32:25

32:26.

What a beautiful number.  I mean, a really, really good number.  It's so...I don't know...FAST.

32:26.  I can't stop typing it.  32:26.

What is it?

Why, that's the time I ran today in my first 5K in almost 2 years!  Yeah, I know I said I wasn't going to run in the 5K this weekend in my hometown, but I was talked into it.  I was able to sign up the day before the event, and I was even still able to get a t-shirt!  It was fate.

As I stood in the shower after my personal victory, I contemplated how this fluke occurred and what I can do to duplicate it in the near future and came up with the perfect recipe of today's race:

6 days of not running (!)
1 sleepless night wondering what the heck I just did and how I can get out of it
1 super cool new hot pink running outfit (courtesy of Wal-Mart at 8:30 last night)
1 large mocha
1 caramel rice cake with peanut butter & honey
1/2 cup water
3 trips to the bathroom before leaving the house, just to be sure
1 injured husband cheering on the sidelines every mile or so
100 other runners twice as fast as me
100 other runners twice as slow as me
1 generous helping of prayer for peace, endurance, and injury-free running
62 degrees, overcast
32:26 minutes

Mix all ingredients and enjoy.  Follow with the most amazing and exotic post-run banana ever known to mankind.

I know almost all of that is beyond my control and that the planets will most likely never again align in such a manner, making this recipe very unlikely to be reproduced.  However, much like a baking recipe sometimes substitutions work just as well.  Maybe next time it's 85 degrees and raining, maybe my husband is out of town, or maybe the large mocha doesn't do its job properly that day.  However, also much like a baking recipe, sometimes substitutions even yield new and improved results with an even sweeter victory.

32:26.  What a powerful, tiny little number, don't you think?
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