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?

Jog Days of Summer

I ran this hot, hilly 5K today at Chastain Park and what made it far more tolerable was my friends Joy and Sasha who wanted to do it with me.
My Atlanta Track Club membership came in handy, because one of them got to use my guest pass. I was hoping both of them could use it, but one of the codes didn't work. Oh well.
I think every year I consider NOT running this one. But since it is a free to track club members race, it's hard to skip it.
Sasha and Joy are both stronger runners than I am. They got ahead of my shortly after the start. I caught up to one or both of them at some point on the course, but in the end they were about a minute ahead of me at the finish.
No matter! It's more fun to do these races with friends.

Sasha, Joy and me

Sasha, Joy and I have run that crazy midnight race together, too, and this morning we decided we would do it again this year. I'll try to remember I agreed to do it happily when I'm waking up at midnight that night to go run a race! ha!
This race was hot and hilly (although not as humid as it's been in other years). What makes it more fun for me is doing it with running buddies.
I am so thankful I have various friends who do races with me. I'll be doing a race next week with Kellie. And the weekend after that it's one with friends Ellie and Dave.
I'm signed up to do a half marathon in April in Kentucky and my friend Peggy asked if I wanted company. I surely do! So we're doing that one together. We ran Seattle together earlier this year.
Running + Friends = Happiness. Even in the dog days of summer!

Summertime running

It's summer in Atlanta, but with all the rain we've had this year, one might think this is Seattle.
The weather forecasters noted this week that we've had as much rain in Atlanta to date as we normally have all year.
But I've been very lucky with the 5K races I've done this month. No rain during any of them!
On Aug. 11, I did the Jog Days of Summer, which ran around Chastain Park in Atlanta. That morning was warm and humid, not that it was a problem, but the race started and finished between the horse park and the swimming pool at the park. When I wasn't getting a whiff of horse manure, I could smell chlorine. Yikes.
It was my first time running this race, but I've actually run a similar course. Challenging, but not awful.
This was another Atlanta Track Club sponsored race, which means it was free to track club members. I really enjoy these low-key, no T-shirt races. I've got plenty of race shirts, so I really don't need more!
This morning I ran the Magnolia Run around Perimeter Mall. I've run this race before. It used to be a 4-mile race in June, but a couple of years ago that changed. It's now in August and a 5K.
The race benefits the Epilepsy Foundation of Georgia and it was great to see so many folks out running and walking to support friends and family members.
My low back has been bothering me, so I didn't have as much fun on this race as I might. It was fairly cool this morning, so the temp was nice, but my poor back! Ice and ibuprofen are now my friends.
The good part of today's race was I found four pennies. I was only able to collect two of them, but that's OK. The found money pig got fed today!