Pride and Remembrance Run

Finishing up our June festival of 5ks was the Pride Run, which is becoming an annual event for us. We first ran it in 2006, when we were so slow we came in right before the band that was bringing up the rear. Last year, we wimped out and walked the 3k instead of running the 5k as planned. This year, we're happy to report we were even fast enough that the police still had traffic waiting at the cross streets when we passed!

The Pride Run is always a very fun event. There are always people in costume. There have been groups of (male) brides, (male) Dorothys, and cowboys in the past. Several of our friends did the race with us. Missy went as Wonder Woman. Our dragon boat teammates including Ashifa wore rainbow grass skirts. Sadly(?), I got there too late to grab a skirt. We decided to ride our bikes to the run and Missy's bike had a pedal malfunction and I ended up having to wait for the bus with the bike and got to the race just in time (to avoid the skirt).

Ashifa points out our bib numbers and wonders who

the keener was that signed us up so early. I don't know.

David and Paul also did not partake in the grass skirts,

but got into the theme with their Hawaiian shorts. They were

walking, so they offered to be our sherpas and carry

our backpacks so we could avoid the gear check line.

It was a hot day. Unlike most 5ks, the Pride Run starts at the civilized hour of 10 a.m. However, in late June, that usually means it's a little warm. But we managed to do quite well in the race. Shif came in at 32:22, which was exactly one minute faster than her time at the Runway Run two weeks ago! I arrived in 36:05. My goal had been 37 minutes, after my 37:49 finish at the Runway Run, so I was very happy. It was a great way to kick off Pride weekend. We celebrated with the crew at a patio with a pitcher of sangria and breakfast!