Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Blessings of Flying Pig Marathon Week

Sweet Pea running ... overlooking the beautiful Ohio River, under a blazing Cincinnati sun.
Last Thursday we spent the day at Mayo Clinic: Don's blood numbers, on an anti-myeloma drug combination, were better than we have seen in 2-3 years! Friends can keep up on his results on his Myeloma Hope blog.

From Rochester, we drove to Cincinnati... in and out of rainstorms and Interstate truck traffic, arriving safely.

Weather could have been better for the children's events on Saturday morning, but children did come.

Saturday lunch with Precious Nephew and his Dear Sweetie who live in Cincinnati... a delight!

Picked up our Flying Pig Marathon poster (!) and really terrific short sleeved technical finisher's shirts at the expo. Ours were real "women's" shirts !!

Drove the marathon route... glad afterward that Sweet Pea and I got a chance to see the more interesting second half of the course, because later we chose to run only the (first) half.

Appreciated the chance to see the amazing hills of southwestern Ohio and northern Kentucky, the azaleas, tulips, and blossoming trees.

Motel room with kitchen where we cooked our other meals, gluten-free.

Our 45th Wedding Anniversary ... on the day of the marathon ... It was the Best Day!

We made it to that 45th Anniversary, in spite of multiple myeloma: we are blessed.

Lucky Don ran the marathon.

Sweet Pea and I, because of several unexpected issues, elected to take the half marathon course, and received our half marathon finisher's medals.

There were no fatalities in the 3 house fire that delayed the start of the race by 15 minutes and necessitated altering the race course.

The person who collapsed with a heart attack while running the marathon, was rescued and saved, first by other runners, then the official paramedics (See Cincinnati newspaper). Nobody died.

Neat to know our nephew was running, too, and after the race to discover others we knew were there.

Thinking that it is better to have discovered running in my sixties than not at all!
What a great time we are having!

Safe 12 hour drive home, with brief stop for a hug at my sister-in-law and brother's in central Wisconsin.

Last year Sweet Pea and I finished 5 marathons, with official time and finisher's medals, besides surviving the Chicago marathon. We are hopeful that this Flying Pig half marathon can be a training run... for our next marathon!!!

A good trip, good myeloma news, a good anniversary, a good run, another best day of the year.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, happy 45th anniversary!! How wonderful :)

So glad to hear about the good myeloma news, and it's nice to see the sun shining up there for you.

Backofpack said...

A whole series of wonderful events!

Congratulations on 45 years - that is wonderful. I look forward to the day we celebrate ours.

And hooray for great numbers!

peter said...

Happy 45th. Great to hear about the numbers. Glad Don was able to run the whole hog, so to speak. You got the benefit of running up the whole hill (from the river below) in your picture while running the half! Nice picture, I pulled off the course at perhaps the same exact spot and took the same picture as you did, then one back towards downtown Cincinnati. It was tremendous that streaker Bobby Edwards was able to return to his family that night, thanks to Fireman Patrick Conrey and his band of intrepid runners, indeed it was the best day! Nice speaking with you, next time we'll have to go for a run.

Sunshine said...

Peter, Yes, at least to say HI.
Glad you had a good race. Wishing I had recognized you at the finish area.
Appreciated your blog.
Did you read about last year's half marathon winner, whose bicycle leader, this year, got LOST!
So sorry, in the busy-ness of getting ready Wed., to go... to Mayo early Thurs AM.. we missed the information that would have helped us find you!!!!!

I think there is still time to register (on line) for the Twin Cities Marathon this year.

Anne said...

Hooray on hitting 45 years together. That's quite an accomplishment.

DawnB said...

Happy anniversary!!45 years, I have twenty years to catch you :) what a day you had at the marathon. I'm glad no one was hurt from the fire. I've been at a couple of races when some one have callapsed I'm glad that person is ok as well.

Unknown said...

Wonderful positive post. Congrats on your anniversary!!

I think you summed things up well in the last sentence:

"A good trip, good myeloma news, a good anniversary, a good run, another best day of the year."

Here here!!

rocketpants said...

Sounds like so many awesome blessings. I'm glad your week was so great!

Vickie said...

Congrats on your finishing, your anniversary, and being thankful for running, no matter when you started! Hopefully you will be able to finish your next event.

Renee said...

Hi Sunshine! Congratulations on 45 years!!!
Thanks for finding me -- I will remember to check back often!

Mary Sunshine said...

Dear Sunshine!

I'm so happy you enjoyed your time in Cincinnati. WE were certainly honored to have you and yours here.

I will be in Minnesota over Memorial Day weekend to participate in my daughter's Suzuki harp conference. I don't know if this will be close to you, but there will be a wonderful harp and flute ensemble performance. Can send details if you are interested.

Mary

Amytrigirl (aka Amybee) said...

What a great post! Lots of things to be grateful for.

Happy anniversary!

Mr. Satan A. Chilles said...

Wow. You packed so man 'good things' into one post, it's amazing. As I say to many runners in races, 'Good Job!'

And you made it back OK. Inspirational... and that's coming from a cynical, east coast runner!

CewTwo said...

Wasn't it Shakespeare that said, "tuber or not tuber?"

What a cool way to have them!

Congratulations on your anniversary!

Running is fun at whatever age you discover it and give in to it! I agree!

IronWaddler said...

Great post.

So happy for you and Don!! Congrats on the 45 years. Not seen to often anymore.

ShirleyPerly said...

What a great way to celebrate one's anniversary! Congrats to you on both events. 45 years together is awesome!!

Rich said...

Congrats on the finish and the anniversary!