Living Strong in Second Place

Do you see the glass as half full or as half empty? I usually see it as half full, so I can say that today, I finished second in my age group at the Livestong Dolphin Challenge 10K at Sandbridge, Virginia. If I saw the glass as half empty, I could say that I finished last in my age cohort, because there were just two men (and no women) age 60 and above in the 10K. But the way I see it, the guys that finished last were the ones who slept in, or sat on the couch all day, right? So, why would I want to run a 10K just 6 days after finishing the long and arduous Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure? Well, consider these reasons:

1. I wanted to wear the shirt with my sister's picture in one more fighting cancer event.
2. I'd not yet done a race as a 60 year old guy
3. My sister Ann's birthday was a few days ago. It felt good to start and end the week of her birthday doing an event like this.
4. The last time all of my siblings and I will ever be together was here at Sandbridge almost exactly three years ago for Ann's 60th birthday. Now she is gone, and I was doing this race as a 60 year old.
So a couple of days ago, my damaged foot (severely bruised toes) from the 3-Day feeling much better, I decided to sign up for the Livestrong event. I have not run in five months (since the Monument Avenue 10K), so I did a walk - run mix, with the emphasis on the walk. It took me an hour and 17 minutes, although I added about 0.2 miles to the race when I missed the turnaround point. I was happy with my time, given 60 miles last weekend, my continuing plantar fasciitis, my toe injury, and my lack of running. I may be old, I may be slow, but at least I was on the go! And I did finish second in my age group, regardless.

This is a true run by the ocean. This was the view just a few meters from the start of the race:
Before the start, I asked a lady to take a photo of me wearing the same shirt with my sister Ann's photo on it that I wore on the third day of the Komen 3-Day last Sunday.
Just 200 meters into the race, this is what the field looked like. Most of the people were doing a 5K, but it seemed like at least 50-70 people ran the 10K:
The route ran right up Sand Fiddler Road, with the ocean just yards away the entire 10K:
This being the beach, you can find some pretty cool decorations along the ocean front homes, like this rockfish at the 5K mark, and this cool dolphin:
Here I am holding my trophy, and a close up of my second place trophy: