A Lovely Day in the Park
Actually, it’s been a few nice days. First, I made my latest goal…jogging 9 minutes, walking 1 for an hour. I was painfully slow, but I had some extra at the end for a little sprint, so that was good. I have to keep reminding myself that the reason I started running was so that I could run for a bus, not so I could run a marathon (or a 5K). But now, running for the bus isn’t something I even think about. It’s just normal.
Then, yesterday I went to do my bike ride around the park. It was a beautiful day…there are actually some fall colors, and the elms were a lovely golden yellow. How often do you get to see a whole stand of elms these days? Sadly, there were a lot of crews out taking down trees that were damaged in the snowstorm. Not the elms, though.
Taking Down a Tree
A few more pictures to come. It was interesting to watch how the men were so comfortable walking around on tree limbs.
I actually got up the hill at the north end without stopping, and up the next one, too. So I didn’t stop to take pictures because I wanted to see how far I could go. Then I got to the marathon finish area and had to stop, because they were taking down the finish line. We had to detour. So then I took pictures.
What I hadn’t realized was how many people return to the scene of the crime the next day. The west drive was crowded with people walking back to the finish line, wearing their medals, to take the picture they couldn’t take the day before. Everyone was in a great mood, congratulating each other, so it was really fun to weave through them.
Then, as I approached the home stretch, who should I see but Zoe Koplowitz entering the park with her escort of Guardian Angels. Mind you, this is the day after the marathon! Zoe has multiple sclerosis but does the marathon every year, on crutches. This year, it took her 30 plus hours. I decided that I wanted to see her finish, so I rode around the north end (cutting off the big hill this time) to get the point where she would enter the park again, hung out with some Guardian Angels for a while, till she appeared, and we all walked up to the finish line, picking up people and photographers on the way. What guts, walking all night to do this. And I worry that I’m slow!
Zoe and Her Attendants
I got home late, but it was worth it!
So You've Got a Lisfranc Injury! 
What an inspiration. She has a neat web site and a book called Lessons learned from Last Place (or something like that) and it looks pretty interesting and she also had her own page in Wikipedia.
Terry Fox is also an incredibly inspiring person- always been a favorite of mine.
And you too are an inspiration to me too!
(OK, gag- but true).
I put in a link to Zoe’s website. You are right, it’s really inspirational. Gag. And funny. And Christopher, I hadn’t realized that the firemen in the firehouses on the route were so helpful, giving her crew food, hot chocolate, and use of the bathrooms. Absolutely makes sense. They must be so cute when she comes by.
Cool!