A day of celebration

What a wonderful July 4th this has turned out to be.
I completed my 10th Peachtree Road Race 10K in Atlanta. That's 6.2 miles for you non runners. And in Atlanta, on July 4th, with 60,000 of your closest friends, that  is a hot run, my friends.
Here's me collecting my reward for the Peachtree Road Race, the coveted Peachtree Road Race T-shirt.

Me collecting the 2011 Peachtree Road Race T-shirt

Here I am this morning, looking a little more collected before the race.

Just before the start of Peachtree Road Race

And the fun surprise of the race, running into my friend Rachel on the MARTA train this morning. We did not plan this, but we ended up on the same train, same train car! I love serendipity.

Rachel and Lisa on MARTA train on way to race

Now, the found money portion of our story. Right after I started running the race, I noticed a quarter on the road, but I could not stop to pick it up for fear of being trampled by fellow Peachtree Road Race runners. I just hope some walker behind me found it. :)
I did find a penny on my way back to the MARTA train following the race, and I noticed a penny near the electrified rail in the station. I left that one for the MARTA maintenance crew.
My time today wasn't the greatest. Not my fastest, but, thankfully, not my slowest. I looked up all of my times for this race, and my best time was in 2005, when I ran 1:05:14.
Just a year later I ran half way through chemo, bald as a cue ball. My time for 2006 was better than today's time. !!!
Here's me with friend Ethan after that race.

Look, Ma! No eyebrows!

OK, I'm being a bit silly about a serious topic.
Running today's race let me realize how far I've come from that frightening time five years ago. That I'm still here, still running, might be seen as something close to a miracle. Maybe it is.
I've heard people say that cancer is a gift. I'm here to tell you it is NOT. There is NO WAY cancer has been a gift to me. And I think when people say that, what they really mean is not that cancer itself is the gift, but what happens as a result of cancer can be.
Look at that photo of me and Ethan. I would not know Ethan any other way than through cancer, and running. I was walking back to the MARTA station after the race that year when Ethan and his mother, Raquel, began chatting with me. Raquel snapped this picture. It is the only one I have of my running during cancer. I cherish this photo.
There are friends I've made as a result of cancer and cancer treatment that I would know no other way than this awful disease. That is the gift.
It's the same with running. I have friends that I know no other way than through running. Running is a gift to me, as well.
Today's gift was completing the Peachtree Road Race in 1:21:01 and having loads of fun doing it.
So I have a lot to celebrate today. To my cancer, and running, friends out there, celebrate with me.

Feeding the pig

What a fun day I had today, and I even found a penny to feed my pig.
I had lunch today with my friend Liora, who has a really interesting blog Mindful Dough, and we got to talking about a new exercise app that she recommended Nexercise. Fair warning, I've had a LOT of trouble with it running with my favorite running app Runkeeper, but the customer service gal and I may be new best friends. She has really been trying to help resolve my issues.
So after lunch, Liora and I headed over to REI to see if we could "check in" and earn more points with Nexercise. We did not, but then we decided we could earn more Nexercise points if we walked for 15 minutes together.
So there we were walking in a very hot, asphalt parking lot for 15 minutes! Yes, we are crazy. We both agreed that we two would be the only friends who would actually do this. And while we were walking we were talking about found money. I was saying I needed to find something today, because my piggy bank had not been fed since Tuesday. That pig is getting hungry.
Wouldn't you know it, I found a penny! And a bright, shiny new one.
So, the pig has been fed today.
This is turning into a game, almost. If I was brilliant, I would create my own app where when you find "found money" your piggy stays alive. OK, I really need to get a life. But how is that any better or worse than Angry Birds??? LOL
And I have my first real harvest from my garden.

First Romas out of the garden



These little guys all fell off the vine half ripened, so I had to put them on the window sill to ripen, but they have. Need to pick up some turkey bacon tomorrow at the grocery store to enjoy my first BLT of the season. Or maybe I should try the first batch of gazpacho. OMG I love summertime gazpacho!! I have a great recipe. I need to find it and post it.

The other fun part of my day was picking up my race number for Monday's Peachtree Road Race 10K, an annual July 4th tradition in Atlanta.

I'll write more about it on Monday, but I am excited and proud to be running it again this year

But for now, my day is complete. I have exercised, gotten my race number, and fed the pig.