Sunday, August 3, 2008

Hennepin Lake Classic 10K

10K Race Sunday, at 8:15... registration tent in the park at Lake Calhoun in Minneapolis.

Runners lined up for the twice around the lake race.

A great time of the year to view flower plantings in private yards and gardens.

City of Lakes, downtown Minneapolis across Lake Calhoun... And a blessedly cloudy day, too, which made for dreary pictures ... but a mighty fine low-70's temp for running (although the humidity probably slowed us some) ... a sweet contrast with the hot August weather for this race the past several years.

Saturday (the previous day) we ran a little 4K in the park.

Flowers in our garden to wish you a pleasant week!


PS The general manager of the Minnesota Zephyr would like folks to know that the train is up and running again! Good luck to them.

12 comments:

ShirleyPerly said...

Overcast and low 70's sounds like heaven! And thanks for the pretty flowers. There aren't too many that do well in the summer heat here in Central FL.

wendy said...

sooo many races, and such little time! the pics are once again lovely though, and thank you for the well wishes for the week.

Unknown said...

Such lovely weather - perfect for running. What a blessing for you!!

Amytrigirl (aka Amybee) said...

Fun event right near my house! I knew I shouldn't have slept in late...

Great pics as usual!

CewTwo said...

It did sound like optimum weather for a competition! And the pictures were good! Especially the tree with the city skyline in the background!

I got a kick out of Jeep ride this weekend as the wildflowers are above timberline now.

I took Amtrak around the states once. California Zephyr, Coast Starlight and the Empire Builder. Unfortunately, the part of the Empire Builder from Spokane to Havre was 'derailed' due to a derailment of a freight train. I missed seeing Glacier National Park (the real main reason for the trip) as the bus we were on took a different route.

It was overall a really great trip.

I thought that I would share that with you!

CewTwo said...

Most of my Amtrak adventure was a great trip. I will always have memories of it.

Leaving Denver, the climb into the Rockies included 23 tunnels (including the 6 mile long Moffat Tunnel). The climb above the plains was amazing.

The Coast Starlight was very late. It was an uncomfortable wait at Emeryville, CA; but what others usually see during the day on the Starlight, we saw at night. It was an interesting twist.

The Empire Builder left Seattle on time, and we knew that we would switch to buses at Spokane.

In Chicago, we switched back to the California Zephyr again. I was able to see members of my family in Washington, and in Illinois.

We took a walkie talkie and a GPS system with us. We tracked our trip across this great nation using a personal computer. The conductors shared the radio frequencies with us on every train. We got to hear the train chatter as a great part of the train journey. Those "Hot boxes" even transmit in English as the train goes near them on the track.

When the Empire Builder stopped suddenly after leaving Minneapolis/St. Paul, our attendant came to us to find out what had happened. He feared a cow (or worse) on the track, but we knew that an airhose for the brakes had come undone.

It was a great experience with such good food, many interesting people and such things to see!

Thanks, Sunshine!

Mr. Satan A. Chilles said...

Nice. 10K is such a civilized distance.

For some reason, the 4th picture (tree silhouette against the sky) looks like a map of Europe, but that's just my weird worldview, so to speak.

Good photography, as usual!

DawnB said...

Sunday was beautiful!! I'm glad you had a good 10k. The trains are back now you have the trains and the trails how wonderful.

rocketpants said...

Sounds like a good 10K! Cooled off a bit i'm sure that helped racing conditions.

Vickie said...

You seem to be doing races almost every weekend! Good training for your next marathon. Nice that the weather was "cooler" this year. I'm experiencing very hot weather right now too.

peter said...

Hi Sunshine. That run around the lake sounds wonderful. I'm pretty sure I went around or past that lake in the 2004 TCM where the first half was trips by a series of wonderful lakes in Minneapolis. Your photo across the lake with the city skyline in the background seemed familiar. ANd what lovely flower beds.

Thanks for commenting on my photo series from the GC. The two or three most serious cameramen (Barry and Dennis for sure--they took my favorite pictures) had both the little viewfinder digital cameras they wore around their neck and the larger SLRs they'd uncover at other times. Dennis at least had a big set-up with a long telephoto lense. Barry achieved some hazy-yet-clear long range scenery effects that were truly gorgeous--he snapped my all-time favorite that I called Stairway to Heaven (post day 6 or maybe day 7).

Haven't been up to much. I think I'm still decompressing from the enormity of my trip. But I finally turned back to running yesterdy and today--a fast 5.2 miles (8:24 pace) on the Mall in the noon heat with a co-worker that left my tongue hanging out and a swift 5K tempo run this morning (sub-8 pace) that was hard but I pushed it and it felt fine...after two and a half miles when my breathing finally stopped being so ragged. I have a long ways to go to come back, but both runs felt good once I was done.

peter said...

Thanks. And I forgot to say, having that train running again is fabulous! Thanks for passing on that info.