I forgot to mention...

Just before the race (see previous post), there was a speech, an invocation, a trumpeter playing Taps, and they had all the retired military guys (who were running in the race) do their salute while Taps was being played. Talk about a tear jerker right before having to run 3 miles! I was a wee tiny bit frustrated at first that they would make me cry right before having to expend all that energy to race! But, truly I'm glad they had such a nice little service before hand. After all, it was Memorial Day and the main purpose for the race in the first place. I am grateful to have had the chance to just take a minute to remember, be thankful for, and to pray for all those men and women who have and who still are fighting for our country!

There was also a group of new police cadets (I think it was police) who were not far behind us during the whole race. They really kept me motivated. I didn't want to end up stuck behind them because all their chanting (or whatever you wanna call it) was really keeping me going. It was cool.