Hero Worship

This is AmyBee, my hero! She did the Lifetime Fitness Triathlon last Saturday--the Olympic Distance. That's 1.5K Swim, 40K Bike, and 10K Run. She's wearing her "Engines of Change" shirt, provided by her sponsor, Toyota. Look at how buff she is! She's been working hard and it shows. I was scheduled for a long run that day and planned to get out early so that I could be done in time to cheer Amy on. Well, that didn't work out; I got out later than I had planned and gave up on the idea.

I was scheduled to run 14 miles, so I drove to the river and began my run at the Guthrie. I decided to run south along the river road for 7 miles, then turn around and run back. I didn't run with the group, because Marcia wouldn't be there and everyone else goes out too fast for me. Marcia was resting because she was doing a triathlon on Sunday, so she went to the LTF Triathlon to support AmyBee.

As I ran along the trail, I came across the bikers in the triathlon. They were riding north in the street. I got really excited for them and as I ran I yelled out encouragement to the bikers. Some of you may remember that I volunteered at last year's triathlon; I felt bad that I didn't work it this year, but I had a training run to fit in.

Since the bike leg was in the street, I was able to continue south on the path. I kept an eye out for AmyBee, but I had no idea where she was. Then it occurred to me that I could call Marcia! Marcia said that Amy should be done with the bike by then, so I stopped looking for her. The run comes after the bike, so I asked Marcia to call me when Amy finished her race.

Meanwhile I kept running and cheering on the bikers. Some of them seemed to appreciate it. One woman astounded me--she could only be described as obese. She didn't even look like she could walk across the street, yet here she was riding a bike in the triathlon. Those of us who saw her had nothing but respect for her.

As I approached mile 7, I realized I was close to the action. I ran over to Lake Nokomis, thinking I could continue on the trail and eventually loop up to my starting point. I really wanted to see AmyBee cross the finish line! I called Marcia and found out where she was. She was expecting Amy to come by in the first of two loops (she was running a 10K.) I hooked up with Marcia and Coach Sarah, and shortly after AmyBee came by in the first loop.

Once Amy went by, I decided to continue my run. I wanted to see her cross the finish line, though, so I stayed in the area. As I was about to hook up with Sarah and Marcia again, Marcia called and said that Amy had finished her race. We all met up at the Toyota tent to congratulate Amy. I tried to take some pictures with my cell phone cam, but it was not cooperating; however Amy's hubby took pictures of us.

Marcia and Sarah were going to go to breakfast and invited me along. I had only done 11.5 of my 14 mile run, but I'd had enough. My heart just wasn't into this run. Breakfast sounded like a swell idea and Marcia said she'd drive me to my car, so how could I resist? We went to a cute little restaurant that I had never been to before and I had a latte and french toast with real maple syrup. Yum! It was very pleasant, then as promised, Marcia delivered me to my car.

I was feeling better and wanted to finish my run, so I ran around the Stone Arch Bridge, which I posted about a couple of days ago. I found a new park in the area that I didn't know about even though I had run past it the other day (!) and got close up and personal with the St. Anthony Falls. That was a treat and then my run was finally over. Even though the miles were interrupted, I figured it was like doing a two-a-day. I went home, showered, and took a nap! :-)