Pop up shower, cooling spray and Rain (poem)

- This late afternoon rain shower that popped up. I like watching rain like this from my living room and how it leaves the air feeling so fresh.

- Another good road race memory from Monday: smiling city workers positioned beside open fire hydrants - open so participants could walk through the cooling spray of water.

- I leave you now with a poem by Shel Silverstein (sounds so Garrison Keillor!) I like his poems because they speak to the child in everyone:

Rain

I opened my eyes
And looked up at the rain,
And it dripped in my head
And flowed into my brain,
And all that I hear as I lie in my bed
Is the slishity-slosh of the rain in my head.

I step very softly,
I walk very slow,
I can't do a handstand--
I might overflow,
So pardon the wild crazy thing I just said--
I'm just not the same since there's rain in my head.

Did it, got the shirt and celebration

- This was the view in front of me at the 2011 Peachtree Road Race. The trek down Peachtree Street into Piedmont Park in Atlanta was 6.2 miles on a hot, humid morning. Favorite moments: walking briefly with a 90-year-old man and his daughter (his shirt read: I'm 90 and I just passed you!), a woman walked in the road race for the first time in six years - she is still recovering from a spinal injury and did the race wearing leg braces, and me running across the finish line with coworker Joanne.

- And here's the proof - the shirt, the marked number and a "Howard's Heroes" sweatband (still damp this morning.) Consumer advocate Clark Howard is always at the end of the line and this was a fun reward for being back there with him. :)

- This email message from friend Barbara D, who considers me like one of her own kids: "Been thinking of you all day. We always turn the TV on and watch the race. We didn't see you. Hope you had a wonderful day and didn't get ill. Barbara" No - there was no illness, but I did come home and sleep for two hours before going off to a fun dinner to celebrate the 4th of July. A day I'll always remember.

The road race, my number and training

Photo courtesy of http://www.peachtreeroadrace.org/

- The Peachtree Road Race is a 10 kilometer road race held annually in Atlanta, Georgia on July 4, Independence Day. Don't these folks look intense? They are the ones who are seeded, start at 7:30am, finish quickly and are probably on a plane home before I will even be starting it. :)

- Yes, there will be 66,720 people in front of me and my start time is 8:55am. Last year, on July 5, my boss (who runs every year) suggested we all do it together in 2011. I didn't think I would be accepted into the race by The Atlanta Track Club and readily agreed. Be careful what you ask for...

- So I finally started training for it on April 1 and can be found at this park after work most afternoons. In April, a woman pushing a stroller with twin babies in it, passed me like I was standing still. :) But yesterday, I actually passed someone. I'm getting there.

And so I will always be able to say that I "ran" the Peachtree Road Race. I hope you have a happy and pleasant weekend, my friends!