Forecast for tonight is for 50% chance of storms all through early afternoon, then downgrading to showers at a 25-30% clip in the TRY hours. (According to weather.com)
Aaron posted some running workout ideas for your run and is starting up another 30 day ab challenge. See his FB post for details.
I see that a few of you have already gone to the Chinese Lantern Festival at the state fairgrounds. If you have not and are interested, this is your final week as it's 2 1/2 month stay ends on the 24th. I recommend it for the uniqueness of it all. The lights look great, especially after dark and the 30 minute performance of culture is well worth the viewing...and bring cash as they give a "discount" at the gate for cash. Plus they have food trucks and merchandise if you are into such things. Of everyone in TRY, it would seem like Ron would be the most interested?!
(Because of his intense, hands on, interest in foreign cultures.)
As a group, we really downgraded our support of Paige's Butterfly Run this year. It happens! But it did make me curious if people would be more interested in supporting their summer clam bake? They did their first annual one last year and Berms, her male roommate, and I attended. It was plenty good food-wise and not crowded at all as it was their first attempt at it. In fact, I'm a bit surprised they are running it back, but obviously it is something they see as an event to grow and therefore a small crowd the first time did not scare them off.
They call it the "Clams 4 Cures Clambake" and is July 29th at the Spinning Wheel. Please let me know if you are interested and maybe we can get a bigger group together for it this year? (It looks like it is 50 "clams" -- that is dollars -- per ticket! Which I suppose is the going rate for an open clam bake? That would crush my allowance for the month but I still plan to go if we can get a group.)
It was Berms' first time and she seemed to like it. Would you go again Berms or was it enough to get the check-mark?
Finally, let's preserve Aaron's small world story in a blog entry. Obviously is a powerful reminder of the community in a long race and reminds me of how often a bond can be made among strangers as the miles add up. (And brings a twinkle to my eye as I remember two different connections made in my marathon-marathon story.) It also calls into question the people who always wear headphones in races? I know it is a personal choice and it "helps them" so who am I to judge? But, I just know I've had cases where I've cheered on someone I knew who I then noticed had headphones in and they didn't seem to flinch at all. If someone gets cheered for but does not hear it, does a tree still fall on them in the forest?!
Aaron, thanks again for sharing:
Tangentially running related story to share. I've had a note sitting in my Facebook Messenger queue for weeks now. I had assumed that was spam but when I opened it yesterday, I found this:
"Hi. We were in a photo together coming out of Thornden park at the Mountain Goat Sunday. I just wanted to tell you that your words of encouragement to everyone near you on the course were very uplifting. It was an emotional point in the race for me after losing a friend last week. I heard you talking to others and it reminded me of him and just what he would have been doing."
Most of us aren't going to win the races that we enter. Try to have fun out there. Cracking a joke or encouraging those runners around you might make all the difference to somebody in earshot.
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