Apologies for my failure to update since the toe incident; graduating and the subsequent move back to the East Coast made it necessary to put posting on the back burner for a bit. But for all those tracking my progress, I have several brief updates. On Thursday, May 1, I ran my first 5k of training season with a friend who is training for Chicago. She finished in 26:50, and I was a few seconds ahead, although for some reason no official time was recorded my finish. Regardless, it was enough for a 7th place finish (no need to point out how small the field was or how uncompetitive the quickest woman's time). The following Sunday I ran a 4 mile race benefiting the Chicago Community Counseling Centers, and finished 11th with a time of 34:08, an almost equivalent pace to the preceding 5k. After a week off to engorge myself in the festivities of graduation, I got back to training with my final run on the Lakefront Path (at least for the foreseeable future), a steady 7 miles that was quite cathartic considering the amount of time I have spent there over my college career (more time than in the classroom, perhaps?) Upon returning to NH, I dragged my boyfriend to a 5k benefiting the PTO of my former elementary school. Perhaps the competitive nature of our relationship or the nostalgic setting of the race led me to knock about 50 seconds off my previous 5k time and complete the race in 26 minutes even. Hopefully I can keep up the good work as this Sunday marks the 11th annual Redhook Brewery 5k, a race my stepdad and I have been running for the past few years. This year, my sister joins the ranks as part of her training for her first marathon (also New York), and it could up the ante as far as competition. With a little luck and a lot of rivalry, I hope to shave a few more seconds off my 2008 PR of 26:00. I'll be sure to update with finishing times for all three of us as soon as I'm done gloating over my new PR :)

Thanks to everyone whose continued support has helped me reach $260 in fundraising, just over 10% of my final goal!