(Almost) All smiles for five miles

Fall has arrived, officially, in Atlanta and this morning's ATC Singleton 5 Miler was glorious. A little overcast, but not too hot and not too cool.
I'd not run this 5 miler before, another Atlanta Track Club-sponsored race, but I'll be ready to run it again next year.
I ran, for the first time, with my friend Kellie.

Me and Kellie before the race

Kellie is a much faster runner with me, so she was done in about 45 minutes and was able to capture my finishing moment.

Finishing strong!

I hadn't thought I would feel as good as I did today, given the way I've felt in the past two races. But I went for a massage yesterday and my therapist really worked on my right IT band. I can tell how much it helped today. My right knee did not hurt nearly as much. And I just felt better running this race. It's good to have a race like this -- makes me remember really why I enjoy running.

And it's even better when you get to share a race with a friend.

I even found two pennies on the course. I saw another penny and a dime, but I couldn't pick those up while running. The pig got fed today!

So, I was all smiles this morning, for almost all five miles.



Out running the po po, again

The first signs of fall have arrived in Atlanta. I turned off my air conditioner last week, and thankfully, I haven't had to turn it back on. Temps at night are dipping into the mid to low 60s and highs are in the low to mid 80s.
That can only mean one thing. The most wonderful time of year has arrived for running.
I've been remiss in writing about my running, so I'll start where I left off in July. July!
I ran two races in August, the August 5K, sponsored by the Atlanta Track Club, and the Magnolia Run, which benefits the Epilepsy Foundation of Georgia.
Both 5Ks were pretty unremarkable for me. Both were hot. Both continued to aggravate my IT band injury and right knee. I'm having more and more trouble with that, even with some Rolfing massage therapy. I dread having to go to the orthopedic for real physical terrorism -- I mean, therapy.
I had signed up for the Big Peach Sizzler 10K on Labor Day when the IT band wasn't really smarting, so imagine my chagrin when the day arrived for a solid 6 miles.
I had such a good time last year on this race -- my best 10K time of the year -- which is why I think I signed up for it to begin with.
But things didn't go so well with this race. For one thing, I was still in line for the port-o-potty when the starting gun went off! Thankfully, I had a timing chip, so I knew I'd get my net time. Still, I really don't care to start at the very back of a race again. I felt like I was behind the whole time. I tried to press myself and just aggravated my IT band more. Not my best race. And one I do not think I'll run next year unless I'm feeling MUCH better.
I ran the Kaiser Permanente Corporate Run/Walk 5K on Sept. 13 with about a dozen of my co-workers.

Doug, Amy and Me

Dixie, Jackie, Michael and Joey

Michale at the start line

 I ran about a 38 minute race, exactly what I thought I'd do. This race course was so crowded, I really didn't like it. I felt like I might get tripped by another runner at any moment.
Yet, I was reminded that it was exactly this kind of event that began my running career.
I was not a runner in high school or college. I'd never run. I never liked running.
But when I was living in Jacksonville, Fla., by company fielded a team for a corporate run and I joined. I did so poorly. About 45 minutes to run that first 5K. I was embarrassed by my outing, and spurred on to do better. The rest, as they say, is history. I got the running bug.
Which leads me to this morning's race.the Beat the Badge 5K, which I ran last year, as well.
And what a nice surprise, I ran into friends Susan and Carolyn.

Carolyn and me

Susan and Carolyn

I was really worried that since I had run Thursday night that I'd have dead legs today. But, surprise! I ran this race in 37 minutes, a full minute better than Thursday night's race. I was a full minute slower than last year's race, but still, I was very pleased. I won't say I didn't hurt most of the way. My legs ached and my IT band is really tight.
The police recruits, running in cadence, passed me at about the half way point, but there were two recruits, slower than the others, being helped by a veteran, and I ran slightly ahead of them. I could hear the mentor talking to them, urging them on. He urged me on, too.
So although I outran the po po, it wasn't by much.

The planted penny

I've been so remiss in keeping up with the blog lately. I've actually run three races since my last post. But busy schedules and just thinking of doing something else has kept me from writing about them. I'll do that soon.
But I have to write about what I suspect is a planted penny.
A planted penny?
Well, my neighbor's children know about my "found money" collection. On New Year's Eve 2011, Benny and Maddie helped me count up all of my found money from my piggy bank. Remember, it was whole $4.42.

The "found money" piggy bank

Apparently, that made quite an impression on young Benny, who is 8. Not so much the total, although I think he was impressed with that -- but that I actually have fun finding the pennies and nickels and dimes along the way.
He's said something to his mother, Christine, about putting out pennies for me to find, because he knows I like finding them.
So imagine my surprise a few weeks ago when I went out to my mailbox to collect my mail and on the ground near my mailbox was a penny. Not a shiny new one, but a mud-colored one that I have probably been overlooking for a while.
I picked it up and immediately wondered, "Is this a planted penny from Benny?"
I suspect it is.
The next time I see him, I'll have to exclaim my delight at finding it to see if I get a reaction from him. Either way, he'll know I got a kick out of finding it, planted or not.