Peace Love Run in the Rain

What is it with me and running races in downpours?
This morning's 5K was the Peace Love Run 5K in Woodstock, Ga. (get it?)
Yesterday I went to the dollar store looking for some love beads or peace stuff, hoping to look Groovy for the race. I ended up with some flower barrettes for my hair, but all of that was a wash this morning when I woke up to the sound of pretty heavy rain.
I packed my trusty rain poncho and picked up my friend Erin.
Now, mind you, Woodstock is about 45 minutes (without traffic on a Saturday morning) from Erin's house. And that drive was not all that fun.
We got there, thinking we may have just driven up to have the race canceled. We did see lightning, although it was infrequent.
But the race organizers were pretty enthusiastic that we were going to run the race, so here we are prepared to start!

Erin & Me in our stylish rain ponchos. :)

 The course was enclosed, all around River Ridge High School in Woodstock. Not my favorite course. It was windy, surprisingly hilly (for a high school campus that must have been graded before it was built), and really rather boring. But that really didn't matter as we were just trying to book it to get out of the rain!
About half way through, the rain tapered off. Hooray!
We ran a fairly fast race. Or, I should say, I ran a fairly fast race for me.
Here we are coming in at the finish:

coming in fast at the finish

A quick cool down lap after finishing

And don't we both look stylish in our Skirt Sports running skirts?

Syling and profiling

Erin is a Skirt Sports ambassador this year, and I'm 100 percent jealous because I got the same application she did, only I never filled it out! I certainly will next year!
I'm afraid this was likely a one and one race for me. Woodstock is way the heck OTP (that's Outside the Perimeter for you non-Atlantans) and the boring course will likely keep me from doing it again, too.
But I'm glad I did it once. Peace out!

Thunder and Lightning and Rain, Oh My!

State No. 17 is in the books with the Garmin Marathon's Wicked Half Marathon in Olathe, Kansas.
I've been wanting to do this race for a while now. It's the town where my college roommate Patti and her family now live in. A Mizzou gal living in Kansas. We've had many a discussion about this. :)
I flew in Friday morning to Kansas City. It was kind of good to be back. Always glad to be back in the Midwest where I was born.

Got to the race expo and got my number and T-shirt. The T-shirt is awesome!

friends at the expo

The weather was my greatest concern. It was supposed to start raining Friday, but when the alarm went off at 5 a.m. Saturday, the first thing I thought was "I don't hear rain."
We were lucky. We got the race started without rain!
There was some confusion about where the shuttles would pick us up for the race, so I ended up walking over to another hotel for pickup, only to have the shuttle drive right across to my hotel! Oops!
But I got to meet Tiffany as we walked over to the Hilton Garden Inn together. That's what I love about traveling to other states for races. I meet the greatest people!

Tiffany and me at the pre-dawn start

Hey, I ran into a "friend" at the start of the race, and her little dog, too!

Me and my gal Dorothy at the start

It was fun to see all of the folks in costume. I was impressed.

Dorothy at the start

That's some wicked witch

A flying monkey! I loved this costume!

I think they are off to see the Wizard

Alas, the rain did not hold off. In fact, the bad weather did not hold off. I got about half way before the rain started, and at times it was pretty heavy.
At one point we were on a trail and once the dirt on the trail got wet, it was pretty slick. I was afraid was going to be off to see the ER! Thankfully, I didn't bite it on the trail.
But at mile 10 or 11 I could hear thunder. And at mile 12 I saw lightning. Talk about a little extra motivation to get across the finish!
And look! Yellow bricks at the finish!

 I got in about my usual time these days: 2 hours 54 minutes. I had a good chuckle in that as runners crossed the finish, their names were called out. All except mine! Must have been my slowness! LOL
But, I finished. And I had a great time. Despite the weather, despite the slippery trail, despite the slow race.

All smiles at the end! And representing in my Atlanta Track Club T!

Tthen I met my roomie Patti for lunch afterward. Ah, the after-race beverage.

How every half marathon should end

Finisher's medal

I had great fun on the yellow brick road on my way to completing state No. 17 of the bucket list. Next stop, Seattle, Washington in June!

Bridging the bucket list

Last week I checked off a Bucket List race: The Cooper River Bridge Run 10K in Charleston, S.C.
This has been a race I've wanted to do for some time, and thought I'd missed an easy opportunity when my brother moved from Charleston several years ago.
But last year my co-worker Ellie said her boyfriend's father and stepmother live there and it would be fun to do the race. We all signed up.
What an adventure we had last weekend! It started on the road:

On the road with Ellie, Zaxby the dog, and Dave

 We drove down the day before the race, and got to the race expo. Boeing, which has a plant in Charleston, was one of the sponsors of the race, and as we were leaving the expo, I saw a Dreamliner coming in for a landing nearby. That plane is BIG!
It was an early start race day morning, as the race is a point-to-point race, so we had to be bussed to the start.

Waiting for the start

Country music star Taylor Hicks sang the Star-Spangled Banner and then came the skydivers!

Flying in the flag

Toward the start 

Almost there!

We were in Corral F, so we didn't start until about 8:30 a.m., almost a half hour after the elite runners, but at last we were on the way.

Over Shem's Creek

Me and my shadow

Nearing Ravenel Bridge

Beautiful bridge

Bridge selfie!

Blue skies

Finished!

I wish I'd smiled for my finish line photo! I look so silly, but maybe it was just I was glad to be done. It wasn't. a necessarily hard race. Mostly flat except for the bridge.
Here are some race-day photos from the Cooper River Bridge Run's website:

Almost the best part of the weekend, for me, was Saturday night's dinner at Bowen's Island Restaurant, where I got some outstanding steamed oysters. We had to wait to get in, about 45 minutes, but who minds the wait when you get a sunset like this?

Sunset over the marsh

I thought maybe this might be a "One and Done" race for me, but I had such a great time, I'd certainly consider running it again. It was very well coordinated and a lot of fun.

Marching into spring

Ah, March in Atlanta.
It's either very warm and the pollen starts to bloom in earnest, or it remains cold and we all wonder when spring will arrive. Sometimes, March does a bit of both!
This year, March is remaining fairly cold. Usually by now I've been able to turn off my heat. I love that grace period twice a year in Atlanta when I don't have to run heat or the air conditioner. It's usually just a few weeks, but it feels so freeing not to have giant utility bills! More money for race registrations!
I ran the Sham Rock N Roll 10K this year, and managed an ever so small improvement on my time. It's still a double loop. It's still hilly.
I ran into my co-worker Jessica at the finish. She did the 5K, walking it with some friends, and she finished the walk just a few minutes ahead of my 10K run.

Jessica and me at the finish

I found a few coins during the run, too, so the pig got fed!
This morning I ran the Tour deCatur 5K, on pi day! I didn't do too badly on this race, even though it was a little chilly and rainy and foggy this morning.
I haven't run the Tour deCatur in several years, so it was nice to run it again.
I don't have another race scheduled in Atlanta until April. My next race will be in Charleston, S.C., running the Cooper River Run 10K. It's been on my bucket list for a while.
I'm ready to march on to that race.

A return to an old friend

It's been three years since I've run the Charles Harris 10K.
And this morning, I wasn't so sure it wouldn't be four years before I ran it again. Winter weather in Atlanta (meaning ice in the forecast) threatened to cancel the race this morning, but temps above freezing and the rain holding off until just after the race ended meant we were on this morning!
I looked up my race time three years ago, and I was two minutes slower this morning, which was disappointing. This is such a flat, net downhill race, that I was hoping to do better.
I felt really good until about mile 4 and then I seemed to lose steam. I ate an energy gel, which helped a little bit, but I got to mile 6 of this 6.2 and wanted to walk. My right IT band was angry!
This race and I have a bit of a history.
I remember the first year I ran it with my running buddy Jessica. It was 37 degrees and we complained about that! Ha! Now, I consider 37 degrees BALMY during the winter.
This year's start was 33, by the way.
Then there was the 2006 race.
I was diagnosed with cancer 9 years ago tomorrow. That year, in 2006, the Charles Harris 10K was three days after I was diagnosed, and I decided to run the race anyway, even though I hadn't slept in three days. (Cancer diagnosis should completely come with anti-anxiety medication!)
Dear God, it poured down rain that year, at 45 degrees, the whole way. Not a sprinkle, but a downpour.
At that time, several friends ran it with me (I should mention I have absolutely AWESOME friends) and we had my traditional breakfast afterward. It made a really bad time so much more tolerable.
This year, as I ran, I thought back only briefly to that time. Honestly, cancer thoughts, thankfully, are fewer and fewer.
I won't say cancer thoughts (and fears of recurrence) don't come out from time to time.
The blessing is, those thoughts are fewer.
So here's to the Charles Harris 10K! It was good to return to an old friend, even one with which I've had a checkered past.

Where's the spring in the Spring Tune Up 8K?

Gee, if I'm going to run a race called the Spring Tune Up 8K, I'd rather it not be below freezing at the start.
It was a balmy 29 degrees for this Atlanta Track Club-sponsored race that starts and finishes over near the Reynoldstown MARTA station.
But maybe the cold air helped a little bit, I ran this race about a minute faster than last year!
Maybe this is a tune up for spring. :)

Running with Hearts & Soles

Another great Atlanta Track Club race was Feb. 7: The Hearts & Soles 5K.
This time last year, I was hobbled as a result of that car accident.
This year, I felt good, and I ended up with a great finish time, for me!
The Hearts & Soles 5K has to be about the most boring course, but it's a relatively flat out and back at Georgia Perimeter College in Decatur.
I ran this one by myself, too, but ended up finding my friend Angela at the end.

Angela and me

This year, no hobbling -- and no hearts were broken. Just soles hitting the pavement and getting another 5K under my belt.