Faster than the blink of an eye.

.08 seconds

eight-one hundredths of a second.

Faster than the blink of an eye-- (which apparently takes between three-tenths and four-tenths of a second)

That's all that seperates me from officially saying I made my goal of running my first 10k in 1 hour or less.

Or is it?

Unless I'm trying to qualify for the Olympics, does that fraction of a second really count?  Sometimes I think it does.  After all, my whole life has been setting goals for myself, then batting them out of the park.  It's not that I set my goals too low, either. I just work really, really hard.

But the truth is,  8/100ths of a second DOESN'T matter. 

I can hash the details out all I want.  If only, I hadn't stopped to visit the port a potty. If only I hadn't spent 1km of the race crying after one lady, seeing the picture of my Aunt Helen on my back, said "I'll run for her too!", If only I had started my finishing kick, a second earlier.

It doesn't matter.

This is what matters:

I showed up for my first ever 10k event.  I forgot my Garmin. I ran exactly the race I wanted, in eaxactly the time I wanted, with absolutely no pace bunny, or Garmin. It was all me.

I ran in memory of my Aunt Helen, in the city she lived in.  I know she is the reason that earlier in the day, Denise and I took a wrong turn and ended up at the place she is buried.  I have no idea how to get there otherwise, so clearly, she was calling us to there.  When we realized we were headed wrong way, I said "Ok, I'll turn around at the next lights". When we got to those lights, we were right at the cemetary. I think she just wanted to wish me good luck.

My friend and frequent running partner Denise was waiting for me at the finish line, after running a PB of 54:47.

My twitter friends @karmasdogma and @SharonDV met us there and ran as well.  We laughed and chatted like we've known each other forever. We all waited at the finish line for each other, because that's what friends do.

Together, we found my Mom, who came with us for support and to be our Sherpa.  She hugged and congratulated us all, even though we were sweaty and stinky, because that's what Moms do.

These are the things I know to be true:

I will never win a race.  I will never win my age group.

Everytime I show up at a race I am successful. Everytime I finish I'm a winner. 

1:00:08, is just as good as 1:00:00.

 Aunt Helen and I, before the race.

Me, @karmasdogma, Denise and @SharonDV after the race.