I don’t know when I’ll actually take photos for this, but I wanted to participate in Maggie’s photo challenge of the week. Especially after tonight’s run.  Disclaimer: these are not my photos, but the items seen were actually seen by my eyes. 

Story starts on Saturday evening.  Mike was being a darling and taking out the trash, but sadly cut his ankle on our screen door.  It was a bit deeper than my “Nurse Lauren” experience as a healthcare IT professional, so we decided to go get this checked out by a real doctor. Funny that it happened to occur exactly 30 minutes after nearly all urgent care’s close in the city on a Saturday.  So instead of getting an early dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant, we head out to one of my community health centers to go to their Walk In Wellness Clinic that’s open until 10 every night of the week. 

After waiting for a while (again, this is one of the few non-ER options for healthcare on Saturday afternoon/evening), and keeping Mike entertained via my iphone, we finally get checked out and he’s properly bandaged up.  (No stitches, just the skin glue).  And then head out to get some food finally.

We’re driving down Augusta, and pass by what we both saw as an Angel.  We looked at each other, but I kept driving as I was about 3 hours behind on my stomach’s dinner plans.

(source)

Tonight I headed out for my run and decided to find the angel.  Turns out that at Augusta & Wolcott, there is indeed an Angel in a cage.  It looks pretty similar to these photos that I found.  I didn’t see any information about what I was looking at when I took a rest from my run, but I did find a “shit fountain” (now that you’ll have to google yourself)

(source)

But this Angel is intriguing, and it’s been interesting to find out a bit more about her background this evening.  I imagine I’ll be doing a bit more exploring in the Ukrainian Village after this to find other interesting things. 

I’ve been incommunicado this past weekend as I was busy with a little getting married!  I’m still decompressing from it all, but wanted to participate in this photo challenge! 

Maggie is hosting a Runner Photo Challenge. This week’s challenge: A picture of memorabilia (bib, shirt, medal, trophy, etc – can be just one thing or multiple things) from your favorite race. Include an explanation of why it’s your favorite race.

This is the medal and a “time card” from the 2010 Madison Mini Marathon.  This was the first of what has become one of my favorite races, one which I’ve done for two years in a row and signed up for again this year. 

I used to live in Madison, Wisconsin, and loved the idea of going back for memories and to race.  M & I did this race the second year it was held, and I was blown away by many aspects about the race:

• Loved the “road  trip” to a familiar spot – it’s kind of like travel but we have our routine now for this Madison trip & pre-race activities.
• I loved the nostalgia of running along many of my old running routes. I had run almost the entire race course at different points during the time I lived in Madison.
• I happened to run really well on the Madison Mini course. I PR’ed this first year, and came close the 2nd year.
• The medal is actually a bottle opener on the other side. That was a hidden feature we learned about actually during year two!
• I love the post race festivities! You finish right near the UW Union Terrace, grab your food & water, stake out a spot at one of the iconic tables & seats to listen to music, grab a beer, and relax in the sun following your half marathon!

If anyone is going to be running this race this year, please let me know!  It’s one of my favorites and I’m so happy to share & meet up with you!