Tour de Fun

Last week was a week of peaks and valleys.
Sunday, Sept 23, started out well. It was a lovely fall day, with a little breeze. I got out and stained both my side and front porches. That's a chore.
I was so busy I never came in for lunch, and thus, never came in to check Facebook. Turns out, that was probably a good thing for my productivity. Because once I was done and sat down to "check in" I found that a fellow breast cancer survivor had died -- of a blood clot, a week after giving birth to her son. I was devastated.
The evil that is cancer means that I have been to far too many funerals of my contemporaries, and I'm in my 40s. This should not be happening. Women in their 30s and 40s simply are not supposed to die. I'm supposed to go to funerals 30 to 40 years from now.
Kat's death put a cloud over me for nearly all week. I went to work and distracted myself well, but at odd times I'd think about her and begin to cry all over again.
But I had the Tour de Pink 5K race on Saturday, Sept. 29 -- the day of Kat's funeral in Virginia -- that benefited Young Survival Coalition, an organization that benefits young breast cancer survivors. It's an organization that helped me tremendously when I was going through treatment, and continues to help me today deal with post-treatment life.

I was excited to see my "pink sisters," but I wasn't sure how I'd feel, given how raw my emotions were after Kat's death.
The morning was overcast and humid, but thankfully, the rain held off.
I'd signed up about a month before and my friend Joyce urged me to join her team, The Self-Examiners. She even designed some T-shirts for our team.
I got there pretty early. It was still dark when I arrived at Verizon Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, just outside of Atlanta. As my car pulled up, volunteers were already there, and my friend Vanetta, a tireless volunteer for YSC, recognized me and alerted the others that a survivor had arrived.
"Survivor! Survivor!" the shouts went up. I was pointed to the survivor area parking lot -- the closest to the event. Honestly, I'm 6 1/2 years out of treatment and I could very easily have parked in a far lot and walked over, but it is nice that survivors are put up close. Those who are still in treatment, or just out of treatment, can have very low energy, and parking up close is a huge benefit.
I got my race number, got my information, and ran into Joyce early on.

Joyce and me before the race

 She gave me my T-shirt, which was hilarious -- two hands strategically placed in the front. I didn't wear it right away. I put it on AFTER I ran the 5K. I was very glad to have a new T-shirt to put on after sweating through the 5K.
But I'm ahead of myself.
The Tour de Pink is actually a bike ride. The 5K was added just a couple of years ago -- I like to think I had something to do with that, since that was my loud suggestion of how to get more participation. There are more runners/walkers than cyclists in Atlanta.
Just prior to starting the bike ride, the survivors met on stage and were honored, then the events began.

An early start

The bicyclists all took off first, then the 5K started.
My friend Bridgette ran/walked the race with me. Bridgette runs about an 11 minute to 11:30 minute mile. I was certainly feeling the push I was getting in running with her. Thankfully, she let me take my walk breaks when I needed them.
We jogged along a mother and her 5-year-old son, who stopped and dropped to do push ups at the water station "because he needed the exercise." What a pip!

Wish I had his energy!

We finished up the race and then the fun began! There were bands, there was food, and there was pink champagne! Now, this is the way to end a 5K race!

What a way to finish

In the end, it was a great race and event to catch up with women who have survived and thrived.

Me and Bridgette. Aren't the Self-Examiner shirts great?!

The Self-Examiners

The Self-Examiners

Me, Vanetta and Bridgette

Suzanne and me

Nancy, Vanetta and Bridgette

Princess and me

I did think of Kat during the race. And the way to remember her best is to live life each day for those who are no longer with us. Experience all we can, for those who cannot.
It was a great race, great event, and great way to honor a fallen sister.

(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.

R&R at PK

I've just spent the past week at Possum Kingdom Lake, or "PK" as the locals call it, near Graford, Texas, at a family reunion.
My cousin Judy and her husband Kenny Joe have a beautiful house at the lake. This is beautiful lake house 2.0, because in April 2011, the house burned during the wildfires in Texas.
Incredibly, they rebuilt in a year, and, even more incredibly, invited nearly the entire clan on my dad's side to be the first guests. I think we had close to 18 of us at one point.
This is the view from the deck of Judy and Kenny Joe's house, overlooking the lake.

The view of Possum Kingdom Lake from the back deck.

Vacation mornings start early at Possum Kingdom Lake, usually with a 3.5-mile walk around Lake Loop.
What's kind of bizarre is to see the burned trees, giving the area around the lake a very desolate look. You can see where the wildfire was by the lack of a treeline along some of the lake's ridge.

But some of the trees have some green growing up around them, so perhaps not all of the trees are gone.
After the morning walk, many of the crew headed down, or were already down, at the boat dock. Some early birds hit the lake early to take advantage of smooth water for water skiing. Others went out on the SeaDoos, or went out for the daily buoy swim. From the cove where the boat dock is, we swim out to the no wake buoy marker and back. The distance was debated, but the majority thought it was about a quarter mile round trip.

Cousin Judy heading out for swim

Cousin Jean heading out for the buoy swim.

Cousin Grayson diving in.

Cousin Jesse diving in

Cousin Jim taking it easy on the pontoon boat 

Pat and Aunt Rose also worked on luring some fish out of the lake.

Pat working on catching the big one.

Aunt Rose working on a lure

Pat got "the big one." ha!

I know we didn't eat any fish during the week, so I think both Pat and Aunt Rose were using the catch and release method of fishing. Pat really did work on getting a big catfish. I never did see the catfish, but my goodness there was some big carp in that lake!
And on more than one occasion I got the surprise of my life when I got nibbled on the knee and bottom by some frisky bream.
Fish weren't the only wildlife we encountered. In the evening, deer come up to the house for the corn Kenny Joe sets out. We saw several fawn at different times, and even a small buck.

My parents saw two fox run by the house one evening, and I heard the yip, yip of coyotes after one evening walk.
Besides the fauna, there's also interesting flora around the house. There are cacti with these beautiful red flowers all over the place. There was a really beautiful one down by the dock, but I couldn't get a very good picture of it unless I was on a boat, so the photo isn't so great.

The cacti by the house

Cacti near the house

Big cacti that can be seen from the water

Photo of the cacti taken from a boat, so kind of hard to see.

We also went out on the pontoon boat several times, including to an area where you can jump about three stories into the water. I did this three years ago, so decided against it this year. I really don't like that feeling of falling and falling.

Cousin Judy at the helm, taking us out to the cliffs.

Cousin Grayson getting ready to jump

Cousin Lindsay talking the leap, while others climb back up for another round.

Lining up to jump

Jump!

Grayson about half way down

Cousin Collin mid leap

Brave souls about to jump

Cousin Joe watches the action from a SeaDoo

We also went over to Hell's Gate, a beautiful rock formation at the lake.

Hell's Gate

 During the week, we celebrated my Uncle Joe's 75th birthday. It was nice that my dad and Aunt Rose, his brother and sister, were there to help celebrate.

Rose, Dad and Joe

Uncle Joe also did a really fun thing during the week. He brought a case of various wines, but he had each wrapped in a bag, so we couldn't tell what type or brand it was. We all did tastings of each wine and he had sheets for us to score the wines. At the end of the week, he unveiled the wines. What a fun surprise as we learned some were Costco brand wines, others an inexpensive wine from Harris Teeter grocery store. I think this is something I'd like to do with girlfriends over a weekend get together.
We all took turns fixing an evening meal, and that was great. As someone who lives by herself, it was heaven to have dinner fixed for me. My night was Thursday and Rose, Pat and I made almond-crusted chicken with rice and salad. It turned out really well.
We also had chicken with orzo one night, a Mexican night, beef stroganoff, shrimp boil, seafood pasta, and the final night was pizza and loads of left overs. They were all so good!
The week was filled with good food, good wine, and good friends and family. It was just what I needed and just what I got -- R&R at PK.