Things People Say To Bikers

I LOVE blogging with pictures. There's something about... not having to write as much? Or perhaps am I just trying to keep up with the Shoefields? A member of that court has inspired me to add a little documentary effect toward my tall tale of the day. So without further ado, I'll introduce my new bike! The Jamis Commuter 3!

The bike came with a beautiful, black metal basket, but alas, it fell off the bike mid transport and left me with a gaping... gap... and an ugly, cheap basket that sigh, will never take its place. I shall replace it! I shall!

But this is not about my projectile wallet. This is about the random bits of conversation that come your way while pedaling in different locations. While scrambling past the front of Bell's Grocery Store last week, a man paused and let me pass, reflecting on the possibility that, "It'd just be my luck to get hit by a bike."

Tonight I took a ride to Lavonia, on behalf of Cookie
(see Exhibit A where subject cat is spewing hatred because wacko owner dared to leave the sofa where she was happy). I wanted to check out Pedi Paws, a new pet store that surely would have eco-responsible cat litter. No clay mined toxic spew for Cookie! Well! I risked my gas, my time for so little. The shop seems to cater to iguana or would be iguana owners. No cat litter at all! So... all I could do was ride the Jamis. People seemed to react as though it was the first bike ever seen anywhere. One man said my flashing bike light looked like a police light. Hope I didn't make him nervous.

Okay so maybe people in Hartwell are funnier than those in Lavonia, but oh, I had fun spinning my wheels tonight. Lavonia has some good, low traffic roads... I will surely return... if that whole gas thing works out, that is.

The Weekend Rolls To A Close

And it was busy!

My weekend score is at least a C… On Saturday, the back door was swinging all day... I made it to several events. We won't talk about Sunday, which could have been a recovery day.

Somehow I did indeed make it to the St Joe’s Jog 5k! I don’t know how as the morning races are so brutal to the pysche (oh, you should see the bruises!), but bravely, I sallied forth. Without the aid of coffee, nothing stronger than filtered water, I made the journey and only came to a screeching halt 5 minutes before the race started. I had time for a lunge and a half before they waved us off, but my legs didn’t complain so much as I came in 114 out of 153 runners. My time was 34:49.7. Not great, but not so lousy. I can handle that range! I came in fourth in my age group and no. 3 came in two minutes faster, so I’ll have to get better batteries for the next race.

The race was a good one. I would do it again. We started out on Prince Avenue, in front of St. Joseph Catholic School and it wound around the Historic Boulevard area, so there was some nice scenery… and the hills! Oh the hills! Yes, the hills were alive… with the sound of my screaming! I don’t run in Athens very much because I lived there for years and it’s hardly an exotic location, but I should run there more often just so I can torture my heels with their hills. I admit to some traumatic flashbacks because of the killer... hills... that taunted me with their… great, unrelenting height, but even so I kept running and didn’t suffer so much. (It really helps your endurance if you're capable of going 00000.2 miles an hour.) So eventually I quit my sobbing. Especially when the other runners asked me to stop. All those babies in their strollers were getting irritated.

I can’t run next weekend due to relatives coming to town, so I’ll offer up two interesting races that are scheduled for Saturday:

The 5th Annual Barrow Boogie 5K and 1 Mile Fun Run is also on Saturday. The 5K begins at 9:00AM, the 1 Mile at 8:30AM. The start/finish is located at Barrow Elementary School next to the UGA Track and Butts-Mehre Building. The course will run through the UGA campus and adjacent neighborhoods

Fees:
$15.00 by 2/15/08, $18.00 afterwards to race day.

Online Reg. Closes:
February 21, 2008 11:59 PM Pacific Time


The second race takes place on Saturday as well… at the Mall of Georgia. Oh, I want to run and go shopping! I can’t-I can’t-I can’t… Arrrgh!

The Mall of Georgia is located just off I-85 in Buford, GA. The proceeds from the race wil benefit the Children's Miracle Network, Miss Mall of GA Scholarship Fund, and Simon Foundation for Children.

Fees:
$15.00 BY 2/14/08, $20.00 afterwards to race day.

Online Reg. Closes:
February 21, 2008 11:59 PM Pacific Time

The race takes place on paved roads going around The Mall of Georgia. So run to the finish line and keep on going inside... do a little shopping and finish yourself off with some fattening treat. That sounds like heaven! Well okay, maybe it will lead to heaven... but still, what a great way to run!

I had more to report, but Word keeps messing with me and I keep losing my posts! The cyberdog keeps eating my homework! So there will be more tomorrow. Good night!