Spider!

Up at 5am, left the house at 5:35am, heading towards Cleveland where Denise was going to run the 1/2 Marathon. We managed to find our way to the Muni parking lot after navigating around the road closures. As we were walking towards the starting area, Gina and Abby squealed, "Spider!" I looked up and there was a HUGE spider (ok, about the size of a nickle) hanging in front of us about 2 feet off of the ground. I moved the sign that I was holding towards the spider to knock it out of the way and of course, the web filament that the spider was hanging from, stuck to the sign! Then to my horror, the spider starting swinging towards me!

Now there are very few things that scare me. Spiders, however, are one of those things! I jumped, trying to get out of the way, scraped my hand against a light post as I tried to keep from falling, providing much amusement for my family and several others walking near us! The spider was now on the ground, still attached to the sign, following me! Gina, thankfully, stepped on the creature and spared me the additional trauma...

Thankfully, that was the worst thing that happened today....

Denise ran well and surprised herself with a great time of 1:51:13. We met her at the finish line and we then walked towards mile 25 on the course to cheer in the marathon finishers. It was great to see the runners at that point of the marathon. We have all been there, sometimes you feel good, other times you wish you were dead. Today was no different for the runners. But, the best part is that once you cross the finish line, the pain evaporates! All of the training and the emotions of the day provide a wealth of experience to draw from later in life.

We had invited one of Gina's swim-team friends to join us today so she could experience a larger running event that was not High School track or Cross-country related. I think she liked it. I hope that the shock of spending a morning with us does not scar her too badly.

I completed a solid week of 53 miles. I had a 21 mile "Paul Simon" run yesterday on the muddy trails. (Slip-slidin'-away) I ran from Snowville Road to Station Road, following the new BR100 section. I was only 'navigationally-challenged' a couple of times and I think that I went on the wrong bridle trail for a while, but it was a good run never the less. Followed up with 10 miles today. My feet were wet/muddy for most of the day yesterday and I have a small blister. This is my first blister in a long while so I am not too concerned. I will use a different pair of socks for the race if wet weather is in the forecast. I was experimenting with some hiking socks yesterday. They are great for dry conditions, not so great for wet. "Note to self"...