1/2 Marathon News and Baseball

Miss B finished the half marathon on Sunday! We awoke at 5:30am to get her all ready and prepped for the big event. Last year 9,000 women participated and this year, 15,000! The race began at Union Square. The place was off the hook with runners and those whom support them. Music playing. Adrenaline pumping getting everyone psyched for the path which was ahead of them. The event was put on as an partnership between the Team in Training and Nike to raise money for lymphoma and leukemia. Along the raceway were posters of folks whom the race was being run for and those whom had passed. Collectively 14 million dollars was raised which is incredible. I got all teary eyed watching people come in over the finish line whom were so proud and excited about their accomplishment. 5 months of training to get across that line paid off. What a sight to see! The first marathon finisher cooked right along coming in just under three hours. No one was behind her for 6 minutes! I waited for Miss B and had the camera out at hour two in the event that she pumped up her pace, I didn't want to miss that photo opportunity! Apparently the course was a bit more hilly than anticipated and two stretches with lots of downhill made it more than challenging. She hung in there and finished like a champion! I'm so proud of her. Next year I am going to sign up in time and run with her, I swear. As hard as those 10 mile training runs were, I want to give it a go, just to see if I can. What has worked out well since I didn't run it is that Miss B has been pampered before and after the race. Saturday night was a pasta dinner with homemade brownies. (My mom's recipe and my god are they ever good! The secret is the copious amounts of butter.) Sunday morning started with a bagel and coffee. Post race she was craving fries and a veggie burger so off to Burgermeister we went. Followed up with a hot bath with bubbles, soothing salts, and massage. I then was quiet so she could take a two hour nap. She awoke to head over to a fabulous birthday party in which she got to drink beer and sit. Oh, and at this b-day party we played BINGO for prizes! I won a Candyland game. Can't wait to bust that out at home! All in all it was a successful half marathon and Sunday. It's been fun spoiling her and to see her sense of accomplishment. Now she's talking about training for a marathon...whew.

Baseball season is wrapping up with the World Series. I really don't much care about the sport other than the playoffs and championship. It's fun to watch with the banter of A alongside and seeing Miss B get into an organized professional sport. Sunday night in the 9th inning when the Astros tied it up and then Sox won, I've never seen her so worked up about something like this! I like explaining the rules and seeing what can be pulled out of my noggin from so long ago when I watched lots of Milwaukee Brewers baseball as a kid. During the summer the games were always on and once we were done with work for the day, I watched them seeing as repeats of other shows were boring and for some reason the men in tight fitting pants pulled me in. Back then Paul Molitor, Cecil Cooper, Robin Yount, Rollie Fingers, and so on made the way for the Brew Crew and made it exciting. It was also something that my dad and brothers could do together. Well, there really wasn't much of an option. One television, and one dad who wanted to watch baseball. I did enjoy it all the same and owe my fascination with baseball and the playoffs to him.