Travel Tuesdays - Savannah, GA

Forever running, Bonaventure Cemetery, Savannah, GA

I've given myself the liberty of dipping into albums of photos that aren't limited to the Lowcountry on Tuesdays. This evening's photo isn't from too far down the coast - Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia. It is an incredible cemetery and should be on the list for anyone who enjoys wandering in historic cemeteries. This statue of a joyful runner struck me as particularly unusual. Run on Julie! It's refreshing to see such a happy face running between the tombstones.

The tomb isn't as old as most are at Bonaventure and I easily found the obituary: 

Julie Backus Smith: She was a founding member of the Savannah Striders and promoted running in the Savannah area. She ran in the Boston, New York and Grandfather Mountain Marathons on numerous occasions and at the age of 55 she also participated in the Disney World Marathon. At one time in her career she earned the title of fastest female runner in the Savannah area.

*Travel Tuesdays will feature photos taken out of Charleston and the Lowcountry.  Join me for Travel Tuesday field trips!

The Santa Run

It's that time of the year again! Yesterday, over 1700 Santas arrived in Toruń to take part in the annual Santa half marathon. The 21km run started in the main square before heading up Szosa Chelminska through Barbarka forest and finishing at the local athletics stadium.

A friend of mine - Howard Marshall flew in especially from the UK to take part in the marathon. He was raising money for the UK educational charity The Rendezvous Society and also did it in commemoration of Dennis Mitchell - the charity's founder who died last year.

Little Things

You may recall I tried running last May. I was gung-ho which, it turns out, is an anglicized pronunciation of a pair of Chinese words that mean "work together-work in harmony."

My body thought the opposite. (Ho gung?) My body thought "I am not working together in harmony with you on this project. Take THAT!"

I thought, "ouch!" and walked the rest of the way home. It never crossed my mind that I had caused myself injury, and THAT would not go away.

THAT, however, persists, so I saw a doctor and had some tests done. I now await the results and hope for the best, reflecting on how minor THAT is, really, and how with a little help I'll be back doing the little things--the laundry, the taking out of trash, the errands--which right now my body won't do.

Then there are the bigger things, the things I really miss. The walking. The hiking. The getting down on the floor to play with my dog. The writing at my desk.

THAT is a temporary reminder that I am no longer young enough to do just...whatever. My body is no longer eager to work together-work in harmony regardless of what I ask it to do. It's easier to hurt myself now. Recovery takes longer.

Everyone else comes to this pass. I never imagined I would, too.

We think we're infallible sometimes. We do.

Baby (pant pant) Steps

Yesterday I did a strange thing. I got up at 6:30 in the morning and went running.

I haven't been running in...ever. I tried once in Chicago when I was in my twenties. I think I did about a mile and decided it wasn't for me.

A mile. I was so ungrateful.

I don't want to tell you how far I didn't make it yesterday morning. The important thing is I went. I'd run a bit then walk until my lungs gave me permission to run again.

Okay. I'll tell you, because it's all right for you to know I'm not an athlete, and because maybe my lack of prowess will inspire you to start your own pathetic regimen. I went around the block. I had to stop running four times and walk. But hey, I started four times! And it's a big block! And I ran in the rain!

It felt good. I plan on doing it again today. I'd be sitting on the edge of my seat waiting to see what happens, except my butt kind of hurts for some reason.

day 290 - oktoberfest 5 k $

I wasn't planning to run today's 5 km Oktoberfest run. I was going to wait until next year to do my first 5km run. Michele and I had run 4 km several times and were working on five, but hadn't been able to quite get there yet. Somehow she managed to talk me into it and the night before the run I decided to do it. And I am so glad I did.

The run started from the Conestoga Mall in Waterloo. Now I've run into a mall many times in my life but never in a million years did I think I would ever run away from one. Here we are at the starting line. Die hards in the front in their spandex shorts and 3,000 other hosers at the back. The mission? Place somewhere between the Ethiopian track stars and the elderly and run the entire thing without dying in the process.



Michele, Andrea and I ran as a team. When one person started to tire, we all slowed. We pumped each other up and we encouraged each other the entire way. At 1.5 km I thought there was no way I was going to make it and then shortly after the 2 km mark I hit my stride. I felt really good. Once we hit the water station at 3 km we were on a roll (I was pumped that I was able to pull a page from my sons' book and drink water from a cup, throw it on the ground and not have to pick it up afterward). By 4 km we were all doing pretty well and by 4.5 km we were starting to pick up the pace until we were hauling it for the finish line.



My finishing time: 39:05 as captured by my timer chip that oddly enough did not look like a Lindsay Lohan SCRAM bracelet. Instead it was a small plastic disk attached to my shoelace. Not bad for an old lady with three kids who used to get winded climbing the stairs and passed by seniors with walkers while pregnant with twins.

Also not bad for somebody who has had many a conversation the past six months that go something like this:

Me: "How far do you usually run?"
Person with far more energy than me: "5 km."
Me: "And you run the whole way? You don't walk any of it?"
Person with far more energy than me: "Of course not."
Me: "Wow."

That's right people. I ran 5 km today and I ran the whole way.



Big thanks to Michele's husband Jason for taking the starting picture and the shot below. Thanks to Michele's adorable sons for cheering us on at the finish line with their beautiful banners (mine doubled for Andrea's friend Jenn who ran the 10 km and did fantastic). :)



So after that I could have gone to sleep and had a long nap. But who wants to nap on a beautiful fall day when the days with nice weather are numbered? Instead we went to the pumpkin patch. Big thanks to Michele. Every year we go to Stroms and every year I complain about the expensive pumpkins we paid for by the pound that end up being rotten when it comes time to carve them. The experience is picturesque, but expensive. This year we went to a good old fashion pumpkin patch instead. Just a field at the side of the road full of pumpkins that were $3 each and the kids LOVED it.

Here's E:



and my little O:






The coolest photo of the day? This one by Owen. Or was it Ethan? Crap. I need to get my butt in gear and get caught up before I forget everything from the past week.

day 225 - one of these things is not like the other $

A month ago I was ready to run out and buy an armband for my iPod. Not knowing how it would go or if I would like running, I held off. Having run my first race and after dropping my iPod twice while running, I decided today was the day to get it. Off I went to Future Shop at lunch. From there I hit Burger King for a whopper combo.

I suspect these two things cancel each other out however considering the armband cost me six times what the whopper combo cost, I'd like to think I can still work another whopper combo in there before they are even.

day 220 - does this spandex make my ass look big $

When I was in high school I hated running. When our phys ed teacher made us run the block, I would run around the corner to my friend's house and jump the fence. Then I'd run across the football field and back around the corner to the school. I had no use for it whatsoever. Then I had kids and running started to look really good. LOL (Just kidding...well, kind of.)

I thought it might be a bit soon but after some encouragement from Maggie, I ran my first race today. It was a 2 km fun run and although shorter than my usual route, it was the first time I would be running that far (hopefully) non-stop.




And I did it. I ran that track with the speed and grace of Ben Johnson Carl Lewis Phoebe Buffay and I ran the whole thing. Sure I was in the 14-97 age group. Almost everybody in the front half of my age group beat me and the latter half was dead. ;)

I spend 3/4 of the race trailing a 6-ish year old kid. I was happy running behind him and his (I am assuming) older brother. And then this song came on, so I sped up. He looked over his shoulder and he sped up. We went back and forth like this a couple of times. At one point I remember thinking "Dude. The kid is six. Let it go." But for all I knew, his grandfather was coming up behind me. ;)

I took off and passed him and ended up finishing 5th in my age group in 13:34. Sure I was 19th out of 25 but who cares. I did it with only three weeks of training and I didn't come in last. It's an even bigger accomplishment when you consider that this same race took place one year ago today after "girls' night". Maggie ran 8 km that day and I did this. See what I mean?

Last night I realized how much Ava listens to me and takes everything in. I hadn't mentioned the race to her but she must have overheard me mentioning it because last night she came into my room to talk to me. She asked me if she could come to my race because "she knew I would do awesome". So at that point we gained a very cute cheering squad.




Apparently Ava was not happy when she saw the leader approach the finish line and said something like "HEY! My mom is 'upposed to win this race!" Poor Ava. Her mom was five minutes back battling a kid wearing velcro shoes who lost one early in the race, had to stop, put it back on and was still kicking her ass.



The best part of the entire day:



As horrified as I am by the obvious farmer tan on my arm, is that a muscle I see? Huh. So there you go - you got not only a story but a free ticket to a gun show. LOL

day 215 - week three $

Maybe it was because I was wearing my Wonder Woman t-shirt. Maybe it was because the kids drove me crazy today. Whatever the case, I decided I wanted to go out running tonight in the heat. It didn't end up being too bad and I even ran an extra bit more than I had to.

This running thing isn't so bad and three weeks into it I find I am getting into a routine. Supportive bra...check. Good tunes...check. Wave to Muffer & Scruffer on my way through downtown...check. Week three complete...almost check.

day 200 - couch to 5 km $

When my cousin was here last week, we downloaded the "Couch to 5 km" app for our iPods. The master plan is that after seven weeks of training we will be able to run 5 km.

Tonight was night one. Five minutes of warmup, followed by eight reps of 60 seconds of running and 90 seconds walking and a five minute cool down. I was able to listen to whatever I wanted and a voice comes in over the music, telling me when to switch activities. It wasn't easy, but I did it. My legs were on fire when I got home but it didn't kill me, so based on that fact alone it was a success.

Well done Howard!

As some of our TDP readers may recall, back in December Howard Marshall travelled over to Toruń to take part in the Santa Claus Half Marathon. He managed to raise 500GBP for the UK charity Global Footsteps.

You can read our coverage of his visit to Toruń here:

http://torundailyphoto.blogspot.com/2009/12/santa-half-marathon.html

http://torundailyphoto.blogspot.com/2009/12/santas-in-town.html

Here he is a couple of weeks ago presenting the cheque. Global Footsteps is an educational charity which aims to foster inter-cultural relations between linked communities. It is based in Cheltenham, UK which is twinned with Gottingen, Germany which itself is twinned with Toruń!

You can read more about Global Footsteps at www.global-footsteps.org .