Tag: Elizabeth

No Posts? But a Wedding and Six Books Read!

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Ok so I once again am apologizing for not posting anything new here, since June 3rd! However, that doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing a lot of reading, listening, running and trying to be the best me I can be…..

Elizabeth’s Wedding

On July 10th I got to do a Dad thing, at my daughter Elizabeth’s wedding.

It was a beautiful day and wedding held at Terrain at Styers  in Glen Mills, Pa. The venue was perfect for my daughter! And I can’t say enough about the staff from top to bottom.

In the pictures above, clockwise from the upper left. New son-in -law Marcus and Elizabeth without grandchildren Zoe and her little brother Logan and big cousin Oliver. Zoe and Oliver were born six months apart in 2014. Oliver in March and Zoe in September!!

Next Elizabeth’s entrance with an honored Dad!
Oliver rocking out with the ladies and finally the father daughter dance.

I must admit that my good ear was plugged that day and as a result I had trouble hearing anything including this song. During the dance I asked what we were dancing to and she said something from Iron & Wine. I said I know the name but never listened to his music.

The next day I said something about the dance to my wife and she told me Elizabeth and I had danced to “Forever Young”. I replied “Bob Dylan’s song? She said “Yes”.  I am kinda glad I didn’t hear it because it’s my favorite song from Dylan’s Planet Waves album and hearing it may have made me kinda misty eyed.

No Posts? I was Busy Reading

But let’s get back to not posting! My last post was about my proposed June reads. Here’s a picture of my proposed reads…..

So how have I done so far? I have read four of the nine books shown. I’m addition, I have read two books by authors shown just not the books shown.

Which ones did I read? You’ll just have to wait until the next post to find out!

For now let’s listen to Bob Dylan’s version of “Forever Young”…..

Elizabeth Conquers the Broad Street Run!

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Lizzie Came, She Ran, She Conquered – 2015 Broad Street Run

 

So the Broad Street Run went pretty well today! We parked in the Wells Fargo parking lot and took the Broad line up to the starting line around the Olney Station. While I rode the high-speed line from Lindenwold into the city back in the 70s, this was my first trip on the Broad St subway, and I believe Elizabeth said itself her first trip on any subway.

Broad Street Run - Yellow CorralLizzie was in the yellow corral, which was the next to last group to start. Since I have never been in a race with this many runners, I was unfamiliar with the starting procedures. The start of each corral was spaced maybe five minutes apart. I always thought that the group moved as one, but your time didn’t start until you crossed the starting line. Instead it’s like having seven smaller races! Unfortunately I missed seeing Lizzie at the start!

Lizzie - Pre- Broad Street Run

Lizzie – Pre-Run

Anyway the race started a few minutes after 8 AM.(See Featured Image) Mayor Nutter was there hi-fiving runners from the first few corrals!  I think Lizzie said her corral didn’t start until 8:50, which is near the time when the winner was crossing the finish line!  The winner Haile Mengesha finished in 47:53!

After everyone had started, I walked down to the Logan Station and took the subway back to the Wells Fargo Center . Then I followed the crowd down to the finish line at the Navy Yard.

Through the magic of technology I was able to see Lizzie’s time at both the three and five-mile marks. She finished three miles in 32:17 and crossed the five-mile mark in 54:38. At that pace I figured she would be ok at the finish! Once I got to the Navy Yard , I didn’t get another update on her time. That time should have been at the seven mile mark. It would have given me an idea about where she was and when she would finish. Instead I went to near the finish to watch for her, and like I did at the start, I missed her! After standing and watching finishers from the last corral, I checked my phone in case she had messaged me and then headed to the Dunkin Donuts truck,which is where we said we would meet. No Lizzie, so I messaged her asking if she had finished! She responded yes and she said she explained where she was. She had actually been finished for about 30 minutes!

So we gathered our stuff and began the trek, along with a throng of people back up Broad St. to our respective cars!

Overall Lizzie finished in a time of 1hr 53 mins. She was in 27533rd place., 14037 for her gender and 1818 for her division. pretty good for someone who has been running for only a couple of years and until today had not run more than six miles!  Someone who walked during the mile run for gym! Way to go Lizzie. It must have been those thoughts of chasing Oliver,who had your phone that kept you going!

 

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I am proud of you and hope we can run together next year’s Broad St. Run!

Links for the Broad Street Run

ABC6 News:THOUSANDS TAKE PART IN BROAD STREET RUN
Broad Street Run Photos
Newsworks: Broad Street Run Photos
Philly.com Broad Street Run

Saturday Potpouri:Broad Street Run and more….

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Broad Street Run, Books, children and grandchildren,  NFL draft, does it get better?

So today has been a busy and very nice day.It started with a trip into Philly to pick up my daughter Elizabeth’!s race packet for tomorrow’s Broad Street run. She will be running down Broad Street tomorrow along with around 39000 other people! She has to be at the start at 7:40 for the 8:00 start. Since there is no parking for 40000 people at the street we have to park at the Sport’s complex and take Septa to the start and then I will have to travel back by Septa to the finish at the Navy yard! I don’t know if I will go all the way at once or go half way and wait to see her and then go to the finish. The question is will I be able to see her among the crowd of runners! Anyway it should be interesting. Wish us luck!  Oliver sent his advice to Aunt Lizzie via his talented mommy!!

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On the way back, we stopped at the Cinnaminson branch of the Burlington County Library. Their spring book sale was today! Controlling my impulse to take them up on their offer of a bag full of small paperback books for $3.00, I only bought two small paperbacks for .50 cents each,along with one $3.00 hardback and 2 $1.00 trade size paperbacks. The grand total six bucks for five books. Here’s what I bought…..

Sandstorm – James Rollins – this is the first Sigma Force  book and I believe it’s the only one I haven’t read!

Phobos – Steve Alten This one looked interesting and I have never read anything by the author. I found out though that the book is the third book in the series, so I want to go back and read books 1 and 2 first.j

In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien – another bestseller from O’Brien once again with a Vietnam war tie in.

The Lost City of Z – David Grann – I think I started this s book once and then got distracted! Maybe I can stay with it this time!

Fool – Christopher Moore – I started this one, too hoping to stay with it took!

After coming home my wife and daughter went to babysit Zoe and I joined them for a bit before her dad came home early and she went down for a nap! Damn she’s cute!

When Zoe went down for a nap we came home, and I watched the NFL draft. I think that at least twice when the Eagles were making their picks they went to a commercial with no scroll at the bottom. The Eagles ended up with two cornerbacks and a 6’9″ defensive end! Can you say kick.blocker!

Finally I went for a run – 5 miles half of what Elizabeth will be doing tomorrow! I will write more about that in a while! Maybe, but I do seem to be winding down and it’s getting late…. and I will be getting up early to go to Philly… maybe it’s night all after a pretty good day!

 

Dad watches proudly as Elizabeth runs her first 10K!! Yes, our Elizabeth!!

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Cross-posted from EKKarn’s Explorations

A month or so ago our daughter Elizabeth surprised her mother and I, when she told us that on November 8th we had to go with her to Trenton, where she would be running a 10K!  It surprised us because she has never been athletic. She enjoys and follows sports, but never played any, or even showed any inclination to do so. When she had to run the mile in gym in high school, she mostly walked! Her brother Andrew ran cross-country as  did I, and I also continue to run, but not Elizabeth. This running surprise comes after we were surprised at her graduation party for receiving her Master’s Degree from the University of Delaware, At the party,  we were told by her friend, that Elizabeth is awesome when she works out with weights at the gym. Our Elizabeth???

Anyway, there I was on Saturday,  the coldest morning of the fall, walking down Cass Street in Trenton, to join the crowd of runners who would be participating in the 3rd Annual Trenton 5K,10K and Half-Marathon! I haven’t run for about three weeks so I didn’t join in the festivities, but I didn’t mind because this was Elizabeth’s day!

Here’s a picture of her at the start of the race and here she is at the finish inside Arm &Hammer Stadium!!

ElizabethsRun

She finished in about the time she thought she would 1 hour and 5 minutes, running at a 10:32 pace, which was good enough for an 8th place in her age group!!

Now I said I was surprised, but I don’t really know  why I was because Elizabeth has never been one to stay within her comfort zone. When she was in her senior year at high school, where she was number one in her class, she became her class representative to the school board meetings because she thought that it would help her to speak before people!  Both her mother and I would avoid a situation like that, like the plague!! Prior to that, she had attended a week-long Student leadership conference in Washington D.C. when she was in the 8th grade, and a three-week summer class at William & Mary when she was a high school sophomore!! Attending that class,  may have helped her to get accepted at William &Mary a few years later. At a minimum, as a result of taking the class, she knew she liked W&M!

So I say to Elizabeth, congratulations on your run,  your mother and I are very proud of you! Now if I can only learn from you how to live outside of my comfort zone maybe someday I’ll get to go to England and Ireland, or at least run that half-marathon that I keep saying I should try to run some day……how about the second Saturday in November next year, you think Elizabeth will be up for it!!

Hum, I think I’ll check out a half-marathon training schedule at Walk, Jog Run or Runner’s World!!……