I did it!
If I may toot my own horn, I ran in the Gum Tree 10K race here in Tupelo on Saturday. Like the Apostle Paul, “I finished my course.” And I ran the whole distance. Actually, I’m quite proud of myself. There were nearly 1,200 runners, and I placed 419th, running the 6.2 miles in 1.07.42.
It was a very neat experience. Along the route, there were people lining the streets cheering us on. Of course, the water brigade was handing us the cups without us missing a stride. I even had some personal fans at the finish line to congratulate me. I know that I’m bragging, but I checked the results board, and there were only 20 participants that were older than I am that beat my time. Not bad, huh? I figure if I can lose another 15 pounds, and get to 195, I’ll be able to run it in less than an hour.The Gum Tree is one of the most popular 10K races in the country, and people come from all over to run in it. In fact, there were several here for the event that are training for the China Olympics. Can you believe that the winner of the race completed it in about 28 minutes? Unbelievable. I think he was from Tanzania or some other African country. .
As the starting gun sounded, I took off surrounded by this mass of people. After a block or two, I looked down at my Polar timer on my wrist and was shocked to realize that I was running about 8 mph. At first, I thought that the calibration was off as I usually run between 5.5 and 6.5 mph. And then it dawned upon me that two things were happening. First of all, the adrenalin had kicked in—that rush resulting from actually running in a real race. But the second thought that occurred to me was that I was running with the crowd, and it was so easy to run faster when everyone else was running beside me at the same pace. If I had the time and space here, I could preach a little bit about this. There is power in unity, and doing it together!
We were very proud of you as well!
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Thank you for the encouragement and support. It was great to see you all there as I crossed the finish line.
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Way to go, Bro. Judd! Running can be very addictive and it's a great way to stay in shape. When I run in the early morning, it's usually just me and God (with an occasional coyote) and I love that time!
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Thank you, Kathy. You and Les have been an inspiration to me. I'm hoping that you and Les can come to our 55th Alumni Homecoming Celebration on August 30-31, and participate in the Mansion 5k Run. I know that you're a marathon runner and Les is a long-distance biker, so a 5K wouldn't be much of a challenge to you, except to improve your time. If you folks come, I'll consider going for a half-marathon. I'm for sure going to go the "extra mile" and do 10K. Actually, I just thought of something...the Tupelo Running Club is also sponsoring the Tupelo Marathon on the 31st. You could enter that race as well... The 5K would be a warm-up! I'm sure the race will be very early in the morning...church doesn't start until 10 A.M.
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Thanks for your confidence in me, Bro. Judd!! But unless the marathon starts VERY early and you have a special place in church for VERY stinky people, I don't think I could do both by 10:00 on Sunday morning! A half marathon that Saturday is very tempting, though. I just crossed the 1200 mile mark for this year so my training is on the mark.
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Congrats Bro Judd!! I did not realize you ran this race. Keep it up! Our 55th anniversary run is just around the corner!
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Amanda, thanks for the encouragement! I need it. The Mansion 5K run is going to be a great event for the Mansion.
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Hope you and Les can come. Let us know. We sure appreciate you folks and all you have done to bless TCMM.
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I'm proud of you Bro. Judd! Maybe some of the rest of us should join you in this effort. Then again, maybe we'll just drink a snow cone and watch from the side lines!
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Come on now! I'm counting on you.
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