On The Verge of Tears

we started out on our 5K run at our home in Atco. The whole point of this run was to get bloggers outside and exercising. I think me and Monika do a pretty damn good job of that all on our own, but I'm all for documenting a run if people find it interesting.

This is the first interesting thing on our run. It's a bar called the Maple Lake Inn. It's the closest bar to my house and only half a mile away. Seems like a pretty good spot, right? Well, not really. If you're white and you ever want to know how it might feel to be the only minority in an entire bar, stop by here for a beer. It's an interesting time.

This is only about 3/4 of a mile from our house. It's basically a junk yard but the sign out front says it's "storage." Not sure I'd ever want to "store" my car or boat here for very long.

This place is about a mile and a half away. A couple years ago it was just an empty field. Now that field is full of crap and it's kind of a flea market. It's mostly kids stuff, repaired bicycles, strollers, car parts, etc. We didn't stop by to browse.

I know this is a crap picture, but it is the next interesting thing. About two miles from our house, this is the back of the old Atco Multiplex, which shut down about a year and a half ago, and they are now tearing down. For a very brief, brief moment, there was talk that this was going to be the site of a new arena where the Philadelphia Phantoms Hockey team would move. That didn't happen, though, and now they are razing the site for who knows what.

This is the Atco train station that you would stop at on your way from 30th Street Station in Philly on your way to Atlantic City. This line has been around for almost 200 years and is part of the artery that the town of Atco ws built upon. Oddly enough, I've never taken it. Usually I drive to AC or take Patco west to Philly. I've never actually boarded a train at this station, although Monika has.

well, here we are within a half mile of our destination. This is where our run meets with RT 73, looking south towards Berlin, NJ. This is the Amtrak overpass, just west of the previous Atco Station. Once in a while, tractor trailers have to stop and back up as they cannot fit under this overpass.

and here we are, at the end of our run, in the parking lot of Victory Lane Sports Bar and Grill. It's named Victory Lane because it's the closest sports bar to the famous Atco Raceway, and during the summer racing season, it's often packed with visitors from other places who have come to the little town of Atco to drag race. Interesting place for sure, and exactly 3.1 miles from our house!

really, I love running, but not as much as drinking beer. It really makes running a lot less taxing knowing there's a cold one waiting for you just a little further down the road. We started with some Samuel Adams Summertime brews.

As it turns out, from the Google track you can see below, our actual run turned out to be 3.29 miles, but it was fairly easy because I had to stop for all those pictures. We didn't really rest, but a twenty second rest every half mile really keeps up your stamina. And so does the bar waiting for you at the end of a good run.