Run like a polar bear

I've run four 5Ks so far this year, and Saturday's Polar Bear Run in Marietta was my fastest time of the year. ;)
I ran this race with my friend Nicole.

Nicole and me at Polar Bear Run

It was chilly for the race, but not horrible. It was sunny. The first year I ran this race, in 2009, it was warm, a balmy 45 degrees, but it rained.
I  hadn't run it since until this year. For metro Atlanta, this race is fairly flat.
I'm having fun plotting out the next few races I'll be running. It looks like March will be pretty busy -- probably a 5K every single weekend, but that will also be the start of the nearly perfect running weather in Atlanta. I don't think I will mind so much that I'll be getting up early every Saturday to go run. At least that's what I tell myself now.
Still, that is the fun of the run for me. And how often can you say you've run like a polar bear?

It was an honest mistake

As it turns out, the State Tollway Authority in Georgia does not have a cash back program.
But on Friday, it did for me.
In Atlanta, Georgia 400 is a toll road and I was headed to a business appointment and had to part with 50 cents at the toll plaza to get there.
I've put all of my "found money" silver coins in my purse and pulled out 50 cents in various coins, including one very road weary dime, to pay my toll.
As I pulled up to the toll booth, I hoped that road weary dime would not be rejected by the toll's coin collector.
So when I threw the change in the bin and then heard a funny noise, I thought my fear had been realized and reached into the "rejected coins" slot to retrieve my wonky dime. I could see coins in there.
What I pulled out where two shiny pennies -- only I hadn't thrown any pennies in.
The toll booth arm raised, indicating I could go and I left, with two pennies in my possession.
In my confusion I couldn't figure out why I had two pennies.
Then it occurred to me -- none of my coins had been rejected, and I'd just made off with a "discount" at the toll booth.
I hadn't intended it, but I'd gotten cash back from my toll. :)
Then I had the ugly thought that the whole incident was probably caught on security camera and wondered if I would see blue lights and a cop car to arrest me on the spot.
None of that happened, it's just I have an overactive imagination sometimes.
So, Tollway Authority, before you arrest me... it was an honest mistake!!
My "found money" piggy bank got those two pennies, along with a penny I found this afternoon.
Honest!

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.