Briefly

Wanted to check in on a day full of events (including postseason baseball games--too much fun).

Here's a quiz:

What's notable about October 11, 2009?

a. It would have been my dad's 102nd birthday.
b. It is the six-month anniversary of the fall that put me out of commission for three months.
c. It is the day I ran the Primo's half marathon in Danville.
d. All of the the above.

And the answer is--ta da!--d., All of the above. So it's a special day.
Here's my daddy posing with my mother's daddy. The time was about 1934, when RAH would have been 26 or 27. A pair of handsome fellas.


I wish I had a portrait-quality photo of me at the starting line in Danville, but hey, it was dark when Z took this. The race started at 7:15, so it was barely light even when the starting gun went off. Things were a little fuzzy, so I guess this picture is appropriate. The run went very well. My energy stayed high. I wasn't fast, but really the point today was to ascertain whether I was "back" from my injury sufficiently to start running long and running often. I would say the answer is yes! I finished fourth in my age group, 511th out of 562 runners. The surprising thing to me is that there were 70 DNFs (did-not-finishers), and all but a couple of them were younger than I. The race was for the benefit of the local schools, so I suspect a number of non-runners signed up in a (highly commendable) burst of enthusiasm.

You'll notice there are no pictures here of me in my out-of-commission days. No sense in dwelling on the negative, I say. I was in the midst of working one day last week when it struck me how easy I find it to entertain a low-level whining in my mind and also how little real cause I have to be discontented. Life is not perfect, but it is very good.

Because I don't want to show me on crutches, I'm throwing in a bonus photo illustrating the bounty we're enjoying courtesy of the tomato plants that ate Berkeley, which are maybe not as scary as the eggplant that ate Chicago--but impressive nonetheless.




Comments

Bob said…
Congrats, congrats, congrats. Those handsome ancestors of yours (and mine) in the picture would be very proud of you today. In fact, I bet they are...right now.

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