Running with Atlanta's Finest

I ran the Atlanta's Finest 5K Saturday morning, and despite having had a bad head cold earlier in the week, I managed to take three minutes off my prior 5K.
The Atlanta's Finest 5K includes participants from various law enforcement agencies. There were two police academy cadet formations, and both of them passed me. :)
I ran this with my friend Doug, who recently joined the Atlanta Track Club. He ran a really good time.
This is a fun race, pretty flat, and it's even better when you run it with friends.

Meaningful Miles and wine

I pretty much lost my mind yesterday and signed up to run two 5Ks.
Turns out I could only run one of them, the Back on My Feet Meaningful Miles 5K, that morning. It was SO HOT for the Ultimate Wine Run 5K at 5 p.m. Saturday I could only walk.
I really do enjoy the Meaningful Miles 5K and the cause it supports -- helping homeless men and women through running.
The morning race was humid, but I actually ran a minute faster than last week, so that was good.
I got home, took a nap, then got ready for the second 5K of the day.
It was held out at Turner Field. We had a group of six of us and our team name was the Pinot Pacers.

Pinot Pacers ready to run!

It was so hot. It was 90 degrees and we all attempted to run a bit of it, but almost immediately I had to start walking. I didn't put any sunscreen on, and I didn't bring water with me. Mistake!
Still, we had fun, despite some of the organizational issues of this race. Let's just say, there wasn't much organization and I won't run this race again.
We did finish, and we did get some wine at the end, but 90 degree wine isn't so refreshing!

Finishers!

Susan and Carolyn

Michelle, Dana and Angela

Me (being photobombed, LOL)

Finisher's medal

 We got a finisher's medal, a stemless wine glass and we also got a bonus wine glass because we had the VIP package.

My new wine glass. ha ha

This will come in handy at the beach in Virginia Beach in October!
After the race, we all went out for pizza and had a great time. It was just a fun group of women, most of whom just met each other, but we all got along great and had commonalities. Just so fun.
I will say I got home and considered watching some of the Olympics, but I was sunburned and really tired. After all, I ran some meaningful miles and had wine with friends! I had a big day.

Are you ready for some football?!

I ran the Atlanta Track Club's Tailgate 5K this morning in Chastain Park.
In year's past, this was known as the Jog Days of Summer 5K. This year they put a decidedly college football spin on it.
As I walked up to pick up my race number, I saw my Missouri Tigers represented.

Fight Tigers, fight for Old Mizzou!

It was then I realized I didn't wear my Mizzou shirt! I actually have a Mizzou tank top I could have worn on this hot, humid morning.
I got there early enough to walk around a bit and walked down to a little pond in the park. Some new friends saw me stop and thought I'd brought them some breakfast.

Hey, where's our breakfast?!

This race was my first in two weeks and all this week my hips have felt tight in yoga and pilates classes. So I should not have been surprised that my hips felt tight during the race. There is also a giant hill between miles 1 and 2. Ugh! That was a long walk.
I met a gentleman named Steve at the end of the race. He's attempting to run a half marathon in all 50 states and we found out we both ran the Rock N Roll New Orleans and the Run the Bluegrass this year. We both agreed the wind at the end of the Lexington race was awful!
I was glad to get back to running this morning. It won't be long before I'm training for my fall half marathon in Denver. And it won't be long until it's time to tailgate for some college football.
Are you ready?

4 miles of heat

I'm behind in the blog, so let me get caught up.
I ran the Atlanta Track Club's Decatur-DeKalb YMCA 4 Miler two weeks ago. Met up with Angela, Carolyn and Susan for the race.
It was a hot four miles, and Angela's knee began to bother her badly, so we walked a good deal of it. That one won't go down as one of my fastest!
But, it's always fun to run with friends. We had planned to go to breakfast afterward, but ended up walking up to Arden's Garden smoothie shop and had a healthier treat.

Susan, me, Carolyn and Angela

The day after the race, I drove up to South Carolina to pick up my nephew Chase and had a fun half-week with him in Atlanta. We went to Zoo Atlanta and the Children's Museum of Atlanta, plus other little trips around town. Then I got his younger brother Gavin for the rest of the week and we did all the same sightseeing. It was a whirl of a week. Those boys keep me on my toes!
It was grand, and I enjoy being a fun aunt.
That's sort of why I haven't run in a couple of weeks. I needed to recover from all the fun I had with my nephews!