One Egg at a Time

Last night Coach Marlee varied our speed workout--by creating an Easter Egg hunt! We ran to a local park, then broke up into 6 teams, counting off numbers so that it wasn't too one-sided. Then each team sent out one runner to retrieve an egg. It was a relay--when one person on your team came back, the next one went out. There were a few hundred plastic eggs, and with 5 or 6 runners to a team, we each had to run several times.

These were sprints, and I quickly became tired. Each team had some pretty fast runners, but the slower runners were split up among them. It was a nice way to get to know the faster people, because we would shout out each other's name in encouragement. It was also a good way to develop teamwork within the running club--not the "slow runners versus fast runners" mentality that occurs all too often.

We were there for almost an hour, collecting eggs for our team and depositing them in a plastic bag. It was tempting to just grab a bunch of eggs, but nobody did. Although some members of my team were known to "hide" an egg and tell the next runner where to find it. Call me Sargent Schultz--"I know nothing. Nothing." :-)

When all the eggs were retrieved, we learned that some of them had numbers written on them and added up the totals. The team with the highest "score" won, which was more fair than just the one with the most eggs.

We headed back amid dark skies, and I jogged gently up the hills. I already had my workout. The dark skies brought snow (!) today, though not much of an accumulation here in the city. My tulips have pushed through and now the leaves will be frost-bitten. Hopefully, the flowers won't be harmed. Until then, I'll have to enjoy my flowers indoors.

Last week while I was out running, I stopped into the Cowles Conservatory at the Walker Sculpture Garden. It's an oasis in the winter and in the center of the structure is a glass fish sculpture, "jumping" out of a water pond. The sculpture was designed by Frank Gehry. There are also palm trees in there, and it's the only place I've seen palm trees under glass! Here are some more pictures from that visit.

I'll be in California for a few days and won't be posting until I get home. Happy Easter, everyone!