The Early Bird Gets the...POSTER!

My running is finally paying off big! cha-ching!

Last week I took part in a fun challenge on dailymile.com coordinated by Greg S. (brilliant blogger and positive voice on DM) The Predawn Runner Challenge. The challenge? Be the the first to finish 5 miles after 3am "wherein the goal is to demonstrate your commitment to getting out the door early by being the first one to complete your run for the day".

I love to get up and out early and could not wait for this challenge~I was hoping and praying that Lola would stay sleeping so I could run. I woke up at about 2:40 am and after downing a cup of coffee and a glass of water, I got ready to run. Since I interpreted the rules as "starting" at 3am, I was going to be ready to go!! The night before I was planning on running OUTSIDE but I did not really think about how dark and scary it really is at 3am. I was quite sure that there were lots of bogeymen out there ready to scoop me up and eat me. I considered just running around my 1/2 mile block 10 times but I think there are werewolves that live at the end of the street so that was out!

I decided to tough out the five miles on the treadmill instead. In my well lit, bogeyman and werewolf free home gym!

The first two miles were slow and I was still kind of shaking out the cobwebs from the old cranium but I found my groove and finished at 3:43:29, quite proud of myself for getting in a 5-er before 4:oo am!

I guess if I had read the rules a little closer (this line "The run must finish after 3:00 AM, and be submitted as your local time) I could have beat the running shorts off of Flyin' Brian from Chicago, but Brian won this challenge and beat me by two minutes. Brain snuck up on me because I was really expecting Brendan (a fellow Maine runnah) to be my biggest competition. However, I guess if I am going to lose to anyone, losing to Brian is cool with me. Brian is another awesome DM friend (who just PR'd at SanFran Marathon!! WOOO HOOOO!). But more on Flying Brian in a minute.

I didn't win this challenge, I was second to finish and second place is FIRST TO LOSE but guess what. Greg was so cool about it that he decided that I could win some cool Predawn Runner stuff too!

I won this very cool THE RUNNING MANIFESTO poster!

Proudly displayed in my home gym next to my treadmill with other motivational items and some of my favorite race bibs. I really love this poster and it's many positive running messages.

A big thank you to Greg S. for including second place :)

Now remember I mentioned earlier that we would get back to Brian in a minute? Well, back in May Brian coordinated another cool Dailymile challenge, The Jet Challenge where everyone ran 3.1 miles in honor of Jet and his amazing accomplishment of running 31 miles! Lucky me!! Brian got to pick 3 DM'ers to win a DM sticker and lo and behold! I had been selected to get one of the coveted DM stickers I had been drooling over for a couple weeks ~Another score!

Just the other day I found a dollar on the ground while running! $$$

And I know if I start bringing a giant trash bag with me on long runs I can easily make $1.oo or so picking up empties on the side of the road (if I am willing to let these stops interfere with my pacing! LOL).

While I will never win any races or get any cash prizes for my running, it has made me rich in many ways!

I have met some amazing people, I placed 3rd in my age division recently (and that medal is like GOLD to me!!) and I feel great when I run! THAT is what makes me so happy.

And yes, winning a poster and a sticker is pretty dang cool too!