You want your son to love you? Don't break the law! *

This past Saturday was the annual Autism 5k. Kathryn and I have run it so many years now that I feel like we've run all of them (8 now) but that's probably not true. It's just tradition now. Kathryn has always wanted to finish in under half an hour. She's made it, I have not. 26 minutes for Kathryn....31 for me. So close, closer every time really...so maybe next time! Hey, my personal goal was to finish it between 30-45 minutes. Yeah, you never know when you need that 15 minute cushion, okay...so I don't set strict goals for myself.

Also, I blame the people at the water station, who when asked three times by the guy in front of me what the mile marker was for where we were they said, "1 mile" and my thought was, "that was one mile? I'm dead." I realized later, after all hope had drained from me, that they meant one mile left. If I had known that I might have been able to make it in under thirty minutes. But really, I can't blame other people for my lack of motivation.

After I finished (and fought the strange feeling of vomiting and passing out at the same time) we waited for my friend Rosa. The Chick-Fil-A cow was there. He's there every year, I don't know why I don't remember to bring my camera, something about it being easier to leave it in the car or something like that. Well, the cow comes RIGHT OVER to where we are standing. He is within arms length and as he watches the runners come down to the finish line I reach out my hand slowly, cautiously, and I touch his back. It was like being with a celebrity and I couldn't help myself. He was so soft.

Then some Old Navy people came up and asked me if I was wearing Old Navy (reference pictures below and see if you can answer that question). Then they told us they were giving away flip flops in all the pretty colors...black, white, and brown - something tells me they used sarcasm with me. But free is free and despite the fact that I don't wear flip flops, I grabbed a pair.

Then it was off to breakfast! Ring in the return of the camera and now there are pictures:

I like to be the center of attention. In this trio, I came in last...but that's okay.

I was showing Kathryn what happens to people who don't work as a team. When you look out for number one and leave your sister in the dust...even though her legs are your whole height and she should be able to keep up...but she is weak. She = me...sadly...so sadly.

But 31 minutes is good, and I'm shaving off 20 seconds because I didn't start at the start line and with this 5k they don't time you individually, you see the clock at the finish line and the clock started when the race for everyone started. So even though you don't cross the start line at the same time, you all are being timed with one clock...does that make any sense?