#cuteoldchick

November 2021

I really enjoy races that happen during the holiday season. There are so many of them and they are all so festive! It never ceases to amaze me how popular running is and it seems to be most evident during the holidays. 

This past weekend was the 3rd annual Holiday Lights 5k at Veterans Memorial Park in Canton, GA. It’s becoming one of the most popular races that Five Star hosts. It was capped at 500 participants and sold out. I did the race 2 years ago in 2019, it’s inaugural year and there were way less participants. It’s no surprise it is a popular race. It’s flat, with just a couple of mild inclines, is completely closed off from traffic & has indoor bathrooms (always a plus)!  There was plenty of parking, which is good because there were plenty of cars. Staff, law enforcement and volunteers were well organized in dealing with all the cars. They did an excellent job of guiding the everyone to parking areas without confusion. 

But the main reason for the popularity is, of course, the Christmas lights. Lots and Lots of Christmas lights! The course is completely lined with lights of different shapes, sizes & colors. And because the park is closed to the public for the race, we have all the lights to ourselves, without having to pay the $20 per car fee to see them.

The highlight of the course is at the end. To get to the finish line, you run through a tunnel of lights which are twinkling and dancing and changing colors all around you. It’s a very cool experience!

This was my second evening race in the last month and I learned my lesson and wore my headlamp. It was helpful but because the course was lined with lights, it wasn’t as necessary as other night races. I kept it on the red light setting, which added to the Christmas effect.

Later this week is the Five Star Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving Day. I will be doing the 5k, but there will also be a 10k, 15k and Half Marathon. This is one of several big Thanksgiving Day races in my area. Like I said at the beginning, the popularity of running can definitely be seen during the holiday season!

Happy Holidays and Happy Running!

Kerry 

October 2020

Remember when you were younger and old people said things like “Take care of your health” or “Your health is the most important thing.” And remember that we would think, “Yeah right. This boy or this girl or this car or this job or this money is the most important thing.” 

Then we got out of our 20’s, grew up and eventually discovered they were right all along!

We know now, don’t we? Our health really is the most important thing because without it, we may not be able to enjoy the other good things.

When I first starting running, it was to lose weight and achieve a runner’s body. Eleven years later and I never achieved what my perception of a runner’s body looks like. But here’s what I did achieve: Fitness and Health. I am easily more fit now than I ever was in my younger adult years. I also discovered I like being fit. I like working out & pushing my body. I like sweating & competing against myself and my pace. And, of course, I love getting bling!

What I also realize is how important running & working out is for my continued health. I have a family history of all the big diseases: diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. I’m fighting against a lot of scary DNA, and staying physically fit is one of the arsenals in my defense tool belt against these diseases. 

There are many benefits to running in addition to improving overall fitness, but from where I sit these days my health is the motivating factor that gets me out the door. I am of an age now where I have witnessed the long term negative effects of poor health and I personally plan to fight it tooth, nail & running shoe!

Happy Running and Stay Healthy!

The holidays are officially here. It started with the Halloween and will continue through New Year’s Eve. All the celebrating and candy and pies and turkey and dressing and potatoes and wine and punch and champagne! OH MY!

I have no advice on how to indulge responsibly during the holidays, because I don’t do a very good job of it myself. However, I can advise on how I try to counter punch the indulgence: I run 5k’s and do CrossFit. I know I will overeat on Thanksgiving Day, but at 8am on Thanksgiving morning, I will be participating in the Five Star Turkey Trot, along with my husband, son, sister-in-law, and a few thousand of my closest friends. 

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I plan to do at least two of the four 5k’s Five Star will be hosting in December. Along with that, I will continue my two days a week of CrossFit. 

The holidays are here and don’t we love them? Enjoying time with friends and family and indulging in our favorite family traditions and foods. Remember during the hustle and bustle of the holidays to take care of yourself. Keep up your fitness. Continue to walk, run, dance, yoga, swim…whatever your favorite form of exercise is, make time for it.  You will  feel better during the holidays and especially after!

Happy Running and Happy Holidays!

Kerry

Running Shoes - Check

iPhone - Check

Ear buds - Check

Visor - Check

Rain Gear - Check

It’s part of my regular pre-run check list. RAIN GEAR. Ugh. So much rain! It feels like it’s been raining for the entire 2019 so far. I know there have been some sunny days, but here in North Georgia, the rainy ones have outnumbered the sunny ones. 

Running in the rain isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can be refreshing, especially during hot runs. As long as you are prepared for it, it is do-able. But the continual runs in the rain have worn out their welcome. I was scheduled to do a 5k tonight, but it got rescheduled. I don’t know why it was rescheduled, but I know that scattered thunderstorms are predicted for tonight, so I’m just glad I will not be out there in it.

This weekend is also the beginning of Daylight Savings Time. Maybe that will help. The days will be longer allowing for more daylight runs. Hopefully, the big orange warm ball in the sky that I vaguely remember will also make an appearance soon. Spring is just around the corner. We’re waiting for you, Spring. Bring some warm, dry air with you…pretty please, with sugar on top!

Happy Running!

CuteOldChick aka Kerry

                                            PJs & Tutus!

On January 5th, I ran Five Star NTP’s Ugly Pajama Run 5k. Honestly, I’ve not done too many theme runs and the ones I have, I didn’t dress up. But not wanting to be a complete fuddy-duddy, I put an old green silk pajama top on over my running shirt. It was a cold morning and it added an extra layer of warmth (and it could be easily taken off if no one else was wearing pajamas:)

I’ve never done a Pajama Run and didn’t know what to expect from the participants. I figured a few people, probably kids, would have on some pajama pants. Boy, was I wrong! There were so many people wearing pajamas and most of them were adults. Lots of funny 1-piece novelty pjs, some with hilarious hoodies. There were also couples and families with matching patterned pajamas. I was surprised at how much fun it was! It made me smile seeing all these people dressed in silly pajamas while running a 5k. Given the multitude of smiles I saw that morning, a lot of other people enjoyed it too!

So bottom line...I learned that (1) themed races can be fun; (2) adults doing silly things make people smile; and (3) next year I’m wearing some really good ugly pajamas!

Happy Running!

CuteOldChick aka Kerry

(Some fun pjs below)

Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day and the 1st time I participated in a Thanksgiving Day race. Although I run 5k’s all the time, I’ve never done one on Thanksgiving Day. The main reason has always been timing. I love hosting Thanksgiving dinner for our family and the cooking starts early for me. Putting in a 5k just never seemed like a smart thing to do, timing wise. 

This year, however, we had a very relaxed Thanksgiving Day with just my husband, son and daughter-in-law. I had time the day before to get my prepping and cleaning done which freed up my Thanksgiving Day morning and since my husband is now doing 5k’s with me, we did the Five Star Turkey Trot together. It’s a hard one to pass up because it’s FREE. If you’ve crossed even one finish line with Five Star during the year, you can run the Turkey Trot for free! It’s a nice tradition Five Star has and I don’t know of any other racing company that does it. It was made even better knowing 2 good friends of ours were going to be there and catching up them before the race was great. 

The thing that really stood out to my husband and me was the amount of participants—1,272 for the 5k alone and a total of 1,639 for all the races combined (5k, 10k, 15k, Half). I’m sure offering a free race is an incentive for many people to run that morning, however, there were 2 other large races in Forsyth County. We passed one on our way to the Turkey Trot and by the looks of it, they had a large number of runners also. My curiosity got the best of me and I did some checking: over 4,000 people participated in the 3 Thanksgiving Day races in our county! And that is just in our county alone. There were many races in metro Atlanta that morning including a very large one in downtown Atlanta sponsored by the Atlanta Track Club. What that tells me is that exercise is important to many, many people. Yes, we will all be over-indulging in food later in the day, but we will at least get some exercise in before we do. I don’t know about you, but that makes me feel better about us!

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving and if you’ve never run a Thanksgiving Day race, consider it for next year. I can guarantee you will not be alone. Several thousands of your closest friends will be with you!

Happy Running!

CuteOldChick

My wedding anniversary is October 19. This year, we combined our 33rd anniversary celebration with running the 2 Bridges 5k, part of the 7 Bridges Marathon in Chattanooga. We did the race back in 2012 for our 27th anniversary. At that time, my husband wasn’t really into running and only did it as a gift to me. For the past year, he has been into CrossFit and frequently runs in his workouts and has joined me in several races. I didn’t have to pull his arm this year. Yay!

Chattanooga is one of our favorite places to go for a weekend getaway. The concentrated downtown area is pedestrian & bike friendly. You can get to anywhere you need without getting in your car. For suburbanites like us, that’s a nice change!

It was a beautiful weekend, cool but sunny. Thank goodness for experienced early morning race packing because Sunday morning of the race, the temps really plummeted and especially before sunrise, it was COLD. We wore every piece of cold weather gear we brought, and with the exception of gloves, everything stayed on!

All the races (Full, Half, 5k) began and ended at Coolidge Park in the North Shore across the Tennessee River from downtown Chattanooga. The 5k crossed Veterans Bridge and Walnut Street Bridge and wound through Battery Place and the Bluff View Arts District. It was truly a beautiful course. The sun was coming up over the river as we went across Veterans Bridge. Walnut Street Bridge is unique in that it is only open to pedestrians and non-motorized traffic. The views from the bridge are fantastic!

In 2012 when we originally did the race, Finishers Medals were only given to the Full & Half participants. 5k’ers received a t-shirt and water bottle. T-shirts and water bottles are fine and all, but 7 years later I know what I want from a race and I want a medal! I also know that in big races with hundreds/thousands of runners, I am not going to place in my age group, so Finishers Medals are now a requirement for me. Judge if you must, but I am what I am. Fast forward to 2018 and I guess the organizers figured out that many runners like me want that medal, because now the 5k is included. It’s not as big as the others, which is understandable, but it’s pretty sweet!

The only glitch of the race was in the shuttle service from the host hotel to Coolidge Park. A shuttle was scheduled for 6:10 a.m. but never came. Some folks decided to walk or Uber. I had the phone number of one of the race officials and took a chance and left her a message. She immediately called me back in a panic. No one knew the shuttle hadn’t arrived. The old school bus ended up picking us up and getting us there with 15 minutes to spare. The up side was we didn’t have to stand out in the freezing cold for over an hour. Our little forgotten-about group was thankful for that! I can’t imagine the work involved in putting on a race of this size & we all took the glitch in stride. I’m just happy that I had the phone number of someone in charge!

I love doing 5k’s. The majority of the ones I do are small and local and can easily fit into a weekend morning. But sometimes it’s really fun to go somewhere else for a race-cation, especially if it’s with someone you love celebrating your commitment to each other and to keeping yourselves as healthy as possible!

Happy Running!

CuteOldChick

In Five Star NTP’s October online newsletter, they included an article from Runner’s World Magazine entitled “Smash Any Running Wall in Your Way” (May 28, 2018, runnersworld.com). In the article they address several “walls” that runners hit, i.e. the Injury Wall, the Weight Wall, etc. 

One wall they left off and one I am struggling with is the “Lack of Motivation Wall.” I have run slap into this wall, got knocked out and am currently laying on the ground unable to move. And it sucks. 

How did I get this way? This is what I’ve come up with:

Lack of a 5k for 2 weeks in a row. If I don’t have a schedule race to train for, I tend to get lazy and have no motivation to get out by myself and run. Sad, but true.

October is a busy month and I’ve had other things taking up my running time. Again, sad but true.

So what do I do about it? Well, what I did was sign up for a 5k for last Saturday, even though I haven’t been training, hoping it would be the jump start I need. I (power) walked the majority of the race, which for me is sometimes faster than my running. But it did its job. It reminded me of why I love doing this. It was a beautiful morning. I was in the back of the field with another lady around my age and we talked. She had never done this course and I gave her info on it. I kept her up-to-date on our mileage. We talked about how many people feel like you have to be young & fast to do races and we are neither of those things. We’ve both learned that it doesn’t matter. Being out here and doing it is what’s important. “I beat everyone who is sitting at home on the couch” is one of my favorite sayings! We sprinted across the finish line together. I know it’s not what a lot of runners would consider doing during a race, but it was fun.

Also, there is nothing that gives me motivation more than bling & I placed 2nd in my Age Group. Ba-Bling!

I’ve got the 2-Bridges 5k in Chattanooga coming up this weekend and several more lined up after that. The only way for me to keep my motivation up is to sign-up. I need the event. I love doing 5k’s, even if I’m in the back walking. So that’s what I’m going to do. 

Happy Running!

CuteOldChick

Me & my back-of-the-pack partner.