Let freedom run

For the first time since I've been working for my company, which is nearly 15 years, we have Martin Luther King Jr. Day off.
So what did I do with my day off? Ran a 5K, of course!
It was the inaugural MLK Day 5K -- Let Freedom Run. A balmy 37 degrees at the start. No more warm January weather, I'm afraid.
The course was throughout Atlanta's Buckhead and I can tell you that we runners made a lot of Buckhead drivers unhappy. I don't think all of that car honking was for support. :)
Just so you know, car honkers, that noise doesn't make me run any faster.
I found a penny on this morning's run. I actually spotted three pennies, but I could only safely collect one of them. A female runner next to me got one of them, too. She said she had found a penny a day for the past three weeks. That is a nice, and lucky, little streak!
During the race, there were high school drum lines along the course offering some motivation. I fully intended to take some photos and post them, but my hands were in gloves the whole time and it was too hard to try to get the camera out with gloves on, so no photos.
It was a good, challenging race. The perfect way to spend a day off from work.

Too warm for frostbite

Ran the Frostbite 5K on Saturday, the second year I've run the race. As I recall, it wasn't that cold last year either, but this year I ran the race in a T-shirt and shorts. I know I didn't do that last year!
I ran the race with my friend Julie.

Julie and Me before the Frostbite 5K

I hadn't seen Julie for several months and it was good to catch up for 3.1 miles.
I also ran into my friend Jennifer.

Me and Jennifer

I even found three cents on the race course, so the piggy, which was completely empty after New Year's Eve, got fed this week.
For anyone who has just started reading this blog, I put all of my "found money" from races or just anywhere, in a little pink piggy bank with the idea to see how much found money I find in a year. I found $4.42 in 2011.
What crazy warm weather we've had. But the weather man says it's all to end this week, so the MLK Day 5K Let Freedom Run on Monday will require my cold weather gear.
Let's just hope Monday's race won't cause frostbite.

A new year

Here it is the start of 2012 and I've already logged my first 5K!
I ran the Resolution Run 5K in Kennesaw, Ga. this morning. There were a lot of people in attendance. Nice to see a good crowd for a 5K.
My friend Nicole and I ran this one together.

Me and Nicole before the race

And here we are after the race, still looking fresh as daisies!

All smiles post race.

For a January race, this one sure was warm. It was 61 degrees at the finish. I wished I had warn shorts instead of my capri running pants.
I spent New Year's Eve with my neighbor Christine and her family, having a wonderful dinner, then watching a movie. As the year came to a close, we "broke open" my piggy and counted all of my found money in 2011.

My "found money" piggy bank

Drum roll, please!
I found $4.42 in 2011. Well, let's just say that's what I picked up. During many a race I saw coins on the ground but for the safety of myself and others, could not have picked them up. I leave those for some other eagle-eyed runner or walker. :)
I will certainly enjoy a cup of coffee or whatever with that $4.42.
And how did I do on my first 5K of the year? Wouldn't you know it, I spotted a nickel, but it was embedded in the asphalt. But I will continue to keep a sharp eye for more.
After all, my piggy is now empty and hungry for more cash in the new year.

A personal best

How did the month of December slip by?
It has been a busy month, although not with a lot of running for me. My final 5K of the year happened Dec. 3, when I clocked my fastest 5K of the year.
That was a nice little surprise. I've run the course around Medlock Park in Decatur before, and I know how hilly it is. During the race, a spectator on the sideline yelled "It's all uphill from here!" He wasn't kidding.
So imagine my surprise when I round the corner to head to the finish line and I can see it is a sub 35 minute race. I knew if I gave it a little extra kick, I'd clock my best 5K time of the year. That is exactly what I did!
I was hoping to run one more 5K in December, but then I got the crud that has been going around and I was under the weather for a good two weeks.
That doesn't mean I haven't been signing up for races in the new year. I'm going to run the Resolution Run 5K on Jan. 1. This will be the first time I've ever done a New Year's Day race. I think it is a good way to start 2012.
And on New Year's Eve I plan to break open the piggy (well, not BREAK open) and see how much found money I found in 2011. I think I'll keep that tradition going. It has been fun to put that money aside just to see what I get at the end of the year.
Don't worry, I'll blog about the "earnings."

Is it really December?

Goodness! Is it really December?
I started this blog back in June and here it is the end of the year.
I know I have written a lot about running and gardening -- oh, and that brief affair with Leo Tolstoy!
But running and gardening have taken up a lot of this year.
Just today I have been online searching for probable 5K races I'm going to do in 2012. I've even been looking at various Komen Race for the Cure 5K races in other states to continue my effort to run or walk a 5K in all 50 states.
And I've even pulled up the Web site for the Gate River Run 15K in Jacksonville, Fla.
A little explanation...
I started becoming a "serious" runner while I lived in Jacksonville, about 10 to 12 years ago, and the Gate River Run is THE race in Jacksonville. It's 9.3 miles on a relatively flat course.
Flat, except for the two bridges on the course. The Main Street bridge (which is not its real name, but for the life of me I can't remember it's real name at the moment) and the Hart Bridge.
It was on the Main Street bridge, or the "blue" bridge if you have ever been to Jacksonville, that I had one of the worst running injuries EVER.

My nemesis, the Main Street bridge

The Main Street bridge is a lift span bridge and at one point there is no road. It is simply metal grating. That's the part that lifts at various times to let boats traverse the St. Johns River under the bridge.
Well, one year, I managed to catch my foot on something on that bridge and fell straight into the metal grating. As one friend said, "You fell into a cheese grater."
Yep. That's exactly what I did. I have never been so bloodied by a fall in my life. The orthopedist I saw AFTER the fall said he was surprised I didn't break both my wrists.
I actually had scrape marks on my left shoulder from where I rolled after I fell.
Yikes. It gives me the willies remembering that race!
I've been back in subsequent years to run that race, and I always am conscious as I run over that bridge to shuffle my feet so I don't trip again.
I haven't been back in a couple of years. But I find myself thinking about that race again.
It may be December, but it is time to start planning for the year ahead, and what races I want to cross off the bucket list, or simply conquer again.

Late harvest

I have been a bit remiss on blogging my running lately. I have run two more 5Ks in the last couple of weeks.

The Nov. 12 race was the Uptown Rhodes Race 5K near Rhodes Hall in Atlanta.

The Uptown Rhodes Race 5K

The race goes around Ansley Park, and it was hilly, but not too terrible. I had a good time for me.

This morning I ran the Lakeside Viking 5K with my friends Carolyn and Susan. I hadn't seen them in a while and it was good to catch up.

Now, this course was hilly. It goes through a subdivison called Sagamore Hills in the Oak Grove area of Atlanta. Sagamore Hills is aptly named!

Carolyn, Susan and me at Lakeside Viking 5K

I'll have no more 5Ks until December, so today's run was a good one to get in before a bit of a break.

The downside is I haven't found any cash as I've been running lately. The piggy bank is going to get very thin.

Atlanta has had its first freeze of the fall and last weekend I went out and pulled all the remaining tomatoes from the vines. I pretty much neglected them after about late September, and I guess that was a good thing! Look how many I pulled off.

Lots of green tomatoes

I literally filled a box with the green ones. Some riper ones are on the bottom and I've been having those in salads lately. I'm getting some of the green ones to ripen on the kitchen counter, but I think I'll be frying up a bunch today for a snack.

I also got my lone eggplant.

My one eggplant

After thinking my eggplant would not produce anything, I got this guy, and there was another small one just starting, but I didn't pull that one and I'm sure it's ruined now.

So I guess I'm going to have to neglect my garden a little more next year. Seems that's the way to get a nice late harvest.

Anything is Possible

I ran one of the most unusual races early this morning, the Anything is Possible 5K.
Here in the United States, Daylight Saving Time ended at  2 a.m., and some race director somewhere came up with a bright idea to run a 5K race just before the time changes back and hour -- so the runners can say they finished the race before it started.
The race started up in Kennesaw, Ga., around Town Center mall. It was cold and when my alarm went off at midnight to get up for the race I really had second, and third, thoughts about having signed up for this race.
I bundled up and drove up there around 1 a.m. It was the only time I have ever been able to set my cruise control on a highway in metro Atlanta and keep it on for the whole drive.

All bundled up before the Anything is Possible 5K

I wore some glow necklaces and those blinking arm lights from the Firefly 5K I did earlier this year.
The course was twice around the outer street of the mall, so it was relatively flat, but parts of the course were pretty dark,which I didn't like. I'm always fearful of tripping and taking a bad fall. I've taken two really bad falls while running, so that's why I am fearful of ever doing it again. (I'll blog about those later!)
And while I was running I spotted two dimes. Can you believe? As dark as it was out there, I happened to spot them under some of the street lights. But there were runners behind me and I could not get them. I'm hoping a walker or two along the course found them.
I had a fairly fast time, for me.
And the funny thing about this race was my Runkeeper application got fooled. Because of the time change, Runkeeper showed my time for the race as -22 minutes! YES! I'm a rock star!!
I guess it DOES go to show, Anything is Possible.