The best of times and worst of times

Finally got my hands on my mom's SD card, so I officially have some photographic evidence of my 1/2 marathon.  So for your viewing pleasure, this post will serve to outline some of the best and worst of this activity called running.

So to begin with, the best-

Starting line:  Spoiler alert- the guy with the 1 on his chest, in the light blue shorts wins it all.  And he's in his 50's.  I'm impressed.

Nearing the end of the race, about 12.5 miles in and just heading back into the park.  Thumbs up for the camera, because I'm cool like that, squinting because I forgot my sunglasses. And, you know, it was really sunny.

 Not moving fast, but at the same time, not standing still.  

 In your face, Mommy

 Super awesome participation medal-  Woot!!

 My beautiful and supportive family

And now for the worst-

This stuff is from last night. An unexpected negative aspect of running outside is the speed at which your body hits the ground after you catch your foot on some poorly laid asphalt.

 Oh, and the older, browner bruise is not from the fall.  That's from about a week ago, when I shut my knee in the car door.  At the moment I have a total of 8 visible bruises from my knees to my feet.  Not sure where most of them are from, and I'm starting to get concerned...

Also, this really hurts.  It hurts to move my knee, even a little.  Not meaning to complain, and not looking for sympathy, but my daughter doesn't care, and I have no one else to tell.  I wish I was a cat, and had whiskers to tell me "You can't fit here" and "Watch out you're too close to that thing", because whatever internal sense that humans have that keep them from bumping and bruising their way through life, well, I don't think I have one.