GOTR Sighting

During tax season, it became sort of a ritual if I was working later than I should and Geoff was not home during the evening then I had earned enough self-pity to get Eat 'n Park take out. Well that was the case tonight as I went to work sick and ended up staying until 7. But much to my surprise and delight, I saw Autumn and her family in the checkout line! She was almost as perky as usual as she had just had some sort of shot related to dental work. It so reminded me how fantastic those girls are!

Wondergirl 5k

It was a wet and rainy day, but lots of fun!  All of our girls finished in under an hour and we were proud of them!

Local marathon gets sponsors, to return next May

As written in the Post-Gazette:

Monday, May 19, 2008
By Rich Lord, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The newly named Dick's Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon is set for May 3, 2009, the result of a sponsorship deal announced by Mayor Luke Ravenstahl and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato this morning.
The arrangement with Dick's, details of which were not immediately disclosed, brings back the 26.2-mile race after a six-year hiatus. The course is not yet final. But it is expected to start in front of the City-County Building, Downtown, pass through the North Side, South Side, Oakland, Shadyside, Point Breeze, Homewood, East Liberty, Bloomfield, Highland Park and the Strip District before finishing in the renovated Point State Park.
A half-marathon will be sponsored by Respironics, a firm that specializes in sleep and respiratory products.
UPMC Sports Medicine will be the medical sponsor, providing support for runners along the course and training seminars throughout the year.
UMPC formerly was the lead sponsor.

Dare To Be Brave

Katie started writing on this card "Dear..." but she misspelled it as "Dare," so we had to come up with a way to reword it:

The Gettysburg Address

As the girls were making their cards for soldiers, Autumn and Taylor burst into reciting the Gettysburg Address. Not sure what spurred it, but they were good! Autumn particularly spouted it out very quickly! Here are some pictures:

GOTR Community Service Project

Finally, the girls have chosen the "Make Cards for US Soldiers" as their Community Service project. This is always on the list to vote for, but has yet to make it until this year (I'm thinking maybe Molly wasn't there on Wednesday...she's not a huge fan of the war - I'm hoping we don't have to screen out too many of the cards). I think it is such a great idea and fits well into our session when we don't have a ton of time to plan for something. I was actually doing a little prep with getting supplies together and made a sample card. Check it out:

Together Again!

Lisa and I got together for a misty morning run this morning. We figure our last run together was probably the Columbus half marathon, so good to have a partner again! We both admitted to being much more inspired to run (i.e. not stop half way up a hill) when we're with someone else.

Afterwards, we enjoyed breakfast at Dozen in Lawrenceville with Debo and Emily. Our plan was to go right after our workout and be one of those cool runners who looks beautiful and trendy sitting there eating breakfast. Geoff let us in on the secret that those "runners" who look beautiful and trendy eating breakfast, haven't actually RUN...they have probably just walked their kid around the block or something.

From there, I headed over to Trizilla to check out bikes. Now, I know how to ride a bike and since I've been spinning for quite awhile now, I feel like I can do this, but I forgot about the fact that an actual bike is WAY different than a stationery one - requires balance for one thing. So when the guy said, "Do you want to take it for a spin in the parking lot?" I said, "Sure." And immediately then thought, "Oh shoot...when was the last time I was actually on a bike with two wheels that doesn't stay in one place?" I managed to not make a complete fool of myself, but I think once I get into the biking thing that I will need to purely stick to paved trails with no chance of encounters with cars until I get the hang of it again.

XTraining - Outdoor Swimming

This is more for my own reference, but if anyone else get some benefit out of it, great! Here are the outdoor swimming options for the summer:

Avonworth Community Pool - $6, after 5 pm $3
Citipools - $4 (Here is a listing of all the parks, those w/ a swimming pool are marked in the "SP" column)
YMCA - I think $10/visit. (I'm going to cancel my membership for the summer. Too nice to workout inside!)

I'm not sure how any of these options will be for actual lap swimming, but I'm going to explore and figure out what works.

Other outdoor workout option (other than running) for the summer:
Breathe Outside at Southside Works - $5/class

Pittsburgh Marathon 2009?

In the wake of marathon excitement (attending Boston last week and signing up for Marine Corps this week), I thought I would check in again on the status of a potential 2009 marathon in Pittsburgh. Here is the response I got from Kevin Smith of Elite Runners and Walkers:

"If it happens the group will be announcing within the month. If it all does not come together soon, we will have to wait for 2010. Things are looking up for 2009."

This is not a super strong answer and given that I had information last year that "a 2008 marathon is definitely going to happen," I don't have my hopes up.