captainsblog | S-A- T-U-R D-A-Y! 5K! (Reply)

Hard to believe this weekend is almost over (even harder that June is, and that this year is half-over). Yesterday ended with some amazing first-time experiences.

Up at ass-crack o'clock on Saturday, I dropped Eleanor at the store (her truck was being repaired) and then bluesilverkdg and I got to the parking lot a bit before 7, just as the half-marathon was kicking off....

Kimmy outside the fieldhouse

and the Rook, with his shirttail perpetually hanging out;)

Kimmy, the seasoned vet of these things, seemed confoozled about them deflating the bounce-house of a starting gate; I looked at the maps and realized they had to move the start point since the finish line was the same defined point for both races (the Bills' 50 yard line), so to make them both regulation distances, they'd need to start at different places. Not far, though; we traipsed a couple hundred feet over onto Abbott Road and watched the gate blow up real good again. I had every expectation she was gonna eat my dust, so I put David Sanborn on the headphones and watched her head north into the sunrise when the gun went at 7:15ish....

And did okay, lots of people passing me, but me passing more than a few, too, until right before the first turn onto Southwestern, when I finally kept up with the ~~Kardashian~~ Kimmy. Her knee started giving her problems almost immediately, and we wound up mixing walk and run for the rest of the distance. The route was a basic one known to all Bills goers- around the lot entrances on Abbott, Southwestern and Big Tree, with the final side of the square being the cut-through on California Drive that had the most uphill of the whole trek. We kept a 15-minute-mile pace pretty consistently throughout, grabbed water at the only station for it between miles 1 and 2, and set a 45-minute finish as a goal considering it was my first and her hurts....

and made it into the tunnel end of the stadium just in time to see 44:something flashing on the finish-line timer at the 50. I couldn't resist spiking my water bottle in the Bills end zone, then ran it out in one last running burst and made it in 44:almost-59-something. Both of us:)

The thirsty Tennessean, who didn't spike hers (they actually provided replacement bottles for both of us;)...

... and the obligatory one of me on the sideline, with the goalposts in sight. Captioned, naturally, as "wide right:P"

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Then came Bucket List time for our guest. Kimmy had never seen the Falls, and since she wasn't properly passported, that meant a stop on the Mercun side, which wound up on the Maid of the Mist US edition.

Just a random shot heading out into the rapids with the American Falls towering over us. Anybody who pooh-poohs Nik Wallenda for using a harness and a too-wide tightrope should get their ass up there themselves before belittling him; the eponymous Mist of those boats is overpowering, yet nothing like the awesomeness coming from the Falls themselves. Those ponchos only work so well, and I managed to get a few seconds of their absolute majesty before the lens got totally soaked:

Watch on YouTube

Then followed Mighty Taco for lunch and a return to Lives As We Knew Them. It's hot here, but nothing nearly as brutal as most of the country, and we spent last night beginning a Nora Ephron Memorial DVD Fest, with more to follow. Tomorrow and Tuesday will be rushed days of work for me, then we all have the Fourth off before the end of the week hopefully lets us Feel Fine;)