A Memorial Day to Remember

Memorial Day was a busy one this year. The day started off with a 4:45 wake-up call to get on the road for the Laguna Hills Half Marathon. Things went along smoothly enough until I got to the starting line, walked over to register and realized that I left all of my gear in the car. Back across the lot I go (a quarter mile or so in each direction) to get suited up. As I am adjusting my iPod and hat, I hear them announce the start of my event...whoops! It was a bit of a hectic start, but I still made it out in time.

The day and the course were just about perfect, cool weather and some rolling hills; they are somehow always more fun when going downhill! I got a nice surprise between mile 5 and 6 when I see Elizabeth (who was celebrating a milestone birthday...welcome to the club) sitting on the curb with her camera. She took an entertaining shot of me as I sped by (don't believe everything I write!) with another 8 miles or so to go.

The 1/2 ended well, although I decided that 10 miles is about the point that I am over any event, so that last 2 miles or so were spent just wondering when the whole gig was going to be over!

Next stop...swimming at the Brown's new pool. Who wouldn't want to christen their new pool with a sweaty 1/2 marathoner?? We enjoyed the pool (what we could use of it with the crazy dozen or so kids splashing around!), had a nice BBQ and sang Happy Birthday to Elizabeth, all the while keeping our eye on the tasty Birthday/Memorial Day cupcake cake.

The drive home to catch up with the Schnoogs and David was a long one and we were all happy to flop down for the 30 minutes or so before everyone decided that it was time to go to bed. We definitely maximized the day for activities...not things centered around remembering those who served, but indeed in appreciation of having the freedoms that we do!