Another One Down

Martha and I completed our second 5K in the North Shore YMCA 2009 Road Race Series. We have three more to complete to be considered series finishers, and we will do that. It was a challenging run for me. I had some very unexpected oral surgery on Tuesday, including two extractions (one of a wisdom tooth) that left me with a baseball stitch to hold the edges of the gum with a little bit of tension over the big gap left. But, that stitch loosened up pretty well today.

The run went fine...until the last half mile or so and then my gum and jaw was kind of throbbing. I was really glad to finish...and actually cut 2.5 minutes off my time. YEAH! I think the last race I ran, with the sinus issue and pain medication, it really slowed me down. I made sure I had only taken Tylenol in the past 24 hours before the race this time. So, despite the discomfort, I still came out faster than last time.

I'm having a really difficult time though viewing pictures of my body. Thankfully, at least one of the pictures shows the muscle definition of my thigh. If not for that, I'd feel like I was looking at a porker picture of myself. I feel like I look really chubby and fat...and it's very, very disconcerting. I'm not even sure what to do about it, to be honest. I guess that will be a topic for discussion in therapy. *sigh*

Anyway, here's the pic of my awesome thigh muscles...and of me and Martha after we finished the race. :) She's my running buddy and co-conspirator.