A Good Weekend So Far

Well, it has been a good weekend so far, except that I had to work some on Saturday morning and this morning (Sunday) was quite hectic at work. However, we shared lunch with some friends and talked about Confirmation next year, and it looks good.

In addition, on Saturday, I bought an old HeathKit amplifier at a garage sale. I was a little disheartened when I realized that one channel had some distortion in it. My oscilloscope is currently out on loan, so I didn't have a good way of tracing the distortion. However, I started comparing voltages between the two channels, especially around the transistors in the circuit (I figured the biasing on a transistor might be off). Before too long, I found that one of the output transistors was bad. Luckily, Radio Shack had one that would work for my application. It sounds good!!!

Now I just hope tomorrow is a continuation of the good weekend!

Race Day Photos

Me with my honored hero Desi



6:30 AM, before the race. Not quite awake yet.



Crossing the Finish Line



Powerade, now!

Proud of Sandra

I was (am) VERY proud of Sandra and how well she did on her race on Sunday morning. She had a better time than she had in any of her training!

We also had a fun weekend together. We got to go out with our friends Charlie & Julie Horvath, whom I met when I worked at Raytheon. They are fun people, and it was neat to hear about all their projects (old radios, gardening, restoring '54 Vette).

We did realize, though, that about the only thing we missed from the Dallas area was restaurants (Dave & Busters, Razoos, Royal Thai, etc.) and certain shops (the BIG Half Price Books, CD Universe, etc.).

Triumphant Finish!

By Saturday evening, I had become pretty nervous about the race day. I knew I could do it, after all I have completed a full marathon before, but this time was different. Eventhough it was a half marathon, 13.1 miles, my goal was not only to finish, but in under 3 hours. In addition I am running about half of the distance now, which is more challenging than walking.

After arriving at the race site and I found Nancy and her son, our honored hero. I was also excited to see Candance running the race since she had battled a leg injury this season and was unsure at one point whether she could run or not.

The weather was beautiful and the course was flat and well marked. The course followed the While Rock creek trails through parks and wooded areas. I kept a close eye on my watch and timed every mile. I was amazed to find that I was just over a 13 minute mile for the first 3 miles! I began to slow down a bit after mile 9, but just kept talking to myself and watching the time. I would watch someone ahead of me whose pace I knew was in my goal range, and I would keep up or catch up with them. This strategy worked really well.

I ran most of the last 3 miles, because I knew I had to make up a few minutes. Plus, I didn't feel the muscle aches until I started walking, so it was easier to run!

I crossed the finish line in 3 hours and 5 minutes. This is about a 14.2 minute mile, a huge accomplishment since my training pace had been 15-16. Troy was waiting there for me at the finish, snapping my picture, and then helping me limp to the water station!

Overall this has been a great season. I have met so many great people on the team who are also working hard toward their goals. My final fundraising total for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is $914.24. Thanks to everyone who made this possible!

Ready for the Race

I'm getting packed for our little trip to Dallas for the half marathon. Okay, I've got my running clothes, camelbak (Powerade container), powerbars, ummm... what else? Oh, yea shoes. Okay, I think I'm ready.

The most difficult thing about this race weekend is not getting up at 5:30 AM for race day, or walking 13.1 miles, heck that's the easy part. No, the difficult thing is deciding where to dine out while we are in the 'big city' for the weekend! While the list is long for Mexican restaurants, we managed to settle on Mariano's. There's one on Greenville Ave near where we're staying. (There's also one in Arlington, too.) So many enchiladas, so little time.

Web Updates

This is just a quick post to say that I have recently updated both the walking journal and the Bulgarian Ministry websites.