Wednesday, December 28, 2011

A personal best

How did the month of December slip by?
It has been a busy month, although not with a lot of running for me. My final 5K of the year happened Dec. 3, when I clocked my fastest 5K of the year.
That was a nice little surprise. I've run the course around Medlock Park in Decatur before, and I know how hilly it is. During the race, a spectator on the sideline yelled "It's all uphill from here!" He wasn't kidding.
So imagine my surprise when I round the corner to head to the finish line and I can see it is a sub 35 minute race. I knew if I gave it a little extra kick, I'd clock my best 5K time of the year. That is exactly what I did!
I was hoping to run one more 5K in December, but then I got the crud that has been going around and I was under the weather for a good two weeks.
That doesn't mean I haven't been signing up for races in the new year. I'm going to run the Resolution Run 5K on Jan. 1. This will be the first time I've ever done a New Year's Day race. I think it is a good way to start 2012.
And on New Year's Eve I plan to break open the piggy (well, not BREAK open) and see how much found money I found in 2011. I think I'll keep that tradition going. It has been fun to put that money aside just to see what I get at the end of the year.
Don't worry, I'll blog about the "earnings."

Friday, December 2, 2011

Is it really December?

Goodness! Is it really December?
I started this blog back in June and here it is the end of the year.
I know I have written a lot about running and gardening -- oh, and that brief affair with Leo Tolstoy!
But running and gardening have taken up a lot of this year.
Just today I have been online searching for probable 5K races I'm going to do in 2012. I've even been looking at various Komen Race for the Cure 5K races in other states to continue my effort to run or walk a 5K in all 50 states.
And I've even pulled up the Web site for the Gate River Run 15K in Jacksonville, Fla.
A little explanation...
I started becoming a "serious" runner while I lived in Jacksonville, about 10 to 12 years ago, and the Gate River Run is THE race in Jacksonville. It's 9.3 miles on a relatively flat course.
Flat, except for the two bridges on the course. The Main Street bridge (which is not its real name, but for the life of me I can't remember it's real name at the moment) and the Hart Bridge.
It was on the Main Street bridge, or the "blue" bridge if you have ever been to Jacksonville, that I had one of the worst running injuries EVER.
My nemesis, the Main Street bridge

The Main Street bridge is a lift span bridge and at one point there is no road. It is simply metal grating. That's the part that lifts at various times to let boats traverse the St. Johns River under the bridge.
Well, one year, I managed to catch my foot on something on that bridge and fell straight into the metal grating. As one friend said, "You fell into a cheese grater."
Yep. That's exactly what I did. I have never been so bloodied by a fall in my life. The orthopedist I saw AFTER the fall said he was surprised I didn't break both my wrists.
I actually had scrape marks on my left shoulder from where I rolled after I fell.
Yikes. It gives me the willies remembering that race!
I've been back in subsequent years to run that race, and I always am conscious as I run over that bridge to shuffle my feet so I don't trip again.
I haven't been back in a couple of years. But I find myself thinking about that race again.
It may be December, but it is time to start planning for the year ahead, and what races I want to cross off the bucket list, or simply conquer again.