Lakefront Cottage

Last fall a group of us took a ride over to a friend's lakefront cottage.  Although it was crisp and cool the day of our visit, it now seems balmy compared to the bitter cold we've experienced lately. Looking forward to warmer days ahead. - P

Towpath Marathon

The Towpath Marathon was held in Peninsula, Ohio a couple of weeks ago.   The weather was a concern as they predicted 40 F and a possible chance of rain.  We were pleasantly surprised that it didn’t end up raining and the cool weather kept us from overheating.  Our previous race routes have all been in major cities, which proved to be interesting as well as entertaining having crowds of people cheering us on.  We weren't sure how we would feel racing on a trail without all of the people and city life.  It turned out to be one of our favorite races.  The route was flat, not overcrowded and the race was well organized.  The volunteers were great at the fuel stations.  I never felt like I was tripping over people to get water.  There were also pockets of people cheering on the runners at various points on the trail.   Aside from feeling well prepared for the race all these factors added up to PR times for the four of us.   We went away from this race smiling and positive thoughts about doing it again.   - P

Happy Spring Forward!

Great morning for a run. P and I and our friend A before a hill at our 3.5 mile turnaround. -A

Hoover Dam

As you have read in the last couple posts P and I, along with her husband M and my sister A, spent a long weekend in Vegas for the half marathon.  We stayed the extra days to see some sights and wander through town since three out of four of us had never been there. By far the most massive engineering marvel we witnessed was the Hoover Dam.  If they say a picture is worth a thousand words, actually seeing it for yourself would be worth multiples more.  It was a short trip from The Strip in a Pink Jeep, and it was well worth it. We got to relax and take in the high desert scenery on the way out there and back.  We were a little early for the Hoover Dam Tour to start, so our tour guide took us to the new bridge that overlooks the Dam and crosses the river first.  It was an amazing view from so high up.  The tour started with a video on the background and statistics of the construction of the Hoover Dam.  

We then boarded an elevator that took us down to the power plan area.  The scale and power generated was impressive. Then, they let us explore the surface of the dam and take pictures.  The Dam is built across the Colorado River, which divides Nevada and Arizona.  This was my first trip to either state, but the best part of walking across the Dam was the fact when we crossed borders we were in two different time zones (AZ does observe daylight savings time) at the same time.  


Going to see the Hoover Dam from Vegas was definitely worth the short trip! -A

Evening Tennis

The weather on Tuesday was absolutely gorgeous and perfect for an outdoor evening tennis match.  I met up with tennis friend I from our team.  We both had not played in months but after a few rusty games we started to play better.  It was nice to get out there for a match and enjoy the weather. We were able to catch up, and I got to hear about her adventures in Germany where she taught English for about 7 months this past year. Welcome back I.  It reminds how I would love to work for one of the bicycle tour groups in Paris.  I hope to be able to do that at some point down the road.   - P