I guess you could say this was the catalyst to me wanting to race all the time. I am a Navy veteran and I am in a small social group called VFT (Veterans in Film and Television). We wanted to run this 5K and support the growing problem of homeless veterans in Los Angeles. It was held on Memorial Day, May 26th 2014. Our team VFT raised $4,550.00 and I personally raised $770.00 of that amount. But back to the race.
So, my first time racing, not sure what to do, what to wear, how fast to start, blahblahblah.. It was really fun. It was held on the West LA VA Campus. Lots of vets hanging out and participating in the run. The course had some ups and downs and I wasn't ready for that. I took off so fast that my first mile was sub-7 minute, and that hurt... plus I had a long sleeve shirt on under another shirt?!? No clue. Lots of volunteers handing out water. Lots of military supporters all together. I finished at 23:09. 2nd in my VFT group (which I was stoked) 7th in my age group and 58th out of 305 runners. Seeing the results of my first real race and ranking made me want to run harder, faster, and ultimately... MORE!!