A winged creature, and yet quite heavy

Not all creatures with wings are built to fly. Ostriches and penguins spring to mind. So I guess I shouldn't feel bad that I am far too heavy to fly, even though I had wings on Saturday night.

The bad news: today's weigh-in said 213.8. Grr.

The good news: I had a great, fun run on Saturday night.

Dee, Meg, Linda, Shelly and I participated in the first Firefly Run in Chicago. In the spirit of the event - an illuminated night-time run through the city - we agreed to wear wings and other wacky things. Because I am clearly out of my mind, I ran in a wig.

 My sister Pat said I looked like Pauley Perette from NCIS; I took this as a compliment.

It was so much fun to dress up and be goofy for a 5K! Here are my buds, with Montrose Beach as a backdrop, in all their finery.

Mama Dee, Meg, Linda and Shelly, winged and ready to race. 

The setting couldn't have been more beautiful. There were a few race glitches - such as a terminal line at bag check pickup and no water at the finish line - but we had a great time.

 The five of us, from the back. In the back row are Linda, Dee and me; front row is Meg and Shelly.

Me, in my wig. And tie-dyed compression socks. And wings. And a borrowed tutu.

Overall, I'd call the race a success. My only true goal in any race is to finish without injury, so this one was a good one. I continue to deal with complications from plantar fasciitis, which causes me some nasty heel pain, but it didn't get any worse throughout the race. Score!

Did I do well? Not particularly. Two years into this running thing and I am still not able to run a 5K in less than 40 minutes. This race found me clocking in at exactly 43 minutes, running a 13:53/mile. I came in 1451 out of 1862 overall (which means there were more than 400 people slower than I) and was 27 out of 44 in my age group.

So in all honesty, it was not a good time ... but I sure had a good time. Sometimes ya gotta focus on what's important.