Rally Round the Flag

It looks like my sister caught the marathon bug. I mentioned before that she's walking the San Diego R&R marathon with some friends. Now she's signed up to walk the Nike Women's Half-Marathon in October. I'm doing the full, so it will be great to be able to share the event with her.

Yesterday she did a long walk (that sounds weird) of 16 miles and Gary and I did a long run. We planned to run 14 miles, but we missed a turn and went a little bit out of our way, so 14 turned into almost 15 miles. This is getting to be a regular event. Apparently we don't know our way within the city limits either.

It was supposed to be warm, but the weather turned on us. I wore shorts and a singlet, but would have been better off with short sleeves. It was windy too, which we felt on our return trip. We ran up Wirth Parkway, which goes through some beautiful wooded areas, to the Veterans Memorial, known to Club Runners as the flagpole. I've run this route with my group before, but never all the way to the flagpole.

We got there without incident and took a picture to commemorate our tremendous achievement. Gary didn't want me to take his picture, so I promised him that I wouldn't put it on my blog. It's just as well, because the picture turned out bit-mappy. Here it's my camera, and Gary took a better picture with it than I did. All I had was the cel cam, so you can't actually see the flag, just the base with the dedication engraved in the stone.

The park department didn't turn on the water fountains here, so we stopped at the hospital to re-fill our water bottles and take a bathroom break. It seems a little disrespectful to go to use the facilities at a hospital, since people there are undergoing trauma, but it's all that was around.

We ran strong until around mile 12, then started to fatigue. We couldn't wait for it to be over. Gary's race is in two weeks and he's getting nervous about finishing within the time limit, based on how much time we take on our long runs. I reminded him that we're deliberately running slower than race pace and that the training will kick in on race day. Where have I heard that before? Oh yeah, from Gary when he was coaching me for my marathon. And he thought I wasn't paying attention. :-)

Today I went to a local running store and signed up for the Get In Gear 10K race, which is Saturday. I could have mailed in my application earlier, and saved $5, but by going to the store I could pick up my race packet at the same time. Except, not the shirt. I can pick up the shirt on race day, but it's first come-first served, so the size small shirts will go fast. I'll go on Friday afternoon, which is what I would have done if I had mailed in my application in the first place. Sigh.

Last night SD and I went to the Prairie Home Companion show. They were having the People In Their Twenties Talent Show. The first, second, and third prize winners all received a trophy, which was--get this--a miniature water tower! I really wanted one, even though I'm not in my twenties and, um, have no talent. I'll have to go out with my camera and take pictures of some of the water towers around here. They're really quite something.