race for the cure.

i ran a 5k with panera bread.

i wonder if i've mentioned that i started working at panera bread on here? well, i did. about two months ago. 

here is the whole panera group:

(i didn't know that i looked as awkward as i felt while this was being taken)

and here are the people from our cafe who ran the 5k. my friend from church got me the job. she is standing behind me in the sun glasses. 

the race started out pretty rough. i wasn't really planning on beating my personal 5k record of 29 minutes. i haven't been running as consistently as i would like, only once or twice a week for the past month or so. but i was hoping to get under 35 minutes, i thought that was reasonable. we were busy taking photos, so i started the race late. looking back, i wish i wouldn't have done that. i left the starting line at about 8:10. that means for ten minutes, hundreds of people had already started walking the race. for the first mile, i was running, walking, running, walking because it was so crowded and almost everyone was walking. it was frustrating, but i am not mad at the people who were walking. i saw so many different types of people there, it was really touching. there were lots of old ladies! at the registration booth you could pick up a piece of paper and write who you were running the race for. i found myself tearing up a few times while reading what people wrote and had pinned to their backs. one older lady was running really slow in front of me and when i got close, her paper said "me. x2" meaning she'd survived breast cancer twice, and was now running in a race. it was amazing.

the 5k was at balboa park, one of our favorite places in san diego. about halfway through the race, i noticed that we were heading toward the freeway entrance. i was in disbelief when i found myself running onto the entrance!

 isn't this crazy! i've never run on a freeway before, ever!
why would i have??

 it smelled surprisingly good down there. the air was moist, and it smelled like a forest. i had to stop and take photos, it was too beautiful not to. 

this is me and jon's bridge, at least that's what we say. this is the prettiest bridge in all of san diego. if you ever get a chance, drive down the 163 freeway at dusk in the springtime. you will not be disappointed.  it was so awesome to be able to walk right under this! it may have been a once in a lifetime opportunity for me. i wished jon was there with me, the bridge was totally up close and personal. :)

 the last mile was absolute torture. while i was running and approaching the freeway exit i thought to myself "we are pretty far down here. that can only mean one thing..." and i was right. it was uphill for at least a mile. i'm not sure this picture accurately depicts how hard it was. you can see on the right the masses running along the freeway, and then toward the left you see a little bit of the top of the hill underneath the while building. so hard! 

i made it in 34 minutes! pretty good for start/stopping in the beginning and stopping for photos of the scenery. i was in a really good mood after the race. i was really touched by all of the women and some men running for their friends, family, and themselves who had died of breast cancer or are survivors of it. i ran it in salt lake back in 2009 with spencer and my brother in law, sam. i need to remember to do this again because it was a really good feeling being around such positive people.