Final 5K of 2016

Well, it's that time of year -- the end!
I ran my final 5K of 2016 with my friend Carolyn at the Lakeside Viking 5K. The forecast was for cold and rain, but luckily the rain held off, so only some chilly temps to contend with.

We finished!

I was slower than slow for the race, slower than I was two weeks ago! But, it's OK. It is the time of year I usually take a small break from running and I've really taken a much longer break than normal. With my pulled leg muscle and the busyness of the holiday season, I just haven't run.
I got a nice bonus medal in the mail this week, since I ran two Rock N Roll Half Marathons this year: New Orleans and Denver. The Double Beat is cute — and heavy! I guess it really is a heavy medal. :D

The Double Beat heavy medal

I also found a quarter along the 5K route Saturday. I tallied up my "found money" for the year. It came to only $1.24 this year. Not enough for a cup of coffee! Oh well. Maybe my eyes aren't as sharp now or maybe I'm not paying that much attention as I used to.
Still, it was a great year of running. I ran in four more states and met up with old and new friends along the way.
See you in 2017!

Back in the groove, sort of

I ran One Love, One Heart 5K this morning in the Medlock Park area of Decatur.
I really enjoy this race, which starts at 10 a.m., but not the course, which is so hilly!
What I didn't realize until just now is that it has been a MONTH since my last race. No wonder I was so slow this morning!
Well, that and I've managed to injure my high hamstring. So, I really do have a pain in my butt. And I think I did it two weeks ago while getting into the car! Getting old stinks.
It was my first race at the age of 53, and I came in second in my age group (which was 50-59) but in this race it's win or go home. So I went home. LOL No second place plaque for me!
My next race is in a couple of weeks, but I'll be getting back in the groove. I've got to. I've signed up for the Anchorage Half Marathon in June of next year! I'm going to Alaska!!

A Wrinkle in Time

Fall temps have finally arrived in Atlanta, just in time for Daylight Saving Time to end and for me to run the crazy Anything Is Possible 5K.
I ran it this year with my friend Sasha, and thankfully it did not rain!
Last year was such a mess! This year it was really nice out. I just had a light jacket to start out with.

Me and Sasha before the race

This is held out at Town Center at Cobb shopping mall. We run around the perimeter road of the mall twice. It's nice because there is absolutely no vehicle traffic to worry about. The bad thing is the lighting is really poor on some parts of the course, so I have to pay attention to my feet for fear I'll trip over something. But, because it is so dark, I actually could see Orion's belt and other stars!
Here we are coming in for the finish:

I finished!

Sasha finished!

We always get pajama bottoms at this race, rather than a T-shirt, which I really like. This year we also got a glow-in-the-dark finisher's medal.

It really does glow around the edge

But Sasha and I both thought there were far fewer people at the race this year. In year's past it has been packed. Not this year. Makes me wonder how much longer this race will be sponsored.
We'll see. But for 2016, I managed to race through a wrinkle in time.

Going uptown

I ran the Uptown Rhodes Race 5K today, but unlike other years, this year the race was Halloween themed. In fact, it was now called the Uptown Rhodes Race at the Haunted Castle.
That was a bit of a stretch, since Rhodes Hall, which does look a bit like a castle, wasn't decorated for the holiday.
But folks came out in costumes and it was fun.

Scooby Doo and crew!

 The race has always been dog friendly, since it was started by a local guy who really loved his dog Georgia. So Angela brought Miss Lucy Liu, who was all dressed up as a witch!

Miss Lucy Liu all dressed up

 I ran the race with running buddies Angela and Erin, and, of course, Lucy.

Bad shadows, but all of us are ready to run

The race is pretty hilly and runs around the Ansley Golf Course and neighborhood. This really was not my best 5K time. We walked a lot of it, even though Lucy was ready to run the whole thing!

Along the course

Hey look! It's us!

Proof we did do some running on the course. Ha!

Not only were there race results winners (which I did not win) there were costume contest winners. Guess who took top prize for dog costume??

Lucy wins top prize!

It was a lot of fun to run the Uptown Rhodes Race again this year, and the Halloween theme made it more interesting. Maybe next year I'll dress up too!

Nearly a perfect 10

I got back from Denver, where it was so warm, and landed in Atlanta, where the humidity made fall still feel like summer.
So it was so heartening to wake up Sunday morning to cool temps for the PNC Atlanta 10 Miler. Fall has finally arrived in Atlanta!

Wave F is for Finish!

Sunrise over the start line

That 4:45 a.m. alarm seemed awfully early, and it was. The race starts and finishes at Atlantic Station, which has underground parking and only four ingress and egress areas. So, get there early or you will be in a parking line hell when the race starts. I got there by 6 a.m. and sat in the car listening to my audio book until about 7!

Sunrise over Midtown

 I've run this race three times now, twice after a half marathon. Last year after the Baltimore Running Festival Half Marathon, I swore I would never run the 10 miler after running a half marathon the week before. But there I was at the start, having run the Denver Half the weekend before. I'll never learn!

Along Collier Road

 The course was changed slightly this year, with an added hill early on. That was an unpleasant surprise.

Gotta catch them all!

 The event has 12 cheer zones, and one of them this year was Pokemon Go! themed. That was fun. Had to get a photo of the squirtle and pikachu!

Pikachu! 

Headed toward the finish

 I was happy to see the Midtown skyline for a second time, this time coming on toward the finish.

All smiles! Finished!

10 Miler medal

I'm looking at races for 2017, and my October race will be early in the month, I think, so I'll have at least two weeks between long distance races. Nevertheless, this year's race was nearly a perfect 10.

Rocking State No. 25 in the Rockies

I returned to Colorado after seven years, and I ROCKED Denver!
I completed the Rock n Roll Denver Half Marathon on Sunday and checked off state No. 25.  I'm half way done.
I had a great time in Denver. It's funny,  I've been to Denver so many times, but never stayed in the city. When I was a little girl, I'd fly into Denver over summer break and my grandparents,  who lived in western Nebraska, would pick me up at the airport -- the old Stapleton airport -- but then we'd either head back to their home, or maybe we'd take a short vacation break to Estes Park or Grand Lake.
As an adult, I vacationed with my family for a week in Winter Park, but again, we just landed in Denver and then passed along.
A few years ago, I flew to Denver only to drive to Nebraska to see my grandparents in their twilight years. In 2009 they both died, and that was the very last time I was in Colorado. Again, just to pass through on my way to another place.
So it was really nice to stay in Denver and enjoy that city.
It gave me chills to fly in and see the Rocky Mountains after all these years. They are so beautiful.
I got in on a Thursday afternoon. I flew in a little earlier than I normally do for a race because I was worried about the altitude. I wanted to give myself an extra day to adjust. I felt a little light headed Thursday, but nothing too bad.
Denver now has a train from the airport to Union Station, and I then walked about a mile to the hotel. I could have taken a bus, but I wasn't familiar yet with how that bus ran, so I just walked.
Now, you know you are in Colorado, which has legalized medical and recreational marijuana, when you are walking to your hotel and you suddenly smell weed that people are smoking on the sidewalk. I smelled a lot of that smell all weekend long!
I had lunch Friday with my aunt and uncle,  who live in a suburb of Denver. It was great to see them. Later that afternoon my friend Dan arrived from Atlanta to run the race with  me.

Me and Dan at the expo

Ready to rock Denver

Dan & me at expo

Saturday we played tourists in the city, visiting the Molly Brown Home and Museum. We were both a little underwelmed.
The weather all weekend was pretty warm and race day dawned and I wished I had brought a tank top. I mean, I was worried I was going to need winter running gear in mid October in Denver, not all my summer gear! It was 85 degrees nearly every day I was there.

Civic Center Park all  lit up

Pre-race selfie with Dan

Getting ready to rock the start line

Pre-race selfie with Amanda

It's go time

The blue bear along the route

 Denver has a lot of fun public art, including this giant blue bear outside the Denver Convention Center.

Larimer Square along the route

 Larimer Square has lots of fun restaurants and the Colorado state flag and lights strung across the road.

The Rockies are straight ahead

Enjoying the sights at City Park and City Park Lake

City Park Lake

Race Street (!)

High Street comes right after Race Street, giving new meaning to runner's high?

 I thought it was kind of funny to see a Race Street, and then High Street right after it along the route. Appropriate, no?

Finished!

Finished, with state capitol in the background

How every half marathon should end

Finisher's medal

One of the best things about this race was meeting up with runners Amanda and Angela, whom I met at the Rock n Roll New Orleans half marathon. We met up post-race at Yardhouse.

Angela, Amanda and me

Runners making sure the medals are real

I met another new running buddy, Lee, at Yardhouse. And, no surprise, we all started talking about where are next race would be.
This is the part I love best about this bucket list. I'm meeting great folks and reconnecting with friends who are willing to meet me around the country and run a race.
I may be half way on this journey, but it is the people and places that are making it all worthwhile.

A storm named Matthew

Well, it finally happened. I went to a state and had the race get canceled!
I was all set to run a 5K in Virginia Beach last weekend, but Hurricane Matthew had other ideas.
I was there for a family vacation at the beach for a week, and I signed up for a charity 5K to knock Virginia off the list. I was so looking forward to this vacation and race! Ah, but Mother Nature had other ideas.
Not only did my 5K get canceled, but we ended up cutting our vacation short by a couple of day, opting to bug out before the weather went south and the low areas of where we were flooded.
So, I've got to go back to Virginia to pick up that state.
Still, we managed to have fun, even in if the weather was less than ideal for a beach week.

Watching the waves come in

Sunset on the beach

Footprints in the sand

Once the race was canceled, I considered running a 5K on the treadmill at the condo where we were staying, starting the inaugural Sandbridge at Sanctuary Park 5K (the name of the condo where we were staying). I wanted to get my young nephews involved, having them make me a race number and have them give me cups of water at every mile on the treadmill. But then we left two days early, so that never happened. Oh well!
I think I'll choose a race inland. Just so I didn't have to contend with any more storms.

Winning the fight against cancer

I haven't run the Winship Win the Fight 5K in a few years, but the stars aligned and I ran it Oct. 1.
I was hoping some of my friends near Emory University would run it with me, but the stars didn't align there, so I ran it by myself.
It was a nice race, but it still was very warm for fall in Atlanta. I swear it seems like fall will never arrive. And I'm so ready for fall running weather!
Still, it was a nice morning and the area around Emory University is very nice.

Let's win this fight!

I ran it in an OK time, but that's alright. It was good to get out to run a "neighborhood" race that is for such a good cause.

Rise Up to Run

I ran the Atlanta Track Club's Rise Up & Run 5K Saturday.
I'd run this race before and it is so much fun. You finish the race on the 50 yard line of the Georgia Dome. And this is the last year that will happen.
Next year, the race will end in the brand new Mercedes-Benz Stadium, currently under construction right next to the Georgia Dome.

The new stadium under construction is behind me

 I had hoped to run the race with my co-worker Doug, but he had to bail this morning. It was a big race! More than 4,000 signed up this year. It's great that it is growing. Because I knew the parking would be busy, I got there early, so got to see the sunrise over the city.

The Flare statue with the sunrise and the city behind

I actually took another 2 minutes off last week's 5K time, so I was very happy with this race. And the finish was great!

Finished on the 50!

Rise Up and Run!

 This year we also got very nice finisher's medals at the end of the race.

Finisher's medal

I'm looking forward to Rising Up and running this race next year. See you on the 50 yard line!