Coming in second

I ran the inaugural Quest to End Homelessness 5K yesterday, and because it was such a small field (which is common for a new race) I came in second in my age group! And I was not a speed queen by any means yesterday.
The race was almost entirely in the park, which is very hilly. That explains why I wasn't so speedy. I had to walk some of those hills.
The race benefits Quest 35 Housing, which helps find housing for the homeless. In this case, the race benefited homeless veterans.
It was a cool, crisp morning. It was a little tough to get out of a nice warm bed yesterday to head over, but I am very glad I did.
I didn't take any photos, and I should have. CEO Leonard L. Adams Jr. was there and he seems to have a fun personality. He was really getting the crowd excited about the race.
I got some nice swag in my race bag, too. I got a jump rope (which I think will actually work. The one I got from another event was plastic and isn't weighted enough to make it a good jump rope. This one is more rope-like, so it may work), I got crayons, and a couple other items.
I was so pleased with coming in second that I treated myself to a new pair of running capris. Other women treat themselves to jewelry or other items. I treat myself to running gear!
I also signed up for the Jingle Jog 5K on Dec. 8. I've run that before. It's fun, but HUGE. It's actually hard to run that race because it is so crowded. But my friend Kellie said she was going to run it with me. I hope she does!
And now a little catch up on "what I've been eating lately."
I've been trying out some new restaurants in Atlanta. Earlier this fall I tried Yebo restaurant + bar, a South African restaurant from the same owners as 10 Degrees South, also a South African restaurant. Yebo, which is in Buckhead, is more of a tapas place, however.

Popcorn with peri-peri salt

Yebo interior

Soaked martini with pear juice, lemon and St. Germain

shrimp & grits

It was a great evening, and I was out on the outside patio, which was lovely.
Last month I went to Article 14 in Midtown and had the lobster roll.

lobster roll

The meal, which I shared with my friend Erin, was yummy. My only complaint was that the roll was very buttered, so my hands got greasy every time I tried to pick up the sandwich. I ended up having to use fork and knife to eat it.
I've tried a few other restaurants this fall, but I'd forgotten to take photos of the food until it was too late (which means I'd already taken a few bites.) Whoops!
I won't have a chance to eat at any restaurants, or run any restaurants in the next couple of weeks, since it is almost Thanksgiving here in the United States.
I'll have to do my running closer to home. At least when I run by myself, I'm assured of coming in first. ha!

World Run Day

Got up this morning to participate in World Run Day.
I've been pretty spotty in my running, unless it is a 5K race, so it was good to get out and get some more miles in this morning. It was also a beautiful morning. About 10 degrees warmer than yesterday morning.
And what a surprise find on my neighborhood running route, this little gem!

Little free library

 It is a little free library. The owner has placed a couple dozen books in there, for neighbors to take and enjoy and return (or return with some other book). There was a book in there I am interested in reading, but since I was on a run, I didn't really want to carry it. I'll have to go back with a little backpack. And I've got some books to put in there.
I saw several of these libraries at the silent auction at the recent Decatur Book Festival, but I don't know if this was one of them. There were about a dozen up for auction.
Now I want one!
I think these are a great idea and I hope to enjoy this little library often.
What a satisfying day. I enjoyed a good run, and I found a good read.

Git 'er Dunn

Today's Dunn Run 5K certainly felt like a November morning race. It was 36 degrees at the start.
You wouldn't really know it now. It's gotten up to nearly 70 today. Allowed me to get a little fall yard work done, but I did discover that my daffodils have enjoyed the mild fall and are starting to poke up. Darn it. I hope that doesn't mean I won't have any lovely spring flowers!
The Dunn Run 5K was held in Sandy Springs, Ga. At the start of the race, the race director told runners this was a fairly flat race. I'm not one to call the man a bald-faced liar, but his idea of a "fairly flat race" and my idea of one are completely different.
I ran this race last year, and the course is slightly different to get rid of a really tough hill. So maybe, compared to last year, it WAS fairly flat.
Not a bad race. I found a dime. I haven't found much cash on any race lately, so that was a nice find. My little piggy has been pretty darn thin all summer. Nice that I could feed it today.
So, I ran a 5K and fed the pig today. I got 'er Dunn.

A wrinkle in time

Once again this year, I ran a 5K race I swore I would not run again, but this time, I really enjoyed it.
This morning, at 1:50 a.m., I ran the Anything is Possible 5K. In the states, the race begins 10 minutes before most of the country returns to Standard Time. We "fall back" an hour. So at 2 a.m., it becomes 1 a.m. And all of the runners finish the race before they even started it.
I ran this last year by myself (my friend Nicole was sick and couldn't run) and in very cold temps.
What made this race so much more enjoyable this year were 1) I ran it with my friend Kellie, 2) the swag was a pair of pajama bottoms and 3) it was about the balmiest November night I can remember. It was in the upper 60s when we ran. I wore a T-shirt and capri running pants and about half way through I was wishing I had worn my running skirt!
Now, that temp won't last. We are already supposed to head back down to the low 60s and upper 50s for highs this week.

Kellie and me before the race

 Kellie and I adorned ourselves with glow bracelets and necklaces. Some runners really got decked out with blinking lights and glow sticks. Others were running in their pajamas. One woman ran with curlers in her hair. That was funny. I should have gotten her picture for this blog. I hope those curlers stayed in while she was running!
Kellie is a much faster runner than I am, but what is turning out to be quite nice for me, is she waits at the finish line and snaps a picture of me crossing.

Finishing up

What was funny about the race was the time on the finish line showed your actual race time, but also your "negative" time, with the clocks moved back. The one part that was kind of off-putting in the race was the area where they had set up strobe lights and called it the "Time Warp." Mostly it was hard to see with those strobe lights.

At the end of the race there was food, music and fun. Kellie and I stayed a little while, but then headed home. I put on my new PJ bottoms and hit the bed. Getting up at midnight to go run a race has left me feeling a little bleary-eyed all day.
There was a little pitfall this week in my family's life. My brother's oldest son, Chase, fell and broke his collar bone on Halloween. However, ever the trouper (and a 6-year-old who wasn't going to miss trick or treating), he got out to get his candy. I'm not sure he was able to wear his Batman costume. My brother said he was the "one-armed Ninja." All's well that ends well, I suppose

Chase sporting his sling and Gavin sporting his monkey blanket

If I could go back in time, I think I'd try to prevent the broken collar bone.
But since I can't, I'll just have to settle for a fun "wrinkle in time" 5K.

A tree grows in Atlanta

Another lovely fall day in Atlanta.
No race today, but I certainly got my exercise in. Three hours of yard work this morning and now all I want to do is soak in a warm tub and take a nap. Neither of those things will happen just yet.
One of the chores outside today was to get the Nuttall oak seedling I got at the Komen Race for the Cure in Houston. The seedlings were being handed out to survivors. I had my choice of an oak or pine seedling. Give me a hardwood tree any day!
Then came the puzzler -- could I even bring it back to Atlanta and plant it? Turns out, you can't fly with gels or liquids, but you can fly with a tree seedling. Thanks to Robert and Susan for quickly looking that up on the TSA web site!
I spent more than a few minutes trying to decide where to plant my seedling. I think I walked around the house at least three times, checking on sunlight, where it would grow compared to other trees in the yard, and how close it might come to the house.
I started digging the first spot, but the soil was so compacted and yucky, I abandoned it. Georgia is known for its red clay soil, and it's a wonder anything but the vile vine kudzu will grow in it.
A little further down, I saw some weeds and vines I wanted to clear out near the fence line. I started pulling and realized the soil there was better. So a second hole was dug.
My little Nuttall oak seedling has a new home.

My new Nuttall oak

And so, a tree grows in Atlanta.

Counting the sunny hours

One of my favorite 5K races was this morning at Historic Oakland Cemetery in Atlanta. That's right, it was time for the Run Like Hell 5K.
It was a cool, crisp morning, but sunny.
I had not picked up my race number and T-shirt earlier this week, so I decided I'd get to the race a little early to make sure I could get them.
The race started at 9 a.m., but I was there about 7:45 a.m. With T-shirt and race number in hand, I had plenty of time to wander the cemetery before the race start.
The irony is, I visited Oakland Cemetery earlier this week. I was having dinner with friends at Six Feet Under, an aptly named restaurant directly across the street from the cemetery. My friend Erin and I met 45 minute early to take a walk together, and we decided to wander the cemetery. The fading light provided a beautiful photo.

Atlanta's skyline in the fading light

The old and new Atlanta

As I wandered the cemetery this morning, I stumbled across this gem. The sun dial was part of a grave marker. And it had rather sage advice: Count none but sunny hours.

Sun dial as part of a grave marker

Count none but sunny hours

The Berman sun dial

The Run Like Hell is pretty much an out and back race down Cherokee Avenue in Grant Park. It runs along one side of Zoo Atlanta.
What makes this race fun is so many people who come out in costumes. This year I saw quite a few "replacement" refs.
The last quarter mile or so really is through the cemetery.

Last bit of the race, headed back into the cemetery

This run wasn't my fastest, but it was spent on a lovely fall day. I'll be counting this day among my sunny hours.

Let's Win the Fight

Another beautiful morning for running in Atlanta.
Spring and fall are truly the ideal times in this city. This morning I ran Winship Win the Fight 5K, a charity race that benefits Winship Cancer Institute at Emory University.
What was great about this race was I met up with four friends.
First, I met Scott Zucker, a local attorney who has written a legal thriller, and the proceeds of the book benefit Winship. I met Scott through my work -- I had a freelance writer do a profile story on him and how he came to write the book. We had emailed back and forth and I was glad to meet him this morning.

Me and Scott Zucker

I also met up with my friends Mary and Erin.

Mary, Erin and me

What's kind of funny about us meeting up today is I know Erin and I know Mary, but I had no idea Mary and Erin knew each other. Turns out, they went to school together in Florida. It's a small world.
But I was really excited to meet up with my long-time running buddy Jessica.

Me and Jessica

I met Jessica shortly after I started working in Atlanta. We met for a business lunch and found out we had running in common. For several years, we ran throughout the week together and ran all sorts of races together.
That changed when Jessica and her husband had twins! We haven't run as much, so it was great to see her today. Here we are on the race course.

Me and Jessica during the race

Here's Erin coming across the finish line.

Erin crosses the line. ;)

And here are all of us ladies post-race. Don't we look fab?!

Erin, Mary, me and Jessica

All of us are talking about some other races we will try to run together.
My day of working out was not over with the end of the race.
This afternoon I began one of my dreaded household chores, staining the back deck of my house. It's a big ol' party deck. It will take me two days to do it, mostly because I get so sore after three hours I have to stop.
As I was finishing up the first half of the deck today I made a rather unhappy discovery. There is a giant hole in the back of the pants I wear to stain the deck. That in and of itself doesn't make me unhappy. These are ratty old blue jeans and I've used them for years to stain or paint. They are well worn.
However, I made this discovery after I had gone to Home Depot to buy some more stain. I ran into the bathroom to look in the mirror. Perhaps the hole wasn't as bad as I thought and no one could see it. No such luck. And I'm wearing bright purple underwear today. Lovely.
As one friend pointed out, "At least you were wearing underwear!"
Well, yes, there is something to be thankful for.
I think instead, I'll be thankful for great running buddies and a perfect fall morning.

Deep in the heart of Texas

I spent a fast 48 hours in Houston, Texas, last weekend reconnecting with friends and getting in a 5K in my eighth state.
First things first. Houston has some REALLY cool attractions, namely, one of my dearest college friends and her family live there. Worth visiting Houston for her alone.
I haven't seen Susan since we graduated from University of Missouri in the mid 80s (I'm not so inclined to say WHAT year, for fear someone will start counting and realize my true age. My celebrity age is 38!)
Susan has been asking me to visit for the past several years, and now that I've been to see her and seen some delightful areas of Houston I wonder why it took me so long.
The trip to Houston really started last year with my trip to Kansas City, Mo., to do the Komen Race for the Cure in that city and visit my college roommate Patti and her family.
At some point during that trip, I said to Patti, wouldn't it be fun to do Komen in Houston and visit Susan at the same time. A more-or-less casual email to Susan about the idea and suddenly we were serious about the trip.
Got in early Friday morning and ran into Susan at Hobby Airport. She recognized me before I did her, but she looks just as she did in college (only with a few more gray hairs). Even more wonderful was her husband Robert and daughter Caitlyn took the day off and were there too.
We found Patti in the baggage claim area and we headed out to Johnson Space Center to tour NASA.

Caitlyn, Susan and Patti in a mock up of the Space Shuttle

Me in the space shuttle mock up

Astronaut food, looks "yummy"

Hey, didn't we eat this in college?

Hard to see, but some of the training space vehicles

The business end of a Saturn rocket

  

These things were HUGE

But then, so was the rocket

All to get this little bit into space

Cool stuff

Had to buy some astronaut ice cream. It tastes like chalk.

If you ever find yourself in Houston with time to spare, don't miss NASA. The tour of Johnson Space Center is interesting, but it's sort of like herding cattle. First you are loaded onto a tram and given a laminated card with a number on it, which you are told is for "security reasons." I'm not sure what would happen if you didn't turn it back in. None of us risked it, but we did laugh about it, since these cards are well worn and clearly used over and over again.
Then it's in and out of buildings quickly. Until we got to the Saturn V rocket area, we didn't get to just wander around.
Our being shuttled around on the tram became quite an adventure. Turns out, you CAN seat four adults and one child in a row, but not comfortably. Row 16, the row number we  sat in on the tram, became a running joke with all of us. We could now tell Caitlyn "Eat your vegetables, or we're sending you to Row 16." Then again, maybe that's considered a violation of the Geneva Convention. Ha!
Inside the Space Center, a more interactive area, I got to see and touch a moon rock, saw the actual computer controls of the original moon mission -- dear God, did we send men to the moon with THAT? -- and got to see the insides of space capsules of various sorts. I came away thinking astronauts were incredibly courageous and/or insane, and they could not be claustrophobic. My goodness they were jammed in there tight.
Of course there is a gift shop. I bought astronaut ice cream. It's freeze dried and tastes like chalk. But I bought a couple extra and sent them to my nephews who are 4 and 6. They'll get a kick out of it.
Next we went to the Kemah Boardwalk, an area with shops, an amusement park, and several restaurants.

Some Kemah fun, matey

Susan and Popeye

Robert, Susan and Caitlyn

Me and Patti

A carriage ride around Kemah Boardwalk

Our horse Molly

A lovely carriage ride

The next morning Susan, Patti and I were up very early to walk the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K in downtown Houston. Susan doesn't live that far away, so we got there early enough to park and walk around before the walk began.

Susan, Patti and me, before the race

A giant boob, that you could walk through and see what tumors look like. Lovely

Patti and me on the walk

Me and Susan on the walk

At the start

Wortham Fountain in downtown Houston, along the walk route

Patti and Susan at Wortham Fountain

A dragon boat

More of the dragon boat

More of the giant boobs

We finished the race and then finished out the day at the Williams Waterwall.

Houston's Waterwall

 The Waterwall is a multi-story sculptural fountain at the south end of Williams Tower in the Uptown District of Houston. When you are up close to it, it is pretty loud.

Caitlyn at the Waterwall

Caitlyn and me at the Waterwall

A long view of the Waterwall. It's pretty impressive

 One other thing I loved about this weekend was how it felt like there was no time between when I last saw Susan. Twenty five years is a long time, but it melted away.
I reconnected with friends in a whole new way, deep in the heart of Texas.