Make it 1,000

Leave it to Sham to help me hit 1,000 miles for the year. Earlier in the day I ran through Piedmont Park, but it still wasn't enough, leaving me with about 1.05 miles shy of the 1K mark.

Later on that evening when I got home, Sham wanted to hit Manuel's for dinner since he's on the start of his vacation. So I ran up there and ran around the neighborhood a little until I hit the milestone.

Taking a bow

Yesterday I met Doug, Empire and Brigid at Doc Chey's in Emory Village and I decided to run there.

I was very happy that the steep hills on the route there were no trouble for me. Same went on the way back.

But as I was running on Virginia near the Highland intersection, I took a face plant right in front of the pasta restaurant, in front of a couple dining and another lady at a separate table working on her laptop.

I am unsure of their reactions, but I picked myself up, bowed, and ran the last block home.

I was surprised I didn't have a big injury- my left hand was numb from the jarring and the side of my right calf was red -- it later didn't even bruise. I scraped threads of rubber right off of the left toe of my APA5s.

Tunica -- Rain came here

TUNICA, Miss. -- I headed out for the levy today but the fence gate was locked. So it was a shorter run than I thought. My legs were pretty tired from staying up late playing poker the night before.

A rain had come through -- it rains so infrequently back home that it was really strange to be running on wet pavement.

The cool thing about fall...

...is that even when you run at night you still get beautiful reds, yellows and oranges of fall leaves illuminated by streetlight.

Warm again yesterday, maybe about 65 degrees when I was out doing a loop about 8 p.m. or so.

I love me some cold weather for running but it's nice to just be out in shorts and a T-shirt enjoying an evening breeze.

Will run for food (er, a good meal)

What a difference a healed ankle makes.

Last night I was craving the really good chicken and vegetable soup over at Las Palmeras.

So I put on some running gear (windbreaker, T-shirt, shorts) and threw a book in a daypack and ran over there. It's about 1.6 miles from my place, according to Google. I went with a windbreaker instead of the CFLST so I would be wearing reflectors.

About halfway there, when I was passing the local high school, I could feel I was getting a lot more speed out of my ankle.

The restaurant is very relaxed and has a friendly staff. I flipped through a book on hiking in Georgia while waiting for my food.

On the way back I ran at a pretty good clip. When it's cold out (it was about 42 degrees) I feel like I hardly overheat and can run faster.

This may start a new trend -- to motivate my running to farther places by running there instead of driving!

For now, the ankle is back

It's amazing what a difference even a very minor problem can cause in running. For about a month now, I've had some queasiness in my left ankle (as described here). It doesn't hurt, is just sensitive, enough so I'll stop and walk if I can feel it.

But tonight, on a day that I've had two hours of sleep (because I had to be at work at 5:45 a.m. for a business earnings story) and my legs just felt tired, the ankle was back and I was out at full speed, even though I was so tired.

My only complaint is that my A5s felt really hard on the concrete walks of North Highland. They have 172.275 miles on them, so really are in the middle of being broken in. But still, maybe I should be alternating them with my A4s.

Weather was unseasonably warm, 65 degrees after 8 p.m. It got as high as 78 degrees earlier in the day but I wanted the weather to cool down before I set out.

Chattahoochee River NRA -- Gold Branch

This afternoon went with the dogs to Gold Branch, off of Lower Roswell Road. It was absolutely beautiful because the leaves were in full color change.

After running for months on concrete, it was so nice to be out on a leaf-covered trail. The dogs are pretty much hunting breeds, so it was nice to see them trot down the trail and explore.

Sometime it'll be great to run in that area.

It was my third outing of the day. This morning I got up before 8 a.m. and went into LaDainian mode, making my way through Piedmont Park and back in about 40 degree weather. (Shorts, CFLST, T-shirt: Urban Dead, APA5).

Then I made the 1.5-mile route through the Freedom Park PATH to Susanne's and loaded up with dogs for the hike.

While the dogs were passed out in her SUV after the hike, we ate at Tasty China (585 Franklin Road, Marietta 30067), which is prolly the best Chinese restaurant in the city.

Following directions

For a while now on my regular hilly route around Briarcliff, I noticed white spraypainted arrows leading off my course onto sidestreets.

Today I followed them because I didn't want to do a bunch of hills. The arrows winded around streets, and unavoidably, up and down hills. I imagine it was part of some running club's run.

It was ok, though, since it was pretty nice day, although brisk at 52 degrees. I was a little chilly in a T-shirt for the first 20 minutes of the run, but it was all good later.

Boy there are some hills in my hood!

-----------------

Earlier walked with some dogs in a neat park, W.D. Thompson. Not sure why there are so many trailhead stakes in different colors.

The laundry run

I'm having to do my laundry by Manuel's because my landlord increased the price of a load from $1 to $2. Thankfully, Sham suggested the coin laundry near his place has a triple-loader for $3.

So I dumped off my laundry and took off down the Freedom Park PATH, the first time I've run on this section of the PATH in a few months.

The run was good. I felt hurried because I only had an hour before I'd have to leave for work.

But after I retrieved my laundry, I noticed my car's time was different from what I had on my running watch. Then I realized I hadn't moved my running watch back an hour.

D'oh.

At least I got a nice run in some of the nicest weather for running this year.

Temp: 55 degrees
Gear: shorts (Nike ACG), T-shirt (blue Eddie Bauer), shoes (APA5).

Warm again

This morning it was warm enough that I went without my windbreaker. I used for the first time these Sugoi arm warmers, prolly the first time ever in three years that I've used them.

But they did the trick, by blocking cool air off my arms and, interestingly enough, off my elbows. I was a little chilly in the T-shirt but didn't get overly sweaty at the end of the ride as I might if I was in a CFLST.