Wilmington, Ohio – 10/16/2010 (Marathon weekend)

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Dear Family and Friends,

Well, the weekend is upon us and it is a beautiful day.  Ann and I got up early – Saturday is her Master’s degree class day.  She leaves early and gets back early evening.  I made her breakfast and sent her off with a cup of tea to go.

I am having kind of a lazy morning.  I need to cut the yard and edge it, which will probably be the last time I do those things this year.  Not much else planned, other than possibly working some to make up for a little time this week. 

Part of my lazy morning is due to the fact that today is a rest day so I am not running.  Tomorrow is the Nationwide Better Health Columbus Marathon day.  Katie and I are running the 1/2 marathon and Sam and Bethany are running the full marathon.   We have been training for 3 months now, so we are all prepared, but the challenge still lies before us.  I have run one full marathon, and two 1/2 marathons.  This will be my third 1/2 marathon.  This will be Katie’s second 1/2 marathon.  This is Sam’s and Bethany’s first full marathon, but they have both run a 1/2 marathon.  Steve would probably be running it as well, but he is in Costa Rica student teaching.

It should be a great weekend and I hope you all have one as well.

Love,
Jim

Wilmington, OH – 10/10/2010 (Sunday hike and grillin’)

Dear Family and Friends,

Today was a great day, but started off a bit off.  Ann and I went to the wedding of the son of close friends yesterday and got back late last night. We intended on getting up and going to church, but we slept too late.  After we got up and got ready we decided to go to Glen Helen Nature Preserve (the Glen) (http://antiochcollege.org/glen_helen/) in Yellow Springs, Ohio for a hike.  Glen Helen is a nature reserve immediately east of Yellow Springs, Ohio.  Here are a few pictures from our hike:

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After about 4-5 miles of hiking we drove back home and had a 20 minute nap before we started on supper.  some of you may know that my grill was down for repairs.  I recently received the last part I needed to rebuild the grill that I ordered on August 17th.  Being grill-less is difficult was a challenge for Ann and I since we normally grill-out 3-5 times a week.  I guess I now have my “man-card” back since I am now grillin’ again.

On October 17th, Katie and I are running the Columbus, Ohio 1/2 marathon.  Our son and his bride are running the full marathon.  I have to admit I will be both glad to complete the run, but sad that the training is over.  I have to find the next event that we will want to complete.  Winter will be here very soon and we have to take advantage of the weather until then.

The last time I ran the Columbus Marathon (http://www.columbusmarathon.com/) was in 2006.  I ran the complete marathon then as part of the Team in Training (http://www.teamintraining.org) group raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society.  If any of you are interested in raising money for a worthwhile cause, running a marathon or another endurance sport and have the benefit of a team or coaches and mentors this is the way to go.

Well, it’s time to head for bed.  Until next time…

Love,
Jimmy