chairs to sit in-between races. Also, I was so glad I had taken bananas and Teddy grahams to eat or I don't think I would have made it. My two slices of toast at 5:00 a.m. had been long gone.

We really got lucky with the weather. A storm was moving in just as we were finishing up the awards. When we finally got home I got Dave to take a pic of my awards. You can tell from the pic just how tired I was. I think I took about a 2 hour nap.

This was such a great event to participate in. To see lots of older folks out there running just amazed me. I hope if I make to my 70 or 80's I can still do this.

Now I just hope I qualified for some of the events in Houston, TX next year. I'm not sure when I'll find out but I'll definitely post on it when I do.