WO5K

With Finley starting school this year an opportunity to work part time at a school library fell into my lap. I was super excited to be back in a library and that it worked so well with our new schedule. After working for only a few weeks at my new school, I found out that the librarian I was working for  was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is taking 6 months off of work while she is receiving treatment. I thought one way to show my support for her and her family would be to run in the Women's Only 5k. Another one of my friends and former UNC women's soccer player has also been battling breast cancer since the beginning of the year. This race was for both of these amazing women! 

Originally we had five ladies running in our race together, but alas our numbers dwindled to just two. But Carrie and I were super excited to do our first 5k together. 

This is such a big race here! And super fun. Lots of freebies and fun events going on before the race. David was making fun of us for going around collecting all the free stuff. But we were having a good time! 

Here is our pre-race photo! David and I normally run several times a week, but not as far as a 5k. So I had to do a little bit of training to get ready. 

Can you spot me? I had been timing myself and trying to get faster as we got closer to race day. I was consistently running a 5k at home around 28 min. My goal was to beat that time. 

Well with all the excitement of the race, the other runners, and people cheering us on, I was able to set a PR of 26:11! I was super proud and even got 2nd in my age category (46th overall). 

Carrie also rocked it out and set a new PR for herself on a 5k course. Way to go Carries! 

 I don't think I will be doing another race for a while as it was sooo cold out there, but we enjoyed supporting a wonderful cause and honoring our loved ones who are battling cancer. If anyone out there is interested in helping out the librarian I work for, a website has been set up to help raise money for her family while she has to be out of work receiving treatment. Here is the link:

https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/qyk6/paula-ward-breast-cancer-battle