Weight I have lost

Saturday, February 4, 2012

A Little 5 Mile Run

So I had 5 miles on tap today.  Being a little bored with running, I decided to try a different route, although I didn't have a route picked out (this is why I love running with a Garmin...you can just run).  I decided to go to the zoo and run through Grant Park.  As I was walking, I could hear the animals.  It was nice out...52 degrees.  I walked up to Georgia Avenue.  I was going to run through the Zoo parking lot, but at the last minute, I wondered how far Turner Field was. So I turned the other way on Georgia and started my run.


I drive on Georgia quite often.  So imagine my surprise as I was running that I saw a library that I never knew was there.  I wondered if it was as crappy as the one that is near my house (you can't get books at mine).  I wondered why it was there considering another one is less than 3 miles to the east and one is less than 2 miles away to the west.  Maybe it was there first.  I passed a track and a park.  I passed a BBQ joint and got to Turner Field.  I realized I could run through the parking lot and answer a question I wonder every day.  How big is the Parking lot?  So I ran through it (I got distracted and forgot to look).  I ran on Fulton County Stadium (now a parking lot).  I got to see Hank Aaron's 715 Marker, which I can see from the road, but I never have looked at up close.  Another plus was I stayed running on asphalt, as there is no way to run on the Hank Aaron/Capitol Ave.

View of the City as I entered the Braves Parking Lot
Turner Field from the other side of the parking lot
Where Hank Aaron's 715th Home Run landed
 So I finished running through the parking lot and decided I would run up to the Olympic Cauldron (another parking lot).
Muhammad Ali lit the Cauldron in the 1996 Olympics
So I finished running the parking lot and decided I would run another way home, except I wasn't even close to 5 miles.  I was under 2.  So I decided to run to Nick's Greek To Go. Nick makes the best food.  I don't even bother making Tzatziki any more.  I love his Pasticio.  At 8am though, I wasn't going to get any.  I ran down Glenwood, because I figured running down Capitol to MLK was too much of a pain.  Glenwood was ok but Hill Street is not conducive to running. There is no lip on the street for when cars come.  Of course there is a huge sidewalk. We drive this intersection a lot. I never noticed the "park."

This made me laugh (Nick's is the blue building in the background)
 I got to Nick's.  Most people drive past this place. They don't know what they are missing.

Nick's (Carry-out only)
By now I was at Mile 2.5ish.  I was not tired (I wonder if stopping to take pictures had something to do with it).  I figured I should wrap this up, but I was so close to Oakland Cemetery.  I was going to run through it but there was a wedding set up (yes, people get married in this cemetery).  So I stayed out of their way.  I decided to go visit Bobby Jones's grave. There are usually a ton of people there, and I can never see it.  No one was there when I went.  I turned off my watch in the cemetery because I was just looking.

Entrance to Oakland Cemetery


I love the golf balls
I finished up in the cemetery and crossed the street.  I ran behind Habitat for Humanity, and some restaurants.  I ran all the way to Boulevard.  Of course this was the fastest mile yet.  I turned and retraced my steps.  I finally got back to Cherokee.  I remembered this is why I don't like running in Grant Park.  The road slopes so you have to run in the middle if you have bad hips/knees.  I got to the actual park and was almost done.  Lots of people were walking their dogs. One guy who wasn't making an effort to clean up after his dog mentioned to me there was a sidewalk.  I told him I don't run on sidewalks since people like him don't pick up after their dogs (the park offers bags for free and trash cans). I decided not to be a total bitch...I didn't take a picture of him not cleaning up after his pup.  Finally I hit 5 miles and I stopped.  My cooldown was on the sidewalk.

(I don't run on the sidewalk because it is bad on my hip).

All in all, I had a really nice run.  I got to see things up close that I always wondered about. I got to see things I never paid attention to.  And I got a 5 mile run done.  Time wasn't great, but today I didn't really care.  I think the smile I have thinking about how much I enjoyed it is all that counts.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Good job on your run. I went 2 miles today and it felt like 5. 5 seems like forever right now.

Christina said...

Wedding in a cemetery? Hmm ... Interesting.

Anonymous said...

Nice job! You have so much interestng things to look at in-town than I do out in the Burbs.Mostly I just pass horses, goats and chickens in every direction. I love Oakland Cemetary! AND Six Feet Under! :)

Aka Alice said...

Thanks for the tour of Atlanta!

One of the things I always love about running is noticing the things that I would never notice when I'm just driving by. so cool!