Sunday, November 22, 2009

To Stop or Not to Stop

I did my 12 miler this morning. Got up early and eat a banana and part of a Clif bar washing it down with some water afterwards. I made sure to wait an hour to allow everything to settle before hitting the road. Also, downed a Gu gel on the road without a problem.

It was a nice relaxing run working on pacing myself and drinking water more often. I did encounter an interesting dilemma. While running on the sidewalk under the H-1 freeway, I noticed a bright shiny quarter right in front of me. I had to make a quick decision: should I slow down, stop and pick it up or just run pass it. Well, I just could not resist. I stopped and put it in my pocket. Had it been a smaller denomination, I suppose I would have left it for someone else.

This reminds me of all the coins I picked up while riding my bike (when the weather was nice) commuting to and from the train station to work. I had several old film canisters at the office filled with change I called “street money.” I made it a practice to drop the coins into those donation cans they have on convenience store and fast food counters.

No, I don’t plan on stopping to pickup anything during the marathon…but, if it’s a big paper bill I may be tempted.

4 comments:

Peggy said...

Heck;I admit to even stopping for pennies. I think they bring good luck. Last time I saw one though, I went on by!
Street money is a good name!

Anonymous said...

Good idea for the street money: donating it at check out time.

I hope you don't experience a side pain in your abdomen from eating while running or walking. Funny, I have never seen any of the fast runners that win the marathon carry water bottles or food. Why do you feel you need to? Might slow you down.

Dina said...

Good onya Art. A quarter saved is a quarter earned. Nice that you pass it on to charity.
So the gel is called Gu? Eeuw.

When the kids were little they'd laugh at me for picking up lost almost-worthless coins. I explained that it was so that people would not trample on the ancient symbols of our land.

Kay said...

I am vouching for you that you sure do donate every bit of money you find down to the pennies.