I am a winner!

Throughout my life, I have won ribbons for various things. Once in 3rd grade, I won 1st place for the "vegetable art" contest. I also won a spelling bee or two. In 9th grade, I won a bunch of awards for certain nerdy things, including one from the state math contest. I even got a cash reward at the 9th grade awards night to cover my high school registration fees. In high school I lettered in ACADEMICS. Yes. Did you know you can do that? I did all three years. I did not get a letterman jacket, however. I settled for the S applique and the pins. I kept it hidden in a box under my bed with all of my other nerdy things. I got a 4-year full tuition scholarship to BYU as a reward for my studiousness. When I graduated from college, I was Summa Cum Laude, and I got to wear a special ribbon around my neck.

I'm not telling you these things to brag. I'm just trying to lay out a pattern. Did anyone notice what it was? None of the awards I have earned were in anything sports-related. In fact, I stink at almost every sport. I've blogged before about the years of wasted dance lessons and soccer teams that my parents provided for me. They were doing their best to try to help my uncoordinated body learn to function in a semi-socially acceptable fashion. When I was in 5th grade and the goalie of a soccer team, I accidentally kicked the ball over my head and into the net, scoring the winning point for the evil Roadrunners. Oh, how we hated that team. At this point, my parents and I both reached a silent understanding that they didn't need to sign me up for soccer ever again.

I was always tall for my age. I haven't grown since 5th grade. Yes. I was a freak. Everyone thought I should play volleyball and basketball for my Jr High team. I tried out in 7th grade--and didn't even make the first cut. I resigned myself to be a lifelong spectator. And I do love to watch sports. But I haven't ever tried anything until I got this running bug in January. It turns out that there was a sport I can be mediocre and not just pathetic in.

The Seattle 1/2 marathon was my first ever race. I did alright--I didn't walk and that was my goal. Today I ran my 2nd race--a 15k (9.3 miles for those metric-handicapped folks). I wanted to keep around a 9 minute pace. That was my goal. I started out just a little bit slower to warm up, and kept around a 9:20 pace for the first 2 miles. I could have been much faster, but the east wind reared its ugly head at about 2:00 am, and so the first 5 miles of the race were pretty much into the wind. I finished strong, averaging about 8:40 for the last 3 miles. Overall, my pace was 9:09 with a time of 1:24:30. I was on track for finishing a 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours. That's my goal for Las Vegas.

The funny thing was that when the race was over, and the runners were all waiting around as the awards were announced, MY name was called. I was stunned. Me? Jill? I had placed 5th in the 35-39 year female bracket, and I got a sweet ribbon to prove it!

It only took 37 years for me to earn a ribbon in a sporting event. Won't my momma be so proud? Hooray for me.

If only I had saved my ribbon from the 1979 Vegetable Art competition.