Hot chocolate, looking forward

Last weekend, things sorta came full circle as I ran the Hot Chocolate 5K for the second time.

That race back in 2010 was the first timed 5K I ever ran. The past few years I've done the 15K, but this year - with the half marathon coming up quickly - I decided to pull back and just go for 5.

It was a great weekend, shared with my sister Kathie, her friend (mine, too!) Carrie and my friend Linda. Kath and Carrie were running the 15, and Linda and I the 5. We spent Saturday at the Expo (and eating dinner at Frontera Grill) and pretty much all day Sunday at the race site, or traveling to and from, or - as tradition demands - eating.

So different from just three years ago. Back then, I rocked a 16-minute mile. This time out, I finished in 40 minutes 56 seconds - still not consdered fast by any means, but exactly nine minutes faster than 2010, at a 13:11 minute mile. I will take it.

It's pretty wild, this running thing. Sometimes I am still confused and bewildered that I do it. But I do, and I love it. Not always as it's happening, but most certainly when I am done.

So that wee 5K leads into the main event - the fourth half marathon of 2013. In a few days I will head back to Disney World, to close out the year the same way I started it. Running 13.1 miles through the happiest place on earth.

Updates to come. I cannot wait.