I made a goal to do a 5K every month this school year. My 5K for October was the Trick or Trot 5K benefitting the Animal Defense League, on October 20th. Unfortunately, while I was really excited about this 5K, I came down with a fever and a nasty cold a couple days beforehand and I wasn’t quite recovered enough to participate the day-of. (I was sick all through Morrigan’s birthday and birthday weekend, boo!) This sucked. It was really too late to sign up (at a reasonable price) for another October 5K, so I compensated in two ways.

First, I walked my own 5K once I was recovered. Nothing special, just a nod to the 5K I would have done had my health allowed.

Second, I participated in the Rape Crisis Center .5K. That’s not a typo. This was a “no running allowed” event for underachievers, dancing and costumes encouraged, half a kilometer. Ha! This was really a drive to raise money for surviver kits, and I would have participated regardless of whether or not I’d been able to do the ADL 5K. The RCC didn’t have their annual Run 4 Hope 5K in the spring this year – a 5K that I’ve participated in with friends for the last five years – and so there was no way I’d not do this one. (Barring illness again, of course. But even with a nasty virus I could probably still manage a .5k, ha!)

It was an awesome “race.” We started with a warm-up dance party, then were led along the route by a man dressed as a strip of bacon. We were told that anyone who passed him would be disqualified. Ha! Point-mile markers were staked along the sides (our first one was barely after the starting line, at 0.03048k), and volunteers carried signs that said things like “You can do it!” and “Toenails are overrated!” Ha! We had a “refueling break” halfway along to have donut-hole-shots and coffee and bananas. Afterwards, we got to take photos on the podium, since we all got winner medals.

My friend Stephanie and I did this one together, coordinating our outfits (as a nod toward the costume contest we didn’t actually participate in). Laurence also wanted to come along, and I thought this would be a good event for him, as he’s 14 and needs to learn plenty about stopping the culture of sexual violence. All around it was a fun morning and for a great cause. They tell me that they plan to start doing this annually, and I’m pumped about that, even if I wish they’d do their Run 4 Hope 5k as well!