4th Place is Just About as Sweet as First

Well, its summer, which means, among many other things, its now race season. Starting in March, I usually race once a month until November, then take off December, January and February, because no one likes to freeze while they run. But sadly, this year, I accidentally skipped April (I usually do the SLC ½ marathon then, but PJ was out of town, and she’s the one I do it with, so I missed it) and then May happened, and I skipped the Provo City 5k (I just don’t like that one as much) so I now have to make up those 2 races elsewhere, and do 2 races a month. I feel confident that I can do it. Anyway, this yesterday was the Springville Art City Days 5k. I love this race. It’s a relatively easy course (Except for that dang giant hill in it!) and afterwards, the post-race treats are awesome. There’s the usual fare of bananas and apples, water, etc, but they also add in fruit popsicles and ice cream bars. I had one of both of those. Then there’s always the prize giveaway, which so far I’ve not won, but I have to sometime, right?
I got to the race about 20 minutes before it started, and I was looking around for PJ, we usually meet up there beforehand. Husband had to use the restroom, so he got in line for the port-a-potty and I kept looking. Sadly I didn’t find anyone, and Husband stayed in that line forever, so eventually, I just lined up for the race by myself. The gun went off, and off I went. I felt pretty good about my pace, and even tackling the hill wasn’t awful. I slowed WAY down running up it, but at least picked things back up afterwards. As I was running, I was thinking, boy it would be great if I could finish in the top 3 of my age group. That never happens at big races, I’m just not fast enough. So the whole time I was running, I was noticing how many people were ahead of me. A lot. A whole whole lot, so I wasn’t concerned with finishing in the top of anything. So I finally get to the end, and my finishing time is 25:23. Not too shabby, I thought, especially with lately, I’ve felt like I’ve been slowing down, so that was nice. My time was 3 seconds slower than last year, practically turtle-finish! I waited for everyone else to finish, and we all grabbed our treats and settled in for the prize drawings.
There were so many cool things given this year that I would have loved, but sadly, my number wasn’t called! I was sad, but I’m pretty used to it by now. They split up the prize giveaway by giving away the medals/plaques for the top 5 fastest runners in every age group, so when they started that, I wasn’t really paying a whole of attention. They got to my age group and I was sort of listening, and then they said the 4th place person…and it was me! WHAT?! I screamed and jumped up, hardly believing it. I got my plaque, which I like. I wish it had my name, maybe I’ll go add it later myself. Haha I doubt it. But here it is:

(Oh shoot, now everyone knows my age range) Nice, eh? This is the first plaque I’ve ever gotten for running. I’ve gotten a couple of hang-on-your-neck medals, but this is my first plaque, and I’ll hang it up on the wall next to my race bibs and other medals. I am just excited that I’m not as slow as I think I am!