July 11

Today was our Saturday team run. I met Rachel at Pioneers Park and she walked with me for several miles & then hooked up with another runner & then caught up with me later on. I kept a pace of walk 5 minutes & run 45 seconds & with the hills out there for the first time, I felt I did really good, but those hills made a difference! Whew! On my walk I passed a favorite place of Leo's and mine before we were married. It's by a lake & we'd take a blanket & some books & lie down & talk & read & look up at the clouds. It was strange to think that 36 years later I would be not only out there training for a marathon run at age 60, but doing it for my husband to benefit leukemia & lymphoma research. As I ran by, I glanced over and could almost see those 2 young people on that blanket. Oh, the twists & turns that life takes. I also walked past the row of trees where 35 years ago I had my bridal portrait taken. One sunny day in June of 1975 I drove out to this park (because if was our favorite place in Lincoln) along with our wedding photographer & I went behind some trees & changed into my wedding dress while the photographer waited..and had my picture taken holding a single long stemmed red rose. Remember - I was a flower child (bona fide hippie!).

And later on in my run today I passed the wide open space just down from the statue of an Indian making smoke signals & I thought of our kids as toddlers, running in the open field, their hair flying wildly in the golden sunlight. Also, I walked past the toboggan run - a raised metal platform on top of a hill - where we'd bring our toboggan & squeeze the whole family on there - Leo & I & the 4 kids and then roar down the hill & diligently hike back up to repeat the whole scene. This was at night time - they had it lit up with lights. There's nothing better than a lit up snow-covered slope! We'd finish off the evening going to Lee's Chicken for hot cocoa - usually sitting in wet clothes as they thawed in the warmth of the restaurant.

So this particular walk/run was like stepping back in time & savoring every minute. As to the walk - I did just short of 10 miles in 162 minutes - the same as last Saturday's 10 mile - only this one was hilly - so not bad. On the way home I drank a recovery drink - Recoverite - that's full of carbs and protein and some sodium and minerals and I was hardly sore the remainder of the day - a miracle! I need to get more of that!

I rushed home, had some breakfast, took a 20 minute ice bath, gathered my food and cooking supplies, and barely made it to my class in time to teach a "summer cooking" class. I was on my feet the whole time teaching class & it wasn't bad!

Later this evening I signed up for the Omaha half marathon on September 27. It will be a good experience for me to do that before the big one in Des Moines. Rachel said she'd run the Omaha half marathon (13 miles) with me and I was very happy about that! That was really nice of her to volunteer to do that!! My total miles for this week are 25.7.